S4K Entertainment has produced the SeeMore’s Playhouse™ series and is currently in production for the twenty-six new episodes for Season Two of the show. In addition, S4K Entertainment produces other reality, scripted, and comedic format television shows for S4K, in collaboration with Edgeworx.
Executive Producers
Michele McDonough is an Emmy Award winner for “SeeMore’s Playhouse” and a three-time Emmy Nominee, “Outstanding Children’s Series” for “Between The Lions” on PBS, and as director of Production and Development at Betelgeuse Productions. Some of the shows she oversaw were “Inside the Actors Studio” on Bravo and “Dwell,” an award-winning design show on Fine Living Network. Her other projects include: “Law and Order,” “Feds,” “New York Undercover,” “Totally Obsessed,” “The Chase,” and “Martha Stewart Living.”
Frank Caruso oversees all the creative aspects of King Feature’s animation and promotional activities as well as all licensing for Betty Boop, Popeye and other classic King Features comic properties worldwide. Recently Caruso served as executive producer, along with Paul Reiser and Rick Karo on the new primetime CGI holiday special; “Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest For Pappy” on Fox this December. Caruso’s own comic art is featured in the recent DarkHorse comic novel Another Chance to Get it Right. Frank is an Emmy Award winner for “SeeMore's Playhouse.”
Producers
Diana DeCubellis has served as a producer on the children’s DVD “Are We There Yet?” in addition to being a producer for “SeeMore’s Playhouse™.” She was also a writer on the children’s television series “Between the Lions,” “Peep and the Big Wide World,” and “Pokemon.”
Chris Nee won an Emmy Award and the Humanitas Award as a writer for “Little Bill,” the Peabody Award wining series based on the children’s books by Bill Cosby. She has received two other Emmy nominations for her work as both a writer and producer. Nee began her career as an Associate Producer at Sesame Street International where she worked in Finland and Mexico on local productions of the award winning show. In 1996 she traveled to Israel and Jordan to supervise post-production on the historic Israeli-Palestinian Sesame Street, which was awarded the prestigious Japan Prize in 1998. Nee began her writing career at Sesame Workshop, writing for both Sesame English and Sesame Radio. Nee has written for The Disney Channel, PBS, Noggin’, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon and Fox Family. Her credits include “Angela Anaconda,” “Blues Clues,” “The Backyardigans,” “Johnny and the Sprites,” “Higglytown Heroes,” “The Wonder Pets,” “Unfabulous,” and “Maya and Miguel.” She was the head writer for the first season of “Oobi” on Noggin’, and was on staff for seasons II and III of “American Dragon” on The Disney Channel.
Cathi Turow was a staff writer and lyricist for “Sesame Street” for eighteen years. She has developed and written well over 100 “Sesame Street” episodes, created many “Sesame Street” home videos, and was a member of the original “Elmo’s World” development team. In addition, Cathi has written and produced shows for Noggin, Nickelodeon, and Disney. For CPTV, she conceived and co-produced “The Planet Matzah Ball Series,” which continues to air annually. Cathi is the winner of 14 Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Writing In A Children’s Series.”
Music Producer
Bob Golden’s children’s projects include music producer for Noggin’s “Jack’s Big Music Show” and “We Are The Laurie Berkner Band” DVD and CD, currently Billboard’s #1 selling music DVD. Other projects include Children’s Television Workshop songwriter for PBS’s “Sesame Street,” theme song composer and songwriter for Nickelodeon’s “Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” and music supervisor, songwriter, and composer for “Gullah Gullah Island” and HBO’s “Jammin’ Animals.”
Character Development
Jim Hardison is the creative director of Character LLC, a company that specializes in creating and revitalizing characters for brands and entertainment. He recently co-wrote the Christmas special “Popeye’s Voyage,” which brought the one-eyed sailor back to the screen in 2004.
Associate Producer
Maria Cerretani was a development and acquisitions intern at Little Magic Films prior to joining Safety 4 Kids, where she was actively involved in the development of several new projects, including both film and stage productions. She also evaluated films seeking foreign distribution deals and assisted the company in selecting films that would be commercially viable in the Japanese market.
