Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches

TONY KUSHNER

Playwright

Tony Kushner (Playwright)’s plays include Angels in America; Hydriotaphia, or the Death of Dr. Brown; The Illusion, adapted from the play by Pierre Cornelle; Slavs!; A Bright Room Called Day; Homebody/Kabul; Caroline, or Change, a musical with composer Jeanine Tesori; and The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures. He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols’s film of Angels in America and for Steven Spielberg’s Munich, Lincoln, West Side Story, and The Fabelmans. His books include The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present; Brundibar, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; and Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, co-edited with Alisa Solomon. Among many honors, Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an Olivier Award, an Emmy Award, four Oscar nominations, and the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. He lives in Manhattan with his husband, Mark Harris.

JÁNOS SZÁSZ

Director

János Szász (Director) is an international f ilm and theater director, academic, and professor. He returns to Arena Stage having previously directed A Streetcar Named Desire in 2001. Theater work in his native Hungary includes works by Brecht, Chekhov, and Shakespeare, among others. János has directed at the Royal Swedish Theatre (Stockholm), Det Norske Teatret (Oslo), Moscow Art Theatre, Bard SummerScape, and numerous productions at the American Repertory Theater, including The Seagull, Desire Under the Elms, Uncle Vanya, Marat/Sade, and Mother Courage and Her Children. His many film credits include Opium (presented at various festivals in Europe and winner of several prizes), Woyzeck (Hungarian nominee for the Oscars), The Witman Boys (official selection of the Cannes Film Festival and winner of several awards), and Eyes of the Holocaust, a documentary film about the Hungarian holocaust produced by Steven Spielberg for the Shoah Foundation. János was the Director of the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard, and at the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest for 23 years, as a faculty member and head of the film department. He is a member of the European Film Academy and the Hungarian Academy of Science’s Department of Arts.

MARUTI EVANS

Set Designer

Maruti Evans (Set Designer)’s credits include Fat Ham (Public Theater), At the Wedding (Lincoln Center Theater), In Our Daughter’s Eyes (LA Opera), Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theater), The Ring Cycle (Opera Australia), Angel’s Bone (Hong Kong Music Festival, Beijing Music Festival), and Real Enemies (BAM). Drama Desk Awards: Tiny Dynamite and Pilo Family Circus. Drama Desk nominations: Peculiar Patriot, Kill Move Paradise, Deliverance, In the Heat of the Night, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Blindness.

OANA BOTEZ

Costume Designer

Oana Botez (Costume Designer) is an international set/costume designer for f ilm, theater, opera, and dance. She is a Princess Grace Award recipient, NEA/TCG Career Development Program recipient, and Barrymore Award recipient, as well as a Henry Hewes Design Award nominee and Lucille Lortel Award nominee. New York: BAM Next Wave, Bard SummerScape/ Richard B. Fisher Center, Playwrights Horizons, Baryshnikov Arts Center, David H. Koch Theater/Lincoln Center, Big Apple Circus/Lincoln Center, Classic Stage Company. Regional: Ain’t Misbehavin (Barrington Stage Company); Macbeth (Old Globe); Angels in America (Wilma); Man in a Case (Hartford). Opera: Song of the Ambassadors (Alice Tully Hall/Lincoln Center); Carmen (Minneapolis Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Portland Opera); In a Grove (Pittsburgh Opera); Persona (National Sawdust, REDCAT); A House in Bali (BAM). Internationally: Bucharest National Theatre (Romania), Château de Versailles, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Les Subsistances, The Old Vic, Budapest National Theatre, Cluj Hungarian National Theatre (Romania), Le Quartz (Brest, France), La Filature (Mulhouse, France), Exit Festival/Maison des arts de Créteil, Tanz im August Festival Hebbel am Ufer – HAU1 (Berlin, Germany), Edinburgh International Festival, Singapore Arts Festival. She teaches at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale in the Design Department.

CHRISTOPHER AKERLIND

Lighting Designer

Christopher Akerlind (Lighting Designer) has designed lighting for over 650 productions at theater, opera, and dance companies around the world. He returns to Arena Stage where he designed Imitations for Saxophone and Equivocation. Work with János Szász includes productions of The Seagull, Desire Under the Elms, and Uncle Vanya at the American Repertory Theater. Recent work includes Martha Clarke’s God’s Fool at La MaMa ETC, Lynn Nottage’s new play Clyde’s on Broadway and at the Mark Taper Forum, and the world premiere of Huang Ro and David Henry Hwang’s opera M. Butterfly at the Santa Fe Opera. Mr. Akerlind is the recipient of an Obie, two Tonys, and four Drama Desk Awards, among many others, and is on the faculty of the CalArts School of Theater.

FABIAN OBISPO

Original Music and Sound Designer

Fabian Obispo (Original Music and Sound Designer) returns to Arena Stage where his credits include Seven Guitars, Agamemnon and His Daughters (Helen Hayes nomination), and Caucasian Chalk Circle, among others. D.C.-area credits include Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Comedy of Errors, Henry V, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Folger Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. He has designed extensively for off-Broadway and regional theaters. Recent off-Broadway credits include The Chinese Lady (Lucille Lortel nomination), Out of Time, Once Upon a Korean Time, and his musical Felix Starro. He is a recipient of the Berkshires Theatre Critics Award and the Barrymore. His music score for the movie Vancouver won International Motion Picture Award, LA Film Festival’s Indie Short Fest Award, and South Film and Arts Academy Festival Award.

