Brian Clowdus: Founder & Executive/Artistic Director
Director of The Ugly Duckling and Shipwrecked!
Brian Clowdus is an actor, educator, director, and producer. Brian received his BA in Theatre & Dance from Amherst College graduating Magna Cum Laude, with highest distinction for his Thesis Work and just finished his graduate studies at The University of South Carolina with an MFA in Acting. He has performed in Tokyo, London, Canada, Central and South America, The Caribbean, NYC, LA and in almost every other major city in the United States. He has had the fortune of working with many major theatres and entertainment companies including: The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Surflight Theatre, Shawnee Playhouse, Park Avenue Theatricals, New Bedford Festival Theatre, The British American Drama Academy, Holland America Cruise Lines, Tokyo Disney, The Debaun Performing Arts Center, New London Barn Playhouse, The LAB Theatre, and Theatre South Carolina. Favorite Professional Acting Credits include: The Broadway National Tour of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Miss Texas in The Atlanta Premiere of Pageant directed by creator Bill Russell, The Emcee in Cabaret, Sir Walter Raleigh in The Lost Colony, FrankNFurter in The Rocky Horror Show, Billy Flynn in Chicago, Ozzie in On The Town, Fred Graham in Kiss Me Kate, Frankie in Forever Plaid, Willard in Footloose and John in John and Jen. Favorite MFA Acting Credits include: Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Eilif in Mother Courage, Macbeth in Macbeth, Roy in Cosi, Sharyrhar in The Arabian Nights, Tartuffe in Tartuffe and Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale. Favorite Directing Credits include: The Jungle Book, John and Jen,  and The Larmie Project. Brian also has a self-written and performed one-man show entitled Technicolor Memoirs which served as the thesis for his graduate studies. Brian most recently worked with the world-renowned Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC with an acting fellowship performing in Cymbeline and as Oberon in Dream a Little Dream (an adaption of Midsummer Night’s Dream.) After over 10 years of being a gypsy, Brian is happy to be back in the Southeast near his beautiful family and excited to officially call Atlanta and Serenbe his new home. www.BrianClowdus.com

Dan Kirsch: Season General Manager
Dan  joins Serenbe after coming off a six-year stint as Executive & Artistic Director of Diversionary Theatre, San Diego’s LGBT Theatre.  He commissioned and directed the premiere of the Harvey Milk tribute play Dear Harvey by Patricia Loughrey and Thomas Hodges, also directing the play at the 2010 FringeNYC Festival.  He also commissioned five other new projects during his tenure at Diversionary. Dan has worked in arts management and for LGBT social justice organizations since 1982.  Prior to San Diego, he lived in Charlotte for 15 years, where he worked for the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center and several other arts organizations.  In Charlotte, he was the executive director of the Lesbian & Gay Community Center from 2002-2004, and also founded the gay and lesbian chorus and an LGBT cultural festival. Prior to Charlotte he worked with the Zeiterion Theatre (New Bedford, MA), Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble (Bloomsburg, PA) & People’s Light & Theatre Co. (Malvern, PA).

Will Shuler: Artistic Associate/Resident Music Director
Will received his BA in Music and Theatre from the University of South Carolina. For nearly fifteen years, he has studied piano with Jennifer Langford, Dr. Eugene Barban, Dr. Tien-Ni Chen, and Dr. Joseph Rackers. He has studied acting and movement with Robert Richmond, Robyn Hunt, Steve Pearson, and David Britt. While in South Carolina, Will worked for Theatre South Carolina, USC Lab Theatre, Town, Workshop, Trustus, and Columbia Children’s Theatres, Roanoke Island Historical Association, and Pacific Performance Project/east. Since moving to Atlanta in May of 2010, Will has worked with Two Fat Farmers Productions, True Colors Theatre Company, Center for Puppetry Arts, Stage Door Players, and also was a company member for the inaugural season of Serenbe Playhouse. In March and April of 2011, he made is NYC debut in Flight as Gerard with Pacific Performance Project/east. Recent acting credits include: Flight (Gerard), Shakespeare’s R&J (Student 1/Romeo), The Jungle Book (Kaa), Cyrano de Bergerac (Poet/Accordion Player), The Lost Colony (Actor/Tech), Simon’s Pirate Adventure (Ginger), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Le Chevalier Danceny), The Snow Queen (Kai/Poo), Little Shop of Horrors (Orin), and Southern Baptist Sissies (Brother Chaffey/Houston). Recent music direction/supervision/conducting credits include: Pageant, john & jen, The Jungle Book, Lorca: Alone in a Dream, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Oklahoma!, Jesus Christ Superstar, Mother Courage and Her Children, West Side Story, and Jekyll & Hyde.

