Program – Lavender Men

GARY GROSSMAN (Producer, Producing Artistic Director - Skylight Theatre Company, he/him) is the recipient of Stage Raw's 2016 Career Achievement Award and the inaugural Henry Ong Award for Leadership in the Los Angeles Theatre Community. His career began in New York, owning two theaters and a theatrical lighting company by the age of 23. Gary worked at the Public Theatre, Café La Mama, and Sheraton Square Playhouse before joining Los Angeles’ emerging theatre movement in the 70's. Producing over 300 stage plays and more than 65 world premieres, some of his celebrated productions are Rotterdam (3 LADCC Awards including Best Production and 2 Stage Raw Awards - performed at CTG’s Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2019), World Premieres of Church & State (Off-Broadway 2017, over 50+ national productions), The Wrong Man (Off-Broadway 2019, 14 New York Award nominations, 3 Ovation Awards), Bronco Billy – The Musical (2 Ovation Awards), Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (Steinberg/National Theatre Critics Citation with Lower Depth Ensemble), El Grande CIRCUS de Coca-Cola, Obama-ology, Pray To Ball (Ovation Award), Years to the Day, Hermetically Sealed, Bullrusher, Mad Women (LA Weekly Award), AIDS/US Portraits In Courage, America Adjacent, The Madres, Hostage, Never Is Now, and the 2020 L.A. Times Critics Choice West Adams among others.

JON LAWRENCE RIVERA (Producer, Artistic Director - Playwrights' Arena) is the recipient of the first Career Achievement Award from Stage Raw. He directed the following world premieres for Playwrights' Arena: Apartment Living by Boni B. Alvarez, A Hit Dog Will Holler by Inda Craig-Galván (co-produced with Skylight Theatre),  March: A Parking Lot Play (co-produced with the Los Angeles LGBT Center), Southernmost by Mary Lyon Kamitaki, Baby Eyes by Donald Jolly, I Go Somewhere Else by Inda Craig-Galván, Bloodletting by Boni B. Alvarez (also at Kirk Douglas Theatre), The End Times by Jesse Mu-En Shao, Little Women by Velina Hasu Houston, The Hotel Play written by Paula Cizmar, Velina Hasu Houston, Jennifer Maisel, Nahal Navidar, Julie Oni, Janine Salinas Schoenberg and Laurie Woolery (performed in an actual hotel), @TheSpeedofJake by Jennifer Maisel, Circus Ugly by Gabriel Rivas Gomez, , Cinnamon Girl by Velina Hasu Houston and Nathan Wang (also at the 2nd Beijing University International Musical Theater Festival 2014), Dallas Non-Stop by Boni B. Alvarez, The Anatomy of Gazellas by Janine Salinas Schoenberg, Girl Most Likely To by Michael Premrirat, Bonded by Donald Jolly and Euripides' Helen by Nick Salamone (at the Getty Villa). Other recent work includes: Anna In The Tropics by Nilo Cruz at Open Fist Theater, America Adjacent by Boni B. Alvarez, and Obama-ology by Aurin Squire at Skylight Theatre; The Joy Luck Club by Susan Kim, The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown, and Criers for Hire by Giovanni Ortega at East West Players; Honeymoon in Vegas by Jason Robert Brown and A Class Act by Ed Kleban for Musical Theatre Guild; Bingo Hall by Dillon Chitto, Fairly Traceable by Mary Kathryn Nagle, and Stand-Off At HWY #37 by Vickie Ramirez for Native Voices at the Autry (also at the University of South Dakota) and the landmark Los Angeles Premiere of Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn at SIPA and Kirk Douglas Theatre. Rivera is the recipient of a NY Fringe Festival Award for directing Hillary Agonistes, an LA Weekly Award for directing Sea Change, and 5 Ovation Award nominations. Playwrights’ Arena was founded in 1992.

