Hansel and Gretel

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HANSEL AND GRETEL LYRIC THEATRE @ ILLINOIS Filippo Ciabatti, conductor | Tom Mitchell, director | Philip Johnston, choreographer Music by Engelbert Humperdinck | Libretto by Adelheid Wette Thursday-Friday, November 9-10, 2017, at 7:30pm Saturday, November 11, 2017, at 5pm | Sunday, November 12, 2017, at 3pm Tryon Festival Theatre THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSOR

This season of Lyric Theatre @ Illinois has been sponsored by a generous donation from

THE ESTATE OF PHYLLIS CLINE THE ACT OF GIVING OF ACT THE

2 WELCOME

We are delighted to welcome you to the 2017-18 February brings Mozart’s Don Giovanni to the Lyric Theatre @ Illinois season! We are showcasing Tryon Festival Theatre, directed and sung by a wide range of sung theatre this year, from Nathan Gunn in his directorial debut! classical masterpieces to children’s stories to edgy March, two workshops of new operas, written by off-Broadway titles to absurdist political satire. women for women, in cooperation with American September brought us [title of show], a co- Opera Projects and the Prototype Festival. production with Allerton Park, Jeff Bowen and And finally,She Loves Me, Harnick and Bock’s Hunter Bell’s hilarious and moving exploration of charming musical about a pair of perfume shop the lives of young creative minds in today’s New clerks—is the tension between them secretly love? York City. In November, Hansel and Gretel by the Now in our fourth year, Lyric Theatre continues Brothers Grimm, with a breathtakingly beautiful to grow rapidly. At clinics and masterclasses score by Engelbert Humperdinck. Gingerbread around North America, Europe, and Asia we houses, dew fairies, witches, and angels will usher are being recognized as leaders in the 21st in the holidays for every age. century development of performers, pedagogy, In December, we explore Russia and the production, and new works. We’re excited to Revolution of 1917 with Tschaikovsky, Borodin, share our community here at Krannert Center for and Prokofiev scenes surrounding the workshop the Performing Arts with the world. of Black Square, a new opera by a creative team Yours, that has recently been at the center of artistic and Julie and Nathan Gunn political events at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. DIRECTORS, LYRIC THEATRE @ ILLINOIS

3 PROGRAM HANSEL AND GRETEL LYRIC THEATRE @ ILLINOIS Filippo Ciabatti, conductor Tom Mitchell, director Philip Johnston, choreographer A Fairy Opera In Three Acts by Adelheid Wette Music composed by Engelbert Humperdinck English translation by David Pountney Thursday-Friday, November 9-10, 2017, at 7:30pm Saturday, November 11, 2017, at 5pm Sunday, November 12, 2017, at 3pm Tyron Festival Theatre

ACT I ACT II

20-minute intermission

ACT III

This production includes smoke and smog effects.

Lyric Theatre @ Illinois is produced by the University of Illinois School of Music (Jeffrey Magee, director). 4 HANSEL AND GRETEL CONDUCTOR SOUND DESIGNER Filippo Ciabatti Lorna Chavez

DIRECTOR PROPERTIES MASTER Tom Mitchell Kristen Nuhn

MUSICAL ADMINISTRATOR/ASSISTANT HAIR/MAKEUP MASTER CONDUCTOR Samantha C. Jones Michael Tilley MUSICAL PREPARATION CHORUS MASTER Jaime Cohen Andrea Solya Alphonsus Kiu Fernando Malvar-Ruiz Alex Munger

CHOREOGRAPHER STAGE MANAGER Philip Johnston Chenglin Xin

SCENIC DESIGNER TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Wenshu Cai Adina Lee Weinig

COSTUME DESIGNER OPERA TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Sharné Van Ryneveld Dylan Kind

LIGHTING DESIGNER DRAMATURG/SUPERTITLES David Krupla Susan Bywaters

ASSOCIATE LIGHTING DESIGNER ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR/SUPERTITLES Naomie Winch Madelyn Gunn MEDIA DESIGNER Anja Hose

5 CAST HANSEL GINGERBREAD CHILDREN Olivia Gronenthal† Tammy Asire Cassandra Petrie* Julianna Balogh Sophia Bengston GRETEL Katie Fromm Molly Abrams† Sarah Perdekamp Aimee Stuart-Flunker* Lukas Grosse Perdekamp MOTHER Emily Hancock ShayLyssa Breon Alexander† Anna Kinderman Paige Luttrell* Maria Kinderman Jenna Lee FATHER Roma Mehta Timothy K. Bostwick Dan Rosu Cristabel Thomas DEW FAIRY Grace VanRaden Laura Schachner

SANDMAN Anna Burton* Landon Westerfield†

THE WITCH James Hevel† Alexis Korbe*

GINGERBREAD CAPTAIN Caitlin Hennessy Loucine Topouzian

ANGEL Danielle Mastricola

†November 9, 11 *November 10, 12 6 ORCHESTRA VIOLIN CLARINET Alexa Bucio Dasom Nam Ariel Cheng Colby Spengler Michael Furgala Leah Haynes* BASS CLARINET Janice Lee† Alex Bravo Noah Larson BASSOON Nora Majcloubeh Alex Brake Isaac Sergio Parra Garrett Jones Jeff Rollins Julie Saxton FRENCH HORN Faith Tsou Katie Glassman Maya Williams Kayla McComb Jonathen Morawski VIOLA Clark Stevens Julius Adams* Annika Downey TRUMPET Andreas Ruiz-Gehrt Brian Galli Jennifer Steele Nicole Gillotti

CELLO TROMBONE (ADDED) Seungwon Chung Kevan Feyzi Malcolm Dyer Matt Granger Holly Garrett* Nick Wurl Valerie Lee TUBA (ADDED) BASS Nick Albanese Kolten Heeren* TIMPANI Joseph Jaeger Kirstyn Norris Kevin Snyder PERCUSSION FLUTE AND PICCOLO Joshua Stocking Sorcha Barr Benjamin Van Arsdale JooYon Chung Matthew Reeder

