Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 10 - West Side Story

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 34 the Stratford Festival; Little Me, and It’s A Bird... It’s A Plane... It’s Superman! at City Center Encores!; Pirates of Penzance at Barrington Stage Co; Guys and Dolls, and The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall. He also choreographed multiple segments on television’s So You Think You Can Dance and PBS’s Sinatra: A Voice for a Century. KIIRA SCHMIDT CARPER | ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER Lyric debut . Carper’s Broadway credits include Follies , Anything Goes, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, No No Nanette (NYCC),and Stairway to Paradise (NYCC) . She worked on national tours of Fame, Crazy for You, and A Chorus Line, and international highlights include the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Broadway Asia’s Real to Reel. Select regional credits: Mame ( The Kennedy Center ), Cats ( The MUNY ), A Chorus Line ( The MUNY ), The Bandwagon ( The Old Globe ), Oklahoma ( Papermill Playhouse ), West Side Story ( Barrington Stage ), White Christmas ( The Fox Theater ), Sweet Charity ( Gateway Playhouse ), Chicago ( Riverside Theater ), Damn Yankees, Gypsy, Show Boat, and Grease. Carper assisted Josh Bergasse in recreating the work of Jerome Robbins in West Side Story at Teatro Lirico in Sardinia, Italy, Barrington Stage, The North Carolina Theater, The Fulton Theater, and for the 50th Anniversary celebration event in Times Square in 2011. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Syracuse University. SARAH HATTEN | WIGMASTER & MAKEUP DESIGNER Lyric’s wigmaster and makeup designer has worked in a wide repertoire at Des Moines Metro Opera, Detroit Opera (formerly Michigan Opera Theatre), Columbus Opera, Toledo Opera, the Cabrillo Music Festival, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has also worked at The Glimmerglass Festival and the major opera companies of Los Angeles, Omaha, Cleveland, Sarasota, and Central City, as well as Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre and, in Los Angeles, the Pantages Theatre and the Geffen Playhouse. Sarah Hatten is supported by the Marlys A. Beider Wigmaster and Makeup Designer Endowed Chair. ERIC SEAN FOGEL | ASSOCIATE STAGE DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Florencia en el Amazonas (2021/22). This season Fogel is directing new productions of Song Bird (Kennedy Center), The Sound of Music (Houston Grand Opera), and Love and War (Glimmerglass Festival). Recently he was the Revival Director for Norma (Metropolitan Opera), Candide! (Glimmerglass Festival), and West Side Story (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari). World premiere credits include: Klangwolke 2023, The Odyssey (Glimmerglass Festival), The Lion, Unicorn and Me (Kennedy Center), Artus, Excalibur (St. Gallen), and Princess (XSBN China). Other notable productions include: Candide! (Téâtre du Capitole, Opera National de Bordeaux), Samson and Delilah, The Little Prince (Kennedy Center), Pearl Fishers (Houston Grand Opera), Le Nozze di Figaro (Opera Philadelphia), and Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Theatre Company). For the past 13 years Fogel has been Head of Stage Movement and Choreography at the Glimmerglass Festival, and he is also on staff as a Guest Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera. JORDAN LEE BRAUN | ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Since 2016, Braun has worked on more than two dozen productions at Lyric as either an Associate Director, Assistant Director, or Stage Manager. She has collaborated with directors Richard Jones, Sir David Pountney, Sir David McVicar, Sir Graham Vick, Francesca Zambello, Arin Arbus, Barrie Kosky, Bart Sher, Jonathan Miller, and many more. She most recently directed the youth opera The Scorpion’s Sting for Lyric Unlimited’s Opera in the Neighborhoods program. Braun has also worked with the Washington National Opera, Opera Colorado, Wolf Trap Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Florentine Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Grand Rapids, Charlottesville Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Sarasota Opera, Toledo Opera, and Opera Carolina. ALAINA BARTKOWIAK | STAGE MANAGER Alaina Bartkowiak has been a stage manager and assistant stage manager for Lyric since 2019. She has held stage management roles at Chicago Opera Theater, Music Theater Works, Florentine Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Omaha, Glimmerglass Festival, and other companies across the country. KATRINA BACHUS | ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Bachus has worked for Lyric Opera of Chicago since the 2016/17 Season, during which time she has served many roles including Stage Manager, Assistant Stage Manager, Associate Director, and Assistant Director. Additional credits include both stage management and direction credits for the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. Bachus holds a degree in Stage Management from the University of Utah.