TYREE MARSHALL (Associate Producer, Beyond Conversation Coordinator, she/her) is an Actor and Producer originally from New Jersey. Tyree had studied dance for 16 years when she discovered acting when she was in high school. She would then go on to study at California Institute of The Arts where she earned her BFA in Acting and a certificate from the British American Dramatic Academy in Oxford with Yale School of Drama. Tyree has since been pursuing in an acting career in Los Angeles with her latest theater credits including Love Is Another Country (Coin&Ghost), Gone (Inkwell), and #Becklandiscancelled (IAMA). As a producer, Tyree is currently an Artistic Associate of Play Development at Skylight Theatre Company. You can also catch her on episode 7 of "Bosch: Legacy on Freevee."

MICHAEL KEARNS (Associate Producer, he/him) has been entrenched at the Skylight Theatre for more than three decades, beginning with his signature role in James Carroll Pickett's Dream Man and the Artists Confronting AIDS revolutionary theatrical piece, AIDS/US which he directed (and Gary Grossman produced). Kearns is an artist-activist who has been expressing HIV/AIDS–primarily in the theatre but also on television and film, in books and essays, at speaking engagements and teaching assignments–for forty years. Openly gay and publicly HIV-positive, Kearns is the Artistic Director and Founder of QueerWise, Artist-in-Residence at Housing Works, and the West Coast Program Director for Spoken Interludes Next. His most recent book, "Who’s Afraid Of Michael Kearns?," a collection of three of his plays, available on Amazon.

SKYLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY is recognized as a “powerhouse of new play development” by the national Dramatist Magazine and as “a leader in play development" by the L.A. Times. In just the last four years, two plays originating at Skylight have been performed Off Broadway, The Wrong Man (14 New York Award nominations), and Church & State (50+ productions in 31 states).  In 2017, Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (a co-production with Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble) received the prestigious Steinberg American Theatre Critics Association Citation. In 2019, Center Theatre Group remounted their multiple award-winning production of Rotterdam at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as a part of Block Party. The production won the 2018 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Production, and awards for Writing and Lead Actress. It also received top honors at the 2018 Stage Raw Awards, winning Production of the Year and Leading Actress awards. More at skylighttheatre.org

PLAYWRIGHTS' ARENA is dedicated to discovering, nurturing and producing bold new works for the stage written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights. It develops new materials through several series of readings, workshops and round table discussions. Local playwrights are encouraged to create original, adventurous, daring materials with the intent of challenging the mind, touching the heart and provoking the spirit. Playwrights' Arena was founded in 1992 by Jon Lawrence Rivera and Steve Tyler. For more information, script submission policy and production history go to playwrightsarena.org

ERIN BEDNARZ (Sound Design, she/her) tells stories through sound, music, performance, and production. She holds a Gregory Award for Outstanding Sound Design, is founding member of PNW dramaturgy group Umbrella Project, and dramaturg for Cheat Day Collective. Press Mentions: Wall Street Journal, New York Times. Nominations: Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel. Residencies: Centrum, Sou'Wester, 2+U Studios. TV: Band In Seattle. Off-Broadway: Mac Beth (Red Bull, Hunter Theater Project, Seattle Rep), The Convent (Rattlestick). Regional: A Few Good Men (Pittsburgh Public), The Dragon Cycle (American Rep), Teenage Dick (Seattle Rep), The Year of Magical Thinking, The Thin Place (ACT Seattle). @play__pranks

