Pericles

Ian Axness is a collaborative pianist, conductor, and composer working between forms of concert music and contemporary theater, and he is thrilled to be working with Rinde Eckert and Two River Theater on Pericles. Ian writes music for plays and sketch comedy, devises semi-improvised variety shows, and plays piano for cabaret and new music theater. Ian has conducted and developed work with organizations including New Dramatists, Yale Rep, York Theatre, Mass MoCA, Brooklyn College, CAP21, and NYU Abu Dhabi; and he currently teaches at Playwrights Horizons Theater School. He recently performed in Erin Markey’s A Ride on the Irish Cream (Abrons Arts Center) and is currently working on The People v. Beethoven, a series of hybrid recitals based on the thirty-two piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven. Ian composes music for Spring Street Social Society, arranges and accompanies for Salty Brine’s Spectacular Living Record Collection Cabaret, and has worked as a teaching artist with Bridge Arts Ensemble and New York City Opera. Selected credits include: The Threepenny Opera (Atlantic), Clown Bar (Pipeline Theatre), Abbey Straße and I’ve Been To Sea Before (The Red Room), Real Time Maneuvers (Bowery Poetry), Andrea Lloyd Webber LIVE in Concert (Dixon Place), As You Like It (Public), Carousel (NY Philharmonic), Political Subversities (Ars Nova/The PIT). BA: Oberlin College.

Will Bernard’s unique sound stems from the rich cultural roots of the San Francisco Bay Area where he studied classical music, jazz, and played in basements and coliseums. He performed or recorded with Rinde Eckert, Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore, Robert Walter, John Medeski, Ben Sidran, Dr John, Peter Apfelbaum, Steven Bernstein, Tom Waits, and a lot of other known and unknowns.  As a leader, Will has released eight of his own CDs. His latest, Out and About, was released March 2016 on Posi-tone records, and his 2007 CD Party Hats as well as his 1997 collaborative project with T.J. Kirk If Four Was One were both nominated for Grammys. Will has often been drawn to the theater and has worked in performances such as John Adams’s I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky and Robert Woodruff’s Duchess of Malfi among others. Will has lived in Brooklyn since 2007.

David Schweizer emerged from Yale Drama School to make his New York debut at age 24 at Lincoln Center with his radical version of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida for producer Joseph Papp. Decades later, he returned to Lincoln Center with an acclaimed staging of Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur for New York City Opera. Career highlights in the interim include world premieres by playwrights Beth Henley, Sam Shepard, Michael Weller, Albert Innaurato, Maria Irene Fornes, Len Jenkin, Ronald Tavel, Marlane Meyer, Tom Babe, Austin Pendleton, Greg Mehrten and Tennessee Williams (In Masks Outrageous and Austere, Off-Broadway last season). Other notable work Off-Broadway includes Charles Mee’s Wintertime at Second Stage, William Hamilton’s White Chocolate at Century Playhouse, Mark Campbell’s Songs from an Unmade Bed at the New York Theatre Workshop, and frequent collaborations with

composer/performer Rinde Eckert, including the Obie Award-winning

And God Created Great Whales and Horizon (Lucille Lortel Award). His extensive work in both new and classic opera includes Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring (Gotham Opera), Stephen Hartke’s The Greater Good (world premiere at Glimmerglass Festival), Jeremy Howard Beck’s The Long Walk (world premiere at Saratoga Opera), a rare staging of Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco at Chicago Opera. Among his many works for innovative Long Beach Opera are Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face, Michael Nyman’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Antonio Vivaldi’s Motezuma, and most recently Philip Glass’s Hydrogen Jukebox and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. He has directed at regional theaters such as Arena Stage, Trinity Rep, Yale Rep, The Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis), Magic Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera and Center Stage, Baltimore; with international residences in Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, Lisbon, Sarajevo, London (his own adaptation of Plato’s Symposium at the ICA), Stockholm (a tour of his collaboration with Theatre X, Foucault’s A History of Sexuality) and Toga Village, Japan.  Schweizer’s work with performance and solo artists features Ann Magnuson, Sandra Tsing Loh, John Fleck, Carmelita Tropicana, Mark Wolf, and extensive work with Marga Gomez (Los Big Names, Love Birds, Pound) and Mike Albo (My Price Point, The Junket). Mr. Albo’s new piece Spermhood opens in May.

