This Beautiful City
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Cast/Creative Bios

EMILY ACKERMAN (Young Woman “God’s Grace,” T-girl Christian) Emily has been an Associate Artist with The Civilians since 2006. With The Civilians: This Beautiful City (Original Collaborator/Performer; Colorado Springs, ATL/Humana Festival 2008, Studio Theatre, Center Theatre Group), Gone Missing (Barrow Street Theatre, Cast Album, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville). Other credits: Well (as Lisa Kron, Arena Stage), The Constant Wife (American Conservatory Theatre & Seattle Repertory Theatre), Ghosts (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Seagull, Twelfth Night, Love’s Labours Lost, The Skin of our Teeth, Romeo & Juliet, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Medea (California Shakespeare Theater), Clean Alternatives (59E59th Street/Edinburgh Festival), The People’s Temple (Perseverance Theatre), St. Joan, The Entertainer, The Weir (Aurora Theatre Company), Fugitive Kind, Candida (Marin Theatre Company), and the world premiere of Kissing the Witch (Magic Theatre). Film: Happily Even After and Rise of the Dead. She is also the co-author of Re-Entry (with KJ Sanchez), commissioned and produced by Two River Theater Company.

MARSHA STEPHANIE BLAKE (Emmanuel Choir Member, Ben Reynolds, New Pastor at Emmanuel) Broadway: The Crucible, directed by Richard Eyre. Off-Broadway: Queens Boulevard by Charles Mee (Signature Theatre), Speak Truth to Power (Culture Project), The Beach - 365 Plays/365 Days (Epic Rep/Public Theatre), Living Room in Africa (Edge Theatre Co.), The Gentleman Dancing Master and The Master Builder (Pearl Theatre), Aunt Dan and Lemon (The New Group), Twelfth Night (Public Theatre/NYSF). Regional: This Beautiful City (Kirk Douglas LA, Humana Fest, Studio Theatre DC), Peter and Wendy (with Mabou Mines at Arena Stage). Television: 6 Degrees, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Third Watch. Film: The Architect, directed by Matthew Tauber; A-Alike, Lifted and the upcoming Indelible, directed by Randall Dottin. B.A. Dartmouth College. M.F.A UCSD.

BRAD HEBERLEE (New Life Associate Pastor, Fairness and Equality Worker) Off-Broadway/New York: The Thugs (Soho Rep), (I am) Nobody’s Lunch (The Civilians), The Last Sunday In June (Century Center), Man Is Man (Prospect Theatre Company). Regional: This Beautiful City (Humana/Center Theatre Group), The Sweetest Swing In Baseball (Denver Center Theatre Company), I Am My Own Wife and David Copperfield (Weston Playhouse), 36 Views (Huntington Theatre), Hay Fever (Baltimore Centerstage), Serious Money (Yale Rep), Amadeus (Syracuse Stage/Virginia Stage), The Foreigner (Milwaukee Rep), A Christmas Carol (McCarter), Candida and Measure for Measure (Sacramento Theatre Company), The Taming of the Shrew and The Merchant of Venice (Idaho Shakespeare Festival). Brad is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

BRANDON MILLER (Alt Writer, Military Religious Freedom Activist, RHOP Leader) New York/Off-Broadway: Deathbed (Apparition), Armed and Naked in America (Naked Angels), The Attic and Arabian Night (The Play Company), Hannah & Martin (Epic Theatre Center). International: (I Am) Nobody’s Lunch with The Civilians (Edinburgh Fringe/London’s Soho Theatre), The Green Violin (SPBA, St. Petersburg, Russia). Regional: The Glass Menagerie, Blur and An Ideal Husband (Dallas Theater Center), Family Stories: Belgrade (Market Theater). Feature Film: Adam and Steve. Graduate of Yale Drama School.

STEPHEN PLUNKETT (TAG Pastor, Priest, Marcus Haggard) Off-Broadway: Gone Missing (Barrow Street Theatre), Jump! (Kirk), Realism (Kirk) Other NY: The Horton Foote Project (78th Street Theatre Lab), Glimpses of the Moon (Algonquin Oak Room)--in which you can currently see Stephen every Monday night! Regional: Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Studio, Kirk Douglas, Huntington and The New Harmony Project. TV: Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Stephen is an associate artist of The Civilians and a graduate of The University of Evansville. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting.

