2009 Readers

Sean Bode is a screenwriter, film producer, and actor.  He graduated from the University of Iowa with an emphasis in anthropology, and is the current presidentof the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum.  He has written and produced short films, and has performed in numerous stage productions.  In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife Patricia and his kids, Tristan and Marissa by cycling, playing soccer,sledding and taking trips.

Bob Curry has worked as a professional actor for 25 years. He writes fiction, plays and screenplays, including the script for The Last Great Ride, starring Ernest Borgnine and Eileen Brennan, and teaches writing and acting for UW Division of Continuing Studies and Madison Area Technical College. He edits fiction, non-fiction and drama and is currently writing a novel and several television treatments. He has MFA degrees in Fiction and Acting.

Sandy Ernst is in her thirteenth season with Milwaukee Repertory Theatre where she serves as Associate Artistic Director and Cabaret Director for the Rep’s Stackner Theatre. Before moving to Milwaukee, Sandy spent eighteen seasons with American Player Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, where she directed twenty productions and stage managed over fifty. Milwaukee directing credits include shows for Next Act and Renaissance theatres as well as the Rep.

Playwright and actor Liz Fentress, a Northern Wisconsin native, makes her home in Louisville, KY.  Her auto-biographical play about working for Wisconsin’s Franzen Bros. Circus, LIZ’S CIRCUS STORY, which Liz wrote and performed, won the 2005 National Educational Television Association award for Best Dramatic Narrative; the web site for the production is http://www.ket.org/circusstory/  Liz coordinates playwriting workshops for both the Kentucky Repertory Theatre at Horse Cave and the University of Wisconsin’s School of the Arts at Rhinelander.

Jen Uphoff Gray most recently directed A Thousand Words for Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Love’s Labour’s Lost for Milwaukee Shakespeare and The Diary of Anne Frank for Madison Repertory Theatre. She produced (and directed for) the Madison Rep’s 2007 New Play Festival. Other credits include: the National Tour of Copenhagen, Associate Director of Copenhagen, Cabaret, The Blue Room (starring Nicole Kidman) and The Life on Broadway. Off-Broadway, she directed the world premiere of the musical Suburb. Jen is the Artistic Director of Madison's Forward Theater Company.

John Lordan is an independent actor/writer/director/producer in allvenues/media, in all three major markets of New York, Chicago and LosAngeles. At Madison Rep, he appeared as Robert in "Proof." His playwritinghas been honored with over 25 national awards with productions and readingsfrom coast to coast. His play, "Lovely," will be published in 2008. He is amember of the venerable actors club, THE PLAYERS, in NYC and an exclusiveclient of Stewart Talent Chicago/New York.

Tyler Marchant is currently a professor of Directing/Acting at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. This summer Tyler will be directing the World Premiere of Mark St. Germain’s play FREUD’S LAST SESSION at Barrington Stage Company where he previously directed Jeffrey Hatcher’s play A PICASSO. He recently directed the world premiere of 40 DAYS by Laura Eason, and will be directing the musical RENT this fall. From 2000-2006, Tyler served as the Associate Artistic Director at the Off-Broadway theatre Primary Stages where he also served as Director of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer’s Group. Tyler received his M.F.A. in directing at the University of South Carolina. Member of SSDC.

Phylis Ravel is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Performing Arts at Marquette University.

Karen Saari has been active in the Madison theatre community since 2001. She is an actor who has performed with various companies at the Bartell Theatre, and has also worked offstage in several capacities, including as Producer of Strollers Theatre's recent production of "Hamlet." Favorite Madison roles include Popeye in The Miss Firecracker Contest, Hilary in Tribute, and Mary Pat in The Gays of Our Lives. She studied Performance Theatre at Northern Michigan University, and is about to begin her second year on the Strollers Board of Directors, her first as Vice President.

Roseann Sheridan is the Producing Artistic Director for the Children’s Theater of Madison.   For 17 years, Roseann was the Producer and Associate Artistic Director at American Players Theatre.  In 2003, she began freelancing as a director and teaching acting at the UW-Madison.  She produced the Madison Repertory Theatre’s New Play Festival for two years, and directed several new works in those festivals.  Directing credits include Texas Shakespeare Festival, Next Act Theater, UW-Madison, -Oshkosh, -Whitewater...  Please visit www.rosheridan.com.

 

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