Creative Team

• Douglas Carter Beane (Book) Beane’s Broadway play The Little Dog Laughed received the GLAAD media award for best play, and was also nominated for a Tony Award^® for best new play. His other works include As Bees In Honey Drown (Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award), Music From A Sparkling Planet and The Country Club. He wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of his play Advice From A Caterpillar which won Aspen Comedy Festival’s best feature.  His film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar was produced by Steven Spielberg, was the number one film in America for a month and is now a television favorite. The Big Time, Beane’s first musical, received rave reviews last year and his next musical, a stage adaptation of the film The Bandwagon is slated to open on Broadway later this season. Fascinated by non-traditional forms of theater, Beane has written the revues, White Lies and Mondo Drama and this season a live theatrical soap opera, The Cartells. As Artistic Director of the New York theater company Drama Dept. he produced over forty productions, including acclaimed revivals of As Thousands Cheer, June Moon and The Torchbearers and world premiere works by Paul Rudnick, David Sedaris and Wendy Wasserstein. His new play, Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost, Too will open next season in New York and he is currently developing a television series for producer Lorne Michaels. He resides in New York City with his partner, composer Lewis Flinn and their son, Cooper.

• Jeff Lynne (Music & Lyrics) formed the Electric Light Orchestra, or E.L.O., in the 1970s. The group gradually developed from cult favorites into one of the 70s’ leading recording acts, scoring international success with several platinum-selling albums, including A New World Record and Out Of The Blue. Lynne’s dual talents as a composer and producer ensured the group’s status but, sensing an artistic sterility, he abandoned his creation in 1986. The artist then assumed an increasingly backroom role, but won praise for his production work with George Harrison (Cloud Nine), Randy Newman (Land Of Dreams) and Roy Orbison (Mystery Girl) and he has also contributed his distinctive production qualities to much of Tom Petty’s recent output. Lynne’s work with Orbison coincided with his position as ‘Otis Wilbury’ in the Traveling Wilburys, an informal ‘supergroup’ completed by Orbison, Harrison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan. This particularly prolific period was also marked by his work with Brian Wilson on the ex-Beach Boys’ first long-awaited solo album. In recent years, Lynne has produced the Beatles lost tapes, notably Free as a Bird and Real Love. He co-produced Paul McCartney’s Flaming Pie in 1997.

• John Farrar (Music & Lyrics) Music producer, singer, songwriter, music arranger and guitarist, best known for his work with Olivia Newton-John with whom he wrote and produced many hit songs. Father, with Pat Farrar, of sons Sam Farrar (born June 28, 1978) and Max Farrar. Former member of The Shadows, Marvin, Welch & Farrar and The Strangers. Shortly after he joined The Strangers, they became the house band for the popular TV music program The Go! Show. Both his future wife, Pat Farrar, and Olivia Newton-John appeared on the show as singers.

• Matthew Gardiner (Director) SIGNATURE: Director: Really Really, The Hollow, Side by Side by Sondheim, Art, [title of show], See What I Wanna See; Choreographer: Sweeney Todd, Dirty Blonde; Assistant Director and Choreographer: over 20 productions at Signature Theatre, alongside Eric Schaeffer, Frank Galati, John Rando, Karma Camp, Christopher D’Amboise and Jeremy Skidmore. Associate Artistic Director (2011-present), Resident Director (2010-2011), Resident Assistant Director (2006-2010); SIGNATURE CABARET: Director: Broadway Duets, Lost Songs of Broadway 1950s, Signature Sings (featuring Natascia Diaz & Euan Morton), December Divas II, Singing Shakespeare. NEW YORK: Director: NYMF: The Greenwood Tree; Assistant Director: Circle in the Square: Glory Days. DC AREA: Director/Choreographer: Kennedy Center: Snow White, Rose Red (and Fred!); Everyman Theatre: Let Me Sing And I’m Happy; MetroStage: tick, tick...BOOM!; Catholic University of America: La Boheme, Candide; Co-Director/Choreographer: Studio Theatre: Jerry Springer: The Opera, Reefer Madness (2008 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical and Direction of a Musical), Choreographer: Studio Theatre: Grey Gardens, Adding Machine. Assistant Director: Kennedy Center: Cat on A Hot Tin Roof. EDUCATION: Carnegie Mellon University.