ALISON WELLER (Fairness and Equality Leader, RHOP Member) Broadway: Coram Boy. Off Broadway: Gone Missing (Barrow St. Theatre), Aphrodisiac (PS 122). As an Associate Artist with the Civilians: original collaborator on Gone Missing and This Beautiful City, also The Ladies (Chashama) and The Modern World Project with Anne Kauffman. Other NY: The Female Terrorist Project (The Committee), Out From Under It and Blue Lila Rising (New Georges). Regional: Pride and Prejudice (Portland Center Stage), The Cherry Orchard and This Beautiful City (Center Theatre Group), Lyric Stage, ATL, WHAT, and several seasons at the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. Film: Marc and Tom, Little Match Boy. Co-creator of Damian Baldet’s Pugilist. BA: Harvard. MFA: UCSD.

THE CIVILIANS (Creator) is an Obie and Edinburgh Fringe First-winning company founded by Artistic Director Steven Cosson. Works are developed from creative investigations into real life and produced internationally. Canard, Canard, Goose?, Gone Missing, The Ladies, (I Am) Nobody’s Lunch, This Beautiful City and Paris Commune have appeared at theaters including ART, Barrow Street, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Public Theatre, London’s Soho Theatre and many others. Current investigative projects include Brooklyn at Eye Level, The Great Immensity, and Escaping the Modern World.

STEVEN COSSON (Co-Writer/Director) Founder of The Civilians, with the company: the long-running hit Gone Missing, (I Am) Nobody’s Lunch, Canard, Canard, Goose? and Paris Commune. Productions at The Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, A.R.T., Gate Theatre and Soho Theatre in London, Edinburgh Fringe (Fringe First), HBO Comedy Festival and many others. Directed and developed many new plays: Neal Bell’s Shadow of Himself, Mat Smart’s 13th of Paris, Tommy Smith’s Air Conditioning, Anne Washburn’s Communist Dracula Pageant, world premiere of Peter Morris’ Square Root of Minus One; U.S. premiere of Martin Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life, U.S. premiere of Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love, also The Time of Your Life, Serious Money, The Importance of Being Earnest and Guys and Dolls. He’s been a Fulbright Scholar in Colombia, a MacDowell Fellow, and Resident Director at New Dramatists. Obie for The Civilians.

JIM LEWIS (Co-writer) Broadway: TONY and Drama Desk nominations “Best Book for a Musical” for Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Also B’way w/ Graciela Daniele, Dangerous Games and Tango Apaisionado. Opera/Dance: Librettos for Ballet Hispanico’s Nightclub, Philip Glass’ Les Enfants Terribles, Paul Dresher’s The Tyrant and Bill T. Jones’ Chapel/Chapter. Translations: Ionesco’s The Chairs, and Ibsen’s Lady From The Sea. Production Dramaturg: PastFORWARD w/ Mikhail Baryshnikov, House Arrest w/ Anna Deavere Smith, Lincoln Center’s Woza Afrika Festival, Granville Barker’s Waste (OBIE Award) and Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, both w/ Bartlett Sher, and Bill T. Jones’ Still/Here (BAM 2003). Program Director: produced opening season of The American Center in Paris. Resident Dramaturg: The Guthrie, Second Stage, and INTAR. Currently: Fela! a new musical w/ Bill T. Jones which moves to Broadway in 2009.

MICHAEL FRIEDMAN (Music and lyrics) Vineyard: God’s Ear, Fully Committed. Founding Associate Artist of The Civilians: (I Am) Nobody’s Lunch, Paris Commune, Gone Missing, Brooklyn at Eye Level, and Canard, Canard, Goose? Also, music and lyrics for Saved, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, In the Bubble, The Brand New Kid, and The Blue Demon. Off Broadway: New York Shakespeare Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, Roundabout Theatre Co., Second Stage, Soho Rep, Theater for a New Audience, Signature, and The Acting Company. Regional: Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Humana Festival, ART, Berkeley Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and many others. Dramaturg: A Raisin in the Sun. Artistic Associate: New York Theatre Workshop; MacDowell fellowship; Princeton University Hodder Fellowship. 2007 Obie award for sustained excellence.

