Michelle Chasse
Choreographer: Le Cabaret Grimm
Michelle Chassé was principal dancer with Portland Ballet, Ballet New England, and other local companies. Ms. Chassé trained at the Boston Ballet School, studied privately with Maestro Vincenzo Celli, and was on scholarship at the School of American Ballet in New York City. She graduate cum laude with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance from the Boston Conservatory, where she was the first recipient of the prestigious Ruth Sandholm Ambrose Award. Since then she has studied and performed with ballet, concert dance and Broadway legends from around the world. Ms. Chassé has performed as a guest artist with Franklin Performing Arts, Granite State Ballet, and was a featured ballet dancer in a VH1 video starring Michael Crawford, and has been a featured jazz dancer and model for numerous television commercials and industrials. She has performed openings for Gregory Hines and Harry Connick Jr., among others. Her choreography was seen in the Boston Conservatory Musical theater productions Where's Charley?, Side Show (New England Premiere), Anyone Can Whistle, Street Scene, Crazy For You, and Wild Party. She served as Associate Choreographer for the Boston Conservatory's production of Chicago, and as Principal Choreographer for the world premieres of Andrei Petrov's The Captain's Daughter and Joe Jackson's Heaven and Hell, as well as the Conservatory's critically acclaimed 2003 production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide. Ms. Chassé is the 2004 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the Boston Conservatory. She has also performed and choreographed for the nationally recognized Boston Gay Men's Chorus, and is a highly sought after guest artist performer and master teacher. Ms. Chassé is on the dance faculty at the Boston Conservatory, where she serves as Dance Instructor, Resident Choreographer, and Musical Theater Dance Coordinator, and on the faculty of the Jeannette Neill Dance Studio.
Cassandra Marsh
Composer: Le Cabaret Grimm
Cassandra is a critically acclaimed pianist, vocalist and musical director. As a pianist and cabaret artist she has performed throughout Boston and the country, including such venues as: The Napoleon Club, Dedo's, Club Cafe, The French Library, The Duplex, The Majestic Theatre, Club Passim, and North Shore Music Theatre. She received her BFA from Ithaca College with additional studies at The Royal Conservatory Toronto, The Longy School of Music and The American Music Center. She has musically directed over 50 shows both regionally and professionally, including the 1st National Tour of Tony n' Tina's Wedding.
As an educator Ms. Marsh has taught at The Merrimac Repertory, The Middlesex Summer School for The Arts, Winthrop School of Performing Arts and The North Shore Music Theatre. Currently, she teaches piano, voice and theory privately. Her students have gone on to such schools as: New York University, Boston Conservatory, Ithaca College and Berklee School of Music.
She has written and produced three one-woman shows and is currently working on her latest installment, The Unashamed Accompanist. She also composed and wrote the book for Alice, a musical adaptation of the Lewis Carroll story which has been produced by the Boston Baked Theatre Company and The Middlesex Summer School for the Arts. Her song, My Hometown, was written for the Boston production of Tony n' Tina's Wedding. As a singer/songwriter she is currently working on her second full-length CD, a follow-up to Spellbound With Hope, due out on the Whirlygirl label.
Cassandra is an experienced church musician and has served as the Minister of Music for the last six years at the First Church of Winthrop United Methodist. She is also a community activist and founding member of the Winthrop Coalition for Peace and Justice.
Aaron Sherkow
Lighting Designer: Le Cabaret Grimm
Aaron Sherkow has been designing shows since 2001. He has designed for theatre, dance and opera companies around Wisconsin, including Cornerstone Theatre, Danceworks, Nevermore Theatre, Attic Theatre Inc and Chamber Theatre. In 2008, he moved to Boston to pursue his MFA in Design at Boston University. Designing at Boston University takes up most of his time but he is very excited to be branching out into the larger Boston Theatre community with the Performance Laboratory.
He received his BA in Theatre with a Music minor from Lawrence University in 2004. Between 2004 and 2008 he worked a variety of jobs including Math Tutoring and Technical Direction as well as free lance design. In 2006, he joined the staff of Ripon College's Theatre Department.