Cast and Creative

Fred Arsenault (James Joyce)
Broadway: The Royal Family (MTC), Born Yesterday. Off-Broadway: Henry V, The Spy (The Guthrie/ The Acting Company); Blue Man Group. Regional: The Guthrie, Arena Stage, The American Shakespeare Center, Virginia Stage, Bard Summer Scape, The Hangar Theatre, The Continuum Company in Florence, Italy. Awarded the Baryshnikov Fellowship. Film: Shadows & Lies. TV: The Good Wife, Person of Interest, Law & Order: SVU. Training: MFA from the NYU Graduate Acting Program.

Demosthenes Chrysan (Lenin)
London theater: world premiere of Blood and Gifts (National Theatre). Off-Broadway: world premieres of Urge for Going (The Public), Aftermath (NYTW), Queens Boulevard (Signature Theatre). Regional: world premieres of Water by the Spoonful (Hartford Stage), Tennis in Nablus (Alliance Theatre), The Kite Runner (San Jose Rep); regional premiere of Homebody/Kabul (Trinity Rep). Film: A Case of You, Layla is Bad, Santa Claus in Baghdad. TV: 30 Rock, Boardwalk Empire, Damages, Law & Order: SVU, One Life to Live, Louie.

Christian Coulson (Tristan Tzara)
Theater: Journey’s End (West End), Ghosts (Gate Theatre, London), Festen (UK national tour), Romeo and Juilet (Liverpool Playhouse), Rumble Ghost (PS122), Dutch Masters (Berkshire Theatre Festival). Film: Four Feathers, The Hours, Leaving Circadia, Gayby, F*ckers, and the role of Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. TV: The Good Wife, Gossip Girl, Charles II, Hornblower, Forsyte Saga, Love in a Cold Climate, Miss Marple, and Little Britain. He is a founding member of QWAN, with whom he appeared in Notes! and Swan!!! (Best Theater 2011, Time Out New York). Directing: Jeffery and Cole Make It Bigger and Kim Smith: Misfit. 

Susannah Flood (Gwendolyn)
Theater: Ophelia in Hamlet, Emma in The Language Archive, Mayella Ewell in To Kill A Mockingbird, Lydia Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Lizzie in Quilters (Denver Center); Maria in UP, Suzanne in Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Syracuse Stage); Raz in A Civil War Christmas (world premiere, Long Wharf); Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hartford Stage); Stephanie in Okay (Ensemble Studio Theater); Lady Harcourt and Melpomene in A Free Man of Color (workshop, LCT); Katya in Memory House, Emily in Our Town (Trinity Rep); Varya in The Cherry Orchard, Isabella in Measure for Measure (Chautauqua Theatre Company); and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare in Santa Fe), among others.

Everett Quinton (Bennett)
Recently appeared as The Manager in Tennessee Williams’ Now the Cat’s With Jewelled Claws. He has also appeared as Florence Wexler in Devil Boys From Beyond; Mme. Rosepettle in O Dad, Poor Dad; Salome in The Robber Bridegroom; Old Ratcliff and Anne Ratcliff in The Witch of Edmonton; Fabrizio in Women Beware Women (Calloway Award); and Humunculus Jones in Max Understood. Everett also appeared in his own plays, Bitch Slapped by God, A Christmas Rantomime, Twisted Olivia, and a one person adaptation of Oliver Twist. Everett was a member of Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company in New York City where he appeared in Camille, Bluebeard, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,and Brother Truckers, among others.

Lusia Strus (Nadya)
Makes her McCarter debut in Travesties followed by Are You There, McPhee?. Broadway:  ENRON, Elling. Off-Broadway/Regional: The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons); Hysteria, Our Town, Whispering City, It Ain’t No Fairy Tale (LAWeekly Award–Solo Performance; Steppenwolf); Henry IV (Chicago Shakespeare/Royal Shakespeare Company); Big Love (Goodman/BAM); SLAVS!, Go Away-Go Away (Jefferson Award–Principal Actress; European Rep); Slasher (Humana–ATL). Member of The Neo-Futurists in Chicago/NYC. Film: Gus Van Sant’s Restless, Stir of Echoes, 50 First Dates, Miss Congeniality 2, The Secret (Supporting Actress Award–MIFF), and the upcoming Cotton dir. by Marty Madden. TV: Pilots for NBC and FOX, Modern Family, Blue Bloods, two seasons on Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified, and the award-winning web series, Jack in a Box.

Sara Topham (Cecily)
McCarter debut. Broadway: The Importance of Being Earnest (The Roundabout). Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival: The Misanthrope (Célimène), Twelfth Night (Olivia), Dangerous Liaisons (Madame de Tourvel), Peter Pan (Wendy), The Importance of Being Earnest (Gwendolen), As You Like It (Rosalind), Fuente Ovejuna (Laurencia), An Ideal Husband (Mabel), King Lear (Cordelia), The Glass Menagerie (Laura), Agamemnon (Cassandra), London Assurance (Grace), Noises Off (Brooke), The Merchant of Venice (Jessica), Henry VIII (Anne), All’s Well That Ends Well (Diana), Henry V (Princess Katherine), Henry IV Part One (Lady Mortimer). Other theater: Maggie in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Neptune Theatre), The Governess in The Turn of the Screw (Belfry Theatre), Constanze in Amadeus (Theatre Aquarius). Film/TV: Eloise at Christmastime (Disney).

