Production Team – Wicked Lit 2017

DESIGN TEAM

Kurtis Bedford (Production Builder)
Kurtis is an actor, designer, General Contractor and Master Carpenter. Favorite projects include the design and construction of an entire military museum in Northern California, work on the feature film Archie’s Final Project, and the set design for WCJT’s production of The Whipping Man. Kurtis started designing at a young age for the Factory of Nightmares, which was a haunted house built on the campus of Cal State Northridge. This is his fifth time working with Unbound Productions as the Production Builder.

Christine Cover Ferro (Resident Costume Designer)
Christine is Unbound Productions’ resident costume designer and has designed all shows to date. She won the Costume Design Ovation in the large theatre category for Wicked Lit 2015. Recent work includes Pacific Resident Theatre’s The Homecoming, My Girlfriend Is an Alien, and Eccentricities of a Nightingale, and Rogue Machine’s Dutch Masters. TV and film credits include costume design for the feature films Yard Sale and Edith & Harvey, and assistant costume design for the 2014 and 2015 Oscars and Fox’s Sleepy Hollow. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Macalester College and a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Design from Brandeis University.

Drew Dalzell (Sound & Systems Designer)
For Unbound, Drew has designed The Tell-Tale Heart, History Lit 2012 and 2016, Mystery Lit 2017 and Wicked Lit 2012-2017 (including Ovation Awards for Best Sound Design in 2015 and 2016). Outside of Unbound, Drew has designed over 250 theatrical productions including the world premiere of Toy Story: The Musical and numerous productions at regional theaters such as South Coast Repertory, The Laguna Playhouse, the Colony Theatre Company, and the Rubicon Theatre Company. He has received a USITT ClearCom Sound Achievement Award and been nominated for Ovation, LA Weekly, Garland, LADCC, and NAACP Awards, winning multiple times. Drew received his MFA in Theatrical Sound Design from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and has lectured at Yale University, University of California Irvine, University of Missouri Kansas City, North Carolina School for the Arts, Purdue University, and the University of Cincinnati. Drew is also a member of the Board of Directors for Unbound Productions.

McKenzie R. Eckels (Props Designer)
This is McKenzie’s fourth consecutive year with Wicked Lit. She is a visual artist and actress in Los Angeles and is currently working on too many projects at once. After joining the Legions of the Backstage, she finds herself considerably less tolerant of actors. McKenzie would like to thank the two Jeff’s in her life. Jeff Rack, mentor and constant inspiration. And Jeff Boulton, partner in crime and father to their ill behaved fur-children.

Noelle Hoffman (Sound Designer)
Noelle has been a Sound Designer for Wicked Lit since 2013, winning Ovation Awards for the 2014 and 2015 season. Other Unbound productions include installations of The Doll at Mayfield Senior School, The Tell-Tale Heart at LA Mart/ScareLA, and History Lit 2016. Noelle is the Senior Sound Designer at Diablo Sound, working on such projects as Halloween Horror Nights, and Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N., an installation that tours around the world. BA in Drama and German from UW-Oshkosh and her MFA in Sound Design from UCI.

Hilda Kane (Lighting Designer)
Hilda is happy to return for this year’s production of Wicked Lit. Los Angeles credits include WL13, WL14, WL16, ML17, gala events for Los Angeles Ballet, The ALS Association, and Pasadena Playhouse, Guest Designer at Pepperdine University, and Resident Lighting Designer at Marlborough School. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Emerson College.

Judi Lewin (Co- Make-up Designer/ Wig & Hair Design)
Originally from Toronto, Judi designed for theatre including a few years with the Canadian Opera Co. Since moving to LA with her family in 1990, she has incorporated film and television into her repertoire and now works in all aspects of the industry. Some of the noted theatres Judi has designed for are: Pasadena Playhouse, The Rubicon, The Fremont, Interact, The Fountain, Theatre 40, McCoy Rigby, Sacramento Music Circus, The Blank and several National Tours. Judi is excited to be back working on her third Wicked Lit production.

