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), Frozen and BUG. 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.

WILLIAM NICHOLSON (Playwright) was born in 1948, and grew up in rural England. After graduating from Christ's College in Cambridge, he joined BBC Television, where he worked as a documentary film maker. There his ambition to write, directed first into novels, was channeled into television drama. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story, both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award-winners were Sweet As You Are and The March. In 1988 he received the Royal Television Society's Writer's Award. His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony-award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. Since then he has written more films: Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl, and Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second Oscar nomination. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight; and two other stage plays, Map of the Heart and Katherine Howard. His novel for older children, The Wind Singer, won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, Slaves of the Mastery, was published in May 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, Firesong, in May 2002. He lives in Sussex with his wife Virginia and their three children.

H. PAUL MAZER (Set Design) is pleased to be working with GableStage again, where he previously designed for What the Butler Saw, and When Cuba Opens Up and Death and the Maiden for GableStage's previous incarnation as the Florida Shakespeare Theatre. Until this year he was CEO/Staff Designer for his company, Propmasters Miami, where he oversaw construction of scenery/properties for TV commercials, and shows for Univision and Telemundo TV networks, music videos for many leading performers, and specials including MTV Latino, Latin Billboard Awards, and Source Awards. Prior to Propmasters, Paul designed for several seasons at the Coconut Grove Playhouse and served as Associate Professor of Theater Design at Florida International University for eight years. He is proud to have worked as Scientific Illustrator for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and on the Pacific Coast as Scenic Artist for the San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Ballet Company. He thanks his loving wife, Gloria and his wonderful daughter Vanessa for their enthusiastic support.

JEFF QUINN (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, Trumbo and Frozen 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 Miami 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, Trumbo, Frozen and BUG. Michael owns MH Productions, Inc., a post-production recording studio in Fort Lauderdale.

JEN HOWARD (Costumes) is pleased to be working at GableStage. Her most recent work was Affluenza at New Theatre. Other work includes wardrobe at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, Virginia Stage Company, and North Shore Music Theatre. She has worked summers at the Berkshire Theatre Festival since 1999, finishing up this summer as Assistant Costume Shop Manager. Currently there are no plans on changing her 'snowbird' itinerary.

MICHAEL JOHN CARROLL (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be continuing his second season with GableStage after recently completing the successful runs of Bug, Frozen, 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, Frozen and Bug. A former folk art gallery owner, Claire resides in Coconut Grove with her husband.