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STEW, COMPOSER

Stew works include Passing Strange for which he received the 2008 Tony for Best Book of a Musical. Wrote lyrics and co-composed music for the same. Two time Obie winner: Best New Theater Piece and, as a member of the PS acting family, Best Ensemble.  Spike Lee shot a feature film of the Broadway production which was just accepted to Sundance Film Festival.  A four-time Tony Nominee, Stew leads, along with his collaborator Heidi Rodewald, two critically acclaimed bands: The Negro Problem and Stew. Works: Post Minstrel Syndrome (TNP 1997), Joys and Concerns (TNP 1999), Guest Host (S 2000) The Naked Dutch Painter (S 2002),  Welcome Black (TNP 2002), Something Deeper Than These Changes (S 2003) and the cast album Passing Strange (2008). Artist-in-residence at the California Institute of the Arts (2004/5); Passing Strange: Berkeley Repertory Theater/Public Theater/Belasco Theater (2006-7-8). But what he'll ultimately be remembered for is having composed "Gary Come Home" for the "SpongeBob SquarePants" cartoon. Website: stewsongs.com. To order Stew’s Midsummer album, click here.

Obadiah Eaves, Sound Design

Obadiah is a sound designer and composer for theater, television, and film. His work for the stage has appeared on Broadway in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Shining City, Collected Stories, A Life in the Theatre, Accent On Youth, Come Back, Little Sheba,and in countless Off-Broadway and regional productions over the past fifteen years.  He has written music and created sound for the original productions of works by such playwrights as David Mamet, Woody Allen, Eric Bogosian, Ethan Coen, and Suzan-Lori Parks. Obadiah’s jingles and scores have aired on Nickelodeon, Discovery, The Learning Channel, HBO Family, Noggin, the broadcast networks, and Fisher-Price toys.  He has appeared as a session violinist, mandolinist, and whistler in many film, television, and theater scores. In 2007, he received the BACC Award for his work on Heartbreak House, in 2005 the Lucille Lortel Award for Nine Parts of Desire, and, in 2003, a Viv Award for Suzan-Lori Parks’ Fucking A.  He received a Career Development Grant for Designers from Theatre Communications Group and the NEA in 2001.  He has been featured in the periodicals Front of House, Entertainment Design, and American Theatre. Obadiah is a Master Artist at the University of Rochester’s theater program, where he has designed between one and three productions per season over the past fifteen years.  He played the electric violin in the band Big Hair and performed with them at the New Music Seminar, CMJ Music Festival, and the Foundations Hard Music Convention.  Big Hair has released two nationally distributed CDs and three 7” records.

Andrew Lieberman, SET DESIGN

B.F.A Lewis and Clark College; M.F.A University of Washington. Andrew’s opera and theater designs have been seen at English National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New York City Opera, Montreal Opera, Opera Australia, Glimmerglass Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Long Beach Opera, Portland Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Gotham Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, The Curtis Institute, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Second Stage, The Public Theater, Bard Summerscape, The Children’s Theater Company, Baltimore’s Centerstage, McCarter Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center, Huntington Theater, Long Wharf Theater, Portland Center Stage, Shakespeare on the Sound, Santa Fe Stages, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Indiana Repertory, Syracuse Stage, The Juilliard School, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Wilma Theater, and California Shakespeare, among others. Andrew has collaborated with directors Christopher Alden, Mark Lamos, Daniel Fish, Sam Helfrich, David Schweizer, Sam Gold, Jay Scheib, Michael Edwards, Daniel Aukin, and Joanna Settle. He received a Drama Desk nomination for Wintertime by Charles Mee, a Barrymore nomination for The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl, as well as a Princess Grace, USA Award. He was part of the creative team responsible for Partenope at English National Opera, winner of the 2009 Lawrence Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production. Andrew is an Associate Arts Professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and taught previously at Williams College.

TAIBI MAGAR, ASST. DIRECTOR

Selected Credits, The Dime Show (Co-Director, Women's Project),  On the 5:31, The Upstart (Rising Phoenix Rep), Hamlet, Inhale (The Gallery Players), Rum & Vodka (Faux Real), Kindertransport, The Wake of Jamey Foster, Fran's Bed (NYU Tisch). As assistant, she has worked at The Alley Theatre, SPF and Broadway's production of Exit The King. Public Theatre Shakespeare Lab Directing Fellow 2008. Brown University MFA Directing Candidate 2014.

