What we know of the Creators, thus far
John Vornholt
Book Author
It would be difficult to find a type of writing John hasn't done professionally in his forty-year career, from animated cartoons to comic books to computer manuals. In the last twenty years, he's published over sixty novels with major publishers such as Simon & Schuster and Random House, and he spent seventeen years in Los Angeles writing for television, film, and animation, such as Super Mario Brothers, He-Man, and Dennis the Menace. His young adult fantasy novel, Cupidity (written under the name Caroline Goode), has been optioned for TV and movies by the Jim Henson Company. His adult fantasy novel, The Fabulist, has been turned into a musical for the stage, winning several awards, including the Richard Rodgers New Musical Award. His Troll King series has been launched in England and the United Kingdom, and has been translated into several foreign editions. John's 30-plus Star Trek novels have been enjoyed by Trekkies the world over. For the last fifteen years, John has been very active in the Tucson theater scene.
Mark Browning Milner
Music/Lyrics, Instruments, Vocals
MBM is a composer, lyricist, playwright, musician, singer, novelist, storyteller, entertainer, educator, and, most pertinently, nobody you ever heard of before now. He doesn't know anyone famous enough to mention - well, he takes that back = Tom Poston sang his lyrics in a DENNIS THE MENACE musical, and Bill Macy once stepped on his foot in a Pasadena movie theatre. With the aforebiographied John Vornholt, he wrote the music and lyrics for two previous shows, the second of which, a revue called TINSELTOWN, recorded an original cast album which earned him a royalty check of $14.52 from Denmark (he still owes John $7.26). His BOZO allegro (rock-jazz) and BOZO adagio (meditative minimalism) projects collectively recorded five critically acclaimed (and publicly ignored) CDs. Writing and recording the score for RETURN OF THE AMAZING BUCKEROOS was his favorite pandemic project (so far), exponentially more fun than vinyl-siding the garage. He is a flaming introvert, so revealing even this much has been pleasurably painful.
Gina Hanzlik
Vocals
Performing with an “aplomb rarely seen” (Le Devoir) and “a voice that is both brilliant in technique and deep in expressiveness” (Ludwig van Montreal), soprano Gina Hanzlik is known for her deep commitment to character and delivery, no matter the genre. She has performed with Opera McGill, Tapestry Opera, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Michigan Opera Theater, McGill Symphony Orchestra, Société d'art vocal de Montréal, and regularly premieres work for various composers and chamber ensembles in the U.S. and Canada. Gina is a Teaching Artist with The Metropolitan Opera Guild and presents workshops on opera and vocal technique in schools (and on Zoom) around the country. She is a Teach For America alumna and holds a Master of Education in Urban Pedagogy from the University of Michigan, as well as a MMus from McGill University and a BMus from the University of Minnesota/Twin Cities. Learn more about Gina at ginahanzlik.com.