PETER STOPSCHINSKI (Composer) composed and recorded string arrangements and organ on Grupo Fantasma’s 2010 Grammy Award winning album La Existential. He also composed the music for Madeleine George‘s play The Curious Case Of Dr. Watson that was nominated for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His musical with creator E.J. Stapleton, The Calico Buffalo, was chosen top 10 in the 2015 New York New Musical Theater Festival. Peter is Composer for Rude Mechs‘ production I’ve Never Been So Happy, a western musical which was developed as a selection in the NEA New Play Development Program and played in Washington D.C. and Austin, TX and was picked up by Centre Theater Group for a 4 week run in L.A. at the Kirk DouglasTheater. Peter’s opera, Bum Phillips All-American Opera, with librettist Kirk Lynn about Bum Phillips and the Houston Oilers premiered at the La Mama Experimental Theater Space this year to rave reviews: “Watching a staged depiction of the ‘Luv Ya Blue’ era is like biting into a deep-fried madeline. ” – Texas Monthly. “…even Rigoletto would have to doff his cap.” – NY Times. The opera was attended by Bum’s son, NFL coach Wade Phillips, and former Houston Oiler Quarterback Dan Pastorini. “I was moved to tears in the end,” Mr. Pastorini said. “I lived with the man and I knew the man and they depicted him to a T.” Peter’s concerto for Harp, strings and percussion was featured at the 2014 Orchestra Gala Night at the gathering of the American Harp Society in New Orleans in June. Members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra were conducted by Peter Bay and the solo harp part was performed by Elaine Barber. www.peterstopschinski.com
KIRK LYNN (Librettist) is the head of Playwriting and Directing at the University of Texas at Austin and one of six co-producing artistic directors of Rude Mechs theatre collective. With the Rudes Kirk has written and adapted more than a dozen plays, including Lipstick Traces, Method Gun, and Stop Hitting Yourself, commissioned by Lincoln Center (LCT3). Next up for the Rude Mechs is Field Guide, commissioned by Yale Rep., a performance that will simply explain how to live a good life. Kirk is also working on a new play about a women who goes into the wilderness to search for her missing family entitled, The Cabin, commissioned by Playwrights Horizons who produced Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra in April of 2014. Kirk’s first novel, RULES FOR WEREWOLVES will be published by Melville House in the Fall of 2015. Kirk received his M.F.A. from the Michener Center for Writers and is currently at work on a novel about a wilder George Washington called Cherry Trees. www.kirkkirkkirk.com
LUKE LANDRIC LEONARD (Director) is a director of new theater and opera and the Artistic Director of Monk Parrots, an experimental theater company based in New York. His stage productions have been described as “outstanding” by The New York Times, “pure theatrical experience” by nytheatre(dot)com, and “visually arresting” by Austin American-Statesman. Directing credits include: Bum Phillips: All-American Opera (La MaMa ETC), Here I Go (59E59 Theaters), Turn of the Screw (Symphony Space), and The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (2010 nominee–Austin Critics’ “Best Opera”). Upcoming projects include the world premiere dark musical comedy, Welcome to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at 59E59 Theaters and the Australian premiere of The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, produced by Gertrude Opera. Luke Leonard/Monk Parrots awards include: Manhattan Community Arts Fund grants, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Swing Space Artist Residencies, and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. Luke is Adjunct Associate Professor of Theatre at LIU-Post and holds a MFA from The University of Texas at Austin where he studied directing and studio art. www.lukeleonard.com
MONK PARROTS (Producer) support the creative visions of director Luke Leonard and experimental projects by core members. We make multidisciplinary theatre, musical-plays and opera that premiere in New York and tour nationally and internationally. We strive to cultivate new audiences for new forms, provide opportunities for artists, and forge uncommon unions that enrich our practice and broaden our relationships with professional artists and community members. Monk Parrots is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit performing arts organization based in New York. www.monkparrots.org
Joey LePage (Assistant Director) is a Texan and the Co-Producing Artistic Director of Monk Parrots. As an actor and director, Joey has worked from Austin, to DC, to New York City and even Italy, with stops along the way including Hyde Park Theatre, Salvage Vanguard, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Dixon Place, 59E59 Theaters, and the La MaMa Spoleto Open.
MARIE YOKOYAMA (Set and Lighting Designer) is a Japanese set and lighting designer based in NYC. New plays and opera credit include: Monk Parrots: Bum Phillips -All American Opera-, After an Earlier Incident, Public: Apple Family Series European Tour, PBC: TALA, Pan Asian Rep: Film Chinois, Three Trees. Regional: Yale Rep: Compulsion, Redhouse: A Man of No Importance, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Faust, Opera Theater Pittsburgh: Fantasticks, Merry Widow, and Ariadne auf Naxos. www.marieyokoyama.com
Charlotte Griffin (Choreographer) creates dynamic work for the concert stage, cinematic screen, and multimedia environments with a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration. Her choreography has been commissioned by numerous companies, festivals, and universities including The Hartt School, Patricia Kenny Dance Collection, BJM Danse Montreal, Barcelona Institut del Teatre, The Juilliard Dance Ensemble, Marymount Manhattan College, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, Princeton University, and Rutgers University. She was honored to create ballets at The New York Choreographic Institute with the New York City Ballet and School of American Ballet, at the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive in Austin, and for Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech Kids Dance. Charlotte has been a guest artist at the ArcDanz festival in Mexico and at The Yard’s Bessie Schönberg Choreographers and Dancers Residency. She was an E-Choreographer at Springboard Danse Montreal, an Emerging Choreographer at the Bates Dance Festival, and the recipient of the Scripps/ADF Primus-Tamiris Fellowship at the American Dance Festival for the International Choreographers Commissioning Program. Her award-winning dance films, Barefoot Negotiations (2009) and Raven Study (2007), have screened internationally and have influenced her continued research of choreo-cinematic form, motion, and style. She served on the selection committee of ADF’s International Screendance Festival in 2010 and currently acts as an Advisory Board member of TenduTV, an online dance channel. A dedicated teacher, Charlotte has been invited to give master classes throughout the USA as well as in Mexico City, Barcelona, Prague, and Seoul. She received a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School and an MFA in Dance from the University of Texas at Austin. When she is not traveling to choreograph, Charlotte resides in Maine where she is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Bowdoin College. http://www.griffindance.com/
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