THE WIG ASSOCIATES

Wig and Makeup Designer

The Wig Associates (Wig and Makeup Designer) are making their Arena Stage debut. Opera: Opera Theatre Saint Louis 2023 Season. Off-Broadway: At The Wedding (Lincoln Center); Americano! (New World Stages); Mrs. Warren's Profession, Candida (Gingold Group). Regional: Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (Yale Rep); the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Barrington). Krystal and Will hold BFAs in Wig and Makeup Design from Webster Conservatory. See thewigassociates.com for more.

OTIS RAMSEY-ZÖE

Dramaturg

Otis Ramsey-Zöe (Dramaturg) is a care worker, dramaturg, director, theatre arts educator, Literary Manager at Arena Stage, and Lecturer in Dramaturgy at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He has developed new works at such institutions as Sundance Institute, Kennedy Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Center, and National New Play Network. He has held posts in Theatre at Northeastern University, Dramaturgy at Carnegie Mellon University, Women’s Studies and Honors Humanities at University of Maryland, Performing Arts at American University, and Theatre Arts at Howard University. He was Associate Artistic Director at banished? productions, Future Classics Program Coordinator at The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Literary Manager at Center Stage, and an Allen Lee Hughes Senior Fellow at Arena Stage.

ZOË ELIZABETH LILLIS

Dramaturg

Zoë Elizabeth Lillis (Dramaturg) is a director, producer, playwright, and dramaturg. While typically based in New York, Zoë is thrilled to have joined Arena Stage’s 2022/23 Season as an Allen Lee Hughes Fellow. She had the honor of assistant directing Arena’s world premiere of My Body No Choice. Zoë has worked on Broadway with Manhattan Theatre Club and Second Stage, Off-Broadway with The Public Theater, the cell, and Theatre Row, and regionally with Arena Stage, The Huntington Theatre Company, and Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. She earned her BA in Directing and Dramatizing History at NYU Gallatin, where she focused on the relationship between narrative and the process of production. zoelillis.com

JOSEPH PINZON

Casting Director

Joseph Pinzon (Casting Director) is the founder and creative producer of the contemporary circus company Short Round Productions and its award-winning show Filament. With over 25 years of performing experience, he has worked internationally with renowned companies such as Cirque Éloize, Compagnia Finzi Pasca, Cirque du Soleil, and The 7 Fingers. He holds an MS in Arts Leadership from USC, a BA in Psychology from UCLA, and graduated from the National Circus School in Montreal with a specialization in aerial techniques. He was the casting and resident director for Chamäleon Productions (Berlin) and Constellation Immersive (CAA’s experiential affiliate). He is also a member of the Creative & Independent Producer Alliance and a founding board member of the American Circus Alliance. You can see him causing chaos on season 6 of Nailed It! on Netflix, where (spoiler alert) he is a part of the series’ first three-way tie.

JZ CASTING/GEOFF JOSSELSON, C.S.A. and KATJA ZAROLINSKI, C.S.A.

New York Casting

JZ Casting/Geoff Josselson, C.S.A. and Katja Zarolinski, C.S.A. (New York Casting) are New York-based casting directors, handling productions for theater, film, and television. Recent work includes productions for Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Baltimore Center Stage, Cape Playhouse, Denver Center, The Irish Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Round House Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre, TheaterWorks Hartford, and Weston Playhouse. For more information, please visit www.jz-casting.com.

CHRIS De CAMILLIS

Stage Manager

Chris De Camillis (Stage Manager) has been an Equity Stage Manager for over 30 years, working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, internationally, and in numerous regional theaters. He is making his Arena stage debut with Angels in America. Chris and János have been making theater together since 1999, at the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) with Janos’ groundbreaking production of Mother Courage and Her Children. Further collaborations included Marat/Sade, Desire Under the Elms, Uncle Vanya, and The Seagull. From 1998-2013, Chris was the Line Producer/Resident Stage Manager at the A.R.T.where he stage-managed over 30 productions and line produced the world premiere of Sleep No More, Porgy and Bess, and Pippin. Chris is the PSM for the touring production of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower with Toshi Reagon.

DAYNE SUNDMAN

Assistant Stage Manager

Dayne Sundman (Assistant Stage Manager) is thrilled to be making his ASM debut at Arena Stage after having served as an Allen Lee Hughes Fellow and Production Assistant for several seasons. Some past shows at Arena include American Prophet: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words, Catch Me If You Can, Mother Road, Newsies, Junk, The Heiress, and Anything Goes. Other shows include Jane Anger, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (STC); The Great Society, Born Yesterday, The Little Foxes (Asolo Repertory Theatre). Baldwin Wallace University 2015.

LEIGH ROBINETTE

Assistant Stage Manager

Leigh Robinette (Assistant Stage Manager)’s Arena Stage credits include Holiday, Change Agent, The Originalist, Dear Evan Hansen, Fiddler on the Roof, and Mother Courage and Her Children. Other D.C. credits include The Second City’s Love, Factually at the Kennedy Center, Love Sick and The Jewish Queen Lear with Theater J, and There’s Always the Hudson, Describe the Night, Gloria, Botticelli in the Fire, Familiar, The Arsonists, and An Octoroon with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. She has worked Off-Broadway at Second Stage, with the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, and the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY. She is a graduate of Boston University.