Robin Lynn (Costume Designer and Wardrobe Mistress)
Robin is a costume designer, fabricator, fashion editor, and history addict. She has restored, designed, and/or created items from a variety of materials for clients around the globe, including major magazines, celebrities, and theme parks. She’s an old-fashioned girl who likes unpopular past times, arcane verbiage, and mischief. This is her fourth show with Unbound Productions (WL15-16, ML17).

Julie Pound (Resident Makeup Designer)
Julie is a freelance makeup artist with over 15 years experience in theatre, film and television. The resident makeup artist for Unbound Productions, she has been with Wicked Lit since its inaugural production in 2009. Favorite Unbound productions include The Lurking Fear, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Chimes, The Dead Smile, Wake Not the Dead, A Ghost Story, and The Unnamable. Other theatre credits include The Dark Heart of Poe, Tea at Five, Driving Miss Daisy, Incorruptible, and Victor. She currently has one film making the festival circuit, one in post-production, and works regularly with NASA on their educational webisodes.

Joe Seely (Puppet Designer)
Joe is an actor/designer. His award-winning masks and puppets have been seen at Wicked Lit 2016, on stage internationally, and throughout the US with Center Theater Group, The Aspen Santé Fe Ballet, the Winston Salem Festival Ballet, as well as countless other small theaters throughout Los Angeles. He discovered his love for puppets and masks through Hans Jurgen Fettig’s book, Hand and Rod Puppets as a boy. He was last seen on stage in Emily Mast’s The Stage is a Cage which toured to Toronto.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Mara Aguilar (Assistant Stage Manager ~ The Open Door)
Mara started off her haunting career with The 17th Door as a scare actor in 2015. She is excited to be working with Wicked Lit this October-November. She recently finished a three month run of Steady Rain at the John Kirby Studios in Hollywood where she was the Stage Manager. She can’t wait to become a part of this immersive story.

Darin Anthony (Director ~ Thoth’s Labyrinth)
Unbound credits: The Grove of Rashomon (WL15) and Two Pictures in One (HL16). Darin is the Artistic Director of Moving Arts where he has directed the premieres of Apocalypse Play, The Kill-or-Dies, Viral and The Gun Show. Partial Credits: New York: The Good Boy (Abington) and The Incident Report (The Lion). World and West Coast premieres: Nureyev’s Eyes (American Stages), S.O.E. (Bootleg), The Antiquarian’s Family (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), Before We Go Home (Radar LA & La Jolla Playhouse), Sidhe (The Road), Gidion’s Knot and US Drag (Furious Theatre), HEADS, American Way, A Hole in the Dark and The Book of Liz (The Blank Theatre).

Kirsten Brandt (Playwright ~ The Open Door)
Kirsten is an award-winning playwright, director and producer. She served for six seasons as Artistic Director of Sledgehammer Theatre and was the Associate Artistic Director of San Jose Repertory Theatre, where she directed Dr. Faustus, Next Fall, The Big Meal, Legacy of Light and Groundswell, among others. As a director, Ms. Brandt’s work has been seen at San Jose Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, TheatreWorks, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, North Coast Repertory, and Arizona Theatre Company. She is the co-adapter of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, which had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre. Her other plays include The Mechanic’s Daughter, The Waves and an adaptation of Wuthering Heights. www.kirstenbrandt.com

James Castle Stevens (Director ~ Liliom)
James is very pleased to return to Wicked Lit, having directed the enhanced staged reading of From Beyond in 2015. Some of James’ previous directing credits include Other Desert Cities, In The Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), Amadeus, Prelude To A Kiss, Lend Me A Tenor, Leading Ladies, Heaven Can Wait, See How They Run, The Music Man, And Then There Were None, Barnum, and Bell, Book & Candle. James would like to thank the Unbound Productions management team for this wonderful opportunity.

Megan Crockett (Stage Manager)
Megan is delighted to be joining the Wicked Lit team for the very first time! Stage management credits include Orange is the New Musical, Madama Butterfly, A Kind of Love Story, The Magic Bullet Theory and Taste to name a few. Most notably Ms. Crockett was featured in the article The Most Important, Invisible Person in the Theater: The Stage Manager for the LA Weekly. When not stage managing Ms. Crockett enjoys being a guest lecturer at Cal State Northridge, her alma mater.

