CHRISTOPHER DURANG - PLAYWRIGHT

Christopher Durang is a playwright whose plays include A History of the American Film (Tony nomination, Best Book of a Musical, 1978), The Actor’s Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie award; off-Bway run 1981-83), Beyond Therapy (on Broadway in 1982, with Dianne Wiest and John Lithgow), Baby with the Bathwater (Playwrights Horizons, 1983), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Public Theatre, 1985; Obie award, Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award), Laughing Wild (Playwrights Horizons, 1987), Durang/Durang (an evening of six plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, 1994, including the Tennessee Williams’ parody, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls), Sex and Longing (Lincoln Center Theatre production at the Cort Theatre, 1996, starring Sigourney Weaver), and Betty’s Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons, 1999; Obie award). (As of November 2005)

His most recent works are Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, which premiered at City Theatre in Pittsburgh in 2002. And the musical Adrift in Macao, with music by Peter Melnick and book and lyrics by Durang, which premiered at New York Stage and Film in summer 2002, and is under option for off-Broadway 2003-04.

Durang is also a performer, and acted with E. Katherine Kerr in the N.Y. premiere of Laughing Wild, and with Jean Smart in the L.A. production. He shared in an acting ensemble Obie for The Marriage of Bette and Boo; and with John Augustine and Sherry Anderson has performed his crackpot cabaret Chris Durang and Dawne at the Criterion Center, Caroline’s Comedy Club, Williamstown Summer Cabaret, and the Triad, winning a 1996 Bistro Award.

In the early 80s, he and Sigourney Weaver co-wrote and performed in their acclaimed Brecht-Weill parody, Das Lusitania Songspiel, and were both nominated for Drama Desk awards for Best Performer in a Musical.

In 1993 he sang in the five person off-Broadway Sondheim revue, Putting It Together, with Julie Andrews at the Manhattan Theatre Club. And he played a singing Congressman in the Encores presentation of Call Me Madam with Tyne Daly at City Center.

In movies, he has appeared in The Secret of My Success, Mr. North, The Butcher’s Wife, Housesitter, and The Cowboy Way, among others.

He has a B.A. from Harvard College, and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama.

In 1995 he won the prestigious three-year Lila Wallace Readers Digest Writers Award; as part of his grant, he ran a writing workshop for adult children of alcoholics. In 2000 he won the Sidney Kingsley Playwriting Award.

Grove Press publishes several of his plays. Smith and Kraus recently published two new collections: Christopher Durang: 27 Short Plays and Christopher Durang: Complete Full-Length Plays (1975-1995). Grove has recently published Betty’s Summer Vacation.

Since 1994 he has been co-chair with Marsha Norman of the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School in Manhattan.

He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council.

JADE KING CARROLL - DIRECTOR

Jade King Carroll (Director): PROOF OF LOVE (Audible at Minetta Lane/NYTW); 7 DEADLY SINS (Miami New Drama); DETROIT ’67 (McCarter Theatre co-production with Hartford Stage); INTIMATE APPAREL, THE PIANO LESSON (McCarter Theatre); THE PIANO LESSON (Hartford Stage); BEFORE THE WITCHING HOUR/PANDEMIC BLUES (Weston Playhouse); HAVING OUR SAY (Hartford Stage co-production with Long Wharf Theatre); AUTUMN'S HARVEST (Lincoln Center Institute); A TROUBLE IN MIND (Two River Theater & Playmakers Rep); THE BLEEDING CLASS (Geva Theatre); MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, THE WHIPPING MAN, NATIVE GARDENS (Portland Stage); THE REVOLUTIONISTS, SUNSET BABY(City Theatre); A RAISIN IN THE SUN (Juilliard & Perseverance); THE TEMPEST (Chautauqua Theater Company); SEVEN GUITARS (People's Light and Theatre & Point Park University); KING HEDLEY II (Portland Playhouse); MR CHICKEE'S FUNNY MONEY (Atlantic Theater); SKELETON CREW (Dorset Theater Festival, Portland Stage, co-production with Theatreworks- Palo Alto & Marin Theatre); THE PERSIANS (People's Light & Theatre); FROM THE AUTHOR OF(Delaware Rep); A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING (Tennessee Williams Theater Festival); HELLO, FROM THE CHILDREN OF PLANET EARTH (Playwright’s Realm); Associate Director for A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and THE GIN GAME (Broadway); THE CHILDREN'S MONOLOGUES (Carnegie Hall).

