Gary Griffin (Director/CST Associate Artistic Director) in his tenure at Chicago Shakespeare Theater has directed As You Like It, Private Lives, Amadeus, Passion, A Flea in Her Ear, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, Pacific Overtures, The Herbal Bed, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet. Broadway directing credits include The Color Purple and The Apple Tree. Off Broadway credits include: Saved (Playwrights Horizons); Lost in the Stars, The Apple Tree, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Pardon My English, The New Moon (Encores); and Beautiful Thing (Cherry Lane Theatre). Tour credits include the national tour of The Color Purple. London credits include Pacific Overtures at the Donmar Warehouse (Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production and Olivier nomination for Best Director). Regional credits include work with: The Old Globe, McCarter Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Signature Theatre and Hartford Stage. His Chicago credits with Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, The Marriott Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Famous Door Theatre and Pegasus Players, where he directed the 1999 American premiere of Sondheim’s Saturday Night, have earned him eight Joseph Jefferson Awards for directing. Mr. Griffin’s directing credits include productions: of West Side Story, Evita and Camelot at Stratford Shakespeare Festival,and The Merry Widow and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Mr. Griffin will direct Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall in April 2012.

Stephen Sondheim (Music and Lyrics) one of the most influential and accomplished composer/lyricists in Broadway history, was born in New York City and raised in New York and Pennsylvania. As a teenager he met Oscar Hammerstein II, who became Sondheim's mentor. Sondheim graduated from Williams College, where he received the Hutchinson Prize for Music Composition. After graduation he studied music theory and composition with Milton Babbitt. He worked for a short time in the 1950s as a writer for the television show Topper. His first professional musical theatre job was as the songwriter for the unproduced musical Saturday Night. He wrote the lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959) and Do I Hear A Waltz? (1965), as well as additional lyrics for Candide (1973). Musicals for which he has written both music and lyrics include: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970–71 Tony Award Music and Best Lyrics), Follies (1971–72 Tony Award Score and New York Drama Critics Circle Award; revised in London, 1987), A Little Night Music (1973 Tony Award Score), The Frogs (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award), Sweeney Todd (1979 Tony Award Score), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984 New York Drama Critics Circle Award; 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Into the Woods (1987 Tony Award Score), Assassins (1991) and Passion (1994 Tony Award Score). He composed the songs for the television production Evening Primrose (1966), co-authored the film The Last of Sheila (1973) and provided incidental music for The Girls of Summer (1956), Invitation to a March (1961) and Twigs (1971). Anthologies of his work include: Side by Side by Sondheim (1976), Marry Me A Little (1981), You're Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983; originally presented as A Stephen Sondheim Evening) and Putting It Together (1993). He has written scores for the films Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981), and composed songs for the film Dick Tracy (1990 Academy Award for Best Song). He is on the Council of the Dramatist Guild, the national association of playwrights, composers and lyricists, having served as its president from 1973 until 1981, and in 1983 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1990 he was appointed the first Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University. He was also recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.

James Goldman (Book) was born in Chicago and graduated from the University of Chicago; he did postgraduate work at Columbia University. He has written numerous plays, including Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole (1961; co-written with his brother, William Goldman), They Might Be Giants (1961) and The Lion In Winter (1966). In addition to Follies (1971), he has been the bookwriter of A Family Affair (1962; co-author with William Goldman, music by John Kander), the television musical Evening Primrose (1967, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) and Follies (1987, London—re-conception of the original piece). His screenplays include The Lion in Winter (1968—Academy Award; British Screenwriters Award), They Might Be Giants (1970), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Robin and Marian (1976) and White Nights (1985, co-writer). Goldman's work for television has included an adaptation of Oliver Twist (1982), Anna Karenina (1985), Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna Anderson (1986). He is also the author of a novel, Waldorf.

Kevin Depinet (Scenic Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where his credits include As You Like It, The Adventures of Pinocchio and The Emperor’s New Clothes. Other Chicago credits include productions with: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre,Court Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrookand Chicago Children’s Theatre. Broadway credits include associate designer for August: Osage County and The Mother f**ker With the Hat. Regional credits include productions with: American Players Theatre,McCarter Theatre, The Arden Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater,Yale Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre andIllinois Shakespeare Festival. Film credits include scenery for Michael Mann’s new film Public Enemies.  Upcoming projects include the scenic design for Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Broadway production of Detroit and the Myth Buster’s Touring Museum exhibit for Discovery Channel this fall. Mr. Depinet studied at Ball State University and The Yale School of Drama, and is now an adjunct professor of design at DePaul University. 

Virgil C. Johnson (Costume Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater where his design credits include: Amadeus, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 (1999, Jeff Award; and 2006), Love's Labor's Lost and Measure For Measure. Other Chicago design credits include: A Little Night Music, The Government Inspector (Jeff Awards, Goodman Theatre); The Crucible, The Libertine (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Mercury Theatre); and Dangerous Beauty (Northwestern University with AMTP). Regional credits include productions with: Asolo Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Dallas Opera, The Guthrie Theater, Missouri Repertory Theatre and Skylight Opera. Opera credits include Macbeth (2010) and The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (Lyric Opera of Chicago). Mr. Johnson designed costumes for the original American Girl Revue in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. He received the Michael Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration in 2001, and is professor emeritus at Northwestern University.

Christine Binder (Lighting Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where her credits include Hecuba and The Herbal Bed. Other Chicago credits include productions with: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, About Face Theatre and Redmoon Theatre Company. Regional credits include productions with: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, GEVA, McCarter Theatre and Hartford Stage. Opera credits include productions with: Lyric Opera of Chicago, Theater an der Wein in Vienna, Austria, Pittsburg Opera, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera and San Francisco Opera. Awards include Jeff citations for Frankenstein and Frankie and Jonny (Redmoon Theatre Company). Ms. Binder is the Chair of the Design/ Technical Department and the Head of Lighting for The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Joshua Horvath (Sound Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where his credits include As You Like It and The Wizard of Oz. Other Chicago credits include work with: Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company (Artistic Associate), About Face Theatre, Next Theatre, Timeline Theatre and The House Theatre of Chicago. Off Broadway credits include Clay (Lincoln Center). Regional credits include productions with: The Kennedy Center, Center Theatre Group, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Hartford Stage, California Shakespeare Theater, Centerstage and Long Wharf Theatre. Mr. Horvath teaches sound design for theatre and film at Northwestern University and is co-owner of Aria Music Designs, LLC. He is a four-time recipient of the Joseph Jefferson Award and an LA Weekly Award nominee. Recent and upcoming productions include: Spunk, The Invisible Man, Angels in America (Court Theatre); The Great Fire, Mr. Rickey Takes a Meeting and Eastland (Lookingglass Theatre Company). You can check out any news at horvathsound.com

Ray Nardelli (Sound Designer) returns to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where his credits include: As you Like It, King Lear, The Wizard of Oz and Romeo y Julieta. Other Chicago credits include: Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater and Congo Square Theatre Company. Off Broadway credits include Lookingglass Alice at The New Victory Theater. Pre-Broadway credits include: Adams Family, All Shook Up and Light in the Piazza. Regional credits include: McCarter Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, The Alliance Theatre, Buffalo Arena Stage, Alley Theatre, American Theater Company, The Gift Theatre Company, Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare on the Green and Skylight Opera Theatre. He has received four Jeff Awards and seven additional nominations.

Melissa Veal (Wig and Makeup Design) over 45 design credits at CST include: The Madness of George III, 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), andall 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.

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