Kleptocracy

KENNETH LIN

Playwright

KENNETH LIN (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright whose plays Warrior Class; Pancakes, Pancakes!; Po Boy Tango; said Saïd; Agency*; Genius in Love, Intelligence – Slave and The Lynching of a White Man In Rural, CA have been performed throughout the world. He is a member of the theater / music / film collective New Neighborhood. Upcoming theatrical works include Farewell My Concubine with composer Jason Robert Brown (Cinematic Productions), Life On Paper (Jackalope Theatre Company), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with music by Stew and the Negro Problem. Television credits include The First (Hulu), House of Cards (Netflix, Emmy nomination, Best Dramatic Series), Warrior (HBO/Cinemax), and Sweetbitter (Starz). Feature film credits include Abacus (dir. Justin Lin). Awards / honors include winner of the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, Princess Grace Award, L. Arnold Weissberger Award, Cole Porter Prize, Edgerton New Play Prize and Fulbright Scholarship. Education: Yale School of Drama.

JACKSON GAY

Director

JACKSON GAY (Director)'s recent productions include Make Believe by Bess Wohl (Hartford Stage); Transfers by Lucy Thurber (New York Stage & Film and MCC, Off-Broadway Alliance Best New Play Award 2018); Ayckbourn's Woman In Mind (Delaware Rep); Christina Anderson’s the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Ground Floor Berkeley Rep); Invictus Mingus by Frank Harts (New Neighborhood /Dorset Theatre); The Cake by Bekah Brunstetter and Lover Beloved by Suzanne Vega and Duncan Sheik (Alley Theatre); Lisa Lampanelli’s Stuffed (Westside Theatre); Mat Smart’s Kill Local (La Jolla Playhouse); Chekhov’s Three Sisters (Studio Theatre /New Neighborhood); Shakespeare’s Much Ado adapted with Ken Lin (Cal Shakes); These Paper Bullets! by Rolin Jones with music by Billie Joe Armstrong (New Neighborhood, Atlantic, Geffen, Yale Rep — Critics Pick Time Out NY, Best Production and Adaptation LA Sage Awards, Best of 2015 Time Out Los Angeles, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Best Production and Best Director); Silverman’s The Moors and Elevada by Sheila Callaghan (Yale Rep); Thurber’s The Insurgents (Labyrinth Theatre Company); 3C by David Adjmi and Thurber’s Where We’re Born (Rattlestick); Thurber’s Scarcity and Jones' The Jammer (Atlantic); Jones’ The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic and Yale Rep, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Outstanding Production of a Play); A Little Journey (Mint Theater, Drama Desk nomination Outstanding Revival of a Play). MFA: Yale School of Drama.

MISHA KACHMAN

Set Designer

MISHA KACHMAN (Set Designer)’s previous designs at Arena include Two Trains Running, Smart People and The Originalist. He has also worked at Asolo Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Court Theatre, Filarmónica de Jalisco, The Kennedy Center, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Olney Theatre, Opera Lafayette, Opera Royal Versailles, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Round House Theatre, Seattle Rep, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Wilma Theater and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, among many other theaters in the United States and abroad. Misha is a recipient of the 2013 Helen Hayes Award and a company member at Woolly. He is a graduate of the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy and serves as associate professor and head of MFA in Design at University of Maryland. For more information visit www.mishakachman.com.

JESSICA FORD

Costume Designer

JESSICA FORD (Costume Designer) is pleased to return to Arena Stage, having previously designed The Fantasticks, directed by Amanda Dehnert. Off-Broadway credits include Transfers at MCC Theatre and The Insurgents at Labyrinth Theatre Company, both by Lucy Thurber and directed by Jackson Gay; Stuffed by Lisa Lampanelli at West Side Theatre and WP Theatre; and These Paper Bullets! and The Jammer with Atlantic Theatre Company, among others. Other D.C. credits include Three Sisters / No Sisters at Studio Theatre, directed by Jackson Gay and Aaron Posner in 2017, as well as Orestes: A Tragic Romp by Anne Washburn and The Gaming Table by Susanna Centlivre at The Folger Theatre Company. Jessica has been the recipient of a Drama Desk nomination and the winner of Connecticut Critics Circle and LA Critics Circle Awards. MFA: Yale School of Drama. www.jessicafordcostumedesign.com.

MASHA TSIMRING

Lighting Designer

MASHA TSIMRING (Lighting Designer) is a N.Y.C.-based lighting designer for performance. Her work was last seen in D.C. in Noura at the Shakespeare Theatre. Her recent NYC work includes Noura at Playwrights Horizons, Intractable Woman with Play Co., Electric Lucifer at The Kitchen and Frontieres Sans Frontieres at Bushwick Starr. Regionally, her work has been seen at CalShakes, Playmakers, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Triad Stage, Yale Rep, Marin Theatre Co., Charlottesville Opera and many others. She has lit dance pieces for LA Dance, Nichole Canuso Dance Co. and CONTRA-TIEMPO. Her work has taken her abroad to Russia, United Arab Eirates, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and the Netherlands. Masha received her MFA from Yale School of Drama. More info at www.mashald.com.

