"The tropical breezes wafting off the Freud stage should be enough to transport even the most cynical holdout into a state of glowing appreciation."

-Los Angeles Times


LYNN AHRENS (Book and Lyrics)

Theatre: Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Grammy nominations, National Broadway Award, Best Musical); Once On This Island (Olivier Award, Best Musical, Tony nominations for Best Book and Best Score); A Christmas Carol (ten years at Madison Square Garden); Seussical (Grammy nomination, most performed stock and amateur show in America); Chita Rivera: A Dancer’s Life (original material); Lucky Stiff (Helen Hayes Award, Best Musical, Richard Rodgers Award). Lincoln Center Theatre: My Favorite Year; A Man of No Importance (2003 Outer Critics Circle Awards, Best Musical, Best Lyrics, Drama Desk nomination); Dessa Rose (Outer Critics Circle Nomination, 2003 Audelco Award, Best Musical); Film: Anastasia (Twentieth Century Fox, two Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations). Camp (Original songs, IFC Films). Television: 2004 teleplay adaptation of A Christmas Carol (Hallmark Entertainment Special/NBC, starring Kelsey Grammer); Schoolhouse Rock; For ABC-TV, created and produced H.E.L.P. (Emmy Award); The Dough Nuts; Willie Survive; Dear Alex and Annie, The Unforgiveable Secret (four Emmy nominations); Concert: With Voices Raised (Boston Pops). Upcoming, The Glorious Ones, at Pittsburgh Public Theater, Spring '07.Dramatist Guild of America, Council; Co-chair, Dramatists Guild Fellows Program; ASCAP; Member, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; BOD, Young Playwrights, Inc. Syracuse University, Newhouse School of Journalism (Arents Pioneer Award)

 

STEPHEN FLAHERTY (Music)

Broadway: Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards, two Grammy nominations, Olivier nomination), Seussical (Drama Desk and Grammy nominations), Once on This Island (Tony nomination; Olivier Award for Best Musical, London), Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (original songs) and Proposals (incidental music). Lincoln Center Theatre: Dessa Rose (Drama Desk and Outer Critics nominations), A Man Of No Importance (Outer Critics Circle award for Best Musical), My Favorite Year. Off-Broadway and Regional: Lucky Stiff and Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein. Film credits include: Anastasia (two Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations). Concert works include "With Voices Raised" and "Ragtime Symphonic Suite." The Ahrens and Flaherty Songbook, a print anthology of Mr. Flaherty's theater and film songs with longtime collaborator Lynn Ahrens, is available through Warner Brothers Publications. Member: Dramatists' Guild Council, ASCAP and Drama Dept. Upcoming this season: The Glorious Ones, a new musical.

BILLY PORTER (Director)

From Pittsburgh, PA, Billy is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, also an adjunct professor in the school of Drama. Graduate of The Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA. Directing credits include: a critically-acclaimed recreation of The Wiz; Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Music Of Stevie Wonder, starring Chaka Khan; Being Alive: The Soul Of Sondheim, which premiered at The Westport Country Playhouse in the summer of 2007, transferring to The Philadelphia Theatre Company; Once On This Island for Reprise; and the upcoming Twilight In Manchego for The New York Musical Theatre Festival. His one-man show, Ghetto Superstar: The Man That I Am, debuted at The Public Theater in NYC, transferring to City Theatre in Pittsburgh (2005 Drama League Award nominations and GLAAD Media Award). Film/Television: The Broken Hearts Club and Intern, featured at Sundance;  Noel, with Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams; Shake Rattle & Roll, as Little Richard; Another World (recurring); Twisted; A Very Rosie Christmas; The Tonight Show; The Oprah Winfrey Show; In The Life; and The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Broadway: Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, Grease, Smokey Joe’s Café, Dreamgirls (20th Anniversary Broadway Concert), and HAIR. Off Broadway/Regional: Romance In Hard Times, The Merchant of Venice, House of Lear, Radiant Baby, Birdie Blue, Angels in America, Going Native, Topdog/Underdog, Songs For A New World, Jesus Christ Superstar, Antigone, A Chorus Line, and Chicago. Concerts: Opening for Rosie O’Donnell and Aretha Franklin, Carnegie Hall, John McDaniel and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, The Buffalo Philharmonic, Peter Nero and The Philly Pops, soloist for President Bill Clinton, Vanessa Williams, and various AIDS benefits. Recordings: Debut solo CD Untitled, A Very Rosie Christmas, Jim Brickman’s Destiny, Grease, Adam Guettel’s Myths & Hymns, Gershwin and Sondheim Benefit Albums, Hercules, Anastasia, Liz Callaway: The Story Goes On, Alvin Ailey/Revelations, Broadway Cares’ Home For The Holidays, Dreamgirls in Concert (as James Thunder Early), HAIR (Actor’s Fund Benefit), Great Joy: A Gospel Christmas (Broadway Inspirational Voices) and The Human Rights Campaign’s Love Rocks. His album, At The Corner Of Broadway + Soul – “LIVE” from Joe’s Pub is available at www.sh-k-boom.com and on iTunes. His song, “Time,” was featured on the second season of “So You Think You Can Dance.”

