7 minute read
Biographies
Ed Howard, Joe Sears, and Jaston Williams met in Austin, Texas, in 1980 through the formation of a theater company called Trans/Act, which quickly dissolved. Unemployed, Sears and Williams acted in a series of politically-inspired party skits that turned into Greater Tuna, with Howard helping finalize the script, direct, and produce the show. Since then the Tuna franchise has dominated their careers: Sears and Williams have performed Greater Tuna some 4,000 times, and the three have extended the town’s legacy through A Tuna Christmas (1994); Red, White, and Tuna (1998); and Tuna Does Vegas (2008). However, the men’s careers also go beyond the fictional small town. Williams has had critically acclaimed performances in such shows as Larry Shue’s The Foreigner, Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs, and Jay Presson Allen’s Tru. Sears’s acting career encompasses musicals, dramas, Shakespeare, television, and film appearances. Howard also co-authored Splendora, based on the novel by Edward Swift, and book and lyrics of the musicals The Body Snatchers and Boy Problems.
Joe Sears Jaston Williams
JULIA GIBSON, DIRECTOR
Julia Gibson is very happy to return to Portland Stage. Last year she directed Searching for Mr. Moon, and several years ago…Greater Tuna. She has directed with Rattlestick, Barrow Street, Origin Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Source, and Epic Theatre Company in New York City; and at Chautauqua Theater Company, Gulfshore Playhouse, New London Barn, Juilliard, NYU Graduate Acting, SMU in Dallas, The Actors’ Center Conservatory, A.C.T. Conservatory in San Francisco, Stony Brook University, and Stella Adler Conservatory. She was Associate Director of the revival of Angels in America at the Signature Theatre. As an actor she has performed on and off Broadway and at major theaters across the US, as well as on TV and film. She is currently Co-Head of the Graduate Acting Program at UNC Chapel Hill where she also serves as a company member of PlayMakers Repertory Company. She received her MFA in Acting from New York University and is a founding member of The Actors’ Center in New York City as well as the National Alliance for Acting Teachers; she is a Fox Fellowship recipient and has narrated over 160 audio books. Julia recently received a Carolina Women’s Center Faculty Scholarship grant to create a theater piece about women and aging.
Nathaniel P. Claridad Off-Broadway/NYC include: Here Lies Love (The Public Theater), Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History… (St. Ann’s Warehouse). Regional credits include work at the Kennedy Center, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Two River Theater, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Imagination Stage, Hangar Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Florida Studio Theatre. International credits include work at the Brisbane Festival and the Sydney Opera House with Dead Puppet Society. TV: New Amsterdam, Harlem. As a director, credits include work at Weathervane Theatre, Imagination Stage, Southern Rep, and Out of the Box Theatrics, as well as being named a Drama League Resident in 2019 and 2016. MFA: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Tom Ford Portland Stage: Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Last Ship to Proxima Centauri, A Christmas Carol, Read to Me, Greater Tuna, Bach at Leipzig, The Mystery of Irma Vep, I Am My Own Wife, The Snow Queen, Iron Kisses, The Woman in Black, Lend Me a Tenor, Art, and Gaslight. Boise Contemporary Theater: The Show on the Roof (world premiere of a new musical, book by Tom Ford, music and lyrics by Alex Syiek), Lewiston, Tru, and This Wonderful Life. Northern Stage: It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play and Miss Trunchbull in Matilda. Idaho Shakespeare and Great Lakes Theater: Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Wargrave in And Then There Were None, the Fool in King Lear, Sidney Bruhl in Deathtrap, Sweeney in Sweeney Todd, Thenardier in Les Miserables, Argan in The Imaginary Invalid, Mr. Paravicini in The Mousetrap, Baker in Into the Woods, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened..., and the title role in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. New London Barn Playhouse: The Odd Couple, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Drowsy Chaperone, A Funny Thing Happened..., Hairspray, Harvey, The Pirates of Penzance, The Producers, and She Loves Me. Broadway: By Jeeves. tomfordactor. com
Randall Parsons (Scenic Designer) is delighted to work again with director Julia Gibson, on a show that does not begin with a “B.” Previous projects with Julia include Blue Window and Bliss in New York and Boeing Boeing at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, FL. As a Resident Designer for the Berkshire Theatre Group, recent productions include Nina Simone: Four Women and Songs for a New World, dir.: Gerry McIntyre; Edward Albee’s Seascape, dir.: Eric Hill; and White Christmas, dir.: Gregg Edelman. Randall also served as scenic designer for Godspell, dir.: Alan Filderman, at BTG in the summer of 2020, the first Actors’ Equity-approved musical to open after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. At Theatre Three, Port Jefferson, NY (Resident Production Designer since 2000), he has designed well over a hundred shows, counting Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Big River, Les Miserables, and Urinetown among favorites. Recent work in NYC: Just for Us by Alex Edelman at the Greenwich House Theater. Art Direction: The Late Show with David Letterman and Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style (season 2). Randall received his MFA in design from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and is a proud member of USA Local 829, IATSE. Cole McCarty (Costume Designer) is a New York City–based costume designer originally from Texas. Some of his costume design credits include: Read to Me (Portland Stage), Twelfth Night (Two River Theater), Circle Jerk (Fake Friends), Kiss (Yale Rep), This American Wife (Fake Friends), Romeo and Juliet (Two River Theater), American Dream (Teatro LATEA). Film: Rolling on the Floor Laughing (Sundance Film Festival), Vuka. BFA: University of Evansville, MFA: Yale School of Drama. Faculty: Fashion Institute of Technology. SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal (Lighting Designer) is excited to be back with Portland Stage Company to work on this project. He has been telling stories using light and video for the past 17 years. His career has taken him across the country and has allowed him to design for theater, opera, dance, musical concerts, and events. He has had the privilege to work on projects with many companies, including Portland Stage Company (Portland, ME), Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Program (Providence, RI), Opera Colorado (Denver, CO),
Palm Beach Opera (Palm Beach, FL), Tulsa Opera (Tulsa, OK), Boston Conservatory at Berklee (Boston, MA), Umbrella Stage Company (Concord, MA), Unicorn Theatre (Kansas City, MO), Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts (Warsaw, IN), and Theater at Monmouth (Monmouth, ME). He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Design from the University of Missouri-Kansas City with a focus on Lighting and Projection Design and is the Assistant Professor of Lighting Design at the University of Southern Maine where he brings his knowledge and experience to help shape the next generation of theater professionals, focusing on developing complete storytelling. www.seif.design Seth Asa Sengel (Sound Designer) is a lifelong listener and tinkerer from South Parsonsfield, and a graduate of Waynflete School (‘93). He recently collaborated with The Fulton Theatre for the productions
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Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, Changing Channels, and Sweat; and with Cortland Repertory Theatre for Murder on the Orient Express, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Seth loves creating with Portland Stage, where he has designed Last Ship to Proxima Centauri, Where We Stand, A Christmas Carol (2020), Talley’s Folly, Native Gardens, The Last Five Years, The HalfLight, The Importance of Being Earnest, Sex and Other Disturbances, The Haunting Hour, Buyer & Cellar, Dancing at Lughnasa, Souvenir, The Savannah Disputation, Tribes, Words By, Wittenberg, A Song at Twilight, Heroes, and Collected Stories. For more info about Seth, please visit www.sethasa.com. Please be good to yourself, and to each other, and let people know that you love them. Much Love to Mary Lana, Hazel, and Boo. Myles C. Hatch (Stage Manager) is pleased to be working in Tuna, TX, with all these characters. Historically, Myles has worked with such diverse theaters as the Hangar Theatre, Theatre By The Sea, The Freeport Shakespeare Festival, Maine State Music Theatre, The Theater at Monmouth, Arden Theatre Company, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Everyman Theatre, Rep Stage, Horse Cave Theatre, New Stage Theatre, Round House Theatre, Source Theatre Company, Washington Stage Guild, Washington Jewish Theatre, Asolo Theatre Company, Westport Country Playhouse, and the YALE Summer Cabaret. In his free time, Myles is a weaver. Myles is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
