Director Jason Southerland is an award-winning director and producer who joined Next Theatre Company in December after a decade as the founding Artistic Director of Boston Theatre Works. During his time at BTW, the company produced twelve world premieres and developed over sixty scripts through commissions, development agreements and BTW Unbound, an annual festival of new plays. As a director, Jason has staged several award-winning productions for BTW including the New England premieres of Homebody/Kabul, Not About Nightingales, Angels in America: Parts I & II and The Laramie Project. Other notable regional premieres at BTW include Pulp, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun and I Am My Own Wife. Jason also spent five years in New York City, where he worked with BACA Downtown, Circle Rep Laboratory, Lehman/Engel BMI Workshop, Alice's Fourth Floor and the Sanford Meisner Theatre. Additionally, he directed the world premiere of Love Kills, by frequent collaborator Kyle Jarrow, at the 45th Street Theater in New York in September, 2007. Regional work includes Gloucester Stage Company, Foothills Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Albuquerque CLO and the University of Kent at Canterbury. Jason studied directing at the American Repertory Theatre/Harvard University Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. He has served as production assistant and/or assistant director for Julianne Boyd, Jerry Zaks, Hal Prince, Des McAnuff, Oskar Eustis, Christopher Ashley and many others. He holds a B.A. cum laude in political science from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a two-time winner of the Joe Hardy Directing Fellowship, received a Drama League Fellowship, was honored with an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Direction for his 2008 production of Angels in America and was chosen by Boston magazine as #4 on their list of the "40 Bostonians to Watch."
Playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb is a San Francisco-based playwright whose works include boom, Hunter Gatherers, Colorado, T.I.C. (Trenchcoat In Common), and Multiplex. His work has been seen off-Broadway and across the country at Ars Nova, SPF, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Seattle Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Public Theatre, Brown/Trinity Playwrights Rep, the Bailiwick Theatre, Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theatre, Dad’s Garage, and in the Bay Area at Encore Theatre, Killing My Lobster, The Magic Theatre, Impact Theatre, and The Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Hunter Gatherers received the 2007 American Theatre Critics Association/Steinberg New Play Award for best new play to premiere outside of New York and the 2007 Will Glickman Prize for best new play in the Bay Area. He is under commission from South Coast Rep and is a Resident Playwright at the Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco. Peter holds a degree in Theater and Biology from Brown and an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He likes to promote himself online at www.peternachtrieb.com.
Actor Shannon Hoag appears as the quirky museum curator, Barbara. She is a long-time member of Strawdog Theatre Company, and was seen earlier this year in their productions of Red Noses, directed by Matt Hawkins and Cherry Orchard, directed by Kimberly Senior. Previous Strawdog credits include: Aristocrats, A Lie of the Mind, Marathon ’33 (Jeff Award – Best Ensemble), Impossible Marriage, Detective Story (Jeff Award- Best Production 2003, Best Ensemble) and many more. A graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, she also completed studies at The National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, The Moscow Art Theatre and The London Academy of Theater. After boom, Shannon will be appearing next in Uncle Vanya at Strawdog Theatre Company, directed by Kimberly Senior. This is her first appearance with Next Theatre.
Actor Kelly O’Sullivan plays the role of Jo, a journalism student who leads with her heart. Kelly’s credits include Honest, Good Boys and True, The Crucible, and 100 Saints You Should Know (Steppenwolf Theatre), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Northlight Theatre), Jon (Collaboraction, remounted at Theatre on the Lake), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (American Theater Co.), Hot ‘n Throbbing (Pine Box Theatre), The Glory of Living (Profiles Theatre), and Mr. Marmalade (Dog & Pony Theatre, Jeff Nomination for Principal Actress in a Play), as well as staged readings and workshops with The Goodman, TimeLine, Chicago Dramatists, and Rivendell Theatres. Kelly is a graduate of Northwestern University and The School at Steppenwolf. This is her first appearance with Next Theatre.
Actor John Stokvis appears as marine biology grad student Jules, who sees a future in his fish. John’s previous Chicago credits include Horses at the Window (Trap Door Theatre), Feydeau-si-Deau (Theatre Wit), and The 23rd Annual Young Playwrights Festival (Pegasus Players). He has also performed as both an actor and a clown with other Chicago companies, including, but not limited to, Collaboraction, Stage Left, and The Midnight Circus. For more info, visit www.johnstokvis.com. This is his first appearance with Next Theatre.
The production team includes Set Designer Andre LaSalle, Costume Designer Chelsea Warren, Lighting Designer Seth E. Reinick, Sound Designer Nathan Leigh, and Stage Manager: Nancy Staiger*.
