Tenneessee Williams (Playwright) His craftsmanship and vision marked Tennessee Williams as one of the most talented playwrights in contemporary theater. His dramas, including The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are among the most acclaimed dramas ever performed on Broadway. Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi, on March 26, 1911, to Cornelius Coffin Williams and Edwina Dakin Williams. His father was an aggressive traveling salesman, and his mother was the puritanical daughter of an Episcopal rector. Williams had an older sister, Rose, and a younger brother, Walter Dakin. Williams once wrote, concerning his parents' relationship, "It was just a wrong marriage." He clearly portrayed the familial conflict in his art. For example, the character, Amanda Wingfield, in The Glass Menagerie, is modeled after Williams's mother, and Big Daddy, in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, represents his father. Williams was raised almost entirely by his mother while his father traveled. She was overprotective of her son, especially after he contracted diphtheria when he was five. The family later moved to St. Louis, Missouri. As a boy, Williams would make up and tell stories, many of them scary. In the fall of 1929, Williams enrolled at the University of Missouri to study journalism. His father, angry that Hazel Kramer, Williams's childhood sweetheart had also enrolled there, threatened to withdraw him. The romance soon ended, and Williams, deeply depressed, dropped out of school. He decided, at his father's request, to take a job as a clerk in a shoe company. He once recalled this time in his life as "living death." To vent his frustrations with his unfulfilling work, Williams retreated to his room after work to write. He survived his depression for awhile through his poetry, plays, and stories, but the strain soon resulted in a nervous breakdown. The family sent him to Memphis to recuperate. It was here that he joined a local theater group. When he returned to St. Louis, he began socializing with a group of poets at Washington University. One of these poets, Clark Mills McBurney, introduced Williams to Hart Crane's poetry. Crane soon became his idol. Williams decided to return to college in 1937, this time at the University of Iowa. He continued to write an enormous number of plays, some of which were performed on campus. In 1938, he graduated from college, but undermining his success was the tragedy of his sister's insanity. The family allowed a pre frontal lobotomy to be performed, and, as a result, she spent most of her life in a sanitarium. Williams left home when he was 28, to live in New Orleans, where he changed his lifestyle and his name. He gave several reasons for adopting a new name: It was a reaction against his early inferior work, published under his real name; his new name had been a college nickname; he chose the name because his father was from Tennessee; the name was unique. In New Orleans, Williams wrote stories, some of which would become plays, and entered a Group Theater playwriting contest. His entry won him $100 and an agent, Audrey Wood, who became a friend and adviser. During a visit to St. Louis, Williams wrote Battle of Angels, a play that opened in Boston in 1940, but was a disaster and closed after two weeks. He revised it, however, and brought it back as Orpheus Descending. A movie version, The Fugitive Kind, starred Marlon Brando and Anna Magnani. His success continued when Audrey Wood got him a screenwriting job for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood. Williams made $250 a week for six months writing scripts for Lana Turner and Margaret O'Brien. Williams also began working on an original screenplay, but it was rejected. Disappointed, he continued to work on it, turning it into a play called, The Gentleman Caller, which evolved into The Glass Menagerie. It opened on Broadway on March 31, 1945, revolutionizing American theater and changing Williams's life forever. In 1947, his second masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire, opened, becoming even more successful than The Glass Menagerie. The play won him his second Drama Critics' Award and his first Pulitzer Prize. During the years following Streetcar, a Williams play opened on Broadway almost every other season. His work also continued to flow from stage to screen. Along with success, however, comes failure. In 1948, Summer and Smoke failed on Broadway, but became hugely successful in an Off-Broadway revival and made Geraldine Page a star. The Rose Tattoo followed, along with Camino Real, a failure in 1953, but revived as a classic at Lincoln Center in 1970, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, winning him his third Drama Critics' Award and his second Pulitzer, Orpheus Descending, Garden District, and Sweet Bird of Youth. Williams also continued to experiment with writing other genres. He wrote two novels, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and Moise and the World of Reason, short stories, including "One Arm" and "Hard Candy," a book of poetry called In the Winter of Cities, the film, Baby Doll, and his autobiography, Memoirs. In the last years of his life, Williams divided his time between his residences in New York and Key West. He also kept an apartment in New Orleans's French Quarter. In 1981, his Something Cloudy, Something Clear was produced Off Off Broadway at the Jean Cocteau Theater, and the following year, his final play, A House Not Meant to Stand premiered at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. Williams died at his New York apartment in 1983, at the age of 71.