Edward Gallogly (Assistant Stage Manager ~ Thoth’s Labyrinth)
Edward returns to Unbound Productions after serving as an Assistant Stage Manager for Holmes, Sherlock and The Consulting Detective (ML17) and Anansi and the Demons (WL16). He is a recent graduate from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and is excited to be working with Unbound Productions.

Heather Gonzalez (Stage Manager ~ The Open Door)
Heather is very excited to join the team at Unbound Productions for her first time working Wicked Lit! She has been working in the theatre scene in Southern California for the past 13 years as a stage manager, director, costume designer, and writer (to name a few of the hats she has worn). Heather has gotten to work with some amazing talent and this show has proven to be no different.

Gabrieal Griego (Assistant Director ~ Thoth’s Labyrinth)
Gabby is excited to be a part Wicked Lit! Production highlights: AP & AD – The Gary Plays w/director Guy Zimmerman (Ovation Recommended) w/Open Fist Theater Company; AD and PM for DOMA Theatre’s multi award-winning American Idiot, w/director Marco Gomez; AD – Gidion’s Knot w/director Darin Anthony (Ovation Recommended and LA Weekly Pick of the Week); director – A Thin White Line (which she also wrote) – 2Cents Theatre Group’s INK Fest; and producer/director for several HFF favorites since 2011. Gabrieal thanks Darin for this opportunity, her family for their continuing support, and Sloe for his amazing love, wisdom, and all round awesomeness.

Kerry Kazmierowicztrimm (Playwright ~ Liliom)
Kerry received a BFA in Drama from Syracuse University, and came out to LA on a fellowship provided by Aaron Sorkin through SU. His play Teig O’Kane and the Corpse was performed as a staged reading by Wicked Lit this past spring. He was a Finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference for his play Little Reds. His play Who’s There? was produced by Tony Award winner Joanna Gleason in NYC. His children’s musical, Giants in the Sky, was published this past spring by Beat by Beat Press. By the end of 2017, it will have over 25 productions throughout the US and Canada. Before the Bell: A Play About Bullying, his second show to be published by Beat by Beat Press, will be released this fall. Much love to Tanya for all her support.

Sebastian Muñoz (Director ~ The Damned Thing)
Sebastian is a stage and film Actor/Director hailing from Mexico City. He’s the Founder and Artistic Director at Force of Nature Productions. He has performed in and directed over 30 productions to critical acclaim in the LA area and is also a Magician member at the Academy of Magical Arts at the Magic Castle. This is Sebastian’s first Wicked Lit and he is extremely excited and honored for it. He’s grateful to the entire Unbound family for their trust, love and friendship. Enjoy the show! 110L34! fonproductions.com

David Patrick (Master Electrician)
David is a Los Angeles native. For stage he has worked on many productions in many capacities for such theaters and companies as: The Kirk Douglas Theatre (CTG), The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts, Theatre Forty, Unbound Productions (WL13-15), The Pasadena Playhouse, Odyssey Theatre, Muse/ique, and The El Portal. For screen he works as a camera operator, gaffer, effects supervisor (digital and practical), editor, animator, and storyboard artist for independent and commercial projects. Notable affiliations include Donegee Media and Out of HP. Digital effects and animation are what he loves, quoting John Lasseter, “The art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art.”

Odanis Perez (Assistant Stage Manager ~ Liliom)
Odanis is excited to work for Unbound Productions for the first time as an Assistant Stage Manager. She is a recent graduate from California State Polytechnic University Pomona with a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre with an emphasis on Education and Community.

TaShaunna Peterman (Production Manager)
TaShaunna is very excited to be the Production Manager for Wicked Lit 2017! Past shows with Unbound include Camp Mountain View (WL16, also Production Stage Manager), The Lurking Fear (WL13), The Doll (Mayfield Senior School), Las Lloronas (WL14), The Monkey’s Paw (Mountain View Mausoleum), The Ebony Frame (WL15), and The Girl Who Owned a Bear (HL16, also PSM).

