• Andrew Leynse, New Works Festival Artistic Director
• Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, "MAMA HATED DIESELS The Songs and Stories of the American Truck Driver" (Randal Myler will also direct)
• Marc Masterson and Adrien-Alice Hansel, "Wild Blessings - a Celebration of Wendell Berry" (Marc Masterson will also direct)
• Peter Chu, Choreographer
• Rogelio Martinez, "When Tang Met Laika," directed by Terrence J. Nolen
• David Pittu (book & lyrics) and Randy Redd (music), "What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling," co-directed by Neil Pepe and David Pittu

ANDREW LEYNSE (Artistic Director, New Works Festival) is currently the Artistic Director of Primary Stages Company, an Off-Broadway Theater Company in New York City. He has produced, managed, and directed in the New York Theater community for over eighteen years. He began his career at Primary Stages after graduating from Carnegie Mellon's Directing Program. At Castle Hill Productions, he produced over twenty plays including Fortune's Fool, Madame Melville, and The Unexpected Man. Upon returning to Primary Stages as Artistic Director, he oversaw the move to their new home at 59E59 Theaters, and produced over 20 productions including the premieres of The Stendhal Syndrome and Dedication or The Stuff Of Dreams by Terrence McNally, In The Continuum by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter, The Day Emily Married by Horton Foote, and Indian Blood and The Fourth Wall by A.R. Gurney. The critically acclaimed Dividing The Estate by Horton Foote received its Off-Broadway premiere last fall at Primary Stages and will move to Broadway presented by Lincoln Center Theater later this year. Last year at Perry-Mansfield he directed The Cherry Sisters by Dan O'Brien. Primary Stages is pleased to be participating with Perry-Mansfield on their ongoing collaboration to develop today's best new plays.

back to top

DAN WHEETMAN (Co-Creator and Adaptor, MAMA HATED DIESELS The Songs and Stories of the American Truck Driver) recently received an Ovation Award in Los Angeles for Musical Director in Back Home Again. He also received a Drama-Logue Award for Musical Direction for Lost Highway: Hank Williams at Mark Taper Forum and a Los Angeles Critics Award for It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues at the Geffen Playhouse. He is a co-author of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues, which was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Book. He wrote his plays Appalachian Strings and Fire on the Mountain with director Randal Myler. The following theaters performed Appalachian Strings: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Denver Center Theatre Company, Meadow Brook Theatre, and Virginia Stage Company. Fire on the Mountain has been performed at the sold-out houses at San Diego Rep, the Barter Theatre Company in Virginia, The Denver Center Theatre, and recently at Seattle Rep. He was the composer and musical director for the stage version of John Irving's Cider House Rules at the Mark Taper Forum in L.A. and the Atlantic Theater Company in New York. He toured and recorded with John Denver, wrote a Christmas song for Kermit the Frog, made a 78rpm record with R. Crumb and the Good Tone Banjo Boys, played a fiddle duet with Itzack Perlman, and worked as the opening act for Steve Martin. He plays in the band Marley's Ghost. Their new CD, "Spooked", on Sage Arts was produced by Van Dyke Parks and the cover art was done by master cartoonist R. Crumb.

back to top

MARC MASTERSON (Co-Creator and Director, Wild Blessings - a Celebration of Wendell Berry) is currently in his eighth season as Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He is an award-winning director specializing in new work and innovative productions of the classics that include The Tempest, The Unseen, Mary's Wedding, Natural Selection, The Crucible, The Shaker Chair, After Ashley, Betrayal, As You Like It, Tallgrass Gothic, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Second Death of Priscilla, Limonade Tous les Jours, Wonderful World and Macbeth. As a producer, he has brought new artists to Louisville audiences, including playwrights August Wilson, Craig Wright, Theresa Rebeck and dozens of Humana Festival playwrights. With more than 100 professional productions as a director to his credit, other favorites include The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam (2000), Compleat Female Stage Beauty by Jeffrey Hatcher (American Theatre Critics citation 1999) and Gross Indecency: Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman (1999). He led the creation of Actors Theatre's first Education Department and numerous community outreach efforts. Mr. Masterson earned his M.F.A. from University of Pittsburgh and a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University. He subsequently taught at both universities. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of Theatre Communications Group and served as Producing Director of City Theatre in Pittsburgh for 20 years. He was founder and chairman of Greater Pittsburgh Arts Alliance as well as a board member for Leadership Pittsburgh. He is currently a board member of the Theatre Communications Group and has served as a panel member for Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts and other national foundations. Mr. Masterson won the Man of the Year Vectors Award in 1998 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Pittsburgh New Works Festival.

