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, Trumbo (in which he also performed) and Frozen. 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 five 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, James Joyce's The Dead and Edward Albee's The Goat (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.

TRACY LETTS (Playwright) is the author of the plays Killer Joe and Man From Nebraska (named one of Time Magazine's Top Ten Plays of 2003). He is an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His appearances there include: Homebody/Kabul, The Dazzle, Glengarry Glen Ross, Three Days of Rain and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Film appearances include Guinevere, U.S. Marshal and Chicago Cab. TV appearances include: The District, Profiler, The Drew Carey Show, Home Improvement and Seinfeld. Tracy recently made his directing debut at the Lookingglass Theatre with Glen Berger's play, Great Men of Science, No's 21 & 22.

RICH SIMONE (Set Design) is one of S. Florida's busiest designers and directors. His work has been seen at almost every professional theatre in the region. Recent work includes: Popcorn (Carbonell Nomination and Curtain Up Award for Best Scenic Design), Edward Albee's The Goat (Carbonell Nomination, Curtain Up Award - Best Scenic Design), James Joyce's The Dead (Carbonell Award - Best Scenic Design), all at GableStage; Crimes of The Heart (Curtain Up Nominations - Best Scenic Design/Best Director of a Play/Best Play, Carbonell Nominations/Best Director of a Play/Best Play), The Rocky Horror Show (Curtain Up Awards - Best Ensemble/Best Supporting Actor in a Musical) and Blood Brothers (Carbonell Nominations - Best Director of a Musical, Best Musical; Curtain Up Awards - Best Director of a Musical, Best Musical) at Shores Performing Arts Theatre. Rich also was named Best Scenic Designer of 2001 by the Miami New Times, but is most proud to have been named a finalist for the 2003 Artist Impact Award, presented by the Children's Cultural Coalition for his work in children's theatre.

JOHN D. HALL (Lighting) is currently Resident Lighting Designer at Miami City Ballet. Bug marks John's first Lighting Design for GableStage. He has also designed for The New World Symphony, Gold Coast Opera, Barry University, and for the past seven seasons, City Theatre's Summer Shorts. Upcoming projects include The Big Bang for The Maltz Jupiter Theatre. He is a 1988 graduate of NC State University and a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. He and wife Shannon have two sons, John and William.

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, Trumbo and Frozen. Michael owns MH Productions, Inc., a post-production recording studio in Fort Lauderdale.

ESTELA VRANCOVICH (Costumes) is originally from Argentina, where she had her own design studio specializing in tango costuming for international dancers and children's independent theatre. She was the creator of Maria Burgos Indumataria, a private school for costuming and fashion design, which she ran for nine years. Upon her arrival in South Florida. she worked at Actors' Playhouse as Assistant Designer for Mary Lynn Izzo and as Designer for The Children's Theatre Program under director Earl Maulding. Estela's work for Narnia was chosen for display at The Kennedy Center as part of The International Children's Theatre Festival. She later moved to Hollywood Playhouse as Resident Designer and received 2002 Carbonell nominations for Man of la Mancha and Ruthless (for which she also won the Curtain Up Award). Estela has also designed shows for New Theatre and The Caldwell Theatre, where she received Carbonell nominations in 2003 for The Countess in 2004 for Heartbeats.

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, QED and Frozen. A former folk art gallery owner, Claire resides in Coconut Grove with her husband.