CHARLES NEWELL (Director/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 The Glass Menagerie, Man of La Mancha, The Importance of Being Earnest, Travesties, 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, and Nora. 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 served on the Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group, as well as on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. His opera directing credits include the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, and Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Up next, Mr. Newell will travel to Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven to remount Court’s critically acclaimed production of Man of La Mancha.

DOUG PECK (Music Director/Conductor) is always excited to return home to Court Theatre, where previous credits include Man of La Mancha, Guys and Dolls (After Dark Award), James Joyce’s “The Dead” (2003), and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other Chicago credits include Dessa Rose and Hello Again (Jeff nomination, After Dark Award) at Apple Tree; State Fair for Marriott Theatre; Seussical! at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Fiorello! at Timeline Theatre; Into the Woods at Peninsula Players; Waa-Mu 2003: This Just In at Northwestern University; and After Sondheim: Broadway’s New School of Composers, Hit Factory: Songs of the Brill Building, and Affinity: Chicago Sings William Finn for Porchlight Music Theatre, where he is an Artistic Associate. Peck was musical director at Wagon Wheel Theatre in Warsaw, Indiana, for four seasons, where favorites included Pirates of Penzance, Titanic, Kiss Me Kate, and Cats. Peck is active as a voice teacher, vocal coach, and cabaret pianist. Peck also played keyboards for About Face Theatre’s production of Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein, including the original cast album. Next up are All Night Strut at the Marriott Theatre and Assassins for Porchlight, before traveling to New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre with Court’s production of Man of La Mancha. Love to Rob Lindley and Shirley Horn.