Director/Adapter
Scenic Design by Austin Mueck
Lighting Design by Bentley Heydt
Sound Design and Original Composition by Austin Reinke
Costume Design by Elizabeth Ennis
Hair and Make-Up Designer/Assistant Costume Designer Inna Gomez
Assistant Director Julia Catton
Photos by Bentley Heydt
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Director/Choreographer
Scenic and Props Design: Reiko Huffman
Lighting Design: Abbey Lynn Smith
Costume Design: Saylor Small
Director’s Note: Seussical embodies the joy of play and imagination through which we see the world as children. It embraces the power of our minds, highlighting our ability to change the world around us when we believe in ourselves and stand up for others. Premiering on Broadway in 2000 and written by the award-winning team behind Ragtime, Once on This Island, Anastasia, and many others, this show incorporates elements from over twenty different Dr. Seuss books spanning his decades-long career as a children’s books author and illustrator. Flaherty and Ahrens awaken the child within each of us by incorporating a wide range of popular music styles with influences from Motown, Funk, Latin-Pop, Gospel, Ragtime, traditional musical theatre, and others. Just like its source material, Seussical tackles real-world issues through stories and characters that engage our imaginations no matter our ages.
We have created these worlds almost entirely out of recycled and repurposed materials. Thank you to everyone who donated materials to this production and all who helped bring this show to life out of every-day things. You have allowed us all the opportunity to let our imaginations run wild, and that has been a tremendous treat.
Sometimes in a theatrical process the collaboration is so seamless that ideas ebb and flow between artists in a way that fuels creativity and inspires think after joyful think. Seussical has been exactly this. Everything you see on stage was made possible due to an immense amount of love, care, and time put into this production by all involved. When I pitched this concept to the team in December, I could not have imagined how invested every person involved in this project would be: from designers and shop managers to actors; from the stage management team to props artisans; from the assistant director and choreographer to the crew; from music-director, conductor, and musicians to volunteers in the shops. It has been an immense joy to put this production together and I am grateful to all who made this possible. I hope that you enjoy venturing into your imagination, and in the words of Dr. Seuss: “Oh the thinks you can think, if only you try.”
Fresh Voices: Spotlighting the Future (Director)
Nebraska Wesleyan University Fall 2020
*Director’s Note:
When setting out to produce a musical in the middle of a global pandemic, the faculty of NWU theatre department grappled with how to safely produce a musical in a time where so much of what we do in theatre is now unsafe. Broadway is shuttered until at least June of 2021. regional theatre across the country are moving seasons online, if they are lucky enough to be operating at all. Theatre artists across the country are out of work and questioning how to move forward. University theatres are grappling with these same problems in addition to the questions that all educators are wrestling with of how to adapt to our current situation and continue to offer our students enriching learning experiences.
Because of these limitations, producing a fully realized musical production was not an option this fall, and the most viable and safe option was producing either a song cycle or cabaret. But, as is often the case, with limitation comes the opportunity for creativity. The theatre faculty embraced and embarked on the idea of collaborating with up-and-coming artists writing in musical theatre to put together a night of new music, highlighting issues facing young people today and shining a light on voices that have long been marginalized in traditional musical theatre.
After reaching out to friends and colleagues to see if any of them would have interest in being a part of a new works cabaret in Lincoln, Nebraska, I was introduced to Jen Sandler, a producer at New York Theatre Barn. Jen graciously put me in contact with multiple composers and lyricists who are writing new and exciting work throughout this difficult time. These artists are all part of a movement to tackle the exclusive systems that have long been in place in theatre, and create a more equitable and representative musical theatre.
What started as a solution to the problem of how to produce a musical production in the time of Covid19, evolved into an opportunity to highlight stories not often heard, performed by people who have too often not been seen. Throughout the process, and in large thanks to the Pace Woods Foundation, the students of Fresh Voices have had the opportunity to meet and work with the composers and lyricists, and several of the pieces highlighted tonight have been commissioned for our students specifically.
The artists whose work the actors of Fresh Voices are performing have been incredibly gracious. They have shared their time and their experiences with our students, discussing their paths, inspirations, their experiences within the theatre industry and where they hope to see it go. There have been last minute changes and additions, and the students have had the opportunity to experience working on brand new material, directly with the writers creating it.
As with all theatrical experiences, but in some ways even more so throughout this process, this has been a massive team effort, made possible only through the immense support of the entire theatre department and with support of the music school and university. As a visiting faculty member, I have been inspired by the creativity and determination of the department to continue to offer the students live theatrical experiences, and overwhelmed by the support and sense of community. Most of all, I have been moved, every single day, by the dedication and passion of the students involved in this production. They represent the future of musical theatre. Their perseverance, willingness to tackle personal and difficult issues, and their bravery to use their voices and art to speak out and affect change, give me great hope for the future.
