THE OLD GLOBE TO OPEN ITS 2014-2015 SEASON

WITH THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
BRIGHT STAR,
a New American Musical
Music by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin, Lyrics by Edie Brickell, Book by
Steve Martin, based on an Original Story by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell,
Directed by Walter Bobbie

SAN DIEGO (April 18, 2014)—The Old Globe today announced the World Premiere of Bright Star, a new American musical, featuring music by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin, lyrics by Brickell, and book by Martin, based on an original story by Martin and Brickell. Directed by Walter Bobbie, Bright Star will run September 13 – November 2, 2014 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run September 13 – September 27. Opening night is Sunday, September 28. Tickets are currently available by subscription only. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

From award-winning screenwriter and playwright Steve Martin (Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Roxanne) and chart-topping singer-songwriter Edie Brickell comes a world premiere American musical inspired by their Grammy Award-winning collaboration “Love Has Come For You.” Bright Star features 25 new songs and tells a beguiling tale that unfolds in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina between 1923 and 1945. Billy Cane, a young soldier just home from World War II, meets Alice Murphy, the brilliant editor of a southern literary journal. Together they discover a powerful secret that alters their lives. Tony Award-winning director Walter Bobbie (Broadway’s Chicago) makes his Globe debut with this entertaining musical of enduring love, family ties, and the light of forgiveness that shines from a bright star.

“Bright Star is simply fantastic,” said Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “It is that rarest of rare birds: a genuinely original, new American musical. The music is gorgeous and completely captivating, and the story heartfelt and very sweet. I am excited to share it with San Diego audiences. I know will adore it.” Edelstein continued, “I am grateful that Steve Martin and Edie Brickell have entrusted their world premiere to The Old Globe. I can’t wait to welcome them and their director, the great Walter Bobbie, to San Diego.”

Steve Martin commented, “That our musical is premiering at the wonderful Old Globe in San Diego where Shakespeare first performed his plays fills me with humility.” Edie Brickell added, “After visiting the Globe, I realize how lucky I am to be a part of a production there. I cannot wait to see Bright Star rise and shine at the gorgeous Old Globe.”

A workshop production of Bright Star was presented by New York Stage and Film & Vassar at the Powerhouse Theater, Summer 2013. Workshop production produced by The Old Globe, rehearsed and presented at the New 42nd Street Studios; March 6 and 7, 2014.

The cast for the San Diego premiere will be announced at a later time.

The creative team includes Josh Rhodes (Choreography), Peter Asher (Musical Supervisor), Rob Berman (Musical Director), Eugene Lee (Scenic Design), Jane Greenwood (Costume Design), Japhy Weideman (Lighting Design), Nevin Steinberg (Sound Design), and Howie Cherpakov, CSA (Casting Director).

Bright Staris supported in part through gifts from Mary Beth Adderley, Pam and Hal Fuson, Sheryl and Harvey White, Gillian and Tony Thornley, and Vicki and Carl Zeiger.

