David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries

About the Company

MARTIN BURKE* (Little Macy’s Elf) – AT ZACH THEATRE: The Drowsy Chaperone, Take Me Out, Fully Committed, The Santaland Diaries (1998-2003, 2006- 2007, 2009-2010), House Arrest, The Laramie Project, Circumference of a Squirrel, Shakespeare’s R&J, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika. IMAGINE THAT PRODUCTIONS: House of Several Stories, A Writer's Vision(s), Down the Drain. OTHER THEATRE: Celebrity Autobiography at The Long Center, Greater Tuna with Joe Sears (Charles Dugan Presents), Twelfth Night (Sneck Up! Productions, Vortex Repertory Company), Jeffrey (Capital City Playhouse), Richard III/2 Actors and Family Affair (Public Domain), Shopping and F**king and Fur (Vortex Repertory Company). AWARDS: B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Ensemble” for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Laramie Project and Shakespeare’s R&J; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy” for House of Several Stories; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Featured Actor in a Drama” for Take Me Out; Austin Critics’ Table Award “Best Actor, Drama” and B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy” for Circumference of a Squirrel; Austin Critic’s Table Award “Best Actor, Comedy” for The Santaland Diaries; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play” for Twelfth Night, Angels in America: Perestroika and Family Affair; Austin Critic’s Table special citation, “Show Savior” for Richard III/2 Actors, Family Affair and Lucifa. OTHER CREDITS Martin holds a B.F.A. in Acting from The University of Texas, Austin.

MEREDITH McCALL – AT ZACH THEARE: Fiction, The Drowsy Chaperone, Caroline, or Change, 365 Days/365 Plays, Present Laughter, Urinetown: The Musical, Cabaret, Side Man, The Pavilion, The Laramie Project, Little Shop of Horrors, Jouét, Pride’s Crossing, The Rocky Horror Show (1999 & 2006), The Santaland Diaries, Tommy, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, The Taffetas, Jack and Jill, Ruthless! The Musical, Rockin’ Christmas Party, Das Barbecü, Born Yesterday, Avenue X, Beehive and Falsettos. REGIONAL THEATRE: Celebrity Autobiography (The Long Center); Down the Drain and House of Several Stories (Imagine That); Jouét (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Guys and Dolls (Zilker Summer Musicals); She Loves Me and Pump Boys and Dinettes (Live Oak Theatre). AWARDS: Austin Critics’ Table Award for “Outstanding Acting in a Supporting Role” for The Drowsy Chaperone, Austin Critics’ Table Award for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical” for Urinetown: The Musical, Austin Critics’ Table Award “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical” and B. Iden Payne Nomination “Best Lead Actress in a Musical” for Jouét, Austin Critics’ Table Award for “Featured Actress” for Angels in America, B. Iden Payne Award for “Best Actress in a Drama” for The Pavilion, “Best Actress in a Comedy” for Born Yesterday and “Best Actress in a Musical” for Falsettos. OTHER CREDITS: M.A in Theatre from Northwestern University. Meredith’s CD, The Joy in Your Heart, is available through www.cdbaby.com/cd/meredithmccall.

JASON CONNOR (Pianist, Musical Director) – AT ZACH THEATRE: Rent (Piano Conductor), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Altar Boyz, High School Musical (Musical Director), The Rocky Horror Show 2000 and 2006 (Musical Director), Cabaret (Musical Director), Always…Patsy Cline, The Santaland Diaries (Pianist), “Bertolt” in Jouét, Schoolhouse Rock (keyboards, Assistant Musical Director), Little Shop of Horrors, The Flaming Idiots, Evita, The Rocky Horror Show, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Tommy, Forever Plaid, The Taffetas, Das Barbecü, Dreamgirls, Ruthless!, Beehive, Soul Sisters, Falsettos and Nunsense. Jason traveled with The Flaming Idiots to play keyboards for their performances at The New Victory Theatre, Off-Broadway in 2000 and 2009. OTHER CREDITS: Jason is a graduate of Texas State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education. Jason teaches elementary music with the Austin Independent School District. 