OBOE Aaron Wilbert Taylor Vulgamore †Concertmaster *Section Principal 7 SYNOPSIS ACT I head for home, only to find that they have lost Gretel and her brother Hansel try to stave off their way. At night, the forest becomes dark and both their hunger and their chores by trading full of terror, but their ordeal is relieved when a nursery rhymes. Gretel tries to appease Hansel by magical creature, the Sandman, spreads his sleep revealing a secret—a neighbor has taken pity on dust in their eyes. They invoke the protection of the starving family with the gift of a quantity of the 14 Holy Helpers, who appear to guard their milk. An abortive attempt at cleaning up is quickly mossy bed. A heavenly pantomime musically interrupted by an impromptu dance lesson. The announces the appearance of the angelic visitors. children work themselves into a frenzy, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Gertrud, their mother, ACT III who is not happy at all to find the children hard at Dawn has come. Another magical creature, the play instead of work, and lets them have it. In her Dew Fairy, comes to perform her daily anointing, rage, she breaks the milk jug and spills its precious and calls the children from slumber. Gretel bounty. Exasperated, she orders the children to awakens first and rejoices in the majesty of the the forest to pick berries for dinner. She reveals the morning, singing along with the birds. Hansel fear of their hopeless situation after they leave and soon awakens and joins in the frolic. Before long, slumps to the table, exhausted. they have found themselves in another part of the forest where a magical house appears, Her husband, Peter, returns from his day selling seemingly made entirely of candy. Hansel gets brooms in the city, full of himself and copious the courage to break off a piece, but before he schnapps. He tells Gertrud, in a very roundabout can eat, a voice calls from somewhere. The pair fashion, about their good fortune, but she doesn’t try to convince themselves that it is just the wind, believe his tale until he produces the goods. He and just when they have, a woman bursts on to asks after the children, and she tells him about the scene. Though grandmotherly in appearance, the milk jug and about her sending them to the the children sense that something is not right with forest. He reacts with terror, and tells her the her. When she is unable to entice them into her legends of the witches who inhabit the wood, trap, she resorts to her magical powers, exulting devouring lost children. The horrified couple dash in her return to her true form. off in pursuit of the children. Hansel is paralyzed and Gretel made to do her ACT II bidding. The witch tries to fatten Hansel up and The famous Hexenritt, or Witches’ Ride, serves as to get Gretel to prepare the oven. Gretel plays a transition from the previous scenes in the house dumb and frees Hansel when the Witch is not to the magical power of the German forest. The looking, then tricks the Witch into showing her children are at their old games, playing with the how to open the oven—when both children slam mushrooms and the cuckoos. They have picked the door behind her. They dance a victory waltz some berries, but end up eating the better part at their cunning plan. of them. Somewhat frantic and fearful of Mother’s wrath, they wait until darkness has come and Now, they notice that the gingerbread children

8 around the house are actual humans, frozen blind in the Witch’s spell. By their touch, the children are restored to life. The youth exultantly dance in celebration.

Father and Mother wander onto the scene, still looking for the children, and are overjoyed to find them free and cavorting with a cohort of new friends. All sing a song of praise and thanks.

—Michael Tilley, musical administrator and assistant conductor

9 PROGRAM NOTES Dem Deutschen Volke. To the German People. that has led some to call Humperdinck’s operas Forged from captured Napoleonic cannons, these ”Wagner without the baggage.” iron words still blaze from the pediment of the Reichstag in Berlin. Yet although the building was The perennial success of Hänsel und Gretel dedicated in 1894, one year after the premiere began from the humblest of beginnings. The of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, composer’s sister, Adelheid Wette, had arranged the architect’s designed inscription would not be four excerpts from the Grimm Brothers’ tale to be added until Germany was already ensnared in a performed by her children at her home. She asked war to end all wars. Engelbert to set them to music. In a winking allusion to his association with Parsifal, Wagner’s Kaiser Wilhelm II had opposed the dedication Bühnenweihfestspiel (Stage-Consecrating Festival to the Volk, fearful of the power of democracy Play), the work was called a Kinderstuben- it threatened to unleash. He suggested Weihfestspiel (Nursery-Consecrating Festival alternatives like ”Reich,” or ”Unity,” but it was Drama). only when the First World War began to steadily erode his popular support that he informed his Adelheid had turned for source material to ministers that he would do nothing to oppose the most popular book in Germany after the the inscription. And so, at last, the building was Bible (which was, by then, already in its seventh officially dedicated to the GermanVolk —the edition): Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm’s Kinder people. Some years later, the people would und Haus-Märchen (Children’s and Household even get their own car, or Volkswagen. But is Tales). The Grimms might be surprised to know ”people” the most accurate translation for the that they are known today more for their folklore term Volk? And what does any of this have to collection than the German Dictionary they do with Engelbert Humperdinck and Adelheid founded or their philological study of shifting Wette’s Märchenspiel, or fairy-tale play, Hänsel phonemes in the German language. Then again, und Gretel? perhaps they might not. Even their very status as storytellers arises from a stroke of pure luck, or Long before his dactylic name lent its magic the disorganization of a Romantic poet. to the career of an obscure Leicester nightclub singer named Gerry Dorsey, the real Engelbert The very concept of Volk is, historically speaking, Humperdinck won the first Mendelssohn Award rather new. The modernization and utopian for composition in 1879, which paid for his travel promises of the Enlightenment, with their to Italy where he was introduced to Richard attendant concentration of life in city centers, Wagner. Wagner invited him back to Bayreuth brought in their wake a feeling of individual to assist in the preparation of Parsifal, where he alienation. Eighteenth-century artists began to copied out the score by hand and trained the plumb depths deeper than rational consciousness. children’s chorus. He also completed the musical It is from these same sources that the Romantic education of the composer’s son, Siegfried. It Movement sought the primal unity of the German is this close association with the master’s craft people, the Volk.

10 As far as the concept can be traced, it originates Brentano wanted to widen the search beyond with Johann Gottfried von Herder: philosopher, songs and asked the Grimms to collect a variety theologian, poet, and literary critic. Herder, of German folk tales from storytellers around whose ideas were profoundly influential on the the country. They sent the poet 54 texts in 1810, young Goethe, was particularly interested in the which he promptly misplaced. Fortunately, the way that language shaped community, naming future librarians had made copies of their work. it ”the organ of thought.” He created the word Arnim advised the brothers to publish their Zeitgeist to name the spirit of the times, and also work—now grown to 86 tales—in 1812. It was Volksgeist for the spirit of the people. His use not until 98 years had passed that Brentano’s of the term Volk denotes a collective identity: manuscript was found in 1910 in the Ölenberg ”There is only one class in the state, the Volk, (not monastery where he had lost it. the rabble), and the king belongs to this class as well as the peasant.” One of the chief means of Although commonly known in English as the promoting his ideas for the development of the Grimm Fairy Tales, the stories were not intended national soul was his activity as a collector of folk for children. They were instead intended to bond songs. the Volk together through common language and ritual, forging a new German civilization. In 1778, Herder published a collection of Volk This is why the brothers called the collection an songs. Unlike his intellectual heirs, his concept educational manual, or Erziehungsbuch. The tales of Volk was universal. There was only one human are by turns dark, morose, absurd, and tragic. In species; all difference was cultural. And so his contrast to the practice of Brentano and Arnim, collection includes Nordic, Native American, the Grimms refused to poetically alter or elevate Shakespearean, and even his young contemporary their subject matter, in the belief that the spirit Goethe’s songs. The next generation to continue they sought could not be recreated by civilized Herder’s task included an idealistic pair of poets, poetry, but only through the oral tradition that Achin von Arnim and Clemens von Brentano. formed the basis of their collection.

