A Wrinkle in Time

LAUREN YEE

Book

Lauren Yee (Book) is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and librettist based in New York City whose life was changed when her 11-year-old self read Madeleine L’Engle’s seminal book A Wrinkle in Time for the first time. She is thrilled to return to Arena after the DC premiere of her play Cambodian Rock Band. Her work has also been produced locally at Signature Theatre, Theater J, Round House, and others. She will return to New York next season with her newest play Mother Russia at the other Signature Theatre. Prior to the pandemic, Lauren was named by American Theatre magazine as the second-most produced playwright of that upcoming season. She’s enjoyed productions nationally, including at South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center, and others. Other honors include the Doris Duke Artist Award, Whiting Award, Steinberg/ATCA Award, Horton Foote Prize, Kesselring Prize, a Princeton Hodder Fellowship, and a New Dramatists membership. TV credits: “Pachinko” (Apple), “Interior Chinatown” (Hulu), “Billions” (Showtime), “Clipped” (FX), “Soundtrack” (Netflix), and pilots for Apple and Netflix. BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD. www.laurenyee.com

HEATHER CHRISTIAN

Music, Lyrics, and Arrangements

Heather Christian (Music, Lyrics, and Arrangements) is a Drama Desk and two-time Obie Award-winning composer/librettist/performer making music-centered shows and rituals. Recent shows include Terce: A Practical Breviary (Prototype/HERE Arts Center), Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova), Prime: A Practical Breviary (Playwrights Horizons “Soundstage”), I Am Sending You the Sacred Face (Theater in Quarantine), and Animal Wisdom (The Bushwick Starr, ACT, Wooly Mammoth). She was named one of Time Out New York’s “Downtown Innovators to Watch,” given a New York Drama Critics’ Circle special citation for musical innovation, and has been awarded the Richard Rodgers, Stephen Schwartz, and Jonathan Larson prizes. She’s released 11 records, has taught at NYU and Princeton, operates her own recording studio in Beacon, NY, and can be seen in concert as Heather Christian & The Arbornauts. www.heatherchristian.bandcamp.com

MADELEINE L'ENGLE

Author

Madeleine L'Engle (Author) (1918–2007) was a writer of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays. Her most beloved work, A Wrinkle in Time, won the Newbery Medal and has inspired generations of readers. Over the course of her career, she published more than 60 books that wove together science, faith, and the complexity of human experience with philosophical depth and imaginative reach. She believed children could—and should—engage with moral and emotional complexity, and trusted their capacity for wonder, bravery, and growth. Her work has been translated into dozens of languages and adapted for stage and screen. It continues to resonate with readers of all ages and invite reflection, discovery, and connection across generations.

LEE SUNDAY EVANS

Director

Lee Sunday Evans (Director) is a two-time Obie Award-winning director and choreographer and the Artistic Director of Waterwell. She recently directed the acclaimed production of Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things. Notable credits include The Ford/Hill Project (Woolly Mammoth Theatre, The Public Theater) created with Elizabeth Marvel, Dance Nation by Clare Barron, The Courtroom created with Arian Moayed, Detroit Red by Will Power, Sunday by Jack Thorne, In the Green by Grace McLean, Miller, Mississippi by Boo Killebrew, and Home by Geoff Sobelle. She directed the film adaptation of The Courtroom that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2022.

ANI TAJ

Choreographer

Ani Taj (Choreographer) is a choreographer and founder of The Dance Cartel, working between NYC and the misty west of Ireland. Her work is rooted in the belief that dance can be liberatory and a GOOD TIME; The New York Times described her work as “haute-performance theory with a house party vibe.” Recent thrills include choreography for Dead Outlaw (Broadway), La Cage aux Folles (Pasadena Playhouse), Neon’s The End starring Tilda Swinton, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Olney Theatre Center). She co-created Untitled DanceShowPartyThing with Sam Pinkleton for Virgin Voyages; Dance Cartel highlights include MoMA PS1, Storm King Arts Center, Rolling Stone magazine, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Ace Hotel NY; music videos for Yoko Ono, Reggie Watts, Vic Mensa.
anitaj.co

