Anika Larsen Joins the Board of Directors of New York City Children’s Theater.
Sammy Lopez will also join the artistic staff as the first resident director.
New York City Children’s Theater (NYCCT) is excited to welcome Anika Larsen and Sammy Lopez to the NYCCT family. We are pleased to announce Tony Award nominee Anika Larsen (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Sammy Lopez (Be More Chill, co-producer), who directed NYCCT’s digital production, Same, Same, But Different, will join the artistic staff as the first resident director.
Andrew Frank, Executive Director, and Barbara Zinn Krieger, Artistic Director & Founder, said, “Anika Larsen is a parent and also a Broadway veteran with a background in not-for-profit theatre. She has brought her children to see our work and has been engaged with the company over the past few years, performing at our events and participating in our Meet The Parent series. Anika will bring her knowledge of the industry and her passion for children and education to her work as a board member. We are thrilled that she chose to join our board.
We had a wonderful experience working with Sammy Lopez as our director of Same, Same But Different this past season. With his background in developing new work, social media, and theater-making in the TYA and adult theater world, he is a perfect fit to be NYCCT’s first resident director. Sammy will direct one production a year as part of the artistic team, consult on future season’s programming and video capture, review scripts and offer feedback on readings and workshops.
We are so excited to add these two tremendously talented individuals to the New York City Children’s Theater family.”
Last month, Anika Larsen and Sammy Lopez collaborated with New York City Children’s Theater to create a special recorded “front porch” performance of the song “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars for Kaleidoscope 2021 – a filmed celebration of our work.
Anika Larsen has performed on Broadway in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Avenue Q, Xanadu, All Shook Up, and Rent. Off-Broadway, she was in Zanna, Don’t!, Myths and Hymns, Closer Than Ever, Miracle Brothers, How to Save the World and Find True Love in 90 Minutes, Disaster!, and Unbroken Circle. Anika majored in theater at Yale University and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA. Anika will return to Broadway in 2022 in Almost Famous the Musical.
Sammy Lopez is on the producing and social media team for The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol (currently nominated for 5 Tony Awards) on Broadway and a co-producer of Be More Chill on and off-Broadway. His current projects with Holtzman-Lopez Productions include Gun & Powder (World Premiere: Signature Theatre 2020), How to Dance in Ohio (in development), and Bradical (Zoom Edition now streaming on Broadway On-Demand). He is also a member of the New 42 Board of Directors and a co-founder of The Industry Standard Group. Sammy is a graduate of Syracuse University and continues to produce the BFA Acting & Musical Theatre Senior Showcase each year.
“Count on Me”
Directed by Sammy Lopez
Vocals by Anika Larsen
Music and Lyrics by Bruno Mars, Phillip Lawrence, and Ari Levine
Warner/Chappell Music Inc.
Trumpet by Freddie Maxwell
Video Editing by Polina Sapershteyn
Videographer: Carrington Spires
Audio Mix: Ross Baum
Piano: David Cook
Drums: Jared Schonig
Guitar: Pete McCann
Bass: Alan Hampton
Courtesy of Yellow Sound Label
Anika Larsen originally recorded “Count on Me” for her debut solo album Sing You to Sleep, released through Yellow Sound Label in 2014. The album is available on iTunes and Amazon.
New York City Children’s Theater’s mission is to promote children’s literacy and social development through professional theater productions and arts-in-education programs. Our programs cultivate children’s growth in the areas of emotional intelligence, community building, and responsible decision-making. The result is empathetic, creative, and independent thinkers who make a positive impact on their world.
For more than 24 years, New York City Children’s Theater’s local and nationally recognized arts-in-education programs and professional theater productions have served over 395,000 children and adults across all five boroughs and surrounding communities in the tri-state area.