STEEL MAGNOLIAS Artistic Team

ROBERT HARLING (Playwright) made his directorial debut with The Evening Star for Paramount, which he also wrote for the screen based on Larry McMurty’s novel. The Evening Star reunited Shirley MacLaine and and co-stars , , Scott Wolf, , and Marion Ross. The Evening Star is the continuation of one of the most beloved and acclaimed movies of our time, . Before launching a successful stage and screenwriting career, Robert graduated from Tulane University School of Law, but instead of taking the bar exam, he opted to become an actor in New York. After years of productive work as an actor in voiceovers and commercials, Harling was inspired to write the highly acclaimed stage play , which was based on events from his personal life. Steel Magnolias continues to thrive in theatrical productions throughout the world. Immediately bridging a career from stage to screen, Harling adapted his original play into the popular film of the same title, which starred , , Shirley MacLaine, , , and Daryl Hannah. Over the years, Mr. Harling has become a much sought-after screenwriter: other credits, to name a few, include , which was based on Harling’s acting experience and starred Sally Field, , and Robert Downey Jr., and First Wives Club for Paramount, starring , , and .

LAURA KEPLEY (Director) is in her third season as Artistic Director and has directed Cleveland Play House mainstage productions of The Good Peaches (world premiere), , Fairfield (world premiere), The Little Foxes, Venus in Fur, Good People (also at Syracuse Stage), A Carol for Cleveland (world premiere), In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, My Name is Asher Lev and CPH readings of Roe Green Award- winning plays Soups, Stews and Casseroles: 1976, Marjorie Prime and Daphne’s Dive. She joined CPH in 2010 as Associate Artistic Director, having arrived from Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island where she was Resident Director and Artistic Associate for four seasons and Interim Director of the Brown/Trinity Rep M.F.A. in Directing Program for one. She has also directed for The Alliance Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Contemporary American Theatre Festival, among others. A native Ohioan, Laura received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her Master of Fine Arts from Brown University/Trinity Rep. She is a Drama League Fellow and a recipient of the 2009—2011 National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Career Development Program for Directors.

VICKI SMITH (Scenic Designer) For Cleveland Play House, Vicki designed Radio Golf, Raisin in the Sun, Dream a Little Dream, Dinner Party, Dirty Blonde, The Guardsman, Emancipation of Valet de Chambre, Picasso at the Lapin Agile (toured to Budapest and Miskolc, Hungary), Russian Romance, Dracula, Diary of Anne Frank, Oleanna, and The African Company Presents Richard III. She’s designed for Denver Center Theatre Company (54 productions), Arizona Theatre Company, Penumbra Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Geva Theatre Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Guthrie Theatre, Kansas City Rep, Seattle Rep, Actors Theatre Louisville, Repertory Theatre St. Louis, Theatre Center, , Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Berkeley Rep, and others. She’s received Bay Area Critics Awards for Kite Runner and Execution of Justice, a DramaLogue Award for Cyrano, Colorado and Denver Ovation Awards for Mariela in the Desert, Plainsong, Doubt, I’m Not Rappaport, and Pierre, selected for the Prague Quadrennial Design Exposition 2007. JEN CAPRIO (Costume Designer) Broadway: Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. West End: The Lion (St. James). Current National Tours: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Lion. Selected NYC: Perfect Arrangement (Primary Stages); Laugh it Up, Stare it Down (Cherry Lane); Little Children Dream of God (Roundabout); Tail! Spin! (Culture Project); The Lion (MTC, Culture Project and Tour); Little Miss Sunshine (Second Stage); In Transit (Primary Stages); Fugitive Songs (Dreamlight) and Striking 12 (Daryl Roth). Opera: Florida Grand Opera, Opera, Opera Colorado, Opera Boston and Mill City Summer Opera. Regional Theater: Guthrie Alley Theatre, Papermill Playhouse, Williamstown Theater Festival, , , Dallas Theater Center, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Portland Rep, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Asolo Repertory Theater, Virginia Stage Company, George Street Playhouse, Weston Playhouse, Geva Theater, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, among others. Graduate of Ithaca College and Carnegie Mellon. Proud Member USA-829.

JENNIFER SCHRIEVER (Lighting Designer) is a based lighting designer. Her Broadway credits include Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed starring Lupita Nyong’o, and John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown, also filmed for HBO. Jen’s Opera credits include Les Pêcheurs de Perles and Die Fledermaus at the in NYC; and La Traviata, Faust and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Mariinsky in Russia. Jens Off-Broadway credits include Eclipsed, Toast and A Second Chance (Public Theatre); Night is a Room (Signature); Mala Hierba and American Hero (Second Stage); Sunset Baby (Labyrinth) and Bright Half Life (Women’s Project). Regionally Jen has worked at the Goodman, Goodspeed Opera House, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Papermill, CenterStage, Signature, Olney, Asolo Rep, Williamstown and People’s Light. Jen is an adjunct professor at Purchase College and a member of Wingspace. www.jenschriever.com

JANE SHAW (Sound Designer) previously designed The Crucible, The Little Foxes, Grounded, A Carol for Cleveland and In the Next Room, or the vibrator play for Cleveland Play House. Her credits include Ironbound (Women's Project, Rattlestick); The Killer (Theatre for a New Audience); Food and Fadwa (New York Theatre Workshop); Rear Window (Hartford Stage); Men on Boats (Clubbed Thumb); Don Juan (The Pearl Theatre); Women Without Men (Mint Theater); O.P.C. (American Repertory Theater); 4000 Miles (Asolo Rep). Upcoming productions include Living Together (Northern Stage) and Table Manners (Dorset Theater Festival). Ms. Shaw’s sound designs have earned a Drama Desk, Bessie Award, Connecticut Critics Circle, Henry Award, Premios ACE 2012, Meet the Composer grant, Theatre Communication Group's Career Development Program and nominations for two Lortels, Henry Hewes and awards. She was born in Kansas and lives in .