Sarah Resnick (Stage Manager ~ The Damned Thing)
Sarah is excited to join Unbound Productions for the first time as a part of Wicked Lit 2017! A new transplant to California, her stage management credits from around the country include regional productions of Legally Blonde, Spring Awakening, Jekyll and Hyde, and Evil Dead The Musical. Thank you to the entire production team, cast, and crew for being so welcoming and wonderful!

Amanda Sauter (Assistant Stage Manager/Scenic Lead ~ The Damned Thing)
Amanda is thrilled to be back with Unbound after serving as an ASM for Holmes, Sherlock and The Consulting Detective (ML17), WL14-16, and as an assistant set designer on The Monkey’s Paw. Working at Theatre 40 as an assistant set designer, she has created on such shows as Patterns, Accomplice, American Wee-Pie, Helman vs McCarthy and Flare Path. Her passion for art and design has led her to create amazing things. She would like to give special thanks to Jeff Rack for giving her the opportunity to express her artistic mind. She feels truly blessed to be a part of the Unbound family.

Benjamin Scuglia (Production Stage Manager ~ Liliom)
Benjamin happily returns for his third Unbound show, following WL16 (The Shadowy Third) and ML17 this past summer (Holmes, Sherlock and The Consulting Detective). He is a member of Theatre West and the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights. Recent SM gigs include the acclaimed world premiere of Robert Allen Ackerman’s Blood and a workshop production of God Looked Away with Al Pacino and Judith Light. His play Gay for Pay was a 2015 Top 30 Finalist for the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival in New York. Benjamin’s play The Man Who Saved Everything will premiere next spring at Theatre West. Twitter: @500Turtles.

Laura Steinroeder (Stage Manager ~ Thoth’s Labyrinth)
Laura is an LA-based Stage Manager and Theatre Director. She has most recently stage managed for The Walt Disney Company and The Ghost Road Company. Laura is the Artistic Director of Red Cup Theatre Company and a Rental/Sales Agent at Kinetic Lighting. She studied at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Jonathan Josephson (Executive Director/Playwright ~ Thoth’s Labyrinth)
For Unbound, Jonathan has written/adapted Holmes, Sherlock and The Consulting Detective (ML17), Anansi and the Demons (WL16), Camp Mountain View (WL16), The Grove of Rashomon (WL15), Las Lloronas (WL14), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (WL09, WL13), The New Catacomb (WL13), The Lurking Fear with Jeff G. Rack (WL13), The Chimes (WL10, WL11), A Ghost Story (WL11, Millennium-Biltmore Hotel), Count Magnus (WL12), The Garden Party (HL12, HL16) and The Girl Who Owned a Bear (HL16). Jonathan also directed The Cask of Amontillado (WL10-11), A Ghost Story (WL11), and Two Pictures in One (HL12). Jonathan’s original plays have been produced at The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival of New American Plays), Milwaukee Repertory Theater (Rep Lab), San Jose Repertory Theatre (SJREAL), Chance Theater, The Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Theatre Festival (Festival Winner – 2016), New York Summerfest, Midtown International Theatre Festival and many others. He was awarded an Individual Artist Grant from the City of Pasadena to create HS&CD, five of his plays have been named as Finalists for ATL’s Heideman Award and his play The Giant and the Pixie was named a Finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Twelve of Jonathan’s plays are published by Steele Spring Stage Rights, Samuel French, Playscripts, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, YouthPLAYS and Original Works Publishing and have been produced throughout the US as well as in Canada, England, Scotland, and Cameroon. Jonathan received his BA in Theatre: Playwriting from UCSD and is a proud member of Playwrights Pool for Playground-LA, the Dramatists Guild of America, and is a Lifetime Member of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights.