Directors
Koyalee Chanda is a four-time Emmy-nominated children's television director. Her credits include five seasons of the critically acclaimed preschool series “Blue's Clues.” She has also directed some short films, one of which, "Hic!” has appeared in the Tribeca Film Festival, TorontoSprockets, Chicago International Children's Festival, and the prestigious Prix Jeunesse in Munich. "Hic!" was awarded "Best Live Action Short" at the BAMKids Film Festival in Brooklyn, New York. Additional television credits include “Blue's Room,” promos for Nick Jr., and directing voiceovers for the animated series "The Backyardigans." She has a series currently in development with Nick Jr. and performs the voice of Magenta on “Blue's Clues.”
Scott Preston has been in television production for over a decade. Some of his children’s projects include the Emmy Award Nominee “Between The Lions” on PBS and Nickelodeon’s “Figure It Out,” “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss” and “Weinerville.” Additional credits include Sesame Workshop’s “Big Bag,” Noggin’s “Oobi,” and the Learning Channel’s “Rory’s Place.” Scott has also directed several projects for Comedy Central, HBO, ESPN, The Food Network, VH1, and A&E.
Writers
Kevin Burke is an Emmy-nominated cinematographer (“The Book of Pooh,” 2002), who also served as SeeMore’s Playhouse™ director of photography. He has a long history with children’s programming, and has produced a home video (“All Star Alphabet”) and several short pieces for Sesame Workshop, as well as the Dan Zanes series of music videos currently showing on Noggin, through his own production company. He recently served as director of photography on “It’s a Big, Big World,” now airing on PBS.
Mario Giacalone is an actor, singer, director, and writer. A number of his plays have been produced in New York, including the musical “Neighbors,” and the short plays “The Virgin Bet,” “Break-in,” and “Benny and Greg.” Two of Mario’s short film scripts have been produced, “Momma Millie’s…” and “Vinny & Iggy’s Big Date.” Mario wrote numerous children’s plays for the SYDA Foundation, turning classical Indian stories into children’s theater. He also wrote “The Garbage Pail Kid,” a play about junk food, which was produced by “Kathy’s Kids,” an anti-drug program in New Jersey.
Jim Hardison is the creative director of Character LLC, a company that specializes in creating and revitalizing characters for brands and entertainment. He recently co-wrote the Christmas special “Popeye’s Voyage,” which brought the one-eyed sailor back to the screen in 2004.
Terry LaBan has been a professional cartoonist for 20 years. His work has appeared in Mad Magazine, Details Magazine, Nickelodeon Magazine, and many others. He created three alternative comic book series, Unsupervised Existence, Cud, and Cud Comics for Fantagraphics Books and Dark Horse comics, wrote numerous miniseries for DC Comics, and has been a writer for Egmont, a publisher of Disney Comics based in Denmark, since 1995. In 2001 he and his wife Patty co-created Edge City, a comic strip nationally syndicated by King Features Syndicate. His political cartoons and illustrations also appear regularly in the alternative monthly In These Times.
Francesco Marciuliano is the writer of the nationally syndicated comic strip "Sally Forth," the webcomic "Medium Large," and the New York Fringe Festival comedy "This Isn't Working." He has also written copy for BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The Economist, Money, Reader's Digest and Disney Publications. Francesco lives in New York with his wife Carol and their two cats, neither of which have expressed any interest in helping their owners with the rent.
Matt O’Brien is a comedy writer in New York City. His current projects include writing for Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse cartoons, and "Friday Night with Greg Giraldo" on Comedy Central.
