Lydia

The Creative Team

JAMES BUNDY (DIRECTOR)

is in his seventh year as Dean of Yale School of Drama and Artistic Director of Yale Repertory Theatre. In his first six seasons, Yale Rep has produced more than twenty world, American, and regional premieres, three of which have been honored by the Connecticut Critics Circle with the award for Best Production of the year, and two of which have been Pulitzer Prize finalists. During this time, Yale Rep has also commissioned more than a dozen playwrights to write new work and provided low-cost theatre tickets and classroom visits to thousands of middle and high school students from Greater New Haven through WILL POWER!, an educational program initiated in 2004. Mr. Bundy’s directing credits include The Psychic Life of Savages, The Ladies of the Camellias, All’s Well That Ends Well, and A Woman of No Importance at Yale Rep, as well as productions at Great Lakes Theater Festival, The Acting Company, California Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and The Juilliard School Drama Division. A recipient of the Connecticut Critics Circle’s Tom Killen Award for extraordinary contributions to Connecticut professional theatre in 2007, Mr. Bundy currently serves on the board of directors of Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for nonprofit theatre. Previously, he worked as Associate Producing Director of The Acting Company, Managing Director of Cornerstone Theater Company, and Artistic Director of Great Lakes Theater Festival. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale School of Drama.
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DWIGHT ANDREWS (COMPOSER)

is an Associate Professor of Music Theory at Emory University and the Senior Minister at First Congregational Church in Atlanta. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, a Masters of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, and a PhD in Music Theory from Yale University. His career at Yale Rep began during the Brustein years on the 1976 production of Julius Caesar directed by Alvin Epstein. After numerous productions, Lloyd Richards appointed him Music Director of Yale Rep, and he served in that capacity until 1986. Recognized for his collaborations with playwright August Wilson and director Lloyd Richards, he served as musical director for the Broadway productions of Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Seven Guitars, as well as the Broadway revival productions of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. He served as Music Supervisor for the recent Kennedy Center Production of August Wilson’s 20th Century, a presentation of Wilson’s entire ten play cycle. He also has written for film and appeared on many jazz recordings.
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SCOTT DOUGAN (SCENIC DESIGNER)

most recently designed sets and costumes for What You Will, the Twelfth Night Parking Lot Project in collaboration with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice at Amherst College. Current projects include Jose Rivera’s new play The Human Emotional Process and Blood Dazzler, a dance piece based on National Book Award finalist Patricia Smith’s poems. Scott is a founding member of New Theater House (NTH), which will present its inaugural production this summer, The Whale Play by Victor Cazares. Other design credits include sets for The Ghost Sonata and I Am a Superhero at Yale School of Drama; sets for The Illusion, In the Cypher: A Poetry Slam, Going Public, Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood, Bill Clinton Goes to the Bathroom, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, and Be Aggressive, and projections for In the Cypher: A Poetry Slam, Dancing in the Dark, and The Sidewalk Opera at Yale Cabaret. He is a graduate of Amherst College and expects to receive his MFA this May from Yale School of Drama, where he received the 2008 Donald M. Oenslager Scholarship in Stage Design.
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KATHERINE O’NEILL (COSTUME DESIGNER)

is working currently on Blood Dazzler, a dance piece developed from the poetry of Patricia Smith, and is developing a Romeo and Juliet comic book that is set in 1930s New Orleans. She is a founding member of New Theater House (NTH), which will present its inaugural production, The Whale Play by Victor Cazares, this summer. Recent work includes The Ghost Sonata, Romeo and Juliet (Yale School of Drama); Bones in a Basket, Pamela Precious, Be Aggressive, 16 Bars, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Sidewalk Opera, In the Meantime, Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood, In the Cypher: A Poetry Slam, and The Illusion (Yale Cabaret); and she has served as a mentor to middle school students for The Dwight/Edgewood Project. She studied theatre and Latin American literature at Temple University in Philadelphia, as well as fine arts in Buenos Aires and Madrid. She expects to receive her MFA from Yale School of Drama in May.
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STEphEN STRAWBRIDGE (LIGHTING DESIGNER)

Recent work includes Crime & Punishment directed by Sharon Ott (Berkeley Rep); Donald Margulies’s Shipwrecked directed by Lisa Peterson (Primary Stages); Athol Fugard’s Coming Home directed by Gordon Edelstein (Long Wharf); Craig Lucas’s Prayer for My Enemy directed by Bartlett Sher (Playwrights Horizons); Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play directed by Mark Wing-Davey and David Adjmi’s The Evildoers directed by Rebecca Bayla Taichman (Yale Rep); the Lynn Ahrens/Stephen Flaherty musical The Glorious Ones and Michael John LaChiusa’s Bernarda Alba, both directed by Graciela Daniele (Lincoln Center Theater); and Souls of Naples featuring John Turturro (Theatre for a New Audience; the Mercadante, Naples, Italy). Mr. Strawbridge has designed on and off Broadway and at most leading regional theatre and opera companies across the US. He has designed major premieres in Bergen, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, The Hague, Munich, Sao Paulo, Stockholm and Vienna. Nominations and/or awards include American Theatre Wing, Bay Area Critics Circle, Dallas Theater Critics Forum, Helen Hayes and Lucille Lortel. He is Co-Chair of the Design Department at Yale School of Drama and Resident Lighting Designer at Yale Repertory Theatre.
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SARAH PICKETT (SOUND DESIGNER)

