Bridget Leak: (Assistant Director) is an "army brat," having lived in such places as Georgia, Indiana (twice), Virginia, New York, Germany, Texas, Pennsylvania, Switzerland, Belgium and France (twice). As a director, she has worked in France; Pennsylvania; Minnesota; Washington, DC; and New York City. Her recent NYC directing credits include The River Valeo, New York International Fringe Festival; Black Meat, The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival; Admitted, Theatre Row; This Is Our Youth, The Tank; and a Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints interpretation of The Taming of the Shrew, The Secret Theatre. She recently received her Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University and has a Bachelor of Arts in German and French from Lycoming College. Leak is an associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. less is an "army brat," having lived in such places as Georgia, Indiana (twice), Virginia, New York, Germany, Texas, Pennsylvania, Switzerland, Belgium and France (twice). As a director, she has worked in France; Pennsylvania; Minnesota; Washington, DC; and New York City. Her recent NYC directing credits include The River Valeo, New... more

Christopher Studley: (Lighting Designer) ecent work includes designs for Theatreworks, Portland Stage Company, Delaware Theatre Company, and Two River Theater Company. In New York Studley has designed for the Summer Play Festival at Public Theater, New York Musical Theatre Festival, productions at P.S.122, The Studio at Cherry Lane Theatre, and The Theaters at 45 Bleeker Street. World premieres in the San Francisco Bay Area include Encore Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Intersection for the Arts' Campo Santo, Fools Fury, and Killing My Lobster. He has also designed for The Bali Arts Festival, and the Yogyakarta Gamelon Festival, Indonesia; American Conservatory Theatre's 3rd year students; Aurora Theatre Company; Center REP; The SF Playhouse, and Pacific Alliance Stage Company. Studley's lighting design was selected for the Prague Quadrennial 2007 by the United States Institute of Theatre Technology. less ecent work includes designs for Theatreworks, Portland Stage Company, Delaware Theatre Company, and Two River Theater Company. In New York Studley has designed for the Summer Play Festival at Public Theater, New York Musical Theatre Festival, productions at P.S.122, The Studio at Cherry Lane Theatre, and The Theaters at 45... more

Horton Foote: (Playwright) is best known as a playwright and screenwriter, but he began his theatre career as an actor. Born and raised in Wharton, Texas, Foote studied acting at Pasadena Playhouse when he was seventeen before moving to New York, where he worked with the American Actors Company. During that time, he began to write plays about his hometown; the first was called Wharton Dance. Foote's fascination with Wharton would continue to inform his professional career. He wrote The Trip to Bountiful for television in 1953, and it was adapted for the Broadway stage later that year. He also wrote films for Hollywood-his 1962 screenplay adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, based on Harper Lee's novel, earned him an Academy Award. He was not there to receive the award; he had skipped the ceremony because he did not think he'd win. His 1983 film Tender Mercies, starring Robert Duvall, earned five Academy Award nominations. His theatrical works, out of the sixty plays he wrote in his career, include the epic nine-play series The Orphans' Home Cycle, The Carpetbagger's Children and Dividing the Estate. Horton Foote was not a big celebrity. His name was never connected with scandals and he was not a big partier or a big drinker. On the contrary, he had a happy marriage, a healthy lifestyle and a loving family. As playwrights go, he led a relatively quiet life. Yet this modest Texan also wrote some of the most poignant, honest and touching plays of the twentieth century. Following a brief illness, Foote died in March of 2009 at the age of 92. less is best known as a playwright and screenwriter, but he began his theatre career as an actor. Born and raised in Wharton, Texas, Foote studied acting at Pasadena Playhouse when he was seventeen before moving to New York, where he worked with the American Actors Company. During that time, he... more

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James C. Swonger: (Sound Designer) is resident sound designer at Cleveland Play House where he has designed sound for over 40 productions including the world premiere of Ken Ludwig’s The Game’s Afoot, The Trip to Bountiful, Present Laughter (Case Western Reserve University/CPH MFA Acting Program), A Soldier’s Tale with Catch and Release, Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the world premiere of Heaven’s My Destination, Crime and Punishment, Noises Off!, Gee’s Bend, Man of La Mancha, and I Am My Own Wife. For Cleveland State University Summer Stages 2009 he designed Chekhov in Yalta, The Shadowbox and Return to the Forbidden Planet. Additional credits include Cleveland’s Lyric Opera Company, The Utah Festival Opera Company, Pioneer Theatre Company, Baltimore Centerstage, George Street Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre, and premiere productions of The Tragic Demise of the Whaleship Essex, Swinging on a Star: A Tribute to the Music of Johnny Burke, Tangents, and The Count of Monte Cristo. He has also designed sound systems for restaurants, theatres and churches. less is resident sound designer at Cleveland Play House where he has designed sound for over 40 productions including the world premiere of Ken Ludwig’s The Game’s Afoot, The Trip to Bountiful, Present Laughter (Case Western Reserve University/CPH MFA Acting Program), A Soldier’s Tale with Catch and Release, Bill W. and... more

Jaqueline E. Lawton: (Dramaturg) completed her Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin in May of 2003. Since then she has remained actively involved in theatre as a dramaturg, playwright and teaching artist. Regional credits follow: Arden Theater, Philadelphia, PA; Horizons Theater, Atlanta, GA; Interact Theatre, Philadelphia, PA; and Redshift Productions, New York, NY. Washington, DC credits include Arena Stage, Discovery Theater, Folger Shakespeare Library, Ford's Theatre, Hub Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Rorschach Theater Company, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theater Alliance, Theatre of the First Amendment, Tribute Productions, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Lawton serves as artistic associate and resident dramaturg of African Continuum Theatre Company, and she is director of new play development for Active Cultures Theatre. She is a member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA). less completed her Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin in May of 2003. Since then she has remained actively involved in theatre as a dramaturg, playwright and teaching artist. Regional credits follow: Arden Theater, Philadelphia, PA; Horizons Theater, Atlanta, GA; Interact Theatre, Philadelphia,... more

