Artistic Staff Bios
KAREN AZENBERG (Director, Choreographer) This marks Karen’s second season as Artistic Director here at PTC. Earlier this season she directed Something’s Afoot and A Few Good Men.In previous seasons as a guest artist, she directed Next to Normal (regional premiere), Rent andMiss Saigon, and she created the musical staging for the record-breaking 2007 production ofLes Misérables. Originally from New York, her work there includes Lyrics and Lyricists (92nd 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 ofCarousel and Brigadoon, Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Regional Theatre Premiere at Geva), West Side Story (over 15 productions; Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Choreography), A Christmas Memory (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), and Same Time Next Year (Indiana Repertory Theatre). This summer she will be choreographing Mary Poppins for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Karen is on the board of the New York Musical Theatre Festival and is a past president of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
PHIL RENO (Musical Director, Conductor) has been the music Director/Conductor for eight Broadway shows: Promises, Promises, Elf—The Musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Producers, Thou Shalt Not, Dame Edna: The Royal Tour, Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance, and Cats. Off-Broadway: The Diva Is Dismissed (Public), A New Brain (Lincoln Center), Chess(Master Theatre). National Tours: Joseph… (with Donny Osmond), world premiere of Music of the Night, Starlight Express, and Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity. Regional: Minsky’s (pre-Broadway premiere at Ahmanson), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (premiere at the Old Globe), Melissa Manchester’s I Sent a Letter to My Love (premiere at North Shore), Happy Days (premiere at Falcon Theatre). Television: Music Director/Conductor Broadway Under the Stars, CBS 2002-2006; CBS Tree Lighting in Bryant Park 2006-2013. Film: The Producers. Phil has conducted five original cast albums and was nominated for a Grammy for his work as co-producer of The Drowsy Chaperone cast album.
GEORGE MAXWELL (Scenic Designer) has been the resident scenic designer at PTC for over 30 years and has had the distinct pleasure of designing over 90 productions for the company. Last season he designed Clybourne Park and A Christmas Carol: The Musical, and remounted his designs for Les Misérables. His favorite PTC designs include Next to Normal, Rent, Sunset Boulevard, White Christmas, A Christmas Story, Chicago, 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/.
PATRICK HOLT (Costume Designer) Patrick’s recent costume designs have been seen at The Kansas City Repertory Theater (American Buffalo), The Alabama Shakespeare Festival (The Three Musketeers, Peter Pan, West Side Story, As You Like It, Treasure Island), and The Arizona Repertory Theater (Nine, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Inspecting Carol, Julius Caesar, Dracula, Biloxi Blues, Romeo and Juliet). Other work includes The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Shen Wei Dance Arts), The American Dance Festival, The Colorado Shakespeare Festival (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III, Henry V, Hamlet), The John Houseman Theater (Never the Sinner), The Public Theater (On the Town), HBO, and CBS. He designed the world premiere productions of Tazewell Thompson’s Constant Star and Romulus Linney’s Gint. Patrick resides in Tucson, Arizona, where he heads the costume design program as an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona. Member of United Scenic Artists, local 829.
MICHAEL GILLIAM (Lighting Designer) Broadway credits include: Bonnie and Clyde, Brooklyn,Big River and Stand-Up Tragedy. West End credits: Gershwin Alone. Off-Broadway: Mr. Joy,Striking 12, Blue, End of the World Party, Zooman and the Sign and Menopause The Musical. National tours include Peter Pan, Brooklyn, Guys and Dolls and Big River. Regional: Arena Stage, The Globe Theatres, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory, The Goodman Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, The Pasadena Playhouse, The Geffen Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Prince Music Theatre, Denver Center and Arizona Theatre Company. Awards: Los Angeles Ovation Award, Drama-Logue Award, Garland Award and the 1999 Career Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.
JOSHUA C. HIGHT (Sound Designer) A Graduate With Distinction of London’s Alchemea College of Audio Engineering, Joshua comes to us with many years of experience in professional audio systems repair and design, and has established himself as an exceptional live sound engineer in both London and Salt Lake City. Joshua is looking forward to a successful first season working in theater design with PTC. His other projects of note include working with Sommerset House for the 2012 Olympic Games, Of Monsters and Men, Collective Soul, Fallout Boy, Slash, the Psychedelic Furs, Citizen Cope, the Dropkick Murphys, Gogol Bordello, Kate Nash, Easton Corbin, Sevendust and many more.
AMANDA FRENCH (Hair and Makeup Designer) has been a Makeup and Hair Designer for over 20 years. She has worked for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Opera, Egyptian Theatre Company and the University of Texas as Austin. She is a contributing writer in the tenth edition of Stage Makeup by Corson, Glavan and Norcross, and her work can be seen in The Costume Technician’s Handbook by Ingham and Covey, andWig 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 adjunct professor of wigs and makeup.