DIRECTORS & CHOREOGRAPHERS
Charles Fee
Producing Artistic Director
Eleven seasons at Great Lakes Theater
Directing credits at GLT: Blithe Spirit, Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, All’s Well That Ends Well, Hamlet, Hay Fever, The Importance of Being Earnest, Arms and the Man and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Charles holds a uniqueposition in the American theater as producingartistic director of three independently operated,professional theater companies: Great LakesTheater in Cleveland, Ohio (since 2002), IdahoShakespeare Festival in Boise, Idaho (since 1991)and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in LakeTahoe, Nevada (since 2010). His appointmentshave resulted in a dynamic and groundbreakingproducing model for the companies, in which 45plays have been shared since 2002.
In 2009, Charles was honored to receive recognition for his leadership by the Cleveland Arts Prize as a recipient of the Martha Joseph Award. Other awards include The Mayor’s and Governor’s awards for Excellence in the Arts, in Boise, Idaho. From 1988 to 1992, he held the position of artistic director at the Sierra Repertory Theatre in California. He has also worked with The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, the Milwaukee and Missouri repertory theaters, Actor’s Theatre of Phoenix and the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival.
In addition to his work with the companies in Ohio, Idaho and Nevada, Charles is active within the community. He has served as a member of the strategic planning committee for the Morrison Center, as producer of the FUNDSY Award Gala (’96, ’98 and 2000), and as producer of the 1996 Idaho Governor’s Awards in the Arts. Charles has served on the board of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Downtown Rotary Club. He received his B.A. from the University of the Pacific and Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, San Diego.
Along with his wife, Lidia, and 17-year-old daughter, Alexa, Charles resides in Boise, Cleveland and Lake Tahoe –– a feat that is only possible because of the incredible love and support of his family, and the generous communities he serves!
Dan Knechtges
Director/Choreographer, Guys and Dolls
Great Lakes Theater Debut
Dan’s Broadway credits include Lysistrata Jones (Direction & Choreography), Xanadu (directed by Chris Ashley, Tony nomination, Drama Desk nomination), Sondheim on Sondheim (directed by James Lapine), 110 in The Shade (starring Audra McDonald) and The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee (directed by James Lapine.) Dan also choreographed the off-Broadway incarnation of The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee at Second Stage, which earned him a Lucille Lortel Award nomination. Off-Broadway credits include directing Tail! Spin! (starring Mo Rocca and Rachel Dratch) for the 2012 Fringe Festival, Merrily We Roll Along for Encores! at City Center (directed by James Lapine), Vanities at Second Stage and directing and choreographing Lysistrata Jones for the Transport Group.
Other credits include Der Schuh Das Manitu (Berlin, Germany), The Nightingale (LaJolla Playhouse), Vanities (Theatreworks Palo Alto), Give It Up! (Dallas Theatre Center), Girl In The Frame (Goodspeed), Boys From Syracuse (Centerstage Baltimore), Godspell (Papermill Playhouse), Oklahoma!, The Wiz, Cats, My Fair Lady, Chalk Circle, Sound of Music, Josephand the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (Hangar Theatre), Mame, Angel Street, Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Surflight Theatre), Don Giovanni (Indianapolis Opera), Carousel, The Merry Widow, West Side Story (Opera Illinois).
Dan not only has worked in the theater world but also has worked on several operas and concerts. He had the unique experience of choreographing Leonard Bernstein’s MASS for the Dallas Symphony to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. He also set the piece on Ballet Met dancers in Columbus, OH for ProMusica. Dan’s concert dance premiere was for BalletMet’s JazzMoves choreographing the finale, Mowtown Moves with the Columbus Jazz Orchestra.
Dan’s choreography can be seen in the Todd Solondz’s movie Palindromes, Dark Horse, White Collar on USA Network, The 2011 TV Land Awards with Liza Minnelli, and in Fatboy Slim’s music video “It’s a Wonderful Night,” which reached No. 1 in the U.K. He has also taught dance at numerous institutions and often does master classes all over the country.
Dan holds a BFA in musical theatre from Otterbein College in Westerville, OH and hails from Cleveland, OH. He is also a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab.
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Jim Cooney
Associate Choreographer, Guys and Dolls
Great Lakes Theater debut
Cleveland native, now New Yorker for 14 years, Jim is honored to be making his GLT debut! Select choreography for television and stage: Extreme Makeover:Home Edition featuring Kristin Chenoweth, The Glee Project for Oxygen’s Upfronts, The Today Show featuring Little Richard, The Accused for Tropicana in Atlantic City (awarded Best Casino Show of the Year), and assisting Tony-nominated Randy Skinner on the City Center production of Abby’s Song starring Paul Sorvino and the musical Ginger starring Tony Award-winner Donna McKechnie. He’s also choreographed live events for the likes of Warner Bros., OfficeMax and Glamour magazine, featuring celebrities including Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin and Robbie Rosen of American Idol. Jim is on faculty at Broadway Dance Center where he was praised by The New York Times for his teaching. He also serves as faculty advisor for Broadway Dance Center’s professional training programs.
