Home / 2011-2012 SEASON / NEXT TO NORMAL / ARTISTIC BIOS

Artistic Staff for Next to Normal:

KAREN AZENBERG (Director/Choreographer) is thrilled to back at PTC with the regional theatre premiere of Next to Normal. Last season she directed RENT and previously Miss Saigon for PTC; she also created the musical staging for the record-breaking 2007 production of Les Misérables. Recent projects include Peter Pan at Alabama Shakespeare Festival and a reading of Doubletime, a new musical by John Walch and Nile Rodgers. Originally from New York, her work there includes Blocks (a collaboration with Jonathan Larson), Prom Queens Unchained, and choreography for Richard Greenberg’s The Dazzle (Roundabout). Other credits include national tours of Carousel and Brigadoon, Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Regional Theatre Premiere at Geva), West Side Story (over 15 productions; Dramalogue Award for Outstanding Choreography) and Same Time Next Year (Indiana Repertory Theatre). After this production, she will be directing A Christmas Memory at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Karen is on the board of the New York Musical Theatre Festival and is the President of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

LARRY GOLDBERG (Music Director) returns to Pioneer Theatre Company after music directing My Fair Lady and The Producers in 2008.  Broadway credits include, as conductor: How to Succeed in Business (with Daniel Radcliffe), The Drowsy Chaperone, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Phantom of the Opera, and Carousel; as keyboardist:  Anything Goes, Young Frankenstein, Guys and Dolls, and Gypsy. National tours include Musical Direction for South Pacific, The Producers, Les Misérables, Sunset Boulevard and Cats. Composer/lyricist for Big Bad Wolf and the Endangered Forest (Portland Opera). Composer/Music Director for “Let’s Read a Story” (KDKA-TV series). Orchestral arrangements for the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Pittsburgh Symphony.  Author of Broadway Musical Anagrami, an irreverent puzzle book of musical theatre anagrams. Larry holds a music degree from Carnegie Mellon University and is a native of New York City.

GEORGE MAXWELL (Set Designer) is the resident scenic designer for PTC. He recently designed RENT, Sunset Boulevard, and White Christmas. Favorite PTC designs include A Chorus Line, A Christmas Story, Chicago, Les Misérables, Metamorphoses, Enchanted April, The Importance of Being Earnest, West Side Story, Proof, Peter Pan, Noises Off, Man of La Mancha, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Foreigner and Miss Saigon. He has designed the sets for Utah Opera Company’s The Coronation of Poppea and The Ballad of Baby Doe, and productions for the Utah Shakespeare Festival and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. George is a member of United Scenic Artists. To see more of his work visit www.xmission.com/~gmaxwell.

CAROL WELLS-DAY (Costume Designer) is one of PTC’s resident costume designers and the costume shop supervisor. Her recent designs for PTC include Sunset Boulevard, Black Comedy, Dracula, Twelve Angry Men, Is He Dead?, Dial ‘M’ for Murder, The Light in the Piazza, The Heiress, Doubt, Lost in Yonkers, Pride and Prejudice, James Joyce’s The Dead, The Importance of Being Earnest, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Cyrano de Bergerac, Peter Pan, The Three Musketeers, Joyful Noise, Big River, As You Like It, The Count of Monte Cristo, A Streetcar Named Desire, An Ideal Husband, Misalliance, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Hay Fever. She was assistant designer for Inherit the Wind at the Ford Theatre in Washington D.C. She worked for the Utah Shakespearean Festival for 13 years as a costume shop supervisor and designer. This is Carol’s second tenure at PTC. During her earlier stint she designed over 15 productions, including My Fair Lady, Oliver, and Romeo and Juliet. Carol has film and TV credits.

MICHAEL GILLIAM (Lighting Designer) Broadway credits include: Brooklyn, Big River and Stand-Up Tragedy. The West End credits: Gershwin Alone. Off-Broadway: Striking 12, Blue, End of the World Party, Zooman and the Sign, and Menopause The Musical. National tours include Brooklyn, Guys and Dolls, and Big River. Regional: Arena Stage, The Globe Theatres, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory, The Goodman Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, The Pasadena Playhouse, The Geffen Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Prince Music Theatre, Denver Center and Arizona Theatre Company. Awards: Los Angeles Ovation Award, Drama-Logue Award, Garland Award and the 1999 Career Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.

MATTHEW TIBBS (Sound Designer) is Pioneer Theatre Company’s Resident Sound Designer and recently designed sound for RENT, White Christmas and IN. He has previously worked as a sound designer or engineer at Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Salem Repertory Theatre and Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. Some of his favorite past sound designs include Fat Pig, Proof and The Full Monty. He received his M.F.A. in Sound Design from University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and his B.A. from George Fox University. Matthew has also been the sound designer on several award-winning films and video projects. Matthew is adjunct faculty at University of Utah teaching Sound Design and lives with his wife Beth and son Lucas in Salt Lake City.

AMANDA FRENCH (Hair and Makeup Designer) has been a Makeup and Hair Designer for over 20 years. She has worked for The Utah Shakespeare Festival, The Utah Opera, Egyptian Theatre Company and the University of Texas at Austin. She is a contributing writer in the tenth edition of Stage Makeup by Corson, Glavan and Norcross, and her work can also be seen in The Costume Technician’s Handbook by Ingham and Covey, and Wig Making and Styling: A Complete Guide for Theatre and Film by Ruskai and Lowery. She attended the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where she studied with Hair and Makeup Designer Lenna Kaleva. She is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and a current University of Utah adjunct professor of wigs and makeup.