Creative Team

JEFFREY HATCHER (Playwright) Fast becoming one of the most prolific and frequently produced playwrights in the U.S., Jeffrey Hatcher adapted his acclaimed stage play COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY for the screen. He wrote the screenplay "Casanova" for director Lasse Hallstrom, as well as screenplays for directors Steven Shainberg ("Secretary") and Kim Pierce ("Boys Don't Cry"). He has also written for the Peter Falk TV series "Columbo" and E! Entertainment Television.

Hatcher grew up in Ohio before attending New York University to study acting. After a brief career on stage, he turned his hand to writing. His many award-winning original plays have been performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally across the US and abroad. They include THREE VIEWINGS, SCOTLAND ROAD, NEDDY, KORCZAK'S CHILDREN, A PICASSO, MERCY OF A STORM, WORK SONG (with Eric Simonson), and LUCKY DUCK (with Bill Russell and Henry Kreiger). Hatcher wrote the book for the Broadway musical NEVER GONNA DANCE, based on the Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers film "Swingtime," and co-authored with Mitch Albom the stage version of the bestseller "Tuesdays with Morrie."

His other stage adaptations include: Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW, Anouilh's LEOCADIA: TO FOOL THE EYE, SMASH, based on George Bernard Shaw's novel "An Unsocial Socialist," MURDER BY POE, PIERRE, based on the novel by Herman Melville, and Kaufman and Hart's THE FABULOUS INVALID.

Jeffrey Hatcher is also the author of "The Art and Craft of Playwriting." Has won grants and awards from the NEA, TCG, Lila-Wallace Fund, Rosenthal New Play Prize, Frankel Award, Barrymore Award and others. A four-time participant at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, he is a member of the Dramatists Guild, New Dramatists, The Playwrights' Center, and the WGA.

MITCH ALBOM (Playwright) is a bestselling author, a nationally acclaimed newspaper columnist (with the Detroit Free Press), a radio host (with WJR-AM) and a television commentator (with ESPN and ABC). His well-known book "Tuesdays With Morrie" is now the bestselling memoir of all time, with nearly 10 million copies sold worldwide. Albom, along with playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, adapted the book into a hit play, which opened Off-Broadway late 2002. That play is currently being performed in regional theaters throughout North America. Albom's first novel, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," was published in 2003 and was on the "New York Times" bestsellers list for two years. With a screenplay by Albom, "Five People" was adapted into an ABC movie that aired in December 2004 and starred Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, and Jeff Daniels. Albom has founded three charities in Detroit: "The Dream Fund," "A Time To Help," and "S.A.Y. Detroit," which helps Detroit's homeless. He serves on numerous charitable boards around the country and makes his home in suburban Detroit.

KRISTEN COURY (Director) is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Gulfshore Playhouse, and has directed all the productions thus far, including: Oleanna, Doubt: A Parable, Tartuffe, Married Alive!, A Doll's House, Beau Jest, and Romeo and Juliet: Redefined. For Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy: Skylight, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, and Oleanna. She made her feature film directorial debut with Friends and Family, a comedy starring Tony Lo Bianco and Tovah Feldshuh, which was released around the US and Europe, and can now be seen on DVD and Cable TV worldwide. Kristen directed the first production of Waiting for the Glaciers to Melt, a new musical by Tony Award¨-Nominated Brian Lane Green. Kristen has directed several new works, produced a CD and worked on a variety of musicals in various stages of development, including Steel Pier on Broadway, a Broadway-workshop of The Jazz Singer and Houdini at the Goodspeed Opera House. Kristen worked in production/management for Walt Disney Theatrical Productions (working on international productions of Beauty and the Beast and King David), Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Company (Sunset Boulevard on Broadway and Joseph... on Tour), and for London's English Shakespeare Company in the Press and Marketing Department. Kristen was featured on the November 2008 issue of E Bella Magazine, has received the distinction as one of the "Top 40 Professionals Under 40" in 2008 by Gulfshore Life Magazine, and is listed in the Who's Who of American Women.

TERRY LAWRENCE (Scenic Designer) is a set designer and playwright.

