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ABOUT
Artistic Collaborators
Jonathan Becker (Mask and Puppet Designer) began sculpting masks twenty years ago while living and studying in Paris. His masks have been seen in Enchantment Theatre Company's productions of Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Snow Queen, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Firebird, and Pinocchio, as well as productions throughout the United States. As a performer, Jonathan has toured Europe, Asia and the United States with Enchantment Theatre Company.Dirk Durossette (Scenic Designer) has been designing scenery and teaching stagecraft, design, and drawing and rendering for the theater for the past 10 years in and around the Philadelphia region. He has designed over 100 plays, operas, and musicals including several Philadelphia and world premieres. He has designed for Amaryllis Theater Company, Azuka Theater, Act II Playhouse (Any Given Monday-World Premiere), Enchantment Theatre Company (National Tour-Harold and the Purple Crayon), Theater Exile, 1812 Productions (First Day of School-Philadelphia Premiere), Freedom Theater, InterAct Theater Company, Lantern Theater (Barrymore Nomination-Skylight), Luna Theater, New City Stage Company, Painted Bird Productions (A Few Small Repairs-World Premiere), Theater Horizon, The Wilma Theater (Leaving, Associate Designer-American Premiere), Temple Theaters, Temple Opera Theater, University of the Arts, Drexel University, West Chester University, and Villanova University. He teaches design at Temple University, The University of the Arts, and Villanova University. M.F.A Temple University. Charles Gilbert (Resident Composer) is a composer, writer, director and educator and is the Director of the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, a position he was appointed to in 2008 after founding and successfully heading the UArts Musical Theater Program for nearly 20 years. For Enchantment Theatre Company, he recently composed the score for The Adventures of Harold and the Purple Crayon and The Velveteen Rabbit. He wrote music and lyrics for Gemini, the Musical, a collaboration with playwright Albert Innaurato, which premiered at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia in 2004 and had its New York premiere at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2007; he received a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Original Music for that score. He received a two other Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Musical Direction for A Year With Frog and Toad and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum at the Arden Theatre; recent music directing credits also include Randy Newman's The Middle of Nowhere at the Prince and The Fantasticks at People's Light and Theater Company. Other works for the musical stage include Assassins (source of the idea for the Tony-Award winning Stephen Sondheim musical of the same name), A Tiny Miracle, Watch the Birdie (Philly Music Theater Works, 2008) and Realities; his current work-in-progress is Einstein's Dreams, Goosefeathers and A Is For Anything (recently revived by the Blue Ridge Theater Festival). Charlie was Musical Theater Coordinator for Kevin Smith's film Jersey Girl and has directed and/or music directed productions at the Prince, the Arden, People's Light, PART, Opera Delaware and the National Music Theater Network. Gilbert's accomplishments as a stage director are equally distinguished. Recent credits include the recent revival of Anyone Can Whistle at the Prince Music Theater, and two productions at the International Festival of Musical Theater in Cardiff, Wales: A Lyrical Opera Made By Two (Gertrude Stein and William Turner's cubist lesbian romance) and Songs for a New World. Gilbert is a leading educator in the field of singer-actor training and a founder and officer of the Musical Theater Educators Alliance. His SAVI System of singer-actor training forms the core of the curriculum at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and he has taught workshops and master classes at colleges and symposia in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Millie Hiibel (Costume Designer) is a Philadelphia-based freelance costume designer and teaching artist with extensive professional credits in the tri-state area as well as NYC. Millie spent the first sixteen years of her life on a cattle and sheep ranch in Northern Nevada, and in every spare moment, reading everything she could get her hands on. After receiving a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Washington in Seattle, she accepted an offer to attend Temple University's Master of Fine Arts program in Design for Theater. Since graduating from Temple, she has been dedicated to her career as a costume designer. Her off-Broadway debut, I Love You Because, was directed by Daniel Kutner, assistant to the legendary Harold Prince, and starred Stephanie D'Abruzzo of Sesame Street and Avenue Q. Her regional credits include such noted theater companies as Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Wilma Theater, Delaware Theater Company, and Pig Iron Theatre. She has also collaborated with Theatre Exile, Bristol Riverside, 1812 Productions, Azuka Theatre Collective, Theater Horizon, Act II Playhouse and Brat Productions. Her work with the Lantern Theater Company brought recognition to her work as a costume designer, and she has subsequently been awarded 2007 and 2004 Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Costume Design, La Ronde (Lantern Theater) and Comedy of Errors (Lantern) respectively. She has also worked with Philadelphia choreographers Roni Koresh, Amanda Miller of Miro Dance Theater and Philadelphia favorite, Kate Watson-Wallace of Anonymous Bodies. Recent work includes Costume Design designs for The Little Prince (Bristol Riverside Theater), Uncle Vanya (Lantern Theater Company), Merchant of Venice and Three Sisters (Temple Repertory Theater), Boeing Boeing (Act II Playhouse), and Edward Albee's At Home At The Zoo (PTC). She was a 2007 F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist finalist, and a 2005 Independence Foundation Fellowship took her to Prague to study traditional marionette making and performance. She is currently an adjunct professor at Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, and Moore College of Art and Design. She is a teaching artist for Arden Drama School and previously taught at UArts, Curtain Call Creations, and Arcadia University. She has lectured and held workshops for The Costume Society of America and USITT. MFA: Temple University. Alisa Sickora Kleckner (Mask and Puppet Maker) is a theatre artist who has designed costumes, puppets, masks, SFX makeup, and craftwork for productions throughout the Northeast. As adjunct faculty and resident designer at Arcadia University, she teaches a range of courses in