While still students at the University of In fact, their practice was less pure than their Heidelberg, the pair had conceived a folk song principles. They fictionalized the bourgeois collection of their own, which would eventually identities of their original storytellers, some be published in three volumes, Des Knaben of whom were French Huguenots familiar with Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder (The Youth’s Charles Perrault’s 1697 The Tales of Mother Magic Horn: Old German Songs). After the Goose. Several of Perrault’s tales, including first volume was published, collaborators from ”Cinderella,” ”Little Red Riding Hood,” and across the German-speaking lands contributed ”Bluebeard” also appear in the Grimms’ Tales. So Volk poetry and songs. Two of the most ardent their claims to have uncovered the authentically researchers were a pair of brothers from Hesse, German must be viewed somewhat generously. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The brothers had Yet the courage of their convictions must be been introduced to Brentano and Arnim by their noted, for the active co-creation of the German law professor, Friedrich von Savigny, who was also Volk during the French occupation was an act of an fervent nationalist. ”intellectual resistance.”

11 As ardent nationalists, the Grimms also took festival theatre in Bayreuth that Wagner initiated part in the wave of revolution that swept young Engelbert into the mysteries of his craft. Europe in 1848. Both were elected to the civil parliament, but their hopes for unification soon Andrew Porter notes with lucidity: ”Hansel and proved fruitless, and in the resurgence of the Gretel is a Wagnerian music drama with nursery petty nobility they retreated to academic work, subject matter. When the milk jug is broken, devoting their final decade to theirGerman the orchestral climax could accompany the Dictionary. The final entry they completed was shattering of Wotan’s spear. The Witch’s Ride frucht—fruit. is a Ride of the Valkyries, but with broomsticks for mounts, instead of magic horses. The shining Another young German who participated in the Dream Pantomime owes something to Lohengrin, 1848 revolutions and, like many others, became and perhaps more to Parsifal.” After the opera’s an exile, was a young composer from Dresden, premiere, the critic Eduard Hanslick, who had Richard Wagner. Wagner began his exile in waged a decades-long war with Wagner’s ideas Switzerland with an essay titled ”The Artwork about music, nonetheless praised both its music— of the Future.” He begins thus: ”As Man stands ”Richard Wagner to the core”—and its themes. to Nature, so stands Art to Man. Man, or more particularly the Volk, creates Art to fill that want. At the close of the 19th century, Italian verismo Those who feel no want are outsiders to the Volk dominated the European stage, with a pair of and crave only pointless luxury—true Art thus lurid portraits of regular life in the soap opera comes only from the atavistic needs of the Volk. mold. Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci depicted When luxury has been abolished by the Volk they adultery, murder, and bare emotion as audiences will be able to join to create the Artwork of the had never seen before. Hanslick wrote of Hänsel Future.” He argued that the revolution had failed und Gretel: ”To the brutal miniatures, already because of the lack of proper artworks to guide its becoming tiresome, the strongest possible course. He sought to recreate the Greek dramas, contrast is—a children’s fairy tale. On the one taking for his model the dramas of Aeschylus. For side we have criminals, suicides, betrayed lovers the subject matter of his new total art work, or and couples; on the other, a little brother and Gesamtkunstwerk, Wagner turned to the earliest sister whose only pain is hunger and whose German epic, the Song of the Nibelung, from greatest pleasure is a candy bar—no passion, no mythologies of the German people by none other love story, no love intrigue. It is another world— than Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. and a better one.”

For the telling of his grand German myth, Wagner Adelheid Wette had a hand in reducing the pushed the musical language of his time to new brutality of the story. The Grimms’ version, powers. He created novel techniques of musical related to Wilhelm by his eventual wife Dorothea storytelling, fresh combinations of instruments, Wild, begins ”Times were hard. Work was scarce and even his own instruments. Even while and food prices were high.” The tale depicts denouncing him, Nietzsche had to praise him as a starving household in a time of famine. The ”the greatest theatrical genius the Germans ever mother (like many of the Grimm villains, eventually had.” After the world heard Tristan und Isolde, made a stepmother!) convinces the father that the Ring cycle, and Parsifal, opera could never their only choice is to abandon the children in be as it once was. It was at his specially designed the forest. Wette softens this cruelty, depicting 12 a mother driven to desperation by poverty, who sends her children in search of berries in the forest. Humperdinck enriched the Volk character by weaving several authentic folk tunes into the musical fabric of the story. His transformation of these elements through Wagner’s practice of leitmotiv development is masterful. The opening song, which forms the basis of the first act, is an old cradle song which Martin Luther had borrowed for one of his Christmas chorales, ”Susannine.” The old merchant’s cry of an ascending fourth, ”Buy broomsticks!” is transformed by the father into the menacing motive of the Witch’s Ride.

The siblings’ collaboration achieved success beyond their wildest dreams. Within a year of the premiere, led by Richard Strauss, the opera had been mounted over 50 times in Germany. Within two years it had swept Europe all the way to America. Gustav Mahler, an enthusiastic proponent, led the Hamburg premiere. Brahms and Wolf attended the Vienna premiere, staged by Cosima Wagner. It was the first opera to be broadcast live by both the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as the first opera to be broadcast on television.

Although the Grimms sought in the tales of the Volk a purely German essence, the ubiquitous enthusiasm of audiences for this work of musical and dramatic magic perhaps indicates that they touched a strain more universal. Lyric Theatre @ Illinois is happy to present the work in the English translation made famous by the Metropolitan Opera, lovingly rendered by David Pountney, director of the Welsh National Opera. So please sit back, make room for your inner child, and enjoy Hansel and Gretel! —Michael Tilley, musical administrator and assistant conductor

13 DIRECTOR’S NOTE The story of Hansel and Gretel was published by In the light of the next day, they discover an the Brothers Grimm in 1812, though its source idealized grandmother who offers them cookies, was centuries earlier. Engelbert Humperdinck candies, and comfort—all that a child could was prodded to take up the story by his sister, want. The sentimentalized ideal hides a sinister Adelheid Wette. The resulting opera premiered truth. Another parental role model turns on the in 1893. This Lyric Theatre @ Illinois production children. The resourceful Hansel and Gretel take approaches the opera by setting it in the early charge and vanquish the witch, freeing fellow years of the 20th century as cities were growing children who had been fiendishly threatened. The larger, industries were demanding more of workers, opera ends with singing and dancing in the woods. and parents became alienated from children. This production took some of its influence As in the original story by Grimm, young Hansel from the German Wandervogel movement that and Gretel are left to their own devices by developed at the same time Humperdinck’s opera parents who are absent from the home. Their was introduced. The Wandervogel encouraged mother is preoccupied with managing the youth to experience freedom, adventure, the household on scant means and has no tolerance natural world, and their folk culture. It became for their games. She recklessly throws them out of a forerunner of Boy and Girl Scouts (and also the house. Their father, a drunken laborer, seems became perverted into the Hitler Youth). This irresponsible and hot-tempered. The children production also draws on various illustrational must fend for themselves. styles of storytelling including contemporary comics. The story of Hansel and Gretel has The woods that their parents fear as ”haunted,” appealed to children for well over a century, the children see as a playground. There they so it seemed natural to use the graphic novels gather berries, play games, and call to the birds. of today that communicate to young readers. When night falls, the forest takes on a frightening Comics today blend drama and fantasy in a atmosphere, yet their imaginations conjure a similar way to that of the brothers Grimm in 1812, Sandman, Angels, and a Dew Fairy to get them and Humperdinck and his sister in 1893. We hope through the night. that you will experience the thrill of freedom and discovery with the child-heroes Hansel and Gretel in this romantic masterwork.

