CREATIVES BIOGRAPHIES

WALT STEPP (Playwright/Composer) Walt's previous works in NYC have been Lightin’ Out: A Mark Twain Musical (1992), Dominoes: A Watergate/Fanne Foxe Musical (1988), and at this theatre, Why We Shot John: the conspirators' play (2006) and The View From K Street Steak: Capitol Puppets & Breadfellows (2007). All try to deal entertainingly with the heavy questions. Tonight: Why Did America's Great Humorist fall into a great depression at the end of his life? The answer is probably too heavy and complex for any playwright, so this play tries to confine itself solely to the literary reasons for the famous funk. Samuel Clemens had all the usual, mortal reasons to be blue, but Mark Twain's only deep regret was that he blew the ending of what has come to be called the Great American Novel of growing up. . . . A child of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs), Walt grew up on the Navajo Reservation in little towns like Ft. Defiance, Arizona. (He helped his Dad show the weekly movie, which came in by coach from Denver. There were only two kinds of pictures back then: Cowboys & Indians (been there) or the New York movie, which always opened with the thrilling, must-see skyline.) He is a proud graduate of the Missouri's great School of Journalism, but it was there he discovered Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, and Sinatra (the great phraser). Starting out in Appalachia, he has taught English for at least twenty years at Nassau Community College.

TOM HERMAN (Director) Tom’s direction has been a staple of New York City’s Theatre Row, Resident and Off-Off-Broadway theatres for more than a decade. His latest directing project was a reading of Tony Sportiello’s backstage comedy Star Power for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at HBO. Recent stage productions include his revival of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child for The Michael Chekhov Theatre (a show acclaimed by The New York Times as “exciting… powerful… a tragic opera”) and his critically applauded and popular productions of Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero and Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine at Brooklyn’s Gallery Players. Many of the plays Tom has directed have been world or NYC premieres and have gone on to be published, such as Edward Musto’s The Ninth Circle, Yasmine Rana’s Decent, William Gadea’s Touch and Michael T. Folie’s Lemonade. While devoted to discovering new playwrights and developing new works, Tom has also directed classics, including Schiller’s Mary Stuart and the relatively unknown Think Twice, a thriller by controversial novelist Ayn Rand that had never before been produced in New York City. NYC companies for which Tom has directed full productions or readings include Ensemble Studio Theatre, Vital Theatre, Pulse Ensemble, Rude Mechanicals, The Drilling Company, the DR2, Algonquin Theatre Productions, 29th Street Rep, The Mint Space, Theatre 603, 45th Street Theatre, Inner Space, Michael Chekhov Theatre Company, End Times Productions, Midtown International Theatre Festival, The Samuel French Festival, Chelsea Theatre Center, Gallery Players and West Side Theatre Center. Tom also directed regionally at Virginia’s Wayside Theatre, where he was Assistant Artistic Director for two seasons. In addition to his directing, Tom has served as Literary Manager or script reader for several companies in town, and currently reads scripts for The Public Theater. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and a graduate of Yale.

JEN VARBALOW (Scenic Design) is pleased to be working with old and new friends on this production. Previous design credits include Naked Eye Planets for Coyote Rep, Hazard County (nominated for an IT award), Snake in Fridge, and Naked for Themantics, Tooth and Claw, Masha No Home and Marathons 2002/2003 for Ensemble Studio Theatre and Sholom Alecheim and Wormday at the DR2. Jen is a also a teaching artist with the Roundabout Theatre and TADA! and a graduate of Rutgers and Brandeis. Special thanks to Hana and Hiro, my muses.

