WILLIAM FINN (Composer/Lyricist) is the writer/composer of Falsettos (two Tony Awards: Best Book of a Musical [with James Lapine] and Best Original Score). He has written/composed In Trousers (L.A. Drama Critics Award), March of the Falsettos (Outer Critics Circle Award for outstanding Musical, L.A. Drama Critics Award), Falsettoland (two Drama Desk Awards and Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical), Romance in Hard Times (Public Theater), A New Brain (Lincoln Center/Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical) and Elegies: A Song Cycle (Lincoln Center). He graduated from Williams College, where he was awarded the Hutchinson Fellowship in Musical Composition, and currently teaches a weekly master class at NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
RACHEL SHEINKIN (Book Writer). Recent productions include Striking 12, a hybrid concert/play written in collaboration with the rock band GrooveLily and director Ted Sperling (Prince Music Theater, Philadelphia; Old Globe, San Diego; TheatreWorks, Palo Alto); book and lyrics for Blood Drive (music by Joel Derfner, Eugene O'Neill NMT Conference; Bridewell Theatre, London); and book and lyrics for Serenade (music by Nils Olaf Dolven). She is an adjunct faculty member at NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
JAMES LAPINE (Director) has worked in one capacity or another with William Finn on March of the Falsettos, Falsettoland, A New Brain, A Winter's Tale and the yet-to-be-produced but beloved Muscle and The Royal Family of Broadway. Other Broadway credits: Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion, The Diary of Anne Frank, Golden Child, Dirty Blonde, Amour. Off- Broadway: Table Settings; Twelve Dreams; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Luck, Pluck and Virtue; Modern Orthodox. Film: Impromptu, Life with Mikey, Earthly Possessions.
REBECCA FELDMAN (Conceiver) conceived, directed and performed in C-R-E-PU-S-C-U-L-E, the play upon which The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is based, with her company The Farm. She worked on the development of ...Spelling Bee and directed the original production at Barrington Stage Company in the summer of 2004. She has directed and performed in New York and regionally for the past ten years including New York Fringe Festival (Best of Fringe '98), Soho Rep, HERE, Atlantic Theater Studios, Adobe Theatre, New Dramatists, Mabou Mines, Present Company Theatorium and other downtown venues.
DAN KNECHTGES (Choreographer). The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Barrington Stage), Cats, The Chalk Circle, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Joseph... (Hangar Theatre), Silver Screen Serenade (Sierra Repertory Theatre), Mame, Angel Street, A Funny Thing... (Surflight Theater), Don Giovanni (Indianapolis Opera), Candide (Harrisburg Opera), Hansel & Gretel (Capital City Opera), Carousel, The Merry Widow, West Side Story, Iolanthe, Ruddigore, The Mikado, Patience, The Gondoliers, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Sorcerer. Television/film: Fatboy Slim's music video "It's a Wonderful Night" and Todd Solondz's film Palindromes.
MICHAEL STAROBIN (Orchestrations). Assassins (Tony, Drama Desk), Tom Sawyer, A New Brain, A Christmas Carol (MSG, NBC), Hello Again, Guys & Dolls, My Favorite Year, Falsettoland, March of the Falsettos, In Trousers, Sunday in the Park with George, (Drama Desk), Once on This Island, Closer Than Ever, Legs Diamond, Romance Romance, Carrie, Birds of Paradise, Rags, Three Guys Naked, Von Richtofen and the Disney films Home on the Range, Hunchback of Notre Dame and Life with Mikey.
VADIM FEICHTNER (Conductor/Piano) is thrilled to be making his Second Stage debut. Recent credits include Elegies: A Song Cycle (LCT), Cam Jansen (Lambs Theatre) and O. Henry's Lovers (Goodspeed Opera). His work as a composer has been performed at The Public Theater, Avery Fisher Hall and various tiny venues. Recordings: Elegies, Infinite Joy, RCA's Great Musicals and I Sing. Vadim is an alumnus of the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
CARMEL DEAN (Vocal Arranger/ Associate Conductor/Synthesizer). Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia, Carmel came to the United States in 2001 on a Fulbright Scholarship. Broadway orchestras: The Boy from Oz, Gypsy, Cabaret, Les Misérables. Other credits: Belle Epoque (Lincoln Center), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Barrington Stage), William Finn's Elegies (Lincoln Center and The Canon Theatre in Los Angeles), Chicago (Hong Kong) and the 2000 Olympic Games (Sydney, Australia). She received her Master's in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU in 2003.
