2008 AATE Conference Bios
2008 KEYNOTES
Susan V. Booth
Patrick Spottiswoode
Regina Taylor
2008 Paid Workshop Presenters
Rosemary Newcott
Alan Louis
Gloria Bond Clunie
Michael Benedict
SUSAN V. BOOTH
(Artistic Director) joined the Alliance Theatre in July of 2001. As a stage director, her work has been seen at theatres including Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, St. Louis Repertory, Cincinnati Playhouse, New York Stage and Film, and many others. Before coming to Atlanta, Booth was the Director of New Play Development at the Goodman Theatre, Co-Artistic Director for the City of Chicago’s Professional Summer Theatre and Associate Artistic Director of Northlight Theatre. She holds degrees from Northwestern and Denison universities and was a fellow of the National Critics Institute. She has held teaching positions at Northwestern and DePaul universities and currently serves as adjunct faculty with Emory University. She is a member of Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2003 and was cited as a Lexus Leader for the Arts by WABE-FM, “Atlanta’s Best New Visionary” by Atlanta Magazine in 2004, one of Atlanta’s “25 Power Women to Watch” in 2006 by Atlanta Magazine, and was chosen as the Best Local Director in The Sunday Paper’s 2006 and 2007 Readers’ Choice Awards. Ms. Booth serves on the board of the Metro Atlanta Arts and Cultural Coalition, co-chairs the City of Atlanta’s One Book, One Community program, and serves as President of the Board of Directors for Theatre Communications Group.
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PATRICK SPOTTISWOODE
Patrick Spottiswoode joined Shakespeare’s Globe in 1984 and became founding Director of Globe Education in 1989. Globe Education now engages 23 full-time staff, over 50 part-time practitioners and welcomes over 90,000 people a year of all ages and nationalities for workshops, talks and courses at the Globe.
In addition, outreach projects are devised for schools and teachers throughout the UK, Europe and the USA and distance learning projects are devised for schools around the world.
Over 300 undergraduates now participate in semester courses at the Globe every year, including students from St Lawrence University, the University of Connecticut, University of Denver and the University of Notre Dame. A one-year acting course for theatre majors from Rutgers University is now in its 5th year and a one-semester design and stage management course is also offered. The first Globe MA was established with King’s College in 2000. A second (part-time) MA for teachers was launched in 2004. In 2006, Globe Education secured a government award to provide full funding for a PhD student for a three-year research studentship.
In 1993, Patrick co-ordinated Globe Education’s first international project in which 10,000 students from Denmark, Germany, Great Britain and Poland took part in a cross-curricular celebration of Hamlet which involved music, film, video and performance.
In 1995, he initiated a 30 project to record (with professional casts) all the non-Shakespeare plays published in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Over 120 plays have now been staged as “performances with scripts”. In 2000 he commissioned Claire van Kampen to compose a score for Asta Nielsen’s silent film of Hamlet.
GlobeLink was established in 1997 to enable schools worldwide to share in the discoveries being made at the Globe via the internet and video-conferences. Every year students and teachers Adopt an Actor in the Globe Company and share in the process of creating a production from the first day of rehearsal to the last performance via web conversations.
In 2002, he commissioned 37 British poets to re-visit Wordsworth’s sonnet “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” for the poem’s 200th anniversary and a book of new sonnets was published. This led, in 2003, to a sonnet project for students around the world who were asked to write sonnets about bridges, literal or metaphorical, in their communities.
In 2004 Islam Awareness Week was launched at Shakespeare’s Globe as part of a year-long programme of events that sought to promote a deeper understanding of Islam and this country’s Muslim communities. Othello and Islam were also the inspiration behind Globe Education’s first national tour that visited 63 schools in 9 cities in 2005.
In November 2005, Globe Education launched its Tent for Peace. The lining of the Tent is made up of hand-embroidered handkerchiefs designed by children from around the world,inspired by Othello and Islamic design. The Tent is used for story-telling with a focus on stories promoting conflict resolution and peace.
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Globe Education has a commitment to working with every school in its home borough of Southwark. Its Community Projects team works with teachers and students in a range of short and sustainable projects including its flagship annual Our Theatre production in which students from 12 schools perform a Shakespeare play in front of 1600 people in the Globe.
In 2006, Globe Education was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills to provide training for 260 education consultants who will in turn train teachers in every high school in England and Wales with the Globe’s practical approaches to teaching Shakespeare in the classroom.