Robert Vargas’ career in the entertainment industry includes work in feature films, network television, and commercial production. He has served as director, producer, writer and artist in a variety of media. Former employers and client list includes George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic, MTV Networks-Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., PBS Kids, Blockbuster Entertainment, The History Channel, MCI/Worldcom, Sony, and Arista Records. Film and television work includes the CG animated feature FRANKENSTEIN AND THE WOLFMAN (Universal/ILM), Bill Cosby’s Emmy Award winning LITTLE BILL (Nick Jr.), and the new Nick Jr. series THE WONDER PETS! Robert has worked extensively in the field of children’s television; writing, producing and developing innovative programming for pre-school audiences. He is the co-creator/producer of Nick Jr.’s LOLLY AND THE PIPSQUEAKS. Robert attended The School of Visual Arts in New York City (MFA Computer Animation program) and The University of California at Berkeley where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature and Composition.
Safety Scout Pop Quiz Writer
Shalom (Sholly) Fisch, PhD is President and Founder of MediaKidz Research & Consulting, a consulting firm that provides educational content development, hands-on testing, and writing for children's media. Prior to founding MediaKidz, Dr. Fisch was Vice President for Program Research at Sesame Workshop, where he oversaw curriculum development, formative research, and summative research for a broad range of television series, outreach projects, school-age magazines, and interactive material for online and CD-ROMs. In his 15 years at the Workshop, Dr. Fisch was Research and/or Content Director for numerous preschool and school-age media-based projects.
Dr. Fisch has served as an advisor and reviewer for various government agencies and nonprofit organizations, such as the U.S. Department of Education, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Coalition for Quality Children's Media (a.k.a. "Kids First!"), and the National Institute for Child Health and Development.
Puppeteers
Lindsey “Z.” Briggs is a puppeteer, puppet builder, puppet wrangler, stop motion animation builder, and a web-site designer among other things. She has been involved in puppetry for more than six years and is the voice and puppeteer for Lottie Lamb and Meesh Meesh on SeeMore's Playhouse™. Other credits include working as a puppet wrangler for "It's a Big Big World" (PBS), as a puppeteer on the Cartoon Network float "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" shown in the 2006 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and working as a part-time puppet wrangler for "Avenue Q" on Broadway. She also creates and performs live shows and is currently working on an episodic live sitcom, "The Continuing Adventures of Pussee (puh-see) and Cordelia," dealing with the topics of body image, self-esteem and the issues that can arise from being a teenager.
David Fino has been a puppeteer since 1993 when he began studying with master puppeteer Paul Vincent Davis of the Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline, MA. He later went on to train with Nikki Tilroe and her Palm of the Hand Stories Co. where he co-created the show "Clowns?". David has been through numerous training workshops with the Muppets and Sesame Workshop. In 1995 he created, produced, performed and directed an award winning cable access program called "The Electric Circus.” David has performed on WABU TV-68 in Boston, Comedy Central, and MTV, and has been in a number of independent TV pilots. One of which was written and directed by former Muppet designer Kermit Love. On stage David played the title character in "Bear in the Big Blue House, Live!,” a national tour based on the hit program by Mitchell Kriegman and the Jim Henson Co. Other credits include Edgar Allan Poe's “The Raven" by Trilobite Pictures, "Water from the Moon" by filmmaker Jenny McCracken, and voice-over performances in "Dark Cat, “an anime video by Nikkatsu/Anime Planet, and "Chef Solus and the Food Pyramid Adventure!," a video game by Nourish Interactive/Left Brain Games. David is currently studying improvisational acting and comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade training center in NYC.
Sarah Frechette is a Green Mountain vagabond determined to puppeteer herself across the globe. She has traveled by invitation to Germany for intense studies with Master Puppeteer Albrecht Roser, absorbing his theories on Zen and the art of puppetry. She toured internationally with "Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty", a marionette rock opera directed by Phillip Huber (“Being John Malkovich”) for which she constructed the puppet costumes. Sarah is part of the Dramaton Theater, a New York City ensemble that creates theater experiences beyond the subconcious. Sarah earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut's Puppetry Arts Program. As artistic director of PUPPETKABOB, Sarah continuously designs and develops her own puppet productions and workshops. Puppetkabob's cinematic shadow show, "Under Night Sky," was performed at the 2005 Puppeteers of America National Festival. She co-produced "The Night Shade Festival," a carnival of puppet curiosities, along with Live With Animals Art Space this past October 2006.