James Urbaniak (Henry Carr)
Originated the title role in Will Eno's Thom Pain (based on nothing) (Drama Desk nom.; Best Actor––Edinburgh Fringe). NY theater: Richard Foreman's The Universe (Obie Award), The Rivals (Lincoln Center), [sic] (Soho Rep), Sueno (MCC), The World Over (Playwrights Horizons), Arden Party (co-founder), Elevator Repair Service, Clubbed Thumb, and Target Margin. Film: American Splendor (as Robert Crumb), Henry Fool, Sweet and Lowdown, You Don't Know Jack, and Across the Universe. TV: The Office, Weeds, Sex and the City, Homeland, Law & Order: CI & SVU, Unforgettable, and the voice of Dr. Venture on the Adult Swim animated series The Venture Brothers.

 

David Farley (Set and Costume Design) McCarter: Take Flight. Broadway: A Little Night Music,13, Sunday in the Park With George (two Tony Award noms, sets and costumes; Outer Critics Circle Award nom., costumes; winner Outer Critics Circle Award with Timothy Bird, set design). West End:  A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George (winner Olivier, Evening Standard, and Critics Circle Awards for set design with Mr. Bird), Little Shop of Horrors, La Cage Aux Folles (original set). Other productions: Daddy Long Legs (Rubicon Theatre, TheatreWorks, Cincinnati Playhouse, Arizona, Detroit, Chicago); Kiss Me Kate (Stratford, Ontario); Terrible Advice, Aspects of Love, Take Flight (Menier Chocolate Factory); Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest (Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm); Oklahoma! (Chichester); Rocky Horror Show (Europe); Sweeney Todd (Gate Theatre, London); Tick Tick Boom! (Menier Chocolate Factory, Rubicon Theatre, Westport).

David Weiner (Lighting Design) McCarter: Candida. Broadway: Godspell revival, The Normal Heart, Reasons to be Pretty, Butley, Dinner at Eight (LCT), Betrayal (Roundabout), The Real Thing. Off-Broadway: MTC, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, MCC, The Public, NYTW, TFANA, Vineyard, Atlantic. Opera: LA Opera, Bard Summerscape. Regional: Center Theatre Group, The Guthrie, La Jolla Playhouse, The Alley, Huntington,  A.R.T., Kansas City Rep, Williamstown, Berkeley Rep. Awards: 2011 LA Ovation Award (Venice), 2011 Drama Desk nom. (Small Fire), 2005 Lucille Lortel Award (Rodney’s Wife).

Fitz Patton (Sound Design) has designed and scored over 240 productions in 20 cities across the U.S. In 2010, he was awarded both the Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Awards for his design for When the Rain Stops Falling at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, and was nominated again in 2011 for his work at on The Other Place, directed by Joe Mantello. His most recent article for Live Design Magazine, “Stochastic Natural Sound Fields,” details his process for the creation of dense, natural soundscapes. This July, he begins a three week artist residency at iPark, where he will collaborate with composer Annea Lockwood on the installation of a large scale sensor activated environmental sound sculpture. He teaches design at Barnard College of Columbia University and is a graduate of Vassar College, Bard College, and Yale University.

David Shire (Composer) An Oscar and Grammy winner and multiple Tony and Emmy nominee, David Shire has composed prolifically for theater, films, TV, and recordings. Broadway: Baby (Tony noms: Best Score, Musical); Big (Tony nom., Best Score). Off-Broadway: Starting Here, Starting Now (Grammy nom.); Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Score, Musical). Regional: Take Flight (McCarter Theatre). Film scores: Norma Rae (Academy Award), The Conversation, All the President’s Men, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, Zodiac, Saturday Night Fever (two Grammys). His numerous TV scores have garnered five Emmy nominations and his songs have been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Maureen McGovern, Melissa Manchester, Jennifer Warnes, John Pizzerelli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Liz Callaway, Nancy Lamont, among many others. His With You I’m Born Again was an international hit single for Billy Preston and Syreeta. He is currently writing a new musical with New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik and he and his wife Didi Conn are developing an animated musical feature for children. 

Deborah Hecht (Dialect Coach) Broadway: Ghost the Musical, Venus in Fur, Spider-Man, A Free Man of Color, Driving Miss Daisy, A Life in the Theatre, Miracle Worker, Present Laughter, Finian’s Rainbow, God of Carnage, Exit the King, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Boeing-Boeing, South Pacific, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Angels in America, among others. Off-Broadway: Public, Playwrights Horizons, Naked Angels, BAM/Bridge Project,MTC, Lincoln Center, NYTW, Signature (Angels in America, among others), TFANA, LCT3, among others. Regional: Seattle Rep, Yale Rep, The Guthrie, Long Wharf, Berkeley Rep, A.C.T., Chautauqua Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, and many others. England: National, RSC. Film: Kinsey, The Producers, Stardust, others. Faculty: NYU Grad Acting, Juilliard.

Daniel Stein (Movement Consultant) Studied in the Professional Actor Training Program at Carnegie-Mellon University, working with Jewel Walker, and in Paris, France with Etienne Decroux, becoming M. Decroux's translator. Subsequently making his home in Paris for 20 years, Daniel started his professional career acting with the French National Theatre. His solo performances have toured in more than 30 countries, as well as the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. He has taught master classes throughout the world at institutions such as Juilliard and The Institute of Dramatic Arts, Tokyo. Daniel has received grants from the NEA, the U.S./Japan Commission, the Pew Charitable Trust, and is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. He now holds the position of Head of Movement and Physical Theatre for the Brown University/Trinity Repertory MFA Acting Program.