In Spring 2007, Globe Education explored ‘Shakespeare and Venice’ with lectures, staged readings and performances. In October 2007, a conference on ‘Shakespeare and Venice’ organised by Globe Education in association with the University of Venice, was held in Venice.
Spring 2007 also saw the first annual Globe Education professional production created especially for young people and for the Globe stage. 13,000 people were given free tickets and came to see the production of Much Ado about Nothing in 2008. A production of Romeo and Juliet is planned for 2009.
Globe Education provides several professional development courses for international teachers. A three-week summer school is provided for teachers from across the USA in conjunction with the ESU and a one-week summer seminar is provided for teachers from across the world for whom English is an additional language.
A Globe Education Academy for Teachers has been created in California in association with the University of California at Davis.
The Globe is an open house and Globe Education seeks to make Shakespeare and the Globe accessible to all irrespective of age or ability.
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With an impressive body of work that encompasses film, television, theater and writing, Regina Taylor is one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors whose career continues to evolve with exciting and challenging projects.
Regina is best known to television audiences for her role as Lilly Harper in the series "I'll Fly Away." She received many accolades for her performance in the show including winning a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Regina can currently be seen starring in the CBS hit drama "The Unit" alongside Dennis Haysbert. In February, she took home the NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Actress in a Drama” for her work on the show.
Regina made her professional acting debut on CBS in the movie "Crisis at Central High" and her other television credits include the series "The Education of Max Bickford," "Feds" as well as television movies "In From the Night," "Cora Unashamed," "Strange Justice," "The Third Twin" "Hostile Waters," "Children of the Dust," "I'll Fly Away: Then and Now," "Howard Beach: Making a Case for Murder," "Concealed Enemies," "Crisis at Central High" and "Nurse."
Segueing effortlessly between the big and small screen, Regina has starred in blockbuster films alongside some of Hollywood most talented leading men. Her film credits include "The Negotiator," "Courage Under Fire," "A Family Thing," "The Keeper," "Clockers," "Losing Isaiah," "Jersey Girl" and "Lean on Me."
In addition to her film and television work, Regina holds the honor as being the first Black woman to play William Shakespeare's Juliet in Broadway's "Romeo and Juliet." Her other theater credits include "As You Like It," "Macbeth," "Machinal," "A Map of The World," "The Illusion" and "Jar the Floor." In addition, she won the L.A. Dramalogue Award for her performance in "The Tempest" on the west coast.
Regina not only feels comfortable on the stage, she is also an accomplished playwright. Her other credits as playwright include "Oo-Bla-Dee," for which she won the American Critics' Association new play award, "Drowning Crow," (her adaptation of Chekhov's THE SEAGULL, which was produced on Broadway by Manhattan Theater Club in its inaugural season at the Biltmore Theater and starred Alfre Woodard), "The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove," "A Night in Tunisia," "Escape from Paradise," "Watermelon Rinds," and "Inside the Belly of the Beast." Regina’s critically acclaimed "Crowns" was the most performed musical in the country this past year. Her latest play “Magnolia” will premiere at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in March 2009.
Regina is a member and Artistic Associate of the Goodman Theatre. She was raised in Dallas, Texas and still calls it home.
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2008 Paid Workshop Presenters
Rosemary Newcott
Alan Louis
Gloria Bond Clunie
Michael Benedict
ROSEMARY NEWCOTT
The Sally G. Tomlinson
Artistic Director of Theatre for Youth
Rosemary Newcott is the Sally G. Tomlinson Artistic Director of Theatre for Youth. She was first appointed to this position in 1999, but has been performing, directing and teaching in Atlanta since 1980’s, when she began her Atlanta career at the Academy Theatre.
Her Alliance Theatre directing credits are: GO DOG GO, DISNEY’S ALADDIN, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE STINKY CHEESE MAN, EINSTEIN IS A DUMMY, THE LITTLE BABY SNOOGLE FLEEJER, THE MIRACLE WORKER, FERDINAND THE BULL, MERLIN!, LILLY’S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE, THE MUSIC LESSON, PINOCCHIO 3.5, ANDROCLES AND THE LION, THE HOBBIT, THE BOOK OF RUTH, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, AND NOW MIGUEL, A WOMAN CALLED TRUTH, TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING, CHARLOTTE’S WEB and JAX AND THE GRAVITEERS, Degas' Little Dancer and Seussical the Musical. Past children’s theatre directing experiences include, JUST SO STORIES for The Center for Puppetry Arts, THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE and THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW for The Theatrical Outfit, and her husband Tom Marquardt’s TYA version of A MISUMMER NIGHTS DREAM for Seaside Rep.
