About the Artist

Rita Castagna is an actor, songwriter, and comedian from Philadelphia. She is a graduate of Temple University and is based in New York City.

Her favorite musical theatre credits include Bonnie in Bonnie & Clyde (Eleventh Hour), Daisy Hilton in Side Show (Temple), and Heather Chandler in Heathers (Avenue). She loves playing strong, confident characters with a comedic edge.

In 2019 she was the winner of DC’s American Pops Orchestra’s NextGen competition for up-and-coming musical theater singers. APO invited her back as a featured vocalist in Coat of Many Colors: The Music of Dolly Parton, alongside Morgan James, Nova Peyton, and others.

Rita was also the first ever non-classical singer to be awarded the Richard F. Gold Career Grant by the NYC-based Shoshana Foundation, first awarded to Renee Fleming in 1987.

For over fifteen years Rita has written original music, both comedic and of a genre she calls “sunny acoustic folk jazz.” She grew up in a musical family and spent her weekends playing covers in bars around Philadelphia. Since moving to NYC she has been working with producers and will be releasing original music to streaming platforms soon.

Rita is also a proud four-year alumnus of Temple Smash, Temple’s live sketch comedy show. She has done standup sporadically across Philly, Chicago, and NYC, and she hopes to be brave enough to do it more.

In her free time, she enjoys yoga, environmentalism, animated shows, and playing with other people’s cats.