When acclaimed singer-songwriter Edie Brickell (Music, Lyrics, Original Story) was a student in her hometown of Dallas, Texas, she had no intention of pursuing a career in music. But that all changed one night in 1985 when Brickell was invited to sing on stage with her former high school classmates of the local folk rock group, New Bohemians. Unable to think of anything but music from that point forward, she joined the band as the lead singer and they were promptly signed to a recording contract. Following the multi-platinum success of the group’s 1989 debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, and its anticipated 1990 follow-up, Ghost of a Dog, Brickell branched out as a solo artist, releasing Picture Perfect Morning (1994) and Volcano (2003). Over the years, as Brickell pursued her own musical endeavors, she and her bandmates continued to jam together (and still do today) before officially reuniting on the 2006 release of Strange Things. In 2010, Brickell became a founding member of The Gaddabouts, a collaboration that includes Steve Gadd, Pino Palladino, and Andy Fairweather Low. The 2011 release of the group’s debut album, The Gaddabouts, which coincided with the release of Brickell’s third solo album, Edie Brickell, was shortly followed by the fall 2012 release of The Gaddabouts’s double-disc album, Look Out Now. Additionally, Brickell began her Song of the Day project in April 2012, writing, recording, and posting a new song—which she records live into her phone—to her website daily. Today, she has amassed over 365 song-of-the-day recordings. Brickell’s most recent work, a rootsy, 13-track collaboration with Steve Martin titled Love Has Come For You, was released in April to widespread acclaim. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, and the title track won the Grammy for Best American Roots Song. Of Brickell’s vocal style, Alec Wilkinson of The New Yorker says, “She manages to sing as if she were speaking intimately to another person, the way actors in Shakespeare manage, by means of breathing and pace, to deliver lines as if the thoughts they contain had just occurred to them.” Combining Martin’s five-string banjo work with Brickell’s distinctive, slightly Southern-sounding vocals, the album serves as a creative milestone for Brickell, as she explains, “This is the kind of music that I’ve always wanted to make but never knew how until now.” It’s this success that led Brickell and Martin to collaborate yet again, this time on the musical Bright Star.

Steve Martin (Music, Book, Original Story) is currently in the fifth decade of a uniquely varied and accomplished career in which he has excelled as a comedian, actor, author, and playwright, and as a Grammy Award-winning, boundary-pushing bluegrass banjoist and composer. In 2013, Rounder Records released Steve Martin’s third full-length album called Love Has Come For You, a unique collaboration with songwriter Edie Brickell. Martin and Brickell recently took home the Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song for the song “Love Has Come For You,” off the album of the same name. The remarkable album offers 13 eloquently rootsy compositions that combine Martin’s inventive five-string banjo work with Brickell’s distinctive vocals and vivid, detail-rich lyrics. Love Has Come For You is a substantial departure, as a well as a creative milestone, for both artists. In 2011, Martin released his second full-length bluegrass album, Rare Bird Alert. Produced by Tony Trischka, the album featured 13 Martin-penned tracks as well as special guest vocal appearances by Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks. Additionally, Martin co-wrote two of the CD’s songs with the Grammy-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers. Prior to this, Martin was honored with a Grammy for his debut album, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, which won for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010. Martin began his career on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” (1967-1969), for which he earned his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music in 1969. In the mid-1970s, Martin shone as a stand-up on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and made appearances on HBO’s “On Location” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” Martin’s films are widely popular successes and are the kind of movies that are viewed again and again: The Jerk (1979), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Roxanne (1987), Parenthood (1989), L.A. Story (1991), Father of the Bride (1991), and Bowfinger (1999).

Walter Bobbie (Director) is a director, actor, writer, and the recipient of the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Awards. His production of the international hit Chicago is the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. His select credits on Broadway and Off Broadway include The Landing, Golden Age, Venus in Fur, The School for Lies, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Submission, The Savannah Disputation, New Jerusalem, High Fidelity, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sweet Charity, Twentieth Century, Footloose, Durang/Durang, and A Grand Night for Singing, as well as the City Center Encores! productions of Fiorello!, Tenderloin, Golden Boy, and No, No, Nanette and the Carnegie Hall concerts of South Pacific and Carousel. As an actor his credits range from the original Grease through A History of the American Film, I Love My Wife, Cafe Crown, Anything Goes, Getting Married, Driving Miss Daisy, Assassins, Guys and Dolls, Polish Joke, and last season’s On Your Toes at Encores! Bobbie has acted extensively in film, television, and as a frequent guest on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” He has served as Artistic Director of City Center Encores! and an Executive Board member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

TICKETS to Bright Star will initially be available only as part of a Season Package.Subscription prices for the 2014-2015 Season range from $99 to $615. Subscription packages may be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances begin on September 13 and continue through November 2. Performance times: Previews: Saturday, September 13 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, September 14 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 16 at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, September 18 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, September 19 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, September 20 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, September 21 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 23 at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, September 27 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Opening night is Sunday, September 28 at 8:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors and groups of 10 or more.

LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available during performances ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

A REMINDER: Balboa Park’s 100-year-old Cabrillo Bridge, which provides access to Laurel Street and the west side of the Park, will be closed to automobiles and vehicular traffic through June during Caltrans’s seismic retrofitting process. The bridge will remain accessible to pedestrians and bicycles, so patrons could arrive a bit earlier and enjoy the short walk across the iconic bridge towards Plaza de Panama and the historic views of the California Tower and Dome. To access The Old Globe during this repair period, vehicle traffic should enter Balboa Park from the east via Park Boulevard and President’s Way. The Organ Pavilion and the Hall of Champions lots all offer ample parking, and a lovely short walk through the Park. Due to improvements under way, the parking lot adjacent to the Alcazar Garden will be temporarily closed through mid-May to increase the number of spots available to disabled users of the Park. During this time, the City of San Diego will extend the hours of the beautiful new Balboa Park trams until after Old Globe performances have concluded; running until 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and until 11:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Audience members wishing to take the trams to and from the Globe should park near the pick-up location at Inspiration Point (east of Park Boulevard at President’s Way), where they depart every 10-15 minutes and deliver guests to the heart of Balboa Park at the Plaza de Panama. The trams do not have stops at the Organ Pavilion or Hall of Champions lots. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. The Balboa Park valet is located in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden. For directions and up-to-date information, please visit www.TheOldGlobe.org/Directions.

CALENDAR: Time and the Conways (3/29-5/4), Water by the Spoonful (4/12-5/11), What You Will (4/28), Thinking Shakespeare Live! (5/3), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (5/17-6/22), Dog and Pony (5/28-6/29), A Distant Country Called Youth (6/9), Othello (6/22-7/27), Into the Woods (7/12-8/10), Quartet (7/25-8/24), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (8/10-9/14).

2014-2015 SEASON CALENDAR: Bright Star (9/13-11/2/14), The Royale (10/4-11/2), Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (11/15-12/27), Murder for Two (1/24/15-3/1), The Twenty-Seventh Man (2/14-3/15), The White Snake (3/21-4/26), Buyer & Cellar (4/4-5/3), Arms and the Man (5/9-6/14), an exciting new American play to be announced (5/23-6/21).

PHOTO EDITORS: Digital images and b-roll of The Old Globe’s productions are available at www.TheOldGlobe.org/pressroom.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego’s flagship arts institution for over 75 years.  Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 14 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival.  More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs.  Numerous world premieres such as A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.

x x x

CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

When acclaimed singer-songwriter EDIE BRICKELL (Music, Lyrics, Original Story) was a student in her hometown of Dallas, Texas, she had no intention of pursuing a career in music. But that all changed one night in 1985 when Brickell was invited to sing on stage with her former high school classmates of the local folk rock group, New Bohemians. Unable to think of anything but music from that point forward, she joined the band as the lead singer and they were promptly signed to a recording contract. Following the multi-platinum success of the group’s 1989 debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, and its anticipated 1990 follow-up, Ghost of a Dog, Brickell branched out as a solo artist, releasing Picture Perfect Morning (1994) and Volcano (2003). Over the years, as Brickell pursued her own musical endeavors, she and her bandmates continued to jam together (and still do today) before officially reuniting on the 2006 release of Strange Things. In 2010, Brickell became a founding member of The Gaddabouts, a collaboration that includes Steve Gadd, Pino Palladino, and Andy Fairweather Low. The 2011 release of the group’s debut album, The Gaddabouts, which coincided with the release of Brickell’s third solo album, Edie Brickell, was shortly followed by the fall 2012 release of The Gaddabouts’s double-disc album, Look Out Now. Additionally, Brickell began her Song of the Day project in April 2012, writing, recording, and posting a new song—which she records live into her phone—to her website daily. Today, she has amassed over 365 song-of-the-day recordings. Brickell’s most recent work, a rootsy, 13-track collaboration with Steve Martin titled Love Has Come For You, was released in April to widespread acclaim. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, and the title track won the Grammy for Best American Roots Song. Of Brickell’s vocal style, Alec Wilkinson of The New Yorker says, “She manages to sing as if she were speaking intimately to another person, the way actors in Shakespeare manage, by means of breathing and pace, to deliver lines as if the thoughts they contain had just occurred to them.” Combining Martin’s five-string banjo work with Brickell’s distinctive, slightly Southern-sounding vocals, the album serves as a creative milestone for Brickell, as she explains, “This is the kind of music that I’ve always wanted to make but never knew how until now.” It’s this success that led Brickell and Martin to collaborate yet again, this time on the musical Bright Star.