DOTS

Set Designer

dots (Set Designer) is a multi-disciplinary design collective. Hailing from Colombia, South Africa, and Japan, we are Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk, and Kimie Nishikawa. Broadway: Floyd Collins; Appropriate (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC nominations; Henry Hewes Award); An Enemy of the People (Tony nomination); The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window; Oh, Mary!; Romeo + Juliet. Other: Grangeville, Three Houses (Signature); The Big Gay Jamboree (Orpheum Theatre); Dark Disabled Stories (The Public); Public Obscenities (Soho Rep, NAATCO; Drama Desk nomination, Henry Hewes Award); You Will Get Sick (Lucille Lortel nomination); Kate (Connelly Theater); Infinite Life (Atlantic and National Theatre UK). 2024 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement. designbydots.com

SARAFINA BUSH

Costume Designer

Sarafina Bush (Costume Designer) Broadway: The Outsiders, The Who’s Tommy, How to Dance in Ohio, for colored girls… (Tony nomination), Pass Over. Off-Broadway: Shit. Meet. Fan. (MCC), Oliver! (City Center Encores!), Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (The New Group), Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award), Broadway Bounty Hunter (Greenwich House). Regional: The Preacher’s Wife (Alliance Theatre), Peter Pan (National Tour), Life After (CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, Goodman Theatre). Education: BA, Adelphi University.

JEANETTE OI-SUK YEW

Lighting Designer

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (Lighting Designer) is an award-winning designer for theater, dance, opera, musicals, music performances, and large-scale immersive installation. The New York Times described her designs as “clever” and “inventive.” Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo, The Thanksgiving Play. Off-Broadway: The Connector (MCC), Manahatta (The Public), Golden Shield (MTC), cullud wattah (The Public), The Nosebleed (LCT3), Wine in the Wilderness (CSC), Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre). Regional: King Lear (Shakespeare Theatre Company), The Odyssey (A.R.T.), The Reservoir (DCPA, Alliance, Geffen). Other: Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova), Madame Butterfly (Boston Lyric Opera), An American Soldier (PAC), The March (Annie-B Parson and Big Dance Theater), David Byrne’s immersive Theater of the Mind. Awards: Obie Awards for Sustained Achievement in Design, Henry Hewes Award for Lighting Design, LIT Design Award, NEA/TCG Career Development Program recipient. Arts Professor with NYU Tisch Drama. www.jeanetteyew.com

NICK KOURTIDES

Sound Designer

Nick Kourtides (Sound Designer) designs for musical theater and creates sound environments for devised ensemble works. He is the global sound designer for Magic Mike Live in Las Vegas, London, Berlin, and Australia. Off-Broadway: Macbeth in Stride (BAM), Three Houses (Signature), The Keep Going Songs (LCT3), Travels (Ars Nova), Heather Christian’s Terce (Protoype), Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova), Black Light (Greenwich House), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), Object Lesson (NYTW, BAM), Elephant Room (St. Ann’s), Carson McCullers Talks About Love (Rattlestick), Jomama Jones: Radiate (Soho Rep). Regional: Shakespeare, Actors Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Play House, NYSAF, McCarter, CTG, Geffen, Folger, Studio, Arena, Milwaukee Rep, the Wilma, the Arden, PTC, Prince Music Theater, La Jolla Playhouse. With Pig Iron Theatre Company: A Period of Animate Existence, Cankerblossom, Isabella, Chekhov Lizardbrain, Mission to Mercury. Nick has taught Sound Design for Live Performance at Drexel University and Swarthmore College. He has received an Obie, Lucille Lortel, Bessie, and Barrymore awards. Learn more about Nick at www.nickkourtides.com.

