Ithaca, NY (04/07/14) - The Hangar Theatre is happy to announce a fantastic lineup of accomplished directors and designers for its 40th Anniversary Mainstage season. While some of these artists are returning to the Hangar from past production favorites, others, including new Artistic Director Jen Waldman, will be making their Hangar debut. The roster includes many talented artists with local ties to Ithaca, including Ithaca College and Cornell University alumni.
Waldman will direct two of the Mainstage shows this summer: the Tony Award-winning Red by John Logan (June 12-21) and the rocking, hilarious musical Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (July 10-26). Joining her in the director's circle will be Hangar Associate Artistic Director Jesse Bush, taking the helm of the hilarious adaptation of the Jules Verne novel Around the World in 80 Days (June 26-July 5), and Mark Shanahan making his Hangar debut directing the regional premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Other Desert Cities (July 31-August 9) by Jon Robin Baitz.
Following is the director and designer lineup for each 2014 Hangar Mainstage production:
RED by John Logan
June 12-21
Director: Jen Waldman, Hangar Artistic Director
Scenic Designer: Tom Burch
Costume Designer: Gretchen Darrow-Crotty
Lighting Designer: David Arsenault, Hangar debut
Sound Engineer: Sean Hagerty, Hangar debut
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS by Mark Brown
June 26-July 5
Director: Jesse Bush, Hangar Associate Artistic Director
Scenic Designer: Tom Burch
Costume Designer: Mira Veikley
Lighting Designer: Matt Richards
Sound Engineer: Sean Hagerty, Hangar debut
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
July 10-26
Director: Jen Waldman, Hangar Artistic Director
Musical Director: Jasper Grant, Hangar debut
Scenic Designer: David Arsenault, Hangar debut
Costume Designer: Emma Scholl
Lighting Designer: Adam Frank, Hangar debut
Sound Designer: Jonathan Herter
OTHER DESERT CITIES by Jon Robin Baitz
July 31-August 9
Director: Mark Shanahan, Hangar debut
Scenic and Lighting Designer: Steve TenEyck
Costume Designer: Emma Scholl
Sound Designer: Don Tindall
Mainstage season subscriptions, which are packed with added benefits, are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 607-273-8588 or visiting the Hangar Theatre business office located in Center Ithaca on the Downtown Commons, 171 State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850. Visit us at HangarTheatre.org for more information or to download a subscription form. The theatre is located at 801 Taughannock Blvd., Ithaca, NY 14850, two miles north of Downtown Ithaca on Route 89 at the Treman Marina entrance to Cass Park.
The Hangar's 2014 season is a celebration of its 40th year of providing exceptional theatre experiences to enrich, enlighten, educate, and entertain the diverse audience in the Finger Lakes region and beyond. All year, the Hangar will celebrate this milestone with special events, an alumni reunion, and stories taking a look back at the theatre's humble beginnings and rich history. Visit the website at www.HangarTheatre.org for more information.
###
Jen Waldman (Director, Hangar Artistic Director) is the founder of Jen Waldman Studio in NYC and co-Artistic Director of Breaking Bread Theatre. She is Theatre Chair of the National Young Arts Foundation. Direction/Choreography: My Fair Lady, Man of La Mancha, Show Boat, Jekyll & Hyde, and Titanic at Merry-Go-Round playhouse; The 39 Steps at the George Street Playhouse; Some Enchanted Evening and No Way to Treat a Lady at the Cape Playhouse; Fully Committed at the Depot Theatre; Zanna Don't at the York Theatre; Any Dream Will Do at Wanderlust Theatre Company. Performance: Broadway - Wicked and Titanic (also national tours); Off Broadway - Heat Lightning, Dreams This Way, and John and Paul; Regional - Westport Country Playhouse, Bay Street Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Weston Playhouse, and more. BFA Ithaca College.
Tom Burch (Scenic Designer) is thrilled to return to Hangar after designing last summer's 4000 Miles. Recent designs include Ithaca College's L'etoile, as well as regional productions at Actors Theatre Louisville (Pirates of Penzance and Tom Jones), Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (Sense and Sensibility), and shows at American Repertory Theatre, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, and others. Regional design work includes shows at The Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Court, Arizona Theatre Co, Cleveland Play House, and others. Other notable projects have included Mistakes Were Made (off-Broadway, NYC), the American premiere of Jukka Linkola's opera Rockland (Pine Mountain Music Festival), and Frankenstein (The Hypocrites and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago). His work can be seen online at www.tomburch.com.