Matthew Webb
Music Director, Guys and Dolls and
A Christmas Carol
Six seasons at Great Lakes Theater
Matthew is a graduate of the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music and hails from Cordova, Illinois. Previously at Great Lakes: Sondheim on Sondheim, Cabaret, Bat Boy: The Musical, The Mystery ofEdwin Drood, Into the Woods, Macbeth, TwoGentlemen of Verona and A Funny Thing Happened onthe Way to the Forum. He is also the music director for the acclaimed corporate entertainment group, The Water Coolers.
DESIGNERS
Beowulf Boritt
Scenic Designer, Guys and Dolls
Great Lakes Theater debut
Broadway: The Scottsboro Boys (Tony nomination), Chaplin, Grace, Rock of Ages, Sondheim on Sondheim, The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee, LoveMusik, The Two And Only. Off-Broadway: More than 50 shows, including The Last Five Years, Toxic Avenger, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, Miss Julie, Roundabout,Public, MTC, 2nd Stage, Vineyard, MCC, Primary Stages, New Group, Pearl, American Place, Keen Company. Other designs: The Seven Deadly Sins (New York City Ballet) Paradise Found (London), Reel to Real (Beijing) and two editions of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He received a 2007 OBIE Award.
Jennifer Caprio
Costume Designer, Guys and Dolls
Great Lakes Theater debut
Broadway:The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Other NYC:In Transit (Primary Stages, Lucille Lortel Award nomination), Fugitive Songs (Dreamlight Theatre Company), Masked (DR2 Theatre), Striking 12 (Daryl Roth Theatre), The Atheist (Center Stage), Wanda’s World (Amas Musical Theatre), Modern & Post-Modern Living (LaMama Experimental Theatre Club). International:The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), The Great American Trailer Park Musical (International Tour), Queen Esther Marrow and the Harlem Gospel Singers (International Tours 2010, 2011, 2012). Regional:Florida Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Boston, La Jolla Playhouse, Virginia Stage Company, Utah Shakespeare Festival (Seven Productions), Playmakers Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival (five seasons), Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Westport Country Playhouse, Capital Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Hangar Theatre (13 seasons), among others. Film/Television:Born to Shine (Art Director, Time Warner Cable); Oz: The Great and Powerful (Costume Assistant). Education/Other:BFA Ithaca College; MFA Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.Upcoming: NYC: Little Miss Sunshine and Ella Minnow Pea (Goodspeed).
Steven Gross
Conductor, Guys and Dolls
Two seasons at Great Lakes Theater
Steven is pleased to be returning to GLT after music directing productions of Gypsy and Anything Goes. Steven has worked on Broadway and the West End as conductor and pianist on such shows as The Life, Urinetown, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Chicago, Miss Saigon, The Wedding Singer, Saturday Night Fever and Dreamgirls,plus the New York City Opera productions of A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, The Most Happy Fella and Candide. He has worked off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons and the Algonquin Theater. His adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance at the South Street Seaport was Lortel-nominated for best musical. Regional theater work includes music direction in St. Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Miami, Philadelphia and Chicago. He has conducted the European premieres of The Life, Urinetown, Falsettos, Beehive, Forever Plaid, Closer Than Ever and Flora the Red Menace. He also works extensively as an opera and concert conductor. He has collaborated as an orchestrator/arranger on new musicals with composers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus on their new version of Chess, Cy Coleman on two of his last performed musicals, David Friedman and Mark Hollmann. He has also worked on developing new works with composers Cy Coleman, Mark Hollmann and David Friedman. Steven works actively as an orchestrator and arranger for many symphony orchestras, as well as for varied television, radio, video and on-line stations. His musical Nijinsky has been performed in Berlin, Hamburg and Zurich, and will debut in Lausanne and Paris in the next two seasons. Steven is currently an associate professor at Baldwin Wallace University.
Richard B. Ingraham
Sound Designer, Guys and Dolls and Blithe Spirit
Two seasons with Great Lakes
Richard has designed sound for numerous theaters in the area and around the country. Previously at Great Lakes, Richard designed sound for Blithe Spirit, Sondheim on Sondheim and many of the Outreach Tours. Other recent sound designs include Follies for Baldwin Wallace University; Next to Normal, Annie, Xanadu and SpringAwakening for Beck Center; Ave Q for Cain Park; Ghosts of War and A Bright New Boise for Dobama Theatre; Songs for a New World and Pride and Prejudice for Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Holland, Michigan; and Strike Slip for Oberlin College. Richard has worked as a show control programmer and installer for several clients, including Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, The Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, and Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. He has also taught sound design and related course work at The Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and The University of Evansville Theatre Department.