STEVE MARTIN (Music, Book, Original Story) is currently in the fifth decade of a uniquely varied and accomplished career in which he has excelled as a comedian, actor, author, and playwright, and as a Grammy Award-winning, boundary-pushing bluegrass banjoist and composer. In 2013, Rounder Records released Steve Martin’s third full-length album called Love Has Come For You, a unique collaboration with songwriter Edie Brickell. Martin and Brickell recently took home the Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song for the song “Love Has Come For You,” off the album of the same name. The remarkable album offers 13 eloquently rootsy compositions that combine Martin’s inventive five-string banjo work with Brickell’s distinctive vocals and vivid, detail-rich lyrics. Love Has Come For You is a substantial departure, as a well as a creative milestone, for both artists. In 2011, Martin released his second full-length bluegrass album, Rare Bird Alert. Produced by Tony Trischka, the album featured 13 Martin-penned tracks as well as special guest vocal appearances by Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks. Additionally, Martin co-wrote two of the CD’s songs with the Grammy-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers. Prior to this, Martin was honored with a Grammy for his debut album, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, which won for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010. Martin began his career on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” (1967-1969), for which he earned his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music in 1969. In the mid-1970s, Martin shone as a stand-up on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and made appearances on HBO’s “On Location” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” Martin’s films are widely popular successes and are the kind of movies that are viewed again and again: The Jerk (1979), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Roxanne (1987), Parenthood (1989), L.A. Story (1991), Father of the Bride (1991), and Bowfinger (1999).

WALTER BOBBIE (Director) is a director, actor, writer, and the recipient of the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Awards. His production of the international hit Chicago is the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. His select credits on Broadway and Off Broadway include The Landing, Golden Age, Venus in Fur, The School for Lies, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Submission, The Savannah Disputation, New Jerusalem, High Fidelity, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sweet Charity, Twentieth Century, Footloose, Durang/Durang, and A Grand Night for Singing, as well as the City Center Encores! productions of Fiorello!, Tenderloin, Golden Boy, and No, No, Nanette and the Carnegie Hall concerts of South Pacific and Carousel. As an actor his credits range from the original Grease through A History of the American Film, I Love My Wife, Cafe Crown, Anything Goes, Getting Married, Driving Miss Daisy, Assassins, Guys and Dolls, Polish Joke, and last season’s On Your Toes at Encores! Bobbie has acted extensively in film, television, and as a frequent guest on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” He has served as Artistic Director of City Center Encores! and an Executive Board member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

JOSH RHODES (Choreography) has Broadway credits that include First Date and Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Outer Critic Circle Award, Astaire Award, and Drama Desk Award nominations). On stage and screen he choreographed Company starring Neil Patrick Harris, Sweeney Todd, and Sondheim! The Birthday Concert for the New York Philharmonic and PBS. His other stage credits include Working (The Old Globe, Broadway Playhouse in Chicago, and the Drama Desk Award-winning production at Prospect Theater Company in New York), John Kander’s The Landing (Vineyard Theatre), Broadway: Three Generations (The Kennedy Center), On the Town (Los Angeles Philharmonic), Annie Get Your Gun starring Patti LuPone (Ravinia Festival), Barnum (Asolo Repertory Theatre, Sarasota Magazine Theater Award), A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum (The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Helen Hayes Award nomination), They’re Playing Our Song starring Jason Alexander (L.A.’s Reprise Theatre Company), Stars of David (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Academy (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), 1776 (Paper Mill Playhouse), Chess and Dreamgirls (North Carolina Theatre), Beautiful Girls (Manhattan School of Music), All Singing! All Dancing!, Legends!, and Broadway by the Year: The Broadway Musicals of 1954 (The Town Hall). Rhodes also directed Spamalot (The 5th Avenue Theatre).

PETER ASHER (Musical Supervisor) was born in London, and his first venture into show business was as a child actor: at the age of eight he had the privilege of playing Claudette Colbert’s son in The Planter’s Wife. In 1964 he was one half of the duo Peter & Gordon, who amassed nine Top 20 records, beginning with their global hit “A World Without Love,” written by Paul McCartney. In 1968 Asher was appointed head of Artists and Repertoire (A&R) for The Beatles’s record company, Apple Records, where he found, signed, and produced James Taylor. In 1971 he founded Peter Asher Management, representing James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and more. He has produced 13 Grammy Award-winning recordings, and in 1977 and 1989 he individually won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year. Among his recent projects are several soundtrack albums with Hans Zimmer; the album by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell Love Has Come For You, winner of Best American Roots Song at the recent Grammy Awards); and a production project with Elton John, with current artists like Ed Sheeran, Miguel, The Band Perry, and Fall Out Boy singing the songs from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in recognition of the 50th anniversary of that album.

ROB BERMAN (Musical Director) is an Emmy Award-winning, New York-based conductor and music director. He is the music director of Encores!, New York City Center’s acclaimed series of great American musicals in concert. In seven seasons there, he has conducted 18 productions, including Finian’s Rainbow, Anyone Can Whistle,and Merrily We Roll Along. For eight years, Berman has been music director of “The Kennedy Center Honors” on CBS, for which he won the 2012 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction. Berman’s many Broadway credits as a conductor include the revivals of Wonderful Town and The Pajama Game; the stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; and revivals of Finian’s Rainbow, The Apple Tree, and Promises, Promises. He was music director of the acclaimed Off Broadway revival of Passion at Classic Stage Company, as well as The Kennedy Center’s production of Sunday in the Park with George, for which he won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical Direction, Resident Production. Berman was music director of “A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House,”which aired on PBS, and he has conducted 10 original cast recordings. He has also conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the legendary Barbara Cook.

EUGENE LEE (Scenic Design) holds B.F.A. degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University, an M.F.A. from Yale University School of Drama, and three honorary doctorates. He has been the production designer for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” since 1974 and also designed the new “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” He has received the Tony Award, American Theatre Wing’s Henry Hewes Design Award, Outer Critic Circle Award, Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Pell Award, and Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence. He is a recent inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame in New York. Lee is currently represented on Broadway by the musical Wicked and the play The Velocity of Autumn. His recent New York work includes A Streetcar Named Desire, Glengarry Glen Ross, and My Name Is Asher Lev. His films includeFrancis Ford Coppola’s Hammett, Danny Huston’s Mr. North, and Louis Malle’s Vanya on 42nd Street. He lives with his wife, Brooke, in Providence, where they raised their two sons.

JANE GREENWOOD (Costume Design) has designed more than 100 productions on Broadway including The Assembled Parties, A View from the Bridge, Harvey, A Moon for the Misbegotten, James Joyce’s The Dead, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Plenty, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Hamlet starring Richard Burton. Her credits at Lincoln Center Theater comprise 18 productions including Act One, Nikolai and the Others, Belle Epoque, A Man of No Importance, A Delicate Balance, The Heiress, The Sisters Rosensweig, Two Shakespearean Actors, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Our Town, Oh, Hell, and Mr. Gogol and Mr. Preen. Her Off Broadway credits include The Garden of Earthly Delights, Vita & Virginia, Sylvia, and The Lisbon Traviata. Greenwood’s film credits include Arthur, The Four Seasons, 84 Charing Cross Road, and Glengarry Glen Ross. She has been inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and has received 14 Tony Award nominations and an Irene Sharaff Award. She will receive a 2014 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre on June 8.She is on the faculty of Yale University School of Drama.