addition to running the university's costume shop. Alisa has worked with such groups as 1812, Act II Playhouse, Azuka Theatre, Beserker Residents, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Brat Productions, Historic Philadelphia, People's Light and Theatre Co., and the Walnut Street Theatre. She has also collaborated with Bloomsburg, Bucknell, Lafayette, and Muhlenberg. With her husband Chris, she co-founded Little Bunny Voodoo, a puppet company for mature audiences that produces new works yearly. Alisa is an alum of the O'Neill National Puppetry Conference and Puppets in Prague. She has been honored with the KC/ACTF Faculty Design Fellowship and a nomination for the F. Otto Haas Emerging Philadelphia Artist award. Robbie Molinari (Animation Director / Animator) From choir concerts to stage productions to exhibits showcasing his graphic talents, Robbie has from a young age been involved in the arts. Robbie pursued his passion for the graphic arts at Philadelphia's University of the Arts where his concentration in illustration morphed into pursuit of a degree in Animation. After graduation, he went on to become animation director for various short films and commercials. His films were regularly featured at the University of the Arts film department's showcase entranceway, are featured on the internet and on various collaboration DVDs and have been viewed by audiences at the Gershwin Y. He has created commercials for companies such as the credit union bank Veriva. Over the past three years he collaborated with other animators and various cancer support groups, directing a short movie, The Present, helping children who have lost loved ones to the disease cope with their immense loss. He recently completed his first project with Enchantment Theatre Company to create animated scenic and character effects for their recent production of Harold and the Purple Crayon. David O'Connor (Resident Lighting Designer) is a multi-disciplinary Philadelphia theatre artist and teacher. David designed lights for Enchantment Theatre Company's production of Harold and the Purple Crayon. He directed Peter Pan for the Arden Theatre Company. He is currently an adjunct at Temple University, where he earned his MFA in Directing. He is also the resident sound designer there, and was recognized for excellence in sound design by KCACTF. He works extensively as a dramaturge and director with Philadelphia Young Playwrights, who partners K-12 students with teaching artists to write original works of theatre. David has been nominated for Barrymore Awards for his work at Lantern Theater Company, both as a lighting designer for Skylight, and as director for "Master Harold"...and the boys, for which he was also named Director of the Year by Philadelphia Weekly. David was also nominated by the Connecticut Critics Circle for his direction of Dancing at Lughnasa.
C. David Russell (Production Designer) is a costume and scenic designer based in New York City. David was production designer for The Firebird and Pinocchio. Other credits include costumes and sets for the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, University of Delaware, Barrington Stage Company, TheaterWorks, CAP 21, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York University, Case Western Reserve University and Ohio University Productions. He has assistant credits for productions at Radio City Musical Hall, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Arena Stage and The Acting Company. He has his MFA from NYU's Tisch School, and is currently Staff Costumer at Ohio University.
Susan Sweeney (Narrator) has performed the narrations for all of Enchantment Theatre Company's major productions over the past ten years. She has been a professional voice/speech/text/dialects coach for 25 years, working for such theater companies as Baltimore CENTERSTAGE, Virginia Stage Company, Jujamcyn Theatres/Dodger Productions, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Skylight Opera, Walnut Street Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, and the Illinois, Colorado, Utah and Oregon Shakespeare Festivals. She teaches voice and speech for the University of Wisconsin at Madison and is the resident Voice and Text Coach for American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI.
Andy Teirstein (Composer) studied music composition with Leonard Bernstein, Henry Brant, and Stephen Sondheim. He has collaborated with Enchantment Theatre Company on Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Snow Queen, and Pinocchio. He has received awards from the NEA, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Meet the Composer, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and ASCAP. Teirstein has written scores for several PBS and BBC films, and he was an original cast member of the Broadway musical hit, Barnum. Recent commissions include the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. He is currently on the faculty of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.Sara Varon (Author) received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied printmaking and animation. Her first animated film, 'The Tongue', was completed with the help of a grant from the Midwest Media Artists Access Center, and went on to win awards from the SXSW film festival and the Black Maria Film Festival and air on local PBS stations in New York City and Minneapolis. She received her MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Since graduating, she has been creating children's picture books and graphic novels. Her books include "Chicken and Cat," "Chicken and Cat Clean Up," "Robot Dreams," "Sweaterweather," and "Bake Sale." She also created a short comic book with the Walker Art Center called "The Present." Her books have been translated into several languages including French, German, Korean, and Arabic. Sara is currently working on a picture book and a graphic novel. "Robot Dreams," her most well-received book to date, was selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best children's books of 2007 and selected by Publisher's Weekly as one of the 150 best books of 2007. It was also included on Oprah's book list for 2007. Sara has collaborated with other artists in a variety of mediums, including pottery (with Ayumi Horie), traditional Turkish carpet weaving (with the help of Peter Hristoff and the Gullubahce Collective), and vinyl toys (with Kid Robot). She is always interested in expanding her horizons, and is looking forward to exploring theater, a totally new medium for her, while working on Sylvester and the Magic Pebble with Enchantment. Sara currently works part time in the Printmaking Department at the School of Visual Arts, where she is a staff member and silkscreen instructor. For more information about ETC, call us at 215.496.9160 or use the About Menu at right.
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