The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

CHARLES NEWELL has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where he has directed over 40 productions. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production. Directorial highlights at Court include Porgy & Bess, Three Tall Women, The Illusion, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Wild Duck, Caroline, Or Change, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Man of La Mancha, Uncle Vanya, Raisin, The Glass Menagerie, Travesties, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hamlet, The Invention of Love, The Little Foxes, Nora, and The Misanthrope. Charlie has also directed at the Goodman Theatre (Rock ‘n’ Roll), the Guthrie Theater (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 has served on the Board of Theatre Communications Group, as well as on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Opera directing credits include Marc Blitzstein’s Regina at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Charlie is a multiple Joseph Jefferson Award nominee and recipient. His production of Caroline, or Change at Court was the recipient of 4 Joseph Jefferson Awards, including Best Production and Best Director. This spring at Court Theatre, he will direct both parts of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.

DOUG PECK is always happy to come home to Court Theatre. The winner of four Jeff Awards for Best Musical Direction, his work has also been heard at Goodman Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre DC, Long Wharf Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre, Northlight Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Porchlight Music Theatre, Peninsula Players Theatre, and Ravinia Festival. Favorite productions include Caroline, or Change; Carousel; Man of La Mancha; Animal Crackers; Candide, Fiorello!; Oh, Coward!; Fiddler on the Roof; Shenandoah; Cabaret; Wings; Hello Again; Guys and Dolls; Grey Gardens; The Most Happy Fella; and Into the Woods. Peck can be heard on the following CDs: Bright Young People: The Songs of Noël Coward, Foiled Again: Live and Frank Galati and Stephen Flaherty’s Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peck also trained at Interlochen Center for the Arts.

RON OJ PARSON is the cofounder and former Artistic Director of the Onyx Theatre Ensemble of Chicago, and he is currently the Resident Artist at Court Theatre. He has worked with such Chicago theatres as Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Northlight Theatre, Black Ensemble Theatre, eta Creative Arts Foundation, Chicago Theatre Company, Eclipse Theatre Company, Congo Square Theatre Company, City Lit Theater Company, Urban Theater Company, Writers’ Theatre, and a variety of arts in education programs. Regionally, Ron has directed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Portland Stage Company, Virginia Stage Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Madison Repertory Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Signature Theatre Company in New York City, Centerstage in Baltimore, and the world premiere of Palmer Park at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. Most recently, he directed August Wilson’s Two Trains Running at Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York. For Court Theatre, Ron has directed Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson and Fences, The First Breeze of Summer, Wait Until Dark, Flyin’ West, and last year’s season finale Sizwe Banzi is Dead.  Ron also recently directed The Old Settler at Writers’ Theatre. Ron will be remounting his production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Milwaukee Rep this season. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SDC, the stage directors’ union.

JOHN CULBERT recently designed Court Theatre’s productions of Porgy and Bess, The Illusion (for which he received a Joseph Jefferson award), The Year of Magical Thinking, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Caroline, or Change, Man of La Mancha, and Carousel, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Romeo and Juliet, Timeline Theatre Company’s The Farnsworth Invention, Northlight Theatre’s Civil War Christmas, and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Regina. He also designed Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Argonautika, Goodman Theatre’s Rock ‘n’ Roll and Mirror of the Invisible World, and Long Wharf Theatre’s Hughie. He has designed productions for the Singapore Repertory Theatre, Opera National du Rhin, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, and the Shakespeare Theatre. He serves as the dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University.

JACQUELINE FIRKINS is pleased to return for her seventh season at Court Theatre. She also designed costumes for last season’s production of Porgy and Bess. Design work includes: sets and/or costumes for Victory Gardens Theater, TimeLine Theatre Company, House Theatre of Chicago, Marin Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Center Stage, Goodman Theatre, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Westport Playhouse, Shakespeare & Company, Shakespeare Festival of Tulane, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Yale Repertory Theater, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Brave New Repertory, About Face Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Yale School of Drama, and Dorset Theatre Festival. Jacqueline is a recipient of a 2001 Princess Grace Award and heads the design program at Loyola University Chicago.

BRIAN H. SCOTT (Lighting Design) is a SITI Company member and has designed lighting for Who Do You Think You Are, Radio Macbeth, Hotel Cassiopeia, systems/layers, Death and the Ploughman, bobrauschenbergamerica, War of the Worlds - The Radio Play, and the Midsummer Night’s Dream touring production. He has designed lights for Hamlet at Classic Stage Company; The Darkling for American Opera Projects; The Importance of Being Earnest at the Arena Stage; Marina: A Captive Spirit with American Opera Projects; Twisted Olivia with members of the Ridiculous Theatre Company;  Showpeople with Anne Bogart @ Exit ART; Macbeth (scenic and lighting design), The Laramie Project; Death of A Salesman in Baton Rouge, LA; and Get Your War On; The Match; Cherrywood, How Late It Was How Late (Production Design); Requiem for Tesla, El Parasio, Big Love and Lipstick Traces with Austin Theatre Company the Rude Mechs.

JOSHUA HORVATH Court: Spunk, Porgy and Bess, The Illusion, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Wait Until Dark, Caroline, or Change, First Breeze of Summer, Carousel, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Flyin’ West, Raisin, Lettice and Lovage, Fences, Man of La Mancha, and Endgame.  Chicago credits: Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight Theatre, Next Theater, TimeLine Theatre Company, The House Theatre of Chicago, Eclipse Theatre Company Chicago, Lifeline Theatre, and Shattered Globe Theatre.  Regional: Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven), Baltimore Center Stage, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, First Stage Children’s Theater (Milwaukee), Milwaukee Shakespeare, Madison Repertory Theatre (WI), Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Great River Shakespeare Festival (MN), California Shakespeare Theater (Berkeley), and Center Theatre Group (LA). Mr. Horvath is a four-time Jeff award winner and eleven-time nominee. He teaches sound design for theatre and film at Northwestern University, and is an artistic associate at Lookingglass Theatre Company. Current and upcoming shows: The Pitmen Players (TimeLine), The Great Fire, Mr. Ricky Calls a Meeting, and Eastland (Lookingglass Theatre Company), Follies (Chicago Shakespeare), and Angels in America (Court Theatre).

DREW DIR is in his third season as the resident dramaturg of Court Theatre and a lecturer of Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago. In the past, Drew has worked as a playwright, dramaturg, director, and puppeteer in Chicago and London. His writing has been called “daring” by the Chicago Tribune and “ballsy” by Time Out Chicago. His short play The Lurker Radio Hour was recently remounted at Chicago’s Sketchbook Reverb. He also creates and performs shadow puppetry for his company, Manual Cinema. Drew holds a master’s degree in Text and Performance Studies from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

MARTIN KEI GREEN (Dramaturg) is a PhD candidate in the department of Theatre and Drama at University of Wisconsin-Madison.  She received her BA in Theatre from Virginia Wesleyan College and her MA in Theatre History and Criticism from The Catholic University of America.  Her recent dramaturgical credits include: the Classical Theatre Company's productions of Ghosts, Tartuffe, and Antigone, CATCO's The Clean House, Oregon Shakespeare Festival's productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Fences, and Madison Repertory Theatre's New Play Festival's productions of 10 Perfect and The Curious Walk of the Salamander.

TRAVIS JACKSON (Music Consultant) is an ethnomusicologist whose work centers on jazz, rock, and recording technology.  His theoretical interests include urban geography, race/culture and identity, ethnographic method, performance and aesthetics.  He is author of Blowin' the Blues Way: Performance and Meaning on the New York Jazz Scene (California, forthcoming) as well as articles on topics ranging from the intersection of jazz and poetic performance to the interpretation of meaning in rock.  His current work focuses on the effective attachment of musicians and listeners to recording labels.

CHUCK BONTRAGER (Violin/Viola) has been a regular in the Chicago-area freelance community for almost fifteen years. He performs regularly with the Lake Forest Symphony, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, New Millennium Orchestra, and the occasional Broadway in Chicago production. This April he performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a mandolinist both locally and on their New York tour in their concert production of Verdi's Otello. His work with electric violins in rock and classical settings earned him an adjunct appointment at Columbia College in 2010, and he also teaches violin, viola, chamber music, and rock n' roll at the Merit School of Music.

CHRISTIAN DILLINGHAM (Bass) has enjoyed a diverse and rewarding career since moving to Chicago.  Mr. Dillingham is an active orchestral and chamber musician, and a member of Chicago Sinfonietta, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, and the New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago.  He has also performed with Camarata Chicago, the Elgin and Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and is a former member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.  An avid jazz musician, he was formerly a member of the house band at the historic Velvet Lounge.  Mr. Dillingham holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Youngstown State University and a Master's degree from Duquesne University, both majoring in music performance.  His teachers include Jeff Turner, Micah Howard, Tony Leonardi, Jeff Grubbs, and Peter Lloyd.

NICK MORAN (Woodwinds) was born and raised around Detroit, MI and studied classical woodwind performance at Western Michigan University. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Macomb Symphony Orchestra and has been a member of over fifty pit orchestras. Nick has performed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Lawrence Welk Orchestra and Nelson Riddle Orchestra as well as having performed as a freelance musician with Lou Rawls, Mel Torme, Wayne Newton, James Moody, Aretha Franklin, Joey DeFrancesco, Phil Woods, Houston Pearson, The Temptations, The O'Jays and many others. This is his first time performing at the Court Theatre and he is thrilled to be involved with such a fantastic production.

