Who's Who . . . Backstage

JOSEPH ADLER (Director/Producing Artistic Director) is in his seventh season as Artistic Director of GableStage. 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, Frankie and Johnny at the Clair de Lune, The Goat, What The Butler Saw, Ten Unknowns, 'Master Harold'...and the boys, QED and Trumbo (in which he also performed). 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 sixteen nominations (nine 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 S. 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.

BRYONY LAVERY (Playwright) has written several dozen plays. She received Tony, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League nominations for Frozen, which also won the TMA Best Play Award and the Eileen Anderson Central Television Award. She has worked extensively for BBC Radio and is an honorary Doctor of Arts at DeMontfort University. For two years, she was writer-in-residence for The Unicorn Theatre for Children. Last Easter, her most recent work, has just opened in New York, produced by MCC Theatre at the Lortel Theatre.

JEFF QUINN (Set/Lighting Design) designs regularly at GableStage and throughout South Florida. Some of his favorite projects include the scenic and lighting designs for The Blue Room, The Shape of Things and The Play About the Baby, and lighting designs for The Goat, Ten Unknowns, Master Harold ...and the Boys and Trumbo here at GableStage. He has also designed for the Fulton Opera House, Pennsylvania Festival Theatre, Iron Clad Agreement, Hilton Head Playhouse, Actors' Playhouse, Coconut Grove Playhouse, New Theatre, New World Repertory Company, Fort Lauderdale Children's Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, New World Symphony, FIU Music Festival, Maximum Dance, Ballet Blue Ridge, Ballet Theatre of Miami, Momentum Dance, Freddick Bratcher and Company, Ballet Español Rosita Segovia, Duende Ballet Español, the Miam Christmas Pageant and many others. Jeff has received a Carbonell nomination for Best Lighting for this past season's The Goat, and the Curtain Up Best Lighting Design Award for Diary of Anne Frank, both at GableStage. Seven of his designs will be exhibited in Toronto in March as a part of World Stage Design 2005. Jeff is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 of the I.A.T.S.E of the US Institute for Theatre Technology, and is on the faculty of New World School of the Arts. He is married to director Deborah Mello.

MICHAEL J. HOFFMANN (Sound/Music) is an award-winning composer, 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 among which are The Diary of Anne Frank, Dirty Blonde, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, The Goat, What the Butler Saw, Ten Unknowns, 'Master Harold'...and the boys, QED and Trumbo. Michael owns MH Productions, Inc., a post-production recording studio in Fort Lauderdale.

KARELLE LEVY (Costumes) is very happy to be working with GableStage again. She has been active in costuming for the performing arts in Miami since 1997. Karelle is the resident costume designer for MadCat Theater Company and Helena Thevenot (Butoh-dancer). She has designed with several other groups such as Teo Castellanos, Florida Grand Opera... and many additional brilliant locals. When not costuming, she literally knits her life away. Karelle was recently awarded the "Fresh Faces of Fashion" by Gen Art for her knitwear company, KRELwear. Find out more information and store listings on www.krelwear.com.

MICHAEL JOHN CARROLL (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be starting his second season with GableStage after recently completing it's successful runs of Trumbo, QED and Master Harold ...and the boys. Michael graduated from Barry University in 2001 with a BFA in Acting, but found the chance to stage manage shows such as Little Shop of Horrors and Hello Dolly! before graduating. After completing an internship at Actors' Playhouse, he went on to become a member of the stage management department at the Coconut Grove Playhouse for two seasons, contributing to such notable productions as Proof (dir. David Auburn), and the pre-Broadway mountings of I'm Not Rappaport (Ben Vereen and Judd Hirsch) and Urban Cowboy. Michael then went from backstage to the booth as the production stage manager for productions of Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Bloom! (Hollywood Playhouse), Barefoot In The Park (Broward Stage Door Theatre), and the Miami premiere of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Level Nightclub on Miami Beach. When not in a theatre, Michael enjoys guitar, Jim Sheridan films, and watching his collection of music videos grow. All thanks go to Mom. Sarah, "mo chride."

CLAIRE SAVITT (Props) loves "the hunt". As prop mistress for GableStage, she has worked on a number of plays, including A Lesson Before Dying, James Joyce's The Dead, Dirty Blonde, The Shape of Things, Nixon's Nixon, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Goat, What the Butler Saw, Ten Unknowns, 'Master Harold' ...and the boys and QED. A former folk art gallery owner, Claire resides in Coconut Grove with her husband.