Artistic Director of Maine State Music Theatre
Director of Chamberlain: A True Civil War Romance
Charles Abbott was appointed Artistic Director of Maine State Music Theatre
in 1990, and has continued to produce, direct, choreograph and/or perform
at MSMT as he did from 1975 to 1984 for a total of 55 productions.
Dedicated to the development of new works, he has directed world premieres
of three major new musicals in the past few years: the Yeston/Kopit Phantom,
first at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, and then finessed a second
production at Seattle's Fifth Avenue Theatre; the romantic musical comedy
Love is Spoken Here had its first production at MSMT and is still
in development; and a musical about Raoul Wallenberg entitled Another
Kind of Hero drew international crowds at the Walnut Street Theatre
in Philadelphia. Last summer he directed Lucky Guy, a new musical
well on its way to New York production. He has also developed musicals by
revising scripts of older classics: Cole Porter's Panama Hattie, which
toured with Ann Miller, and Cabin in the Sky. Recently he stage a
revised edition of Oh, Brother! for the York Theatre in NYC.
During his eleven year history with the Walnut Street Theatre, he's staged
their most successful works, including Me and My Girl, Jesus Christ Superstar,
and Into the Woods. His direction of Oklahoma! for Los
Angeles Opera starring Jean Stapleton and Jodi Benson won him the Drama-Logue
Award. His production of Follies with an all-star cast headed by
Juliet Prowse and John Cullum opened Houston's Wortham Theatre Center. He
has directed many plays at leading regional theatres including Noises
Off (Alabama Shakespeare), A Walk in the Woods (Theatre League
of Kansas City), Nuts (The Alley Theatre, Houston), and Bent,
A Midsummer Night's Dream and Sly Fox (Alliance Theatre, Alabama,
where he was Associate Artistic Director).
In an earlier career, he appeared on Broadway in Two Gentlemen of Verona,
Blood Red Roses, and as Joel Gray's standby in The Grand Tour. He
also toured in the first national companies of Marat/Sade, and as
the emcee in Cabaret -- a role he has played for 1000 performances
and will reprise this spring at the Walnut Street Theatre.
As a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Stage Directors
and Choreographers, he is also a voting member of the Tony Awards.
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Additional orchestrator of Chamberlain
Among Doug's orchestration credits are:
Broadway: Damn Yankees (Drama Desk nomination), A Christmas
Carol, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; Off Broadway: Weird
Romance, Jack's Holiday, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller, The Gifts of the
Magi, Godspell; Regional: Captains Courageous, Opal, The Prince
and the Pauper; Film/Television: Pocahontas, Lincoln, Kathie
Lee Gifford-A Celebration of Motherhood, 1994 Tony Awards. He
recently created a string arrangement for an upcoming Toni Braxton album,
produced by Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds.
Other recent projects include Mandy Patinkin's album "Oscar and Steve,"
and "Pocahontas Suite" for Disney rental library. Current projects:
the musical Big and the animated films Anastasia (Fox) and
The Legend of Mulan (Disney). Upcoming projects include the musicals,
King David (Alan Menken/Tim Rice) and Chamberlain (Steven
M. Alper/Sarah Knapp).
Doug is a 1986 graduate of the University of Rochester/Eastman School of
Music. He resides in West Orange, NJ with wife, Marty and son, Max.
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Musical Director of Chamberlain
Douglas Coates returns to Chamberlain: A Civil War Romance after
musical directing the workshop at the New Harmony Project last spring. He
is an internationally known conductor, best known for his baton in the pit
for the European revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, and the American
debut of A Leonard Bernstein Celebration. As a musical director/pianist,
his work has been seen in many regional theatres, summer stocks, universities,
and readings around the country. Last year, he worked on Snapshots: A
Stephen Schwartz Review and was fortunate enough to work with Steven
M. Alper and Sarah Knapp on the New York University production of their
piece, The Library. He has performed
at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and Portland Stage Company,
in Portland, Maine. He has also spent two summers at both Maine State Music
Theatre and Hampton Playhouse as a musical director and performer. His actor/singer
credits include productions of 1940's Radio Hour, Three Postcards,
and Heartstrings: An AIDS Benefit at The Corso Theatre, Zurich. His
fledgling career as a composer saw its first success during the Walnut Street
Theatre production of Allan Ayckborn's Henceforward. He is currently
on faculty at NYU's Collaborative Arts Project 21 and is musical directing
the third year studio showcase production of Nine with director Wendy
Waterman.