As an Alliance Theatre actress, Rosemary has appeared in LEAP, GRAPES OF WRATH, ROMEO AND JUILIET, LA BETE, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE SEAGULL, VOICE OF THE PRARIE, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, SOUTHERN CROSS and as understudy for DRIVING MISS DAISY. She has also acted on almost every Atlanta stage, (extensively at the Horizon Theatre). Most recently, she played Beatrice in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at Theatre in the Square.
Rosemary, a certified secondary education teacher, taught at the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program (10 years), The Alliance Performance Program and the Horizon Teen Ensemble, On the commercial/film front, Rosemary was recognizable as Fran Fuller, the Winnebago-traveling writer in the Publix “on the Road” commercial series. You can also see her on reruns of IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, several made-for-TV movies and the feature film, GINGERBREAD MAN, directed by Robert Altman.
Rosemary holds an MA in Theatre from Northwestern University, a BA in English and Theatre from Jersey City University.
Rosemary was named Atlanta Lexus Leader of the Arts for December 2001 and is a recent recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship. She was named Best Director of the Year in 2002 by The Atlanta Journal Constitution and in 2005, was awarded the GTC Distinguished Career Award.
Rosemary was a participant in the 2004 New Visions New Voices with EINSTEIN IS A DUMMY.
ALAN LOUIS, Director of Museum & Education Programs
Alan Louis has directed the Center for Puppetry Arts’ museum and arts education programming for children and adults since 2000. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology and a M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education, both from Georgia State University. In 1999, he was chosen by the Japanese Government for a three-week study trip to Tokyo and Akita City as a participant in the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program. For four years he worked with inner-city elementary school students in the Atlanta Public Schools Challenge Program for Gifted and Talented Students, where he achieved tenure. He has also taught in public schools in East Point and Lithia Springs, GA.
Prior to entering the field of education, Louis was a puppeteer. He began his career in puppetry in the summer of 1983 at Fantasy Island theme park near Niagara Falls, NY. He later joined Vincent Anthony’s Vagabond Marionettes (Sleeping Beauty, 1984) and eventually became a resident puppeteer at the Center for Puppetry Arts (The Jungle Book, 1985) as well as a performer on several of the Center’s U.S. tours (The Wizard of Oz, 1985, The Jungle Book, 1986, and Hansel & Gretel, 1987). He has performed puppet characters in productions by the Alliance Children’s Theatre Company (The Wind in the Willows, 1992 and The Last Fairytale, 1993) and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Kid’s Holiday Concert, 1997). As a volunteer puppeteer, he performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996.
Louis has taught puppetry workshops in the Center’s Adult Education Series and at puppetry festivals in the U.S. and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria). He frequently contributes articles to the Puppeteers of America’s quarterly publication The Puppetry Journal.
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GLORIA BOND CLUNIE
Gloria Bond Clunie is an award-winning playwright of Shoes, Quark, Sweet Water Taste, Living Green, Mirandy and Brother Wind and Dream: A Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. Ms. Clunie is an original member of the Playwriting Ensemble at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, IL. She received the 1995 Joseph Jefferson Chicago Theatre Award for Best New Work/Adaptation, the 1994 Theodore Ward African-American Playwriting Award and the 1999 AATE Distinguished Play Award for her play North Star, which premiered at Victory Gardens Theatre. She holds an MFA in Directing and a bachelor's in theatre from Northwestern University, and is a full time Creative Drama Specialist in the Evanston, IL school district.
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MICHAEL BENEDICT
Michael has been involved in many aspects of theatrical production for over 14 years. His experience and creativity have produced a wide range of solutions for many artistic needs. With a BFA in Fine Arts, his work first started with scenic painting and extended into construction. Michael eventually found his place in the production of properties for many shows. He served as Master Artisan for the Alliance Theatre for 5 years, then went on to become the Props Master for another 3 years. Michael is currently serving as the Prouction Manager for The Atlanta Opera.
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