STEPHEN OREJUDOS (Trumpet/Flugelhorn) is in demand as both a performer and teacher throughout the Midwest.  He currently holds positions as Principal Trumpet with the Milwaukee Ballet, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra,  New Philharmonic/DuPage Opera Theater and the Whiting Park Festival Orchestra.   In addition, Mr. Orejudos appears regularly with the Milwaukee Symphony and Omaha Symphony, as well as the New Milennium and Kenosha Symphony orchestras.  Previously, Mr. Orejudos has held positions with the Wichita Symphony, Opera in the Ozarks,  and the Ohio Light Opera orchestras.  He has also performed with the Northwest Indiana Symphony, Illinois Symphony, Racine Symphony ,  DaCornetto Opera, L’Opera Piccola,  Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra and the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra.  As an instructor, Mr. Orejudos has over ten years of experience as a private teacher and clinician.  He has studios throughout the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, and is on faculty at the Merit School of Music in Chicago.  Mr. Orejudos holds a Bachelor’s of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master of Music degree from Wichita State University.   His teachers are Larry Knopp, Judith Saxton, Matt Lee, Kevin Hartman, Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer. 

BRENT ROMAN (Percussion) is a percussionist, composer, recording artist, instructor, and dance accompanist. Over the past several years, Brent Roman could be seen by audiences around the globe, performing as an artist with the world-renowned entertainment company Cirque du Soleil (CDS). Serving as percussionist, drum captain, featured soloist, and character, Brent performed on the touring shows of Alegria (Grammy nominated, and best selling CDS album in history) and Dralion (Emmy Award winner and top grossing touring CDS show). Prior to his career with CDS, this Chicago-based artist worked and collaborated with a multitude of professional companies including Lookingglass Theatre Company, Silverguy Entertainment, Redmoon Theater,and Trinity Irish Dance Company. While at Lookingglass Theatre Company, Brent performed in Sita Ram and Hephaestus. Brent is also a founding member of the punk-funk-gypsy-marching band, Mucca Pazza. Brent Roman is an endorsed artist with LP – Latin Percussion. For more info, visit www.brentroman.com.

CRISTIN CAROLE, a native Chicagoan and classically trained dancer, has performed professionally at Mo Ming, Links Hall, the Athenaeum Theatre, Mandel Hall, the Auditorium Theatre and with Lyric Opera. She has also choreographed for various organizations and venues in Chicago and the Bahamas including their National Dance Company. After several years working as a Dance Educator, in both public and private schools, Cristin became interested in the possibilities of arts integration in education and earned a Master of Arts degree in Teaching from Columbia College. As an Arts Integration Specialist, Cristin has been a faculty member of the City Colleges of Chicago, The College of the Bahamas, and is presently faculty of Columbia College Chicago’s Graduate Program in Arts Education. In 2005, Cristin joined the Education and Community Engagement staff of the Joffrey Ballet as a Teaching Artist and Curriculum Development Consultant. In addition to her work with the Joffrey, Cristin recently founded A.S.H.E. (Art Supports Holistic Education) which provides consulting services for granting institutions, schools, and teaching artists interested in Arts Education. In her spare time, Cristin shares her love of theater arts with children through productions at the Dusable Museum by The People’s Jazz Theatre and The Children’s Theatre Center of Milwaukee.

SARA GAMMAGE is delighted to return to Court Theatre. Previous Court Theatre credits include Flyin’ West, What the Butler Saw, The First Breeze of Summer, Wait Until Dark, The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Illusion, Sizwe Banzi is Dead, Home, Orlando, Porgy and Bess, Spunk, and An Iliad. Other Chicago credits include productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Greenhouse Theater, Theatre at the Center, Marriot Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre, and Redmoon Theater. She spent several seasons at Peninsula Players Theatre in Door Country, WI; credits there include A Little Night Music, Comic Potential, Wait Until Dark, Is He Dead?, Rumors, and The Lady’s Not for Burning. Sara is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.

WILLIAM COLLINS (Stage Manager) Past shows at Court Theatre include: Three Tall Women, The Comedy of Errors, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Illusion, Thyestes, Arcadia, Uncle Vanya, Carousel, and most recently, Porgy and Bess. William has also worked with Redmoon Theater (Sink. Sank. Sunk …, The Cabinet), Peninsula Players Theatre, About Face Theatre, The Neofuturists, Goodman Theatre, and Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre.