JOSEPH PARKS (Producer) is a founding member of Theatre East and collaborated with many of its company members on the Off Broadway productions of Harvest and The Vietnamization of New Jersey. In addition to his work with Theatre East Joseph also works in Producing and Arts Management for The Acting Company, which formed out of the first graduating class of Julliard Drama Division and launched the careers of Kevin Klein, Patti Lupone, Harriet Harris, Rainn Wilson and many others. Joseph’s film credits include the independent films Blood Night, Viral Com, Tom and Jeraldine, Second Time Around, The Superagent, Insidious, Hot and Sour and North Crossing. On Stage Joseph had the honor of performing in The Retrospective on Ntozake Shange at New Federal Theatre last year. His regional Theatre Credits include The Way of the World, Cesar and Ruben, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Metamorphoses, You Can’t Take It With You, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Amadeus, A Flea in Her Ear, and The Kentucky Cycle. Original work with SITI Company Members Jed Araiza and Ellen Lauren include The House, and The Grove, an adaptation of The Cherry Orchard. As a teaching artist Joseph has worked at American Dance and Drama Studio here in New York, as well as The Dougherty Arts School and State Theatre Company in Austin, Texas. Joseph has extensive Suzuki and Viewpoints under the leadership of The SITI Company. Proud Member of Actors Equity Association since 2005.
LISA DEVINE (Director) Lisa holds an MFA in Directing New Works from the University of Oklahoma. She has coached actors for 15 years at the college/university level at some of the country’s top acting conservatories including DePaul University, Rutgers University and University of the Arts. She has the ability to teach 3 disciplines including Theater, Communication, and Film. In 2006, Lisa was nominated for Leading Educator of Higher Education in Philadelphia, PA. In 2000, she was awarded the Exemplary Achievement Teaching Award for her outstanding contribution and personal commitment to her teaching while at San Jacinto College in Houston, TX. She is currently on faculty in the Theater Department at Collin County Community College. Lisa enjoys dividing her time between academic and professional theater. While attending the University of Oklahoma, she caught the attention of New York producer and two-time Tony award winner Max Weitzenhoffer. Though her association with Weitzenhoffer, she was hired for major productions that included directing the regional premiere of Eye of God and assistant directing a World Premiere musical Jack starring three-time Tony award winner John Cullum, and assistant directing a modernized version of No Strings with the Bernstein estate. In 1998, she was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Citation for Director in her Chicago production of Eye of God which was extended for a 6-month run. In 2001, the world premiere production of Cheating Death received 22 awards including Judge’s Choice and Directing at the national play competition KC/ACTF. Lisa is proud to call Rover Dramawerks in Plano, Texas her theatrical home as a Resident Director. Most recently she directed the critically acclaimed production of Mary's Wedding in which she hosted the award-winning playwright, Stephen Massicote. Also for Rover Dramawerks, she directed An Infinite Ache and Private Eyes. Next season, Lisa is directing Veronica's Room and Days of Wine and Roses.
JESSICA M. BURGESS (Resident Lighting Designer) is currently Resident Lighting Designer for Theatre East, Counting Squares Productions, Alden Moves Dance Company and The Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City; The Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, and The Tyler Junior College Apace Belles in Texas. Her Off Broadway debut was Harvest for the Alchemy Theatre Company at Theatre Row. Off Off Broadway credits include: Martin Sherman's Bent at the 13th Street Repertory Theatre and Boys' Life at The Kraine Theatre. Design credits from the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina include The Magic Flute, The Mikado, Little Women the opera, Floyd's Susannah, Candide, Camelot, and La Boheme. Jessica received her Masters for Lighting Design from Purchase College. Her Purchase design credits include Dark of the Moon, By the Bog of Cats and The Coronation of Poppea. She has assisted NYC designers such as Dennis Parichy, David Grill, and Andrea Boccanfuso as well as was Assistant to the Designer to Brian MacDevitt on Broadway's The Color Purple.
MATTHEW HERRICK (Voice & Dialect Coach) Most recently collaborated with Stephen & Scott Schwartz on the pre-Broadway readings of Children of Eden. As a resident member of the classical theatre company, Handcart Ensemble, Matthew recently finished playing Apollo/Prometheus in the NY premiere of Euripides' Alcestis, adapted by Ted Hughes, and Haemon in Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Antigone. As a singer, Matthew made his Carnegie Hall debut in The Gift of Music. He teaches acting, speech, and voice workshops throughout the city. Regional theatre credits include Jamie in The Last 5 Years, Moliere/Harpagon in Suzan Zeder’s adaptation of The Miser, Marius in Les Miserables, Adam in Children of Eden, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jed in The Fifth of July, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Kulygin in The Three Sisters, Richard III, Joseph in Joseph…Dreamcoat, and many more. He also appeared as a soloist alongside Tommy Tune and Linda Eder in the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the U.T. Performing Arts Center in Austin, TX. TV: As The World Turns, Touched by an Angel. National Commercials: principal for Verizon Wireless and The Olive Garden. Education: MFA in Acting from The University of Texas at Austin, BFA in Musical Theatre Performance from Brigham Young University.Matthew is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association, Voice and Speech Trainers Association, and the National Association for Teachers of Singing. www.matthewherrick.net
SCOTT O'BRIEN (Resident Composer & Sound Designer) Scott has designed and engineered theatre, dance and concert programs at Lincoln Center, Riverside Church, Theatre North Collaborative, American Stage Company, Centenary Stage, The Abingdon Theatre, George Street Playhouse and the World Financial Center. As a composer he has scored films, concert performances and theatrical productions. He is the Resident Composer/Sound Designer for American Globe Theatre, Push Productions, Storm Theatre and Theatre East and the Resident Audio Engineer/Sound Designer for the Chautauqua Theater Company. He has designed Arts in Education programming for the NJ State Council on the Arts and was, from 1993 to 2007 an Adjunct Professor at SUNY-Rockland lecturing on theatre arts and music. Currently he is working as an Adjunct Professor at Pace University, teaching Sound and Acoustics.
