Ken Ludwig’s The Gods of Comedy

Select NYC: Puffs (New World Stages), Romeo and Juliet (Lincoln Center Education), The Christians (Playwrights Horizons), The Mysteries (The Flea), The Haunting of Ichabod Crane (Park Avenue Armory), The Events (New York Theatre Workshop), Hamlet in Hamlet (American Theatre of Actors). Select TV: Nella The Princess Knight (Nick Jr.), Losing It with John Stamos (Yahoo!), Urban Teach Now (official selection 2016 NYTVF). Select Film: Selah and The Spades (official selection 2019 Sundance Film Festival). Training: Williamstown Theatre Festival Apprenticeship, Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, British American Drama Academy, Resident Acting Company “The Bats” at The Flea Theater. BA, Theater/Political Science: Swarthmore College. www.JessieCannizzaro.com

Broadway: War Paint (Dorian Leigh), Gigi (Liane d’Exelmans), Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins). National Tour: Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins). NYC/regional: Passion (Signature Theatre); Dani Girl (Exit, Pursued by a Bear); Venus in Fur (Singapore Repertory Theatre); Jaques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Alliance Theatre); Into the Woods, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera). TV: Blacklist, Blind Spot, Mysteries of Laura, The Following, The Good Wife, Members Only. Film: Seaside, Easter Mysteries, American Dresser, Progress (and unrelated things), They’re Out of the Business. BFA acting/musical theatre, Carnegie Mellon. www.steffanieleigh.com

Jevon is originally from San Francisco, CA; and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts NYC (03-05). Most recently Jevon was in Hamilton on Broadway as the Principle Standby for Alexander Hamilton and the Sons of Liberty, Simeon the Leper in Cinco Paul’s A.D.16 for the NAMT Festival, Smokey Robinson in Motown on Broadway, Dennis in Daniel Beaty’s Tearing Down the Walls for which he received an Audelco Award nomination (Outstanding Male Performance in a Musical), T. Schreiber Studio’s award-winning production of Balm in Gilead, andBenny in RENT at the Hangar Theatre (Ithaca, NY). Visit him at www.Jevonmcferrin.com

Broadway: The Rivals, Dance of Death, Three Sisters. Off-Broadway: These Paper Bullets, The Jammer, Hunting and Gathering, Indoor/Outdoor, All My Sons, The American Clock, among others. Regional credits include Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (New Neighborhood/White Heron), Church & State (Berkshire Theater Grp), These Paper Bullets (Geffen Playhouse and Yale Rep), Elevada (Yale Rep), I Saw My Neighbor on the Train and I Didn't Even Smile (New Neighborhood/BTG), A Delicate Balance (Yale Rep), The Dining Room (Westport), Becky Shaw (Huntington), Proof (Helen Hayes Award nomination), Company (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration). Keira directed the world premiere of Cedars by Erik Tarloff at Berkshire Theatre Group and she directed at the 92nd Street Y Lyrics and Lyricists series. TV/Film: The Exorcist (Fox), Body of Proof, 3 Lbs., Law & Order: SVU, Sex and the City, The Independents, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, and Cradle Will Rock. She is a founding member of New Neighborhood. She is a singer/songwriter in the theatrical band The Petersons. MFA from NYU.

Broadway: Something Rotten! (Tony Award® nomination), Big Fish, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Addams Family, Spamalot, The Producers (Tony Award® nomination), Jekyll & Hyde, Aspects of Love. National Tour: The Phantom of the Opera, Young Frankenstein, Jekyll & Hyde. West End: The Producers. Off-Broadway: Nassim, Sweeney Todd (Barrow Street), Forbidden Broadway (Encores!), Annie Get Your Gun, Bells Are Ringing, and Do Re Mi. Regional: The Squirrels (La Jolla Playhouse); Fiddler on the Roof (Barrington Stage); Barnum (Asolo Rep/Maltz Jupiter-Carbonell Award, Best Actor in a Musical); The Mystery of Irma Vep, Cabaret, and Damn Yankees (Arena Stage); The First Wives Club (The Old Globe). Film: Ghost Town, The Producers. Television: Madam Secretary, Smash, The Good Wife, three Law & Orders.