JOHN CARRAFA (Choreographer). Broadway: Urinetown the Musical, (Tony Nomination, Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Nominations), Into the Woods (Tony Nomination), Dirty Blonde, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Dance of the Vampires, Good Vibrations (Director/Choreographer). Film: Bride Wars (January 2009), The Polar Express (2007 Media Choreography Award), The Thomas Crown Affair, The Last Days of Disco, It Could Happen To You. Movement Coaching for Actors: includes Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Val Kilmer, John Turturro, Sir Ian McKellen. Television: Sex and the City, Ed, Truth Anti-Smoking Ad Campaign, NBA Entertainment (Creative Director), Rodgers and Hart PBS Great Performances (Director). Off-Broadway: Vineyard Theatre, Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center Theater. City Center Encores! Series: The Pajama Game, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Out of This World. Regional: Yale Rep- Eurydice. Kennedy Center: Sondheim Festival A Little Night Music, Wagner’s Ring. Disney World: Finding Nemo.

NEIL PATEL (Set Design) CTG: Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine, iWitness. Broadway: [title of show], Sideman (West End and Kennedy Center), ‘night, Mother, Ring of Fire. West End: Underneath the Lintel. Off-Broadway: On the Mountain, Lobster Alice, Mud River Stone (Playwrights Horizons), Dinner With Friends (Variety Arts Theater and National Tour), Peter and Jerry, A Soldier’s Play, Living Out (Second Stage), Streamers, McReele (Roundabout), Dirty Tricks, Othello, Henry V (New York Shakespeare Festival), War of the Worlds, Hotel Cassiopeia (BAM/Next Wave). Opera: New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Theater St. Louis, Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theater. Helen Hayes Award, Numerous Drama Desk nominations, 1996 and 2001 OBIE for sustained excellence. www.neilpateldesign.com.

ALIX HESTER (Costume Designer). New York: Finks! (NYSAF), Maid (Lincoln Center), Tight! Right! White! (Dar A Luz). Regional: She Stoops To Conquer (Shakespeare Santa Cruz). Center Theater Group: This Beautiful City (Kirk Douglas Theater), Cut, The Fading Day (Taper New Works). Los Angeles: The Unexpected Man (Geffen Playhouse), Carnage ‘08, Self Defense, Private Battle, Kick Ass Militia (Dramalogue Award), Cool Cops, World of Wrestling, The Imaginary Invalid (Ovation Award), Asylum, Mien Kampf, Klub ‘92, Blood! Love! Madness! ‘92, Titus Andronicus (Actors’ Gang). Film: Major Movie Star, An American Crime, Smiley Face, Step Up, Mysterious Skin, Attraction, The Blind Owl.

DAVID WEINER (Lighting Design). Broadway: Butley, Dinner at Eight (Lincoln Center Theater), Betrayal (Roundabout), The Real Thing. Off-Broadway: Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, The Public, New York Theatre Workshop, MCC, Theatre for a New Audience, The Vineyard, Atlantic Theater Company, Culture Project. Regional: The Guthrie, La Jolla Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, The Alley, McCarter Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Williamstown, Cincinnati Playhouse, A.C.T. – Seattle, New York Stage & Film, Berkeley Repertory Theater. Other L.A.: Der Zerbrochene Krug and Der Zwerg (LA Opera). www.DavidWeinerDesign.com.

KEN TRAVIS (Sound Design) Selected shows: The Three Penny Opera, Barefoot in the Park, Steel Magnolias (Broadway), Memphis (La Jolla Playhouse & 5th Ave), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Mame, Into the Woods (5th Ave), Twelfth Night, Blue Door (Seattle Rep), Gone Missing (Civilians), Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky, Blue Door, Fabulation (Playwrights Horizons), Two Thousand Years, Abigail’s Party, Hurlyburly, Aunt Dan and Lemon, Comedians, What the Butler Saw (The New Group), Paris Commune, Julius Caesar, The Winter’s Tale and Anna Deavere Smith’s House Arrest (NYSF Public Theater), Beckett/Albee (Century Center), Look Back in Anger (CSC), Prelude to a Death in Venice, Choephorae, Red Beads (Mabou Mines’).

JASON H. THOMPSON (Projection Design). International/Regional: Rock of Ages (Flamingo Casino), Aerosmith Route of All Evil Tour (opening video montage), Stars on Ice 2006-07 and 2007-08 tours, Buckminster Fuller (Rubicon Theatre), Palm Beach (director Des McAnuff, La Jolla Playhouse), Moses the Musical (Alvin Ailey Studios, NY), Finding Home (National Concert Hall, Taiwan and Vancouver, Canada). Kirk Douglas Theatre: Of Equal Measure (director Leigh Silverman). Geffen Playhouse: The God of Hell (director Jason Alexander), The Quality of Life (director Jane Anderson). Other Los Angeles: Sunday in the Park with George (director Jason Alexander, Reprise!), Best in Drag AIDS Benefit, The 2006 Ovation Awards, Evel Knievel the Rock Opera (Bootleg Theatre), C’Opera (Collage Dance Theatre Company), Access by Jerry Quickley and Flip the Game (CTG’s P.L.A.Y.), 12th Premise (Lillian Theatre). Associate Projection Design: Jersey Boys (Broadway and Worldwide). Training: UC San Diego MFA in Design.

