AMEENAH KAPLAN She/Her (Director) AAU Film School for Directing. NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for acting. Director: Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser. Resident Director for Disney’s The Lion King North American Tour. Other: ABC’s Encore!, The Wiz at First Stage, Our Country’s Good at American Players, Meet Vera Stark at Purdue U., How to Break at Village Theatre, The Royale at ACT, Bash’d at Celebration Theatre. Shorts: Man with a Movie Camera and The American Failure. Choreography: The Royale at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, The Dancing Granny at the Alliance Theatre, ABC’s Encore! and Dancing with the Stars. Gregory, Ovation, Sherwood, Queen of Angels, NAACP and LA Weekly awards for choreography, fight choreography, and directing.
ROBBIE ROBY He/Him (Choreographer) is delighted to return to PCLO, having previously choreographed Beauty and Beast in 2018! Select credits include: Broadway Backwards (New Amsterdam Theatre; NYC), Shrek (Walnut Street Theatre, Sacramento Music Circus), Joseph…Dreamcoat (Tuacahn Center for the Arts), Disney’s The Little Mermaid (The 5th Avenue Theatre), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Ordway Theatre, La Mirada, and Tuacahn Center for the Arts), and Little Shop of Horrors (Sacramento Music Circus) Recently, Robbie was the 2021-22 Creative Supervisor for the RSSC Splendor, programmed by Norwegian Creative Studios. As a performer, Robbie was the dance captain for the Broadway/Touring productions of Hairspray, Billy Elliot, and Monty Python’s Spamalot.
ARRI LAWTON SIMON (Music Director) is an award-winning writer, performer, and educator based out of NYC, and is thrilled to join the CLO team this summer! Arri is faculty at Professional Performing Arts/Rosie’s Theater Kids, and maintains a successful private voice studio, ranging from beginners to broadway veterans. In addition to being a member, Arri also serves on the Steering Committee of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop. Performance highlights include NY City Center Encores, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and touring with The Unreachable Stars®. Proud member AEA, Dramatists Guild, ASCAP.
www.mcguireandsimon.com
ADAM KOCH (Scenic Designer) Internationally: Dreamgirls (Seoul, South Korea). Other credits: The Old Globe, Ford’s Theatre, Goodspeed, Westport Country Playhouse, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Paper Mill Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Great Lakes Theatre, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Ogunquit Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Music Theatre Wichita, Tuacahn Center for the Arts, Portland Stage. Awards: Suzi Bass award for Outstanding Scenic Design for the immersive outdoor production of Titanic (Serenbe Playhouse), Helen Hayes Award nominations for both Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Signature Theatre) and Bat Boy (1st Stage). Education: Carnegie Mellon University.
adamkochassociates.com @instadamkoch
PAUL MILLER (Lighting Designer) 6th Season for PCLO. Broadway: Amazing Grace, The Illusionists, Legally Blonde, Freshly Squeezed, Laughing Room Only. More than 30 Off-Broadway shows as well as productions at more than twenty major Regional Theatres, Internationally in London’s West End, Vienna, Milan (Teatro alla Scala), South Africa, China, Iceland, and São Paulo. Paul has been the Lighting director for the New Year’s Eve / Times Square broadcast for 24 years.
LEZ BROTHERSTON (Costume Designer) is an associate artist of Matthew Bourne’s company New Adventures, for which he designed Swan Lake, The Red Shoes, Sleeping Beauty, Edward Scissorhands, Lord of the Flies, A Play Without Words, Dorian Gray, Cinderella, and more. He designed, cowrote, and codirected Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Adam Cooper (Japan, Sadler’s Wells). Additional credits: numerous productions in the West End, Royal Shakespeare Company, Chichester Festival Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Sheffield Crucible, Stratford East, Hampstead Theatre, National Theatre, Glyndebourne, and others.
DESTINEE STEELE (Hair and Makeup Designer) is an Orlando-based designer from Panama City, Florida who attained her Masters in Wig and Makeup Design from UNCSA. She started her career as a Wig and Makeup supervisor for national tours such as The Sound of Music and Waitress and now focuses on advocating for equity for black and brown bodies in makeup rooms.
KATHIE SULLIVAN (Costume Coordinator) Costume Coordinator of several productions. Pittsburgh CLO costume supervisor since 1987, PBT 1981. Many Bus & Truck, International and National tours. Thanks to family for understanding long theatre hours. Thanks to my stitchers, sister Debbie, dressers, SM Kelly, interns, assistants, and Amy. I couldn't do this without them. Thanks Dad for my theatre start! Proud IATSE member.
MARTY SAVOLSKIS (Props Coordinator) is excited to be back with Pittsburgh CLO!!! He's been coordinating props since 2002. Memorable past productions include The Drowsy Chaperone, Mary Poppins, Newsies, In the Heights, Aida, Hairspray, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Oklahoma!, Into the Woods, West Side Story and A Musical Christmas Carol. When not at CLO you can find Marty teaching at his family's dance studio in Munhall, Fran’s School of Dance, designing, choreographing or directing locally. Many thanks to his husband Sam, Mom, Dad and his amazing props assistant Colby!
