Harris Center for the Performing Arts Program Guide March-June 2018

Amazing Grace
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CHRISTOPHER G. SMITH (Concept, Book, Music and Lyrics)
Christopher is one of the only writers to have contributed the
concept and all three elements of a stage musical and made
it to Broadway on the first attempt. His non-profit lightsonbroadway.org
works to equip a new generation of theatre professionals,
create shows that uplift and inspire, and bless the
wider entertainment culture. Chris thanks his wife Alana,
children Joshua, Alana, and Alexandra, parents, investors,
and, above all, God, who made this whole impossible dream
a reality.
ARTHUR GIRON (Book) His 15 plays are performed in the U.S.
and abroad. Among them, Emilie’s Voltaire played recently in
America, Portugal and Australia. Alfred Molina and Jessica
Chastain starred in L.A. Theatre Works’ Moving Bodies. The New
York Times said A Dream of Wealth is “filled with passion and
ample compassion.” The Metropolitan Opera Guild commissioned
him to write a libretto. Arthur headed Graduate Playwriting
at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a founder of Ensemble
Studio Theater in New York, where he lives with his wife Mariluz.
GABRIEL BARRE (Director) is an internationally acclaimed director.
Broadway: Amazing Grace. Off Broadway includes: MTC’s The Wild
Party, Summer of ’42, john & jen and Almost, Maine. National Tours:
Pippin, Cinderella. Regional includes: Memphis, North Shore Music
Theatre, Theatreworks; Sweeney Todd, Finian’s Rainbow and many
other new musicals at Goodspeed Opera House. International
credits includes: Billy Elliot in Mexico, The Scarlet Pimpernel in Japan,
numerous shows in Korea, China and the Czech Republic. As an
actor, he has been nominated for a Tony Award as Best Actor in
a Musical and appeared off Broadway last season in Cyrano de
Bergerac, which he also directed.
CHRISTOPHER GATTELLI (Choreographer) was awarded the 2012
Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his choreography
in Newsies. (As choreographer) Broadway: South Pacific
(Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations), Casa Valentina, Sunday
in the Park With George, Women on the Verge..., Godspell, The
Ritz, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, 13, High Fidelity. Off Broadway:
Dogfight (Lortel Award), Altar Boyz (Lortel Award, Callaway
Award, Drama Desk Nom.), Bat Boy: The Musical (Lortel Award),
tick,tick…BOOM! Chicago: Jungle Book – The Goodman.
WHO'S WHO
tion designer at Saturday Night Live since 1974, and designed
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He received the Tony Award,
Emmy Award, ATW’s Design Award, Outer Critics Circle Award,
Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Elliot Norton Award
for Sustained Achievement, and was inducted into the New York
Theatre Hall of Fame. Currently represented on Broadway by the
musical Wicked.
EDWARD PIERCE (Scenic Design) Broadway: Holler If Ya Hear Me,
The Other Place, A Streetcar Named Desire, Wicked (all worldwide
adaptations), Billy Elliot, Pippin, 9 to 5, The Pirate Queen, Shatner’s
World: We Just Live In It, Chaplin, Aida, Ragtime, Cabaret, Noise/
Funk. www.edwardpierce.com
TONI-LESLIE JAMES (Costume Designer) Broadway: Come From
Away (2017), Amazing Grace, Lucky Guy, The Scottsboro Boys, Finian’s
Rainbow, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Ma Rainey’s Black
Bottom, King Hedley II, One Mo’ Time, The Wild Party, Marie Christine,
Footloose, The Tempest, Twilight: Los Angeles, Angels in
America: Millennium Approaches and Perestoika, and Jilly’s Last
Jam. Awards: Tony nomination, three Drama Desk nominations,
six Lucille Lortel nominations, Hewes Design Award, Irene Sharaff
Young Masters Award and the 2009 Obie Award for Sustained
Excellence in Costume Design.
KEN BILLINGTON (Lighting Design) Broadway: 98 Shows including,
Dames at Sea, Act One, Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway, Sondheim
on Sondheim, White Christmas, The Drowsy Chaperone, Sweeney Todd,
Working, Sunday in the Park with George (2008, 2017), Chicago (1997),
Annie (1997, 2006), Hello Dolly (1995) Fiddler on the Roof (1976, 1981,
1990) and My Fair Lady (1981). Las Vegas: Jubilee! Other: Radio City
Christmas Spectacular, Smash, NY’s Tavern on the Green. Awards:
Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Lumen.
SHANNON SLATON (Sound Designer) has designed
many national tours including: Shrek, Hairspray, The
Producers, Noise/Funk, The Full Monty, Contact, Tap
Dogs, Sweeney Todd, Drowsy Chaperone, Wedding Singer, Elf,
and Memphis. He has also mixed many shows on Broadway
including: Man of La Mancha, Bombay Dreams, Sweet Charity,
Jersey Boys, Spring Awakening, Fela!, Anything Goes, Annie,
Legally Blonde, Cabaret, and Springsteen on Broadway.
KEITH LEVENSON (Music Director, Company Manager) Broadway
and Off Broadway: Annie, Grease, Dreamgirls, She Loves Me, The
Flowering Peach (composer), Good Old Girls, Shlomo, Annie Warbucks.
National Tours: The Bridges of Madison County, Annie, The
Best Little Whorehouse... (with Ann-Margret), The Who’s Tommy
and many many others. Keith is most proud of his work as an
Arranger/Conductor with Kiss, Yes, and the The Who. His television
credits include The Wizard of Oz at Avery Fisher Hall with
Jewel, Nathan Lane, Jackson Browne, Natalie Cole, Dr. John,
Roger Daltrey, Debra Winger and the
NY Philharmonic with the Boys Choir
of Harlem. www.keithlevenson.net
EUGENE LEE (Scenic Designer) holds BFA degrees from Art Institute
of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon, an MFA from Yale School of
Drama, and three honorary doctorates. He has been the produc-
ROBERT-CHARLES VALLANCE (Hair Design) Recent: Bull Durham,
Comedy of Errors, Donnybrook, A Civil War Christmas, Cotton
Club Parade, Amazing Grace, Pipe Dream. Broadway Design
Favorites: Lucky Guy, Little Shop of Horrors, Long Day’s Journey
into Night, The Play What I Wrote, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Our
Town, Hollywood Arms, The Elephant Man, Dance of Death, Amy’s
View, The Blue Room. Blood Brothers. Resident Designer: Irish
Repertory Theatre. Proprietor of: The Broadway Wig Company.
www.broadwaywigs.com.
DAVID LEONG (Fight and Military Movement) Broadway:
Amazing Grace, A Time to Kill, Billy Elliot, The Civil War, Carousel,
Company, The Rainmaker, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,
King Hedley, Hamlet, Macbeth, A Delicate Balance, In the Summer
House, Sex and Longing, Picnic, Solitary Confinement,
The Homecoming. London: Napoleon (West End) and Jitney
(National Theatre). Film: Alien Resurrection, Titus. Nearly
46 SPRING 2018 PROGRAM GUIDE www.harriscenter.net