Dan Knechtges is a Tony-nominated director and choreographer working in theater, opera, concert dance, television, film, and music videos. Dan’s Broadway credits include Lysistrata Jones (direction and choreography), Xanadu (directed by Chris Ashley, Tony nomination, Drama Desk nomination), Sondheim on Sondheim (directed by James Lapine), 110 in the Shade (starring Audra McDonald) and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (directed by James Lapine). Dan also choreographed the Off-Broadway incarnation of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Second Stage, which earned him a Lucille Lortel Award nomination. Off-Broadway credits include directing the play Tail! Spin! (starring Rachel Dratch), Clinton: The Musical (starring Kerry Butler and Judy Gold), Merrily We Roll Along for Encores! at City Center (directed by James Lapine), Vanities at Second Stage, and directing and choreographing Lysistrata Jones for the Transport Group. He has many regional and international credits as well. Dan’s choreography can be seen in the Todd Solondz’s movie Palindromes, Dark Horse, White Collar on USA Network, the 2011 TV Land Awards with Liza Minnelli, and in Fatboy Slim’s music video “It’s a Wonderful Night,” which reached #1 in the U.K.  He has also taught acting and dance at numerous institutions and often does master classes all over the country. Dan holds a BFA in musical theatre from Otterbein College in Westerville, OH and hails from Cleveland, OH. He is also a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Caleb Wertenbaker has designed scenery for theater, opera, dance, film, and events. He has been commissioned by many companies including the Spoleto USA Festival, Center Stage, the Boston Early Music Festival, Central City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Opera Boston, Geva Theatre Center, and Long Beach Opera. With David Schweizer he has designed many theater and opera productions across the country. Previously he was Design Director for Preston Bailey Designs where he led many design projects including two Saudi royal weddings and several celebrity weddings. He has also toured extensively both domestically and internationally with several companies including the Trisha Brown Dance Company. He is currently pursuing an MBA at the Yale School of Management.

Gabriel Berry specializes in collaboration on new work. Notable productions include the world premieres of the works of Maria Irene Fornes, Richard Foreman, Charles Ludlam, Samuel Beckett, Philip Glass, John Guare, Christopher Durang, Mabou Mines, Peter Sellars, John Adams, Tito Puente, Yoshiko Chuma, Lucinda Childs, Ethyl Eichelberger, Nick Jones, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Osvaldo Golijov, Meredith Monk, and Ellen Stewart. Awards include Obies, Bessies and a silver medal from the Prague Quadrennial for her contribution to experimental theater. She previously designed Dancing at Lughnasa, Pericles and Absurd Person Singular at Two River Theater.

Christopher Akerlind has designed lighting, and occasionally scenery, for over 650 productions at theater, opera and dance companies across the country and around the world. He returns to Two River where he designed the set and lighting for Suzan-Lori Parks’s production of her play Topdog/Underdog. Recent work includes the Broadway productions of Waitress, The Last Ship, Rocky, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and Superior Donuts; Martha Clarke’s new productions Angel Reapers and Cheri for the Signature Theatre Company; the world premiere operas The Golden Ticket and Champion

for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Appomattox and Dolores Claiborne for San Francisco Opera, and Everest for Dallas Opera. His extensive credits in opera include productions at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Boston Lyric, Chicago Lyric, Dallas, Glimmerglass, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Houston Grand, Los Angeles, Metropolitan, Minnesota, New York City Opera, Nissei, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Washington National operas, and over 45 productions for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis where he has been Resident Lighting Designer for 15 years. He is the recipient of the Tony Award for The Light in the Piazza, an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, the Michael Merritt Award for Design and Collaboration, two Chicago-area Joseph Jefferson Awards, as well as numerous nominations for the Drama Desk, Lucile Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Awards.