WENDELL CARMICHAEL (Costume Design) Theatre credits: Uncle Vanya, Both And ~ Laughing While Black, Blues for An Alabama Sky, Three Sisters, Yellowman, Spring Awakening, Miss Julie Freedom Summer, Paradise Blue, Cyrano De Bergerac, McBeth, A Winters Tale, Sweeney Todd, Waiting for Godot, Salvage, Ragtime, Scraps, The Mountaintop, Our Town, The Wizard of Oz, WINK, Fool for Love, In the Heights, Happy Ending, American Saga: Gunshot Medley, Jews, Christians and Screwing Stalin, Vol. 1: A Post Racial America, Violet, Her Portmeanu, Native Son, A Walk in the Woods,Cabaret, West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Desdemona: A Play about a Handkerchief, The Crucible, An Octoroon, Br’er Cotton, Ball Yards, Waiting for the Parade, The Good War Greenwood 1964. 2018 Stage Raw winner – Costume Design, three-time L.A. Ovation Award nominee, 2017 Orange County’s Best Costume Designs, 2015 NAACP Theatre Award winner. Member of Local 768, the Theatrical Wardrobe Union/ LA Opera.

LETITIA CHANG (Stage Manager, she/her) is a CA convert transplanted from NY & VA, respectively. She has a theatre BA with Pitzer College, is a contracted PSM with the Aratani Theatre space in Little Tokyo, worked with East West Players, Playwrights' Arena, Hero & hereandnow theatre co.  She's grateful to Jon for dropping her name to Gary.  Thank you, audiences!  Cheers!

STEPHEN GIFFORD (Scenic Design, he/him) has designed more than 200 productions during his time as a Los Angeles resident. His design work has been featured at numerous theaters nationally and internationally including: The Grand Ole Opry, The Chicago Theatre, Madison Square Garden, The El Sett & Abdel Halim Theaters (Riyadh), Sacramento Music Circus, The Walnut Street Theatre, 5th Avenue Theatre, Juneau Lyric Opera, La Mirada Performing Arts Center/McCoy Rigby, 3D Theatricals, and many more. He has garnered many awards and nominations for his work and was awarded The Bob Z Award for career achievement in set design by the LADCC.  More at: stephengifforddesign.com

DAVID GONZALEZ (Original Music Composer, he/him) a passionate musician since childhood, Gonzalez is an accomplished composer based in Los Angeles whose work has appeared in film, television, stage, and video games. From feature films like Working Man, starring Oscar-Nominee Talia Shire, Peter Gerety (The Wire), and Billy Brown, to short films like Birdwatching, starring Amanda Seyfried, and Emmy Winning web series Break A Hip, David's music enriches and enlivens the pictures on the screen. His work can also be heard on Switched at Birth and How I Met Your Mother, helping to bring these popular small-screen stories to life.

JOBEL MEDINA (Choreography, he/him) is a Los Angeles-based stage and film choreographer/dancer well known for his recent dance projects, David, My Goliath at Redcat and HI, Solo at The Museum of Contemporary Art. He has toured nationally and internationally as a dancer for Ate9 Dance Company (2017-2022) and YC Studio (2017-2018), and has worked with artists such as Tino Sehgal at The Hammer Museum; Simon Mcburney with The LA Philharmonic at The Walt Disney Concert Hall; Christopher Bordenave at The San Francisco Symphony Hall. Additionally, he has appeared in commercials including Calvin Klein, Lexus, OnStar, Adidas, as well as in multiple music videos including Anderson Pak, Noah Cyrus, Perfume Genius. Jobel received his Masters in Fine Arts at the California Institute of The Arts and has taught movement workshops at CSULB, CSULA, CSUF, CalArts.

MICHAEL O'HARA (Properties Design, he/him) is excited to return to the Skylight as Props Designer. He is a freelance Props Designer. In addition to Skylight, his work has appeared on stage at Celebration Theatre, Circle X, East West Players, the Blank, Theatre of NOTE, Coeurage Theatre, The Road Theatre, the Garry Marshall, IAMA Theatre, Sacred Fools, and Artists at Play to name a few. He was also the original Props Designer for four shows at CTG’s Block Party (Failure: A Love Story - 2017; Die, Mommie, Die - 2018; Rotterdam - 2019; Canyon - 2020).