—Tom Mitchell, director

14 CENTRAL ILLINOIS CHILDREN'S CHORUS Enriching the lives of children since 1978, Central Illinois Children’s Chorus (CICC) provides choral music instruction and performance opportunities for singers in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The Chorus includes four choir levels and draws members from communities within a 30-mile radius of Champaign-Urbana. CICC singers present annual winter and spring concerts, perform with area orchestras and the University of Illinois School of Music, and participate in community, corporate, and private events. Performance highlights include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Bernstein’s Mass, Bizet’s Carmen, Britten’s War Requiem and Noye’s Fludde, Haydn’s Magnificat, both Humperdinck’s and Bruce’s Hansel and Gretel, Krasa’s children’s opera Brundibar, Puccini’s La bohe’me, and Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In its 40th season, CICC continues to nurture children’s love of music and to promote excellence in choral singing. The Chorus accepts new singers twice a year: May through September and also in early January. Please visit www. CICCsings.org for further information. CICC is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

15 PROFILES Molly Abrams (Gretel), production Viva Verdi! at the University of Illinois. originally from Maine, holds a She also recently played the role of Prophetess BM in both music education Two in the world premiere of the mini-opera A and vocal performance from Psalm of Silence by Lucas Marshall Smith. the University of Maine. She is ShayLyssa is a student of Professor Dawn Harris. currently a Master of Music student in vocal performance Tamara Asire (Gingerbread and literature at the University Child) is a native of Mahomet, of Illinois studying with Illinois, and is currently Professor Yvonne Redman. Molly sang many roles completing her senior year of within the University of Maine’s Opera Workshop high school at home in including Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Despina (Così conjunction with courses at fan tutte), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) and Parkland College. She has Mařenka (The Bartered Bride). She was a member been a member of the Central of The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Maine and Illinois Children’s Chorus, starred in its productions of The Yeoman of the directed by Andrea Solya, for the past four years; Guard (Elsie) and Patience (Patience). Outside of as well as the Illinois Chamber Music Academy at opera and operetta, she has been a member of the University of Illinois for the last five years. many choirs, most recently the prestigious Along with singing, Tamara is involved in violin, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. piano, and the visual arts. She has also participated in the East Central Illinois Youth ShayLyssa Breon Alexander Orchestra and Michigan Tech’s Honors Orchestra (Mother) is a native of Dayton, Program. She previously performed with Lyric Ohio. She received her Theatre @ Illinois in their performance of A bachelor’s degree in vocal Midsummer Night’s Dream. performance from Bowling Green State University. She is Julianna Balogh (Gingerbread currently pursuing a master’s Child) attends third grade at degree in vocal performance Countryside School in and literature at the University Champaign. She is a gymnast of Illinois. Her previous performance credits as well as a singer. She has include the role of Mother Jeanne from Francis been singing in Central Illinois Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, as well as Children’s Chorus since Rosine from Thomas Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso. kindergarten. Juli also takes She was a recipient of the Cathy McCambridge part in different musical Memorial Scholarship. ShayLyssa was also a activities at her school. In winner of the 2016 Dr. Marjorie Conrad Art Song 2015, she was the Kindergarten Champion at Competition. Most recently, ShayLyssa was cast Champaign-Urbana’s ChessFest. as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana for the

16 Sophia Bengtson Anna Burton (Sandman), from (Gingerbread Child), a native the town of Downers Grove, of Champaign, is currently a Illinois, is a senior studying seventh-grade student at choral music education and Judah Christian School. She vocal performance with Dawn started performing with Harris. She is a Thomas J. Central Illinois Children’s Smith scholarship recipient Chorus in 2015 in the Concert and has performed in The Choir under Mrs. Morrissette, Light in the Piazza, Poppea, and more recently in the Beatrice and Benedict, and Polly Peachum Chamber Choir under Dr. Solya. Sophia has through Lyric Theatre @ Illinois; as well as roles in performed with the Treble Choir Festival and in Shrek the Musical, Guys and Dolls, Annie, Little The Nutcracker at Krannert Center in 2015 and Shop of Horrors, and others during her high 2016. She sang in The Mass of the Children as school career. In addition to her studies, Anna is part of the CICC Chamber Choir, in conjunction also a section leader for the University of Illinois with The Chorale, as directed by Dr. Craig Jessop. Black Chorus and a Golden Apple Scholar. Sophia also performed with the Martin Luther King Jr. choir for the Martin Luther King Jr. Katie Fromm (Gingerbread Celebration in 2016. Child) is a third grade student at Montessori School of Timothy K. Bostwick (Father) Champaign-Urbana. She has received acclaim for his sung in the Central Illinois performance in the role of Children’s Chorus for three Figaro in Delaware Valley years and studies cello with Opera’s production of Il Samuel Araya, ballet with Barbiere di Siviglia, as ”pure Luciana Rezende, and comic joy.” He received his gymnastics with Dena Slade. From the age of five, master’s degree from Brooklyn Katie has studied musical theatre and acting at College and bachelor’s degree Class Act studio with Donna Warwick, Kat Downs, from Drake University, where he performed roles and Jaclyn Loewenstein. She has been featured in such as The Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, Class Act’s productions of The Little Pets of Paris, The Husband in Amelia Goes to the Ball, and the There’s a Mouse on My Head, The Journey of the title role in Gianni Schicchi. Making his Noble Gnarble, and Where’s My Spotlight?! Katie international debut with the Intermezzo will also perform in Class Act’s children’s musical, Foundation, he performed the title role in Le The Grunch, in December. Nozze di Figaro. Recently, Timothy performed the role of Alfio inCavallerìa Rusticana and created the role of Saul in A Psalm of Silence. Later this year, he will perform Escamillo in Carmen for The Opera Project in Des Moines, Iowa.