Justin Anderson: Director of Ordinary Days
Justin Anderson (Director) is proud to make his Serenbe Playhouse directorial debut with Ordinary Days. Recent directing credits include the smash-hit The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for Synchronicity Theatre and The Unexpected Showcase at The Woodruff Arts Center. Upcoming directing projects include the Atlanta premiere of Body Awareness for Pinch ‘n’ Ouch Theatre (where he is an artistic associate) in August and a seasonal remounting of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for Synchronicity Theatre in December. Since June 2009, Justin has served as the production director of KidStuf at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta. His most recent acting credits include “Elijah/Judge” in Inherit the Wind at Georgia Ensemble Theatre, “Paul” in Company at Stage Door Players, and “Justin” in Wonder, a preschool DVD series produced by The reThink Group, now in its fourth year of production. Justin holds a BA in theatre arts from Campbell University in North Carolina, one-third of an MFA in directing from Rutgers in New Jersey, and ninety percent of an MA in theatre studies from Regent University in Virginia. “Many thanks to Brian for inviting me to be a part of the family and for letting me assist in guarding the dream. Additional thanks and praise goes to Will, Danielle, the OD cast and creative team, The Serenbe Playhouse Board of Directors, The Serenbe Institute, and you, for acknowledging and honoring the importance of supporting live theatre.”

Adam Gwon: Composer and Lyricist of Ordinary Days
Adam Gwon is a rising musical theater writer named one of “50 to Watch” by The Dramatist magazine. He won the 2008 Fred Ebb Award for excellence in musical theater songwriting, the 2011 Kleban Award in the Lyricist category and has been hailed “an extremely talented composer and lyricist” who “is seriously going places.” (The New York Sun, StageSpace.com) Adam’s musical Ordinary Days will be produced in the 2009-10 season at Roundabout Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Adirondack Theatre Festival, and Human Race Theatre Company. Ordinary Days was previously produced at Pennsylvania Centre Stage, the Finborough Theatre in London, and at universities across the country, and was selected for the 2008 NAMT Festival of New Musicals. His other shows include The Boy Detective Fails (book: Joe Meno), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (book/lyrics: Julia Jordan), and Ethan Frome (book: Michael Ruby). His work has been seen and developed at Roundabout Theatre Company, Primary Stages, the York Theatre, SIgnature Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Ars Nova, New Dramatists, NAMT, NYMF, the Johnny Mercer Foundation/American Music Theatre Project, Symphony Space, the Disney/ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the Flea Theater, and many others. Adam’s other honors include the ASCAP Harold Adamson award, the MAC John Wallowitch award and a MAC Award nomination for best song, as well as commissions from Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA (as part of its American Musical Voices Project: The Next Generation), South Coast Repertory, Broadway Across America, and the EST/Sloan Project. Adam has been a MacDowell Colony fellow, a musical theater fellow at the Dramatists Guild, and an artist-in-residence at Weston Playhouse. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.

