Daddy Long Legs
Creative Team Bios
JOHN CAIRD
Bookwriter, DirectorJohn Caird is a freelance director and writer working in theatre, opera and musical theatre. Recent work in England includes Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre and Hamlet at the National Theatre, both with Simon Russell Beale. In Stockholm, John has recently directed productions of Strindberg’s Dance of Death and Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, all at the Royal Dramatic Theatre where he is Principal Guest Director. In Japan, he has recently directed Jane Eyre at the Nissay Theatre, his own adaptation of Teru Miyamoto’s novel Kinshu at the Galaxy Theatre, and his own version of Bernstein’s Candide at the Imperial Theatre. Other productions at London’s National Theatre include Candide, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, The Seagull with Judi Dench, Pam Gems’ Stanley with Anthony Sher, and Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones with Diana Rigg and Simon Russell Beale. John is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), where he has directed over twenty classic and new plays. His RSC productions of Les Misérables and Nicholas Nickleby have won numerous awards around the world, including the Olivier and Tony Awards. Other work includes Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance at the Palace Theatre and the Siegfried and Roy Spectacular in Las Vegas. Television work includes Nicholas Nickleby, As You Like It and his own adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV for the BBC. In opera, John has directed Verdi’s Don Carlos and Aida at Welsh National Opera, Puccini’s Tosca at Houston Grand Opera and Brief Encounter, a new opera by André Previn, for which John also wrote the libretto. Brief Encounter had its World Premiere at Houston Grand Opera in March, 2009, and has recently been released by Deutsche Grammophon. Published work as a librettist and lyricist includes a new version of John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera with the composer Ilona Sekacz, first performed at the RSC; a new adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan which played at the RSC and National Theatre; Children of Eden with composer Stephen Schwartz; Jane Eyre with Paul Gordon; a new version of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide with specially commissioned new lyrics by Richard Wilbur and Stephen Sondheim; and Brief Encounter with music by André Previn. “THEATRE CRAFT,” John’s new book on directing, was published by Faber & Faber in London and New York in March, 2010. www.johncaird.com
PAUL GORDON
Music and Lyrics, Co-OrchestratorPaul Gordon was nominated for a 2001 Tony Award for composing the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical Jane Eyre, directed by John Caird and Scott Schwartz. He won a 2011 Ovation Award for his score to Daddy Long Legs and won the 2007 Bay Area Critics Circle Award for his book to the musical Emma. Daddy Long Legs, written with John Caird, had its first production at Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura, California in the fall of 2009, winning three Ovation Awards. The production has since gone on to play TheatreWorks, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Broad Stage, Northlight Theatre, La Mirada Theatre and The Laguna Playhouse. Emma, for which Mr. Gordon wrote book, music and lyrics, has had productions at The Old Globe in San Diego, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Repertory Theater of St. Louis. His other works include Analog and Vinyl, Death: The Musical, Being Ernest, The Sportswriter and Little Miss Scrooge. For more information, please visit www.paulgordonmusic.com.
JULIE McBRIDE
Music DirectorJulie McBride holds degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Mannes College of Music. Broadway and other New York credits include American Idiot, Next to Normal, In the Heights, The Addams Family, The Lion King, CHIX 6 (Queens Theatre in the Park), Altar Boyz (Westchester Broadway Theatre), Inner Voices: Solo Musicals (Zipper Theatre), The Happy Elf (music written by Harry Connick Jr.), Judas and Me (New York Musical Theatre Festival), and Pride and Prejudice (Eastman Theatre). Regional credits include Daddy Long Legs (Northlight Theatre, La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts, and The Laguna Playhouse), Unknown Soldier (Huntington Theatre Company), Suprema (O’Neill Music Theatre Conference), Room 16 (Goodspeed Musicals) and Tales From The Bad Years (TheatreWorks). She has served on the faculties of Syracuse University’s Tepper Program and The Juilliard School (Drama Division, MAP).
