Sovereignty

MARY KATHRYN NAGLE

Playwright

is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She currently serves as the executive director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. She is also a partner at Pipestem Law, P.C., where she works to protect tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of Indian Nations to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault. She has authored numerous briefs in federal appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court. She has received commissions from Arena Stage; The Rose Theater in Omaha, Nebraska; Portland Center Stage; Denver Center; and Yale Repertory. Her other plays include Manahatta, Return to Niobrara, Mnisose, Diamonds, Waaxe’s Law, Sliver of a Full Moon, My Father’s Bones, Miss Lead and Fairly Traceable.

MOLLY SMITH

Director

has served as Artistic Director since 1998. Her more than 30 directing credits at Arena Stage include The Originalist, Fiddler on the Roof, Camp David, Carousel, Mother Courage and Her Children, Oklahoma!, A Moon for the Misbegotten, My Fair Lady, The Great White Hope, The Music Man, Legacy of Light, The Women of Brewster Place, Cabaret, South Pacific, All My Sons and How I Learned to Drive. Her directorial work has also been seen at Canada’s Shaw Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, The Old Globe, Asolo Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, Trinity Repertory, Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, Montreal’s Centaur Theatre and Perseverance Theater in Juneau, Alaska, which she founded and ran from 1979-1998. Molly has been a leader in new play development for over 30 years. She is a great believer in first, second and third productions of new work and has championed projects including Dear Evan Hansen; Next to Normal; Passion Play, a cycle; and How I Learned to Drive. She has worked alongside playwrights Sarah Ruhl, Paula Vogel, Wendy Wasserstein, Lawrence Wright, Karen Zacarías, John Murrell, Eric Coble, Charles Randolph-Wright and many others. She led the re-invention of Arena Stage, focusing on the architecture and creation of the Mead Center for American Theater and positioning Arena Stage as a national center for American artists. During her time with the company, Arena Stage has workshopped more than 100 productions, produced 39 world premieres, staged numerous second and third productions and been an important part of nurturing nine projects that went on to have a life on Broadway. In 2014, Molly made her Broadway debut directing The Velocity of Autumn, following its critically acclaimed run at Arena Stage. She was awarded honorary doctorates from American University and Towson University. This summer, she will direct The Originalist Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters.

ANITA MAYNARD-LOSH

Associate and Text Director

is in her 14th season at Arena Stage. She directed the world premiere of Our War and served as associate director on several productions, including Carousel, Oliver! and Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End. Anita trained and taught at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, was on the faculty at Webster University in St. Louis, headed the theater department at the University of Alaska Southeast and was the associate artistic director of Perseverance Theater in Juneau, Alaska. The Alaska native-inspired production of Macbeththat Anita conceived and directed was performed in English and Tlingit at the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C. Through Arena Stage’s devised theater program, Voices of Now, Anita has collaborated on creating and directing original plays with communities in India and Croatia.

KEN MACDONALD

Set Designer

designed the set for The Shoplifters at Arena Stage. Ken’s recent design credits include A Thousand Splendid Suns (San Francisco’s A.C.T. and Theatre Calgary); The Barber of Seville and Macbeth(Pacific Opera Victoria); Madness of King George, Engaged and Our Town (Canada’s Shaw Festival); Wanderlust(Stratford Festival); Parfumerie (Soulpepper Theatre, Toronto); The Arsonists and Vigil (Canadian Stage); Vigil (San Francisco’s A.C.T.); and Sextet, Amorous Adventures of Anantol and The Dishwashers (Tarragon Theatre, Toronto). Awards include Gemini Award for Outstanding Production Design, The Overcoat (CBC); two Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a Betty Mitchell Award and 17 Jessie Richardson Awards. kenandmorris.com

LINDA CHO

Costume Designer

made her Arena Stage debut with Orpheus Descending (2004) and now returns for her 12th production. Broadway credits include Anastasia (Tony Award nomination); A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tony Award); and Velocity of Autumn. Other Washington designs include Dog in the Manger and Macbeth at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Linda’s work has also been seen Off-Broadway, at numerous regional theaters and Opera companies, and she will have her Metropolitan Opera debut next season with Samson et Dalila. Linda is the proud recipient of the Irene Sharaff Young Master Award and has been honored with the Ruth Morely Design Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women. Linda is an alumnus of McGill University and holds an M.F.A from the Yale School of Drama. lindacho.com/

ROBERT WIERZEL

Lighting Designer

has worked with artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds in theater, dance, contemporary music, museums and opera on stages throughout the country and abroad. He has designed at most major regional theaters across the country including Arena Stage, A.C.T San Francisco, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Guthrie, Shakespeare Theatre DC, Hartford Stage, Goodman Theatre-Chicago, Alliance Theatre- Atlanta, Mark Taper Fourm-L.A., and Long Wharf Thetre among many others. Broadway productions include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill starring Audra McDonald: FELA! (Tony Award nomination) and David Copperfield’s debut in Dreams and Nightmares. Robert has designed with opera companies in New York, Paris, Tokyo, Norway, Toronto, Boston, Seattle, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Washington D.C., Virginia, Florida, Atlanta and Chicago, and over 50 productions with Glimmerglass Festival. His dance work includes 32 years with Bill T. Jones and the BTJ/AZ Company.