Gretchen Darrow-Crotty (Costume Designer) previously designed for the Hangar productions of Lend Me a Tenor, The 39 Steps, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Playboy of the Western World, The Blue Room, Stones in His Pockets, Forever Plaid, and Fences. Other regional credits include Syracuse Stage: The Whipping Man, Red, Stones in His Pockets, Fully Committed; The Kitchen Theatre: Nora, The Unexpected Man, Valley Song; SU Drama Department: Indulgences in A Louisville Harem, A Little Night Music, Translations, Damn Yankees, Anything Goes. Gretchen is also the Costumer for Syracuse Stage and the SU Drama Department and is an adjunct professor of Costume Design and Technology at SU. MFA University of Connecticut.
David L. Arsenault (Lighting Designer and Scenic Designer) makes his Hangar debut this summer. He has designed more than a dozen shows at the Kitchen Theatre including Seminar, Cock, Black Pearl Sings!, The Whipping Man, and Call Me Waldo. Merry-Go-Round Playhouse: My Fair Lady (directed by Jen Waldman), Hank Williams: Lost Highway, and Mary Poppins. Selected NYC: NY Times Critic's Picks Handle With Care (Westside Theatre) and The Awake, among many others. Selected Regional: Rocky Horror Show, 4000 Miles, Venus in Fur, All My Sons. International: English Theatre Berlin. David is an Ithaca College alumnus. www.DavidArsenaultDesign.com
Sean Hagerty (Sound Engineer) is a sound designer, violinist, and composer based in NYC. Select projects include sound and music for the Off-Broadway production of Around the World in 80 Days (New 45th Street Theater), Then She Fell (Kingsland Ward), Symphony of Shadows (Dixon Place), and The Fall to Earth (59 E 59). Regional productions include Hound of the Baskervilles (Penguin Rep, Weston Playhouse, Florida Rep) and Mrs. Mannerly (MRT). He is the recipient of a New Music USA grant for original music in 2013 for Third Rail Projects' Roadside Attraction and a 2013 Bessie Award for Then She Fell. www.seanhagerty.com
Jesse Bush (Director, Hangar Associate Artistic Director) has directed many Hangar productions including The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Once On This Island, Columbinus, Wanna Hear a Scary Story?, Free To Be You and Me, and Les Miserables: School Edition. He also directs frequently at the Kitchen Theatre Company: The Whipping Man, The Brothers Size, Happy Days, The Drunken City, Bed, No Breakfast, The Santaland Diaries, Two Rooms, The Drawer Boy, Orphans, The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. His NYC directing credits include: Down the Road (Creative Space Theater), Steel Kiss (Kraine Theatre), Reaching Mercy and Sex and Imagining (American Theatre of Actors), T & T Music Factory (NY International Fringe Festival). He is an alumnus of Ithaca College where he received a BFA in Acting.
Mira Veikley (Costume Designer) is a NYC-based designer who specializes in costumes for stage and film. Favorite past projects include a rained-out rooftop production of The Tempest (Porpentine Theater Co.), creating a mermaid for a Wonderbra Commercial (NYU Graduate Film), and working backstage on the glitter-laden post-apocalyptic Dance Dance Revolution! (Les Freres Corbusier). Other New York credits for theater include A School for Scandal and The Liar (New York University). Past credits for the Hangar include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Free to Be...You and Me!, Reeling, Charlotte's Web, and Alice in Wonderland. Assistant costume design credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (The Public Theater), Broke-ology, and On the Levee (Lincoln Center Theater). Mira has a BS from Cornell University and an MFA from New York University. www.designsbymira.com
Matthew Richards (Lighting Designer) has spent 22 seasons with the Hangar. Broadway: ANN. Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theater Co., B.A.M., Ensemble Studio Theater, Lincoln Center, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, The Play Company, Rattlestick, Second Stage, TheatreworksUSA. Regional: Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage, Baltimore's CENTERSTAGE, Bay Street, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theater Center, Ford's Theatre, The Goodman, The Guthrie, Hartford Stage, The Huntington, La Jolla Playhouse, Maltz Jupiter, New York Stage and Film, The Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre, Westport Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre. Graduate of University of Massachusetts and the Yale School of Drama. Matthewrichardsdesign.com
Jasper Grant (Musical Direction) almost had his music career cut short when he was mistakenly identified as being "tone deaf" by his elementary music teacher, Miss Gladdin. Since then he has gone on to become a successful music director, vocal coach, and creative thinker in NYC. Favorites include: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, The Wiz, The Music Man, A Chorus Line, Company, and Merrily We Roll Along. He has also become an ambassador of bringing musicals to China, having worked on the first American collaboration of Broadway and China (Fame, The Musical). The Road To Fame is an award-winning documentary film that chronicles Jasper's adventures in putting up the show at the Central Academy of Drama.
