JIM LASKO (Co-Director/Redmoon Artistic Director) As Artistic Director of Redmoon Theater, Jim has created numerous original theater and spectacle pieces ranging from massive public celebrations to formal indoor shows in traditional venues. Galway’s Shadow converted the facade of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art into a giant shadow screen, while his adaptation of Hunchback played at Steppenwolf Theatre, Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre, and the Detroit Institute of Art. The Annual All Hallow's Eve Ritual Celebration, which he conceived and directed, attracted 10,000 people to Logan Square for an evening of community spectacle and his adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Seagull played in Chicago’s Humboldt Park, Steppenwolf Theatre and the sculpture garden at the UCLA campus. His work has been commissioned by Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the Field Museum, the Pritzker Family, the Zell Family, the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. Jim leads professional training workshops in design and performance and has taught acting and/or mask performance at University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia College, and Northwestern University where he earned a Master’s Degree in Theater.

CHARLES NEWELL (Co-Director/Court Artistic Director) has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where he has directed over 25 productions. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Jefferson Award for Best Production. Directorial credits at Court include James Joyce’s “The Dead,” Hamlet, Piano, The Invention of Love, The Little Foxes, The Cherry Orchard, Nora, Misanthrope, and Travesties. Mr. Newell has also directed at the Guthrie Theatre (Resident Director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline), Arena Stage, John Houseman’s The Acting Company (Staff Repertory Director), the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Juilliard, and New York University; he is the recipient of the 1992 TCG Alan Schneider Director Award and is a multiple Jeff Award Recipient/Nominee. He sits on the Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group and has served on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. He recently made his directorial debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Marc Blitzstein’s Regina and directed Court’s production of Guys and Dolls.

EDMOND ROSTAND (Playwright) is associated with neo-romanticism and is best-known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand’s romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late 19th century. One of Rostand’s works, The Romancers, was adapted as the highly successful musical comedy The Fantasticks. Born in Marseille, France, into a wealthy and cultured Provençal family, his father was an economist and a poet, a member of the Marseille Academy and the Institut de France. Rostand studied literature, history, and philosophy at the Collège Stanislas in Paris, France. In 1910, Rostand became the youngest writer to be elected to the Academie Franaise.

MICKLE MAHER (Translator) has collaborated with Redmoon a few times over the years, most recently writing the spoken text for their production Hunchback. He is the author of numerous plays, including An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, and The Hunchback Variations (both published by Hope and Nonthings.) His latest work, Spirits to Enforce, was produced by Theater Oobleck this past December.

LYDIA MILMAN (Assistant Director) is working for the first time with both Redmoon and Court, and she is thrilled to be a part of the Cyrano experience. She would like to thank Jim and everyone at Redmoon for such an extraordinary opportunity and her father for helping support her theatre habit. As always, Lydia has to acknowledge her theatre roots down home in Alabama. She is a proud graduate of the theatre program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.