ED LITTLEFIELD

Sound Designer

is a freelance percussionist, educator and composer based out of Seattle, WA. He is Tlingit from Sitka, Alaska and has released two albums featuring traditional native melodies with the Native Jazz Quartet called “Walking Between Worlds” and “NJQ: Stories” Ed has played K’alyaan in the premier of Battles of Fire and Water and written and performed an original score for Eurydice for Perseverance Theater in Juneau, Alaska. He has done sound design and composition for the world premieres of Our Voices Will Be Heard and composition and cultural advisor for They Don’t Talk Back at Native voices at the Autry, La Jolla Playhouse and Perseverance Theater. Most recently he was the composer and sound designer for Off the Rails at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

MARK HOLTHUSEN

Projection Designer

makes his Arena Stage debut. His career spans photography, motion, theater and digital innovation. From album art to music videos, Mark has created distinctive work for performers including Roger Waters, American Music Club, The Tiger Lillies, 16 Horsepower and The Dodos. In 2009, Roger Waters and Sony Music asked Mark to rethink traditional stage design for the debut of Waters’ opera, Ça Ira. Over 120 of Mark’s photographs served as the opera’s sole visual narration and were met by critical acclaim. In 2012, Mark and The Tiger Lillies collaborated on a performance of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Mark’s award-winning work has been lauded by Communication Arts, Graphis, American Photography and PDN. Mark has also won the IPA Photographer of the Year Awards for both Advertising and Music.

JON AITCHISON

Wig Designer

is happy to be returning to Arena Stage. He was most recently Wig Master at Arena for She Loves Me in the 2006/07 Season. He has designed for the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Wolf Trap Opera Company, and Centerstage.

LEWIS SHAW

Fight Director

returns to Arena Stage after last season’s A Raisin in the Sun. Regional credits include A Streetcar Named Desire, Wait Until Dark, Great Expectations, Deathtrap and Ruined (Everyman Theater, resident company member); Nabucco and Don Giovanni (Washington National Opera); and A Skull in Cinemas, Snow Falling on Cedars and Bus Stop (Baltimore Center Stage). Lewis is the owner/operator of Vulcan’s Forge, and has made weapons and action props for many regional and Broadway productions, as well as The Vampire Diaries, Gotham, Daredevil, Iron Fist and the upcoming Defenders.

JOCELYN CLARKE

Dramaturg

is currently Theatre Adviser to the Arts Council of Ireland and Dramaturg at American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He has taught dramaturgy at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Columbia University and Trinity College Dublin. He was the Commissioning and Literary Manager of the Abbey Theatre for four years, and lead theater critic with The Sunday Tribune for nine years. He is an associate artist with The Civilians and Theatre Mitu in New York. He has written six plays for Anne Bogart and the SITI Company — Bob, Alice’s Adventures Underground, Room, Score, Antigone and Trojan Women (After Euripides) – and Chess Game No. 5, his new collaboration with the company, premiered in New York in March.

ZACH CAMPION

Vocal Coach

is a freelance voice, speech and dialect coach and once worked in the Arena Stage sales office. D.C. credits include voice/dialect coach for The Price and Smart People (Arena Stage); Hand to God (Helen Hayes Award-winning) and Terminus (Studio Theatre); the world premiere of The Gulf (Signature Theatre); Sweeney Todd and My Fair Lady (Olney Theatre Center); Angels in America Part 1 and 2 (Round House); and When the Rain Stops Falling (Helen Hayes Award-winning, 1st Stage). Upcoming projects include On the Town and The Invisible Hand(Olney Theatre Center). Zach is a certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework© and is a member of the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory faculty. Education: M.F.A -Virginia Commonwealth University, B.F.A. Texas State University. voicecoachdc.com

SUSAN R. WHITE

Stage Manager

is thrilled to be a part of Arena’s 68th season and to be working, once again, with Artistic Director Molly Smith. Susan is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

TREVOR A. RILEY

Assistant Stage Manager

previous Arena Stage credits include The Price, Intelligence, Carousel, Destiny of Desire and Our War. Other D.C.-area credits include The Jungle Book, Jack and Phil, Slayers of Giants-INC, A Year with Frog and Toad and Sinbad: The Untold Tale (Imagination Stage); My Fair Lady, The Diary of Anne Frank, Bakersfield Mist, Godspell and A Christmas Carol (Olney Theatre Center); and Just The Two of Each of Us, Appropriate, Detroit and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Woolly Mammoth).