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Orchestrator of Chamberlain
Larry Hochman has composed and arranged music for two episodes of Spielberg's
Amazing Stories, the TV documentaries "Views of a Vanishing
Frontier" and "Yad Vashem," as well as several feature films,
including Not for Publication and The Watchman. Other films
orchestrated by Hochman include Dead of Winter, On the Wing,
The Ascent, Braxton, and Grand Larceny. His 18 Broadway
credits include Pippin, Pacific Overtures, The Magic Show,
and orchestrations for Late Nite Comic and Barry Manilow's Copacabana.
His original music is broadcast daily on stations worldwide including CNN,
as well as his many TV & radio commercials co-composed with Larry Gates
for their company, Newfound Music. Mr. Hochman's original musicals include
One Man Band, produced at Coconut Grove Playhouse and available on
CD, and a new version of Phantom of the Opera, which premiered in
1990 as a national tour. His symphony, In Memoriam, which received
its world premiere in Berlin, is also available on CD.
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Set Designer of Chamberlain
Charles S. Kading has designed for MSMT six seasons. Previous credits there
include Cabaret, La Cage Aux Folles, Phantom!, Love Is Spoken Here,
and Lucky Guy. Local design credits include Goodnight Desdemona
(Good Morning Juliet) and Tent Meeting for Mad Horse Theatre.
Additionally, Charles has designed scenery for the Alley Theatre, the Walnut
Street Theatre, Seattle Rep Second Stage, and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival
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Managing Director of Maine State Music Theatre
Mr. Peterson has been administrating theatres for the last 10 years. He
has just completed his first year as Managing Director of Maine
State Music Theatre. Previously, Steve worked as the Administrative
Director at Casa Mañana Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas, one of the
largest producing musical theatres in the country. His work there saw production
of over 80 productions including the new works Balancing Act, Lunch,
and Nunsense II.
As Executive Director of Dallas Repertory Theatre, Steve was credited with
creating "Most Aggressive New Season" by D Magazine. Prior experience
includes Producing Director at Garland Civic Theatre, in Garland, Texas
and Artistic Director of Young People's Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
As a director, Steve's productions include: Nunsense II, Pack of Lies,
Run for Your Wife, Don't Dress for Dinner, and Tintypes.
Steve has acted in over 100 productions and has worked as a site visitor
for the National Endowment for the Arts, Treasurer for Texas Non-Profit
Theatres, and he is active with the National Alliance for Musical Theatre.
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Director of The Library
Cass Morgan is an actress, a writer and a director. Pump Boys and Dinettes,
which she co-wrote and starred in on Broadway, was nominated for a Tony
award in 1982. She was most recently seen on Broadway as Mrs. Potts in Beauty
and the Beast. Her other New York acting credits include Hair,
The Human Comedy, Merrily We Roll Along, Inside Out, La Boheme, The Knife
and dozens of workshops and staged readings of developing musicals.
Cass has directed many different productions of Pump Boys... around
the country, as well as the original productions of King Mackerel
and the Blues Are Running and Cowboys Dream. As a member
of the Board of Directors of The New Harmony Project, she has
worked to help playwrights develop their talents. There she directed Brimstone
and The Library, the latter which she is very happy to be directing
this spring at Stamford Theatre Works.
She is currently at work on an autobiographical theater piece called True
Story, which she will have a chance to develop at this years New Harmony
Project, and will be acting in the New York premier of Floyd Collins
at Playwrights Horizons.
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Producer of The Library
The growth and reputation of STW have been built on the original production
of plays, chosen with great care and sensitivity to the issues of social
relevance within our greater community. As a not-for-profit resident professional
theatre, the process of original play production at STW is a long and labor
intensive one. After a vigorous year of play research, reading scripts,
seeing plays and attending plays-in-process workshops, I select four plays
from among the approximately 500 that are annually considered....
The cultural and educational importance of the arts alone should be enough
to justify the support of artists and arts programs. Moreover, through its
work, every arts institution of quality should be an ennobler of the spirit,
a regenerator of human worth and diginity, and an accessible source of great
pride and inspiration to its greater-community. It is STW's mission to fulfill
this responsibility.
--from Steve Karp,
Producing Director,
Stamford Theatre Works
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