• Gabriel Mangiante (Music Director) SIGNATURE: Brother Russia, Hairspray, Sweet Tea, The Hollow, The Boy Detective Fails, I Capture the Castle (21/24 workshop); Side By Side By Sondheim; And The Curtain Rises; Sunset Boulevard; Chess; Tamar and the River (21/24 workshop); [title of show]; Dirty Blonde; Partial Eclipse; Giant; Signature Sings: 2000-2004; Signature Sings: 1995-1999; The Boy Detective Fails (21/24 workshop); LaChiusa’s Ladies; Ricky, Joe, and Michael John; December Divas; Lost Songs of Broadway Volumes I and II; Revenge of the Understudies I and II; various other cabarets. DC AREA: Studio: Reefer Madness (Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Resident Musical); This Beautiful City.

• Misha Kachman (Scenic Design) SIGNATURE: Brother Russia, Really Really, Side by Side by Sondheim. INTERNATIONAL: Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center: South Bank, Souzhou Creek; St. Petersburg Komissarzhevskaya Theatre: The Island of Goats, The Flight. DC AREA: Kennedy Center: Unleashed!; Barrio Grrrl!; Snow White, Rose Red (and Fred!), The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Fever/Dream (Helen Hayes nomination), Gruesome Playground Injuries, Oedipus el rey, The Bright New Boise (Helen Hayes nomination); Round House Theatre: Around the World in 80 Days, Wrinkle in Time, The Crown of Shadows; Theatre J: Either Or, Honey Brown Eyes, The New Jerusalem, Lost in Yonkers, The Odd Couple. REGIONAL: Milwaukee Shakespeare: Cymbeline. OPERA: Maryland Opera Studio: Così fan tutte, Xerxes, Evgeny Onegin, The Barber of Seville, Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Peabody Conservatory Opera: The Adventures of Sharp-Ears the Vixen. EDUCATION: State Theatre Arts Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia.

• Kathleen Geldard (Costume Design) SIGNATURE: Brother Russia (world premiere), Really Really, Hairspray, The Hollow (world premiere), The Boy Detective Fails (world premiere), Side By Side By Sondheim, Art, And the Curtain Rises (world premiere), Sunset Boulevard, Walter Cronkite is Dead. (world premiere), A Fox on the Fairway (world premiere), Chess, Sycamore Trees (world premiere), Sweeney Todd, I Am My Own Wife, Show Boat, See What I Wanna See, Les Misérables, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Happy Time. REGIONAL: La Jolla Playhouse, Huntington Theatre, Berkeley Rep, CenterStage, Vineyard Playhouse, Studio Arena Theatre. DC AREA: Woolly Mammoth Theatre; Round House Theatre; Imagination Stage; Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences, Olney Theatre Center; Folger Theatre; Studio Theatre; Everyman Theatre; Theater J. DANCE: Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. AWARDS: 2012 Bay Area Critics Circle Nomination for Ruined, Berkeley Rep, 2012 IRNE Nomination for Ruined, Huntington Theatre, 2009 Helen Hayes nomination for The Neverending Story, Imagination Stage.

• Chris Lee (Lighting Design) SIGNATURE: Chess, Sweeney Todd (2010), Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Merrily We Roll Along, The Word Begins, The Witches Of Eastwick, Saving Aimee, Into The Woods, Assassins, One Red Flower, Follies, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Grand Hotel, … in the absence of spring … , Side Show, Urinetown, Elegies: A Song Cycle. BROADWAY/WEST END: Fame Becomes Me, Linda Eder Live, Shakespeare’s R&J (Tokyo & London). OTHER: Peep Show Las Vegas, The Pajama Game, The Backyardigans, Barbie™ Live In Fairytopia™, Jesus Christ Superstar, Twice Charmed, Remember The Magic, Disney’s Believe, Disney Wishes, and facility design for the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy, Camp, and over 200 Off-Broadway and Regional Theatre productions. His studio, Unit 10 Lighting, conceives and designs lighting for clients such as Coca Cola, Ford Motor Company, Sony Ericsson, American Express, and Intel. AWARDS: 2009 Helen Hayes Award, Kiss Of The Spider Woman.