Matthew Wiener (Director) Matthew is thrilled to be directing his first show for the Fulton Theatre. His day job for the past 14 years is Producing Artistic Director of Actors Theatre of Phoenix where he has directed over 25 productions including: Doubt, a Parable, Speak Spanish to Me, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Pillowman, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Benefactors, Blue/Orange, Sight Unseen, Angels in America, Spinning Into Butter, Something in the Air, The Archbishop's Ceiling, Hedda Gabler, The Essential Henry V, Below the Belt, and of course, A Christmas Carol. During his tenure, Actors Theatre has received numerous local awards including Outstanding Arts Organization from Business Volunteers for the Arts, and Outstanding Producing Theatre from the Arizona Theatre Alliance. He has also directed and worked at: Arizona Theatre Company (4 years as Associate Artistic Director), North Coast Repertory Theatre, Childsplay, Arizona Jewish Theatre Company, The Children's Theatre Company, The Cleveland Playhouse, American Conservatory Theatre, The Whole Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Cider Mill Playhouse, and Yale Repertory Theatre. He was a founding board member of Arizona Theatre Alliance and has served on grant panels for Arizona Commission on the Arts, Tucson/Pima Arts Council and the Nevada Arts Council. He has taught at Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Pima Community College, and Scottsdale Community College. Matthew holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, where he was the Artistic Director of the Yale Cabaret. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Matthew resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife Marion, and their twin daughters Jordan and Claire.

Robert Klingelhoefer (Scenic Designer) Mr. Klingelhoefer has designed over 100 productions at the Fulton since 1987. He also continues to teach set design at West Virginia University where he is also the Director of the Design & Technology Program. This summer he designed the repertory of the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepherdstown, WV for the third season including new works this year by Eisa Davis, Beau Willimon, Steven Deitz, and Michael Weller. Past work includes the World Premiere of the Brecht/Milhaud version of Mother Courage and Her Children, and the New York Premiere of Nobel Prize poet Seamus Heaney's The Cure at Troy for the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre, in New York, where formerly he was also Resident Designer. For Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, in New York, Mr. Klingelhoefer designed 11 productions including Cambodia Agonistes which, in addition to many US performances, toured to the International Festival of Experimental Theatre in Cairo, Egypt and to the Market Theatre in South Africa. His work has been widely seen regionally for companies including the Capital Repertory Theatre, Asolo Theatre Co., O'Neill Theatre Center, The Cricket Theatre, and The Texas Shakespeare Festival.

Beth Dunkelberger (Costume Designer) Ms. Dunkelberger is a Lancaster native who has been designing for Actors Company/Fulton Theatre since 1975. She has also designed for area theatres such as Ephrata Performing Arts Center, The Independent Eye, Lancaster Opera Company, Theatre of the Seventh Sister and Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre. Regional credits include designs for Christy, The Musical (based on the book by Catherine Marshall) at The Grand Ole Opry. Film credits include Witness and The Silence at Bethany. Her artistry has been seen in industrial shows for Armstrong World Industries and mascots for Weaver Chicken, Servomation, Gibble Potato Chips and most recently, the Milanof-Schock Library Bookworm.

