Who's Who . . . Backstage

JOSEPH ADLER (Director/Producing Artistic Director) begins his sixth season as Artistic Director of GableStage with this production. He previously directed on many local stages, including Coconut Grove Playhouse, New Theatre, Area Stage, Hollywood Boulevard Theatre, Players Theatre, Ruth Foreman Theatre, Florida Shakespeare Theatre, City Theatre (Summer Shorts), Hollywood Playhouse and Shores Performing Arts. At GableStage, Adler has directed Skylight, Of Mice and Men, Full Gallop, Psychopathia Sexualis, Closer, Killer Joe, This Is Our Youth, Arms and The Man, Side Man, Popcorn, Tape, The Real Thing, Adam Baum and the Jew Movie, Citizen Tom Paine, The Blue Room, Mindgame, Boy Gets Girl, James Joyce's The Dead, Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby, A Lesson Before Dying, Nixon's Nixon, Chinese Coffee, The Guys, The Shape of Things, Dirty Blonde, Tabletop, The Diary of Anne Frank and Frankie and Johnny at the Clair de Lune. Active in South Florida's film and theatre community for many years, Adler has directed hundreds of television commercials and industrial films, winning many awards, including the Clio. Other directorial credits include several independent feature films, a video version of the Broadway hit comedy Doubles and a cable TV series. He has received fifteen nominations (eight at GableStage) and four times won the Carbonell Award for Best Director: The Shadow Box (Coconut Grove Playhouse); The Killing of Sister George (Players Theatre); A Lesson Before Dying and James Joyce's The Dead (GableStage). He also received a Remy Award from the Theatre League of South Florida, and was awarded the prestigious George Abbott Award by the members of South Florida's arts, entertainment and media professions for "significant contributions to the artistic life and cultural development of greater Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches." Adler studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and graduated from the Film Department at NYU.

EDWARD ALBEE (Playwright) Mr. Albee's plays include The Zoo Story (1958), The American Dream (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961-62 Tony Award), Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize and 1996 Tony Award), All Over (1971), Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize), The Lady From Dubuque (1977-78), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981), Finding the Sun (1982), Marriage Play (1986-87), Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer Prize), Fragments (1993), The Lorca Play (1995), The Play About the Baby (1997), The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? and Occupant. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and president of the Edward F. Albee Foundation. Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980, and in 1996 he received both the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.

RICH SIMONE (Set Design) is thrilled to return to GableStage for his eighth production in three years. His past work here includes: This Is Our Youth, Tape, Adam Baum & the Jew Movie, Mindgame, Popcorn (which garnered him a Carbonell nomination and a Curtain Up award for Best Scenic Design), James Joyce's The Dead (for which he won the Carbonell), Dirty Blonde and The Diary of Anne Frank. During the four years since his move from Key West to Miami, Rich has amassed an enviable body of work, a small sampling of which includes: The Legacy at New Theatre, Pump Boys and Dinettes at the Hollywood Playhouse, Winter Shorts and two seasons of Summer Shorts for City Theatre, That Sound You Hear at Fort Lauderdale Players, Bed and Breakfast for the Key West Theatre Festival. Rich also directed, designed and performed in the Miami Premiere of Pageant at the Shores Performing Arts Theatre, where he has recently been appointed Artistic Director. Rich thanks the entire South Florida Theatrical community for their continued support, and Jack for unerring patience.

JEFF QUINN (Lighting Design) is in his sixth season with GableStage. Our audiences have seen his lighting designs for many of our productions, including Closer, Killer Joe, Popcorn, Boy Gets Girl, and Dirty Blonde, and his scenic and lighting designs for Side Man, The Blue Room, The Real Thing, The Play About the Baby, The Shape of Things, Dirty Blonde and The Diary of Anne Frank. Elsewhere, he has designed for the Fulton Opera House, Pennsylvania Festival Theatre, Walt Disney Enterprises, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Hilton Head Play-house and the Kayagum Theatre in Seoul, Korea. His South Florida work includes The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and Oliver! (Actors Playhouse), Little by Little (Coconut Grove Playhouse), Irma La Douce and Moon for the Misbegotten (Florida Repertory Theatre), Anything Goes (the Hirshfeld), Faith Healer (New World Repertory Company), HMS Pinafore and Sleuth (FST) and Angels in America and Love! Valour! Compassion! (New Theatre). Jeff designed scenery/lighting for Fidelio and The Inner Ear with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, FIU Music Festival, New World Symphony, Freddick Bratcher and Company, Maximum Dance, Ballet Theatre of Miami, Momentum Dance Company, Ballet Espanol Rosita Segovia, Ballet Etudes, Ballet Blue Ridge, Gold-Diggers and Miami Christmas Pageant. He is a member of United Scenic Artists (Local 829, I.A.T.S.E.) and teaches at New World School of the Arts. Married to director Deborah Mello, They have 6 children, a grand-daughter and a dog.

MICHAEL J. HOFFMANN (Music/Sound Design) is an award-winning com-poser, arranger and producer with over 30 years experience in South Florida. His score for the documentary film, Heroes Hispanos, garnered an Emmy nod. He has also won numerous Clios, Addies and other industry awards. Originally from Philadelphia and New York, Hoffmann's composing talent ranges from classical orchestration to jazz fusion to whatever you can think of. He has designed and written music for GableStage productions, most recently for The Diary of Anne Frank. Michael owns MH Productions, Inc., a post-production recording studio in Fort Lauderdale.

DANIELLE SCHWIMMER (Costume Design) has designed costumes for History of America (Abridged), Simpatico, Skylight , Of Mice and Men, Full Gallop, Psychopathia Sexualis, Closer (for which she was a Carbonell nominee), Killer Joe, This is Our Youth, Side Man, Tape, The Blue Room, Mindgame, Boy Gets Girl and Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby and The Shape of Things at GableStage. She was part of the costume crew at Actor's Playhouse for productions of Das Barbecu and She Loves Me. Daniela painted TV sets for Univision and Channel 2, assisted the costume designer on TNT's, The Man Who Captured Eichmann with Robert Duvall. She has also assisted wardrobe for commercials & a TV channel in Argentina, and in Alfredo's Atellier, a costume shop in Miami.

OSVALDO PALACIOS (Technical Director) has enjoyed an active career in film, television and theatre. He began his career in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he acted as director, dancer and choreographer. In South Florida, Palacios has worked for The Hispanic Theater League, Area Stage, FLA/BRA, Lenny Miller Productions, Channel 23, International Hispanic Theater Festival and La Salle High School in the capacity of stage manager, technical director, coordinator and teacher. This is his fifth season as resident Technical Director at GableStage.

MICHELLE S. WARGACKI (Stage Manager) returns to GableStage for her second production after this summer's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Michelle made her Florida debut with Pageant at the Cuillo Centre for the Arts in West Palm Beach. She stage managed during the past four seasons in her native NJ regional circuit, where she contributed to more than 20 productions. Favorites include: The Women, Still Life, How I Learned to Drive, The All Night Strut, Uncommon Women and Others, Sylvia, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Below the Belt and the NJ Premier of The Smell of the Kill. She also served as the Director of Education for the NJ Women's Theatre Company and worked extensively as a Teaching Artist in NJ and NYC, including work with the nationally recognized Write on the Edge residency program at Manhattan Theatre Club in NYC. Michelle is a graduate of New York University.