SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR MICHAEL KAHN’S FINAL DIRECTORIAL ENDEAVOR AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: THE WORLD PREMIERE OF ELLEN MCLAUGHLIN’S ADAPTATION OF THE ORESTEIA

In a fitting conclusion to his illustrious tenure at STC, Michael Kahn is bringing a dream project to the stage. “I’ve always wanted to do all of The Oresteia,” he says. “When I was in college, we read the whole Oresteia, and I was completely fascinated by the story, by the form, by the relationships, by the incredible depths of what it was about—violence, revenge, and the search for human justice.”

 

Aeschylus’ Oresteia—the three plays known as Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides— is the only surviving trilogy from the ancient Greek theatre. Due to the epic nature of the story and length of the original text, the Oresteia is rarely performed in its entirety, but now the trilogy has been adapted into one evening of electrifying theatre. Michael Kahn has famously directed condensed trilogies before, such as The Oedipus Plays and Henry VI, and knows the grand scale is heightened by a sleek, rousing adaptation.

“I knew that it needed an extraordinary writer to take a look at this material and adapt it, shape it, think about it,” explains Kahn. “I thought a lot about different writers who have done adaptations of the great classics, and finally there was really only one, and that is Ellen McLaughlin.”

 

Playwright Ellen McLaughlin, a prodigious interpreter of the Ancient Greek plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, honors the original plot and language with a fresh take that imbues them with a modern resonance in this newly commissioned adaptation. Her version of Aeschylus’ The Persians was produced at STC in 2006 to great acclaim.

 

McLaughlin’s play compresses Aeschylus’ trilogy into one thrilling three-act play centered on Agamemnon’s slaughter of his daughter, committed in the name of martial duty and pious sacrifice, but deemed unforgivable by his wife Clytemnestra. Her revenge is a work of patience and passion, emotions linked by the endurance of suffering.

 

McLaughlin is quick to point out that the Ancient Greeks were inventing democracy at the same time they were creating theatre. “The Oresteia are three of the oldest plays we have. They show us Aeschylus grappling with the experiment of civilization—considering, with clear eyes, its weaknesses and its hopes. The Greeks had no illusions about the fragility of society and of democracy. They knew all too well that the whole undertaking was always at risk, threatened by forces both without and within.”

 

Rather than reframing the birth of democratic conventions, McLaughlin questions the very notion of justice. Is justice the search for truth or the pursuit of retribution? How can we accept our complicity in crimes, whether we partake in the violence or merely turn away? Where is our shared humanity in a world of suffering, violence and the galling indifference of the gods?

 

McLaughlin sees a clear reason to sharing ancient drama in our own times. “We have to remember that these stories were as ancient to the Greeks as they are to us,” she explains. “They used these old stories to look at their own times and to assess their souls, the size of them, what they were capable of and what they were up against. I believe that’s what artists do, and if you’re lucky, you do it with an extraordinary company like this one.”

 

McLaughlin translates the source material in a surprising and new light. Rewriting the myth of the House of Atreus, violence and bloodshed are not only the cause of the wretched family’s curse but also their bloodied birthright.

 

For his final production at STC (after 33 years, having overseen more than 160 shows and directed 65 of them), Kahn wished to choose a work that is epic in scope and sentiment. Kahn has assembled some longtime STC artists for his grand finale including: Kelley Curran (Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2), STC Affiliated Artist Franchelle Stewart Dorn (Mourning Becomes Electra), Corey Allen (Macbeth), and Helen Carey (The Persians). Making debuts on the STC stage are Rad (Trojan Women), Josiah Bania (Ironbound), Zoë Sophia Garcia (Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra), Patrena Murray (Gloria: A Life), Sophia Skiles (Henry VI), Kati Brazda (Our Town), Jonathan Louis Dent (Church and State), Alvin Keith (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Simone Warren (Billy Elliot), and Kelcey Watson (Hollywood in the Hood).

 

The Oresteia is made possible by a generous grant from The Roy Cockrum Foundation.

 

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

 

ELLEN MCLAUGHLIN’s plays have received numerous national and international productions. They include Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity’s House, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Tongue of a Bird, The Trojan Women, Helen, The Persians, Oedipus, Ajax in Iraq, Kissing the Floor, Septimus and Clarissa, and Penelope. Producers include: the Public Theater, The National Actors’ Theater and New York Theater Workshop in NYC, Actors’ Theater of Louisville, The Actors’ Gang L.A., Classic Stage Co., N.Y., The Intiman Theater, Seattle, Almeida Theater, London, The Mark Taper Forum, L.A., The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Getty Villa, California., and The Guthrie Theater, Minnesota, among other venues.

