Rough Crossing

The Creative Team

MARK RUCKER (DIRECTOR)

previously directed the Yale Repertory Theatre productions of Twelfth Night, Landscape of the Body, The Cryptogram, Measure for Measure, The Imaginary Invalid, Kingdom of Earth, All’s Well That Ends Well (with James Bundy), and The Mistakes Madeline Made. Mr. Rucker is an Associate Artist at South Coast Repertory, where he has directed over 20 productions including world premieres by Richard Greenberg, Christopher Shinn, Annie Weisman, John Glore, and Culture Clash. Other work includes productions at Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, INTIMAN Theatre, Syracuse Stage, American Conservatory Theatre, Ford’s Theater, The Old Globe, California Shakespeare Theater, and The Acting Company. His first feature film, Die, Mommie, Die!, won a special jury prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. He is a graduate of UCLA and Yale School of Drama.
Back to top.

MICHELE LYNCH (CHOREOGRAPHER)

Broadway credits include The Coast of Utopia (choreographer), Hairspray (associate choreographer), The Full Monty (associate choreographer), Urinetown (assistant choreographer), and Victor/Victoria (performer) Michele recently won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for her choreography in Happy Days, the Musical at Goodspeed Musicals, which just launched a National Tour. Other new musicals and plays include Little House on the Prairie (The Guthrie Theater); Idaho, Go-Go Beach (New York Musical Theatre Festival); 13 (Mark Taper Forum, Garland Award); Pride and Prejudice (Asolo Repertory Theatre, directed by Mark Rucker); Leading Ladies (Ford’s Theatre, directed by Mark Rucker); Breakfast at Tiffany’s (The Muny); and Empire (Stamford Center). Her film credits include the choreography for Camp for IFC Films.
Back to top.

ERIKA SCHROTH (MUSIC DIRECTOR)

is pleased to return to Yale Rep, where she has been part of the musical teams for Comedy on the Bridge and Brundibar, All's Well That Ends Well, and a recent workshop of Meanwhile on the Other Side of Mt. Vesuvius. Her other theatre credits include musical direction for productions of Quilters and The Apple Tree, and acting roles in The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Six Degrees of Separation, and To Whom It May Concern. An active performer, teacher, and musical director, she has performed as a solo and collaborative artist across the US and Europe, has taught piano at Wesleyan University since 2004, and spent several summers playing and teaching on the faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. In 2007 she was a guest artist at the Stamford International Music Festival in the UK to much acclaim. Upcoming appearances include recitals in Texas and at New York's Merkin Concert Hall with cellist Jeffrey Lastrapes.
Back to top.

TIMOTHY R. MACKABEE (SCENIC DESIGNER)

New York credits include Single Black Female (The Duke on 42nd Street); Tell Out My Soul and Vrooommm! (Summer Play Festival); Trout Stanley (Culture Project); Gorilla Man (P.S. 122); Those Who Can, Do (Clubbed Thumb); The King Is Dead (Abingdon Theatre Company); Between Worlds (Blue Heron Theatre); Usher, Mello-llama, and Armless (New York International Fringe Festival); A for Adultery, and The House of Bernarda Alba (Prospect Theater Company). Dance: Doug Varone’s Alchemy (The Joyce Theatre); Raw, Beyond the Red (National Tour), and Seed all for Cedar Lake Dance. Regional theatre: The Story (Philadelphia Theatre Company), No Child… (Weston Playhouse), Curse of the Starving Class (University of Rochester). Associate/assistant designer on Broadway for Cymbeline; Heartbreak House; How the Grinch Stole Christmas; The Color Purple; Ring of Fire; ’night, Mother; Frozen; Losing Louie; Wonderful Town; Little Women; and Off-Broadway: [title of show]. Film and television: Margot at the Wedding, The Today Show, and Football Night in America. Training: North Carolina School of the Arts; Yale School of Drama, MFA expected 2009. timothymackabeedesign.com
Back to top.