CATHY SMALL (Costume Design) Design credits include The View From K Street Steak with Cinna Productions at Altered Stages; Avenue A, Bobby Supreme, and Pick up Ax with 29th St. Rep, NYC; Naked by Pirandello with Themantics, NYC; The King of Mackie Street with Vital Theater, NYC; Deidamia, La Sonnambula, The Magic Flute, and L’Elisir d’Amor with Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, NY; Regina, Maskarade, and Don Giovanni with The Bronx Opera, NYC; Reverse Psychology with HAI, NYC; and Resident Costume Designer for The Actors Studio Drama School ’99 – ’03 Repertory Seasons. Assistant Design credits include Wicked – Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Stuttgart Tour Productions and Australia, costumes by Susan Hilferty; Surviving Grace at The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, costumes by Thom Heyer; TV Funhouse for Comedy Central, costumes by Wendy Stuart; and The World of Nick Adams at Avery Fisher Hall, costumes by Wendy Stuart.

CHARLES FORSTER (Light Design) is a recent engineering graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. There he designed more than 30 shows, including Amadeus, Angels in America, Copenhagen, Equus, In Trousers, Tales of the Lost Formicans, The Rocky Horror Show, Six Degrees of Separation, and Wild Party. He was also a technical director for Front Row Theatre Company and Strictly Funk Dance, a member of The Pennsylvania Players, and a producer for the Amorphous Jugglers. Previous work at Altered Stages includes Love, Death, and Interior Decorating, Mama's Boys, and The View from K-Street Steak. He is pleased to be working with Walt and Tom again.

DAVID WOLFSON (Music Director) has worked as music director, composer, orchestrator, arranger, pianist, copyist or synthesizer programmer for performances in venues ranging from Broadway theatres to elementary school cafetoriums. He is very busy as the Music Director, Associate Artistic Director and resident composer of Experience Vocal Dance Company (www.experiencevocaldance.org). In the last year he has presented The Jello Is Always Red (a new revue of Clark Gesner’s cabaret songs) in a reading at the York Theatre, accompanied cabaret singer Carol Sherlin in sold-out shows at Don’t Tell Mama and performed in the Broadway pits of The Pirate Queen, Grey Gardens, Mary Poppins, Les Miserables and The Drowsy Chaperone. He is enthusiastically married to Lynn Wichern; their eleven-year-old son, Adam, wants to be a writer when he grows up, or possibly a bartender.

JAMES BEAUDRY (Choreographer) A resident choreographer and director with the Timber Lake Playhouse in Illinois, James has also worked with the Off-Broadway company Tada!, Downtown Cabaret Theatre, MOC Musicals, CUNY, and New York Musical Theatre Festival. Choreography includes West Side Story, Cats, Urinetown, Hair, Into the Woods, Bat Boy, Dracula, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Footloose, as well as the original works Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Xenophobia! and Rite of Spring, Left of Center. James has served as a curriculum adviser for the Guggenheim Museum, Denver Center, and the Shakespeare Theatre Co. His work has been featured in Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit Magazine, and Backstage. MFA from Mills College; BA from the College of Wooster.

MICHAEL PALMER (Production Stage Manager) has a BA in both Theater and in Music. His stage managing credits include Brighton Beach Memoirs (Emelin Theater) Macbeth, Intellectuals and Neya Te Sung (Workshop Theater), Hamlet (Currican Theater), It’s Just Time (Sanford Meisner Theater) and Deep in the Heart (Pulse Ensemble Theater). Michael’s script Shadows in Light was produced and aired on the WB & UPN affiliate stations. He is a proud member of AEA and SAG

MALACHY OROZCO (ASM/Construction Crew) is a graduate of Montclair State University where although he spent the bulk of his time on-stage, he spent many hours behind the scenes. He's performed at Collective Unconscious, The Wings Theater, and at The Public Theater. Production credits include The WorkShop Theater, Theatre Row, and HBO's The Sopranos. Thanks to John's Wooten and Basil, Michael Palmer and John Sisson, and Mom. malachy.orozco@gmail.com

JOHN SISSON (Technical Director) John has worked the technical side for many productions over the years including at Synchronicity Theatre Group of which he was a member and, more recently, at 29th Street Rep. John is also an accomplished New York City chef and has been professionally employed as an inventor.

PETER CARPENTER (Sound Design) Peter was the resident sound designer for the Synchronicity Theatre Group in Soho for almost a decade. He has a Master’s degree from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.