Grants and awards include: Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, Great American Play Contest, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the NEA, the Writer’s Award from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, the Berilla Kerr Award for playwrighting. T.C.G./Fox Residency Grant — for Ajax in Iraq, written for the A.R.T. Institute.

 

She has taught playwriting at Barnard College since 1995. Other teaching posts include Breadloaf School of English, Yale Drama School and Princeton University, among others.

Ms. McLaughlin is also an actor. She is most well known for having originated the part of the Angel in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, appearing in every U.S. production from its earliest workshops through its Broadway run.

 

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

 

Since the start of his tenure as Artistic Director in 1986, MICHAEL KAHN has directed 65 productions at STC, received 28 awards for his artistry and leadership and steered the Company to the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award. In 1991 he inaugurated the Free For All, which brings an STC production to audiences completely free of charge each year and has reached 690,000 patrons. He also created the Academy for Classical Acting, an MFA program in partnership with The George Washington University. Since the 1960s Kahn’s work has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in theatres around the United States, in addition to Athens, Cairo, Stratford upon-Avon and Adelaide. He has directed productions for the Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Washington National and New York City Center Opera companies. Previously Artistic Director of the McCarter Theatre Center, the American Shakespeare Festival, the Acting Company and Chautauqua Theatre and Conservatory, he was a founding faculty member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School and served as the Richard Rodgers Director of Drama for 15 years. He has also been on the faculties of New York University and the Circle in the Square Theatre School. Honored by numerous awards, including a Tony Award Nomination for Show Boat, Kahn was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and was recognized as an Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.) in 2013.ABOUT THE CAST

 

COREY ALLEN (Chorus)

STC: Macbeth. REGIONAL: Huntington Theatre Company: A Raisin in the Sun, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Pioneer Theatre Company: Two Dollar Bill, A Few Good Men; Great River Shakespeare Festival: Othello, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Utah Shakespeare Festival: Cyrano de Bergerac, The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis: Alabama Story, The Fall of Heaven; Orlando Shakespeare Theatre: Best of Enemies. FILM: Halston, Lost & Found, Proximity. TELEVISION: Happy!, Mindhunter, Manh(a)ttan, Power. OTHER: Audible and Recorded Books Narrator. TRAINING: University of Illinois: MFA in Acting. WEB: Corey-Allen.com.

 

JOSIAH BANIA (Orestes)

NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: Rattlestick Playwrights Theater: Ironbound. REGIONAL: Geffen Playhouse / Round House Theatre: Ironbound; Mark Taper Forum: Archduke; American Repertory Theater: Fingersmith; Dorset Theatre Festival: The Way of the World; Yale Repertory Theatre: Three Sisters; Chautauqua Theater Company: Love’s Labour’s Lost; Artists Repertory Theatre: The History Boys; Yale School of Drama: Othello, The Seagull, Petty Harbour, Twelfth Night, Antony and Cleopatra, and others. TELEVISION: Elementary, The Good Wife, The Mysteries of Laura, Leverage. TRAINING: Yale School of Drama: MFA.

 

KATI BRAZDA (Chorus)

NEW YORK: Broadway: A Moon for the Misbegotten (u/s). Off-Broadway: Barrow Street Theatre: The Effect, Our Town (dir. David Cromer); Promenade Theatre: Trying; The Actor’s Company Theatre: Lovers; SoHo Playhouse: Bill W. and Dr. Bob; REGIONAL (select): Hartford Stage: An Opening in Time; Pittsburgh Public: L’Hotel; Baltimore Center Stage: A Civil War Christmas; Goodman Theatre: The Story, The Death of Bessie Smith, Finding the Sun; Palm Beach Dramaworks: A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Geva Theatre Center: On Golden Pond; Wilma Theater: Ememies, A Love Story; Victory Gardens Theatre: The Action Against Sol Schumann. FILM: My America Too (dir. Kwame Kwei-Armah), The Book of Birdie. AWARDS: After Dark for Isobel in The Secret Rapture; Sarah Siddons Chicago’s Leading Lady Award; Joseph Jefferson Award Nominee; two-time Carbonell Award Nominee. TRAINING: Illinois State University: MFA in Acting; University of Nebraska Omaha: BA: Theater.