MICHAEL KELLER (Music Coordinator). Currently Conductor/ Drummer for Marvin Hamlisch. Music Coordinator: Spamalot, All Shook Up, La Cage aux Folles, Fiddler on the Roof, Wicked, Avenue Q, Mamma Mia!, The Lion King, The Boy from Oz, Taboo, Gypsy, Aida, Imaginary Friends, Man of La Mancha, Dance of the Vampires, Sweet Smell of Success, Marlene, The Gershwins'Fascinatin' Rhythm, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, The Goodbye Girl, Barbra Streisand concerts (1994 & 2001). Life is complete with wife Pamela Sousa and children Zach and Alexis.
BEOWULF BORITT (Set Designer). The Last Five Years (NY, Chicago; Drama Desk nomination); Saint Lucy's Eyes (NY, Atlanta; Audelco Award); Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Manhattan Ensemble, Little Shubert), Roar (New Group), Miss Julie, In-Betweens (Cherry Lane), Two and Only (Atlantic). New York: Lucille Lortel, Duke, American Place, Pearl, New Theatre Row, MCC, New Victory, Naked Angels, Actor's Studio. Regional: Alliance, Trinity Rep, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cleveland Play House, Utah Shakespeare, Northlight, Delaware Theatre (Barrymore nom.), Syracuse Stage, Virginia Stage, Barrington Stage, NYS&F, Hangar.
JENNIFER CAPRIO (Costume Designer). New York: Miss Julie (Access), Brando (Audax), Play, Applicant, Dracula (DT/NY), Tricorne, Inc. Regional: A Christmas Carol (White Plains PAC), Cats and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Hangar Theatre), ...Spelling Bee (Barrington Stage Co.), The Chekhov Cycle, Ubu the King, Carrie, A Clockwork Orange, Our Country's Good (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Oklahoma!, Lend Me a Tenor (Millbrook Playhouse), Macbeth (Starlight Productions), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Kitchen Theatre). International: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (Edinburgh Fringe).
NATASHA KATZ (Lighting Designer) has designed extensively on Broadway, Off- Broadway and in American regional theatre. Recent Broadway: Aida (Tony Award, 2000), Beauty and the Beast, Taboo, Flower Drum Song, Sweet Smell of Success, Twelfth Night, Dance of Death, The Capeman and Barrymore. Recent dance and opera: Carnival of the Animals (NYC Ballet), Tryst (Royal Ballet), Don Quixote (American Ballet Theatre) and Die Soldaten (NYC Opera). Permanent lighting installations: Niketown NYC and London and the Big Bang at the Museum of Natural History in NYC.
DAN MOSES SCHREIER (Sound Designer). Broadway: Gem of the Ocean; Pacific Overtures; 'night, Mother; After the Fall; Assassins; Anna in the Tropics; Into the Woods; Topdog/Underdog; Dirty Blonde; Amour; Dance of Death; Major Barbara; The Ride down Mt. Morgan; The Diary of Anne Frank; The Tempest; Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. Off-Broadway: Homebody/Kabul, Radiant Baby, Far East, Floyd Collins, Spic-O-Rama. Awards: three Drama Desks, 2004 L.A. Ovation Award, 2003 Entertainment Design Award for sustained excellence and an Obie for sustained excellence.
ANDREA "SPOOK" TESTANI (Production Stage Manager). Broadway: Match, I Am My Own Wife, Frankie and Johnny..., The Full Monty, The Man Who Had All the Luck, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Design for Living, Side Man. Off-Broadway/regional: Trying, Blue Man Group, Fiddler on the Roof, Sweeney Todd, A Chorus Line. Directing credits: The King of Mackie Street (OOBR Award), The Menaechmi, The Creation of the World and Other Business, Veronica's Room, T-Bone n Weasel, original short plays and readings for theatre companies throughout the city.
KELLY HANCE (Stage Manager). Previously for Second Stage: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, The Triple Happiness, The Mystery Plays, Wintertime, Dinner with Demons, Living Out, Spanish Girl, ...in the absence of spring.... Other Off-Broadway: Peg O' My Heart, Bedbound, Bailegangaire (Irish Repertory Theatre), Hobson's Choice, An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein (Atlantic Theater Company), Blue, A Skull in Connemara, Juno and the Paycock (Roundabout Theatre Company), Lincoln Center Festival, American Songbook Series: Tribute to Harold Arlen (Lincoln Center).