Donald Margulies: Playwright of Shipwrecked!
Donald Margulies received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for DINNER WITH FRIENDS (Actors Theatre of Louisville [KY], South Coast Repertory [Costa Mesa, CA], Variety Arts Theatre [New York], Comedie des Champs-Elysees [Paris], Hampstead Theatre [London]; American Theatre Critics’ Association New Play Citation, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk nominee; a Burns Mantle Best Play). His many plays include TIME STANDS STILL (Geffen Playhouse [Los Angeles], Manhattan Theatre Club/Friedman Theatre, Cort Theatre; nominated for Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and L.A. Ovation Awards; American Theatre Critics’ Association New Play Citation, a Burns Mantle Best Play); SHIPWRECKED! AN ENTERTAINMENT — THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF LOUIS DE ROUGEMONT (AS TOLD BY HIMSELF) (South Coast Repertory, Long Wharf Theatre [New Haven], Geffen Playhouse, Primary Stages [New York]; Outer Critics Circle Award nomination); BROOKLYN BOY (South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore Theatre, Comedie des Champs-Elysees; American Theatre Critics’ Association New Play Award finalist, Outer Critics Circle nominee, a Burns Mantle Best Play); SIGHT UNSEEN (South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore Theatre [Broadway, 2004], Manhattan Theatre Club/Orpheum Theatre [1992], Comedie des Champs-Elysees; OBIE Award, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award, Drama Desk nominee, Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Burns Mantle Best Play); COLLECTED STORIES (South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club [1996], HB Studio/Lucille Lortel Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket [London]; Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle/Ted Schmitt Awards, L.A. Ovation Award, Drama Desk nominee, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award finalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Drama Desk nominee; MTC/Friedman [Broadway, 2010]); GOD OF VENGEANCE (based on the Yiddish classic by Sholem Asch), ACT Theatre [Seattle], Williamstown [MA] Theatre Festival; TWO DAYS (Long Wharf Theatre); THE MODEL APARTMENT (Los Angeles Theatre Center, Primary Stages, La Jolla [CA] Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre; OBIE Award, Drama-Logue Award, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award finalist, Drama Desk nominee): THE LOMAN FAMILY PICNIC (Manhattan Theatre Club [1989, 1993]; Drama Desk nominee; a Burns Mantle Best Play); WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? (Manhattan Theatre Club, Jewish Repertory Theatre [New York], Brooks Atkinson Theatre); BROKEN SLEEP: THREE PLAYS (Williamstown Theatre Festival); JULY 7, 1994 (Actors Theatre of Louisville); FOUND A PEANUT (Joseph Papp/New York Shakespeare Festival); PITCHING TO THE STAR (West Bank Café); RESTING PLACE (Theatre for the New City); GIFTED CHILDREN, ZIMMER and LUNA PARK (Jewish Repertory Theatre). His plays have been performed at major theatres across the United States and around the world. Theatre Communications Group has published seven volumes of his work. DINNER WITH FRIENDS was made into an Emmy Award-nominated film for HBO, and COLLECTED STORIES was presented on PBS. Currently, he is adapting the novel “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides into an HBO miniseries. Mr. Margulies has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He was the recipient of the 2000 Sidney Kingsley Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Theatre by a playwright. In 2005 he was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters with an Award in Literature and by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture with its Award in Literary Arts. Mr. Margulies is an alumnus of New Dramatists and serves on the council of The Dramatists Guild of America. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1954, Mr. Margulies now lives with his wife, Lynn Street, a physician, and their son, Miles, in New Haven, Connecticut, where he is an adjunct professor of English and Theatre Studies at Yale University.

 

Danielle Wright: Production Stage Manager/Assistant Director
Danielle studied Theatre at Florida A&M University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts. She also earned her Master of Arts in Arts Administration from Florida State University. Danielle has directed and stage managed shows for various companies in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Among these companies are Synchronicity Theatre, Horizon Theatre, 7 Stages, Curtain Call Youth Players, Players of GSU, and the Fresh Air Collective Ensemble. Danielle has also stage managed at the FAMU Essential Theatre, Irene C. Edmonds Youth Theatre, Greater Enrichment Program of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, African Caribbean Dance Theatre, and Javacya Arts Conservatory. Danielle is very excited and thankful to be a part of the uniqueness and creativity that is Serenbe Playhouse.

 

Lanie Warren: Assistant Stage Manager
Lanie is a recent graduate from Lee University in Cleveland, TN, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre. While at Lee she had the opportunity to work in the scene shop doing set construction for a variety of shows, as well as stage managing and working backstage. Although she enjoys participating in all technical areas of theatre, Lanie hopes to pursue a career specifically in stage management. Acting credits include The Trojan Women, Cancer, and Love Shrinks.  SM credits include The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Endgame, and My Children, My Africa.

Chip Epsten: Composer of The Ugly Duckling
Chip Epsten composes for film, dance, theater and even television, once. Recent projects include The Annunciation: Mary says “no” at 7 Stages Theater, 1:23 for Synchronicity Theater, and Gayla Jamison’s Lives for Sale, a documentary examining sex trafficking shown on PBS. Chip has worked with Brooks and Company on one other project, last summer’s Ment, part of the Art on the Beltline series. Past work includes his many scores for puppetry artist Janie Geiser, heard around the country and in Europe. His several projects at 7 Stages Theater include two with director Joseph Chaikin. As a violinist Epsten performs with the 4^th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra and Oy Klezmer. He plays with various classical ensembles including the Albany GA Symphony, directs the string program at Glennwood Academy in Decatur GA, and teaches the violin. Epsten is a recipient of the Atlanta Mayor’s Fellowship in the Arts.