Ryan Rumery is a musician, composer, and music producer. His music is featured in the films How to Let Go of the World (Sundance 2016), City of Gold (Sundance and SXSW 2015, theatrical release with IFC/Sundance Selects in March 2016), Gatewood, SynchroNYCity, FlowerMan, and And, Apart. Recent theatrical scores include the Pulitzer Prizewinning Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic/Second Stage) and Fool for Love (Broadway). He performs drums and piano live with Palissimo’s trilogy of modern dances The Painted Bird (KioSK Festival in Slovakia, Baryshnikov Arts Center, La MaMa, PS122, Legion Arts, Wexner Center for the Arts). As a drummer, he performs with the Obie Award-winning The Secret City, as well as with Jeremy Bass, the Whale Tales, and Big Weather. Rumery was Sound Consultant for Sufjan Stevens’ Round Up at the Barbican and Edinburgh International Festival. He also consulted on the Nonesuch at 50 Festival at BAM for George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children featuring Dawn Upshaw and Gilbert Kalish, and Alarm Will Sound. He recently produced two albums for Jeremy Bass: Winter Bare and New York in Spring; the title track from the latter album won the John Lennon Songwriting Prize. Additional albums include the self-titled The Joy of Harm, The Whale Tales’ Methods, and his own Riverside, Outside Mullingar, 4000 Miles, Ivanov, and FlowerMan. Current and upcoming projects include albums with Arlo Hannigan, Big Weather, Jeremy Bass, Rich Russell and The Lonesome Heroes, and The Walker Project. www.ryanrumery.com.

Previously designed wigs for The Belle of Amherst, Dancing at Lughnasa, Pericles and Absurd Person Singular at Two River Theater. Broadway: Once on This Island, Sunday in the Park with George, In Transit, Eclipsed, Side Show, After Midnight, Fela, AView from the Bridge. Off-Broadway: In the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World(Signature Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream(Shakespeare in the Park). Tours: Fela (National Tour), Fela (European Tour), Dirty Dancing. Television: Emmy nominated for makeup design for NBC’s The Wiz Live.

Jack Doulin + Sharky Jack has been the Casting Director at New York Theatre Workshop since 2000. Productions there include: Peter and the Starcatcher, Homebody/Kabul, Far Away, A Number, Hedda Gabler, The Misanthrope, and The Little Foxes. Other NYC highlights include two notable productions of Uncle Vanya: André Gregory’s production with Julianne Moore and Wallace Shawn (filmed by Louis Malle as Vanya on 42^nd Street), and Annie Baker’s adaptation with Reed Birney, Maria Dizzia, and Michael Shannon directed by Sam Gold. For SoHo Rep: Blasted, A Public Reading…Disney, Marie Antoinette. Film: New Orleans, Mon Amour directed by Michael Almereyda and Jonathan Demme’s A Master Builder and What the Night Can Do. Sharky, also known as Taylor Williams, serves as the Casting Associate at New York Theatre Workshop. Together they have cast:  Love and Information (NYTW), Oklahoma! (Bard SummerScape), Scenes from a Marriage (NYTW), You Got Older (P73), City of Conversation  (Arena Stage), An Octoroon (Soho Rep and TFANA), Red Speedo (NTYW), Hadestown  (NYTW), Othello (NYTW) directed by Sam Gold, Mary Jane (NYTW) written by Amy Herzog and upcoming The Winter’s Tale (TFANA) and Adrienne Kennedy’s new play He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box (TFANA).

Emily C. Rolston New York: Twelfth Night (Esperance Theater Company), Wittenberg, The Philanderer (The Pearl Theatre Company), The Complete and Condensed Works of Eugene O’Neill, Vol 2 (New York Neo-Futurists), Arts Brookfield, Little Orchestra Society. Tours: Charlotte’s Web (Theatreworks USA), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival). Regional: Gruesome Playground Injuries, Love/ Sick (Arc Stages), Detroit, Northside Hollow (Harbor Stage Company), Middletown (Trinity Repertory Company), Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival), The Fantasticks (Half Moon Theatre), Hamlet, Comedy of Errors, Around the World in 80 Days, Romeo and Juliet (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), The Importance of Being Earnest, The Color Purple, The Who’s Tommy (White Plains Performing Arts Center). Emily is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.