back to top

ADRIEN-ALICE HANSEL (Co-Creator, Wild Blessings - a Celebration of Wendell Berry) is the Director of New Play Development at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she coordinates all aspects of the Literary Department. She has served as production dramaturg on roughly 30 plays at Actors Theater, including Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spunk, 9 Parts of Desire, I Am My Own Wife, The Crucible and Underneath the Lintel and the following Humana Festival premieres: The Unseen, Batch, The Open Road Anthology, Act a Lady, Hotel Cassiopeia, Neon Mirage, The Shaker Chair, A Nervous Smile, Uncle Sam's Satiric Spectacular, The Ruby Sunrise and Cabin Pressure. She is the co-editor of five anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre and holds an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. Ms. Hansel serves on the board of the Kentucky Foundation of Women, an organization that promotes social change by funding feminist art.

back to top

PETER CHU (Choreograper, Dance Presentation)began his training as a competitive gymnast and evolved into a dancer at Dussich Dance Studio in Merritt Island, Fl. Receiving his BFA degree from the Juilliard School under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, Peter was awarded the Hector Zaraspe Prize for choreography. Upon graduation, he joined Les Ballets Jazz de Motnreal(BJM_ Danse) directed by Louis Robitailles for two seasons. He has taught and choreographed for the Edge Scholarship show in LA, the cast of Le Reve created by Franco Dragone, Houston Metropolitan Dance Co., The Juilliard School summer dance, Busan International Beach Dance Festival (Korea), as a guest teacher for LADF dance conventions, Dance Masters of America national and regional conventions, Le Domaine Forget Summer Intensive in Charlevoix, Quebec, and for the Invito Alla Danza Festival 2003 in Rome. His versatility and love for dance has motivated him to express his artistry/choreography through various dance techniques and styles. Now pursuing a career as both a choreographer and performer, his work has been presented at Alice Tully Hall, The Clark Studio Theatre, The Juilliard Theatre, Wortham Theater Center, Key Club(Carnival), as well as many other schools and theatres across North America. He recently finished creating and dancing for the film, "Love Runs Red," directed by Trevor John. Peter is enjoying his time performing for the Celine Dion show, " A New Day," in Las Vegas.

back to top

ROGELIO MARTINEZ (Playwright, When Tang Met Laika). In May his new play, All Eyes and Ears, will be presented by INTAR on Theater Row directed by Eduardo Machado. His previous play, Fizz, developed with an NEA/TCG grant at INTAR, was produced at the Ohio Theater. Learning Curve premiered in February 2005 at Theatre Row and was subsequently published in May 2006 by Smith and Krauss in New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2005. Arrivals and Departures was produced as part of the First Annual Summer Play Festival. I Regret She's Made of Sugar, commissioned by South Coast Repertory, earned Rogelio a Princess Grace Award. He is also a recipient of an NEA/TCG Residency Grant, a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and is an alumnus of New Dramatists. His play My First Radical was workshopped at the Ojai Playwrights Conference. Union City, NJ…, produced at E.S.T. and starring Rosie Perez, won the James Hammerstein Award. Illuminating Veronica, a play about the early years of the Revolution, will soon be published by Broadway Play Publishing. His new play, Will in Space, has been developed over the past year at Primary Stages. In addition, Mr. Rogelio's work has been developed and presented at the Public Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, and the Magic Theater, among others. He has been commissioned to write a new play by the Denver Center Theater and the Atlantic Theater Company. Rogelio is part of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer's Group at Primary Stages. He teaches playwriting at Montclair University, Lincoln Center Theater, Primary Stages, and INTAR. Rogelio was born in Sancti-Spiritus, Cuba, and came to the U.S. in 1980 on the Mariel boatlift.