* = Member Actors' Equity Association

About the Artistic Staff

DAVE STEAKLEY (Producing Artistic Director) – Now in his 21st season, Dave is dedicated to creating a place where our community gathers for a collective imaginative act. Dave believes theatre offers an arena in which we might be challenged to understand not just our own lives, but also the world in which we live, and is committed to creating plays and musicals that open meaningful conversations on topics that have resonance in our community. Under Dave’s leadership:

WORLD PREMIERES: New plays by Anna Deavere Smith, Steven Dietz, Everett Quinton, John Walch, Allen Robertson & The Flaming Idiots; 365 Plays/365 Days by Suzan-Lori Parks. ZACH served as the Austin hub of a nationwide, year-long festival; Jesucristo Superestrella – ZACH created the first bi-lingual adaptation of Webber and Rice’s landmark musical; The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, a jazz/R&B reinvention set in Katrina ravaged New Orleans, which received national acclaim from The New York Times and the Gershwin Estate.

PRODUCER, DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER ON MORE THAN 250 ZACH PRODUCTIONS INCLUDING: Hairspray, August: Osage County, Rent, Metamorphoses, Our Town, The Grapes of Wrath, Caroline, or Change, The Clean House, Take Me Out, I Am My Own Wife, Urinetown, Crowns, Omnium-Gatherum, Hair, The Laramie Project, Hedwig, Jelly’s Last Jam, The America Play, Dreamgirls, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Angels In America and Beehive

REGIONAL DIRECTING CREDITS: Actors Theatre of Louisville, New Stage Theatre, American Heartland Theatre, WaterTower Theatre, City Theatre and Downstairs Cabaret

PLAYWRIGHT: Rockin’ Christmas Party, Keepin’ It Weird, a play about Austin’s unique character featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, The Wall Street Journal and American Theatre

SERVICE TO THE THEATRE FIELD: National Endowment for the Arts Theatre and Musical Theatre Panelist • Texas Commission on the Arts Young Masters Program Panelist • National Alliance for Musical Theatre New Works Committee

RECOGNITION: October 22, 2011, named “Dave Steakley Day” by the City of Austin; 2010 Spike Gillespie Kick Ass Award; 2009 Austin Dancing with the Stars Champion; 2005 Austin Circle of Theaters’ Special Recognition Award for “Outstanding Contribution to Austin Theatre”; City of Austin declares May 18, 2001 as “Dave Steakley Day”; Austin Chronicle “Best of Austin” Readers Poll “Best Stage Director” six times; Multiple Austin Critics’ Table and B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Director, Choreographer; 2000 Austin Under 40 Outstanding Arts & Entertainment Award. 

JASON AMATO (Lighting Design) – Jason’s career has spanned 18 years, designing more than 500 local and international shows. In addition to designing at ZACH for 12 years, he is the resident lighting designer for Austin Shakespeare, Blue Lapis Light and the Vortex Repertory Theatre. Recent shows at ZACH: Hairspray, The Book of Grace, August: Osage County, Red Hot Patriot, Rent, Metamorphoses, Becky’s New Car, Our Town, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Grapes of Wrath, Shooting Star, Beehive and Caroline, or Change. The Austin Critics’ Table Awards has honored Jason for outstanding lighting in 25 shows. He has also received B. Iden Payne Awards for his lighting of Troades, Trickster, The Exonerated, Omnium-Gatherum, Triskelion, Panoptikon, Despair’s Book of Dreams and The Deluge. In 2008, Jason received the “Outstanding Contribution to Austin Theater” award from Austin Circle of Theaters. You can also view his design work at www.jasonamato.com.

K. ELIOT HAYNES (Sound Design) – produces sound and video. Recent ZACH Theatre design credits include video for Rent andRockin’ Christmas and sound for Doubt. He enjoys being part of the ZACH production team having served as carpenter, Scene Shop Foreman and currently as the Interim Assistant Technical Director. Other video credits include The Assumption (Refraction Arts), I Witness (Tutto Theatre), A Series with a Chair and an 11-Foot Line (Forklift Dance), Dance Carousel (Spank Dance), and The E Word (Sharon Sparlin). He is also the Technical Director for Austin’s own Fuse Box Festival.