DAVID FARLEY
Scenic and Costume DesignerDavid Farley was nominated for the Tony Award for Costume Design, and he and Timothy Bird were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Set Design for Sunday in the Park with George (Studio 54, New York). They also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Set Design. Current shows include Terrible Advice directed by Frank Oz (Chocolate Factory, London) and The Rocky Horror Show directed by Sam Buntrock (European Tour). Other recent shows include Romeo and Juliet directed by John Caird (Stockholm); A Little Night Music directed by Trevor Nunn (Walter Kerr Theatre, New York, and Garrick Theatre, West End); Kiss Me, Kate (Stratford, Ontario) and Oklahoma! (Chichester Festival Theatre) directed by John Doyle; Dialogues des Carmelites directed by Stephen Barlow (Guildhall); The Tempest directed by John Caird (Stockholm); Sunday in the Park with George (Seattle); and set, costumes (and the plant!) design on Little Shop Of Horrors (West End).
PAUL TOBEN
Lighting DesignerPaul Toben designed the Broadway production of The Story of my Life. Off-Broadway, he designed The Judy Show (DR2); Saturn Nights (Incubator Arts Project); Electra in a One Piece and The Realm (The Wild Project); Romeo and Juliet (Columbia Stages); Futurity (HERE Arts Center); When in Disgrace (Examined Man); and The Redheaded Man (Fringe Encores). His regional credits include Daddy Long Legs for TheatreWorks, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Northlight Theatre and many other theaters around the country; Caravan Man and Demon Dreams (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Fly by Night, Little Rock, Auctioning the Ainsleys and [title of show] (TheatreWorks); Chicago (Flat Rock Playhouse); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Man of La Mancha (Theatre by the Sea); and Shining City (Shadow Lawn Stage). Mr. Toben was the Associate Designer for Anything Goes, Everyday Rapture, Bye Bye Birdie, Sunday in the Park with George and Pal Joey (Broadway), Play Dead (New York & Las Vegas), and the National Tours of Spring Awakening, A Bronx Tale and Annie. www.paultoben.com
BRIAN JEROME PETERSON
Resident Sound DesignerBrian Jerome Peterson celebrates his 26th season at ATC, where he has designed 70 productions, including God of Carnage, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Lost in Yonkers, The Second City Does Arizona, Ain’t Misbehavin’, George is Dead, Somebody/Nobody, Enchanted April, Touch the Names, I Am My Own Wife, Twelfth Night, Tuesdays with Morrie, Crowns, Macbeth, The Pirates of Penzance, The Immigrant, A Streetcar Named Desire, Oh Coward!, Copenhagen, Fully Committed and The Mystery of Irma Vep (for which he won an ariZoni Award) and the world premieres of Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Inventing van Gogh, Rocket Man, Minor Demons and The Holy Terror. His designs have been heard in many theatres including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Cleveland Play House, Northlight Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville and San Jose Repertory Theatre.
NELL BALABAN
Associate DirectorNell Balaban has been a part of the Daddy Long Legs company since the show’s first workshop. Recent projects include Katharine Heller’s My Dad’s Crazier than Your Dad at last year’s New York Fringe Festival, Heartbreak House and Too Much Candy for Brave New World Repertory in Brooklyn; and The Boy in the Basement, for which she received an Outstanding Direction award at the 2008 NY Fringe Festival. At Manhattan Theatre Club, she directed a staged reading of the new musical Lucky Break, and is currently developing several new shows including Death: The Musical with Paul Gordon. Ms. Balaban has served as Assistant/Associate Director to Scott Schwartz on many projects including Golda’s Balcony (Broadway), Much Ado about Nothing (Alley Theatre), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Paper Mill Playhouse) and The Foreigner (Roundabout Theatre Company).
