MEET THE TEAM

Kat duPont Vecchio has a background in theater and documentary film. Her work as a theater photographer has been published online in the New York Times and Time Out among other publications. She was a producer on the documentary film Vanishing: A Love Story, a co-producer on The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, directed by Abigail Disney and Kathleen Hughes, which premiered at Sundance in 2022, and is the former CCO at Fork Films.

J. Robert Coppola has been performing and choreographing fights across the Tri-State area for the last two decades. He's worked and trained with numerous fight directors and choreographers from stage combat organizations across the nation and around the world. Finding a love for the stage at a young age, Joe studied acting and directing at Binghamton University, receiving his B.A. before falling madly in love with stage combat. His work on the indie horror film “The Moose Head Over The Mantle” was nominated for Best Kill at the Independent Horror Movie Awards (where it also won best feature), and working in theatrical horror soon added “Blood Design” to his talents. When not playing with swords on stage, Joe works behind the scenes as a lighting designer, a technical director, and an electrician, working for theaters, film shoots, and events around the Tri-State Area. His passion and focus has always been in theatrical violence and fight, now giving way to Brooklyn Action Theater, the city’s only production company dedicated to theatrical action and stage combat.

Rhett duPont Vecchio is a Brooklyn based filmmaker and playwright. He was a founding member of Minneapolis-based theater troupe Omega Wolf Productions in 2006 where he wrote for many of their productions such as the collaboratively-written play "Murder at Death Cabin!" and their collection of one-acts "One Axe". It is exciting to return, decades later, to playwriting, and to explore the ways that choreographed action can be woven into a story with Brooklyn Action Theater.

Kristina Swearingen is a New York City-based musical theatre artist and actor-combatant. This Mobile, Alabama native fell into the world of stage combat while attending the University of Mobile. She has since refined her skills through collaborations with organizations and fight choreographers including Society for American Fight Directors, Dueling Arts International, and Neutral Chaos, Jared Kirby (of NYCSS), and Stewart Hawley.

Beyond her combat expertise, Kristina continues to work in many different areas of theatre including musicals, Shakespeare, dance choreography, marketing, box office, and scenic design.

Stephen Solow began training under Jared Kirby (Fight Director & Fencing Master) in 2013 as a Classical & Historical Fencer, and soon after in Combat for Stage and Screen. While training under Jared, Stephen’s Fine Arts background led to him studying how to make swords. He continues to train in historical & classical fencing as well as training in Stage Combat through New York Combat for Stage & Screen.

Tony Mita is driven by a mix of his passions for historical martial arts and nerd culture to create a blend of the martially realistic and the out-of-this-world fantastical in his work.

Tony is a teacher with New York Combat for Stage & Screen and as a choreographer he has had the honor to be involved with projects such as Hamlet with the Classic Stage Company, the original musical La Maupin and Margaret: Shakespeare’s Warrior Queen (Winner: Best Original Choreography, Broadway World Off-Broadway Awards).