First Look Rep Directors and Designers
Posted by Edward Sobel on 5/16/2008
We are pleased to announce our directors and designers for this year’s First Look Rep.
Ensemble member Tim Hopper, who is familiar to many of you as an actor in such Steppenwolf productions as The Crucible, The Violet Hour, and Hedda Gabler and will be directing Keith Huff’s play Pursued by Happiness. Previously, Tim directed the world premiere of Mia McCullough’s play Taking Care in our Garage Space. Tim brings an actor’s sensitivity and a meticulous attention to nuance and detail in his directing work, and we are delighted to have him joining the First Look family.
Also returning to Steppenwolf is David Cromer who will direct Perfect Mendacity by Jason Wells. David is currently represented in Chicago with the Hypocrites production of Our Town, in which he is also appearing in the role of the Stage Manager. At the same time, he is reaping accolades for his direction of The Adding Machine, currently running Off-Broadway in NY. Previously at Steppenwolf, he directed the world premiere of ensemble member Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow and Richard Greenberg’s The Dazzle.
Meredith McDonough joins us for the first time to direct Sarah Gubbins play Fair Use. Meredith is no stranger to Chicago, having completed her undergraduate degree at Northwestern before heading off to stints at The Actors Theater of Louisville and the prestigious University of California - San Diego MFA directing program. Since then, she has had an active career directing new plays at such theatres as Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Public Theatre, LAByrinth Theatre Company, and also was the New Works Program Director for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. She is currently a member of the Women’s Project Director’s Lab.
These fine artists will be collaborating with an outstanding design team that includes set designer Kevin Depinet, costume designer Debbie Baer (returning for a second year with First Look), lighting designer Keith Parham, and sound designer Joseph Fosco.
As you can tell, we could not be more excited about these men and women contributing their talents to the program.
I should also mention, as of this posting, First Look 101 passes are almost sold out, but we have a handful of slots still available. Our first event for FL101 is on Monday evening, a reading of Pursued by Happiness. So if you’d still like to get in on the action, contact audience services to sign up.
Hope to see some of you then.