CHARLES NEWELL (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 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cyrano, Guys and Dolls, James Joyce’s “The Dead,” Hamlet, Piano, The Invention of Love, The Little Foxes, The Cherry Orchard, Nora, 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. Recently he made his directorial debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, and directed Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In Court’s 50th Anniversary Season, he directed Travesties, The Importance of Being Earnest and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He will also direct Court’s production of The Glass Menagerie this Spring.

DOUG PECK (Musical Director/ Piano) is always happy to return to Court Theatre, where he music directed James Joyce’s “The Dead” (2003), Guys and Dolls (After Dark Award), and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other credits include Hello Again (Apple Tree–After Dark Award), Into the Woods (Peninsula Players), Affinity: Chicago Sings William Finn (Theatre Building), The Adding Machine (Next Theatre), The Last Five Years (Syndicate Productions), And The World Goes ‘Round (LaRed Productions at Next Theatre), the 2003 Waa- Mu Show: This Just In (Northwestern University), and French dialect coaching for My Old Lady (Apple Tree). Peck has also served as musical director at Wagon Wheel Theatre in Warsaw, Indiana for four summers, where favorites have included Pirates of Penzance, Titanic, Yeston’s Phantom, Hello, Dolly!, Kiss Me, Kate, and Cats. Peck is active as a voice teacher, vocal coach, and cabaret pianist. Next up is Apple Tree’s production of Dessa Rose and Fiorello with TimeLine Theatre. Peck is an artistic associate with Porchlight.

MARLA LAMPERT (Choreographer) makes her Court Theatre debut with Man of La Mancha. Chicago credits include: Goodman Theatre, Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Northlight Theatre, Chicago Opera Theatre, and Apple Tree Theatre, where she serves as an artistic associate. Recent credits include musical staging for Passion (Live From Lincoln Center) and work on the Sondheim musicals Anyone Can Whistle, Sunday in the Park with George, Passion, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd at the Ravinia Festival. She has staged many corporate and industrial productions in such places as Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles. Ms. Lampert is a Carbonell Award nominee for her work in the world premiere of At Wit’s End, and is the recipient of an After Dark Award for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Drury Lane); and a Jeff Award for Kiss of the Spider Woman (Apple Tree).