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ENSEMBLE

Production Stage Manager
Anjee Nero*

Assistant Stage Manager
Amanda Salmons*

Assistant Stage Manager
Kendra Stockton*

NELL BENJAMIN 

(Book and Lyrics) Broadway: Mean Girls with Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond (Tony nomination), Legally Blonde with Laurence O’Keefe (Olivier Award, Tony nomination). Off Broadway/regional: The Explorers Club (Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding New Play), Because of Winn Dixie, Dave, Cam Jansen, Sarah, Plain and Tall, Halftime, Pirates!, The Mice, I Want My Hat Back, How I Became a Pirate (Theatreworks USA), New York Philharmonic New Year’s Eve and Young People’s Concerts. Film: The Sea Beast. Television: “Unhappily Ever After,” “Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca,” “The Electric Company,” “Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris,” “Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway,” “Julie’s Greenroom.” Member: ASCAP, Dramatists Guild. Grateful recipient of Kleban Foundation Award, Jonathan Larson Grant.

VISHAL DADLANI AND SHEYKHAR RAVJIANI 

(Music) (popularly called Vishal & Sheykhar in India) are among the biggest names in Indian music, with a career spanning two decades, having delivered some of the most-loved musical hits of the Indian film industry. These multifaceted musical composers are also singers, songwriters, music producers, and live performers. They have been responsible for some of the most-streamed songs in the history of Indian music and have set several streaming records. They have been nominated for and won almost every Indian music award. Their unique brand of music has had a huge and lasting influence on Indian popular music, through which they have been rightfully called “architects of the modern sound of Bollywood.”

ADITYA CHOPRA 

(Director) is the biggest filmmaker of India. At just 23 years of age, he directed Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ), one of the biggest blockbusters in Indian cinema history, which is still running in theatres 26 years since its release. Chopra’s vision for cinema in India has shaped and reshaped pop culture as he has directed and produced some of the biggest cult classics that the country has ever witnessed. His vision and trendsetting excellence over the years has elevated Yash Raj Films (YRF) to one of the most reputed and iconic brands in India today. He is the first Indian film producer to move toward a film studio model through independent projects helmed by producers, writers, and directors under the YRF banner. He is also a star-maker who has launched numerous generation-defining youth icons of India. As Chairman and Managing Director of YRF, Chopra is the driving force behind creativity at YRF Studios.

ROB ASHFORD

(Choreography) Broadway: Frozen, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, How to Succeed (Tony nominations for Direction, Choreography), Promises, Promises (Tony nomination), Evita (Tony nomination), Curtains (Tony nomination), Cry-Baby (Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination), The Wedding Singer (Tony nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award). London: The Winter’s Tale (Olivier nomination), The Entertainer, Anna Christie (Olivier Award), Shrek, A Streetcar Named Desire (South Bank Award), Parade (Oliver nominations for Director, Choreographer), Guys and Dolls (Olivier nomination), Evita (Olivier nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Olivier nomination). Award shows: Four Academy Awards (Emmy Award), nine Tony Awards, six Kennedy Center Honors. Other television: direction and choreography for NBC’s The Sound of Music Live!, Peter Pan Live! (DGA, Emmy nominations).

SHRUTI MERCHANT 

(Associate Choreography – Indian Dances) began her professional choreography career assisting her sister Vaibhavi Merchant in more than 50 films, and she made her Bollywood choreography debut with Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl and received several nominations and awards. She toured internationally with musicals for over nine years as an associate choreographer. In January 2011, Merchant started Quintessence Entertainment Productions to bring commercial theatre into the Indian entertainment market. With Taj Express she has created a groundbreaking song, dance, and drama extravaganza that has been entertaining audiences the world over. Taj Express has completed 500 shows worldwide and is slotted for a North American tour in early 2023.

DAVID HOLCENBERG

(Music Supervision, Orchestrations, and Arrangements) The Old Globe: A… My Name Is Still Alice. Broadway: MJ (Drama Desk Award, Tony and OCC nominations), Groundhog Day, Matilda, Rocky, Mamma Mia!, Bye Bye Birdie, The Story of My Life, Good Vibrations, Seussical, Titanic, Showboat. Other credits: New York Spectacular (Radio City), world premiere of Newsies (Paper Mill Playhouse), U.S. premiere of Ragtime (LA Drama Critics Award), The Glorious Ones, Dessa Rose (LCT), The Phantom of the Opera (Toronto), Mamma Mia! in concert (Hollywood Bowl).