BRAD HAAK
Musical Supervisor/Co-OrchestratorBrad Haak is the Music Director and Conductor for Mary Poppins on Broadway. Previous collaborations with authors Paul Gordon and John Caird include a revival of their Jane Eyre in Tokyo and readings of The Front. Other Broadway credits include musical direction and arrangements for Elton John's Lestat and music direction for Chance and Chemistry – 100 Years of Frank Loesser featuring Sir Paul McCartney. Mr. Haak was the Assistant Conductor for the First National Tour of The Lion King. His numerous regional credits include Gypsy at The Muny (St. Louis), Children of Eden at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. and Les Misérables at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire (Jeff Award nomination.) Other international credits include Honk! in Singapore and Manila, The Philippines. Mr. Haak is a graduate of Northwestern University and a native of Chicago.
TIMOTHY TOOTHMAN
Stage ManagerTimothy Toothman is the Artistic Associate at ATC. He has stage managed ATC’s productions of Lost in Yonkers, The Glass Menagerie, The Lady with All the Answers, Tuesdays with Morrie, The Immigrant and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Mr. Toothman spent five seasons as the Production Stage Manager for the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY and was then Company Manager for five years for Sunshine Too, a national touring ensemble of deaf and hearing actors. He has also managed producing and presenting theatres in Indiana and Maryland. Prior to moving to Arizona, Mr. Toothman spent eleven years as a program and grants director for the Maryland State Arts Council and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Mr. Toothman stage managed the National Heritage Awards Program for the National Endowment for the Arts for ten years and was the Production Stage Manager for six seasons at the Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard.
GLENN BRUNER*
Assistant Stage ManagerGlenn Bruner is in his fifteenth season at ATC where he has stage managed, among many others, The Mystery of Irma Vep, [title of show], The Kite Runner, Hair, Enchanted April, and the world premieres of Jeffrey Hatcher’s Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club and Ten Chimneys, and Steven Dietz’s Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Rocket Man, Inventing van Gogh and Over the Moon. Mr. Bruner has worked at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Pasadena Playhouse, CENTERSTAGE, Studio Arena Theatre, and Maine’s Portland Stage Company. Mr. Bruner has been a member of Actors' Equity Association since 1981.
DAVID CAP*
Assistant Stage ManagerDavid Cap is the Production Manager for ATC. This is his thirteenth season with ATC. A member of Actors’ Equity Association since 1998, he has stage managed at ATC and The Cleveland Play House.
ASHLEY SIMON
Assistant to the Stage ManagerAshley Simon was Assistant to the Stage Manager for Arizona Theatre Company’s Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of The Suicide Club, Lost in Yonkers, Woody Guthrie’s American Song, Backwards in High Heels, The Glass Menagerie, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Kite Runner, A Raisin in the Sun, Hair and The Lady with All the Answers. She was also the Production Stage Manager for ATC's Summer on Stage 2010 and 2011. Other recent credits include stage managing The Real Inspector Hound, The Decameron, The Four of Us, Othello and Immortal Longings with The Rogue Theatre and The Mousetrap, Same Time Next Year and Forever Plaid at The Theater Barn in the Berkshires. At Florida Stage, she was Assistant to the Stage Manager for the world premieres of Deborah Zoe Laufer’s End Days and Aaron Posner’s A Murder, A Mystery and A Marriage.
KARYL LYNN BURNS
Rubicon Producing Artistic DirectorKaryl Lynn Burns has overseen over 80 productions, special events and festivals at Rubicon. For more than a decade prior to starting Rubicon, Ms. Burns was CEO of State of the Arts, an arts management and marketing firm. Clients included Ventura Chamber Music Festival, New West Symphony, Ensemble Theatre Company, PCPA Theaterfest, Theatre League, Broadway Producer Normand Kurtz, and the late Tony® Award-winning playwright Dale Wasserman. She is past President of the Board of Access Theatre. Ms. Burns also worked with students from Oak Meadow who received the United Nations “Global 500” Award for their work on environmental issues. As event planner, she coordinated “Cool Comedy, Hot Cuisine” with Robin Williams; a concert for Scleroderma Research with Sheryl Crow; various film premieres; and a luncheon with First Lady Hillary Clinton. In addition to her producing work for Rubicon, Ms. Burns is also an award-winning actress and sound designer.
DAVID ELZER
ProducerDavid Elzer is the Ovation Award-winning theatrical producer for The Marvelous Wonderettes (Los Angeles & Off-Broadway), The Best Is Yet to Come (Off-Broadway and at Rubicon), Sister Act: The Musical, Jewtopia (Off-Broadway), The Laramie Project (The Laguna Playhouse) and Catalpa and Shyness is Nice (Alliance Theatre). Mr. Elzer’s latest project is the smash-hit, critically-acclaimed world premiere musical Having It All. He also produced the LA Drama Critics’ Circle and LA Weekly Award-winning Life Could Be a Dream, which ran at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood and at The Laguna Playhouse. Through his publicity company DEMAND PR, Mr. Elzer represents many theaters in Los Angeles including Rubicon Theatre Company, Celebration Theatre, Colony Theatre Company, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Furious Theatre Company, La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, NoHo Arts Center, Open Fist Theatre Company, Theatre Tribe and West Coast Ensemble.
MICHAEL JACKOWITZ
Executive ProducerMichael Jackowitz is currently producing the 50th Anniversary revival of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying on Broadway starring Daniel Radcliffe. Other projects include the American Premiere of My Fairytale, a musical about Hans Christian Andersen by Stephen Schwartz at PCPA Theaterfest; Praise Singer, a musical at Hackney Empire in London; Séance on a Wet Afternoon, the new opera by Stephen Schwartz (OSB, NYC Opera); and The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman by David Zippel (Rubicon Theatre Company, Ventura/59E59 Off-Broadway). Past productions include The Food Chain by Nicky Silver at the Westside Theater directed by Robert Falls; AVOW by Bill C. Davis at the Century Theater; tick, tick…BOOM!, by Jonathan Larson directed by Scott Schwartz at the Coronet in L.A. and Rubicon Theatre; I Do, I Do at Queens Theater in the Park with Donna McKechnie; My Antonia at Rubicon and Pacific Resident Theatre Company in L.A. and the World Premiere of It’s Only Life (Ovation Award: Best Book/Music/Lyrics of an original work) by John Bucchino, directed by Daisy Prince.
RUBICON THEATRE COMPANY
Co-producerRubicon Theatre Company is a non-profit regional theatre company based in Ventura, California. True to the vision of founders Karyl Lynn Burns and James O’Neil, Rubicon offers an environment where artists are nurtured and respected, and where commitment and risk are encouraged. Rubicon has received critical and popular acclaim for fresh, invigorating interpretations of classics dramas, comedies and musicals; and for the presentation of World Premieres. Rubicon recently received the L.A. Drama Critics Award for “Sustained Excellence,” and has received multiple L.A. Stage Alliance, Ovation, Garland, NAACP and Indie Awards. Rubicon has presented a diverse repertoire of productions and events with esteemed artists including Ed Asner, George Ball, David Birney, Susan Clark, Dana Delany, Cliff DeYoung, Bonnie Franklin, Joseph Fuqua, Joel Grey, Harold Gould, Larry Hagman, Stacy Keach, Michael Learned, Amanda McBroom, Robert Morse, Ted Neeley, Linda Purl, Jenny Sullivan, Joe Spano, Bruce Weitz, Lillias White and Stephanie Zimbalist. The late Jack Lemmon and John Ritter both made their final stage appearances with Rubicon. Deeply rooted in the region it serves, Rubicon offers extensive outreach and education programs. The company is governed by an active Board of Directors and supported by a Board of Advisors and volunteer auxiliary. www.rubicontheatre.org.