David Stephens set forth on a life-long journey of being a puppeteer after being inspired by the work of Jim Henson as a child. As a teenager, he started creating puppet characters and was soon performing his own shows. Stephens is a 2001 Masters graduate from the University of Connecticut's Puppet Arts program and was a 2004 recipient of a Citation of Excellence from UNIMA-USA (Union Internationale de la Marionette), one of puppetry's highest honors. For over a decade, he toured schools, libraries and various event venues with his solo puppet company, All Hands Productions. He is delighted be working on "SeeMore's Playhouse" as Shades the Wolf. Stephens, himself a banjo player, identifies strongly with Shades' hip musician personality.
Eric Wright’s live puppetry performances include: “The Theft and Burial of The Bones of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins (Abridged)”, “Parade,” “Untiring Love,” “Hiroshima Maiden,” “Savage Nursery,” “Bedcase,” “Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty,” “What's Inside the Egg,” “La Bella Dormente nel Bosco,” “The Nose,” “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,” and “Madama Butterfly.” SeeMore's PlayhouseTM is his first television role. Design and construction credits include: “Amadeus,” “Hiroshima Maiden,” “Animal Farm: the Musical,” “Seussical: the Musical,” “Hats! the Musical,” and “Carrie.” He has had the good fortune of working with Dan Hurlin, Bart Roccoberton, Basil Twist, Steve Widerman, Martin Robinson, Philip Huber, Preston Foeder, Paul Mesner, Emily DeCola, Michael Shupbach and the incredible faculty and participants of the O'Neill National Puppetry Conference. Occasionally Eric performs his solo pieces, “Taps” and “Caveman v. Blender.”
Puppet Coordinator
Frankie Cordero has been puppeteering since age eight, when he first joined the Chicagoland Puppetry Guild and earned many awards as a young puppeteer. Frankie earned a BFA in Puppetry at University of Connecticut where he was twice awarded the Jim Henson Memorial Prize in Puppetry. Puppetry credits in New York City include performances at La MaMa E.T.C., the Manhattan Children’s Museum, and Carnegie Hall, and for television on Sesame Street, as a principal guest puppeteer on the Noggin television series, Oobi, and as a puppet wrangler and craftsperson for the PBS Kids series, “It’s a Big, Big World.” His Chicago television puppeteering credits include Nickelodeon’s newest DVD series, “Curious Buddies” and Jack’s Big Music Show, a brand new puppet preschool series that currently airs daily on the Noggin Channel.
Frankie is also a partner in Dramaton Designs, for which he has co-designed and built 13-foot tall puppets for an outdoor production of Disney’s Beauty & the Beast, built sets and props, and puppeteered for an A&E TV pilot, and co-created several theatrical productions.
Edgeworx
David Tecson is president of Edgeworx, which provides production and post services for television, film, and emerging media. Recent work includes the feature films “Herbie: Fully Loaded”, “Conversations With Other Women,” “The Kid Stays in the Picture,”,“DEBS,” MTV's “Trippin,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and a variety of television/advertising work. Previously, David worked as a downtown lighting and set designer and then as creative director at CoSA, the Company of Science & Art, where he was an interface designer for after effects. David is a graduate of Brown University and holds an M.B.A. NYU Stern School of Business.
Nancy Davis is a creative director with more than 25 years’ experience designing strategic communications for Fortune 500 companies. Her expertise covers a wide range of corporate executions, including marketing programs and website development for the New York Philharmonic, worldwide conference and recognition meetings for Merrill Lynch, MetLife and UBS, product launches for AT&T and Pfizer, management forums and road shows for American Express, AT&T, UBS and Citibank. For those projects, and many more, Nancy has overseen every aspect of production from film and video to computer-based interactive training. She has also created advertising and brand awareness programs for several major clients, including developing content and animation for electronic billboards in Time Square for both AT&T and Delta Airlines. Nancy holds a B.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design, where she has also served as a member of the New York Board of Trustees, and a co-chair of their capital campaign.