BRADLEY RAPIER (Choreographer)

Bradley was born and raised in Canada. It was there, in high school, that he joined StreetScape, the country's foremost street dancing troupe, and was introduced to the magical qualities of the art form that drive him to this day. He had been pursuing a career in medicine, but, after taking first place at the Canadian Talent Search, Bradley changed career paths and ventured to the US where he took top honors in both Los Angeles and New York at the IMTA Talent Awards. Soon after making Los Angeles his home, he was nominated ‘King of Hip Hop’ by the Dancers Alliance of L.A., honored with a Hip Hop Choreography Award, and nominated for a prestigious American Choreography Award. His expertise and keen eye had him serve as a talent coordinator for two seasons of Star Search on CBS. His professional experience grew to include Disney, NBC, FOX, BET, MTV and VH-1, along with performances for Queen Latifah, Brian McKnight, and Diana Ross; television appearances on My Wife & Kids, The Image Awards, and TVLand Awards; commercials including McDonalds, Wrigley's, and Skechers. As founder of The Groovaloos, Bradley has guided his L.A. based dance company through nine years of accomplishments from first place at The American Street Dance Championships to their featured performance as special guests on So You Think You Can Dance. Bradley is co-creator and director of choreography for GROOVALOO, the powerful theatrical stage show being hailed by many as the “Hip Hop Chorus Line” of our time. Most recently Bradley was brought on to choreograph the musical, City Kid, where his work was touted as “miraculous” and “exhilarating” by the LA Times and was honored with a 2008 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Choreography.

DARRYL ARCHIBALD (Musical Director)

Mr. Archibald’s productions include regional and national tours, regional and world premieres, and award winning productions at theaters around the country. He is currently a substitute conductor for the Los Angeles production of Wicked. Tours include: Disney's The Lion King - Cheetah Tour...where he served as vocal coach/assistant conductor, A Grand Night For Singing, The All Night Strut, Jerry’s Girls. Other shows include:  the West Coast premiere of The Fix (Alex Theater), Li'l Abner with Cathy Rigby and Fred Willard (Freud Playhouse), Swing! (Sacramento Music Circus),  the Desert Aids Project Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards (Palm Springs Convention Center), The West Coast and regional premiere of Never Gonna Dance, Ragtime (Musical Theater West), A Chorus Line directed by Kay Cole, Music Man (Cabrillo Music Theater), Swing! (McCoy/Rigby Ent.), Gaveston: Favourite of the King, Merry Me A Little – revised version (Celebration Theater), Merrily We Roll Along with Teri Hatcher and I Do! I Do! with Diana Canova and Harry Groener (Reprise), My Fair Lady, 1776, Little Shop Of Horrors, Camelot and Forever Plaid (Utah Shakespearean Festival), Ain’t Misbehavin’ directed by Ken Page, and Swing! (Civic Light of the South Bay Cities), Four Guys Named Jose… And Una Mujer Named Maria, Raisin, A Christmas Carol (ICT), An Evening With Rodgers and Hammerstein (Long Beach Symphony), Lady In the Dark, Sail Away (Musical Theater Guild), Zorba with Judy Kaye, On The Town, My One And Only (Associate Conductor – Reprise). Mr. Archibald's arrangement and orchestration credits include: the prime-time television special A Hollywood Holiday Celebration (ABC), The Fountain Show and Christmas Trolley Show (The Grove Los Angeles), Page By Page (cast recording), Zorba, On Your Toes, Damn Yankees (Reprise), Never Gonna Dance (Musical Theater West). Upcoming 2008 productions include: Silk Stockings (MTW), The King And I (Cabrillo Music Theater) and more Wicked.

JOHN H. BINKLEY (Scenic Designer)

has been working as a theatrical designer for over 20 years. In Los Angeles, he has designed the following: Dogeaters (Kirk Douglas Theater), Oedipus El Rey (The Getty Villa), Hero, Conjunto, Dark Ages, Manner of Trust, Harvest, Failure of Nerve, Gumsimao, Street Stories, Sleepwalk, Moscow, Atomic Quintet (Playwright’ Arena), Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Mixed Messages (East West Players), Elegies – A Song Cycle, War Letters (The Cannon Theatre), Shim Ch’ong (The Getty Center), Happy End (Museum of Contemporary Art), Dogeaters (SIPA Performance Space), Barefoot Boy with Shoes On (Underground Theatre), Stage Direction (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Slide, Ghost Stories (The Wilton Project). Other Regional work includes designs for Idaho Repertory Theatre & Dallas Theatre Center. International Festivals credits include the following: Beachwood Drive (“Theatre Confrontations,” Lublin, Poland), Moscow (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Pterodactyls (Experimental Theatre Festival, Shanghai, China), Shim Ch’ong (National Theatre of Korea, Seoul, Korea).