JAMES ORTIZ

Puppet Design and Puppetry

James Ortiz (Puppet Design and Puppetry) is a director, performer and designer who has been lucky enough to create puppetry all over the world. His Milky White for the Broadway revival of Into the Woods as well as his dinosaurs from Lincoln Center’s The Skin of Our Teeth have become fan favorites and tattoos! Most recently: El Niño (Metropolitan Opera), Three Houses (Signature Theatre), Disney’s Hercules (Paper Mill Playhouse, Neue Flora Hamburg), Poor Yella Rednecks (ACT SF), Candide (Skylight Music Theatre), Kiss My Aztec (Hartford Stage). Additional credits include: The Kennedy Center, The Public Theater, City Center, The Muny, Carnegie Mellon, Dallas Theatre Center, Yale Rep, Theatre for a New Audience, Shakespeare Theatre, Ars Nova, and New World Stages. 2016 Obie Award winner for puppetry design for his off-Broadway creation, The Woodsman. American Theatre magazine of “Six Theatre Workers You Should Know” in 2020. 2022 Drama Desk winner for Skin of Our Teeth. James’s original Milky White puppet can now be found on display at the Museum of Broadway. Upcoming: Lincoln in the Bardo (Met Opera) and the film Project Hail Mary starring Ryan Gosling (Amazon MGM Studios). www.jamesortiz.co

ALBERTO "ALBEE" ALVARADO

Wig and Hair Designer

Alberto "Albee" Alvarado he/him (Wig and Hair Designer) is thrilled to make his design debut at Arena Stage. A queer California native of Mexican heritage, he is passionate about amplifying the stories of underrepresented voices, because those stories do and will always matter.  Albee’s Broadway work can be found in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical of 2024, The Outsiders. His Off-Broadway credits include Sumo at The Public and Give Me Carmelita Tropicana! at Soho Rep (co-design). Albee’s regional credits include work at Pasadena Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, San Diego Opera, and Seagle Music Colony. His touring credits include The Ballad of Johnny and June (Citadel Theatre, Canada) and the upcoming The Outsiders tour. Albee loves his husband Daniel and pup Yeobo. @saboralbee

KIRK CAMBRIDGE-DEL PESCHE

Makeup Designer

Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche (Makeup Designer) is a multiculturated Vincentian-born American who returned to theater and the make-up arena in 2021 after a hiatus. Broadway: The Wiz, Lempicka, The Notebook, Merrily We Roll Along, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Camelot, Ain’t No Mo’, The Piano Lesson, Into the Woods, for colored girls…, Strange Loop, POTUS, Skin of Our Teeth, Birthday Candles, Skelton Crew, Clyde’s, Trouble in Mind. Off-Broadway: Shit. Meet. Fan., Syncing Ink, Merrily We Roll Along, Melissa Etheridge: My Window, Into the Woods, Confederates, Sand Blasted, Merry Wives. Regional: Oh Happy Day!, Queen of Versailles, Disney’s Hercules. Opera: This Little Light of Mine. National Tours: The Wiz National, The Wiz Pre-Broadway, Into the Woods. Int’l: Disney’s Hercules Global Premiere, Disney’s Hercules London.

STARFISH

Orchestrations

StarFish (Orchestrations) is a New York-based orchestrating collective who have gathered specifically to orchestrate A Wrinkle In Time. This powerful octet specializes in sonic world-building through a unique devised process that incorporates a true melting pot of musical traditions. We are comprised of violinist Dana Lyn, percussionist Mariana Ramirez, reeds multi-instrumentalist Jessica Lurie, percussionist Matt Bogdanow, guitarist Sasha Brown, music director Ben Moss, pianist Emily Whitaker, and composer Heather Christian.

BEN MOSS

Music Director

Ben Moss (Music Director) is an award-winning music director, performer, songwriter, and orchestrator. DC: Penelope (Signature, Helen Hayes nomination), The Hello Girls (Kennedy Center). Broadway conducting credits include Head Over Heels and Amélie. Off-Broadway: Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova, Obie Award & Lucille Lortel Award), The Hello Girls (Prospect Theater), Heather Christian’s Prime (Playwrights Horizons “Soundstage”), Arlington (Vineyard Theatre), Alexandra Silber’s After Anatevka (Audible), Striking 12 (Prospect).  Other credits: Salty Brine’s Bigmouth Strikes Again (Soho Theatre, UK), Azul (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center), Chasing the Song (La Jolla Playhouse), America is Hard to See (Life Jacket, Edinburgh), Spring Awakening (1st National Tour), and appearances at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. Education: BA, Harvard University. Profound gratitude to Heather, Lauren, and Lee. benkmoss.com