Paul Millet (Artistic Director/Director ~ The Open Door)
This past summer Paul directed the inaugural Mystery Lit production of Holmes, Sherlock and The Consulting Detective. For Wicked Lit, Paul has directed Camp Mountain View (WL16), The Monkey’s Paw (WL 2015 Summer Installation), Las Lloronas (WL14), The Lurking Fear (WL13), The Masque of the Red Death Experience (WL13, also conceived), Count Magnus (WL12), The Body Snatcher (WL11, also playwright), and The Chimes (WL10, WL11) at Mountain View Mausoleum & Cemetery; The Initiation (WL16 Installation at ScareLA); The Doll (WL14 Summer Installation at Mayfield Senior School); A Ghost Story for the 2011 TCG National Conference at the Los Angeles Millennium Biltmore Hotel; and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (WL09) and The Fall of the House of Usher (WL09, also playwright) at Greystone Mansion. As playwright for Wicked Lit, Paul adapted The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Shadowy Third and Wake Not the Dead. For Unbound’s History Lit, Paul has directed The Girl Who Owned a Bear (HL16) & The Yellow Wallpaper (HL12) at the Pasadena Museum of History and co-directed (with Jeff G. Rack) Charles Bukowski: Back at Barney’s (2012), a spontaneous flash performance of poetry. Other credits include the world premiere of Albie Selznick’s show with magic, Smoke & Mirrors (16-month run at The Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica and The Road in North Hollywood); Jump/Cut (West Coast Premiere) at the Arena Stage for the Arts in Hollywood; Incorruptible and Southern Comforts (Los Angeles premiere) at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills; Driving Miss Daisy, The Curious Savage, and The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the High Street Arts Center in Moorpark; Václav Havel’s The Memorandum for Vox Humana; Southern Comforts at the Indian Wells Theatre; and the two original one-acts, Alpha Best and Best Chance, Chance Best for Variations on a Theme: The Best at The Chance Theater. As a former member of the Eclectic Company Theatre (ECT), Paul directed the critically acclaimed productions of Don’t Dress for Dinner, Spike Heels, A Weekend Near Madison, the world premieres of Exmagare and The Unsinkable Bismarck, as well as the late night serial Ambition. Paul is a proud member of SDC, TCG, and LA Stage Alliance.

Jeff G. Rack (Producing Artistic Director/Playwright ~ The Damned Thing)
For Unbound, Jeff directed Lovecraft’s From Beyond (WL16), Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher (WL15), adapted W.W. Jacobs’ The Monkey’s Paw (WL15 summer installation), directed Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s Guest (WL14), adapted Algernon Blackwood’s The Doll (Strub Mansion), directed Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (WL13), co-wrote an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Lurking Fear (WL13) with Jonathan Josephson, directed Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart at LA Mart/ScareLA, adapted and directed F. Marion Crawford’s The Dead Smile (WL12), M.R. James’ Casting the Runes (WL11), H.P. Lovecraft’s The Unnamable (WL10-11), and Robert E. Howard’s Pigeons From Hell (WL09) at Greystone Mansion. Also for Unbound, Jeff directed a flash performance of a scene from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 inside the West Hollywood Library in celebration of Ray Bradbury month, and co-directed with Paul Millet a flash performance of Charles Bukowski’s poetry at Barney’s Beanery as part of Pacific Standard Times’ Art in LA (check them both out on YouTube). Jeff also wrote the adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and directed Katherine Mansfield’s The Garden Party for History Lit 2012. Other recent directing credits include Conor McPherson’s The Birds and enhanced staged readings of Martians: An Evening With Ray Bradbury and Villainy, the story of H.H. Holmes. Probably best known to Los Angeles theater patrons for his award-winning set designs, Jeff has designed and built over 150 sets for productions from Santa Barbara to Edinburgh, Scotland. He enjoys designing and creating unique items for stage and screen, which has included miniatures for films Armageddon and Con-Air, the Back to the Future DeLorean cars for the Universal Studios ride, a full-sized robot puppet for Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage (for which he received an LA Weekly Award), and props for Stuart Gordon’s Ovation Award-winning Re-Animator – The Musical. Jeff is currently teaching Design for Theatre at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM).