KAREN AZENBERG (Choreographer) created the musical staging for the 2007 PTC production of Les Misérables and is thrilled to be doing so once again and collaborating with director Charles Morey. Karen has just relocated to Salt Lake City with her family to become Artistic Director here at PTC; earlier this season she directed and choreographed A Christmas Carol: The musical and directed The Odd Couple. In previous seasons as a guest artist, she directedNext to Normal (regional premiere), Rent and Miss Saigon. Originally from New York, her work there includes Lyrics and Lyricists (92^nd St. Y), Blocks (a collaboration with Jonathan Larson),Prom Queens Unchained, and choreography for Richard Greenberg’s The Dazzle(Roundabout). Other credits include national tours of Carousel and Brigadoon, Neil Simon’sLaughter on the 23rd Floor (Regional Theatre Premiere at Geva), West Side Story (over 15 productions; Dramalogue Award for Outstanding Choreography), A Christmas Memory(Alabama Shakespeare Festival), and Same Time Next Year (Indiana Repertory Theatre). Karen is on the board of the New York Musical Theatre Festival and is the President of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

PAUL KIERNAN (Fight Choreographer) has been fight choreographer for several PTC productions, including Man of La Mancha,Romeo & Juliet, Paint Your Wagon, and Les Misérables. He has also appeared onstage in Twelve Angry Men, The Diary of Anne Frank, Pride and Prejudice, Amadeus and Ten Little Indians, among others. At SLAC, Paul has been seen in Freedomland, The Memory of Water, The Beard of Avon, Cowboys and Cabbies, The Water Project and Seeing the Elephant. Other credits includeJulius Caesar (Brutus) with Salt Lake Shakespeare; Cyrano (Hangar Theatre, Ithaca); Macbeth, As You Like It, The Tempest (St. Louis Shakespeare); Merry Wives of Windsor, You Can’t Take It With You, Amadeus (Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Cleveland);Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Richard III, and Henry IV. TV/film credits include: Go Figure for Disney Channel,Luck of the Irish, The Maldonado Miracle, and the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon. A proud member of AEA, he received an MFA from Brandeis University.

DARREN R. COHEN (Musical Director/Conductor May 3–May 18) Broadway and National Tours spanning from A Chorus Line to Grease to Chicago. Off-Broadway: Make Me a Song (New World Stages, original cast recording), Zombie Prom (Variety Arts Theatre, original cast recording), The York Theatre’s production of Carnival (Outer Critics Circle Award Best Revival),Ann E. Wrecksick (Ars Nova), Salute to Women Songwriters (Carnegie Hall w/Michael Feinstein and Roslyn Kind), Anyone Can Whistle (47th Street Theatre), A…My Name is Still Alice (Second Stage), The Fantasticks (Sullivan St. Playhouse), And the World Goes ‘Round (West Side Arts),Karen Ziemba and Friends (w/Marin Mazzie, David Garrison and James Brennan), Evening of Jule Styne (w/Victoria Clark and Phyllis Newman), Show Me Where the Good Times Are (Jewish Rep). Other tours, concerts and cabarets include: Hey, Ma… Kaye Ballard, Donna McKechnieInside the Music, and The Gypsy in My Soul (Donna Mckecknie), Karen Mason (Cabaret), Roslyn Kind (Cabaret/Concerts), James Naughton, Katherein Crosby, Debby Boone, Marin Mazzie, Marnie Nixon, William Finn (Concerts/Benefits).  Regional credits: Goodspeed, Cincinnati Playhouse, St. Louis Rep, Barrington Stage Co., Sacramento Music Circus, North Shore Music Theatre, MUNY, Westport Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Asolo Theatre. Author of The Complete Professional Audition (published by Back Stage Books), and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. www.darrenRcohen.com

STEVEN BARLOW (Musical Director/Conductor May 20–June 1) began his musical career 21 years ago here at Pioneer Theatre Company. He has been a part of over 40 productions as pianist, as well as conductor for PTC’s productions of Smokey Joe’s Café and James Joyce’s The Dead. He has served as musical director for Egyptian Theatre Company (Urinetown; Little Me; La Cage aux Folles; Ruthless!; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Beehive), CenterPoint Legacy Theatre (Pirated! Lucky Stiff) and Weber State University (Urinetown; Light in the Piazza; Musical of Musicals). Steven has also performed at Sundance Summer Theatre, Grand Theatre, and the Broadway Valentine concerts for the Ogden Symphony Ballet Association. He is a proud graduate of the University of Utah and would like to thanks Charles Morey for the opportunity to work at this wonderful theatre company and to be a part of this, his final production as artistic director.

GEORGE MAXWELL (Scenic Designer) has been the resident scenic designer at PTC for over 20 years and has had the distinct pleasure of designing over 90 productions for the company. This season he designed Clybourne Park and A Christmas Carol: The Musical. His favorite PTC designs include Next to Normal, Rent, Sunset Boulevard, White Christmas, A Christmas Story, Chicago, Les Misérables, Metamorphoses, Enchanted April, The Importance of Being Earnest, West Side Story, Proof, Peter Pan, Noises Off, Man of La Mancha, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Foreigner and Miss Saigon. He was tapped by The Utah Opera Company to design The Coronation of Poppea and The Ballad of Baby Doe. George has also designed for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and 21 productions (over seven seasons) for the Utah Shakespeare Festival. George is a member of United Scenic Artists. To see more of his work visit http://user.xmission.com/~gmaxwell/

K.L. ALBERTS (Costume Designer) Previous designs at PTC include: the world premieres ofDumas’ Camille and Laughing Stock, as well as Of Mice and Men, Annie, White Christmas,42nd Street, Miss Saigon, The Producers, Les Misérables, Metamorphoses, West Side Story,Ragtime, Proof, Phantom, Communicating Doors, A Raisin in the Sun, Death of a Salesman,The Dining Room, Room Service, Inherit the Wind, Little Shop of Horrors, Private Lives, Uncle Vanya, Scapino!, Born Yesterday, Rough Crossing and The Cripple of Inishmaan. Designs for the University of Utah’s Babcock Theatre include: On the Verge, Summer and Smoke, The Cherry Orchard, School for Scandal, I Do! I Do!, The Seagull, Table Manners and Edward II. For Salt Lake Acting Company, K.L. has designed Red, boom, Angels in America, Go, Dog. Go!,Dark Play, I Am My Own Wife, Rabbit Hole, Sexsting, Bad Dates, Gross Indecency, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Beard of Avon among others. K.L. recently designed Infantry Monologues and Shadows of the Bakemono for Meat & Potato Theatre Company, and has designed Ah! Wilderness, Hay Fever, The Matchmaker, Fiddler on the Roof, Great Expectations: A New Musical and Les Misérables for the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

KARL E. HAAS (Lighting Designer) Mr. Haas’ first PTC design–for the 1985 production of Our Town–began a 25-year collaboration on productions that include Miss Saigon, Les Misérables,West Side Story, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,South Pacific, Death of a Salesman and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Regional theatre designs include work at Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Mark Taper Forum, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Portland Stage Company, George Street Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Festival Theatre, the Santa Fe Opera, and two seasons at Peterborough Players in New Hampshire. New York credits include Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Julliard. Mr. Haas has been Lighting Supervisor/Designer for the Bolshoi Ballet/Opera, the Kirov Ballet, the Spanish National Ballet, and the Joffrey Ballet. For 11 years, Mr. Haas served as Principal Designer with Gallegos Lighting Design creating lighting for architectural installations in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Currently based in Hollywood, Karl is the Architectural Western Regional Manager for Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC, Inc). Karl would like to thank his friends at PTC for 25 years of challenging work and artistic collaboration.

MATTHEW TIBBS (Sound Designer) is Pioneer Theatre Company’s Resident Sound Designer and Adjunct Faculty teaching sound design for the University of Utah. Favorite sound designs for PTC include Emma, Next to Normal and the world premiere of Find and Sign. Favorite designs for University of Utah include Rare Bird and The Adding Machine. Matthew has previously worked for Portland Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Artists Repertory Theatre and Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. MFA: University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) BA: George Fox University.

AMANDA FRENCH (Hair and Makeup Designer) has been a Makeup and Hair Designer for over 20 years. She has worked for The Utah Shakespeare Festival, The Utah Opera, Egyptian Theatre Company and the University of Texas at Austin. She is a contributing writer in the tenth edition of Stage Makeup by Corson, Glavan and Norcross, and her work can also be seen inThe Costume Technician’s Handbook by Ingham and Covey, and Wig Making and Styling: A Complete Guide for Theatre and Film by Ruskai and Lowery. She attended the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where she studied with Hair and Makeup Designer Lenna Kaleva. She is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and a current University of Utah instructor of wigs and makeup.