References

DR. KIM PEREIRA is a Professor of Theatre who has been teaching Acting and Dramatic Literature at Illinois State University since 1990.  He was appointed Director of the ISU Honors Program in 2006. He holds a Doctorate in Theatre from Florida State University and a Master’s in English and American Literature from the University of Bombay.   Dr. Pereira is the author of August Wilson and the African-American Odyssey, the first full-length study of August Wilson’s plays. He has written essays on Shakespeare in Stagebill for The Public Theatre in New York and in Asides for The Shakespeare Theatre

JOHN FRANCESCHINA is  a director, an extensively produced playwright,  a widely published author, a renowned composer and retired Associate Professor of Music Theory and Theatre History at Penn State University. His musical adaptations of Spoon River Anthology and Pudd’nhead Wilson toured the United States under the auspices of the National Shakespeare Company following extended runs in New York City. His political musical, Kingfish!, written with librettist Jeff Frankel, took first prize in the University of Mississippi’s southern playwright competition and was performed at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse. His musical, Louise, written in collaboration with Mark Weston was produced at Musical Theatre Works in

DAN CARTER has been the Producing Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Centre Stage and Director of the School of Theatre at Penn State University for more than16 years. He was formerly Associate Dean of the School of Theatre at the Florida State University and Chair of the Department of Theatre at Illinois State University, where he also served as Producing Director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.   Dan studied at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, served a brief apprenticeship with Houston's Alley Theatre, and made his professional acting debut in The Theatre Company of Boston's

New York City. His translation of Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid toured throughout the United States and his recent translations of Arrabal’s Automobile Graveyard, Ars Amandi, Erotic Bestiality and Buchner’s Danton’s Death were performed at Florida State and Syracuse Universities. His Jungle Book, adapted in collaboration with Ben Ohmart from Rudyard Kipling’s stories, was produced by both Syracuse Stage and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and then began an international tour.

A world-touring pianist and classical composer who has just completed his 7th symphony, John has also written incidental music for theatrical productions at the Arena Stage in Washington, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Players’ State Theatre in Miami,
the Asolo State Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and GeVa Theatre, in Rochester, New York. 

His published books include the four-volume translation of The Plays of the Marquis de Sade, Sisters of Gore: Seven Gothic Melodramas by English Women, Homosexualities in the English Theatre from Lyly to Wilde,  Gore on Stage: The Plays of Catherine Gore and Ellington on Stage.   Future releases include Women and the Profession of Theatre, The Theatre of the Marquis de Sade. Volume 1: The Comedies, and Against the Grain: A Social History of Theatre     bearmanor@yahoo.com     (941-388-7923)

Richard III, starring Al Pacino.   Directing credits includes Pentecost, Loves and Hours, Wit, Show and Tell, Cabaret, Macbeth, Collected Stories (w/ Lois Nettleton) Death of a Salesman (w/ George Dzundza), and the appropriately titled A Life in the Theatre for Tennessee Rep.   Dan is a recipient of the Society of American Fight Directors' Patrick Crean Award and holds the rank of Fight Director with that body. He served Actors' Equity Association for four years as Area Liaison from the State of Florida.  Dan was recently inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre.      dhc4@psu.edu         (814) 865-7586

 in Washington D.C., as well as for The Illinois Shakespeare Festival. He is the author of numerous plays including Hostage, a semi-finalist in the 2012 O'Neil Center National Playwrights Conference.  As a guest lecturer he has presented papers at national and regional conferences on African-American Theatre, Indian Theatre, Shakespeare, and Shaw.  kpereir@ilstu.edu     (309) 438-8819

MARK GRAY is a SAG/AFTRA actor with a long history in Film, Television, Industrial Video, live Theatre and Standup. Originally based in Los Angeles, Mark was one half of the comedy team "Pinsky & Gray", performing in LA and across the United States for more than 12 years.  On Television, Mark has been seen on Days of Our Lives, Dear John, and as a performer/writer on Showtime's Comedy Club Network.  Film credits include Meet the Browns, Stroke of Genius and World Traveler.  Onstage,  Mark performed most recently for me as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.  Other recent stage credits include Charles Condomine in Blythe Spirit, Sir Wilfred in Witness for the Prosecution, Ben in The Sunshine Boys,

Kringelein in Auntie Mame,  Ethan's Dad in the Atlanta Premier of  Based on a Totally True Story , Froggy in The Foreigner,   Saunders, the Cleveland Grand Opera's General Manager in Lend Me a Tenor and 14 different roles in  It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.       markrgray2990@gmail.com       (404) 245-6086

DIANE SMITH-SADAK   is an AEA actor and Associate Professor of Acting and Directing at Towson University.  Prior to assuming  the position of Director of the MFA Program in 2005, she served as Head of the Performance Program in the undergraduate division for 4 years.  In addition to her work at Towson, she has taught at the Korean National University of Arts,  the University of Rajasthan in India, Darlington College in England, the Accademia dell'Arte In Italy and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney.  Diane's most recent work focuses on interweaving the voice methodologies of Roy Hart, the training methods of Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki and the work of American director and acting theorist Anne Bogart,

with whom she has studied extensively.  A gifted playwright, Diane is the author of It's Not Funny, I'm Only Laughing -- first performed in San Diego and Step on a Crack: Universe Unbound, a moving exploration of the upside-down world of bi-polar disorder.  In recent years she has created the roles of Eva in Eve n Eve n Eve, Janis Joplin in Legends: A Concert and Zoe in A Cave in the Sky.       dsadak@towson.edu      (410)292-7520

Eric Dobbs

Craig Cauthen

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Tom Palmer