Emma Scholl (Costume Designer) a designer and technician for theatre, dance, and film, is the costumer for the Department of Dance at the College at Brockport, State University of New York. Much of her design work has been seen at the 2013 Rochester Fringe Festival, including her wearable art collection communication. She has collaborated with Bill Evans Dance, Mariah Maloney Dance, Red Dirt Dance (Karl Rogers), and Vanessa Van Wormer. Previously she has designed costumes for the Hangar, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, the Milburn Stone Theatre, and Steel River Playhouse. She has also worked with faculty, student, and guest choreographers designing dance and theatrical costumes at Bloomsburg University, Bucknell University, and Florida State University. Recent theatrical design credits include The 39 Steps, 4000 Miles, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Full Gallop, Dead Man's Cell Phone, and Julius Caesar. She holds an MFA in Costume Design from Florida State University.
Adam Frank (Lighting Designer) has had his designs produced at South Coast Rep, Syracuse Opera, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, REDCAT, Boston Court, and A Noise Within. He has designed at graduate schools including CalArts, USC, The New School of Drama, and Columbia University. Adam is most proud of designing Waterwell's Goodbar at the Public Theater in NYC. Commercial designs and programming include events at Universal Studios Hollywood, Walt Disney Studio's El Capitan, Six Flags, Ford Amphitheater, Mandalay Bay Resort, Fox News, and the Hollywood Palladium. He has assisted at the LA Opera, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Tri-Cities Opera, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, NY Shakespeare Festival, and On Broadway. BFA Ithaca College, MFA CalArts.
Jonathan Herter (Sound Designer) serves as resident sound designer for his 17th season at Syracuse Stage. Previously, Jon designed sound at the Hangar for Next to Normal, Gypsy, The Overwhelming, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Mr. Herter has designed for Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Studio Arena, Geva, Round House, and Virginia Stage among others.
Mark Shanahan (Director) makes his Hangar directing debut. His work has been seen at The Alley Theatre (The 39 Steps, Sherlock Holmes, and The Suicide Club), The Fulton Opera House (Gaslight), Merrimack Rep (Mrs. Mannerly), The Westport Country Playhouse (The Greatest Gift and Butterflies Are Free), Penguin Rep (The Savannah Disputation, The Farm: A Spook Story, The Woman In Black, The Hound Of The Baskervilles), The Cape Playhouse (No Way To Treat A Lady, Some Enchanted Evening, and others), The Weston Playhouse, Florida Rep (The Hound Of The Baskervilles), and the recent world premiere of Mark Brown's Tom Jones at The Florida Studio Theatre. As an actor, his work has been seen On Broadway (The 39 Steps), Off Broadway (Checkers, Tryst, The Shaughraun, As Bees In Honey Drown, and more), and regionally at the Alley, The Westport Country Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, The Pioneer Theatre, Merrimack Rep, The Fulton, Penguin Rep, Hartford Theatre Works, The Depot Theatre, The Denver Center, The Bay Street Theatre, The Phoenix Theatre, and others. Mark is a graduate of Brown University (BA) and Fordham University (MA), where he has just celebrated his tenth year as a faculty member. Mark is an Edgar Award-nominated playwright, as well as an award-winning voice-over artist.
Steve TenEyck (Scene and Lighting Designer) returns to the Hangar having previously designed Clybourne Park, Ragtime, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Overwhelming, and Once on this Island. His design work has been seen both nationally and internationally. Companies include: Syracuse Stage, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, TACT-NYC, Big Art Group NYC, Tacoma Opera, Syracuse Opera, The Minnesota Opera, Madison Opera, Florida Grand Opera, The Kitchen Theatre Company, The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Vermont Stage Company, Tri-Cities Opera, Pacific Performance Project, Santa Barbara Dance Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, and live event designs for The Herson Group Ltd. Steve teaches lighting design at Ithaca College. He received his MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle and is a member of United Scenic Artist Union local 829.
Don Tindall (Sound Designer) is an associate professor of Sound Design at Ithaca College and a professional sound designer. Recent designs at the Hangar include Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, RENT, Once On This Island, Oklahoma, and Hair. Previously, he was the resident sound designer for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (1996-2005) where he designed nearly 70 plays and musicals. He has also designed sound for the Working Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Signature Theatre Company, Cornell University, Riverside Opera Ensemble, Kitchen Theatre, Ithaca College, and many others.