JAPHY WEIDEMAN (Lighting Design) previously designed lighting for the Globe productions of Bethany, The Rainmaker,and August: Osage County. His recent Broadway projects include Of Mice and Men with James Franco and Macbeth with Ethan Hawke. His other Broadway credits include The Snow Geese with Mary Louise Parker, Cyrano de Bergerac, and The Nance, for which he received a 2013 Tony Award nomination. Weideman’s other noted projects in New York include 4000 Miles and The Who and the What (Lincoln Center Theater), Booty Candy (Playwrights Horizons), Sons of the Prophet (Roundabout Theatre Company), Wild With Happy (The Public Theater’s New York Shakespeare Festival), and Jack Goes Boating with Phillip Seymour Hoffmanand The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (LAByrinth Theater Company). His other regional credits include American Conservatory Theater, Arena Stage, Alley Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Houston Grand Opera, Huntington Theatre Company, Santa Fe Opera, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Westport Country Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and others. Internationally, Weideman designed the world premiere of David Harrower’s Blackbird directed by Peter Stein (Edinburgh International Festival and the West End). His other work with Stein includes Troilus and Cressida (Royal Shakespeare Company, Edinburgh International Festival), Electra (Ancient Theater of Epidaurus, Greece, National Theater of Korea), and the double-bill opera Bluebeard’s Castle/Il Prigioniero (La Scala, Nederlands Opera). His awards and nominations for lighting design include Tony, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Hewes Design, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and San Diego Craig Noel Awards.

NEVIN STEINBERG (Sound Design) is a seasoned Broadway sound designer and a passionate collaborator on a wide range of live events and theatre productions. His recent projects include Terrence McNally’s Mothers and Sons on Broadway and the world premiere of John Kander and Greg Pierce’s musical The Landing at Vineyard Theatre, continuing his dedication to the creation of new work. In addition to his theatre design, Steinberg serves as the audio consultant for Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. In 2013, he opened the acclaimed Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella on Broadway and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Sound Design for his work on the production. Formerly, Steinberg was a founding principal of the prolific sound design firm Acme Sound Partners, and he provided sound design services for dozens of Broadway shows including such diverse Tony Award winners as In the Heights, Hair, Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Light in the Piazza, Avenue Q, and La Bohème. During the 11 years Steinberg was with the company, Acme was recognized with Tony Award nominations for Best Sound Design in each of the first five years the award was given (for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Fences, Hair, and In the Heights).

HOWIE CHERPAKOV, CSA (Casting) is thrilled to be working with this creative team on Bright Star. His Broadway credits include Next Fall (2010 Artios Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Casting for New York Broadway Theatre – Drama), The Seafarer, Coram Boy, Chicago, and Annie Get Your Gun. His national tours include Dirty Dancing, Chicago (seven national and international companies), and South Pacific. Some of his favorite Off Broadway and regional productions include Dangerous Beauty (Pasadena Playhouse), Next Fall (Naked Angels/Peter Jay Sharp Theatre), Fault Lines (Cherry Lane Theatre, 2009 Artios Award for New York Off Broadway Comedy/Musical), Ahrens’s and Flaherty’s The Glorious Ones (Lincoln Center Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater), Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party (Acorn Theater), This Isn’t Romance (Soho Theatre in London), Rock Doves, A Terrible Beauty and Happy Birthday, Brian Friel! (Irish Arts Center), The Opposite of Sex (Magic Theatre), Flight (Lucille Lortel Theatre), In This House (Melting Pot Theatre Company/Symphony Space), and This is Our Youth. Additionally, over the past five years, Cherpakov has cast over 65 new plays and musicals for the Powerhouse Theater season at New York Stage and Film, including the 2013 Artios-nominated world premiere of Stephen Belber’s The Power of Duff. His upcoming projects include the new musicals Atomic (Acorn Theater, Off Broadway in June 2014), and Marry Harry (American Theater Group). He is a proud member of the Casting Society of America.