 

HELEN CAREY (Chorus)

STC: Major Barbara, The Persians, Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, Henry VI, Volpone. NEW YORK: Broadway: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Hedda Gabbler, Pygmalion, London Assurance (Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway: Give Me Your Answer, Do!; Hotel Suites. REGIONAL: The Old Globe: The Importance of Being Earnest; Chicago Opera House: My Fair Lady; Arena Stage: Long Day’s Journey into Night (Helen Hayes Nomination), Other Desert Cities, Noises Off; Guthrie Theater: Death of a Salesman, The Cherry Orchard, Twelfth Night; Arizona Theater Company: A Streetcar Named Desire. INTERNATIONAL: The Abbey Theatre (Dublin): All My Sons (ESB / Irish Times Nomination); Stratford Festival: Arms and the Man, School for Scandal, Blithe Spirit, The Merchant of Venice. FILM: Julie & Julia, Little Children, The Next Three Days, Black Knight. TELEVISION: Braindead, The Good Wife, Brotherhood, Seinfeld, Law & Order. AWARDS: Helen Hayes Awards (for Major Barbara, Volpone); Theater World Award (London Assurance); The Callaway Award (London Assurance).

 

KELLEY CURRAN (Clytemnestra)

STC: Henry IV, Part 1 and 2 (Lady Percy). NEW YORK: Broadway: Present Laughter (with Kevin Kline). Off-Broadway: The Public Theater: Mother of the Maid (with Glenn Close); Theatre for a New Audience: The Winter’s Tale; Bedlam Ensemble Theatre: Sense and Sensibility, Peter Pan; The Pearl Theatre Company: The DingDong; Red Bull Theater: ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore; LAByrinth: The Atmosphere of Memory; Signature Theatre Company: Angels In America; New Victory / The Acting Company: Henry V. REGIONAL: Paper Mill Playhouse, The Guthrie Theater, Portland Center Stage, Shakespeare & Company, The Acting Company. FILM: The Man Who Killed Hitler, Then The Bigfoot. TELEVISION: The Blacklist. AWARDS: National Theatre Conference Emerging Professional Award, Joseph A. Callaway Award, and Drama League and Princess Grace Award nominations. TRAINING: Fordham University at Lincoln Center: BA, BADA at Oxford: Shakespeare Intensive.

 

JONATHAN LOUIS DENT (Chorus)

NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: New World Stages: Church and State; Roundabout Theatre Company: Sons of the Prophet. REGIONAL: Huntington Theater Company: Skeleton Crew, Sons of the Prophet; Hartford Stage: Romeo and Juliet; Capital Repertory Company: The Royale; Company One: The Good Negro; The Providence Black Repertory Company: The Etymology of Bird. TELEVISION: Elementary. AWARDS: Fringe Overall Excellence Award: The Broken Record written by Jonathan Louis Dent (New York International Fringe Festival). TRAINING: NYU Graduate Acting Program: MFA; Brown University: BA in Africana Studies and Theatre.

 

ZOË SOPHIA GARCIA (Cassandra)

NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: Playwrights Horizons: Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra; Working Theatre: La Ruta. REGIONAL: Milwaukee Rep: One House Over; Cleveland Playhouse: Between Riverside and Crazy; The Goodman Theatre: Another Word for Beauty; Actors Theatre of Louisville: Oh Gastronomy!, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. TELEVISION: Law & Order: SVU, Instinct, The Blacklist, The Good Fight, Elementary, Madam Secretary. OTHER: The Living Room: founding member; #liberated: co-creator. TRAINING: Actors Theatre of Louisville: Acting Apprentice; American Conservatory Theater: Summer Training Congress; University of California Berkeley: BA in Theater and Performance Studies.

