Jonah Scott Mendelsohn
Raised in Albuquerque, N.M., and educated at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Jonah Scott Mendelsohn is an actor, singer and writer based in New York City.
His stage work spans new plays in New York City and lead roles in regional theaters. Favorite roles include Pete (a pregnant man) in “Tumor” by Sheila Callaghan; Paul in “Company” by Sondheim and Furth; and the killers in Shakespeare’s “Richard II” (Mowbray, Exton and the Welsh Captain).
His writing includes a variety of poetry, and two pieces for the stage: “Jonah—A Choreopoem,” based on the biblical story, first presented at West End Synagogue; and “A Mostly Perfect Education: Things They Don’t Talk About at Commencement,” a one-man show about his experiences as a women’s study minor at Vassar, which began development in Martin Moran’s personal narrative workshop at the Barrow Group.
Jonah is currently raising funds for a full production of “Love Alone: Elegies for Rog,” a play for World AIDS Day, adapted from the poetry of Paul Monette.
To donate or get more information, visit the production website: Love Alone: Elegies for Rog (https://www.lovealone-play.org/)
David Alon Friedman
David Alon Friedman is both a composer and a musician (piano, accordion, percussion and violin). During the 1980s and 1990s, he collaborated extensively with modern dance choreographers, spending several summers as a musician at Jacob’s Pillow and the American Dance Festival in North Carolina, including one summer as composer-in-residence. For 10 years, he played with the Balinese Gamelan ensemble Dharma Swara in New York City, and was a member of the band “You and What Army,” whose CD “Kinda Wanna” appeared in 1996 and disappeared shortly thereafter (unjustly so). Since the 1980s, he has been a member of the “Mad Coyote” ensemble under the direction of Jerome Kitzke. He has performed full evenings of his work in New York City (at La MaMa, the Public Theater, Roulette and Dance Theater Workshop), and in Europe. In recent years, he has focused on composing Jewish liturgical music, creating settings of Psalms and prayers for both soloists and choirs. His liturgical settings have been featured at the Shalshelet Festival for New Jewish Liturgical Music, and have been performed by several choirs, including Nashirah, the Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia. His home congregation is West End Synagogue, a Reconstructionist Congregation, in New York City.