DYLAN SOUTHARD (Dramaturg, he/him) in his role as a dramaturg, Dylan has developed new plays with Centerstage Baltimore, Center Theatre Group, The Geffen Playhouse, Boston Court Pasadena, Antaeus Theatre, Native Voices at The Autry Museum, Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble, Rogue Artists Ensemble and Theatre Dybbuk. Previously, he served as co-Artistic Director for the award-winning company Needtheater, and resident dramaturg for the Robey Theatre Company, where he led the Advanced Playwright's Lab. Dylan is also the founding creative director of VR Playhouse where he wrote and produced 360° VR experiences for companies like Red Bull, Time Life, Jack in the Box, and Coach.

RAUL CLAYTON STAGGS (Casting Director, he/ him) is a freelance casting director thrilled to be working in live theatre again!  Previous Playwrights’ Arena projects include Las Mujeres Del Mar, The End Of Beauty, and I Go Somewhere Else. Previous Skylight Theatre Company projects include West Adams, Never Is Now, America Adjacent and Rotterdam. Raul is a 2018 Recipient of Playwrights’ Arena’s Lee Melville Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Los Angeles Theatre Community.

ANN C. JAMES (Intimacy Director, she/her) has an extensive career in international stage direction and theater education. James recently made her debut as the first Black Intimacy Coordinator of Broadway for Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over. James serves as an intimacy and sensitivity consultant for Hamilton(USA) and Hamilton (UK), and serves as an Intimacy/Cultural consultant for the Broadway-bound productions Lempicka and Trading Places. In addition to her Broadway and West End credits, she has served as Intimacy Director and Sensitivity Specialist® for the provocative Off-Broadway productions of Moises Kaufman’s Seven Deadly Sins and Here There are Blueberries by Tectonic Theatre Project​, ​Seize the King produced by Classical Theatre of Harlem​, Twilight: Los Angeles,1992 and Dominique Morisseau's compelling play, Confederates at Signature Theater and F*cking A at Fordham University.On the West Coast, James provides consultation and intimacy coordination for the television and film industry most recently working with Rashida Jones, Mark Wahlberg, Issa Rae, Will Ferrell and Cynthia Enrivo. Her intimacy work has featured James as an expert voice for Theatre Communications Group, HowlRound, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, and Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab West. Her company, Intimacy Coordinators of Color, has partnerships with Adelphi University, New York University, Columbia University, American Conservatory Theater, Brown University, Trinity Repertory Theater, A.R.T./New York, and ART at Harvard, James is in the final year of her studies as America's first MFA in Performance Pedagogy with an emphasis in Afrocentric Intimacy Pedagogy at Loyola Marymount University.

DAN WEINGARTEN (Lighting Design, he/him) Credits include: UBP and Found for IAMA, 24th St. Theater’s Rapunzel alone, ICE, Hansel and Gretel Bluegrass, Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Man Covets Bird, Walking the Tightrope, Rogue Machine's Gruesome Playground Injuries, Monkey Adored, The Word Begins, I Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath and The Sunset Limited, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, East West Player’s Chess, A Little Night Music, Krunk Fu Battle Battle, Pippin and Wrinkles. Chicago Opera Theater’s Fairy Queen, Maria de Buenos Aires, New York City Opera’s Fallujah, Long Beach Opera’s Macbeth, Nixon in China, Marilyn Forever, The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, Hydrogen Jukebox, Akhnaten and Orpheus and Euridice, Bootleg's Stranger (LA Drama Critics Circle Nominee), The Santa Barbara Theater’s Doubt, The Ebony Repertory Companies' Five Guys Named Moe, Paul Robeson, Two Trains Running (Ovation Nominee) and the Echo Theater Companies Wirehead. Actors Gang’s Heart of Darkness. He is the recipient of the LA Drama Critic’s Circle Angstrom Award, the LA Weekly Award, the Garland Award and the Dramalogue Award. Faculty at California State University at Northridge and received his MFA in Design and Production from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).