KATIE YOUNG

Associate Director

Katie Young (Associate Director) is a New York-based director and stage manager who is drawn to theater that activates our bodies and spirits within space. Katie has directed world-premiere productions including Back and Forth by Richard Hollman (Super Secret Arts), VODVIL: A Classically Modern Magic Show with magician Andrew Evans (The Magic Patio), Paradise Lost & Found by Tirosh Schneider (Isle of Shoals Productions), Loyalty by Rob Ackerman (Without A Net Productions), and an all-female production of Julius Caesar set in a girls school with Pocket Universe. Works in development include Pygmalion, Somebody Should Fix That with Violeta Picayo and Emily Zemba, and Untitled Mental Breakdown Play by Jenn Jacobs. Her stage management work includes Broadway/Tour: Stereophonic, The King and I, Hamilton, Something Rotten, Once. Off-Broadway: St. Ann’s Warehouse, Second Stage, Park Avenue Armory, Signature, LCT3, Waterwell; Events: Met Gala, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Khaite. Thanks to Lee, TLCCGGx5, Chris for cracking the tesser math, and Henry & Goose. For Petra Karr, who first taught me to tesser. @kyoung253

VERONICA SOFIA BURT

Associate Choreographer

Veronica Sofia Burt (Associate Choreographer) is a choreographer, movement director, and intimacy coordinator working in both theater and film. Her theater credits include New York Theatre Workshop (How to Defend Yourself), Pasadena Playhouse (La Cage aux Folles), Center Theatre Group (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord), The Muny, IAMA Theatre Company, Joe’s Pub, Northern Stage, Williams College, Georgetown University, and her alma mater, Dartmouth College. She was last seen in DC performing with Shakespeare Theatre Company (Camelot) and Washington National Opera (La Traviata, Eugene Onegin). Veronica’s practice of creating daring and sustainable work has led to intimacy coordinating for USC School of Cinematic Arts, American Film Institute, New York Film Academy, Loyola Marymount University, and award-winning short films. Veronica is currently a Women in Film (WIF) Fellow. @veronbee

EMILY WHITAKER

Associate Music Director

Emily Whitaker (Associate Music Director) is a music director, pianist, and conductor based in NYC. Recently she served as the associate music director for Suffs on Broadway. She is also the music supervisor for Monsoon Wedding, which recently played at St. Ann’s Warehouse and at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha, Qatar. Other credits include Sunset Boulevard, & Juliet, Here We Are, Mean Girls National Tour, Trading Places at the Alliance Theatre, The Visitor at The Public Theater, Merrily We Roll Along with Fiasco Theater at Roundabout, Tootsie, The Band’s Visit on Broadway and with Atlantic Theater Company, and The Hello Girls with Prospect Theater Company. She also develops new work, such as The Seat of Our Pants which will premiere at The Public Theater this fall.

THE TELSEY OFFICE / RACHEL HOFFMAN, CSA

New York Casting

The Telsey Office / Rachel Hoffman, CSA (New York Casting) With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, The Telsey Office casts for theater, film, television, and commercials. The Telsey Office is dedicated to creating safe, equitable, and anti-racist spaces through collaboration, artistry, heart, accountability, and advocacy. thetelseyoffice.com

RAIYON HUNTER

DC Casting

Raiyon Hunter (DC Casting) is a casting director, producer, and arts administrator from New Orleans, Louisiana. She currently works as the Casting Director/Line Producer of Arena Stage. Previously, she worked as the Casting Director of Children’s Theatre Company and the Spelman Leadership Fellow at the Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA) where she has contributed to a multitude of shows in varying capacities ranging from casting associate to director on productions such as Do You Love the Dark?, Darlin’ Cory, Bina’s Six Apples, Good Bad People, Confederates, and more. Additionally, she has been in residency at Oregon Shakespeare Festival under Nataki Garrett and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis under Hana S. Sharif.

