Spunk

SERET SCOTT is making her Court Theatre debut. Directing credits: Denver Center Theatre Company, Old Globe Theatre (San Diego–Associate Artist), New Victory Theatre and Second Stage Theatre (Off-Broadway), Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Studio Theatre (DC), American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco), South Coast Repertory and L.A. Theatreworks (CA), Long Wharf Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre (New Haven), Two River Theatre Company (NJ), Geva Theatre Center (Rochester, NY), Indiana Repertory Theatre, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre and National Black Theatre (NYC), Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Alley Theatre (Houston), Oregon Shakespeare Festival,  Actors Theatre of Louisville, Virginia Stage Company, New Mexico Repertory, and Playmakers Repertory Company (NC). Member of the executive board of Stage Directors and Choreographer’s Society. Recipient of a TCG/PEW Residency Grant (Long Wharf Theatre) and Drama Desk Award in acting (My Sister, My Sister). Ms. Scott’s play Second Line was produced by Passage Theatre (NJ) and Tribute Productions (DC). 

KELVYN BELL (Music Director, Guitar Man) is a guitarist/composer, the creator of the avant-funk band Kelvynator, and a contributing innovator to The Association for the Advancement of Creative Music, Black Artist Group, m-Base, The Harlem School of the Arts, The St. Louis Jazz Hall of Fame, and The Black Rock Coalition, of which he is a founding member. Kelvyn has toured internationally and recorded with Arthur Blythe, Lester Bowie, Steve Coleman, James Carter, Maceo Parker, Living Colour, and Joseph Bowie & Defunkt, of which he is a founding member. He has been the Resident Composer for The Classical Theatre of Harlem since 2002. His theater credits include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Black Nativity, Trojan Women, Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Ruined, and Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe, for which he won the 2009 Audelco Award for Best Musical Direction. Please visit www.kelvynator.com.

TOM BURCH is thrilled to return to Court following last year’s The Comedy of Errors. Other Chicago credits include Talking Pictures and Gas for Less (Goodman Theatre); Souvenir and Civil War Christmas (Northlight Theatre); No Exit, Frankenstein, and Hairy Ape (The Hypocrites); as well as shows for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Next Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, and many others. Regional credits include Mistakes Were Made (off-Broadway, Barrow St. Theatre), Sense and Sensibility (Actors Theatre Louisville), and shows at Cleveland Play House, Arizona Theatre Company, Peninsula Players, and others. He’s the recipient of four Jeff nominations (one win), and three After Dark Awards. Upcoming projects include shows for Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Hypocrites, and Northlight. His work can be seen online at www.tomburch.com.

JANICE PYTEL returns to Court Theatre where she designed costumes for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Recent design credits include The Detective’s Wife (Writers’ Theatre); Middletown, Last of the Boys, The Pain and the Itch, Tennessee Williams’ One Arm (a co-production with About Face Theatre and Tectonic Theater Project), Our Lady of 121st Street, The Drawer Boy, The Ordinary Yearning of Miriam Buddwing, The Infidel, Goodbye, Stranger, and The Designated Mourner (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Rembrandt’s Gift and Topdog/Underdog (Madison Repertory Theatre); Take Me Out, Winesburg Ohio, and Pulp (About Face Theatre); Suburban Motel, Speaking in Tongues, Great Society, and The Ciderhouse Rules Parts 1 and 2 (Famous Door Theatre); as well as Northlight Theatre, Next Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, L’Opera Piccola, Apple Tree Theatre, and Indiana Repertory Theatre, among others.  Janice also designed costumes for the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning I Am My Own Wife. For more information, please visit her website, www.janicepytel.com.

MARC STUBBLEFIELD is currently in his 11th year as Court’s Director of Production. Spunk is his seventh design for Court, having previously worked with Artistic Director Charlie Newell on Glass Menagerie, Arcadia, and Three Tall Women, and Ron OJ Parson on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, and The First Breeze of Summer.  He also teaches Lighting Design at the University of Chicago.  He has worked at the Geffen Playhouse, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and the Alley Theatre among others. He received a dual MFA in Production Management and Scenic Design from UCLA’s school of Theatre, Film and Television, and his BA in Technical Theatre from Rice University.

JOSHUA HORVATH Court: The Invisible Man, Spunk, Porgy and Bess, The Illusion, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Wait Until Dark, Caroline, or Change, The First Breeze of Summer, Carousel, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Flyin' West, Raisin, Lettice and Lovage, Fences, Man of La Mancha, Endgame, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Fraulein Else, Guys and Dolls, and The Romance Cycle. Chicago credits: Goodman, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Northlight, Next, Lookingglass, About Face, The House Theatre of Chicago, Congo Square, Steep, Lifeline, Eclipse, Shattered Globe, Drury Lane Oakbrook, and TimeLine. Regional: Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Long Wharf, Centerstage, Hartford Stage, The Alliance, Milwaukee Rep, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Madison Rep, Illinois Shakespeare, Great River Shakespeare, Kansas City Rep, Center Theatre Group, and California Shakespeare. Mr. Horvath has garnered four Joseph Jefferson Awards along with eleven nominations, an LA Ovation Award, is an artistic associate of Lookingglass, a co-owner of Aria Music Designs, LLC, and teaches sound for theatre and film at Northwestern University. Current and upcoming shows: Little Shop of Horrors (Kansas City Rep), Eastland (Lookingglass), The Verona Project (The American Musical Theatre Project).

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.

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.

AMBER JOHNSON is very excited to be back at Court Theatre after working on Spunk, Comedy of Errors, and Three Tall Women. Other Chicago stage management credits include: A Girl with Sun in Her Eyes (Pine Box Theatre), The Colored Museum (Congo Square Theatre Company), The MLK Project (Writers’ Theatre), It’s a Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph! (American Blues Theatre), Jersey Boys (Broadway in Chicago), Dreamlandia and La Posada Magica (Teatro Vista), I Do! I Do! and A View from the Bridge (American Theatre Company), Three Sisters (Strawdog Theatre Company), As Much As You Can and Clouds (Dog & Pony Theatre Company), and Orange Flower Water (Steppenwolf Theatre Company). Regional credits include: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, and Antelope Valley Ballet. Amber graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BFA in Theatre with Stage Management emphasis. As always, Boomer Sooner!