designed the sound for Yale Rep’s 2007 production of Richard II. Her other theatre credits include Zero Hour (composer, sound designer) at Yale School of Drama; Max Out Loud (composer), The Bacchae (composer) at Yale Cabaret; The Winter’s Tale (composer, sound designer) at Asolo Repertory Theatre; Aliens with Extraordinary Skills (composer, sound designer) at Women’s Project; Othello (composer), Ohio State Murders (co-sound designer) at Theatre for a New Audience; No Child… (sound designer) at Capital Repertory Theater and Hangar Theatre; The Great American Peanut Butter Radio Hour (co-author, composer), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (“Yitzhak,” music director), The Santaland Diaries (sound design) at Syracuse Stage; and upcoming, Much Ado About Nothing (composer, sound designer) at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She received her BFA from Syracuse University, her MA from Cornell University, and her MFA from Yale School of Drama.
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DONESH OLYAIE (PRODUCTION DRAMATURG)

is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his production credits include Cygnus and If Found, Please Return to Charles Darwin. Donesh is also the associate artistic director of Yale Cabaret, where he has worked on productions including Blood Box, Sidewalk Opera, and Hold for Beauty. A graduate of the University of Southern California, Donesh holds a BA in theatre and political science. Outside of Yale, Donesh has worked as an associate dramaturg at South Coast Repertory and Cincinnati Opera.
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MICHAEL WALKUP (PRODUCTION DRAMATURG)

Past dramaturgy credits include The Evildoers, The Unmentionables, The Ladies of the Camellias (Yale Rep); Three Sisters, Hamlet, and Antony and Cleopatra (Yale School of Drama). He has directed seven new plays and musicals at Yale Cabaret, including Gay Play, Max Out Loud, and The Apocryphal Project, a piece he continues to develop with his collaborators. This July he will direct Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of Irma Vep at Yale Summer Cabaret. He is Artistic Coordinator at Yale Rep as well as a doctoral candidate and teaching fellow at Yale School of Drama. He received his MFA in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from Yale School of Drama.
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RICK SORDELET (FIGHT DIRECTOR)

has staged 44 Broadway productions, including Disney’s The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid, and Aida. He has staged the fights for the opera Cyrano de Bergerac starring Placido Domingo at the Metropolitan Opera, The Royal Opera House, and the LaScala in Milan, Italy; and for over 40 first-class productions on five continents. Film: The Game Plan starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; Dan in Real Life starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche; and Hamlet starring Campbell Scott. He is the chief stunt coordinator for Guiding Light and staged the fights for First Jedi, a CD-ROM for George Lucas. Rick received the Lucille Lortel Award for Sustained Excellence in 2007. He teaches at Yale School of Drama, The New School for Drama, and The Neighborhood Playhouse. He is a company member of The Drama Dept., a board member of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and the author of the play Buried Treasure. He is married to actress Kathleen Kelly and has three children: Kaelan, Christian, and Collin.
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BETH McGUIRE (VOCAL AND DIALECT COACH)

Vocal and dialect coach credits include the Off-Broadway productions of The Overwhelming (Roundabout Theatre Company); The Black Eyed (New York Theatre Workshop); Five by Tenn (Manhattan Theatre Club); People Be Heard (Playwrights Horizons); Candida, Gas Light (The Roundtable Ensemble); Free Market (The Working Theatre); Exit Cuckoo (Midtown International Theatre Festival); and a workshop of In Darfur (The Public Theater). Regional: Lydia, All’s Well That Ends Well, dance of the holy ghosts, The Mystery Plays, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Iphigenia at Aulis, Kingdom of Earth (Yale Rep); Hamlet, Carnival, King John, The Glass Menagerie (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); The Cook (Hartford Stage); and Crimes of the Heart (The Cape Playhouse). Ms. McGuire is currently on faculty at Yale School of Drama; is a member of VASTA (The Voice and Speech Trainers Association), Actors’ Equity, SAG and AFTRA; and is an actress with over 25 years of performance experience.
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TARA RUBIN CASTING (CASTING)

has been casting at Yale Rep since 2004. Broadway: Billy Elliot, Shrek, Guys and Dolls, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Jersey Boys, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera, The Country Girl, Young Frankenstein, The Farnsworth Invention, Rock ’n’ Roll, The History Boys (US casting), Les Misérables, Spamalot, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Pirate Queen, Good Vibrations, Bombay Dreams, Oklahoma!, Flower Drum Song, Imaginary Friends, Metamorphoses (New York casting). Lincoln Center Theater: Happiness, 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.
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CYNTHIA CAHILL* (STAGE MANAGER)

has worked extensively in New York and around the country for more than fifteen years, most recently on the Tony-nominated Passing Strange at The Public Theater and on Broadway. Her other credits include the Off-Broadway productions of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, Mary Zimmerman’s Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (Second Stage Theatre); Sarah Jones’s Bridge and Tunnel (The Culture Project); as well as productions at regional theatres including Berkeley Rep, American Conservatory Theater, Guthrie Theater, Seattle Rep, McCarter Theatre, and Kansas City Rep with directors Les Waters, Leigh Silverman, Tony Taccone, Lisa Peterson, Dominique Serrand, and Annie Dorsen, among many others. Cynthia is pleased to be back at Yale Rep, where she previously stage managed 2003’s Culture Clash in AmeriCCa.
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*MEMBER OF ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, UNION OF PROFESSIONAL ACTORS AND STAGE MANAGERS IN THE UNITED STATES.