back to top

TERRENCE J. NOLEN (Director, When Tang Met Laika) is the co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia and has directed or co-directed about half of the Arden's productions. Favorites include All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Grapes of Wrath and Hedda Gabler and such musicals as Caroline, or Change; A Little Night Music; Falsettos; and Violet. In addition, Terry has directed the world premieres of six plays by Michael Hollinger (An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, Incorruptible, Tiny Island, Red Herring, Tooth and Claw and Opus) and three by Dennis Raymond Smeal (Hearts, Change Partners & Dance and Exit Wounds). In 2001, Terry directed Michael Ogborn's Baby Case, which received the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical. Terry collaborated with Michael Ogborn on the book for the new musical, Café Puttanesca, which received its world premiere in Fall 2003. Terry has won four Barrymore Awards, and has been nominated for 18 Barrymore Awards, for his directing work at the Arden. He received the 2006 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Winesburg, Ohio and for Outstanding Direction of a Play for Opus. He received the 2005 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Sweeney Todd and the 2001 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for his work on The Baker's Wife. Terry has been nominated for the 2008 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director for Opus at Primary Stages. His short film The Personal Touch was nominated for an Emmy Award. Terry is a graduate of Northwestern University.

back to top

DAVID PITTU (Co-Director/Book & Lyrics, What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling) was featured most recently on Broadway in the Mark Twain comedy Is He Dead? for which he has been nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. Last season, he played Bertolt Brecht in Hal Prince's Lovemusik (Tony, Drama Desk nominations, Outer Critics Circle Award) and several roles in Tom Stoppard's acclaimed Coast Of Utopia trilogy at Lincoln Center. Other recent credits include Stuff Happens (Public Theater), Of Thee I Sing (Encores!) and the Pinter double bill Celebration and The Room (Atlantic Theater, where he is a company member), for which he received Drama Desk and Lortel nominations.

back to top

RANDY REDD (Music, What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling) made his Broadway debut in Parade directed by Harold Prince at Lincoln Center. Recent credits include Ring of Fire (Broadway), Terrence McNally's Some Men (Second Stage) and After The Storm (www.afterthestormfoundation.org) directed by Hilla Medalia. As a writer and composer, his first play, Mississippi Sugar, was developed and produced by The Repertory Theater of St. Louis. Other original works include Before (Me) After, Quick Mud, The Deep End (with Lance Horne), Touche (with Blair Ross), film scores for Hold directed by Peter Phillips and Tim McCracken's Composition. He teaches at NYU/CAP21 and has worked extensively as a teaching artist, musical director, vocal arranger and vocal coach. Concert appearances include Town Hall, Alan Light's Live From Home, Symphony Space, St. John The Divine, The Zipper, The Knitting Factory, Cooper Union, The Blue Bird Cafe and Joe's Pub.

back to top

NEIL PEPE (Co-Director, What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling) recently directed Two Unrelated Plays by David Mamet at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles and two world premieres for the Atlantic Theater Company: Ethan Coen's Almost An Evening and Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song. Other credits include Harold Pinter's first and most recent plays, The Room and Celebration at Atlantic; the world premiere of David Mamet's comedy Romance at Atlantic as well as the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; the world premiere of Howard Korder's Sea of Tranquility, Jez Butterworth's Mojo and The Night Heron and Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange all at Atlantic; Further Than the Furthest Thing by Zinnie Harris (Manhattan Theater Club); Eric Bogosian's Red Angel (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Mamet's American Buffalo starring William H. Macy (Donmar Warehouse in London and Atlantic); Tom Donaghy's The Beginning of August starring Mary Steenburgen (South Coast Rep. and Atlantic); Jessica Goldberg's Refuge (Playwrights Horizons); Hilary Bell's Wolf Lullaby, Clean by Edwin Sanchez, Shaker Heights by Quincy Long, Five Very Live by David Van Matre and Call of the Wile E. by Patrick Breen, all at Atlantic. He has been the Artistic Director of Atlantic Theater Company since 1992.