17 Olivia Gronenthal (Hansel) is Caitlin Hennessy a junior studying vocal (Gingerbread Captain) is a performance with Dawn sophomore from Chicago, Harris. Most recently, she Illinois, studying vocal appeared in Lyric Theatre @ performance. She recently Illinois’ production of The played an ensemble role in the Light in the Piazza as Franca 2017 production of The Light Naccarelli cover/Flower Seller/ in the Piazza with Lyric Theatre Tour Guide/Prostitute, Amore @ Illinois. Caitlin is a member Primo in Lyric Theatre @ Illinois’ production of of the University of Illinois Women’s Glee Club Poppea, and Third Lady and Third Spirit in Die and is a student of Jerold Siena. Zauberflöte with The Toronto Summer Opera James Hevel (The Witch) has Workshop. She has also been a young artist in most recently been seen as Greensboro Light Opera and Song’s young artist Liberto in Lyric Theatre @ program and made her opera debut with La Illinois’ production of Poppea. Nuova Aurora in their production of Purcell’s King He has also been an Arthur. apprentice with Sugar Creek Emily Hancock (Gingerbread Opera, singing the role of Pete Child) is a native of Verona, Fowler/featured soloist in their Wisconsin. She is an Honors production of Ricky Ian student attending Franklin Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath. Others roles Middle School, having include El Remendado in The Tragedy of Carmen, previously attended Barkstall Il Podestà in La Finta Giardiniera, and Elementary in Champaign. She L’aritmétique/La Rainette in Ravel’s L’enfant et les is in her sixth year in Central sortiléges with the Franco-American Vocal Illinois Children’s Chorus. She Academy in France. James has also performed as is active in the Gay-Straight Alliance, Student a chorus member for both opera companies in Council, Drama Club, and Strings (as a violinist). Cleveland, Ohio (Opera Circle Cleveland and She has performed with the Champaign-Urbana Cleveland Opera Theater). He is a second-year Symphony Orchestra’s holiday performance the master’s student at the University of Illinois, last five years as a member of CICC under Mrs. studying vocal performance with Jerold Siena, Morrissette and Dr. Solya. Hansel and Gretel will and a graduate of Baldwin Wallace Conservatory be her debut in a musical production. of Music, studying voice with Dr. JR Fralick.

18 Anna Kinderman the Lyle Dilley Outstanding Band Musician Award. (Gingerbread Child) is in her In Wichita, Kansas, she received a Koch Cultural sophomore year at Champaign Trust Grant, the Frances Shelly Fellowship, and Central High school. She is a the Michael P. Tilford Fellowship. She held a member of the Champaign graduate administrative assistantship as well as a Illinois Children’s Choir, and graduate staff assistantship while attending does flow arts like juggling, Wichita State University. Alexis finished a Master hula hooping, contact of Music in flute performance with Dr. Frances juggling, and poi. She has Shelly as well as a Master of Music in opera done ballet, modern dance, and was part of the performance with Dr. Pina Mozzani. She children’s chorus in Lyric Theatre @ Illinois’ accompanied for WSU’s choirs and was a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Last Concerto/Aria Competition Finalist. While there, year, Anna sang in the Vokalensemble Classique she played Prince Orlovsky in Strauss’ Die in Vienna, Austria, where she performed in the Fledermaus, Miss Effie Belle Tate in Floyd’sCold Wiener Konzerthaus. She is the organizer of a Sassy Tree, and played keyboard and flute for physics competition team for high school numerous shows with several companies. Most students connected to the particle physics lab, recently she played Maddalena in the Rigoletto CERN, in Switzerland. quartet for Lyric Theatre @ Illinois’ production of Viva Verdi! Marie Kinderman (Gingerbread Child) attends Jenna Lee (Gingerbread the Campus Middle School for Child) is a sophomore at Girls and has participated in University Laboratory High the Central Illinois Children’s School. She has been playing Choir since first grade. She violin since age five and won enjoyed performing in second place in the Illinois Benjamin Britten’s A State Music Teacher’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at Association competition when Krannert Center in 2016. Last year she sang with she was 11. She has also won the Wiener Chorschule while living in Vienna. Illinois Summer Youth Music scholarships multiple Marie is an avid runner and enjoys writing and times in previous years. Last year, she received reading in her spare time. third place in the Young Baroque Artists Competition. Jenna is a member of the East Alexis Korbe (The Witch) is a Central Illinois Youth Orchestra and the Illinois graduate teaching assistant at Chamber Academy, and studies privately with the University of Illinois Aaron Jacobs and Meg Freivogel. She has also pursuing an artist diploma in played piano for about four years under the voice with Dawn Harris. instruction of Tatiana Shustova. She began Originally from Hays, Kansas, singing at age four. she holds a Bachelor of Music in flute performance and a Bachelor of Arts in French from Fort Hays State University. There, she won 19 Paige Luttrell (Mother), from Roma Mehta (Gingerbread Chicago, is in her first year of Child), a native of Illinois, is a graduate study in vocal senior at University Laboratory performance and literature at High School. She has been the University of Illinois. As an singing for 12 years in the undergraduate, she performed school choir, and has taken in L’elisir d’amore (Giannetta) voice lessons for eight years. and Falstaff. Recently, she She has been a member of the participated in the Scuola Central Illinois Children’s Choir Italia Program for Opera Singers summer for four years and sang at a fundraiser for program in Italy, performing in scenes from Don pediatric cancer in 2013 and 2015. She has Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Falstaff, and La performed in Countryside School productions of Cenerentola. She is a soloist for First United Pinocchio and Peter Pan as well as University Methodist Church in Urbana and has performed Laboratory High School’s productions of The as a soloist in several oratorios including Handel’s Pirates of Penzance, The Sound of Music, Romeo Messiah, Faure’s Requiem, and Britten’s and Juliet, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Wind in Ceremony of Carols. In 2011, she was the runner- the Willows. up in the Chicago National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition. Paige Lukas Grosse Perdekamp currently studies with Sylvia Stone. (Gingerbread Child) is a seventh-grade student at Holy Danielle Mastricola (Angel) is Cross Elementary School. He a junior dance major at the joined the Central Illinois University of Illinois. Besides Children Chorus at age five. In performing in several pieces 2016, he sang the boy’s solo in for Dance at Illinois—including Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms Interface: Critical Mass at Krannert Center under the (February Dance 2017) and direction of Dr. Andrew Megill. In March 2017, he See Outside Wall for Name* sang the youth solo in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with (Senior Thesis 2017)—Danielle Sinfonia da Camera under the direction of Ian has also begun choreographing and creating Hobson. He performed with the ILMEA state work. She choreographed a solo on herself (Glass boys’ choir in 2016 and 2017. In April 2017, Lukas Case) that was performed last spring in the participated in the IESA solo music competition in Studiodance II (2017) concert, and most recently trumpet, piano, and voice, and received the Best spent her summer choreographing the of the Day Award. With his sister Sarah, he won Champaign Urbana Theatre Company’s the first place at the 2017 Young Baroque Artists production of Joseph and the Amazing Competition. Technicolor Dreamcoat. In addition to dancing, Danielle is also currently in the process of getting her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification.