Joanna Brooks: Choreographer of The Ugly Duckling
Joanna is the founder and directorof  Brooks & Company Dance, which she created in 2005. As a teenager, Joanna’s choreography was been seen on local television in coastal southern Georgia and at Disney’s Pleasure Island in Orlando, Florida. In 2006 she choreographed the video for Citi Financial’s 2007 Chairman’s Forum in Las Vegas.Brooks & Company Dance’s most recent mainstage ballet Composed, which included Brooks’ abstract ballet 4.3.5, was recognized by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as one of the “Top 5 Dance Events of 2009.” From the company’s inception in 2005 through 2009 Joanna’s work was recognized locally by Creative Loafing’s “Best of Atlanta.” In addition to the modern ballets she has created for Brooks & Company Dance, she has made dance for Athens Ballet Theater, Griffin Ballet Theatre, The Georgia Ballet and a site-specific work for Arts in the Park at Atlanta’s Historic Oakland Cemetery. Most recently, Joanna was commissioned to create a site-specific work for Art on the BeltLine, a series of new art pieces along the corridor neighborhoods of Atlanta’s proposed BeltLine project. Her narrative ballets are often inspired by literary works and societal ills such as 2006′s The Lottery, based on Shirley Jackson’s short story, and 2009′s CRUX, based on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Joanna holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Florida State University. At FSU, Joanna fell in love with many contemporary techniques including Cunningham, Lewitsky, Limón and Graham. After graduation she apprenticed with Randy James Dance Works in New York City. Her movement style and vocabulary has evolved predominantly from Martha Graham technique, and has been described as “(placing) a premium on technique and abstract dance.” (Pierre Rhue, for Access Atlanta) Joanna also creates movement for the dance phenomenon known as Flash Mobs, choreographing viral dance for large groups of people. When not making dance or steering the company, Joanna spends her time reading fiction, contemplating physiology, moving in new ways and making art in other mediums such as digital video, writing, acrylic paints and doodling henna tattoos on herself and others.

Rachel Teagle: Playwright of The Ugly Duckling
Rachel is a playwright, director, and comedian, Rachel grew up in the Silicon Valley and graduated from Carleton College with a degree in Theater. While she lived in Minneapolis, she was fortunate enough to work with Bedlam Theatre, the Workhaus Collective, and the literary department of the Guthrie Theater. Previous works include  Orange: a farce (about terrorism) and A Cynic Tells Love Stories at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, Muse at Barestage Theater (Red Bluff, CA), Covert Operations at Turtle Shell Productions (NYC), Brown Recluse at the Essential Theater (Atlanta), My Little Pony Express at the Bloomington Playwrights Project (IN), and the Panda Sandwich sketch comedy troupe. This summer, she premiered her first solo work, Rachel Teagle Believes in Ghosts, at the Minnesota Fringe Festival and the Serenbe Playhouse.Rachel is a recent Atlanta transplant, and has had the privilege of working with Synchronicity, Celeste Miller, and Fly-By-Theatre. She is a current Playwriting Apprentice with Horizon Theatre.

Andrew Carson: Lighting Designer of Ordinary Days and Shipwrecked!
Andrew is excited to return to Serenbe Playhouse for their second season after having been a part of the inaugural season last year. He is currently completing his degree in Production Design- Lighting Design at The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).   Some of Andrew’s previous Lighting Design credits include Little Shop of Horrors,  A Chorus Line, Pippin, Into The Woods, Once Upon A Mattress, Runaways, Beneath the Surface,  How to Eat Like a Child, Masquerade, Is There Life After High School?, and The Laramie Project.   The Savannah premiere of the BB dozen Improv Troupe and most recently the SCAD Mainstage production of  Dog Sees God. As the Principal Designer with The Carson Design Group,   Andrew through his firm provides theatrical design services to the Theatre, Concert, and Event Production industries.   In addition his firm also provides theatrical consulting services to both theatre organizations and to those building or renovating performance or presentation spaces. Andrew is a proud member of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) and the United States institute of Theatre Technology  (USITT) .  Andrew is also pleased to announce he is currently in the process of becoming the first and only theatrical lighting designer in the United States to be a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certified Green Associate. Andrew wishes to thank his mother and father for their never-ending love and support.  He would also like to thank his mentor Ruth Hutson for all the assistance and guidance she has provided him over the years.