BENJAMIN TAYLOR RIDGWAY (Resident Costume Designer) Benjamin is a born and raised Texan, where he received his undergrad from St. Edwards University. Ben Designed Harvest with The Alchemy Theatre Company of Manhattan and has also served as the costume designer regionally for Macbeth, Jeffrey, The Full Monty, and Inherit the Wind and was the Assistant Costume Designer for Cesar and Ruben written and directed by Ed Bagley, Jr. As a director, Ben worked on Durang Durang. He is looking forward to a new life in New York and would like to thank his friends and family for all their support.
CHRISTA KIMLICKO JONES (Assistant Director) Christa is a founding member of Theatre East and works as an actor/teacher producer. Christa received her Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin where she also garnered her certification in Voice/Speech. As a producer, most recently, Christa had the privilege of working on Off-Broadway productions, The Vietnamization of New Jersey by Christopher Durang (New York Premier; NY Times Critic’s Pick) and David Wright Crawford’s, Harvest (New York Premier; Smith/Kraus “Best New Plays of 2008”; Backstage Critic’s Pick). Christa served as Associate Director of Alchemy Theatre Company of Manhattan from 2005-2008. In addition, she is a founding member and served as Co-Producing Artistic Director of the dirigo group in Austin Texas. Christa is member of First Look Theatre Company, Austin Playhouse, Hyde Park, V.A.S.T.A. (Voice and Speech Trainers’ Association) and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Christa’s New York Off-Broadway acting credits include: Helen in Umbrella and Toni in Harvest (both with Alchemy Theatre Company) and Eaton in Lipstick on a Pig. Other NY acting credits: 365 Days/365 Plays (Genesius Theatre Group), Rearview Mirror (manhattantheatresource), Blah, Blah, Blah (Bayou Radio) and The Information She Carried.
Selected regional credits include: Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (B. Iden Payne Nomination/Critic’s Table Nomination), Nina in The Seagull (Critic’s Table Nomination), Sybil in Private Lives, Lorraine in The Man Who Came to Dinner (Austin Playhouse); Perdita in Winter’s Tale (Austin Shakespeare Festival); Hedda in Hedda Gabler (Critic’s Table Nomination), Abbie in Desire Under the Elms (B.Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Actress), May in Fool for Love and Joanne in Home Free! (the dirigo group). Other notable credits: Elise in The Miser (directed by Philip Goodwin), and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Critic’s Table Nomination; directed by Franchelle Stuart Dorn and Lucien Douglas). Film credits include: Themes and Intermissions, Secondhand Lions, Bloodmask, Worse, Fairy Blight and Tempting David. Voice-Acting credits include: Getbackers and Dai Guard, among others.
Other producer credits include: The Jinn, Hedda, bash, Desire, In On It, and Home Free!, all with the dirigo group.
Christa is an Acting and Voice/Speech instructor with NYU's drama department currently on staff at CAP 21 (Acting and Voice) and at Stella Adler (Voice/Speech). She is an Adjunct Professor, teaching Voice/Movement at Pace University. Christa also teaches Acting in the summer Apprentice Program at Vassar (Powerhouse Theatre), and Acting at John Robert Powers.
ROBIN VEST (Set Designer) NYC: Hoodoo Love (The Cherry Lane), A Very Common Procedure (MCC), Pen (Playwright’s Horizons), Geometry of Fire, (Rattlestick), Mario and the Magician (Center for Contemporary Opera), Get What You Need (Atlantic 453), Also Julliard’s Drama Division, Barnard, TACT, Clubbed Thumb, 13p, and WET
Regional: Animal Crackers (The Goodman), The Mystery of Irma Vep (The Old Globe), Hansel and Gretel (Washiington National Opera), Ariadne Auf Naxos (Utah Opera. Vancouver Opera), Brevard Music Center, Triad Stage, Playmaker’s Rep., Williamstown Theater Festival, Yale Rep.
Robin is on the design faculty at Rutgers University.