20 Sarah Perdekamp Dan Rosu (Gingerbread Child) (Gingerbread Child) is a junior is a fifth grader who attends at the University Laboratory Barkstall Elementary School in High School. She has been Champaign, Illinois. He joined singing with the Central Illinois Central Illinois Children’s Children’s Chorus for 11 years Chorus in the fourth grade. As and performed in the opera A a member of CICC, he sang Midsummer Night’s Dream at one solo for the 2016 winter Krannert Center. Sarah went concert. Dan has been part of to ILMEA All State last season for voice and is several performances for his elementary school. currently taking voice lessons from Dr. Kammin. In second grade, he also played in a remake of a Sarah has also performed in various musicals, popular children’s theatrical work in Romania, his including the role of Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, parents’ home country. Dan also plays trombone and she sang the National Anthem at the IHSA and piano. State Tournament (placing first in the Baroque Laura Schachner (Dew Fairy) competition with her brother, Lukas). She is a is pursuing her Master of member of the Uni High Madrigal Choir and Music in vocal literature and cantors for The St. Patrick’s Church. Sarah is the performance at the University conductor of the St. Patrick’s Youth Orchestra of Illinois. Born in Milwaukee, and takes violin lessons from Dr. Sun-Young Shin. Wisconsin, she has worked Cassandra Petrie (Hansel), within all types of musical from Albion, Indiana, received genres, and gravitates towards her Bachelor of Arts in voice new music and working with performance and music active composers. Laura works as a graduate education from Olivet assistant for Lyric Theatre @ Illinois. Recent roles Nazarene University. She is include Susanna from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, currently a master’s student at and Gilda in the Lyric Theatre @ Illinois production the University of Illinois for of Viva Verdi! Laura is a student of Dawn Harris. voice performance and literature. This is Cassandra’s first production with Lyric Theatre, @ Illinois. This summer she had the opportunity to sing Third Lady and Third Spirit in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Austro-American Mozart Academy in Salzburg, Austria. While in her undergrad, Cassandra also sang Mrs. Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief and Baba in The Medium. She has also sung in opera scenes productions with Scuola Italia Program for Opera Singers, directed by Professor Sylvia Stone, and the Northwestern University Vocal Career Seminar.

21 Aimee Stuart-Flunker National Anthem at the University of Illinois (Gretel), a native of California, sporting events. Loucine was a first-place winner received her Bachelor of Music of the Indiana NATS Chapter. in performance from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Grace Van Raden She is currently enrolled in the (Gingerbread Child) is an master’s program at the eighth-grade homeschooler University of Illinois for from Rantoul, Illinois. She is in performance and literature, her third year singing with the receiving the Stotler Fellowship and studying under Central Illinois Children’s Professor Yvonne Gonzales Redman. Recently, she Choir. She has held a variety of was the First Lady in Wheaton College’s roles in school and church performances. performance of The Magic Flute by Mozart and Mrs. Hansel and is her first opera appearance. Jaffett in Noye’s Fludde by Benjamin Britten. Aimee Gretel has competed in the Chicago area, receiving third Landon Westerfield place at the 2016 and 2017 Chicago NATS (Sandman), a countertenor, is competition as well as honorable mention in the pursuing a doctorate in vocal 2016 Wheaton College Concerto Competition. performance at the University of Illinois where he studies Cristabel Thomas (Gingerbread Child) is a with Professor Yvonne sophomore at Judah Christian Redman. Last season, he School. She began singing in created the role of David in the school choir one year ago, the world premiere of A Psalm and has been singing with of Silence (composed by Lucas Smith) with Lyric Central Illinois Children’s Choir Theatre @ Illinois. Other roles include Dema in since January. Her other L’Egisto, Venere in L’incoronazione di Poppea, musical pursuits include Unulfo in Rodelinda, Oberon in A Midsummer playing the flute and piccolo in the school band. Night’s Dream, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro. He has served as Loucine Topouzian a soloist for major concert works such as Mozart’s (Gingerbread Captain) is a Exsultate Jubilate, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Fauré’s junior at the University of Requiem, Haydn’s Paukenmesse, Mozart’s Mass in Illinois, pursing her Bachelor of C Minor, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Handel’s Messiah. Music in vocal performance under the instruction of Professor Sylvia Stone. Loucine spent the last two summers in Italy, participating in the Scuola Italia Opera Program, where she performed as Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore, Sesto in Giulio Cesare, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. In addition to opera, Loucine performs the 22 Filippo Ciabatti (Conductor), Cantanti Lirici (Piobbico, Italy), where he works a native of Florence, Italy, was with young singers and renowned coaches and appointed Music Director of directors. the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra in 2016, after an Tom Mitchell (Director) is international search. Associate Head of the Department of Theatre. He Also in 2016, Filippo has just completed the staging conducted Tosca at Opera of All the King’s Men in North (New Hampshire), directed by Russell Treyz; Krannert Center’s Studio and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Theatre. In other recent Lyric Theatre @ Illinois, directed by Christopher seasons he has directed The Gillett. In May 2015, he made his South American Minotaur and 1984 (by George debut conducting the Universidad Central Orwell). Tom directed Threepenny Opera for Lyric Symphony Orchestra in Bogota, Colombia, where Theatre @ Illinois in 2013, and (prior to that) he also taught masterclasses in orchestra and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music Italian opera. With La Nuova Aurora Opera, he and The King and I. For eight seasons he directed conducted full productions of Handel’s Rodrigo musical theatre for the Interlochen Center for the (2015) and Purcell’s King Arthur (2016). Arts Summer Program. Locally, he was director of recent productions of Party, Hay Fever, Around From 2017 to 2018, Filippo has been invited to the World in 80 Days, and Freud’s Last Session. A conduct Madama Butterfly at Opera North (New specialist in the early plays of American Hampshire) and Hansel and Gretel and Don playwright, Tennessee Williams, Mitchell recently Giovanni (directed by Nathan Gunn) for Lyric adapted a collection of unpublished short stories Theatre @ Illinois. by Williams that performed in Urbana, St. Louis, Filippo has appeared as guest conductor with and New Orleans. Mitchell has been a guest many orchestras, including the Lamont Symphony presenter for the Tennessee Williams Institute in Orchestra, Sangamon Valley Symphony Orchestra, Provincetown, Massachusetts, and is an honorary East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra, University faculty member at Inner Mongolia University Arts of Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and Truman College where he staged scenes from Glass State Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Menagerie with Chinese and American student Choirmaster of Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal actors. Professionally, Tom has directed lost plays Church in Champaign. by the 20th-century Spanish playwright, José López Rubio, and the premiere and national tour As a pianist and coach in Italy, Filippo worked for of James Still’s play Meet Me Incognito for the the Cherubini Conservatory, Maggio Musicale Metro Theatre Circus of St. Louis. Mitchell served Fiorentino, and Florence Opera Academy, and on the national selection committee of the performed with singers such as Adriana Marfisi Kennedy Center American College Theatre and Silvia Bossa. He has played for masterclasses Festival, travelling the nation to review 56 of Renée Fleming, William Matteuzzi, Donald university productions. George, and Isabel Leonard. He is currently music director and coach of Scuola Italia per Giovani

