Sean Graney (Director) makes his Chicago Shakespeare debut. He is the founding artistic director of The Hypocrites, where his credits include: Equus (Non-Equity Jeff Award—Outstanding Direction) and Machinal (Non-Equity JeffAward—Outstanding Direction). Other Chicago credits include: The Elephant Man (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); What the Butler Saw (Court Theatre); and Honus and Me, Hana’s Suitcase (Chicago Children’s Theatre). Playwrighting credits include The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide (59E59/TheHypocrites/the side project) and Without (Goodman New Stages Series). He was a participant in the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors (2004–2006) and was named Chicago’s Best Avant-Garde Director in 2004 by Chicago Magazine.

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) (Playwright) was born two months before Shakespeare. Unlike Shakespeare, Marlowe obtained a classical education at Cambridge. He was of the first generation of professional playwrights in England, who became known at the “University Wits.” His plays are so different from his predecessors’ that some theater historians credit Marlowe with launching Elizabethan playwriting. He is undoubtedly the most important English dramatist before Shakespeare, noted especially for the establishment of blank verse as a medium for drama.

Marlowe was involved in public brawls, was repeatedly arrested, and was a reputed atheist and spy. There is strong evidence that he was in the secret service of Queen Elizabeth, and that this work may have played a part in his death at the age of 29. A few days after having appeared in court for a charge of atheism, he spent the day with three acquaintances. A fight broke out, and Marlowe was killed by a stab wound to head. A rushed inquest at the time attributed the dispute to a disagreement about the payment of a bill, but, to this day, some believe he was assassinated. Marlowe's playwriting career spanned a little over six years, beginning with a sensation with Tamburlaine the Great. It is generally believed that Edward II was his last play.

Todd Rosenthal (Scenic Designer) makes his Chicago Shakespeare Theater debut. Select Chicago credits include: August: Osage County, The Crucible (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); and The Clean House, The Cook (Goodman Theatre). Recent Broadway and Off Broadway credits include: August: Osage County (Tony Award—Scenic Design, Steppenwolf Theatre Company) and Red Light Winter (Barrow Street Theatre). Regional productions include: Our Lady of 121st Street (Alley Theatre); The Unmentionables (Yale Repertory Theatre); Doubt (Alliance Theatre); Death and the Maiden (Center Stage); and Drawer Boy (Papermill Playhouse). Current projects include: Much Ado About Nothing (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); A Delicate Balance (Arena Stage); and August: Osage County (National Theatre, London). Mr. Rosenthal was part of the US contingent of professional designers exhibiting at the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. He teaches design at Northwestern University and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Alison Siple (Costume Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where her design credits include: Willy Wonka, Romeo and Juliet Musical (in association with The Second City) and CPS Shakespeare! Hamlet. She has also served for several seasons as CST’s costume design assistant for productions including: King John, Sunday in the Park with George and Rose Rage: Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 &3. Other Chicago credits include: The Threepenny Opera, Our Town, 4.48 Psychosis, Mud, Leonce und Lena (Non-Equity Jeff Award), Miss Julie (The Hypocrites); Hana's Suitcase (Chicago Children’s Theatre); Time and the Conway (Non-Equity Jeff Award), Journey's End (Griffin Theatre Company); The Elephant Man (Steppenwolf for Young Adults); The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Steep Theatre Company); Black Diamond (Lookingglass Theatre Company); and Hatfield &McCoy (The House Theatre of Chicago). Off Broadway credits include The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide with The Hypocrites at 59E59. She is an artistic associate with Lookingglass Theatre Company and an associate company member of The Hypocrites.

Philip S. Rosenberg (Lighting Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where his credits include Amadeus and Cymbeline. This past season’s regional theater credits include: She Loves Me (Huntington Theatre); Shanghai Moon, The Lady in Question (Bay Street Theatre); and Bury the Dead (Illinois State University). Philip has spent much of the last 10 years as an associate lighting designer on Broadway, where his credits include: Shrek, November, The Pirate Queen, The Caine Mutiny Court-Marshall, The Odd Couple, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Spamalot, Bombay Dreams, The Graduate, Man of La Mancha, Hairspray, The Crucible, 42nd Street, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Music Man, The Civil War, On the Town and Triumph of Love.

Michael Griggs (Sound Design) makes his Chicago Shakespeare Theater debut. Chicago credits include: Dave DaVinci Saves the Universe, The Sparrow, San Valentino and the Melancholy Kid, The Curse of the Crying Heart, Valentine Victorious, Cave With Man, The Boy Detective Fails, Hatfield & McCoy (The House Theatre of Chicago); Angels in America Parts 1 & 2, Mud, The Threepenny Opera, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Death of a Salesman (The Hypocrites); Argonautika, The Wooden Breeks (Lookingglass Theater Company); and Honus and Me (Chicago Children’s Theatre). He is a company member of The House Theatre of Chicago and The Hypocrites.

