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, BUG and Retreat From Moscow. 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.

PAMELA GIEN (Playwright) as both writer and performer of The Syringa Tree, won the Obie for Best Play 2001, the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance, a Drama League Honor and a nomination for the John Gassner Playwriting Award. Pamela performed The Syringa Tree in New York at Playhouse 91 for a year, at The National Theatre in London, at the World's Festival in Toronto - and is now performing it for the first time in South Africa. A principal member of The American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge for four seasons, Pamela played Estrella in Life's a Dream, Annabella in 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore and Sonya in the premiere of David Mamet's adaptation of Uncle Vanya. She played Gabriella in Ronald Ribman's Sweettable at the Richelieau and Angela in The King Stag, appeared in several productions directed by David Wheeler including Gillette by William Hauptman and The Day Room by Don de Lillo, Stella/Ann in The End Of The World With Symposium To Follow, Lavinia in Titus Andronicus for the Public Theatre's New York Shakespeare Festival, Alicia in Piano by Anna Deavere Smith and starred as Hannah Jelkes in Night of the Iguana at the LATC, for which she won a Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Achievement in the theatre. She has performed in the New Works Festival at The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, The Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville and at South Coast Repertory. TV appearances include guest-starring roles in Tales From the Crypt, Reasonable Doubts, Hunter, Secret Lives and Into Thin Air. Pamela recently began working in film, appearing in Men Seeking Women with Will Ferrell and The Last Supper starring Bill Paxton and Jason Alexander. Random House has commissioned her to write The Syringa Tree as a novel. She is also writing a screenplay of The Syringa Tree. This play is dedicated to her parents and to the children of South Africa.

TIM CONNELLY (Set Design) returns to GableStage where he designed the sets for Chinese Coffee, Tabletop, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Ten Unknowns and 'Master Harold'...and the boys. Tim hails from Kentucky, and has lived and worked in South Florida for 20 years. He owns and operates the Charles T. Studio, designing and building sets for the film and commercial industry. Among Tim's finest accomplishments are his five children and his fiancee, Ann Dee. Between raising kids and working, Tim fills his time sailing and fishing.

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, Frozen and Retreat from Moscow 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, BUG and Retreat from Moscow. Michael owns MH Productions, Inc., a post-production recording studio in Fort Lauderdale.

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

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."