Graham Schmidt (Translator / Director) studies Russian dramatic literature as an M.A. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. His past directing credits include Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Cinzano, by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya. He has acted in seven Shakespearean productions, and most recently played Claudius in Hamlet, at Shakespeare at Winedale. For the past two years he has split his time between Austin and Russia, where he has studied Russian language and drama. He will spend the spring of 2008 at the Moscow Art Theatre, investigating The Seagull's place in Russian theatre history.
Stephen Pruitt (Set and Lighting Design) has been a designer of scenery and lighting, a writer, director and performer for somewhere between one and two decades, which is really a frightening amount of time to be doing that sort of thing, but would be even more frightening had he remained an aerospace engineer. When not kayaking, backpacking or taking photographs, he can be found designing parties for Cirque du Soleil, and the Austin Film Society (the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards); sets for Rude Mechanicals (Requiem for Tesla, Stadium Devildare), Salvage Vanguard Theater (Fugitive Pieces, Motherbone), and The Getalong Gang (We Have Separation); as well as lighting for St. Edward’s Mary Moody Northern Theater (Metamorphoses, Macbeth), Tapestry Dance Company, Ballet East Dance Theatre and Spank Dance Company, among others; and he is the only designer in Austin to have been honored with multiple nominations by the Austin Critic’s Table and B. Iden Payne Awards in both the scenic and lighting design categories. In addition to designing for others, Stephen has also created performance art and theater about obscure mathematicians, uncertainty and the history of cosmology, among other topics including Catastrophe Theory, and History of the World as the Center of the Universe to great acclaim. Stephen can be contacted through his website, www.fluxiondesigns.com.
The Gunn Brothers (Sound Design), Gordon and Jimy, are busy guys. They have been designing sound for the Austin Theatre Community for mumbledy mumble years, and they have been recognized many times over the years for their efforts with numerous B. Iden Payne and Critics. Table awards and nominations for their theater sound designs. They have worked with most of the theatres in Austin; they were the sound designers in residence at Capital City Playhouse for the majority of its run, and they worked on some 20 shows at the State Theatre. Recently, they designed the soundscapes for Steel Magnolias, Moonlight and Magnolias, Women Who Steal, and Inherit the Wind at the Austin Playhouse. They also play bass and guitar in the theatre-heavy folkish band Crystal Flavola.
Buffy Manners (Costuming)
Andrew Perry (Stage Manager) holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Management from Texas State University. Prior to working with Breakin’ String Theatre, he has been the stage manager for Austin Shakespeare Festival’s productions of As You Like It, Richard III, Richard Sheridan’s The Rivals, Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie, and Will Power: Your Imaginary Forces, as well as assistant stage manager for Othello and Lope de Vega’s Dog in the Manager. Andrew also works with children’s theatre, including being the current tour stage manager for the Pollyanna Theatre Company’s productions of Jessie and Grace: A Best Friends’ Story, More Patterns, and Captain Can, all three of which tour around central Texas to elementary schools. Previously, he has also been the stage manager for the Scottish Rite Children’s Theatre productions of Aladdin, Charlotte’s Web, Rumplestiltskin, and Outlaw Puss in Cowboy Boots, as well as for the Scottish Rite’s Not Quite Rite Player’s production of the melodrama The Plight Before Christmas. Other past credits include stage manager for Little Shop of Horrors, Noel Coward’s Hay Fever, & Ellen McLaughlin’s Tongue of a Bird.
Mark Crawford (Production Manager)