RENÉE RIMLAND (Production Stage Manager) is so happy to be back for another fantastic summer at Pittsburgh CLO! Broadway: Beauty and the Beast, Cabaret, Fosse, Jekyll & Hyde, Steel Pier. National Tours: 42nd Street, Beauty…, Les Misérables, Joseph ... Dreamcoat, The Phantom of the Opera, Savion! Footnotes, Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story, Evita, Bye Bye Birdie. PSM for over 11 seasons at PCLO. For JRR, always! Proud AEA member.
HEATHER ANKLEY (Assistant Stage Manager) has been in the theater arts in Pittsburgh for over 20 years having the opportunity to work in a variety of entertainment mediums including Opera, Dance and Rock n’ Roll. Credits include: CLO’s 75th Anniversary Summer Season, Titanic, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, In The Heights, Brigadoon, Disney’s Newsies, Choir Boy, Scottsboro Boys, Wig Out!, Merchant of Venice, The Double-Threat Trio (World Premiere), Peter Pan, Once, Falstaff, Dead Man Walking, and Magic Flute.
KELLY HAYWOOD (Assistant Stage Manager) Pittsburgh CLO: Wizard of Oz, 75th Concert Celebration, In the Heights, Peter Pan, Mamma Mia, Million Dollar Quartet, Aida, Damn Yankees, South Pacific, Shrek, Monty Pythons Spamalot, A Musical Christmas Carol and 42ndStreet. Pittsburgh Public Theater: Slow Food, Barefoot in the Park, Little Shop of Horrors, Born Yesterday, Noises Off and True West Kelly has also done several productions with the Pittsburgh Opera and Ballet.
JZ CASTING - Geoff Josselson, CSA and Katja Zarolinski, CSA are New York-based casting directors, handling productions for theatre, film and television. Recent work includes productions for Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Baltimore Center Stage, Cape Playhouse, Denver Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Irish Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Round House Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theaterworks Hartford, Weston Playhouse. For more information, please visit www.jz-casting.com
ALAN MENKEN (Music) Theater: God Bless You Mr Rosewater, Little Shop Of Horrors, Real Life Funnies, Atina: Evil Queen Of The Galaxy, Kicks, The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz, Beauty And The Beast, A Christmas Carol, Weird Romance, King David, Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame, The Little Mermaid, Sister Act, Leap Of Faith, Aladdin and Newsies. Film: Little Shop Of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, Newsies, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Hercules, Life With Mikey, Lincoln, Home On The Range, Noel, Enchanted, Shaggy Dog, Tangled and Mirror Mirror. Songs: Rocky V, Home Alone 2 and Captain America. Awards: 8 Oscars (19 nominations), 11 Grammys (including Song of the Year), 7 Golden Globes, Tony® (plus 4 nominations), Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, New York Drama Critics, Olivier and London's Evening Standard Award, Drama League. Honors: Songwriter's Hall of Fame, Doctorates from New York University and University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
GLENN SLATER (Lyrics) co-created Disney's 2010 worldwide smash Tangled (2011 Grammy Winner, 2010 Oscar and Golden Globe nominee), as well as the Broadway and international hit musicals Sister Act (2011 Tony nominee - Best Score) and The Little Mermaid (2008 Tony nominee - Best Score, Grammy nominee - Best Cast Album), and, most recently School of Rock (2015). With longtime collaborator Alan Menken, he is Executive Producer and Lyricist for the ABC-TV musical comedy series Galavant, and has also written songs for the Disney animated film Home On The Range (2004) and the Broadway musical Leap of Faith (Tony nominee - Best Musical, 2012). In the West End, Glenn provided both book and lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies (2010 Olivier nominee - Best Musical), the sequel to Phantom of the Opera. Other work includes an Emmy-nominated song for the ABC-TV comedy The Neighbors (2013), and the stage revue Newyorkers at The Manhattan Theatre Club (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations). Glenn is the recipient of the prestigious Kleban Award for Lyrics, the ASCAP/Richard Rogers New Horizons Award, and the Jonathan Larson Award. He is an alumnus of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, and a member of both ASCAP and the Dramatists' Guild.
CHERI STEINKELLNER (Book) has won four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, The People's Choice, BAFTA, Writers Guild Award, Parents Choice and TV-Land Legend Awards, for writing and producing Cheers (recently named one of the Top 10 Best Written Comedies in TV history), and The Jeffersons, Facts of Life, Family Ties and Who's The Boss, and for creating the acclaimed Disney animated Saturday morning TV series and feature film, Teacher's Pet. A 2011 Tony-nominee for Sister Act (with husband Bill Steinkellner, Alan Menken and Glenn Slater); Cheri has also written Princesses (with Bill, David Zippel and Matthew Wilder); and book and lyrics for Mosaic (with Georgia Stitt), and Jailbirds on Broadway (with Bill and Jeff Rizzo). Other stage includes Our Place, and Instaplay - L.A.'s original - and longest-running - improvised musical-comedy. An Indy Award winner and Ovation nominee for Hello! My Baby, Cheri currently teaches writing at Stanford and UCSB and directs youth theatre in beautiful Santa Barbara, where she and Bill raised their three favorite children/writers/ artists: Kit, Teddy, and Emma.
BILL STEINKELLNER (Book) Award-winning television and screen writer: Cheers and Disney's Teacher's Pet (Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAS, Writers Guild and People's Choice Awards). Book writer (with wife, Cherri): Sister Act the Musical (London Palladium, Hamburg, Broadway 2011), Princesses (Goodspeed, 5th Avenue). Writer/director (with Paul Reubens): the original Pee-wee Herman Show (Groundlings, Roxy Theatre, HBO). Creator/director: Instaplay, L.A.'s first all-improvised musical-comedy. Author: the L.A. Times bestseller Postcards From the Moon.
DOUGLAS CARTER BEANE (Additional Book Material) Beane's Broadway play The Little Dog Laughed received the GLAAD media award for best play, and was also nominated for a Tony for best new play. His other works include As Bees In Honey Drown (Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award), Music From A Sparkling Planet and The Country Club. He wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of his play Advice From A Caterpillar which won Aspen Comedy Festival's best feature. His film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar was produced by Steven Spielberg, was the number one film in America for a month and is now a television favorite. The Big Time, Beane's first musical, received rave reviews last year and his next musical, a stage adaptation of the film The Bandwagon is slated to open on Broadway later this season. Fascinated by non-traditional forms of theater, Beane has written the revues, White Lies and Mondo Drama and this season a live theatrical soap opera, The Cartells. As artistic director of the New York theater company Drama Dept. he produced over forty productions, including acclaimed revivals of As Thousands Cheer, June Moon and The Torchbearers and world premiere works by Paul Rudnick, David Sedaris and Wendy Wasserstein. His new play, Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost, Too will open next season in New York and he is currently developing a television series for producer Lorne Michaels. He resides in New York City with his partner, composer Lewis Flinn and their son, Cooper.
PITTSBURGH CLO (Co-producer) has been a driving force behind the preservation, creation and promotion of musical theater since 1946. In addition to producing fresh new productions of Broadway classics, the not-for-profit’s mission is to develop new works and showcase emerging talent. CLO’s dedication to musical theater extends beyond its summer series at the Benedum Center to year-round programming at the Greer Cabaret Theater, and an annual production of A MUSICAL CHRISTMAS CAROL. Its extensive education efforts include the Pittsburgh CLO Academy of Musical Theater, an internship program, and in-school programs such as Gallery of Heroes and Creative Vision. Other ongoing initiatives include the Construction Center for the Arts and the Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. The organization also founded the National High School Musical Theatre Awards®, also known as the Jimmy Awards. pittsburghCLO.org.
STARLIGHT (Co-producer) Opened as a theatre in 1950 and a nonprofit organization in 1951, Starlight is the largest and oldest performing arts institution in Kansas City and provides inspiring, one-of-a-kind experiences to its patrons. Starlight presents and produces Broadway musicals, concerts, and indoor shows in addition to offering extensive community engagement programming, including classes, scholarships, and Starlight’s Blue Star Awards, one of the largest high school musical theatre award programs in the nation. Located on 16 acres in Swope Park, Starlight’s historic, city-owned venue is the second-largest outdoor producing theatre in the country and includes rehearsal halls, a museum, club area for dining, concessions, gardens, fountains, and a 10-story, climate-controlled stage. For more information, visit kcstarlight.com. Follow Starlight on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok @kcstarlight.
MARK FLEISCHER (Executive Producer, Pittsburgh CLO) In addition to working as the line producer for CLO’s Summer Season, Kara Cabaret Series and annual production of A Musical Christmas Carol, Mark launched the CLO’s SPARK Festival initiative for new small musicals – a program made possible from the CLO’s Next Generation Capital Campaign. Since its creation in 2017, the program has contributed to the development of more than 15 new musicals including the world premieres of Up and Away by Kevin Hammonds and Kristin Bair, Game On by Marcus Stevens and David Dabbon, Beyond the Moon by Joe Domencic and Christina McCann, and The Double-Threat Trio by Adam Overett. Prior to joining the CLO, Mark was the Producing Artistic Director for Adirondack Theatre Festival from 2007 – 2014 where he was named Region's Best Artistic Director by Metroland in 2009 and Managing Artistic Director for Plano Repertory Theatre in suburban Dallas from 1993 – 2002. With a passion for new plays and musicals, he has led readings, residencies and world premiere productions for theatres across the country. He is a Board Member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) having also served on the organization’s Educational Resources, New Musicals Festival, Fall and Spring Conference committees. He has served on grant review panels for both the New York and Texas State Council on the Arts. He has taught acting, theatre history and arts administration courses at SUNY Empire State College, Columbia College, and Collin College. Mark holds a BA in English Literature and Communication Arts from Austin College and an MFA in Directing from the Theatre School at DePaul University.
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(2).jpg)