Kyle DeSpiegler: Technical Director of Ordinary Days and Shipwrecked!
Kyle is a Theatre Artist from Tampa, Florida. He received his B.A. in Theatre Studies from the School of Theatre at Florida State University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with Honors in the Major. Kyle also received his A.A. degree from Hillsborough Community College, graduating with the Award for Academic Excellence in Theatre. While at FSU, Kyle studied modern, post-modern and classical forms of performance while also acquiring skills in technical production by volunteering for various student theatre and main stage productions. He was the Scenic Designer and Technical Director for A Very Unmerry Birthday, Crooked, Prometheus Bound, The Lesson, Act Without Words 1 & 2. He also helped out as a carpenter on productions such as Waiting for Godot, Yerma and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. He also founded and operated an acting company on campus called Grotheatre. He held the position of Artistic Director and led his group through two performance research projects; the first project being The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco and the second being Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus. Outside of Grotheatre, Kyle acted in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, King Lear, Macbeth, The Bacchae, Alice and Act Without Words 1 & 2. He also performed in 13 student films, produced by the FSU Film School. While at HCC, Kyle performed in Book of Days and Pterodactyls. He also produced, designed, built, stage managed and directed Three Nights of Hilarity, which was a show that began with 5 humorous scenes and featured Eugene Ionesco’s play The Bald Soprano. He appreciates the love, the support and the encouragement that he has received from Ashley Keene, Reg Poling, Kris Salata, Grotheatre, and his family; He thanks and loves you all!

Kimi Maeda: Set Designer of Ordinary Days and Production Designer of Shipwrecked!
Kimi Maeda is a theatre artist currently working as a puppeteer and designer for the Columbia Marionette Theatre in South Carolina. Her most recent piece, The Crane Wife, is an original adaptation of a traditional Japanese folktale using handcrafted shadow puppets. She designed the sets and/or costumes for Pig Iron Theatre’s (Philadelphia, PA) The House Where Nobody Lives, Visible Theatre’s (New York, NY) Krankenhaus Blues, Pilgrim Theatre’s (Boston, MA) N, Goshen College’s (Goshen, IN) Much Ado About Nothing, Theatre South Carolina’s Cyrano de Bergerac, The Violet Hour, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Trojan Women, Polaroid Stories, The Crucible, Othello, The Real Inspector Hound, and Baltimore Theatre Project’s Looking for Lulu. Kimi is part of the artists’ collective, Bird on a Wire which recently created the performance, 150v: Milgram’s Tip, which was shown at the State of the Nation Festival in New Orleans. Kimi received her MFA in scenic design from the University of South Carolina and was the recipient of the 2005 Rose Brand Award from the United States Institute of Theatre Technology. Her work was shown as part of the USA professional design exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial, an international festival of theatre design. She received her MA in Scenography from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London where she wrote, directed, and designed Even Clairvoyants Need to Eat, The Lonely Lexicon, and Glimpse of a Shapeshifter. Kimi received her BA in studio art from Williams College.

Brandon R. McWilliams: Costume Designer of The Ugly Duckling
Multidisciplinary Artist, Brandon R. McWilliams holds a BFA in Theatre Studies from The University of Texas at Austin and an MFA in Costume Design from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. His CMU design credits include The Chairs, Sideshow, the musical, and the internationally acclaimed production of Nathan the Wise with director Mladen Kiselov.  At CMU, Brandon studied under the modern masters Susan Tsu, Paul Tazewell and Barbara Anderson.  He has designed costumes regionally for the Silver Spring Stage, Potomac Theatre Project, Actors’ Theatre of Washington, Virginia Musical Theatre, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Adventure Theatre, Washington Shakespeare Company and Imagination Stage. He is the recipient of the Zelma H. Weisfeld USITT Costume Design Award, two-time recipient of the Elizabeth Shrader Kimberly Award in Costume Design and the Texas Educational Theatre Association’s Founder’s Scholarship in Design. Brandon has also worked as Executive Associate to Sandra Gibson, President & CEO of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) as well as the Development Manager for the national service organization.  While at Arts Presenters, Brandon helped in the development of Gateway to the Americas/Puertas de las Americas, a program partnering with Cultural Contact (US-Mexico Fund for Culture) to create new opportunities for Latin America to expand its presence in the realm of international presenting.  He also had a hand in the creation of the Cultural Exchange Fund, a travel grant program assisting in the early stages of international collaborations between artists, presenters and artist managers. Brandon’s work in theatrical design has been on display at the Prague Quadrennial ’07, hailed as the Olympics of theatrical design, as well as at the Carnegie Mellon University campus in Qatar Doha.  He has taught as Assistant Professor of Costume Design at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.