DEREK MCLANE

(Scenic Design) Broadway: MJ The Musical, Moulin Rouge! (Tony Award), A Soldier’s Play, American Son, The Parisian Woman, Beautiful, Follies, Anything Goes, Bengal Tiger, Million Dollar Quartet, Ragtime, 33 Variations (Tony Award), Little Women, How to Succeed, The Pajama Game, I Am My Own Wife, Ragtime. Other: six Academy Awards, four live musicals for television. Awards: multiple Obie, Lucille Lortel, Art Directors Guild, Emmy, Drama Desk, Tony Awards.

LINDA CHO

(Costume Design) Broadway: POTUS, Take Me Out, The Great Society, The Lifespan of a Fact, Anastasia (Tony nomination), A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tony Award), The Velocity of Autumn. Off Broadway: Twilight, Cambodian Rock Band (Signature Theatre), Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, Endlings (NYTW). Regional: A Thousand Splendid Suns (ACT), Bhangin’ It (La Jolla Playhouse), Noir (Alley Theatre), Opera: Samson et Dalila (Met Opera). Other awards: TDF’s Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, Ruth Morley Design Award. Other: Advisory Committee Member of American Theatre Wing. Education: M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. lindacho.com.

JAPHY WEIDEMAN

(Lighting Design) The Old Globe: Life After, Bright Star, October Sky, The Rainmaker, Bethany. Broadway: Dear Evan Hansen, The Visit, The Nance, Of Mice and Men, Airline Highway, Lobby Hero, Bright Star, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sylvia, The Snow Geese, Old Times, Macbeth, Cyrano de Bergerac, Significant Other, Marvin’s Room. Off Broadway: Lincoln Center Theater, The Public Theater/NYSF, NYTW, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, MTC, MCC, LAByrinth, Vineyard, Ma-Yi, others. West End: Dear Evan Hansen (Noël Coward Theatre), Nice Fish (Harold Pinter Theatre), Blackbird (Albery Theatre). Recent: production designer for Hasan Minhaj’s The King’s Jester national tour, lighting designer for upcoming The King’s Jester Netflix special. Honors: five Tony Award nominations for Lighting Design. 

JESSICA PAZ

(Sound Design) The Old Globe: debut. Broadway: Hadestown (Tony, Drama Desk Awards), POTUS, A Beautiful Noise (upcoming), Dear Evan Hansen (as associate), Bandstand (as associate), Disaster! (as associate), Fela! (as associate). Off Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Ugly Lies the Bone, Becoming Dr. Ruth, A Sucker Emcee, The Muscles in Our Toes, The King’s Whore. The Public Theater: As You Like it, Twelfth Night, Othello. Regional: productions at Berkeley Rep, Hartford Stage, American Repertory Theater, others. Upcoming: Cowboy Bob (Alley Theatre), Water for Elephants (Alliance Theatre).

AKHILA KRISHNAN

(Projection Design) Theatre: Chasing Hares (Young Vic), Our Generation (National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre), What’s New Pussycat? (Birmingham Rep), The Two Character Play (Hampstead Theatre), Oliver Twist (Leeds Playhouse/Ramps on the Moon), While You Are Here (The Place/DanceEast), Maggot Moon (Unicorn Theatre). Opera: The Wreckers (Glyndebourne), Samson et Dalila, The Knife of Dawn, Echoes at the Gate, (Royal Opera House), The Handmaid’s Tale, The Valkyrie (English National Opera), Syllable (Theatre O). Live broadcast/film direction: Pod, Lifesongs (Guildhall). Event design: Sound of Colour (Arthouse Jersey), Mamma Mia: The Party (O2 Arena), Up Next Gala (National Theatre). Training: Royal College of Art, National Institute of Design in India. Other: previously Senior Designer at 59 Productions.

TED ARTHUR

(Music Director and Additional Arrangements) Broadway: Diana, The Musical (Music Director), The Prom (Associate Conductor), Once on This Island (Assistant Conductor), Moulin Rouge!, Mean Girls, Dear Evan Hansen, Wicked. International: Moulin Rouge! (International Associate Music Supervisor). Other: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Board of Trustees, member of MUSE (Musicians United for Social Equity). Upcoming: Hercules (Paper Mill Playhouse), Back to the Future (Broadway 2023).

STEPHEN SPOSITO

(Associate Director) Broadway: The Book of Mormon, Wicked, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Shrek The Musical, How to Succeed in Business, Promises, Promises, Scandalous. Director: Shrek The Musical (national, international tours), Pippin (Pittsburgh Playhouse), Crossroads (Regent Seven Seas), Something Rotten! (Cape Rep Theatre), American Theatre Wing Gala, Obie Awards, NBCUniversal’s Upfront (Radio City Music Hall), live events for Target, Robin Hood Foundation. Upcoming directing: Albert Herring (Chicago Opera Theater). Education: University of Michigan (Emerging Artist Award). 

CHARLIE WILLIAMS

(Associate Choreography) Credits include: original Broadway casts of Memphis, How to Succeed in Business, Miss Saigon, The Cher Show, Frozen. Film/television: Ted 2, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Dance Flick, Academy Awards, Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, The Kennedy Center Honors, NBC’s Peter Pan Live!, The Sound of Music Live! Creative credits include: New York Fashion Week, Resident Movement Associate on Broadway’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch starring Neil Patrick Harris, setting international companies of Frozen as associate choreographer of the original Broadway show, and currently choreographing episodes of “Saturday Night Live.” iamcharliewilliams.com, @iamcharliewilliams.

BILLY JAY STEIN

(Music Production and Additional Orchestrations) Grammy Award for producing and mixing Beautiful: The Carole King Musical cast recording. Composer, arranger, music producer for The Radio City Rockettes New York Spectacular. Broadway: MJ, Kimberly Akimbo, 1776, Paradise Square, Caroline, or Change, Diana, Tootsie, Mean Girls, The Band’s Visit, Fun Home, Beautiful, Spider-Man, Hairspray, Amélie, Tuck Everlasting, The Rocky Horror Show, Jekyll & Hyde. Television/film: “Sex and the City,” Rudy! A Documusical, Handel’s Messiah Rocks, “Pawn Stars,” more. Other: Founder of Strange Cranium, a New York–based electronic music design company and developer of MainBrain show control software; Co-Founder of Strike Audio, a production music licensing company. strangecranium.com, strikeaudio.com.

MICHAEL GACETTA

(Associate Music Director; Music Director, September 15 – October 16) Broadway: A Christmas Carol (Music Director), King Kong (Music Director), Matilda (Music Director), Groundhog Day (Associate Music Director), A Christmas Story, Mean Girls, Company, Book of Mormon, SpongeBob SquarePants, Shrek. Off Broadway: Rent. Regional/tours: Rent (The Hollywood Bowl), Hair (first national tour), The Who’s Tommy (The Kennedy Center), Chasing the Song (La Jolla Playhouse). Other: A Christmas Story Live (Fox), Lyrics & Lyricists: Lynn Ahrens (92nd Street Y). Education: University of Michigan.

STEWART/WHITLEY

(Casting) Duncan Stewart, CSA and Benton Whitley, CSA. Broadway/New York: Paradise Square, Hadestown (Artios Award), Chicago, Rock of Ages, The Lightning Thief, Great Comet of 1812, Elf, On the Town, Pippin, La Cage aux Folles, Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Television/film: Netflix, 20th Century Fox, NBC, Lionsgate, Disney Channel. West End/U.K.: Hadestown, Thriller Live, Menier Chocolate Factory. Tours: Hadestown, Hairspray, Waitress, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland, Into the Woods, We Will Rock You. Regional: ART, Berkeley Rep, Alley, Bay Street, For the Record, TUTS, Hollywood Bowl, McCarter, Signature, RCCL. stewartwhitley.com, @stewartwhitley.

ANJEE NERO

(Production Stage Manager) The Old Globe: Almost Famous, The Gardens of Anuncia, The Heart of Rock & Roll, Bright Star, Allegiance, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Benny & Joon, October Sky, The Rocky Horror Show, Life After, The Wanderers, Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, The Twenty-Seventh Man, A Room with a View, Kingdom, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Be a Good Little Widow, and more. Broadway: Bright Star. Regional highlights: Bright Star (Kennedy Center), Fly, Sideways, Ruined, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Herringbone, The Seven (La Jolla Playhouse), Ruined (Huntington Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Kiss Me, Kate (Hartford Stage), Venice (Center Theatre Group, Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Antigone (SITI Company). 

AMANDA SALMONS

(Assistant Stage Manager) The Old Globe: Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, The Gardens of Anuncia, Life After, The Blameless, American Mariachi, The Heart of Rock & Roll, October Sky, Rain, The Metromaniacs, The White Snake, Inherit the Wind, Somewhere, Lost in Yonkers, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet. Regional: Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin (La Jolla Playhouse), Kiss Me, Kate (Hartford Stage), The Foreigner, See How They Run, The Rivalry (Lamb’s Players Theatre), The Gondoliers, The Pirates of Penzance, Candide, Trial by Jury (Lyric Opera San Diego). Education: UC San Diego.