LUKE BROWN (COSTUME Designer)

Past credits include I Have Loved Strangers (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Gorilla Man (Boston Theatre Works), and Tom Jones (The Shakespearean Theater of Maine). He has designed various productions at Tufts University, Yale School of Drama, and Yale Cabaret. He has also had various production roles on many film and television projects throughout New England, most recently as assistant costume designer for the PBS educational miniseries We Shall Remain (WGBH, Boston). Luke is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama.
Back to top.

JESSE BELSKY (LIGHTING DESIGNER)

is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include the 2008 Carlotta Festival of New Plays, Baal, and Venus. His other credits include Bone Songs, Bill Clinton Goes to the Bathroom, The Illusion, A Number, In the Cypher, An Evening of Cabaret, In the Meantime (Yale Cabaret); Plane Crazy (2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival); Dear Maudie (78th St. Theater Lab); and Clocks & Whistles (Origin Theater Company); and he has served as assistant lighting designer for productions on and off Broadway as well as television. A graduate of Duke University, his work with The Best has been seen at numerous venues around New York City and in Brisbane, Australia.
Back to top.

PHILLIP OWEN (SOUND Designer/orchestral arrangements)

is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he designed sound for last season’s I Am a Superhero and The Ghost Sonata. His other credits include The Donny Hathaway Story, In the Cypher, Bone Songs (Yale Cabaret); Vaudeville Vanya (St. Idiot Collective); Americamisfit (Salvage Vanguard); and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mary Moody Northern Theatre). He has worked for the transient theatre company TENT on Oh, Sweet Captain and KG: Life in a Tin Can in Portland, Maine. For several years he worked professionally as an actor, most notably for Blue Raincoat Theatre Company in Sligo, Ireland. He recently played Phil, the Dad in Be Aggressive at Yale Cabaret.
Back to top.

WALTER BYONGSOK CHON (PRODUCTION DRAMATURG)

is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include I Am a Superhero. His Yale Cabaret credits include Be Aggressive and Mask Ritual: Electra. On stage, he appeared as Nachum in Fiddler on the Roof at Edison Theatre in St. Louis. Walter studied Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre, and received his BA in English from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea and his MA in theatre studies from Washington University in St. Louis. This summer he interned in the literary office at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference.
Back to top.

MIRIAM FELTON-DANSKY (PRODUCTION DRAMATURG)

is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include Peer Gynt, Venus, and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. Her other credits include last season's Trouble in Mind at Yale Rep, as well as Blood Box: An Evening of Grand Guignol and Pamela Precious (upcoming) at Yale Cabaret. A graduate of Barnard College, she is a former managing editor of Theater magazine and has also written for Theatre Journal (forthcoming) and HotReview.org.
Back to top.

TARA RUBIN CASTING (CASTING)

has been casting at Yale Rep since 2004. Broadway: The Country Girl, Billy Elliot, Shrek, Guys and Dolls (upcoming), Young Frankenstein, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, The Farnsworth Invention, Rock ’n’ Roll, The History Boys (US casting), Les Misérables, Spamalot, Jersey Boys, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera, The Pirate Queen, Good Vibrations, Bombay Dreams, Oklahoma!, Flower Drum Song, Imaginary Friends, Metamorphoses (New York casting). Lincoln Center Theater: The Frogs, Contact, Thou Shalt Not, A Man of No Importance, Anything Goes (concert). Off-Broadway: Second Stage Theatre. Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival; La Jolla Playhouse (New York casting); Mame, Mister Roberts, The Sondheim Celebration, and Tennessee Williams Explored at The Kennedy Center. Film: The Producers: The Musical. Members, Casting Society of America.
Back to top.

IRIS DAWN O’BRIEN* (STAGE MANAGER)

is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where she has stage managed Good Egg, Peer Gynt, and Titus Andronicus. Her other credits include We’re Celebrities, We’re Just Not Famous Yet; An Evening of Cabaret; Brand (Yale Cabaret); as well as assistant stage managing Zero Hour and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet (Yale School of Drama); as well as Passion Play and Trouble in Mind (Yale Rep). Iris received her BS from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
Back to top.

*MEMBER OF ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, UNION OF PROFESSIONAL ACTORS AND STAGE MANAGERS IN THE UNITED STATES.