JOANNA SETTLE, DIRECTOR

Joanna (Director/Artistic Director) has directed classic and modern classic work by Sophocles, Ionesco, Shakespeare, Euripides, Harold Pinter, and Samuel Beckett, among others. Her direction of contemporary plays includes 9 Parts of Desire, which won two Lucille Lortel Awards and was hailed by The New Yorker as, "an example of how art can remake the world."  Recently, Settle directed In Darfur for the New York Public Theater downtown and at the prestigious Delacorte Theater in Central Park.  Also at The Public, she directed Future Me (for SPF) and the finale week of Suzan-Lori Park's 365 Plays/365 Days.  Settle has guest directed and taught at Bard College (Penthesilea), Cornell (Good Person of Szechuan) and The Juilliard School (Trojan Women). She is a graduate of the inaugural Andrew W. Mellon Directing Program at The Julliard School and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts/Theater Communications Group Fellowship for Directors.  She served as Artistic Director of Division 13 Productions in Chicago and NYC from 1997-2005, directing 15 of the company’s 17 site-specific productions.  www.division13.org

Jessica Paz, Sound System Design

Jessica is a Brooklyn born; New York based Freelance Sound Designer whose work spans multiple genres. From Baroque to Spoken Word, AfroBeat to Chamber Music; whether creating custom Systems or original SoundScapes, her work is always rooted in meaningful collaboration, inspiration, and experimentation. Associate Sound Designer of the Broadway production of Fela! (The National Theatre London and Lagos, Nigeria); and Stunning at Lincoln Center. Design Credits include: SCKBSTD (Virginia Stage Company) ; Looking for the Pony (Vital Theater Co.); Women Beware Women (Red Bull Theater); STRETCH-A Fantasia (New Georges). Other Associate Credits include: Zooman and the Sign (Signature Theater); Wig Out (The Vineyard-Lortel Nomination; Design by R. Kaplowitz). Assistant Credits include : Calvin Berger (George St Playhouse; Design by:Brian Ronan) Hunting and Gathering (Primary Stages); Pumpgirl (MTC); Pretty Chin Up and A Small Melodramatic Story (LAByrinth).

THE ARTISTS

KEITH PARHAM, Lighting Design

Keith Parham (Lighting Designer)  Othello (Shakespeare on the Sound); A Minister's Wife (Lincoln Center Theatre); Three Sisters (Classic Stage Company); Adding Machine (Minetta Lane Theatre, 2008 Obie and Lortel Awards for Design); Mistakes Were Made and Red Light Winter (Barrow Street Theatre); Homebody/Kabul (National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia); Carters Way and Sunset Limited (Chicago/Off-Broadway/Ireland) (Steppenwolf); Gas For Less, Ghostwritten, The Seagull, and Mary (Goodman); Gift of the Magi (American Players Theatre), and Million Dollar Quartet (Goodman and The Apollo). He is a company member of TUTA Theatre where recent credits include Baal, The Wedding, and Uncle Vanya. He has also designed for The Alley Theatre, The Milwaukee Repertory, Trinity Repertory, Northlight Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago Opera Theatre and The Chicago Symphony Orchestra among others.

 

Tilly Grimes, Costume Design

Tilly works between London, Dublin and New York. Recent theatre/opera credits; “Twelfth Night” directed by Mark Lamos, “Wii Plays” at Ars Nova, “Emperor Anthony” director Victor Pappas, “Les Mamelles Des Tiresias” Juilliard, director: Emma Griffin, “Othello” director: Joanna Settle Music: Stew & Heidi Rodewald, ‘The Storm’ director: Michael Sexton, ‘The Lonely Soldier Monologues’ La Mama Club director: William Black, ‘Caligula’ director: Connor Hanratty [Best Costume Design Nomination, Irish Times Theatre Award] and the Paris Chocolate Fashion Show. Tilly is co-artistic director of London/Parisian theatre company 'SavageCharm'. Tilly is an M.F.A graduate from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Heidi Rodewald, Composer

Obie award winner Heidi Rodewald co-wrote the musical Passing Strange, nominated for seven Tony Awards and winner of Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical and the 2008 Obie Award for Best New American Theater Piece.  Ms. Rodewald has worked for over ten years performing, producing, arranging, and composing for both The Negro Problem and Stew.  She composed music for Karen Kandel's Portraits: Night and Day (2004) and co-wrote the screenplay We Can See Today for the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs (2005).