 

ALVIN KEITH (Chorus)

NEW YORK: Broadway: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Off-Broadway: Apollo Theater: Unspeakable; New Worlds Theater: Carcass; New Federal Theater: Strange Weather; Primary Stages: A Sunbeam. REGIONAL: Arkansas Repertory Theatre: Windfall (dir. Jason Alexander); Cincinnati Playhouse: Mothers and Sons, As You Like It; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: The Convert; Swine Palace: A Free Man of Color; Arena Stage: Resurrection; Seattle Repertory Theatre: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Guthrie Theater: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Virginia Stage Company: The Piano Lesson, A Christmas Carol; Cleveland Playhouse: Blues for an Alabama Sky; Crossroads Theater: Train to 2010. FILM: Ambition’s Debt, If You Could Say it in Words. TELEVISION: The Blacklist, Mr. Robot, Law & Order: Trial by Jury. TRAINING: Alabama Shakespeare Festival / University of Alabama: MFA Classical Acting; Morehouse College; Public Theater: Shakespeare Lab (dir. Barry Edelstein).

 

PATRENA MURRAY (Chorus)

NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: Daryl Roth Theatre: Gloria: A Life; New Light Theater Project: The Hollower; The Public Theater: Masculinity Max, The Winter’s Tale; The Delacorte Theater: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Signature Theatre Company: Venus, The Death of The Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World; Irondale Center: St. Joan of the Stockyards; Theater for a New City: The Seagull. REGIONAL: Mark Taper Forum: Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3); American Repertory Theater: Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3). FILM: Daddy (short). TELEVISION: The Sopranos, Law & Order. AWARDS: NAACP Theater Award (for Fourth / Oddsee Dog in Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3)). TRAINING: SUNY Purchase Conservatory: BFA in Acting.

 

RAD PEREIRA (Electra)

NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: The Public Theater: Chautauqua!; The Flea Theater: Trojan Women, Take Care, The Mysteries; New Ohio Ice Factory Festival / Clubbed Thumb: Madonna col Bambino; La MaMa: Riot Antigone; Target Margin: A Land of Nations; Abrons Arts Center: Decolonization Rave I + II. REGIONAL: Pittsburgh Public Theater: The Tempest; Theatre 16: 167 Tongues. TELEVISION: Dancando na Broadway; Ghost Writer; Girl Code. OTHER: 2017 NYC Cultural Affairs Public Artist in Residence; EmergeNYC Fellow with Hemispheric Institute; Director of Engagement of You Are Here. TEACHING: Pace University, Interlochen. TRAINING: Pace University; Interlochen Arts Academy. WEB: (Blank) My Life; The Pioneers. Instagram: @______rad___. RadPlanet.org. OTHER: Rad is grateful to the Paskatawe tribe for having us as guests on their land.

 

SOPHIA SKILES (Chorus)

NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: National-Asian American Theater Company: Henry VI, A Dream Play, The Seagull, The House of Bernarda Alba; Ma-Yi Theater Company: The Suitcase Trilogy, Savage Acts; Target Margin Theater: The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc. Ontological-Hysteric Theater: Now That Communism Is Dead, My Life Feels Empty!. REGIONAL: Milwaukee Repertory Theater: after all the terrible things I do; Interlochen Shakespeare Festival: American Hwangap; Cleveland Public Theatre: Blue Sky Transmission, The Phantoms of King Lear; Chicago Shakespeare Theater: Julius Caesar; Lookingglass Theater Company: HereAfter; Goodman Theater: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. INTERNATIONAL: Ontological-Hysteric Theater (New York / Vienna / Amsterdam): Now That Communism Is Dead, My Life Feels Empty!. TEACHING: SUNY Purchase: Adjunct Professor; SUNY Ulster: Adjunct Professor; Mount Holyoke College: Visiting Professor. TRAINING: Columbia University: MFA in Acting; Northwestern University: BS in Performance Studies. WEB: SophiaSkiles.com.

 

FRANCHELLE STEWART DORN (Chorus)

STC: Affiliated Artist, Zabina in Tamburlaine, Baroness in Edward II, The Queen in Cymbeline The Gypsy in Camino Real, Goddess in The Tempest, Emilia in Othello, Kari in Peer Gynt, Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Christine in Mourning Becomes Electra, Mistress Quickly in Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2, Lady Sneerwell in The School for Scandal, Duchess of York in Richard II, Emmy in The Doctor’s Dilemma, Cassandra in Troilus and Cressida, Gertrude in Hamlet, Adriana in The Comedy of Errors, Yvette in Mother Courage, Elizabeth in Richard III, Emilia in Othello, Maria in Twelfth Night, Elizabeth I in Mary Stuart, Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, Lucy Lockit in The Beggar’s Opera, Audrey in As You Like It, Widow Capilet in All’s Well That Ends Well, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Paulina in The Winter’s Tale, Jaquenetta in Love’s Labors Lost. REGIONAL: Arena Stage; The American Conservatory Theater; Yale Repertory Theatre; Long Wharf Theatre; George Street Playhouse; Great Lakes Theater Company; Cleveland Playhouse; Arizona State Theatre; Chautauqua Theatre; Guthrie Theater; The State Theatre;  ZACH Theatre; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Red Bull, NY; Signature Theater, NY; Contemporary American Theater Festival  FILM: Die Hard With a Vengeance, Chances Are, Raise the Titanic. TELEVISION: Law & Order, the International public television mini-series, Timeline;  NBC’S Another World .

