Cabaret Creative Team

Director

Kyle Vasquez

(she/her) Kyle is the founder and Artistic Director of Renegade Theater Co. Kyle has been performing theater since the age of three, directing since age 16 and has worked extensively in many theater realms including costume design, stage makeup, stage managing, prop fabrication and more. She is deeply passionate about the performing arts and is specifically dedicated to building systems that prioritize mental health within the often stressful art form that is theater. Kyle is also the Owner/Director of Seven Directions Creative Learning Center which regularly partners with Renegade, offering acting classes and artistic collaboration on many levels.

Music Director

Jorge Torres

(he/him) Jorge Torrez grew up in Salinas where he attended Salinas High School. After graduating, he studied Choral Directing and Vocal Performance under Cheryl Anderson at Cabrillo College. He graduated from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music with a bachelor of music in Vocal Performance where he specialized in Baroque and Classical performance. He is currently the director of choral activities at both Soquel High School and Santa Cruz High School where he directs the Jazz Singers, Mixed Chorus, Concert Choirs and Mariachi Ensemble. He has music directed Seussical and Little Shop of Horrors for Harbor/Soquel High, Mean Girls for Santa Cruz High, and Be More Chill for Renegade Theatre Co.

Choreographer

Babe Payne

Babe Payne (aka Babraham Lincoln), is a burlesque dancer, costumer and visual artist based in Santa Cruz, CA. Her offbeat beauty mixed with her Warhol-esque edge and outlandish comedic timing has left audiences from San Francisco to Berlin begging for the Gettysburg Undress since 2010. She is one half of Two Natural Redheads as well as the co-founder of the Santa Cruz School of Burlesque and Best Coast Burlesque.

Stage Manager

Diana Torres

Assistant Stage Manager

Jackie Lopez

Cast Advocate

Lauren Chouinard

Costumer

Blue Hendricks

Costumer

Shimona Miller

Original Creative Team

BOOK: Joe Masteroff

Born in 1919 in Philadelphia, he had only one dream from infancy: to write for the theater. After the essential lonely childhood and four-year stint in the Air Force, he came to New York to face his future: book writer or book seller? Luckily, luck intervened. Before long he had three shows on Broadway bearing his name: The Warm Peninsula (1959) starring Julie Harris, and two musicals: She Loves Me (1963) and Cabaret (1966) for which he was the book writer. Joe did not shy away from difficult subjects which is evidenced in all of his work: the rise of Nazism and antisemitism in Cabaret; infidelity and the desperation of middle-aged people looking for love in She Loves Me; racism in America in Georgia Avenue which was based on Imitation of Life; rape in Desire Under the Elms; prostitution in Anna Christie; murderous monarchs in Six Wives about Henry VIII. Inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2016, Joe died at the age of 98 in New York City.

MUSIC & LYRICS: John Kander & Fred Ebb

The Kander and Ebb collaboration of four decades created many Broadway standards and contemporary classics. Their first collaboration “My Coloring Book” became a hit song for Barbra Streisand, earning John and Fred a Grammy nomination. Kander and Ebb’s first Broadway show in 1965 Flora, the Red Menace, was produced by Hal Prince, directed by George Abbott and introduced a rising new star: Liza Minnelli. Followed by Cabaret (Tony Award music and lyrics); The Happy Time; Zorba; 70, Girls, 70; Chicago; The Act; Woman of the Year (Tony Award music and lyrics); The Rink; Kiss of the Spider Woman (Tony Award music and lyrics); and Steel Pier. Along with movies and television writing original material for the Academy Awards; “Liza With a Z” and HBO’s Liza Minnelli’s “Steppin’ Out” (both Emmy winners); “Baryshnikov on Broadway”; “Goldie and Liza Together”; Funny Lady; Lucky Lady, New York, New York; Steppin’Out; and the movie Chicago. In 1985, the song “New York, New York” became the official anthem of New York City. At the time of Mr. Ebb’s death in 2004, Kander and Ebb had several projects in different stages of completion, Tony-nominated Curtains, in 2007; 12-time Tony-nominated The Scottsboro Boys, in 2010; All About Us (an adaptation of The Skin of our Teeth); and The Visit, nominated for five Tonys including best score in 2015 starring Chita Rivera. In 2023, the musical New York, New York opened receiving nine Tony Award nominations and Mr. Kander excepting a Lifetime Achievement Tony. Mr. Kander and author/playwright Greg Pierce collaborated on two musicals, The Landing and Kid Victory debuting at the Signature Theatre and the Vineyard Theatre.