BROKEN CHORD

Original Music and Sound Design

BROKEN CHORD (Original Music and Sound Design)’s Arena Stage credits include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Broadway credits include Eclipsed and The Parisian Woman. New York credits include Scarcity, The Lying Lesson (Atlantic Theater); The Insurgents (Labyrinth Theater); Bull in a China Shop (LCT3); When We Were Young and Unafraid (Manhattan Theatre Club); Transfers (MCC); Informed Consent (Primary Stages); The Good Negro (The Public Theater); Stay, Massacre (Rattlestick); The Other Thing (Second Stage Theatre); Appropriate (Signature Theatre); and Lascivious Something (Women’s Project). Regional credits include Lover, Beloved (Alley Theater); Party People (Berkeley Rep); American Buffalo, Pride and Prejudice (Centerstage); Fairfield, How I Learned to Drive (Cleveland Play House); The Tempest, Deferred Action (Dallas Theater Center); An Enemy of the People (Guthrie Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Whipping Man (Hartford Stage); Top Girls (Huntington Theatre); Ruined, UniSon (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Theatre Company); and These Paper Bullets! (Yale Rep). Film credits include Fall to Rise. www.brokenchord.us

NICHOLAS HUSSONG

Projection Designer

NICHOLAS HUSSONG (Projection Designer)’s Off-Broadway credits include Until the Flood (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Goodman, Milwaukee Rep, St. Louis Rep, ACT Seattle); White Guy on the Bus (59E59, Delaware Theatre Company); Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater Company); These Paper Bullets! Drama Desk nomination (Atlantic Theater Company, Geffen Playhouse, Yale Rep); and Chix 6 (LaMama). Some regional credits include Grounded (Alley Theatre), Two Trains Running (Arden Theater), The Mountaintop (Playmakers Rep), Ella (Delaware Theatre) and Million Dollar Quartet (Berkshires Theatre Group), as well as productions with FEAST Listen&Breathe, Korean Expo, Marc Jacobs, Urban Bush Women, St. Louis Rep, Esperanza Spaulding, Lantern Theatre Company, Abrons Art Center, Tiny Dynamite, Premieres NYC, Ars Nova, Cantata Profana, Nashville Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Summerworks Toronto and Joe’s Pub. Nicholas was the artistic associate at Triad Stage in Greensboro, North Carolina where he continues to design new works based on Appalachian life written by Preston Lane. Television credits include the 70th & 71st Tony Awards (CBS). NewNeighborhood.com Nickhussong.com

DAVE BOVA

Hair, Wig and Makeup Designer

DAVE BOVA (Hair, Wig and Makeup Designer)’s Broadway designs include Be More Chill, M. Butterfly, Sunset Boulevard, Bandstand, Indecent, The Real Thing and Violet. Off-Broadway designs include Be More Chill, Jerry Springer The Opera, Little Miss Sunshine, Here Lies Love, Buried Child, Pericles, Booty Candy, My Name Is Asher Lev, Good Person of Szechwan and Romeo and Juliet. Regionally his work has been seen at Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Signature Theatre, Playwright Horizons, Dallas Theatre Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Ford’s Theater, The Public, Public Works, Seattle Rep, Two River Theatre, Delaware Rep and Cleveland Playhouse. davebovadesign.com

LEWIS SHAW

Flight Director

LEWIS SHAW (Fight Director)’s Arena Stage credits include Snow Child, Sovereignty, A Raisin in the Sun. Everyman Theatre credits include Sweat, Noises Off, The Beaux Strategem, Fences, Ruined, Great Expectations. Center Stage credits include A Skull in Connamarra, Bus Stop, Snow Falling on Cedars, Looking Glass Alice. Washington Opera, Don Giovanni. Shaw is a Certified Teacher with The Society of American Fight Directors and is the owner of Lewis Shaw Fine Dueling Supplies. His stage weapons have been seen in numerous Broadway plays, operas, films and television shows including Head Over Heels, Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s Iron Fist, Aida and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

ZACH CAMPION

Voice and Dialect Coach

ZACH CAMPION (Voice and Dialect 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 Indecent, Sovereignty, The Price and Smart People (Arena Stage); Hand to God (Helen Hayes Award-winning), Vietgone and The Remains (Studio Theatre); the world premiere of The Gulf, and Heisenberg (Signature Theatre); Labour of Love, The Invisible Hand and My Fair Lady (Olney Theatre Center); The Legend of Georgia McBride and Angels in America Part 1 and 2 (Round House); and The Wiz (Ford's Theatre). Upcoming projects include Oil (Olney Theatre Center). Zach is a certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework^© and is a member of the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory faculty. Education: MFA Virginia Commonwealth University, BFA Texas State University. www.voicecoachdc.com.

CHRISTI B. SPANN

Stage Manager

CHRISTI B. SPANN (Stage Manager) returns to Arena Stage for her sixth season. Christi spent twelve seasons on the stage management staff at the Denver Center Theatre Company and has also worked with The Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN; Virginia Repertory Theatre in Richmond, VA and the Shakespeare Theatre Company here in D.C.

MIMI CRAIG

Assistant Stage Manager

MIMI CRAIG (Assistant Stage Manager) is a veteran Stage/Event Manager and Field Coordinator. Mimi has enjoyed a varied career in theatre, television, film, concerts, and live events. She loves to travel, and has toured with projects that are as intimate as two people, and as epic as productions of 300+ cast and crew. Favorites include: Capitol Concerts, presented on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol for presidents and dignitaries; live performances in Las Vegas, such as Barbra Streisand, the Rolling Stones, and Cyndi Lauper; and corporate events for clients such as McDonald’s, Yahoo!, and L’Oreal. But mostly, she loves to return to her theatrical roots and is thrilled to be a part of this premiere production.