AWARDS: 3 Helen Hayes Awards, 7 nominations for Helen Hayes Awards, Austin Critics’ Circle Award for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Medea. DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR: University of Texas at Austin: Department of Theatre and Dance. TRAINING: Yale School of Drama: MFA.

 

SIMONE WARREN (Iphigenia)

REGIONAL: Signature Theatre: Billy Elliot; Olney Theatre Center: Annie. FILM: Belt the Vote PSA, Obama Global Girls Alliance PSA, Talk! They Hear You Substance Abuse and Mental Health PSA, Ferdinand the Movie/DC Cupcakes commercial. OTHER: Managed by Linda Townsend. TRAINING: Joe’s Movement Emporium: West Side Story, Cinderella; Howard University Ira Aldridge Theatre: August on my Mind; Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center: Cinderella.

 

KELCEY WATSON (Agamemnon)

REGIONAL: Watts Village Theater Company: Hollywood in the Hood; New Jersey Repertory Company: Minstrel Show, or The Lynching of William Brown; The Blue Barn Theatre: Six Degrees Of Separation, The Tulip; John Beasley Theater: The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Fences, The Colored Museum; Brigit St. Brigit: Julius Caesar;  Lilyhorn / Martin Productions: Shopping and F**king; Snap Productions: Take Me Out; Omaha Theater Company: The Misfits; Nebraska Shakespeare: Henry V; Skullduggery Theater: Defiance; TELEVISION: East of La Brea (series premier at 2019 SXSW Film Festival), Escape The Night, Cowboys vs Dinosaurs, WWE Monday Night Raw; FILM: 2307: Winter’s Dream; Film Shorts: Redbird, Minty, Forgotten Sunset; TRAINING: The School at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, American Academy Of Dramatic Arts (NY). WEB: Instagram: kelcivious1.

THE CREATIVE TEAM

 

JENNIFER ARCHIBALD (Movement Director) has choreographed for Ailey II, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Cincinnati Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Ballet Nashville, Tulsa Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet.  Appointed as first female Resident Choreographer in Cincinnati Ballet’s 40-year history. Choreographic Fellow for Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, Choreographic Winnings recipient by the Joffrey Ballet. Choreographer of “Seven”, a biographical work about Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, TEACHING:Yale:Acting Lecturer Columbia Adjunct Lecturer TRAINING Alvin Ailey School, Maggie Flanigan Acting Studio, WEB: JenniferArchibald.com

 

JENNIFER TIPTON (Lighting Designer) is well known for her lighting of theater, opera and dance.  Her recent work in theater includes TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD on Broadway.   Her recent work in opera includes David Lang’s THE LOSER at the Los Angeles Opera and her recent work in dance includes Justin Peck’s PRINCIPIA for New York City Ballet.  She teaches lighting at the Yale School of Drama.  Among many awards she has received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2001, the Jerome Robbins Prize in 2003 and in 2008 she was awarded the USA “Gracie” Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship.

 

CRICKET S. MEYERS (Sound Design)

Broadway: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Drama Desk Award, Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway: Marvelous Wonderettes. Regional: The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona, Under the Lintels, Sex with Strangers, Play Dead (Ovation Nomination), Wrecks, Some Girl(s) (Geffen Playhouse); Bent, Steward of Christendom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Ovation nomination), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Subject was Roses (Mark Taper Forum); Twist your Dickens (Ovation nomination), The Wake, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Little Dog Laughed (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Squirrels, Sideways, The Nightingale (La Jolla Playhouse); Book Club Play (Arena Stage); In the Wake (Berkeley Rep); Sweeny Todd, Photograph 51, Kings, 4000 Miles, The Fantasticks, Parisian Woman, Elemeno Pea (South Coast Rep); Stoneface, Above the Fold, Crowns, Orson’s Shadow (Pasadena Playhouse). Other selected L.A. theaters include Ghost Road Theater Company, The Celebration Theater, Echo Theater Company and Circle X. Cricket has earned 22 Ovation Nominations, as well as winning The Ruth Morley Award from the League of Professional Theater Women, The Kinetic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Design, an LADCC and a Garland Award in Los Angeles www.cricketsmyers.com