TIMOTHY R. SEMON

Production Supervisor

Timothy R. Semon (Production Supervisor) Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Water for Elephants, Tammy Faye, The Shark is Broken, Company (2022), Network, Angels in America, Sunset Boulevard, Paramour, Lady Day…, 9 to 5, Collected Stories, A Chorus Line, High Fidelity, Three Days of Rain, Wicked, Assassins. Quality time spent at several other Broadway shows, too. National tours: Company, Jersey Boys, 9 to 5, White Christmas, Wicked. Other: Moonshine. Off-Broadway/Regional: Yes. TV: “Sweeney Todd,” “Company,” “Sondheim 80th Birthday Concert.” BFA: UC-CCM.

JOANNE PAN

Stage Manager

Joanne Pan (Stage Manager) is excited to make her Arena Stage debut. Select theater credits include Broadway: Water for Elephants, Tammy Faye, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Ohio State Murders, Six; Encores!: Love Life, The Tap Dance Kid; Songs for a New World; Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope. Proud first-generation Taiwanese-American. For 婆

CHEYNEY COLES

Assistant Stage Manager

Cheyney Coles (Assistant Stage Manager) Arena Stage debut. Broadway: MJ The Musical, Girl From the North Country, Sea Wall/A Life. Off-Broadway: The Public, MCC, New York Theatre Workshop, New York City Center Encores!, Met Museum, Rock of Ages (2019 Revival). Regional: five seasons at Dallas Theater Center. Film: Ambulance (Bay), The Guilty (Netflix). Thanks to Joanne for this adventure! Love to Mom, Dad, Sally, Soren, & Wylie.

DAYNE SUNDMAN

Assistant Stage Manager

Dayne Sundman (Assistant Stage Manager) is always glad to be back at Arena Stage. Some past favorite shows at Arena include The Bedwetter, Death on the Nile, Unknown Soldier, POTUS, Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches, Catch Me If You Can, Newsies, The Heiress, and Anything Goes. Other credits include Murder on the Orient Express (Great Lakes Theater); Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Sense and Sensibility (Idaho Shakespeare Festival); Jane Anger, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (STC); The Great Society, Born Yesterday, The Little Foxes (Asolo Repertory Theatre). Allen Lee Hughes Fellow. Baldwin Wallace University 2015.

PLATE SPINNER PRODUCTIONS

Producer

Plate Spinner Productions (Producer), led by Diana DiMenna with her colleague Celia Kaleialoha Kenney, works across entertainment media to identify, nurture, and produce dynamic stories which challenge audiences to question the status quo. Recent Broadway: Here Lies Love, Sweeney Todd (Tony nomination), What the Constitution Means to Me (Tony nomination, Pulitzer Prize finalist), Thoughts of a Colored Man, Great Comet. Off-Broadway/Regional: A Good Day to Me Not to You, Octet. Film: Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan (Inaugural Chita Rivera Award), The Science of a Slam Dunk, We Were Meant To. www.platespinnerproductions.com

AARON GLICK

Producer

Aaron Glick (Producer) is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer. Broadway, Touring, and West End credits include Purpose, Hello, Dolly! (West End), Next to Normal (West End), Sweeney Todd (Tony nomination), Kimberly Akimbo (Tony Award), What the Constitution Means to Me (Tony nomination), & Juliet (West End only), The Boys in the Band (Tony Award), Fully Committed, Gypsy (Olivier Award), and The Old Man and the Old Moon. Aaron is also a producer with David Stone and has worked on such shows as Three Days of Rain, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Next to Normal, If/Then, War Paint, the Tony-winning Topdog/Underdog, and all productions of Wicked. Aaron is a Full Member of the Broadway League, a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, and the recipient of Hal Prince’s T Fellowship.

CHARLOTTE JONES VOIKLIS

Producer

Charlotte Jones Voiklis (Producer) is a writer, consultant, producer, and the literary executor of her grandmother, Madeleine L’Engle. She co-authored the biographies Becoming Madeleine and A Book, Too, Can Be a Star. Through Tesser Well Productions, she develops theatrical and narrative projects with her associate Ari Conte. Through Tesser Well Consulting, she works with artists, families, and creative allies to support estate planning and rights management rooted in strategic clarity and artistic values.
www.tesserwell.com