HEYD FONTENOT (Set Design) – was born in 1964 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He currently lives and works in Austin, Texas. In his long and vigorous career, Fontenot’s creative vision has found expression in many different artistic roles including designer, art director, producer, filmmaker and painter. Among his many clients are theater companies, retail businesses and media production companies. In the 1990s, Fontenot produced a significant body of work as an experimental filmmaker. This period was crucial to his growth as an artist and continues to inform his work as a painter. Fontenot comments, “Filmmaking helped me craft a vocabulary that I continue to draw upon in painting, allowing a particular sensibility for assembling images and creating mise-en-scene” Whatever medium he chooses, Fontenot usually revisits the themes of sexuality and morality, producing joyful and playful works that nonetheless subtly undermine dominant cultural perceptions. In his own words, “If there is a radical nature to sexuality, it lies not in its ability to titillate, but rather in its inherent powers of spiritual transformation.”

BLAIR HURRY (Costume Coordinator) – grew up in Austin and studied Costume Design & Technology at the University of Texas. Her costume design works at ZACH Theatre include Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, Metamorphoses, Shooting Star (2009-2010 Season), Farm to Market and Call It Courage (ZACH’s Performing Arts School). Other local designs include Vampyress (Vortex Theatre), Parade: A Musical (St. Edward’s University), The Famous Rio Grande, The Trojan Women and Cabaret (University of Texas). Prior to ZACH, she built costumes for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Ohio Light Opera Company and STAGES: St. Louis. She also worked as Head of Wardrobe and Make-up for the national tour of Playhouse Disney’s The Doodlebops LIVE! and the 2008 national tour of The Moscow Ballet’s The Great Russian Nutcracker. She is currently an active member of the local 205 IATSE union.

BLAKE REEVES (Properties Design) – AT ZACH: God of Carnage, Spring Awakening, Hairspray, The Book of Grace, August: Osage County, Fiction, Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins and Rent. Blake has also worked with ZACH’s production team in numerous facets for The Santaland Diaries, The Drowsy Chaperone, Metamorphoses, Becky’s New Car, Our Town and The Flaming Idiots. In addition to production work, he performed with the award-winning cast of Our Town. Blake attended Baylor University and, during his time as a student, he designed, choreographed and performed in a number of productions. He later returned to serve as the Coordinator of Special Performances for the university, producing and designing several shows. He also provided prop design for Footloose with Zilker Theatre Productions this summer. Blake is a proud member of the Society of Properties Artisan Managers.

PAUL FLINT (Director of Production) – joined ZACH Theatre in 2008. He earned his B.F.A. from Shorter College and M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, with a focus on Technical Direction, Scenic Design and Arts Management. He has more than ten years experience in technical theatre and has worked as a Technical Director for eight years. His theatre credits include the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Ga., Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York, Vitalist Theatre Company in Chicago, Ill., and he is a founding member of Seaside Repertory Theatre in Seaside, Florida. Paul is the author of Managing the Creative Mind: A Technical Director’s Process.

JIM O’SULLIVAN (Technical Director) – is excited to be working on his second show at ZACH. He came to Austin from TheatreWorks–Silicon Valley where he was the Assistant Technical Director from 2007-2011. He worked on more than 30 productions, with 7 world premieres, at TheatreWorks including the musicals Emma, Tinyard Hill and Daddy Long Legs. He also served as Technical Director for Renegade Theatre Experiment and the Cutting Ball Theatre. He won an Arty Award for scenic design of On Golden Pond at the Benicia Old Town Theatre Group.

LILY WILLIAMS (Company Manager) – graduated from Montana State University with degrees in Media & Theatre Arts and Spanish Language & Literature. During her time in Montana, Lily served as the producer and stage manager for numerous university productions, including The Last Acts and Allen Ball’s Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. She has vast experience in film, event management and visual art.
 
 

CARMELA VALDEZ* (Stage Manager) – has a degree from the University of Texas at Austin and worked on local productions ever since. Her most recent credits include assistant stage managing for Austin Lyric Opera’s Cinderella, The Bat, The Barber of Seville, Il Trovatore, The Marriage of Figaro, Elektra, and Tosca. She has also stage managed The Clean House, Always...Patsy Cline, The Vagina Monologues, Fully Committed, and The Santaland Diaries at ZACH Theatre.

* = Member Actors' Equity Association