 

SUSAN HILFERTY (Scenic and Costume Designer)

STC: Salomé (2015. Helen Hayes Award Outstanding Set Design) and The Tempest (1997). Hilferty is a costume and set designer for over 350 productions around the globe. Broadway designs include Wicked (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards); Present Laughter (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nomination); Spring Awakening (Tony nomination); Lestat (Tony nomination); Annie; Hands on a Hardbody; Wonderland; Assassins; Into the Woods (Tony and Drama Desk nominations; Hewes Award); and How to Succeed…. Her designs for opera include La Traviata, and Rigoletto (Metropolitan Opera); and Manon (LA Opera and Berlin Staatsoper). Recent off-Broadway and regional designs include Boesman and Lena (Signature Theatre); Uncle Vanya (Hunter Theatre Project and Old Globe); Fire in Dreamland, Illyria, and The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family (Public Theater); Love, Love, Love (Roundabout. Lucille Lortel Award); How to Transcend a Happy Marriage (Lincoln Center); Buried Child, and The Spoils (New Group and Ambassador Theatre Group); Turn Me Loose (Arena Stage), She has collaborated on 39 productions with South African playwright Athol Fugard in the US, UK and South Africa.  Hilferty also designs for film (Laurie Anderson’s Home of the Brave), dance (Alvin Ailey), circus (Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey) and concerts (Taylor Swift SPEAK NOW). Her many awards include the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Lifetime Achievement, and an OBIE for Sustained Excellence in Design. Susan currently chairs Graduate Design at NYU/TISCH.

 

KAMALA SANKARAM (Composer)

NEW YORK: Prototype Festival: Bombay Rickey Meets the Psychology of Desire, Thumbprint; HERE Arts Center: Miranda, Sounding; Opera on Tap: The Parksville Murders; American Lyric Theater: Enchantress. REGIONAL: Washington National Opera: Taking Up Serpents; Houston Grand Opera: A Rose, Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers; Opera Ithaca: The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace, Opera Memphis: Formidable, LA Opera: Thumbprint. INTERNATIONAL: Tête-à-Tête Opera (London, England): Bombay Rickey Meets the Psychology of Desire. FILM: Dentist, Five Infomercials for Dentists. AWARDS: Jonathan Larson Award; Innovative Theatre Award: Best Production of a Musical (Miranda). OTHER: Concert music includes commissions by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Forward Music Project, Duo Cortona, Anti-Social Music, and the Symphony of South Asia, among others. Kamala is the leader of Bombay Rickey, a critically acclaimed operatic Bollywood surf ensemble.  Also an accomplished soprano, she will next appear with the LA Philharmonic in Meredith Monk’s opera Atlas. TEACHING: SUNY Purchase: Adjunct Professor of Composition. TRAINING: New School for Social Research: PhD. WEB: www.kamalasankaram.com

 

TELSEY + COMPANY (Casting)

Broadway/Tours: Beetlejuice, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, Oklahoma!, Be More Chill, Network, The Cher Show, The Prom, Pretty Woman, My Fair Lady, Mean Girls, Frozen, Come From Away, Waitress, Hamilton, Kinky Boots, Wicked, Hello, Dolly!, Anastasia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, On Your Feet!. Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theater Company, Classic Stage Company, MCC Theater, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Second Stage Theater. Film: Mary Poppins Returns, Ben Is Back, The Greatest Showman, Into the Woods, Rachel Getting Married. TV: “Rent,” “Murphy Brown,” “This Is Us,” “House of Cards,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “One Day at a Time,” commercials. www.telseyandco.com

 

Rounding out the creative team and production teams are : LISA BELEY (Voice and Text Coach), CARTER C. WOODDELL (Casting Director), ROBB HUNTER (Fight Choreographer), DREW LICHTENBERG (Production Dramaturg), CRAIG BALDWIN (Assistant Director), JOSEPH SMELSER (Production Stage Manager), and CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL BORG and REBECCA SHIPMAN  (Assistant Stage Managers).