About the Melodramatics Theatre Company
The Melodramatics Theatre Company, Inc., established in 2004 by Justin Leader and Carlos Dominguez, strives to present entertaining musical theatre productions of the highest caliber.
Since its founding, our company has produced such musicals as Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years and Songs For A New World as well as Bat Boy: The Musical, William Finn's A New Brain, Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party and Little Shop Of Horrors. We are also responsible for bringing Jeff Marx, the creator of Avenue Q, to Cornell University's campus to meet and work with students and company members.
In the summer of 2007, after three very successful years, our company became incorporated as a non-profit organization in the state of New York.
As we continue to expand and improve, we are ever on the lookout for fresh talent. If you are interested in working with the Melodramatics Theatre Company, Inc. either as a staff or cast member, please visit our Getting Involved page.
The Melodramatics Theatre Company, Inc. is an entirely student-run organization made up of Cornell University and Ithaca College students, as well as members of the Ithaca community.
Members of the Board of Trustees
JUSTIN LEADER (Chairman) founded the Melodramatics Theatre Company, Inc. in 2004. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 2006 and is currently a Master of Entertainment Industry Management graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for the Management of Creative Enterprises. For the Melodramatics, Justin produced Assassins, Into the Woods, Bat Boy: The Musical, An Evening with Jeff Marx, A New Brain and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He also directed the productions of Assassins and Sweeney Todd and acted in Assassins, Into the Woods and Bat Boy. In 2007, Justin was the Marketing Associate for the Center for Arts Management and Technology and Operations Intern for The Atlantic Theater, the producers of the Tony Award-Winning Spring Awakening. In 2008, Mr. Leader was an Intern at Fox Broadcasting Company's Television Comedy and Drama Development and Current Programming Departments. He also will be appearing in Fox Reality Channel's new show "Gimme My Reality Show!," debuting October 11, 2008. Justin lives in Los Angeles, California, where he is finishing his masters degree and working for entertainment companies. Visit his website at JustinLeader.com.
JOSH BURLINGHAM, hailing from South Hamilton, MA, graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the College of Arts and Sciences. With over a decade of hands-on theatre training and experience, Josh has been involved in over thirty productions in the last six years alone and has served as a hands-on member of the MTC from 2004-2008. Company credits include: John Hinckley in Assassins, Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Josh has also directed in-house productions of Bat Boy: The Musical, William Finn's A New Brain as well as produced and directed Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party and Little Shop Of Horrors. He is currently seeking employment in film, theatre or television and most recently worked eleven days as background, stand-in and photo double for Jonathon Mostow's film "The Surrogates" starring Bruce Willis.
KATIE VAN CLEAVE is a junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, majoring in both Atmospheric Science and Spanish. She attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL where she first became interested in theatre production while serving as a Co-Producer of a large student-written musical her senior year. During the Spring 2008 semester, she studied Spanish theatre history abroad in Madrid. She has served as Stage Manager for MTC's productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as well as Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party. The Last Five Years and Songs For A New World mark her fourth season with MTC, and she looks forward to many more. She would like to thank Justin Leader and Josh Burlingham encouraging her, as well as her ever-supportive family and friends.
JOSHUA K. LEADER has been associated with the law offices of Leader & Berkon since 1996 and became a Partner on January 1, 2006. He handles a wide range of litigation matters in areas such as complex commercial, securities, product liability, toxic torts, and intellectual property actions in state and federal courts. Mr. Leader has considerable experience in commercial matters, from the firm’s representation of a major telecommunications corporation in contractual disputes over fiberoptic capacity agreements, to the interpretation of integration clauses in major retail supply agreements and disputes over pharmaceutical co-promotion agreements. Mr. Leader is actively involved in the firm’s growing securities litigation practice, representing a major broker-dealer in arbitrations before the NASD. In addition, among his varied activities, Mr. Leader also has experience in aviation, trademark, copyright and art forgery matters. He has represented a concert promoter in litigation with a well-known performer and film production companies as well as an award-winning young film director with respect to contract matters and negotiations in the entertainment industry. Mr. Leader also has significant experience in mass tort and complex product liability litigation, including the defense of clients in nationwide semiconductor manufacturing litigation, the firm’s defense of a major appliance manufacturer against mass subrogation claims brought to circumvent class action rules, as well as a variety of product liability actions, involving issues relating to manufacturing and design defect allegations, fire cause and origin, spoliation of evidence, product recalls, and indemnification. Mr. Leader also heads the firm’s litigation technology team.