PHILIP WATSON (Lighting Design) was born in Hong Kong. Despite this geographical challenge he grew up to become an Englishman. Philip's work in England includes UMIST Theatre, The Barn Theatre Company, Aylesbury Opera, Pendley Shakespeare Festival, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Design work here in the U.S.A. includes Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (National Tour), Hello Dolly! (National Tour), Virginia Opera, Circus Flora at the Spoleto Festival U.S.A., The Theatre of the Millennium-Va., Shakespeare & Co. with Virginia and Buffalo Symphonies, Surflight Theatre - N.J., Riverside Theatre - Fla., Sierra Repertory Theatre - Calif., Stagedoor Theatre - Fla., Virginia Ballet Theatre, Space Coast Ballet - Fla, Second Wind Dance Company-Va., Theatrezone - Fla, and West Virginia Public Theatre. Philip's other work includes Lighting Supervisor for the National Tour of Nobody Don't Like Yogi with Ben Gazarra, several U.K. tours with Mark Morris Dance Group and projection design for Beast of Broadway and Miss Saigon.

TRISTA AUGER (Costume Designer) graduated from Florida School of the Arts with a degree in Entertainment Technology in 2008. Trista is very excited to have the opportunity to work with Gulfshore Playhouse on her first post college show as costume designer. Some of her favorite past productions include Tartuffe, of which she was the assistant costume designer with Gulfshore Playhouse, Crimes of the Heart, and Pirates of Penzance. Some of Trista's favorite hobbies include beating her father at Jeopardy on a nightly basis and playing duets on the piano with her mother.

CURTIS LEE JONES (Technical Director) Curtis is happy to return to Naples for another exciting production with Gulfshore Playhouse. A graduate of East Carolina University with a BFA in Production and Design, Curtis has served as Technical Director for Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy, the Orlando Shakespeare Festival The Opera Company of North Carolina and Florida Studio Theatre just to name a few. Curtis is also an accomplished scenic, lighting and sound designer whose work has been seen at many regional theatres and on several national tours. Past productions for Gulfshore Playhouse include: "Romeo and Juliet: Redefined", "Oleanna", "Life x 3", "Married Alive", "Another Night Before Christmas", "Doubt: a Parable" and "Tartuffe", "Honour", "Beau Jest" and "A Doll's House".

ANNA ALEX (Sound Designer) is excited to make her Gulfshore Playhouse debut! She is a recent graduate of Northern Kentucky University as a Corbett scholar. Her credits there include sound design for Urinetown: The Musical, Guys and Dolls, Taming of the Shrew, The Aaronsville Women, Shock and Awe, Nightjars and Cats. She also spent the last two years as Resident Sound Designer for New Stage Collective in Cincinnati where she worked on Caroline or Change, Bug, Take Me Out, Jerry Springer the Opera, and Striking 12. Most recently Peach State Summer Theatre used her skills as Sound Engineer/Designer for White Christmas, Disney's Mulan and Secret Garden. Love and thanks to my family for their support and Annie for always being by my side.

JAMIE CARMICHAEL (Props Master) is extremely excited to be part of the Gulfshore Playhouse creative team on this production. He is a graduate of the theatre programs at Edison State College and Florida Gulf Coast University. Some favorite productions he's "propped" include "Sugar Bean Sisters" at Florida Rep and "Wonder of the World", "Bad Dates" and "Anton in Show Business" for Theatre Conspiracy. He has served as the props master for the last two seasons at Gulfshore Playhouse. Theatrically speaking, Jamie likes to wear many hats. As an actor, director, administrator, teaching artist or technician he has had the opportunity to work for many Southwest Florida theatres.

MELANIE J. LISBY* (Production Coordinator/Production Stage Manager). Melanie is ecstatic to be a member of the Gulfshore Playhouse family where she is returning for her fourth season! She has previously Stage Managed A Doll's House, Beau Jest, Honour, Tartuffe, Doubt, Another Night Before Christmas, Married Alive!, the revival of David Mamet's Oleanna, as well as the Florida Premiere of Life (x) 3 with Gulfshore Playhouse. Melanie has also worked on the East Coast of Florida at the Mosaic Theatre in Plantation where she Stage Managed Neil Labute's Wrecks; as well as with Loewy/Leone Productions running The Kid From Brooklyn: The Danny Kaye Story which was seen in Coral Springs and Jupiter, FL. She Stage Managed two seasons at the Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, NH where she ran 8 full scale shows in 9 weeks each season! Melanie has Stage Managed in Chicago (World Premiere Take All of Us With You) and with The Indiana State Crossroads Repertory Theatre. Melanie is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association and is eternally grateful for the never-ending love and support from her husband, parents, and friends!