David Lander
Lighting Designer, Guys and Dolls
Great Lakes Theater debut
Broadway: The Heiress with Jessica Chastain and Dan Stevens, The Lyons with Linda Lavin, Master Class with Tyne Daly, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams (Drama Desk Award, Tony and Outer Critics nominations for Best Lighting Design), 33 Variations with Jane Fonda (Tony and Outer Critics nominations), I Am My Own Wife (Drama Desk and Outer Critics nominations), A Man for All Seasons with Frank Langella, Dirty Blond, Golden Child. Off-Broadway: Fran’s Bed with Mia Farrow, King Lear with Kevin Klein, Macbeth with Live Schreiber and Jennifer Ehle, Modern Orthodox with Molly Ringwald and Jason Biggs, among others. Regional: Ahmanson Theatre, Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Geffin Playhouse, The Goodman Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, St. Louis MUNY, The Old Globe, Philadelphia Theatre Company, among others. International: London, Dublin, Caracas, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, among others.
STAGE MANAGEMENT
Jennifer Caster*
Assistant Stage Manager, Guys and Dolls
Great Lakes Theater debut
Stage management credits include EarthPlays, Water Ways, The Secret Social, Standing on Ceremony, Poor Little Lulu and At-TEN-tion Span (Cleveland Public Theatre); Antony and Cleopatra, Burt Dow, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, Elizabeth Rex, Dying City, and Brilliant Traces (Stonington Opera House, ME); Red Light Winter, Fefu and Her Friends, Passion Play and How I Learned to Drive (Bard College Fisher Center, NY); Septimus and Clarissa (assistant credit, Ripe Time, NY); Futurity (HERE Arts Center, NY); PITCH (LaMaMa, Etc., NY); Waxing West (Dramalabbet, Stockholm). Jennifer is the Production Manager for Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant.
Corrie E. Purdum*
Stage Manager, Guys and Dolls, Much Ado About Nothing, A Christmas Carol and The Winter’s Tale
Seven seasons at Great Lakes Theater
GLT: The Taming of the Shrew, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Christmas Carol, The Tempest, Measure for Measure, The Crucible, Into the Woods, The Comedy of Errors, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Bat Boy: The Musical, Othello, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cabaret, The Mousetrap, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Winter’s Tale, and Much Ado About Nothing.Other credits include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at Lake TahoeShakespeare Festival, seven seasons with IdahoShakespeare Festival, six seasons with theCleveland Play House and three seasons with CainPark. Corrie is an alumna of Baldwin-WallaceCollege, where she teaches stage management.
THE AUTHORS
Abe Burrows
Co-writer, Guys and Dolls
After studying to be a doctor and an accountant, Abe Burrows had a career in sales before becoming a successful radio scriptwriter and writer/performer of musical parody numbers. His first Broadway libretto was Guys and Dolls, co-written with Jo Swerling, with a score by Frank Loesser. Among the musicals for which he provided librettos are Make A Wish, Can-Can and Silk Stockings (both with scores by Cole Porter), Say, Darling, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (which he also directed; score by Frank Loesser). His non-musical plays include Cactus Flower (wrote and directed) and Forty Carats (directed).
Frank Loesser
Music and Lyrics, Guys and Dolls
One of America’s great composer/lyricists, Frank Loesser began his songwriting career during the Depression as a lyricist, contributing songs to Broadway revues and nightclub acts. His work with composer Irving Actman in the 1936 revue The Illustrator’s Show led to a songwriting contract in Hollywood, where he spent the next 11 years working with such composers as Burton Lane, Jule Styne, Arthur Schwartz and Hoagy Carmichael. Some of his film songs from that period include “Two Sleepy People,” “Jingle Jangle Jingle” and “I Don’t Want To Walk Without You.” The first song for which Loesser wrote both words and music was “Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition,” written during his World War II service. His Hollywood work after the war included the hit songs “Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year,” “A Slow Boat To China” and the 1949 Oscar-winning song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” In 1948, Loesser was approached by fledgling Broadway producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin to write music and lyrics to George Abbott’s libretto for an adaptation of the classic Brandon Thomas play Charley’s Aunt. The new musical, which starred Ray Bolger, was called Where’s Charley? and was a hit. This led to Loesser’s next show, the hugely influential and successful Guys and Dolls in 1950, also produced by Feuer and Martin, with a script by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling. In 1956, Loesser wrote the libretto, music and lyrics for his next show, The Most Happy Fella, adapted from Sidney Howard’s play, They Knew What They Wanted. This impressive score contains over 30 musical numbers and makes extensive use of operatic techniques and forms, including recitative, arias, duets, trios and choral numbers. In 1960, he provided the score and was co-librettist for Greenwillow. In 1961, Loesser wrote the score for the Pulitzer Prize-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. His last show, Pleasures and Palaces, closed in 1965 during out-of-town try-outs.
Jo Swerling
Co-writer, Guys and Dolls
Born in Russia in 1897, Jo Swerling was a playwright, screenwriter and vaudeville sketch writer. Mr. Swerling’s long career began as a reporter and feature writer in New York and Chicago.