BY
DIRECTED BY
Tim Blake Nelson, Playwright
Lisa Devine, Director
Christa Kimlicko Jones, Assistant Director, Producer
Jessica M. Burgess, Resident Lighting Designer
Scott O'Brien, Resident Sound Designer & Composer
Robin Vest, Set Designer
Matthew Herrick, Voice & Dialect Coach
Benjamin Taylor Ridgway, Resident Costume Designer
Amber Estes, Production Manager
Autonomous Production Services, Production Supervision
Joseph Parks, Producer
Daryl Wendy Strauss, Producer
DARYL WENDY STRAUSS (Producer) is a founding member and has a long and varied career in theater as an actor, financial manager and producer. As owner/member of the Homegrown Theater Co. in NYC, Daryl (Wendy) managed its acting school as well as performing in and producing many of Homegrown's productions. Acting credits with Homegrown Theater Co. include roles by playwrights Clifford Odets and Leonard Melfi. She originated the role of "Blue" in Edward Allan Baker's The Buffer. Film credits include Full Moon Prods. Bad Channels and Shades of Gray, winner of Faculty Honors at Columbia University's Graduate Film School. TV credits include a recurring role on Days of Our Lives and numerous commercials. Daryl (Wendy) is a member of SAG and AFTRA.
TIM BLAKE NELSON (Playwright) Nelson's produced plays include the award-winning The Grey Zone (Oppenheimer Prize, Encore's "Taking Off" Award, Berilla Kerr Award), Eye of God (Kesselring Prize nomination), Anadarko and Cyrus. Nelson has also acted extensively in New York theatre where he appeared most recently in A Midsummer Night's Dream for the New York Shakespeare Festival. Other credits include the critically acclaimed play The Beard of Avon, in which Nelson portrayed William Shakespeare (New York Theatre Workshop). Nelson appeared in Oedipus, with Frances McDormand and Billy Crudup (CSC), Troilus and Cressida (NYSF), Les Bourgeois Avant-Garde (YALE REP), Mac Wellman’s Dracula (SOHO REP), The Amazon’s Voice (MCC), An Imaginary Life (PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS), The Baltimore Waltz (YALE REP), Mad Forest (NYTW), The Innocents Crusade (MTC), Richard III (NYSF) and Twelfth Night (PORTLAND STAGE).
Nelson has acted in over thirty-five films including Leaves of Grass, St John of Las Vegas, American Violet, The Incredible Hulk, The Astronaut Farmer, Fido, Hoot, Cherish, the Emmy-winning HBO movie Warm Springs, Meet the Fockers, Syriana, Holes, The Good Girl, Wonderland, Minority Report, The Thin Red Line, and the Coen Brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou?.
Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, which premiered recently at the Toronto Film Festival, stars Edward Norton, Susan Sarandon, and Richard Dreyfuss. In addition to playing a supporting role, he wrote, directed, and co-produced the dark comedy with Edward Norton and Class 5 Films.
In addition to Leaves, his film directorial credits include The Grey Zone, which he wrote and directed. The film stars Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Mira Sorvino, David Arquette, Allan Corduner and Natasha Lyonne. It premiered at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival and opened in October of the following year. Based on his award winning play, it is a dramatic story of the Sonderkommandos, special squads of Jews who processed corpses in the crematoria at Birkenau. The National Board of Review (2002) honored The Grey Zone with a “Special Recognition of Films that Reflect the Freedom of Expression.”
Nelson also directed O, a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, which premiered at the 2001 Seattle Film Festival, where Nelson was awarded Best Director. The film stars Martin Sheen, Julia Stiles, Josh Hartnett and Mekhi Phifer. Nelson also wrote and directed the film Eye of God, starring Martha Plimpton, Hal Holbrook and Kevin Anderson, which appeared at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States later that year. The film received the top award at the 1997 Seattle Film Festival, as well as the Tokyo Bronze Prize at the Tokyo Film Festival.
Nelson was born and raised in Tulsa , Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Brown University and the Julliard Theater Center . He resides in New York City with his wife and three sons.
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AMBER ESTES (Production Manager) is not originally a theatre person Amber came to theatre by chance over 7 years ago from the legal world and hasn’t looked back since. She now owns and runs Autonomous Production Services. A full service Production & Technical Management company As well as, being the Production Manager for the Theatrical General Management Company; 2 Step Productions. Past shows and companies; Manhattan Theatre Source, Theatre Row Studios, radiotheatrenyc, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Heiress Productions, Political Toast, “Mantasia” at the SHOW nightclub, to name a few. She is excited to be working again with Christa and Judson with Theatre East.
AUTONOMOUS PRODUCTION SERVICES (Production Supervision) is a full service Production & Technical Management company. Our goal is to provide the Off-Off and Off-Broadway communities and corporate worlds with a "One Stop Shop" approach to their production/event management, technical, and staffing needs. To not only help companies streamline the production time but also stretch the budgets a little farther with creative and big picture thinking. To learn more please visit our website at www.autonomousps.com