Ohio University
Director/Choreographer
Scenic Design: Jacob Brown
Lighting Design: Bentley Heydt
Costume Design: Xintong Li
Projections Design: Dusty Brown
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Arthur Laurents
Originally conceived, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Co-Director, Choreographer
Summer Repertory Theatre Festival
Co-Director: James Newman
Scenic Design: Brian Redfern
Lighting Design: Joe Beumer
Costume Design: Andja Budincich
by Moliere, translated by Richard Wilbur
Director
Summer Repertory Theatre Festival, 2015
by Philip Dawkins
Director
Scenic Design: Russel Biddish
Lighting Design: Derek Keifer
Presented by Ohio University Theater Department
By the end of 1928, all three Fail sisters will be dead -- expiring in reverse order, youngest to oldest, from blunt object to the head, disappearance, and finally consumption. Tuneful songs, and a whimsical chorus follow the story of Nelly, Jenny June, and Gerty as they live out their lives above the family clock repair shop near the Chicago River, before their time unexpectedly runs out. A magical, musical fable where, in the end, the power of love is far greater than any individual's successes or failures.
Failure fulfilled my Styles Project at Ohio University. With a scenic budget of $100 and a costume budget of $50, the entirety of this production was pulled pieces from previous OU productions, refurbished for the show. Embracing the whimsy of the piece, the directorial concept embraced elements of vaudeville, puppetry, and story-telling theatre, using a few key elements to create multiple locations and events. The play incorporated live music created by the actors, and each actor played multiple characters, including taking on different elements of the chorus.
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse
Co-Director and Choreographer
Summer Repertory Theatre Festival
Co-Director: James Newman
Scenic Design: Brian Redfern
Lighting Design: Joe Beumer
Costume Design: Dominique Fawn Hill
French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts
2019
Director
by Bruce Norris
Director
Summer Repertory Theatre, 2017
Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Play, Clybourne Park is a razor-sharp satire about the politics of race. In response to Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, playwright Bruce Norris set up Clybourne Park as a pair of scenes that bookend Hansberry’s piece. These two scenes, fifty years apart, are both set in the same modest bungalow on Chicago’s northwest side that features at the center of A Raisin in the Sun. The first scene takes place before and the second scene takes place after the events of A Raisin in the Sun. In 1959, Russ and Bev are moving out to the suburbs after the tragic death of their son. Inadvertently, they have sold their house to the neighborhood’s first black family. Fifty years later in 2009, the roles are reversed when a young white couple buys the lot in what is now a predominantly black neighborhood, signaling a new wave of gentrification. In both instances, a community showdown takes place, pitting race against real estate with this home as the battleground.
Director/Choreographer
Summer Repertory Theatre Festival, 2016
Music by George Gershwin
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Book by Joe DiPietro
A hilarious screwball comedy, Nice Work if You Can Get It, pokes fun at the Prohibition era in a clash of elegant socialites and boorish bootleggers, all set to the glorious songs of George and Ira Gershwin.
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Director/Choreographer
Scenic Design by Jamie Bullins
Costume Design by Valerie Cuevas
Lighting Design by Sierra Smith
Director
Summer Repertory Theatre, 2013
by Jeffrey Hatcher
A new and shocking version of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of depravity, lust, love and horror. On the fog-bound streets of Victorian-era London, Henry Jekyll's experiments with exotic "powders and tinctures" have brought forth his other self—Edward Hyde, a sensualist and villain free to commit the sins Jekyll is too civilized to comprehend. When Hyde meets a woman who stirs his interest, Jekyll fears for her life and decides to end his experiments. But Hyde has other ideas, and so the two sides battle each other in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse to determine who shall be the master and who his slave. With multiple Hydes portrayed by members of the cast.
To help this intimate show fill a very large theatrical space, I conceptualized a space utilizing multiple doors as opposed to the one red door described in the stage directions. The script turns this classic tale on its head, giving different perspectives by making the audience question who the true villain is, leading us to wonder what sort of monster lurks inside of each of us. To further enhance this idea, mirrors were incorporated, allowing the audience to see themselves in the action of the play, and giving each audience member a unique perspective of the action. The play explored greater use of artistic movement and the integration of an original sound design composed specifically for the movement and direction of the piece.
Music and Lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar
Book by Douglas Carter Beane
Based on 1980 film Xanadu
Director/Choreographer
Summer Repertory Theatre Festival, 2011
This Tony Award-nominated, hilarious, roller skating, musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitations others set for you, rolls along to the original hit score composed by pop-rock legends, Jeff Lynne and John Farrar. Based on the Universal Pictures cult classic movie of the same title, which starred Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, Xanadu ishilarity on wheels for adults, children and anyone who has ever wanted to feel inspired.
Xanadu follows the journey of a magical and beautiful Greek muse, Kira, who descends from the heavens of Mount Olympus to Venice Beach, California. in 1980 on a quest to inspire a struggling artist, Sonny, to achieve the greatest artistic creation of all time – the first ROLLER DISCO! (Hey, it's 1980!) But, when Kira falls into forbidden love with the mortal Sonny, her jealous sisters take advantage of the situation, and chaos abounds.
by Diana Son
Director
Presented by Ohio University Theater Department, January 2017
Stop Kiss fulfilled the Realism Project requirement for my MFA in Direction at Ohio University. The production took place in a large, converted acting studio, and utilized an overall budget of $50.
Featuring images from Ragtime (Choreographer), La Cage Aux Folles (Choreographer), Merrily We Roll Along (Choreographer), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Director/Choreographer), Forever Plaid (Director/Choreographer), Mame (Choreographer), The Full Monty (Choreographer), and Parade (Choreographer)
