about van hill entertainment

Co-founded by Van Dean and Hillary Cutter, most recently presented ROOMS a rock romance  Off-Broadway (Dir. by Scott Schwartz and featuring Leslie Kritzer & Doug Kreeger). ROOMS  was nominated for 3 Outer Critics Circle Awards: Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, Outstanding New Score, and Outstanding Actress in a Musical. Time Life Records & multiple Grammy® nominee Robert Sher recorded the ROOMS Off-Broadway Original Cast Album on May 12th 2009 in NYC. The digital edition of the ROOMS album is currently available on iTunes and Amazon.com. The CD will be in stores on February 2nd, 2010. Prior to the Off-Broadway Production Van Hill presented the World Premiere of ROOMS (Nominated for 5 Helen Hayes Awards) as a co-production between MetroStage and Geva Theatre Center. 

Saint Heaven received its West Coast Premiere at the Village Theatre in Issaquah, WA (just outside Seattle) opening their 2008/2009 season. In January of 2008 Van Hill co-produced an all-star benefit concert of Paul Scott Goodman's Alive in the World featuring Adam Pascal, Lea Michele, Melissa Errico, Daniel Reichard, Toby Lightman and Greg Naughton and directed by Kurt Deutsch. In September of 2006, Van Hill produced three shows in the 3rd annual New York Musical Theatre Festival including a showcase production of Paul Scott Goodman's Alive in the World (dir. Kurt Deutsch) featuring two time Tony® Award nominee Kelli O'Hara, Aaron Lohr, Marcy Harriell, Greg Naughton; a special reading presentation of Saint Heaven (Winner of the 2006 NMTN Directors' Choice Award) featuring Nancy Anderson, Montego Glover, Kingsley Leggs, Darren Ritchie, Roz Ryan and Patrick Ryan Sullivan.

Van Hill's World Premiere production of Saint Heaven in June of 2006 was recently named one of the top theatrical events of 2006 by THE NORWALK HOUR and Frank Rizzo (THE HARTFORD COURANT and critic for VARIETY) named Montego Glover's portrayal of Eshie Willington in Saint Heaven as one of the great performances of 2006. This production of Saint Heaven (dir. Matt Lenz) at the SCA Rich Forum in Stamford, CT featured Tony® Award Winner Chuck Cooper, Deborah Gibson, Cheryl Alexander, Montego Glover, Darren Ritchie and Patrick Ryan Sullivan.

In February 2006, Van Hill co-produced The NY Musical Theatre Festival: The Best of Fest Bash! (dir. Joe Calarco) at Dodger Stages (now New World Stages). The one-night only performance showcased a star-studded roster of Broadway talent including John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys), Josh Strickland and Jenn Gambatese (Tarzan), Gary Beach (The Producers, Beauty and the Beast), Mary Faber (Avenue Q), Amy Spanger (The Wedding Singer), Anna Harada (Avenue Q), David Burnham (The Light in the Piazza), Karen Ziemba (Curtains, Contact), and Kerry Butler (Little Shop of Horrors, Xanadu ), among others. Van Hill Entertainment also co-produced a sold out run of The Mistress Cycle at the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival and received rave reviews from VARIETY, BACK STAGE and BROADWAY WORLD.

Hillary Cutter (www.hillarycutter.com) has been a Television, Film, and Theatrical producer for nearly a decade. Cutter has produced original programming, commercials, promos, and interactive campaigns for networks and agencies such as ESPN, HGTV, Nickelodeon, Grey Advertising, JWT, McCann Erickson, and Ogilvy & Mather. Cutter’s most recent Television credits include the NYC Unit Production of Degrassi: The Next Generation (the highest-rated show on Teen Nick) and the MTV documentary special, If I Were King, celebrating the 10th Anniversary of P. Diddy’s Sean John Fashion Line. Cutter's various productions have earned her numerous awards and the opportunity to work with people like Kathleen Turner, DMC (of the seminal rap group, Run-DMC), Billy Crudup, Ally Sheedy, Paul Rudd and the late Adrienne Shelly.

Van Dean has written the book, music and lyrics for A Rose in Winter, the lyrics for True Love is a Work of Art and is currently working on The Eyes Of Midnight. In 1995, he wrote new lyrics and arrangements of the Rodgers and Hart song, "Dear Old Syracuse" for Syracuse University's 125th Anniversary Celebration hosted by Dick Clark at the Carrier Dome stadium. Other past projects include composing the quintet "Stolen Youth" and contributed to Tada! Theater's musical review Everything About School (Almost). Dean is a graduate of the Commercial Theater Institute (CTI) and has  taught lyric writing and music composition.
 
Van and Hillary are both graduates of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.