George was in the 2015 Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, and the 2008 Broadway production of South Pacific. Other theatre includes the world premiere productions of Sex and Other Disturbances (Portland Stage); Errol and Fidel (NYMF, Best Supporting Actor Award); and Play It By Heart (Human Race Theatre Co.). George recently made his Carnegie Hall debut singing “Somewhere” from West Side Story honoring Academy Award Winner George Chakiris. Film: Jersey Shore Massacre, Family on Board, and Bittersweet Sixteen. Print: Vogue Magazine in Romeo & Juliet by photographer Annie Leibovitz. George was also the 2016, 2017, 2018 Host of Broadway Under The Stars in NYC and the season 2 winner of Broadway Idol. Instagram @George_Psomas

Shay is delighted to make her regional debut with this incredible ensemble. NYC credits: soot and spit (Charles Mee world premiere; The New Ohio Theatre) and the 52nd St Project. TV: DEVS (FX) and Instinct (CBS). Training: NYU Graduate Acting @dictionarydame

Ken Ludwig is a two-time Olivier Award-winning playwright who has written over 28 plays and musicals, including six shows on Broadway and 7 in London's West End. Lend Me a Tenor won two Tony Awards® and was called "one of the classic comedies of the 20th century” by The Washington Post. Additional awards include the Helen Hayes Award, the Edgar Award for Best Mystery of the Year, The Samuel French Award for Lifetime Achievement, and The Edwin Forrest Award for Contributions to the American Theatre. His Broadway plays have starred Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Tony Shalhoub, Lynn Redgrave, and Kristin Bell. His book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare won the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book of the Year. His best known works include Crazy for You (5 years on Broadway, Tony® and Olivier Awards for Best Musical); Moon Over Buffalo; Baskerville; A Comedy of Tenors; Sherwood; and a stage version of Murder on the Orient Express written expressly at the request of the Agatha Christie Estate. He holds degrees from Harvard, where he studied music with Leonard Bernstein, and Cambridge University. His work has been performed in over 30 countries in more than 20 languages, and is produced somewhere in the United States every night of the year. 

Recent: West Side Story (Carnegie Hall at The Knockdown Center). World Premieres: Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice (Primary Stages NY, Seattle Rep, Hudson Valley Shakespeare); Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville (McCarter/Arena Stage); Eastland: A New Musical (also orchestration, Lookingglass Theatre Company);Cloudlands (Adam Gwon/Octavio Solis, South Coast Repertory). As director/composer/adaptor: Love’s Labor’s Lost, Timon of Athens (Oregon Shakespeare Fest.); The Verona Project (California Shakespeare Theatre); Peter Pan (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Richard III (Public Theater Mobile Unit). Other: Little Shop of Horrors (Cleveland Playhouse), The Fantasticks (Trinity Rep, Long Wharf, Arena Stage, South Coast Rep), Into the Woods, Julius Caesar (Oregon Shakespeare Fest.), My Fair Lady (Oregon Shakespeare Fest., Cleveland Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Virginia Stage, Trinity Rep.), Death of a Salesman (Dallas Theatre Center), Cabaret (Stratford Shakespeare Festival).

Jason is a Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, and Henry Hewes Design Award nominee. He recently designed Rent the musical, Live on Fox!; Sam Smith's Arena World Tour and campaign TV appearances (including Grammys, SNL, Ellen); and the People's Choice Awards on E!. Upcoming: the Spice Girls World Tour, and the Broadway revival of The Secret Garden. More designs at New York Theatre Workshop, Playwright's Realm, Rattlestick, the Old Globe, American Repertory Theatre, Guthrie, among many others. Online: @JasonSherwoodDesign

Off-Broadway: Richard III (The Public Theater). Regional: Indecent (Arena Stage and Baltimore Center Stage); Oklahoma!, Richard II, Into the Woods, King Lear, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, All’s Well That Ends Well (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Hand to God, The Geller Girls, Managing Maxine, The Underpants, Shadowlands (Alliance Theatre); The Game’s Afoot (Cleveland Playhouse); The Good Book, Water by the Spoonful, The Dead, Orlando (Court Theatre); Stage Kiss, The Clean House (Goodman Theatre); Visiting Edna, Mary Page Marlowe, Motherf**ker with the Hat, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Intimate Apparel (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Indecent, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Miss Saigon (The Paramount Theatre). Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Center Stage, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, American Players Theatre, and Northlight Theatre. Other credits: co-director of the MFA Design Program at Northwestern University. Awards: Jeff Award (An Ideal Husband, Court Theatre); Suzi Bass nominations (The Geller Girls and The Underpants, Alliance Theatre); Connecticut Circle nomination (A Little Night Music, Connecticut Repertory Theatre). Education: MFA, University of Iowa.