23 Philip Johnston orchestrations and arrangements, from solo piano (Choreographer) trained as a to full symphony to rock opera, have been heard dancer with Helen Lewis in across the country and abroad. He has also Belfast and at The London composed music for the stage and a feature- School of Contemporary length soundtrack. He plays, sings, and writes for Dance. He performed and the Argentine Tango groups Extasis and choreographed in Europe and Orquesta Tipica di Natural Tango. across the globe for 15 years before relocating to the Susan Bywaters (Dramaturg) is a playwright, United States. Philip was the artistic director for dramaturg, and performer. Since her graduation the Norwegian Modern Dance Company in Oslo from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of and has appeared on film and television for the Music, Susan has begun a master’s degree in BBC, Channel Four, and NRK Norway. He has theatre studies with a focus in the composition received numerous choreographic and dance of original libretti. She has also produced and fellowships from the Arts Council of Northern directed performances of Rodrigo by Handel and Ireland, the British Council, the Norwegian Fund Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck. Susan received the for Performing Artists, the Norwegian Culture full-tuition Thomas J. Smith Scholarship from the Council, the London School of Contemporary University of Illinois, as well as an Urbana Public Dance, and the Skinners Guild of London. He was Arts grant for her production of King Arthur the recipient of the Charles and Harriet Luckman by Henry Purcell, and she has been honored as Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of an emerging scholar at the 2017 Mid-America Theatre Conference. Illinois. Publications include The Lost Tribe in the Mirror: Four Playwrights of Northern Ireland Lorna Chavez (Sound Designer) is a junior (Lagan Press, 2009), and Nina Fonaroff: Life and studying theatre, concentrating on sound design Art in Dance (Celtic Cat Publishing, 2015). Philip is and technology. Her recent works include a certified Alexander Technique teacher. November Dance (2016), Stories That Need Michael Tilley (Musical Telling with Inner Voices Social Issues Theatre Administrator/Assistant (2016), and Iago’s Plot (2017). Conductor) spent six years as Jaime Cohen (Rehearsal Accompanist) is a Musical Director for Franc second-year masters student in vocal coaching D’Ambrosio’s national tours and accompanying at the University of Illinois, before joining the faculty of where she currently studies under Dr. Julie Gunn. Lyric Theatre @ Illinois. As a While at the University of Illinois, she has served conductor, he has led as a rehearsal accompanist and pianist for Viva ensembles from Central City Verdi! and The Light in the Piazza. This past fall, Opera, Opera Colorado, Emerald City Opera, and she music directed [title of show] for the Allerton Boulder Opera. He has been a featured Music Barn Festival. performer with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and other regional orchestras, as well Madelyn Gunn (Assistant to the Director) is as with the Martha Graham Dance Company at a senior majoring in music and minoring in the Vail International Dance Festival. His business administration. She has worked for arts

24 organizations during her time at the University David Krupla (Lighting Designer) is a third-year of Illinois, including the Prototype Festival in MFA lighting design student at the University New York, the Vienna State Opera House, and of Illinois. Previous design credits include Iago’s most recently Americans for the Arts. On the Plot, February Dance: Designed Environments, artistic side, she sang for church choirs and in the Dreamgirls, and In the Blood at the University of Women’s Glee Club, and directs operas and art Illinois; The Skin of Our Teeth, Twelfth Night, and song concerts with student and local talent in The Crucible at Cuyahoga Community College; her spare time. She also volunteers for Class Act, These are the Times workshop production at teaching vocal technique and theatre to children Cleveland Public Theatre; The World Goes Round from ages 8 to 13. She will graduate in December. at Porthouse Theatre; Ragtime, Cloud 9, and 4.48 Psychosis at Kent State University; Next Fall Anja Hose (Media Designer) is pursuing her at Weathervane Playhouse, and Sweeney Todd MFA. Recent media designs at the University of and A Chorus Line at Hathaway Brown Theatre Illinois include The Light in the Piazza; Viva Verdi!; Institute. He has worked with such companies as Circulation; November Dance; and Mr. Burns, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, The a post-electric play; as well as assistant media Santa Fe Opera, and Great Lakes Theatre. He designs on February Dance and Poppea. Credits received his BA from Kent State University. outside the U of I include media design for Sleep Deprivation Chamber at the Station Theatre in Urbana and lighting design for original aerial dance productions of Into the Unknown and The Bird House at Frequent Flyers Productions in Colorado. Alphonsus Kiu (Rehearsal Accompanist), a native of Penang, Malaysia, is a third-year DMA student in vocal accompanying and coaching at the University of Illinois. He studied with Julie Gunn, Dennis Helmrich, and is currently a student of Michael Tilley. While at the U of I, he accompanied the Oratorio Society, Opera Scenes Workshop, and Voice Studios. For the past four summers, he worked as a coach and accompanist at the Interlochen Summer High School Vocal Arts Program. While here at the University of Illinois, he received the Nancy Kennedy Wustman Memorial Award in Vocal Accompanying (2017). During his master’s at Bowling Green State University, he and his partners were awarded the first and third prize in the Conrad Art Song Competition (2015).

