Dear Evan Hansen

STEVEN LEVENSON

Book

STEVEN LEVENSON (Book) is an award-winning playwright, currently at work as a writer and co-producer on Showtime’s Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Masters of Sex. His plays include The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin (Roundabout Theatre Company, Outer Critics Circle Award), Core Values (Ars Nova, Drama Desk Nominee for Best Play), The Language of Trees (Roundabout) and Seven Minutes in Heaven (Colt Coeur; Emerging America Festival/Huntington Theatre Company). His work has been seen and developed by Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, MCC Theater, Hartford Stage, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival and the Araca Group. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service and Playscripts. A graduate of Brown University and former Artist in Residence at Ars Nova, he has received new play commissions from Roundabout, Lincoln Center, MCC and Ars Nova. He is a founding member of Colt Coeur and an alumnus of MCC’s Playwrights Coalition and Ars Nova’s Play Group.

BENJ PASEK and JUSTIN PAUL

Music and Lyrics

BENJ PASEK & JUSTIN PAUL (Music and Lyrics)’s Broadway credits include A Christmas Story, The Musical (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre), which received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Outstanding New Broadway Musical. Off-Broadway credits include Dogfight (Second Stage Theatre), the Lucille Lortel Award-winner for Best New Musical. Other theater credits include James and the Giant Peach (Kennedy Center, Goodspeed Musicals and Seattle Children’s Theatre) and Edges. In TV, their original songs were featured on season two of NBC's Smash and rose to the top 25 on the iTunes pop charts. They have also written songs for Sesame Street (PBS) and Johnny and the Sprites (Disney Channel). Other songwriting honors include the Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Sundance Institute Fellowship; ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award; ASCAP Songwriters Fellowship Award; Dramatists Guild Fellowship; Jonathan Larson Award; and Billboard Magazine Top 5 Broadway Songwriters. Benj and Justin work actively as teachers conducting master classes at top theater programs and universities around the world. Both are graduates of the University of Michigan and members of the Dramatists Guild of America.

MICHAEL GREIF

Director

MICHAEL GREIF (Director)’s work was last seen at Arena Stage when he directed Next to Normal. Broadway credits include If/Then, starring Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp and LaChanze; Next to Normal; Grey Gardens; Rent (Tony Award nominations) and Never Gonna Dance. At the Delacorte, Winter's Tale and Romeo and Juliet. Off-Broadway credits include new plays, musicals and revivals at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Class Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, NY Shakespeare Festival/Public, NYTW, Roundabout, Second Stage and Signature, including Katori Hall’s Our Lady of Kibeho, the 2010 revival of Angels in America (Lortel Award), Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide … (Public), Guare's Landscape of the Body (Signature) and musical adaptations of Giant (Public) and Far from Heaven (Playwrights Horizons). He received Obie Awards for Machinal and Dogeaters (Public) and for Rent (NYTW). Regional credits include Williamstown (nine seasons), La Jolla Playhouse (Artistic Director 1995-99), Center Stage, Goodman, Guthrie, CTG/Taper, DTC and Trinity Rep. Education: Northwestern (BS), UCSD (MFA). Upcoming: The Tempest (Delacorte).

DANNY MEFFORD

Choreography

DANNY MEFFORD (Choreographer)’s choreography credits include Fun Home on Broadway (Lortel nomination), Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte Theatre, The Bridges of Madison County, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Drama Desk nomination), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Astaire and Lortel nominations), Dance Dance Revolution for director Alex Timbers, Good Person of Szechwan starring Taylor Mac, February House, Pump Boys and Dinettes for City Center Encores! and Sarah Ruhl’s Melancholy Play for 13P. Upcoming: The Sound of Music North American tour for director Jack O’Brien. Danny graduated summa cum laude from the University of Evansville and holds an M.F.A. from Brown University.

ALEX LACAMOIRE

Music Supervisor

ALEX LACAMOIRE (Music Supervisor) won a Tony and a Grammy as the music supervisor, co-orchestrator and cast album producer of In the Heights. His latest project is Hamilton (The Public Theater; premiering on B’way in summer 2015), for which he received a Drama Desk nomination for the Orchestrations. Other credits as music director, arranger and/or orchestrator for Wicked; Bring It On; 9 to 5 (Drama Desk and Grammy nominations); Annie (2011 B’way revival); Working (59E59); The Wiz (City Center); The People in the Picture; Legally Blonde; High Fidelity; Bat Boy: The Musical; Fly (Dallas Theater Center) and the 2001 National Tour of Godspell. He is an Emmy-nominated composer for Sesame Street on PBS.

BEN COHN

Music Director

BEN COHN (Music Director) is currently on Broadway as the assistant conductor for Wicked. He also music directs for Clay Aiken, Stephanie J. Block and recording artist Alfio. His Broadway credits include The Woman in White, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, In My Life and Wonderful Town. His pre-Broadway work includes The Book of Mormon, 9 to 5, Anastasia and Finding Neverland. As an arranger/musical director he has worked for Disney Cruise Line, Tokyo Disney, Sea World, Busch Gardens, NBC and BC/EFA. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College and his Masters from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU. He lives in NYC with his partner Sean McDaniel and their son Allister.