Jennifer Matheson Collins: (Stage Manager) recently stage managed This Wonderful Life for Cleveland Play House. Previously she was a faculty member at Northwestern University overseeing the stage management program and teaching stage management and production classes. She was a stage manager at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier from 2000 to 2007 where some of her credits include Passion, Marionette Macbeth, The Three Musketeers, Hamlet, Seussical the Musical, A Flea in Her Ear, Kabuki Lady Macbeth, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, Bomb-itty of Errors, and Pacific Overtures. Other Chicago work includes Death of a Salesman, Waiting for Godot, Floyd Collins, Jitney, The Odyssey, and A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre). Ms. Collins earned a Bachelor of Science degree, Theatre and a Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology from Kansas State University. less recently stage managed This Wonderful Life for Cleveland Play House. Previously she was a faculty member at Northwestern University overseeing the stage management program and teaching stage management and production classes. She was a stage manager at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier from 2000 to 2007 where some of... more

Timothy Douglas: (Director) was recently named artistic director of Chicago's Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and will begin his duties there this summer. He served as associate artistic director for Actors Theatre of Louisville from 2001 – 2004 where he directed numerous productions including three Humana Festival premieres. He has directed nearly 100 stage productions, and recent credits include his acclaimed Caribbean-inspired Much Ado About Nothing for the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, the world premiere of August Wilson's Radio Golf for Yale Repertory Theatre, Insurrection for Theatre Alliance (garnering Douglas two Helen Hayes Award nominations), and a premiere translation of Ibsen's Rosmersholm off Broadway for Oslo Elsewhere. Representative assignments include In the Blood, Guthrie Theater; Bocon, Mark Taper Forum (where he was Mellon fellow / director in residence); the world premiere of Line in the Sand, Virginia Stage Company; the world premiere of The Night is a Child, plus Gem of the Ocean and Trouble in Mind, Milwaukee Repertory Theater; the west coast premiere of A Feminine Ending, South Coast Rep and Portland Center Stage; Good Breeding, American Conservatory Theater; Pride and Prejudice, Playmakers Rep; Assassins and Blues for an Alabama Sky, Berkshire Theatre Festival; Shakespeare's R&J, Sorrows and Rejoicings, and A Raisin in the Sun, City Theatre; The Crucible and Intimate Apparel, Syracuse Stage; The Game of Love and Chance, San Jose Rep; Portia Coughlin and The Cripple of Inishmaan, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre; Valley Song, Berkeley Rep; and Mules for Downstage Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand. Douglas is a graduate of Yale School of Drama. less was recently named artistic director of Chicago's Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and will begin his duties there this summer. He served as associate artistic director for Actors Theatre of Louisville from 2001 – 2004 where he directed numerous productions including three Humana Festival premieres. He has directed nearly 100 stage... more

Toni-Leslie James: (Costume Desginer) Broadway credits include The Scottsboro Boys, Finian's Rainbow, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, King Hedley II, One Mo' Time, The Wild Party, Marie Christine, Footloose, The Tempest, Twilight…Los Angeles 1992, Angels in America, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Jelly's Last Jam. Other credits include Lincoln Center Theater, Public Theater, 2nd Stage, Playwrights Horizons, Circle Repertory Company, Shakespeare Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Long Wharf, Houston Grand Opera, Berkeley Rep, Center Stage, Ford's Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and Ballet Hispanico. James, director of costumes at Virginia Commonwealth University, has designed internationally at The Royal Court, Chichester Festival Theatre, and Athens Greek Festival. Television work includes Whoopi, WNET/13's Great Performances, As the World Turns, and The Huey P. Newton Story. James has earned a Tony nomination; three Drama Desk nominations; Hewes Design Award (and four nominations); Connecticut Critics Circle Award; Irene Sharaff Young Masters Award; and the 2009 Obie Award, Sustained Excellence in Costume Design. less Broadway credits include The Scottsboro Boys, Finian's Rainbow, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, King Hedley II, One Mo' Time, The Wild Party, Marie Christine, Footloose, The Tempest, Twilight…Los Angeles 1992, Angels in America, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Jelly's Last Jam. Other credits include Lincoln... more

Tony CIsek: (Scenic Designer) has collaborated with The Trip to Bountiful Director Timothy Douglas on Permanent Collection and A Lesson Before Dying at Round House Theatre; Much Ado About Nothing at Folger Theatre; the premieres of Night is a Child at Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Line in the Sand for Virginia Stage, as well as productions at Portland Center Stage, Indiana Rep, South Coast Rep, Syracuse Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre Alliance, and Guthrie Theater. Cisek's designs have been seen off Broadway at Roundabout and New York Theatre Workshop, and regionally at the Goodman, Arena Stage, Ford's, Intiman, Woolly Mammoth, Two River Theatre, Studio and Signature. Cisek has received a Drammy Award in Portland, a Barrymore nomination in Philadelphia, and four Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, DC for Outstanding Set Design. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Design from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. less has collaborated with The Trip to Bountiful Director Timothy Douglas on Permanent Collection and A Lesson Before Dying at Round House Theatre; Much Ado About Nothing at Folger Theatre; the premieres of Night is a Child at Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Line in the Sand for Virginia Stage, as... more