Producer for the Theatre Forums, Kate is a playwright, librettist and theatre director. She received an undergraduate degree in theatre from Northwestern and an M.A. from the University of Minnesota. For ten years she was Artistic Director of both Opera to Go and The Shakespeare by the Book Festival, for which she directed numerous productions. Her book Shakespeare's Friends was published in January 2006 by Praeger and a companion volume, Shakespeare's Family, came out in June 2008. Her most recent Shakespeare book, Shakespeare's Figures of Speech was published in 2010. She teaches at the University of Houston Downtown where she recently received the 2010 Outstanding Adjunct Professor award.
Praised for her “captivating performance”,“entrancing vocal line” and “youthful vigor”, German Mezzo Soprano Sonja Bruzauskas ' enraptures audiences' throughout the United States and the world. Sonja has appeared with the Staatsoperette Dresden, Volkstheater Rostock, Nordharzer Staedtebundtheater, Filmorchester Babelsberg, Bochumer Symphoniker, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, to name a few.In Texas, she has appeared as soloist with Da Camera, the Bach Society, Mercury Baroque, Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Greenbriar Consortium, the Houston Chamber Orchestra, ROCO, the Houston Chamber Choir, the Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre and Ars Lyrica. Besides being a performing artist, Sonja creates concerts and gives talks about interactive and provocative approaches to music and thought.
Tara trained as a singer in the University of Houston Opera Program. Turning her interest to stage direction, Tara has become one of American opera’s busiest directors. Her work has been seen in opera houses around the nation: Utah Opera (Rigoletto), Opera Colorado (Il Trovatore) and Houston Grand Opera, The Bricklayer (world premiere) and most recently in a new production of The Rake’s Progress at the Barns at Wolf Trap. A skilled director of traditional repertoire for companies such as Tulsa Opera, Central City Opera, and Amarillo Opera, Tara has a special interest in the baroque repertoire and has directed a number of early operas for Ars Lyrica Houston, including Charpentier’s Actéon and La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers. Next season she presents a new Acis & Galatea with the group, which will tour in both Mexico and the United States. See pictures and keep up with Tara at www.tarafaircloth.com.
Tom returns from New York City for his thirteenth annual Theatre Forum. Tom's undergraduate degree is from Northwestern and he holds an MFA in theatre from Penn State. His performing experience includes shows on Broadway, off-Broadway and in regional theatre, plus film and television. A painter and designer, Tom specializes in portraiture and figurative works. As a portraitist, Tom has painted among others, H.S.H. Princess Grace of Monaco, Audrey Hepburn, Bill Blass and Eudora Welty. He has been showing his art in New York and Bucks County, including two new series of paintings on the circus and the ballet. You can see some of his work at www.thomasforal.com.
An actress, choreographer, director and producer, Chesley trained as a dancer and was a member of Houston's Allegro Ballet Company. She studied in New York City with Luigi and appeared on Broadway in A Chorus Line. In Houston, she has played leading roles with Alley Theatre, Theatre Under The Stars and Theatre Inc., among others. She teaches, directs, and coaches young professionals at Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She received a Best Director nomination from the Tommy Tune Awards for the school's recent production of A Man of No Importance and most recently directed A Little Night Music and Pippen there.
Felicia Londre is Curators' Professor of Theatre at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she teaches theatre history and dramaturgy. She earned her B.A. in French at the University of Montana, then, following a Fulbright year at the Université de Caen in Normandy, France, she earned her M.A. in Romance Languages at the University of Washington and her Ph.D. in Speech/Theatre at the University of Wisconsin. The author of fourteen books, the twelfth of which, The Enchanted Years of the Stage: Kansas City at the Crossroads of American Theater, 1870-1930 (University of Missouri Press, 2007), won the prestigious George Freedley Memorial Book Award for 2008. Felicia was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre in 1999 and received the ATHE Outstanding Teacher of Theatre in Higher Education Award in 2001.
Gifted teacher, lecturer, singer and actor, Vern returns for his twelfth appearance at the annual Theatre Forum weekend. Longtime resident of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Vern recently retired as chair of the Music Department at the University of Minnesota. His performances in the Twin Cities include work with the Plymouth Music Series, Center Opera, Minnesota Opera, The Guthrie Theatre, the Minneapolis Children's Theatre, and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. His special interests include Florenz Ziegfeld and the music used to create the scores for the Ziegfeld Follies as well as early styles and techniques of singing and performance.
Born in Indonesia and educated in Switzerland, Ann developed strong cultural interests early on with a special love and enthusiasm for opera. Her series called Let's Go to the Opera includes booklets and tapes giving background to a hundred and twenty operas and tapes which the Library of Congress stocks for use by the visually handicapped. She gives pre-opera lectures for Houston Grand Opera, provides descriptive services for blind patrons, and inspires opera-goers with her talks in various locales in the Houston area.
Sterling Tinsley:
For four seasons Sterling Tinsley has been composer, music director, and sound designer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In 2007 he co-created the musical Tracy’s Tiger, performed that season. He composed original music and created the sound design for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Philanderer, Humble Boy, and Restoration. He has been music supervisor andorchestra manager for the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle and for them created the outreach program Adventure Musical Theatre. A graduate of the University of Houston, he helped create the repertory for the Houston Grand Opera Outreach program, Opera to Go. His most recent work includes music for The Firebird, with text by Kate Pogue.
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