ERIK JAMES (Music Director) Off-Broadway: Slugbearers of Kayrol Island, or, the Friends of Dr. Rushower (Music Director, Vineyard Theatre), This Beautiful City (Music Director, Kirk Douglas Theater) Help is on the Way - Broadway Cares (Music Director, Laurie Beechman Theater). Erik James is a classically trained pianist and a prominent figure in the piano-bar/cabaret scene in Manhattan. Frequently playing “Don’t Tell Mama’s”, “Brandy’s”, and “The Duplex”, New York knows him as a versatile pianist, singer, and entertainer. Erik also makes a living by composing and producing music for TV and Film. His credits include the College Baseball World Series theme song, “Omaha” for ESPN, as well as many orchestral, pop and rock library packages for ESPN, Spike TV, and Inside Edition. Erik has collaborated with such musicians as Frank Black (of the Pixies) and Mark Mulcahy.

GREGORY T. LIVOTI (Assistant Stage Manager) Broadway: Coram Boy, The Pajama Game. Nat’l Tour: Disney’s High School Musical. Off B’way: The Marriage of Bette & Boo, The Overwhelming, Pig Farm (Roundabout), Dutchman, Bhutan (Cherry Lane), Richard II (Classic Stage), See What I Wanna See (Public), Big Bill (Lincoln Center). Regional: The Little Dog Laughed (Center Theatre Group), 5 seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington, Boston Playwright’s. Graduate of Boston University School of Theatre.

DOUGLAS AIBEL (Artistic Director, Vineyard Theatre) was the first recipient of the Ross Wetzsteon OBIE Award for his work with The Vineyard and was pleased to accept special Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards for The Vineyard’s body of work. Mr. Aibel is also widely known in the film world as a casting director, with credits including: We Own The Night, The Squid and the Whale, The Royal Tenenbaums, Signs, Dead Man Walking, Kinsey, The Village, The Life Aquatic, Little Odessa, Cradle Will Rock, Fresh, The Myth Of Fingerprints, Unbreakable, Bob Roberts, Five Corners, The Dying Gaul, Margot at the Wedding. Upcoming: All Good Things, The Rebound and Margaret.

CENTER THEATRE GROUP (Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director; Charles Dillingham, Managing Director) is Los Angeles’ preeminent non-profit theatre company, presenting groundbreaking new works, explosive productions of the classics and hit Broadway plays and musicals on its three stages – the Ahmanson Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum and the Kirk Douglas Theatre (where This Beautiful City was presented last September). CTG has developed an impressive number of Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, including The Kentucky Cycle and Angels in America. In the most current four seasons alone, a total of 70 productions have been selected for presentation, including 19 world premieres. Nine productions have been presented or are scheduled to be produced in New York. At the 2006 and 2007 Tony Awards, three CTG productions received a total of 25 nominations, more than any other theatre company in the country.

VINEYARD THEATRE is a non-profit theatre company dedicated to new work, bold programming and the support of artists. One of America’s preeminent centers for the creation of new plays and musicals, Vineyard Theatre has consistently premiered provocative, groundbreaking works by both new and established writers. From our current and past Broadway successes Avenue Q, and [title of show], to two Pulitzer Prize-winning dramas — Paula Vogel’s How I Learned To Drive and Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women — to such notable projects as Nicky Silver’s Pterodactyls, Becky Mode’s Fully Committed, Craig Lucas’ The Dying Gaul, Christopher Shinn’s Where Do We Live, Cornelius Eady’s Brutal Imagination, Gina Gionfriddo’s After Ashley, the Laura Nyro musical Eli’s Comin’, Anne Washburn’s The Internationalist and last season’s acclaimed productions of Julia Cho’s The Piano Teacher, Ben Katchor and Mark Mulcahy’s The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island and Jenny Schwartz’s God’s Ear, and this season’s succesful run of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Wig Out! — we strive to produce new work that challenges both our audiences and artists. It is our goal to bring a spirit of adventure and risk to the art of making theatre. We’re proud to be the recipient of special OBIE, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel awards for Sustained Excellence.

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