Artistic Director Justin Waldman hosts an intimate conversation with Elephant Shoes director and choreographer, Jeff Calhoun. Coffee and cookies will be available starting at 5:30 PM, with the discussion set to start at 5:45 PM.
Attendance for this pre-show event is FREE; Elephant Shoes 7PM performance tickets sold separately.
MEET THE GUEST
Jeff Calhoun
Jeff Calhoun broke new ground on Broadway as director of the critically acclaimed revival of Big River. The show launched an enduring collaboration with Deaf West Theatre that seamlessly highlighted deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing actors working together and, for the first time on Broadway, eliminated interpreters standing on the side of the stage. His 2003 revival won the Tony Award for Special Achievement in the Theater and toured the United States for a year following its Broadway run. Jeff went on to direct the world premiere of the first original American Sign Language Musical, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2007 and in 2009, he directed and choreographed the Deaf West & Center Theatre Group production of Pippin at the Mark Taper Forum. Elephant Shoes reflects both the continuation of Jeff’s vital partnership with Deaf West, and a vibrant leap forward for the art form.
In addition to his collaborations with Deaf West, Jeff’s career as director/choreographer stretches across 17 Broadway productions and 4 decades, earning him two Tony Award nominations, first for Grease, which ran for 4 years on Broadway, and then for Newsies, which received 8 overall Tony Award nominations.
Thirty years after dancing with Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas motion picture, he directed Dolly’s smash hit stage production of 9 to 5 in London’s West End at The Savoy Theater, which went on to tour across the United Kingdom and internationally.
His choreography for The Will Rogers Follies launched a long relationship and career with Broadway legend, Tommy Tune. Other selected Broadway musicals include Bonnie and Clyde, Jekyll and Hyde, Grey Gardens, Brooklyn, Annie Get Your Gun and Tommy Tune Tonite.
Last year he was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Off-Broadway musical Between the Lines, produced by Daryl Roth, based on the best-selling novel by Jodi Picoult.
His work has also been seen internationally in Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea. Jeff is an Associate Artist at The Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. He also served for over a decade on the Board of Directors for Covenant House International before moving to their Latin American Board of Directors to support housing and essential services for children in Central America.