25 Fernando Malvar-Ruiz (Chorus Master) served Kristen Nuhn (Properties Master) is in her from 2004 to July 2017 as the Music Director final year in the University of Illinois properties of American Boychoir (serving boys in grades management MFA program. Before grad school, four through eight), whose preeminent Concert Kristen received her Bachelor of Arts with Honors Choir toured globally to critical acclaim. His in theatrical production at the University of 13-year tenure was highlighted by some Windsor in Ontario, Canada. She has previously 200 performances and up to five national been the Properties Master for In The Blood and international tours annually, as well as (2016); Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea (2016); and appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Romeo and Juliet (2017) at Krannert Center. Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Professionally, Kristen has been the Prop Shop Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Manager at Peninsula Players in Fish Creek, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Wisconsin (2016) and a Properties Artisan at Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Olaf Choir, Massachusetts (2017). Westminster Choir, and New York Choral Artists (among many others). He has worked on the Christina Rainwater (Scenic Charge Artist) is a world’s leading stages with such conductors member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, and as Marin Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, has been a professional Scenic Artist for 16 years. James Levine, Kurt Masur, Mstislav Rostropovich, She received a BFA in Theatre from Missouri Michael Tilson Thomas, and Valery Gergiev; State University, and an MFA in Scenic Art from artists ranging from cellist Yo-Yo Ma, trumpeter University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Wynton Marsalis; pop legends Beyonce Knowles, There, she developed the workshop ”A Distress- Sir Paul McCartney, and Josh Groban; and opera ing Subject” on distressing techniques for singers Kathleeen Battle and Jessye Norman. scenery, properties, and costumes. She was the Under Malvar-Ruiz, the American Boychoir (based Scenic Charge Artist at the Flat Rock Playhouse in in Princeton, New Jersey) also appeared on the Flat Rock, North Carolina for two years. She has 77th annual Academy Awards and performed for an ongoing working relationship at Goodspeed the 9/11 Memorial Service broadcast live globally Musicals, where she had the pleasure of working on CNN in 2006. He also conducted the choir on on the musicals Camelot, Carnival, Carousel, Hello six recordings and served as the music director Dolly!, and La Cage aux Folles. She also worked on the 2014 filmBoychoir , inspired by the choir, for Feld Entertainment in Palmetto, Florida, directed by François Girard and starring Dustin including Disney’s Princesses on Ice and Disney’s Hoffman, Kathie Bates, and Deborah Winger, as Playhouse Tour II. This summer she worked for six well as the American Boychoir. weeks at The Muny, St. Louis, as a journeyman Scenic Artist. Alex Munger (Rehearsal Accompanist) is a second-year MM student in vocal coaching and Sharné van Ryneveld (Costume Designer) is accompanying, studying with Dr. Julie Gunn. in her third year of the MFA costume design This past year, he was involved in The Light in the program at the University of Illinois. She received Piazza and Viva Verdi. He received his BM in piano her BA from The Cape Peninsula University of performance from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Technology in South Africa. Most recently she Claire. worked at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico as part of the tailoring team that worked on the 26 Golden Cockerel, designed by Gary McCann, and in Chicago for five years. Lucia di Lammermoor, designed by Emily Rebholz. Her past design work includes Poppea for Lyric Naomie S. Winch (Associate Lighting Designer) is Theatre @ Illinois and Romeo and Juliet at Illinois in her third year as an MFA candidate in lighting Theatre. design and technology at the University of Illinois, by way of Southern California. Naomie’s most Andrea Solya (Chorus Master) is Teaching recent credit was the Assistant Lighting Designer Assistant Professor of Composition-Theory and for UFOMT 2017 season. Other credits include Choral Music at the University of Illinois, where Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2014), she is director of the Women’s Glee Club and November Dance (2015) for Dance at Illinois, and Coordinator of Musicianship. In addition to her Circle Mirror Transformation (2016) at Interlochen duties at the University of Illinois, she has been Center for the Arts. In addition to lighting director of the Chamber Choir and Youth Chorale design, she also has an active interest in technical for the Central Illinois Children’s Chorus since direction and production management. 2006. As a native of Hungary, her newly designed aural skills curriculum at the University of Illinois Chenglin Xin (Stage Manager) is a third-year is based on a Hungarian model and is standing MFA stage management student at the University on the pillars of the Kodály method. During the of Illinois. She completed her undergraduate summer, she teaches musicianship, conducting, study in China and served as an event stage and choral methodology in the master’s program manager in the Art Troupe of her University for of the Kodály Institute at Capital University in two years. She worked for Wicked the Musical Columbus, Ohio. Her research interest includes Tour, The Riverdance Tour, Madagascar Live the choral music of Andreas Rauch as well as the Tour, and Ghost the Musical Tour in China. art of teaching sight singing for the choral singer At Krannert Center, her previous experience and beyond. She has performed and presented includes Assistant Stage Manager for 1984 and A on national and international stages and has been Midsummer Night’s Dream and Stage Manager working on a critical edition of 25 motets called for Studio Dance II, Mr. burns, a post-electric play, Thymiaterium Musicale from 1625 by Rauch. and The Light in the Piazza. This summer, she stage managed an original Chinese musical and Adina Lee Weinig (Technical Director) is a third- assistant stage managed two operas in the West year MFA candidate in scenic technology. She Edge Opera, which is based in the San Francisco was the Technical Director for Peninsula Players Bay area. Theatre’s 2017 season where she worked on Almost Maine, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, Bridges of Madison County, Peter and the Starcatcher, and the world premiere of The Actuary. Recent technical direction credits include The Light in the Piazza, The Minotaur, and Long Lost (dir. Daniel Sullivan) at the University of Illinois; and In the Lyric Theatre @ Illinois acknowledges with Next Room, The Profane, and The Taming of the gratitude the cooperation of the voice and Shrew at Chautauqua Theater Company. Adina accompanying faculties of the University of came to the University of Illinois after working as Illinois School of Music in supporting the talented the Assistant Technical Director at Court Theater students in its productions. 27 PRODUCTION STAFF ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER COSTUME TECHNICIAN WARDROBE CREW Marissa Gainey Chanté Knight Katie Feeley Shea Hittman Samantha Padillo Elisabeth Schapmann DRAPER Michelle Tigges Jessica Hensley CHILD SUPERVISOR MAKEUP RUNNING CREW Jenna Keefer SPECIAL FX TECH Chloe Cosgrove Megan Cudd Leojae Payton ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNER ASSISTANT MASTER LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR William Sturman ELECTRICIAN Cameron Koniarski Melissa Hall Kyle Condon FOLLOW SPOT OPERATORS ASSISTANT LIGHTING ASSISTANT MEDIA DESIGNER Juan Gonzalez Machain Konrad Ciolkosz DESIGNER Jordan Ratliff Omri Schwartz DECK RUNNING CREW Ningyi Zhang William Burke SCENIC DESIGN SOUND BOARD OPERATOR Miranda Johnson COORDINATOR Tierra Taylor Michael Griggs Claire Katz-Mariani Kyle Norbut MEDIA OPERATOR SCENIC ARTIST Brad Porter Kurtis Ames Christina Rainwater PROPERTIES RUNNING CREW HAIR AND MAKEUP MASTER ELECTRICIAN Sky Arend ASSISTANT Stuart Wilson Latrel Crawford Sharné van Ryneveld

AUDIO TECHNICIAN FLY RUNNING CREW HAIR AND MAKEUP Tyler Knowles Alexis Walker TECHNICIANS Jessica Hensley STAGE CARPENTER WARDROBE CREW HEAD Miriam Jurgensen Travis Smith William Sturman Chanté Knight AUTOMATION TECHNICIAN Caitlin Leyden Alex Gill Nicole Zausmer