Credits include: All My Sons, Two Trains Running (Matrix Theater); El Nino, Mexican Day, 100 Aprils (Rogue Machine); Punk Rock (Odyssey); God of Carnage, Carrie the Musical (La Mirada); Red, Disgraced (San Diego Rep.); Little Shop of Horrors (Cleveland Playhouse); Hugh Jackman One Night Only  (Dolby Theater). Lighting & projection design for Sleepless in Seattle: The Musical, lighting for Intimate Apparel and The Heiress (Pasadena Playhouse). Lighting and projection for Waiting for Godot, lighting for The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Harps’ and Angels (The Mark Taper Forum). Projection for Eurydice, lighting for Doctor’s Dilemma (A Noise Within). Lighting and projection for LA Opera’s complete Ring Cycle. 24 years with the Walt Disney Company, he continues to consult on theme parks, shows and special events worldwide. Mr. Gale is a member of IATSE USA Local 829.

McCarter: A Christmas Carol (2016-18); Murder on the Orient Express; Bathing In Moonlight; Hoodwinked; Baby Doll; Into the Woods; The Convert; Fetch Clay, Make Man; Me, Myself & I; Stick Fly; Miss Witherspoon; Hamlet; The Bells; and Crowns (2002). He is a Tony® and Obie Award-winning sound designer whose work for dance and theater has been heard in over 500 productions in the U.S. and internationally in 14 countries. His accolades include the Drama Desk, Lortel, Audelco, and Princess Grace Foundation Statue Awards among many others.

Carissa is a New Jersey-based wig and makeup designer. She has recently designed Grand Hotel and Little Rock off-Broadway. She is currently in her sixth season with McCarter, where her design work includes A Christmas Carol (2013-2018), Simpatico, The Mousetrap, and All the Days. She has designed for Temple University, Olney Theatre Center, the University of Delaware Resident Ensemble Players, The Princeton Festival, American Repertory Ballet, and the NewArts group in Newtown, CT. She has served as a wig and makeup artist at Santa Fe Opera, Sarasota Opera, The Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, and Round House Theatre. Carissa also creates custom medical wigs, cosplay wigs, and teaches classes in wig and makeup. You can find her at CThorwigs.com and @wigician.

The New York Times calls him the “celebrated invisible man, designer and creative brain behind many of the great stage magicians.” His illusions have been featured by Doug Henning, Siegfried and Roy, David Copperfield, Ricky Jay, and many others. He created the special illusions for Broadway, including: Beauty and the Beast, Into the Woods, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Mary Poppins, and Aladdin. He’s also the author of books on the history and practice of magic.

Selected Broadway and National Tours: Ain’t Too Proud, King Kong, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, The Band’s Visit, Prince of Broadway, Indecent, Bandstand, Sunset Boulevard, Miss Saigon, Dear Evan Hansen, A Bronx Tale, Cats, Falsettos, Disaster!, School of Rock, Bullets Over Broadway, Les Misérables, Big Fish, The Phantom of the Opera, Billy Elliot, Shrek, Spamalot, …Spelling Bee, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys.  Off-Broadway: Gloria: A Life; Smokey Joe’s Café; Here Lies Love; Love, Loss, and What I Wore.  Selected Regional: McCarter Theatre Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Westport Country Playhouse. www.tararubincasting.com

Cheryl is in her 28th season, 24th as Resident Production Stage Manager, with over 80 productions for McCarter Theatre, including the world premieres of Christopher Durang’s Tony Award® winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Ken Ludwig’s Murder on the Orient Express, and 33 productions with Artistic Director Emily Mann.  Cheryl has enjoyed 13 collaborations with Maestro Gian Carlo Menotti and the Spoleto Festival USA and Italy, and has stage managed 40 operas and musicals, three tours, and three PBS telecasts for New York City Opera.  Cheryl has six Broadway shows to her credit, 15 years as an Executive Board Member of the Stage Managers' Association, and current Chair of the Del Hughes Awards, is a contributor to the recently published Sound and Music for the Theatre; The Art & Technique of Design, currently conducts master classes for the AADA, Mason Gross School of the Arts and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and named a SUNY Notable Alumni in the Arts. MFA: Yale School of Drama.

