Jeremy Sussman: From No Business to Show Business at Don't Tell Mama

Jeremy Sussman

Jeremy Sussman was born in Brooklyn, raised in Rockville Centre, Long Island, and has lived in New York City most of his adult life. His love of singing and performing originated in early childhood, and he took piano lessons from age 8 through high school, all while being encouraged to prepare for a career in law. In high school, college and law school, he sang and played piano in vocal groups, musicals, and a local pub. Even after he graduated law school and qualified as an attorney, he never missed a chance to sing, including temple choir, the Oratorio Society and barbershop quartets. Years later, he discovered cabaret as a preferred venue for musical expression, and has performed in several individual and group shows while maintaining his legal practice. Now retired as an attorney, he freelances as an arbitrator.

Gregory Toroian

Gregory Toroian is a musical director, arranger, jazz pianist, vocalist, songwriter, and educator. He has been featured in Cabaret Scenes magazine and was the 2020 Bistro Award winner for Outstanding Collaboration with Sue Matsuki, with whom he had also won a MAC award for Best Duo Production. In addition to working with such artists as Tony Bennett, Jon Hendricks, Cab Calloway, Donna Summer, Melissa Errico, Marilyn Maye, Karen Mason, and Jane Olivor, he has appeared in almost every jazz club and cabaret (major and minor) in New York. He has toured with principal dancers from the New York City Ballet and has made numerous radio and television appearances including the Today Show and Maury Povich. His recording work includes the recent debut CD of Suzanna Ross, the debut CD of award-winning cabaret artist Sue Matsuki, for which he was arranger, producer, and pianist, and seven CDs with cabaret singer Nancy Stearns. Toroian’s vocal arrangements have been featured on a series of albums in the US and Japan, by the vocal group String of Pearls. He currently offers an array of performance workshops.

Skip Ward

Skip Ward is a Grammy Award Winning Bassist, Guitarist, Ukulele-ist (is that a word), Lap Steel, Tuba and Penny Whistle. Ward is a classically-trained jazz musician with a penchant for rock n' roll, and fusion, blues and bluegrass. Artists he has played/recorded with include: Tony Trischka, with Steve Martin, Phoebe Snow, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Cyndi Lauper, Cassandra Wilson, David Sancious (Sting, Eric Clapton), Melissa Manchester, Glenn Miller Orchestra and more! You may have also seen him on David Letterman, SNL or the Ellen DeGeneres Show. You'll hear Skip on many soundtracks, and he has been on national tours with a number of major theatrical productions. In New York City: Shakespeare in the Park (As You Like It), Hands On A Hardbody, Million Dollar Quartet, High School Musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, Song & Dance, A Chorus Line and West Side Story.

David Silliman

David Silliman is a drummer and percussionist. David's middle name should be “versatility”. Whether accompanying song stylists such as Mariah Carey, Cassandra Wilson, and Blossom Dearie or playing with Colombian Harpist Edmar Castaneda, David's exciting rhythmic energies add color and mood to any musical performance. He's also comfortable playing in the pit of a Broadway show or with the New Jersey Symphony. David has over 20 years of experience. His performances have taken him to concerts and festivals in Italy, Vienna, Berlin, the North Sea, Monterey, Uruguay and Lithuania. David was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was exposed to a wide variety of music. David's first studies were in the Classical field, studying snare drum, xylophone and timpani. Later studies exposed him to Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian and Funk music.“ I love living in NY because it gives me the opportunity to play and perform with so many diverse artists, across all styles of music!”

Geoff Stoner

Geoff Stoner is an actor, cabaret performer, and director. As a director, he has worked on numerous cabaret solo shows and workshops around New York City. As a cabaret performer, Geoff's solo shows include A Short Visit Only, based on the life and songs of Noel Coward, You're The Top, featuring the songs of Cole Porter, and Words With Music, his slice-of-life account of growing up Episcopalian and randy in small-town Connecticut. As an actor, Stoner appeared as the title character in a theatrical adaptation of Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, directed by Wynn Handman and performed in New York City schools as part of the American Place Theatre's Literature To Life series. Other New York productions include Tom in the New York premiere of Nightsweat by Robert Chesley, and Rupert in Booth Tarkington’s The Trysting Place at the St. Peter's Theater. He also appeared in Yoko Ono's video "Sky People" as the Leading Man. Stoner studied acting with Uta Hagen, Hal Holden, and Wynn Handman. He has also studied improvisation at The Pit. Recent notable stage work includes Lanford Wilson’s A Poster of the Cosmos, directed by Mark Cirnigliaro, which had a successful Off-Broadway run in 2024. Stoner reprised A Poster of the Cosmos as part of Deep Flight Productions’ Who We Become: One-Acts by Lanford Wilson at 59E59’s East to Edinburgh Festival in July 2025 and for a full run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2025.