THOM JONES (Dialect Coach) of Voice for Brown University/Trinity Repertory M.F.A. Program. Theatre: , Trinity Repertory Company (15 seasons), , Delaware Theatre Company, Huntington Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Play House, Syracuse Stage, McCarter Theatre Center, Long Wharf Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Film/TV: various productions with (Academy Award/Golden Globe nomination), Alan Rickman, , , , Emma Watson, Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, Katey Segal, Ciaran Hinds, Sienna Miller, Ben Mendelsohn, , , among others. WIGS AND WHISKERS (Wig Design) owned and operated by Mary Schilling-Martin and Caitie Martin, provides wig, and specialty makeup services to performing arts organizations, entertainment companies and educational institutions around the country. Their motto is: “To hair is human, to wig divine.” Regional credits include Cleveland Play House, Lyric Opera Cleveland, , The , La Jolla Playhouse, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Arizona Theatre Company, Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Repertory Theatre, Victory Gardens, Theatre at the Center, American Theatre Company, Theatre for Young Audiences, Light Opera Works, Northwestern University, Roosevelt University in Chicago, University of at San Diego, San Diego State University, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Denver Center Theatre Company, Opera Colorado and Arizona Opera Company.

JENNIFER MATHESON COLLINS (Stage Manager) stage managed Cleveland Play House productions of The Good Peaches, Luna Gale, Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors, Fairfield, Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life, Informed Consent, Breath and Imagination, A Christmas Story, Woody Sez, Rich Girl, The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith, A Carol for Cleveland, A Night With Janis Joplin (at both CPH and in Washington, D.C.), The Trip to Bountiful and This Wonderful Life. Other recent credits include: Angels in America (Millennium Approaches and Perestroika), A Christmas Carol, The Santaland Diaries, and The Who and the What (Kansas City Repertory Theatre). Previously, she was a full-time faculty member at Northwestern University, overseeing the stage management program. From 2000 to 2007, she was a resident stage manager at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, where selected credits include Passion, Marionette Macbeth, Hamlet, Seussical the Musical, A Flea in Her Ear, Kabuki Lady Macbeth, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George and Pacific Overtures. Other Chicago credits include Death of a Salesman, Waiting for Godot, Floyd Collins, Jitney, The Odyssey and A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre). She earned a Bachelor of Science, Theatre and a Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology from Kansas State University and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

TOM HUMES (Assistant Stage Manager) returns to Cleveland Play House where previous stage management work includes The Mountaintop, The Little Foxes and the 2014 New Ground Theater Festival production of Grounded. Assistant stage management work at CPH includes Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Maurice Hines is Tappin Thru Life, Clybourne Park, Breath and Imagination, A Christmas Story, Woody Sez, Lombardi and A Night With Janis Joplin. Area stage management credits include Kiss Me, Kate!, The All-City Musical; Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, Cleveland ; Godspell, The Frogs, Smokey Joe's Café, Avenue Q, Pippin and Oliver!, Cain Park; Le Nozze di Figaro and Cosi Fan Tutte, The Cleveland Orchestra; Tosca, La Boheme and Lucia Di Lammermoor, Opera Cleveland; Caroline, or Change, Dobama Theatre and Karamu House; and History Boys, Beck Center for the Arts. He is a proud member of both Actors' Equity Association and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a minor in Mathematics from Bowling Green State University.

GEOFF JOSSELSON/CALLERI CASTING (Casting) Geoff is thrilled to continue his collaboration with Calleri Casting, where he previously cast John and Jen (Keen Company); Head Over Heels and The Wiz (OSF); and A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre). As an independent casting director for 10 years, Geoff cast the Broadway production of The Velocity of Autumn, the off-Broadway productions of Yank!, Enter Laughing, Southern Comfort, Pretty Filthy and Altar Boyz. Also many productions for Arena Stage, Bay Street Theatre, Barrington Stage, Denver Center, North Shore Music Theatre, Kansas City Starlight and the York Theatre Company. Calleri Casting credits include Broadway: Hughie, , The Elephant Man (also West End), Hedwig and The Angry Inch, The Visit, Of Mice and Men, Venus in Fur, Living on Love, 33 Variations, A Raisin in the Sun, Chicago, and James Joyce’s The Dead. Casting for CSC, Rattlestick, Long Wharf, Keen, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Flea, McCarter, Berkeley Rep, City Theater, OSF, and Playwrights Horizons (10 seasons). TV: The Path for , Army Wives, Lipstick Jungle, Monk, Hope & Faith, and Ed. Awarded 12 Artios Awards for Outstanding Casting Achievement. Member CSA. geoffjosselson.com and callericasting.com.