Alison is in her 22nd season at McCarter Theatre. Highlights include Detroit ’67, Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville; The Understudy, directed by Adam Immerwahr; The White Snake, directed by Mary Zimmerman; Danai Gurira’s The Convert, directed by Emily Mann; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Tina Landau; Christopher Durang’s Miss Witherspoon; Sorrows and Rejoicings, directed by Athol Fugard; and Stephen Wadsworth’s adaptations of The Figaro Plays. Other credits include Edward Albee’s Me, Myself & I at Playwrights Horizons; Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brother/ Sister Plays at The Public Theater, Second Stage, Old Globe, Goodman Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Paper Mill, Kennedy Center, Long Wharf, Center Theatre Group, Berkeley Rep, Bard Summerscape, Pittsburgh Public, Williamstown, and 19 productions with The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.

Dixie comes to McCarter from Chicago, IL, where she worked for over 15 years. Most recently she was the Production Manager of the Wirtz Center for Performing Arts at Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, she managed dozens of productions, including the world premieres of David Catlin's Moby Dick and Laura Schellhardt's Ever in the Glades, a production which then travelled to the Kennedy Center. Before Northwestern, Uffelman was the Associate Production Manager of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Production Manager of the House Theatre of Chicago, and the Program Director of Barrel of Monkeys.

Debbie joined McCarter in 2016. Her experience spans Broadway, Off-Broadway, West End, regional and non-profit theater. B’way highlights: Mothers & Sons, Grace, War Horse, HAIR, The Merchant of Venice, and the upcoming revival of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnnie in the Clair de Lune starring Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon (May 2019). Off-B’way & London: Ingmar Bergman’s Through a Glass Darkly with Carey Mulligan, Passion Play, Merrily We Roll Along. Debbie was founder and Producing Artistic Director of Chicago’s Roadworks Productions with residencies at Steppenwolf & Victory Gardens, and produced over 20 Midwest & World Premiers by playwrights including Lanford Wilson, Kenneth Lonergan, Chuck Mee, Eric Bogosian, Phyllis Nagy and more. She is an Advisory Member of The Playwrights Realm and on the Board of FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics). Debbie lives with her husband David and their Portuguese Water Dog, Bernice.

Emily is in her 29th season as Artistic Director and Resident Playwright. Her nearly 50 McCarter directing credits include productions by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, and Williams and the recent world premieres of Turning Off the Morning News; Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express; Baby Doll; Five Mile Lake; The Convert; The How and the Why; Miss Witherspoon; and Me, Myself & I. Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire, Anna in the Tropics, Execution of Justice, Having Our Say. Her plays: Having Our Say, adapted from the book by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth; Execution of Justice; Still Life; Annulla, An Autobiography; Greensboro (A Requiem); Meshugah; Mrs. Packard, and Hoodwinked (a Primer on Radical Islamism). Her new play Gloria: A Life about the legacy of Gloria Steinem is currently running in New York.  Adaptations: Baby Doll, Scenes from a Marriage, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, A Seagull in the Hamptons, The House of Bernarda Alba, Antigone. Currently in development: The Pianist. Awards include: Peabody, Hull Warriner, NAACP, Obies, Guggenheim; Tony®, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations, a Princeton University Honorary Doctorate of Arts, a Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwrights' Award, and the Margo Jones Award given to a "citizen-of-the-theater who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theater everywhere.”

Michael is in his first season at McCarter. For the last nine years, he was the Managing Director of La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego where he helped develop and produce new work by Ayad Akhtar, Trey Anastasio, Amanda Green, Kirsten Greenidge, Quiara Alegría Hudes, John Leguizamo, Basil Twist, Doug Wright, and The Flaming Lips. During his tenure, the Playhouse was awarded multi-million dollar grants from the NEA and the Wallace and Irvine Foundations to accelerate experiments meant to develop multi-ethnic projects, expand opportunities for family engagement, and build the capacity to sustain community arts programs in offsite locations. Previously, Mike was CoFounder and Executive Director of Drama Dept., a New York non-profit theater collective, where for fourteen years he produced new works by the likes of Douglas Carter Beane, Warren Leight, Isaac Mizrahi, Paul Rudnick, and David & Amy Sedaris. He is also the Assistant Coach for the U13 Ironmen FC. Follow him on Twitter @MrMikeRosenberg.

The Tony Award®-winning Old Globe, now in its 84th year, is San Diego’s flagship arts institution and one of the country’s leading regional theatres. Under Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Timothy J. Shields, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 16 productions, including its renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually, including the Globe for All Tour, which brings free professional productions to diverse and underserved audiences. World premieres such as A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and gone on to successful runs on Broadway and across the country.