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Main Stage Theater

Legally Blonde

Creative

• Greg Bostwick (Director) is a professor of acting as well as Interim Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts. He has directed scores of plays at Ithaca College (including last season’s Working), ranging from classics and operas to contemporary scripts and musicals. Mr. Bostwick also maintains a very active career as a professional actor. He has performed regionally in over 70 roles at such theaters as the Hangar Theatre, the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, the Kitchen Theatre, the Firehouse Theatre, Theatre Cornell, Cortland Repertory Theatre, and the Cider Mill Playhouse. He works regularly as a dialect coach and has produced, directed and acted in several educational and corporate videos. Mr. Bostwick is also an adjunct actor and director with the Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble.

• Tom Burch (Scenic Designer) is a first year faculty scenic designer at Ithaca College. Burch has been based in Chicago for the last decade and has designed at the Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Court, Northlight, Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, and many middle and storefront companies. His regional work has included Williamstown, Arizona Theatre Co, Cleveland Playhouse, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. His credits also include the off-Broadway run of Mistakes Were Made at the Barrow St. Theatre. Upcoming projects include Sense and Sensibility at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and a remount of The Pirates of Penzance for The Hypocrites, Chicago.

• Paula Clarkson (Production Stage Manager) is a senior drama major from Metuchen, New Jersey. Previous credits include production assistant for Olive and the Bitter Herbs at Primary Stages, stage management intern for The Bad Guys and Warrior Class at 2ST, and production stage manager for The Dirty War Project at IC. She thanks three people, without whom this production would not have been possible: assistant director Jon Hamel, a senior drama major, who is currently the assistant to the artistic director at the Hangar Theatre, assistant stage manager Alyssa Carlucci, a senior drama major, and assistant stage manager Marisa Andrews, a junior drama major.

• Ian Crawford (Sound Designer) is a senior theatrical production arts major studying sound design and technology. Ithaca College main-stage credits include sound designer for The Magic Flute, mixer for Working, assistant sound engineer for Chicago and Measure for Measure, assistant master electrician for Baby, and mic dresser for Floyd Collins. Regionally, he has worked on The Philadelphia Story, Everything is Ours, Muckrakers, As You Like It, and worked as sound technician for the world premiere of Kate Fodor's Fifty Ways at Chautauqua Theatre Company. He was the sound department intern at the Royal Court Theatre and the hire shop intern at Orbital Sound in London, UK. Ian would like to thank his friends and most of all his family for all their support.

• Brian DeMaris (Musical Director/Conductor) has become widely recognized as one of America’s foremost young conductors and teachers for his unique skills in both opera and musical theater. He has performed with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Music Saint Croix, New York City Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, American Opera Projects, American Lyric Theater, and Ash Lawn Opera Festival. He has also performed at the United Nations, the Aspen Music Festival, Boston’s Jordan Hall, New York’s Studio 54, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Alice Tully Hall, Skirball Center, La Maison francaise, and in recitals, competitions, and master classes throughout the United States and abroad. DeMaris has taught at Lawrence University, New England Conservatory School of Continuing Education, George Mason University's International Opera Alliance, and the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv. He is the Director of Opera and Musical Theater at Ithaca College and on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival. He has served on panels with Opera America and presented master classes with the New York State Music Teachers Association and New York School Music Association. His students have performed on Broadway, film and television, and at opera companies and festivals throughout the world. Mr. DeMaris is also a composer himself: his art songs have been performed at Glimmerglass Opera, Central City Opera, Ash Lawn Opera Festival, and in recitals throughout the United States.

• Clay Harding (Lighting Designer) is a senior theatrical production arts major with a concentration in lighting design. His Ithaca College main-stage credits include lighting designer for Working and assistant master electrician for Chicago. Other Ithaca credits include lighting designer for Bachelor Holiday and Generation Graffiti. Other credits include assistant lighting designer for My Fair Lady and 9 to 5 at Merry Go Round Playhouse, assistant lighting designer and lighting programmer for Altar Boyz at the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, and master electrician for Oklahoma at Running to Places.

• Roy Lightner (Choreographer) is honored to be working with faculty and students of Ithaca. His choreographic work spans from musical theatre to concert dance. His credits include New York City Opera’s Lucky to be Me (Lincoln Center, asst. to Peggy Hickey), the original work In Your Eyes (Miller-Marley Ballet), Hairspray (W.O.B. at the Sondheim Center), Throughly Modern Millie, Good News, Urban Cowboy, Starmites, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hound of the Baskervilles and he was the assistant director for No Way to Treat a Lady (Cape Playhouse). Roy has enjoyed working with Donna Murphy, Cheyenne Jacskon, Kelli O’Hara, Michael Urie, Victoria Clark, Christine Ebersole, and Michael Cerveris. He has choreographed contemporary work for Oklahoma City Dance Project Common Thread, Astoria Fine Arts Dance, Community Dance Project of New York City, and competition teams across the country. Performance credits include Holland America’s Grand World Voyage (lead singer/dancer), Kansas City Symphony (guest soloist), Stages St. Louis, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Geva Theatre, and Music Theatre of Wichita’s CATS (Mungojerrie), 7 Brides for 7 Brothers (Gideon), West Side Story (Baby John), Seussical (Wickersham), Hairspray (IQ), The Full Monty, Phantom, Aida, Beauty and the Beast and more totaling over 40 productions. Roy has toured the country working as a master teacher and currently is a director for DANCERS INC. He currently is the head of the Jazz Dance Faculty at the Astoria School of Fine Arts. He graduated summa cum laude from Oklahoma City University with a degree in Musical Theatre.

Greg Robbins (Costume Designer) is an associate professor in the B.F.A. theatrical production arts program and was chosen to be the professor in residence at the Ithaca College London Center for the spring semester of 2003 and 2010. He has been honored at the Kennedy Center with a first-place award in design excellence for his designs for Medea. His designs for The Magic Flute were accepted into America's gold-medal-winning Mozart in America for the Prague Quadrennial.

• Colin Stewart (Technical Director) is an associate professor and the technical director for the Department of Theatre Arts at Ithaca College. At Ithaca College he has served as technical director for numerous productions over the years. Highlights include: 1776, A Little Night Music, Macbeth, Yentl, and Seussical. As well as teaching, Colin maintains an active professional theatre career. Most recently he has been technical director at Williamstown Theatre Festival (Williamstown, MA) and at the Hangar Theatre (Ithaca NY). Colin’s professional theatre career has spanned over 30 years. He has been production manager, technical director or master carpenter for numerous professional theatres, scene shops and academic theatres across the country. Some of the companies Colin has worked for include: Berkshire Theatre Festival (Stockbridge, MA), Studio Arena Theatre (Buffalo, NY), Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven, CT), Kitchen Theatre (Ithaca, NY ), Shea's Theatre (Buffalo, NY), North Carolina Shakespeare Festival (High Point, NC), Backstage Productions (Passaic, NJ), North Carolina Scenic Studios (Winston-Salem, NC), and SUNY College at Brockport's Department of Theatre. Colin received his B.A. from Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario Canada and his M.F.A. from North Carolina School of the Arts.

Mounting any theatrical production takes collaboration. Directors, producers, designers, technicians, and many other artists need to get on the same page in order to create a cohesive product. When a musical is in rehearsal, the choreographer’s job is among the most critical: they have to figure out how the group of performers can move in exciting, efficient and attractive ways. For IC Theatre’s second main stage production of the 2012-13 season, Legally Blonde: The Musical, guest choreographer Roy Lightner had the cast whipped into shape in time for opening, and was kind enough to take the time to share some of his experiences with us.

GN: Where is your home base and what do you do there?

RL: My home base is Manhattan; I live on the Upper West Side. What I do there is exactly what I do here: I choreograph everything from contemporary companies to musicals. I also work for the Astoria School of Fine Arts, which is now called Astoria Fine Arts Dance. I set up the jazz curriculum there, so I’m basically the head of the jazz department. I’m also one of the six national directors for a company called Dancers, Inc., which is a convention and competition that tours the country and promotes dance education. I stay really, really busy. It’s been a crazy year. I’ve spent three weekends at home this year.

GN: So, how did you get involved with our production of Legally Blonde?

RL: The process was very interesting. I was actually contacted by Lee Byron, the department chair at the time, and he asked if I was interested. And then Greg Bostwick took over things, and I applied and sent my resumé in with clips of my work. They got my name from Jen Waldman, who has a huge studio in NYC, so I believe they asked her and she recommended me. From there I had some phone conversations for the interview process.

GN: Jen Waldman is an alumna of IC, isn’t she? What a great connection.

RL: I’ve actually worked on shows with her before. I assisted her on a production of No Way to Treat a Lady for the Cape Playhouse. Before she knew that I was a choreographer, I took her class in the City.

GN: What project were you working on right before you came here?

RL: It was really intense. I did a national dance convention in Key West, then I went to Oklahoma City University and taught, then I went to another national dance convention. Then I went on what I like to call a “mini choreography tour.” I choreographed for companies in Kansas City and Oklahoma City, one in New Hampshire, two in New Jersey. I got back and I taught a summer intensive in Kansas City for an institution there, and then I ended up getting here. It’s like cleaning up the cobwebs; it’s been a crazy ride. I’ve also been working on a show that’s possibly going off-Broadway in March, but you know how all of that goes.

GN: Up to this point, what has been the most gratifying part of choreographing this particular production?

RL: That’s really hard to answer because there have been a lot of things that I’ve really enjoyed. I think the students, for sure; they’re hungry, they want to learn, they work really, really hard. Ask any of them: I’m not easy. I don’t sugar-coat things, I push them really hard, so watching them succeed and finally being able to do it is something I take a lot of pride in. I’m so proud of them when they accomplish those things because I’ve given them something when their reaction was initially, “I’m sorry, what?” Then watching them accomplish what I’ve given them or something they didn’t think they were able to do. I would also say that the faculty here is phenomenal. That’s been a very awesome part of my experience, just talking with the faculty members and the people that are working on the creative team. I take dance classes every day from the dance teachers: Mary Corsaro, who’s a genius. Her knowledge of musical theatre and dance is mind-blowing. I wish I had her as a teacher. Amy O’Brien is an incredible ballet teacher, and Lindsay Gilmour is a fantastic modern dance teacher. Basically, the eagerness of the students along with their passion and dedication has been so gratifying. In this business you have to have that, and you constantly have to work to be better, and you have to keep working on things that you can’t do.

GN: Where did you go to school?

RL: I’m from Kansas originally. I went to college at Oklahoma City University, and majored in musical theatre there.

Mr Lightner was interviewed by Theatre Arts Management student Gabriella Napoli '13.

Legally Blonde
Directed by Greg Bostwick
Book by Heather Hach
Music & Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin
October 30 – November 10
Tickets ranging from $5.50 - $11
Ithaca College Theatre • 953 Danby Road, Ithaca, NY
Box Office: (607) 273-4497 • /hs/depts/theatre/mainstage/

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