Penny Metropulos (Director) returns to Chicago Shakespeare where she directed The Two Gentleman of Verona in the 2000/01 Season. She has spent 19 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) where representative credits include Henry IV Part 1, The Philanderer, Lorca in a Green Dress (World Premier), Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, The Tempest, The Night of the Iguana, The Good Person of Szechuan, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Death of a Salesman, Cabaret Verboten, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Other regional credits: You Can't Take It with You, The Trip to Bountiful, Quilters (Denver Center Theatre Company); Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Up (Syracuse Stage); The Misanthrope (Arena Stage); An Iliad (Portland Center Stage); Romeo and Juliet (The Acting Company/Guthrie Theater); Missing Persons (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Candida (Intiman Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company). Ms. Metropulos began her work in the theater as an actress and singer. As a writer she co-adapted The Three Musketeers, a musical version of Comedy of Errors, and a new musical based on William Saroyan’s Tracy’s Tiger; all produced at Oregon Shakespeare. She also served as Associate Artistic Director for Oregon Shakespeare for 12 seasons.

Alan Bennett (Playwright) jokes that as a child he was deprived of the deprivation that usually prepares a writer for his craft, since his family was normal and his parents were happy together. Alan Bennett was born in 1934 and grew up in a modest home in Leeds, a city in Yorkshire, in the north of England. His father was a butcher. Alan went to public schools and was given a scholarship to Exeter College Oxford, where in 1957 he earned a degree in history. Read more

William Bloodgood (Scenic Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theatre where he designed scenery for The Two Gentleman of Verona. Regional credits include work with: Arena Stage (Washington, DC), Arizona Theatre Company, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre (Houston), Children's Theatre Company (Minneapolis), Denver Center Theatre Company, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre (Seattle), Kansas City Rep, the Old Globe Theatre (San Diego), Portland Center Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre and Syracuse Stage as well as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon where he has designed the scenery for 150 productions. Mr. Bloodgood is the recipient of many awards for his designs, including the Oregon Governor's Award for the Arts in 2002.

Susan E. Mickey (Costume Design) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where she designed costumes for Richard III, Cymbeline, The Comedy of Errors and The Taming of the Shrew. Chicago credits include costume design for Jitney and Miss Evers' Boys (Goodman Theatre). Regional credits include designs for: The Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Center Stage, Cleveland Play House, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, GoodSpeed Musicals, Portland Center Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Studio Arena Theatre, Geva Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Alabama and Oregon Shakespeare Festivals, and more than 50 productions with the Alliance Theatre Company in Atlanta. Television and film credits include costume design for the feature film The Adventures of Ociee Nash, Miss Evers' Boys (HBO), and Mama Flora's Family miniseries (CBS). Ms. Mickey serves as head of design and production at The University of Texas at Austin.

Diane Ferry Williams (Lighting Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where her design credits include: The Comedy of Errors (1998), Much Ado About Nothing, Willy Wonka and Seussical, The Musical. She is the Resident Lighting Designer at Marriott Theatre and has designed for theatres nationwide, including: The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Portland Center Stage, Theatre Under The Stars, Goodspeed Musicals, Goodman Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Regional Dance America. International work includes The Harlem Gospel Singers (in Paris and on European tour) and Die Schöne und das Biest (in Berlin and on European tour). Other design work includes Don't Stop the Carnival by Jimmy Buffet and Herman Wouk, and many national tours. Awards include: Jeff Award (Miss Saigon); After Dark Award (Sunset Boulevard); a Carbonelle Award, three Drammy Awards and seven Jeff Award nominations. Ms. Williams has an MFA in Theatrical Design from Northwestern University.

Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (Sound Designers) return to Chicago Shakespeare Theater where their credits include Private Lives and Amadeus, among others. Broadway credits include: music, composition and sound for The Miracle Worker, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Speed of Darkness; music for My Thing of Love; and sound for Superior Donuts, reasons to be pretty, A Year With Frog and Toad, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Hollywood Arms, King Hedley II, Buried Child, The Song of Jacob Zulu and The Grapes of Wrath. Off Broadway credits include music or sound for: Ruined, After Ashley, Boy Gets Girl, Red, Space, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Jitney and Marvin's Room. Mr. Milburn and Mr. Bodeen have created music and sound throughout America, often with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, as well as internationally with the Comedy Theatre (London's West End), The Barbican Centre, National Theatre (Great Britain), The Cameri Theatre (Tel Aviv), The Subaru Acting Company (Japan), and festivals in Toronto, Dublin, Galway, Perth and Sydney.

Melissa Veal (Wig and Makeup Design) over 45 design credits at CST include: As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Private Lives, Richard III, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Amadeus, Funk it Up About Nothin' (2008 & 2011), The Comedy of Errors, Othello, Passion, Troilus and Cressida, The Three Musketeers, A Flea in Her Ear, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (at CST and The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon), Much Ado About Nothing, The Molière Comedies, A Little Night Music, Rose Rage: Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3 (at CST and The Duke on 42nd Street), and all five CPS Shakespeare! productions. She worked for 10 seasons with the Stratford Festival, where she received four Tyrone Guthrie Awards, including the Jack Hutt Humanitarian Award. Other Canadian credits include work with: Rhombus Media, The Shaw Festival, Mirvish Productions and The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. Ms. Veal received the 2007 Hurckes Award for Artisans and Technicians.

Eva Breneman (Dialect Coach) makes her Chicago Shakespeare Theatre debut. Other Chicago credits include: Do the Hustle, Travels with my Aunt, The Maids, The Puppetmaster of Lodz (Writer's Theatre); To Kill a Mockingbird, The Brother/Sister Plays, The Diary of Anne Frank, Huck Finn, Master Harold and the Boys (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Front Page, In Darfur, To Master the Art, The Farnsworth Invention, The History Boys (TimeLine Theatre, Associate Artist); A Life, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Grey Gardens (Northlight Theatre); Ethan Frome, Around the World in 80 Days, Black Diamond, The Old Curiosity Shop (Lookingglass Theatre Company, Production Affiliate); Carousel (Court Theatre); The Voysey Inheritance and Bronte (Remy Bumppo Theatre). Off-Broadway credits include Mamma Mia! (National Tour and Vegas). Regional credits include Around the world in 80 Days (Centerstage Baltimore and Kansas City Repertory). Television credits include The Chicago Code (Fox TV) and The Beast (A—E Television). Education: NYU/Tisch School of the Arts (BFA) and The Central School of Speech and Drama (MA).

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