Jade has developed works with such playwrights as Chisa Hutchinson, Dael Orlandersmith, Sofia Alvarez, Aurin Squire, Jonathan Payne, Kia Corthron, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Joshua Allen, Dominique Morriseau, Sam Chanse, Kara Lee Corthron, Keith Joseph Adkins, Janine Nabers, Kelli Goff and C.A Johnson, culminating with readings and workshops at Roundabout Theatre, Playwright’s Horizon, New York Theatre Workshop, The O’Neill Theater Center, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre, Two River Theatre, New Dramatists, Second Stage Theatre, The Lark, Primary Stages, Time Warner New Play Festival, LAByrinth, PlayPenn, Joe’s Pub, Goethe Institute, Lincoln Center Institute, and many others.

Jade has taught, guest lectured and directed at Juilliard, Princeton, New York University, Rutgers, Penn State, WVU, SUNY New Paltz, Adelphi, NYCDA, Point Park University, University of Iowa.

Fellowships & Awards: TCG New Generations Future Leader, New York Theatre Workshop, Van Lier, Second Stage Theatre, Women’s Project, McCarter Theatre, SUNY 40 under 40, Gates Millennium Scholar, Paul Green Award from the National Theatre Conference and The Estate of August Wilson

MARY BACON - Woman

Mary Bacon winner of the 2020 Drama Desk Sam Norkin Award for Patti in “Coal Country” at NYC’s The Public Theater and Susan in “Nothing Gold Can Stay” At Partial Comfort Productions and for her NYC theatre career on and off Broadway. Last seen at DTF as Agatha Christie in Heidi Armbrusters’ “Mrs. Christie,” and also in DTF’s “Outside Mullingar” and Theresa Rebeck’s “The Scene” with Tim Daly, “Mauritius”, and “The Novelist” with Michael Cristofer. Favorite NYC theater includes: Primary Stages: Kate Hammill’s “Little Women”, Horton Foote’s “Harrison, TX” with Hallie Foote and Jayne Houdyshell, and “The Roads To Home” with Hallie Foote and Harriet Harris, Charles Busch’s "The Tribute Artist" with Charles Busch and Julie Halston, "Happy Now?"; Broadway: Tom Stoppard's "Rock n Roll” and “Arcadia”; Drama Desk and Lortel nominated "Women Without Men" at The Mint; Alma in "Eccentricities of a Nightingale" at TACT, one of the NY Times top ten productions of the year; “Becky Shaw” at Second Stage, and The Public's "Giant"​ directed by Michael Greif, featured in The NY Times​ top ten moments of the year in theater. Regional includes Hartford Stage, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Theater Festival, Westport Playhouse, The McCarter, Yale Rep, Seattle Rep, The Long Wharf, Old Globe, and others. TV/Film: Lost Girls with Amy Ryan, Bluebloods, The Blacklist, FBI Most Wanted, The Mist, Boardwalk Empire, Mildred Pierce, Elementary, Madame Secretary, The Good Wife, and all the Law and Orders. A member of the Actors Center Workshop Company, and a co-founding member of the Dorset Theater Festival’s Women Artists Writing Group, dtfwaw.

MEGUMI KATAYAMA - Sound Designer

MEGUMI KATAYAMA is a Sound Designer and Composer based in NY. Her theatrical sound design credits include An Almost Holy Picture (Everyman Theatre), Pass Over (Studio Theater), Pride and Prejudice (Long Wharf Theater), For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf (The Public Theater), El Huracán (Yale Rep/The Sol Project, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Nomination), soft (Williamstown Theater Festival Fellowship). She has also worked on Art Installations, Video Projects, Short Films, Audio Plays, Theme Park, Corporate Events, and TV productions. Megumi holds a BFA from University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA from Yale School of Drama.

RODRIGO MUNOZ - Costume Designer

RODRIGO MUNOZ is a New York-based costume designer originally from Mexico City. He graduated from The National School of Theatre and Arts (Mexico) with a BA degree in Theatre Set Design, and holds an M.F.A. in Costume Design from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Recent credits include The Fall of the House of Usher (Boston Lyric Opera), Revengers Tragedy (Redbull Theatre) Almanac (Playwrights Horizon Magazine), American Arcana (Astoria Performing Arts Center), Jazz Singer (Abrons Arts Center), Jump (Astoria Performing Arts Center), Hamlet (NYU Grad Acting), and Animal Farm (NYU Grad Acting). Along with Cha See and Kimie Nishikawa, Rodrigo is one of the co-founders of See Lighting Foundation, a grassroots organization committed to supporting immigrant theatre artists during the global pandemic.

NICK WILLIAMS - Assistnt Stage Manager

NICK WILLIAMS (Assistant Stage Manager) This is Nick’s first season with the Dorset Theatre Festival. He graduated from Bennington College in 2020, with an emphasis on music composition and theater performance as an actor and director. Nick resides in Connecticut, where he continues his work as a video game composer and sound designer.