Melissa Veal (Wigs and Makeup) has designed wigs and makeup at Chicago Shakespeare for 29 productions including: Amadeus, The Comedy of Errors, Othello, Passion, Troilus and Cressida, The Three Musketeers, Hamlet, Hecuba, A Flea in Her Ear, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 (at CST and on tour to Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon), Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, The Merry Wives of Windsor, King John, The Molière Comedies, A Little Night Music, Rose Rage: Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3 (at CST and The Duke, NYC), The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar and wig supervisor for The School for Scandal. She worked with the Stratford Festival for 10 seasons, where she received four Tyrone Guthrie Awards, including the Jack Hutt Humanitarian Award. Other Canadian credits include work with Canadian Stage Company, Tarragon Theatre, Mirvish Productions and a longtime association with The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. She is currently working on a special project, Gracey’s Avatar, and is an ensemble member with 13 Pocket.

Kevin O’Donnell (Composer) makes his Chicago Shakespeare Theater debut. As a composer for theater he has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, American Theater Company, Redmoon Theater, The Hypocrites, Next Theatre Company, TimeLine Theatre Company, Collaboraction and The House Theatre of Chicago, where he is a company member. He has earned four Jeff Awards, two consecutive “Outstanding Season“ After Dark Awards, and two “Outstanding Achievement“ nominations by the Chicago Music and Dance Alliance for scores he wrote for contemporary dance artist Molly Shanahan. Other composing credits include: St. Anne’s Warehouse, 59E59, DTW with the Mirror Repertory Company (New York), The Stages Repertory Theatre (Houston), the Mark Taper Forum (LA) and Tangént (Montreal).

Matt Hawkins (Fight Choreographer/Assistant Director) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where he served as fight choreographer/assistant director in Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet and performed in The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet and Henry IV, Parts I and II (at CST and on tour to Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon). Chicago fight choreography credits include: Black Diamond (Lookingglass Theatre Company); and Peter Pan, Cave with Man, Curse of the Crying Heart (Non-Equity Jeff Award), Valentine Victorious (The House Theatre of Chicago). Chicago directing credits include: Hatfield & McCoy (Non-Equity Jeff Award, The House Theatre); On My Parents’ 100th Wedding Anniversary (the side project); Alice (The Neo-Futurists); and Red Noses (Strawdog Theatre Company, April 2009). He has also worked with The Kennedy Center, The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Redmoon Theater and Chicago Children’s Theatre. He is currently creating 500 Clown and The Elephant Deal, which opens at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in June 2009.

Larry Yando (Text Coach) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where he has served as text coach for Othello and Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet, and where his acting credits include: the title role in Cymbeline, The Tempest, Timon of Athens, All’s Well That Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Regional credits include: Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre); Travesties, Measure for Measure, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband (Court Theatre); As You Like It, Nixon’s Nixon, Bach at Leipzig, Rocket to the Moon (Writers’ Theatre); Mother Courage and Her Children (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Titus Andronicus (Defiant Theatre); Angels in America, Amadeus, Arcadia (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); I Hate Hamlet (Royal George Theatre); and Scar in The Lion King.

Angela M. Adams (Production Stage Manager) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where her credits include Funk It Up About Nothin’ (at CST and Edinburgh Festival Fringe), CPS Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet and How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back? Other Chicago credits include: The Talented Tenth (Congo Square Theatre); The Shakespeare Stealer, Still Life with Iris (Vittum Theater); A Streetcar Named Desire (Village Players Theatre); and the Gay Games Opening Ceremonies at Soldier Field (Jam Productions). Off Broadway credits include: assistant sound designer for Go-Go Kitty Go (Theatre B); stage manager for The Asphalt Kiss (Lord Strange Company); Kings (Verse Theatre Manhattan); and Second Summer (Colleagues Theatre Company).

Sara Gammage (Assistant Stage Manager) makes her Chicago Shakespeare Theater debut. Chicago credits include: Guys and Dolls, Fräulein Else, Travesties, Man of La Mancha, Lettice and Lovage, Raisin, Flyin’ West, What the Butler Saw, The First Breeze of Summer (Court Theatre); Botanic Garden (Victory Garden's Greenhouse Theater); A Christmas Story (Theatre at the Center); Once Upon a Time in New Jersey (The Marriott Theatre); and Dessa Rose, Tale of the Allergist's Wife (Apple Tree Theatre). She is a graduate of Northwestern University.