Of Thee I Sing - Off-Broadway Creative Team

George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn on September 26, 1898, and began his musical training when he was 13. At 16 he quit high school to work as a "song plugger" for a music publisher, and soon he was writing songs himself. "Swanee," as introduced by Al Jolson, brought George his first real fame and led to his writing a succession of 22 musical comedies, most with his older brother, Ira. The Gershwins' shows include Lady Be Good, Oh, Kay!, Strike Up the Band, Girl Crazy, and the Pulitzer Prize winning Of Thee I Sing. From his early career George ... read more Ira Gershwin, the first songwriter to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, was born in New York City on December 6, 1896. In 1917 The Evening Sun published his first song ("You May Throw All The Rice You Desire But Please Friends, Throw No Shoes"). Four years later Ira enjoyed his first major stage success, Two Little Girls in Blue, written with another Broadway newcomer, Vincent Youmans. In 1924 Ira and his brother, George, created the smash hit Lady Be Good and went on to continue their remarkable collaboration through a dozen major stage scores, producing such standards as "Fascinating Rhythm," ... read more George S. Kaufman was an American playwright, director, and producer who was born on November 16, 1889, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was known for his wit and satire, and his work helped shape the American theater in the early 20th century. Kaufman began his career as a journalist, writing for newspapers and magazines. In 1918, he wrote his first play, "Someone in the House," which was produced on Broadway the following year. He quickly became a prolific playwright, collaborating with other writers such as Edna Ferber, Moss Hart, and Irving Berlin. One of Kaufman's most famous works is "You Can't Take It ... read more Broadway: Venus in Fur, Time Stands Still, A View from the Bridge, The Royal Family, The Color Purple, Doubt, Chicago, Dinner at Eight, Proof, Rabbit Hole, Last Night of Ballyhoo, A Delicate Balance, The Heiress, The Most Happy Fella, The Sisters Rosensweig, Burn This, Penn & Teller, Ain't Misbehavin', Talley's Folly, Crimes of the Heart, Morning's at Seven, among others. Off-Broadway: Other Desert Cities, The Substance of Fire, A Life in the Theatre. Thirty-six seasons with MTC, Lincoln Center, Circle Rep, City Center Encores! Tony, Obie, DD, OCC awards; Theatre Hall of Fame. Graduate of Brown and Yale School of ... read more Bender joins Paper Mill Playhouse directly from her role as a member of the musical theater faculty at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Previously, Bender was Senior Vice President of Production and Development at The Araca Group in New York City. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Programming and Artist Services for the New York Musical Festival (NYMF), and as Resident Director for the Broadway productions of The Lion King and Avenue Q. She was the Assistant Artistic Director for Cirque du Soleil's Ovo for productions in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, ... read more Pick a Stephen Sondheim Broadway premiere in the last three decades – say, Sweeney Todd or Sunday in the Park with George or Into the Woods. Who was at the podium on opening night? If you guessed Paul Gemignani, you got it right. In fact, Maestro Gemignani has been a distinguished and constant presence in musical theater for the last forty years. In 2001 he was honored with a Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award®. Significantly, for an artist so closely associated with Sondheim, Gemignani made his Broadway debut as a conductor in Sondheim’s Follies (1971), taking over the role of music ... read more David Ives is probably best known for his evenings of one-act comedies called All in the Timing and Time Flies. All in the Timing won the Outer Critics Circle Playwriting Award, ran for two years Off-Broadway, and in the 1995-96 season was the most performed play in the country after Shakespeare productions. His full-length plays include The School For Lies (adapted from Moliere's The Misanthrope and a major hit at New York's Classic Stage Company last spring); The Heir Apparent (an adaptation of J-F Regnard's comedy that was an audience and critical hit at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, ... read more Broadway: Bernhardt/Hamlet; Come From Away; August Wilson’s Jitney; Amazing Grace; Lucky Guy; The Scottsboro Boys; Finian’s Rainbow; Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; King Hedley II; One Mo’ Time; The Wild Party; Marie Christine; Footloose; The Tempest; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Angels in America: Millennium Approaches & Perestroika; Chronicle of a Death Foretold; and Jelly’s Last Jam. Off-Broadway: The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Soho Rep, Lincoln Center Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Roundabout Theatre, among others. Regional: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Steppenwolf, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, the ... read more Broadway theatre credits include: Gettin’ the Band Back Together (Belasco Theatre); On The Town (Lyric Theatre - Tony Nomination); Penn & Teller on Broadway (Marquis Theatre); A Christmas Story (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre); The Wedding Singer; Urinetown (Tony and Outer Critics Circle Awards); A Thousand Clowns and Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party. Off-Broadway theatre credits include: Jerry Springer – The Opera (New Group); Lives of the Saints (Primary Stages); The Heir Apparent (SDCF Calloway Award – Classic Stage Company); All in the Timing (Primary Stages – Obie Award); Carousel (New York Philharmonic) and The Toxic Avenger, among many others. Regional theatre credits include: Because ... read more