Paul Black (Lighting Designer) Paul is excited to be back at the Fulton which he has come to call his second home. Some of his previous lighting designs include the most recent Driving Miss Daisy, Annie, Les Misérables, The Spitfire Grill, Oklahoma!, Brigadoon, Treasure Island, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Oliver!, Dracula: Lord of the Undead, Crazy for You, The Irish...and How They Got That Way, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden, Seussical, Hot Mikado, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Regionally he just designed Hairspray at the Walnut Theater in Philadelphia. When not in Pennsylvania, Paul works as a freelance designer living in Phoenix, Arizona. There, he has designed for the Arizona Theatre Co., Actors Theatre of Phoenix, Phoenix Theatre and Childsplay Inc. Other theatres Paul has designed for are the Music Theatre of Santa Barbara, American Stage in Florida, Carousel Dinner Theatre and the national tour of Tea at Five with Kate Mulgrew. As a guest artist Paul has lectured at Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Cornell College, Viterbo University, and Wichita State University. When not designing lights, Paul is co-executive of P2Design, a production company. Much thanks to Ellen and Bob for all of their hospitality and support over the years.

Anthony Lascoskie, Jr. (Make-up and Wig Designer) Before joining the Fulton, Anthony managed the Millersville Costume Shop. Anthony has designed costumes and wigs for local theatres as well as private clients. His favorites include La Cage aux Folles, The Rocky Horror Show and working on the hair for Taffetas, Joyful Noise, Seussical and Enchanted April. Besides being the resident make-up and wig designer, Anthony also manages the costume shop for the Fulton. He is excited to have the Fulton's extensive costume collection open to the public.

Joseph Simon (Sound Designer) is back after designing the Fulton productions of Noises Off, Driving Miss Daisy, Dial "M" for Murder, The Unexpected Guest, The Spitfire Grill, and The Foreigner. This is Joseph's third full season at the Fulton, where he has worked as a member of the run crew, a carpenter, and currently works as the audio engineer. Joseph, an alumnus of Franklin & Marshall, has worked at numerous local theaters and thoroughly enjoys Lancaster City life. He would like to thank Marc Robin for continuing to give him incredible opportunities, his family and friends for their constant love and support, and Anne Jude for everything else.

Ron Barnett (Composer) Musical Direction credits include: Into the Woods, Secret Garden, Ragtime, Blackbirds of Broadway, Summer of '42, Tommy, A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline, Five Guys Named Moe, and Forever Plaid. Composer/Lyricist credits include: Around the World in 80 Days, book and lyrics by Julianne Homokay; A Christmas Carol and Power Play, adaptations by Fulton Opera House Playwright-in-Residence Barry Kornhauser; The Shiniest Rock of All, adapted by Jere Hodgin from Virginia author Nancy Ruth Patterson's book and numerous incidental scores, including the world premiere productions of Dracula: Lord of the Undead, Lightning Rod, Treasure, The French Lieutenant's Woman, and Cyrano. Ron has scored over two dozen shows for regional children's theatre, some of which have toured nationally, been performed at the Producer's Association of Children's Theatre in NYC and the Kennedy Center in Washington, and been nominated for TCG awards. Orchestrations include: the world premiere productions of Bojangles (music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Sammy Cahn), Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (songs by NYC composer David Kirshenbaum), and Grand and Glorious, featuring songs of Jerome Kern.

Nykol DeDreu (Stage Manager) Nykol is happy to be returning to the Fulton! Past shows here are Annie, The Spitfire Grill, 42nd Street, Treasure Island, and Seussical. For five seasons Nykol was the resident Production Stage Manager at Phoenix Theatre in Arizona where she managed over 25 musical productions. For the past 4 seasons she had the pleasure of working on staff at the Utah Shakespearean Festival where had the honor of being the lead stage manager on the world premiere of Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical. Other companies: Music Theatre of Wichita, Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, Childsplay AZ, Phoenix Metropolitan Opera, Oklahoma Shakespearean, Forth Worth Shakespeare-in-the-Park, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Urban Tap. Nykol spent too much time in school, but when she was done she received a BS from Texas Woman's University and an MFA from Tulane University.