DROR BAITEL

Music Director

DROR BAITEL (Music Director) is excited to be making his regional debut at Arena Stage and to be working with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. On Broadway, Dror worked on Disney’s hit Mary Poppins, Matilda and the 2015 Tony Award-winning revival of The King and I. He is a recipient of the American Israel Cultural Foundation Award and has performed in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall among other prestigious venues.

DAVID KORINS

Scenic Designer

DAVID KORINS (Scenic Designer) is a New York-based scenic and production designer. He previously designed Trouble in Mind at Arena Stage. Broadway credits include Hamilton, Motown, Annie, the Tony Award-winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Chinglish, An Evening with Patti LuPone & Mandy Patinkin, Magic/Bird, Godspell, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, Lombardi, Passing Strange and Bridge and Tunnel. Other credits include Here Lies Love at the Public Theater and the National Theater. David has served as the creative director for concerts for Mariah Carey, Kanye West and Sia, and designed many interactive installations for Bonnaroo, Outside Lands and Project Pabst music festivals. He is the recipient of Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, three Henry Hewes Awards and an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Design. www.davidkorinsdesign.com

JAPHY WEIDMAN

Lighting Designer

JAPHY WEIDEMAN (Lighting Designer)’s Broadway credits include The Visit, Airline Highway, The Heidi Chronicles, Of Mice and Men (Tony nomination), The Nance (Tony nomination), The Snow Geese, Macbeth (Drama Desk nomination) and Cyrano de Bergerac. Select New York credits include 4000 Miles (Lincoln Center Theatre); What’s It All About: Bacharach Reimagined (NYTW); Booty Candy (Playwrights Horizons); Punk Rock (MCC); Sons of the Prophet (Roundabout Theatre Co); The Oldest Boy (LCT); Wild with Happy (The Public/NYSF) and Jack Goes Boating (Drama Desk Nom). Regional credits include ACT, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Huntington, La Jolla Playhouse, Magic Theatre, Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre Company and Williamstown Theatre Festival. International credits include the West End; RSC; La Scala; Nederlandse Opera; Epidaurus, Greece and Edinburgh International Festival.

PETER NIGRINI

Projection Designer

PETER NIGRINI (Projection Designer)’s Broadway credits include The Heidi Chronicles, The Best Man, Fela!, 9 to 5 and Say Goodnight Gracie. Additional credits include Grounded and Here Lies Love (The Public Theater), Far from Heaven (Playwrights Horizons), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (2nd Stage), Notes from Underground (Yale Rep), The Grace Jones Hurricane Tour, Rent (New World Stages), Haroun and the Sea of Stories (NYCOpera) and Blind Date (Bill T. Jones). He also designed projections for No Dice and Life Times (Nature Theater of Oklahoma)  at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. Upcoming projects include Amelie (Berkley Rep) and Real Enemies (BAM Next Wave).

JUDITH SCHOENFELD

Production Stage Manager

JUDITH SCHOENFELD (Production Stage Manager)’s Broadway credits include If/Then, Next to Normal and Grey Gardens. Off-Broadway credits include numerous productions at The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Theatre for a New Audience, Mabou Mines and Classic Stage Company. She has done additional work with Williamstown Theater Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Goodspeed Opera House, Arena Stage, Dallas Theatre Center and Great Lakes Theatre Festival. Judith is a graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts.

MICHAEL MCGOFF

Assistant Stage Manager

MICHAEL MCGOFF (Assistant Stage Manager) makes his Arena Stage debut. His Broadway credits include Next To Normal, Wicked, Cymbeline, Butley, Festen, Edward Albee’s Seascape and The Rivals. National tours include The Wizard of Oz, La Cage aux Folles, Next to Normal and Rent. He’s worked on five productions in Central Park including The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Romeo & Juliet and As You Like It. Off-Broadway favorites include The Explorers Club (MTC), The Long Christmas Ride Home (Vineyard), Our Lady of Kibeho and Burn This. Regionally he’s worked with Denver Center, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Guthrie Theater and Utah Shakespeare Festival.  Michael has called NYC home for 17 years with his husband Don and Thurston.  He’s pleased to be working on this new piece with Judy, Leigh and Laura.

TARA RUBIN CASTING

New York Casting Director

TARA RUBIN CASTING (New York Casting Director)'s Arena Stage credits include Other Desert Cities, Ruined and A Time to Kill. Selected Broadway/national tour credits include Dr. Zhivago, School of Rock, Gigi, It Shoulda Been You, Aladdin, Bullets over Broadway, Mothers and Sons, Les Misérables, Big Fish, The Heiress, Ghost, One Man, Two Guvnors (US Casting), How to Succeed.., Promises, Promises, A Little Night Music, Billy Elliot, Shrek, Guys and Dolls, The Farnsworth Invention, Young Frankenstein, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Pirate Queen, Spamalot, Jersey Boys, …Spelling Bee, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera and Contact. Off-Broadway credits include Here Lies Love, Old Jews Telling Jokes and Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Regional credits for Sundance Theatre Lab, Yale Repertory, Kennedy Center, Paper Mill Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse and The Old Globe.