ANITA YAVICH (Costume Designer)

New York credits: Anna in the Tropics on Broadway,  New Jerusalem at Classic Stage,  Being Alive at Philadelphia Theater Company, Iphigenia 2.0 at the Signature; Peel with David Parsons Dance, The Wooden Breeks at McC, Measure for Pleasure, Kit Marlowe, The Winter’s Tale, Civil Sex, and Pericles at The Public. Coriolanus and Svejk at Tfana, Caravansari and Orfeo for Ballet Hispanico, Orphan of Chao at Lincoln Center Festival, Snow in June  at ARTt, and Peach Blossom Fan at Frank Gehry Music Center, all directed by Chen Shi Zheng. Texts for Nothing directed and featuring Bill Irwin at CSC. Opera credits:  Cyrano at the Met, La Scala and Royal Opera, Les Troyens at the Met, Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar at Tanglewood and Disney hall, The Gambler at Opera Zuid, Holland, Hildegard, A Measure of Joy with Chanticleer, Steve Reich's Three Tales at Vienna festival and international tour, Fidelio, Die Walkure, and Das Rheingold at Washington Opera, Arsace II at San Francisco Opera;  Madame Butterfly at Houston Grand Opera and Grand Theatre de Geneve; Der Fliegende Hollander at Spoleto festival; The Silver River at Spoleto Festival and Lincoln Center Festival. Puppet and costume designer for The Sound of Music at Salzburger Marionetten Theater and international tour. 2006 Obie Award for sustained excellence of costume design.

DRISCOLL OTTO (Lighting Designer)

is thrilled be working on his second show with Reprise. His first show with Reprise was Flora, The Red Menace. Most recently, Driscoll lit Pete N’ Keely for Alpine Theatre Project in Montana. Driscoll was the 2007-2008 resident lighting designer for the Brown/Trinity Rep. Consortium where he lit Figaro, The Cure at Troy, and Elektra. Other credits include Showboat at Utah Festival Opera, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers at the Penobscott Theatre Company and the Philadelphia Theatre Company Opening Gala. Off-broadway: I Have Loved Strangers at the Ohio Theatre; Deep Run at the Puerto Rico Traveling Theatre, Illuminating Veronica directed by Michael Sexton, and Coronado at the Manhattan Theatre Source. Other credits include This Bloody Mess for the Lincoln Center Directors Pre-Lab; Swing! and Violet at Plano Repertory Theatre in Dallas; Don’t Dress for Dinner at Northern Stage  in Vermont. Driscoll has worked and designed at New York Stage and Film, Williamstown Theatre Fesival, and Utah Festival Opera. Driscoll holds an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Driscoll wants to thank his new wife Amelia Pedigo for all of her support! His work can be seen online at http://www.LoneStarNYC.com

PHILIP G. ALLEN (Sound Design)

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks on Broadway; the 2002 to 2005 national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar; The Ten Commandments starring Val Kilmer at the Kodak Theatre; Measure for Measure, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Cinderella at the Ahmanson; The Talking Cure, Like Jazz, Big River, Flower Drum Song and First Picture Show at the Taper; and all of the past ten seasons of Reprise! Other design work includes Paint Your Wagon, Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks and Ain’t Nothin' But the Blues at the Geffen; Play On, and Blame it on the Movies at the Pasadena Playhouse; Masada at the Shubert Theatre in LA; Forever Plaid and Blues in the Night at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami; and the US workshop productions of the current West End musical Zorro with music by John Cameron and the Gipsy Kings. On Broadway he assisted long time design partner Jon Gottlieb on 2001’s If You Ever Leave Me I'm Coming With You.  He served as Production Sound Engineer for Jason Robert Brown’s 13 at the Taper, Thoroughly Modern Millie at La Jolla Playhouse and was the head soundman for the national tours of Titanic, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Man of La Mancha. He won the 2003 NAACP award for Sound Design for Jesus Christ Superstar, the 2001 Ovation Award for Flower Drum Song, and the 1999 LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Cinderella, as well as five LA Dramalogue Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, and two Ovation Award nominations for Best Sound Design.  Mr. Allen currently teaches Sound Design for Theatre at the USC School of Theatre and at Cal Arts.