• Matt Rowe (Sound Design) SIGNATURE: Brother Russia, Really Really, Hairspray (Helen Hayes nomination), A Second Chance, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, The Boy Detective Fails, The Hollow, Side by Side by Sondheim, Art, And the Curtain Rises, Sunset Boulevard, Walter Cronkite is Dead., A Fox on the Fairway, Chess, Sycamore Trees, [title of show], Sweeney Todd, Show Boat, First You Dream: The Music of Kander & Ebb, Dirty Blonde, Giant, The Little Dog Laughed, Les Misérables, Anyone Can Whistle in concert, The Visit, The Happy Time, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Glory Days, Merrily We Roll Along, The Witches of Eastwick. DC AREA: Kennedy Center: Snow White, Rose Red (and Fred!); Nobody’s Perfect.

• Brianne Camp (Associate Choreographer) SIGNATURE: Hairspray (Helen Hayes nomination). REGIONAL: Interlochen Arts Center: Carousel, AIDA; Disney Creative Entertainment: Aladdin; Gaylord Center Flash Mob. UPCOMING: Folger Shakespeare Theatre: Taming of the Shrew; Kennedy Center: First You Dream; Signature: Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

• Laura Stanczyk (New York Casting) BROADWAY, OFF-BROADWAY & TOURS: Follies, Lombardi, Ragtime, Impressionism, Seafarer, Radio Golf, Coram Boy, Translations, Damn Yankees, Dirty Dancing, The Glorious Ones, Cripple Of Inishmaan, Tryst, Flight, Urinetown. OTHER THEATRE INCLUDE: the premieres of Cotton Club Parade, Harps And Angels, Me Myself & I, Fetch Clay Make Man, Gruesome Playground Injuries & Golden Age As Well As Productions Of Master Class, Lisbon Traviata, Broadway Three Generations, Don’t Dress For Dinner, Shawshank Redemption, Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Associate Casting Director at Binder Casting for nine years and a member of the Senior Artistic Staff at McCarter Theatre Center for five. AWARDS: Nominated for six Artios Award for Excellence in Casting, won for Eric Schaeffer’s production of Follies. 

• Gregory Vander Ploeg (Skate Supervisor) was a cast member in Starlight Express (Las Vegas) for 5 years and has since worked with NETworks Presentations for over 13 years as a General Manager for National and International tours: Rent, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, Oliver!, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and Edward Scissorhands, My Fair Lady, Hairspray, The Light in the Piazza, The Producers, Sweet Charity, Fosse, The Wedding Singer, The Drowsy Chaperone, Sweeney Todd, The Wizard of Oz, The Lincoln Center Theater’s Production of South Pacific, The New MEL BROOKS Musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, A Chorus Line, Spring Awakening, Shrek, Billy Elliot, La Cage Aux Folles, 25th Anniversary Production of Les Misérables, Mary Poppins and War Horse.

• Julie Meyer (Production Stage Manager) SIGNATURE: Really Really, A Second Chance, The Boy Detective Fails, I Capture the Castle (21/24 workshop), Art, Sunset Boulevard, Walter Cronkite is Dead., Chess, Tamar and the River (21/24 workshop), [title of show], I Am My Own Wife, Show Boat, Dirty Blonde, The Boy Detective Fails (21/24 workshop), Giant, Glory Days, Les Misérables. REGIONAL: Lyric Theatre: Stephen Schwartz’s new musical Snapshots: a Musical Scrapbook, Disney’s High School Musical, Oklahoma!, Evita, Singin’ in the Rain, Once on This Island; Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre: Jane Eyre; Little Me; Dirty Blonde; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. EDUCATION: Rutgers University, MFA, Stage Management.

• Lacey Talero (Assistant Stage Manager) SIGNATURE: Brother Russia, Hairspray, The Hollow, Side By Side By Sondheim, Sunset Boulevard, A Fox on the Fairway (Dresser), Chess (Young Performer Supervisor), Sweeney Todd, Show Boat (Young Performer Supervisor), First You Dream, See What I Wanna See, Les Misérables, The Visit (Dresser), Kiss of the Spider Woman, Witches of Eastwick (Young Performer Supervisor), Saving Aimee. DC AREA: Woolly Mammoth: Maria Stuart; Catalyst Theater: The Trial, We Are Not These Hands; Theater J: Shlemiel the First; Studio Theatre: tempOdyssey; Red Light Winter; Caroline, or Change; Fat Pig; A Number; Summer Opera of Washington: Rigoletto, Cendrillon.