Ivan Kaiser
Ivan began filming at the age of 12 and has since directed over 25 films. He founded Alabaster Effect in 2011 to share his love of filmmaking, to expose audiences to new talent, and to allow others to express themselves through the art of film. Although primarily a writer and director, Ivan also studied cello throughout grade school which lead him to pursue a degree in Cello Performance from Stetson University. Ivan participated in Campus Movie Fest at Stetson and decided to follow his passion for film after winning Best Director in 2016 and 2017. He has since graduated with a BA Music degree instead but continues to compose for many Alabaster productions. Ivan also teaches cello in his spare time, allowing him to grow as both a filmmaker and a musician.
Josh Melendez
Joshua Melendez has been working, and collaborating with Ivan Kaiser since middle school. Although his background is primarily in theater, Josh is happy to be a part of the Alabaster Effect crew. He is very happy to have had performances in numerous Alabaster productions, as well as getting his feet wet with writing, and directing. Josh continues to perform in productions in the community, as well as several shows for Universal Studios Orlando.
Sonny Hale
I've known Ivan and Josh since elementary school. They’ve always had a passion for filming and they're the ones who really got me to appreciate filmmaking. I always just saw it as an excuse to goof around with my best friends, but seeing everything we've created from Ivan’s Spidey Adventure to Cold Green and to the masterpiece known as Dragons has really shown me that we can create something wonderful. I feel blessed to be apart of this wonderful team and I can't wait to see where our next adventure brings us.
Evan Smith
Evan Smith grew up in Orlando, Florida and graduated from Lyman High School and Seminole State College of Florida. Currently enrolled at UCF, he is majoring in Information Technology. In his free time, he likes to play video games and view culturally enriching Japanese media.
Kyle Tetzlaff
Kyle was introduced to the Alabaster crew through a film class at Stetson University, where he recently graduated from in 2020. Kyle has always had a passion for film, but fell in love with filmmaking after creating an extra-credit film with Ivan in 2017. Kyle has now written, directed and started in multiple films with Alabaster, and is always ready to help the crew in any way he can.
Allan Zeng
Allan is a writer for Alabaster Effect who is occasionally coerced into appearing on camera. He received a BA in English and Theatre from the University of Iowa, so he must be at least competent at what he does.
For more information on Allan, visit
Nick Baker
Nicholas Baker graduated from Mount Dora High School in 2016. He developed a passion for learning and performing characters through school produced plays. Although, he wasn’t able to really pursue his passion until meeting the Alabster Effects Crew, their passion and talent emboldened him to continue to grow as a performer and crew mate. He has preformed in a few projects of theirs and looks forward to giving his all to any project they ask him back for!
Marc R. Velazco
Marc René Velazco is a composer, educator, and audio engineer based in Florida and currently on the Alabaster Effect team. Marc writes for multi media, including but not limited to, film, video games, the concert hall, and various other installations that necessitate the sculpture of sound.
Jack Sumrall III
Jack G. Sumrall III (b. 1996) is an American conductor, composer and a champion of new music. A tenor trained at Stetson University, Jack studied private voice with Jane Christeson; He studied conducting (both choral and orchestral) with Dr. Andrew Larson, Anthony Hose and Dr. Timothy Peter. Jack currently has published music on J.W. Pepper and Sheetmusicplus.com He composes in a variety of styles and genres- 8-bit video game music, Modern-classical, and is an in-house composer for Alabaster Effect.
For more information on Jack, visit
Scott J. Gilbert
Scott grew to love acting later in his High School days, taking parts in theaters both in and out of school since 2013. Scott's first Alabaster Film was Cold Green and he hopes for many more projects to come.
Aria Daryadel
“Acting and creating film has been a major passion of Aria’s since he was little. Perhaps to his detriment at times, it’s all he thinks about- He’d often skip class and film short films in and around campus every time an idea popped in his head. He met Josh Melendez in College and was introduced to Ivan and the others in Alabaster, and immediately felt not just a connection with them as people, but their passion, dedication and creative hunger. It was everything he searched for forever prior to linking up with them. Other than that, he thinks method acting is silly, 90 percent of art house is pretentious and lame and that Meisner is easily the best acting technique period, hands down, end of story. “