Who's Who . . . Backstage

JOSEPH ADLER (Director/Producing Artistic Director) is now in his eighth season as Producing Artistic Director. Adler previously directed at many South Florida Theatres--including Coconut Grove Playhouse, New Theatre, Area Stage, Hollywood Boulevard Theatre, Players Theatre, Ruth Foreman Theatre, Florida Shakespeare Theatre, City Theatre, Hollywood Playhouse and Shores Performing Arts. Active in South Florida's film and theatre community for many years, he 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 eighteen nominations (eleven at GableStage) and six 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, Edward Albee's The Goat and Frozen (GableStage). This year GableStage received 23 Carbonell Nominations-and won six of the most important awards, including Best Play, Best Actor and Best Actress--all for Frozen. He also received a Remy Award from the Theatre League of South Florida and was awarded the prestigious George Abbott Award for "significant contributions to the artistic life and cultural development of greater Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches." This year, he was the recipient of The Heart of the Arts Award presented by the New World School of the Arts. Adler studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and graduated from the Film Department at NYU.

KATHRINE KRESSMANN TAYLOR (Author, 1903 - 1996), was called "the woman who jolted America". She was born in Portland, Oregon and lived in California, New York and Pennsylvania (where for 20 years she was a professor at Gettysburg College). Her story, Address Unknown, was a national sensation in 1939, and the first fiction ever published by Reader's Digest. It was republished in America by Story Press in 1995, by Washington Square Press in 2001, and in 17 other languages worldwide since 1997, becoming a best-seller in France, Italy, Germany and Israel, and being adapted for the stage in seven countries so far. Ms. Taylor also wrote two other books, Day of No Return (1942) - an account of a real-life struggle against the Nazi takeover of the German Lutheran Church, and Diary of Florence in Flood (1967) - published in England as Ordeal by Water. She is also the author of ten short stories, one of which, "The Blown Rose," was dramatized on TV, and another, "The Pale Green Fishes," was chosen for Best American Short Stories of 1954. Retiring to Florence, Italy in 1966, Taylor met and married American sculptor John Rood, with whom she kept two homes, one in the Val de Pesa outside Florence, and another in Minneapolis, MN, where she lived her last years, dying alert, dynamic and sharp-witted just before her 93rd birthday.

FRANK DUNLOP (Editor), worked as associate director with Laurence Olivier at London's National Theatre, during which time he founded, built and directed the acclaimed Young Vic Theatre. For almost 10 years, Mr. Dunlop was Director of the Edinburgh International Festival, where he had earlier premiered Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. His directoral credits are extensive, both in London and internationally - in both theatre and opera. In New York, he directed Richard Burton's return in Camelot. He is also the Founding Director of BAM Theatre Company, among whose distinguished members are Blythe Danner, Ellen Burstyn, Toval Feldshuh, Rex Harrison and Richard Dreyfuss.

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, 'Master Harold'... and the Boys, QED, Trumbo and The Syringa Tree. 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 three children, Justin, Jessica and Ryan. Between raising kids and working, Tim fills his time sailing and fishing.

JEFF QUINN (Lighting Design) is in his eighth season with GableStage. Our audiences have seen his lighting designs for many productions, including Retreat From Moscow, The Diary of Anne Frank, Boy gets Girl [Curtain Up Awards], Closer, Killer Joe and The Goat [Carbonell Award], and his scenic and lighting designs for Frozen [Curtain Up Award], The Blue Room, The Real Thing, The Play About the Baby, and The Shape of Things. Elsewhere, Jeff has designed for the Fulton Opera House, Pennsylvania Festival Theatre, Walt Disney Enterprises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Hilton Head Playhouse and the Kayagum Theatre in Seoul, Korea. His South Florida work in other theaters includes The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and Oliver! at Actors Playhouse, Irma La Douce and Moon for the Misbegotten at Florida Repertory Theatre, Anything Goes at the Hirshfeld, Faith Healer for New World Repertory Company, HMS Pinafore and Sleuth for Florida Shakespeare Theatre, Angels in America and Love! Valour! Compassion! for New Theatre, A Christmas Carol and Mastergate at B.R.I.T.T., Brooklyn Bridge for the Playground Theatre for Young Audiences, and Nefertitti, The Musical, at the Parker Playhouse. He designed the scenery and lighting for Fidelio and The Inner Ear with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, and has also designed for the FIU Music Festival, the 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, Duende Ballet Espanol, the Gold-Diggers, and the Miami Christmas Pageant. Mr. Quinn is a member of United Scenic Artists (Local 829, I.A.T.S.E.) and the US Institute for Theatre Technology, where he recently participated in the World Stage Design 2005 exhibit. Jeff is also a member of the faculty at New World School of the Arts, the spouse of director Deborah Mello, the father of six, and the grandfather of one. Always looking for exciting creative projects.

MATT COREY (Sound/Music) earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Bassoon Performance at the University of Miami, and currently plays in the pit orchestra for the Florida Grand Opera. By day, Matt is the Digital Production Manager at Insight for the Blind Studios in Fort Lauderdale, an organization that produces 100 "Talking Book" titles each year for the blind and physically handicapped. Most recently, Matt's music and sound design was heard in Brooklyn Boy here at GableStage. Matt would like to thank Mom, Pop, Hal, Adam, Dina, Zach, Rob, Dan, Joe, and the countless other talented people who he has come to rely on for their abundant talent and inspiration.

ERIN AMICO (Costumes) is thrilled to be returning to GableStage as costume designer. Her previous work in the region and here at Gablestage includes A Bad Friend, Misery and Brooklyn Boy. Other local work includes Jacques Brel, Seascape and Berlin to Broadway at Palm Beach Dramaworks; Beguiled Again, Puttin' on the Ritz, Below the Belt and Cabaret Verboten at Florida Stage. She also designed the premier production of Sophie Tucker, Last of the Red Hot Mamas at the Kravis Center. Erin is a life long resident of South Florida currently living in Deerfield Beach and raising her two children Dante 7 and Bridget, 5 with her husband Michael.

MICHAEL JOHN CARROLL (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be continuing his third season with GableStage after recently completing successful runs of Brooklyn Boy, Misery, A Bad Friend, The Syringa Tree, The Retreat From Moscow, Bug, Frozen, Trumbo, QED and 'Master Harold'...and the boys. Michael graduated from Barry University in 2001, and though he received his BFA in Acting, he also stage managed their productions of Little Shop of Horrors and Hello Dolly. He subsequently contributed to a dozen productions at Actors' Playhouse and the Coconut Grove Playhouse, and then went from backstage to the booth again as Stage Manager for the Hollywood Playhouse and the Broward Stage Door Theatre. Michael also stage managed the Miami premiere of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Level Nightclub on Miami Beach. He is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and the Theatre League of South Florida. Michael's short list of inspirations include Jeff Buckley, Michel Gondry, and Mom.

CLAIRE SAVITT (Props) has been at GableStage for the last three seasons. She delights especially in finding the items that "play hard to get". Claire 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, Bug, Retreat from Moscow, A Bad Friend, Misery and Brooklyn Boy. A former folk art gallery owner, Claire resides in Coconut Grove with her husband.