KENDRA STOCKTON

(Assistant Stage Manager) The Old Globe: The Taming of the Shrew, Trouble in Mind, Hair, Almost Famous, As You Like It, Ken Ludwig’s The Gods of Comedy, Familiar, Clint Black’s Looking for Christmas, Much Ado About Nothing, Benny & Joon, October Sky, Bright Star, Dog and Pony, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (as production assistant). Regional: House of Joy (San Diego Rep), Home of the Brave, #SuperShinySara, Guards at the Taj, The Orphan of Zhao, The Who & The What (La Jolla Playhouse), The Loneliest Girl in the World (Diversionary Theatre), miXtape (Lamb’s Players Theatre), Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (San Diego Musical Theatre).

barry edelstein (Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director) is a stage director, producer, author, and educator. His Globe directing credits include The Winter’s Tale, Othello, The Twenty-Seventh Man, the world premiere of Rain, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Hamlet, the world premiere of The Wanderers, the American premiere of Life After, Romeo and Juliet, and, during the pandemic, Hamlet: On the Radio. He also directed All’s Well That Ends Well as the inaugural production of the Globe for All community tour, and he oversees the Globe’s Classical Directing Fellowship program. In addition to his recent Globe credits, he directed The Tempest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2018, and he will next direct The Wanderers Off Broadway with Roundabout Theatre Company in 2023. As Director of the Shakespeare Initiative at The Public Theater (2008–2012), Edelstein oversaw all of the company’s Shakespearean productions as well as its educational, community outreach, and artist-training programs. At The Public, he staged the world premiere of The Twenty-Seventh Man, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, and Steve Martin’s WASP and Other Plays. He was also Associate Producer of The Public’s Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino. From 1998 to 2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company. His book Thinking Shakespeare is the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author of Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions. He is a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Timothy j. Shields (Audrey S. Geisel Managing Director) joined The Old Globe as Managing Director in 2017. In his time in San Diego, he has enjoyed becoming involved in the community. He currently serves as a board member of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s LEAD program; an advisory board member of the San Diego Downtown Partnership; and Vice President of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. He brings to San Diego many decades of not-for-profit theatre experience. He was Managing Director of Princeton, New Jersey’s McCarter Theatre Center (2009-2017); Milwaukee Repertory Theater (1998–2009); and Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York (1992–1998). He has also held administrative positions at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Denver Center Theatre Company, and McCarter Theatre Center in an earlier period of his career. He served as President of the League of Resident Theatres and as Vice President of the board at Theatre Communications Group. He has been the Chair of the ArtPride NJ board; a member of Milwaukee’s Latino Arts Board; and a board member of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee. He holds a B.F.A. in Drama Production from Carnegie-Mellon University in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

The Directors are members of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, an independent national labor union.

This Theatre operates under an Agreement with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local No. 122.

The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and Sound Designers in LORT Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE.

The musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians, Local 325 San Diego.

Casting

STEWART/WHITLEY
Duncan Stewart, CSA and Benton Whitley, CSA
Joey Montenarello, CSA; Micah Johnson-Levy;
Darienne Orlansky; Patrick Maravilla

taking Photos in the theatre

Audience members may take photos in the theatre before and after the performance and during intermission. If you post photos on social media or elsewhere, you must credit the production’s designers by including the names below.

Derek McLane (Scenic Design)
www.derekmclane.com

Linda Cho (Costume Design)
www.lindacho.com

Japhy Weideman (Lighting Design)

Jessica Paz (Sound Design)

Akhila Krishnan (Projection Design)

Please note: Photos are strictly prohibited during the performance. Photos of the stage are not permitted if an actor is present. Video recording is not permitted at any time in the theatre.

DEI CONSULTANT

Hummingbird Humanity
Surabhi Lal
Bianca Chow

SPECIAL THANKS

Adam Zotovich
David R. Richards, RCI Theatricals
Beverly Edwards, Justin Black, RCI Theatricals

Additional Scenery
F&D Scene Changes
Additional Costumes
Beg Borrow Steal Studio Pvt. Ltd.
Additional Properties
San Diego Rowing Club
Additional Lighting
Electronic Theatre Controls
Christie Lites
OCS Lighting, Chris Rynne
Additional Sound
DnB Design
Strange Cranium
Additional Video
Sound Associates
Matrix Visuals

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