MARYA SEA KAMINSKI (Director) is honored to co-lead Pittsburgh Public Theater. She came to Pittsburgh after four years as the Associate Artistic Director at Seattle Repertory Theatre. One of the highlights of her tenure there was spearheading a collaboration with New York’s Public Theater and Dallas Theatre Center to create Public Works Seattle. This initiative was based on long-term, authentic partnerships between regional theaters and local non-profits and designed to make theater of, by, and for the people. Earlier in her career, Marya co-founded the Washington Ensemble Theatre and served as Co-Artistic Director there for five years, leading season planning and new play development. She has worked as a director, writer, producer and actor and is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Actors’ Equity Association, and the Society of Authors and Dramatic Composers. Marya has taught and lectured on Theater at Hollins University, the University of Washington, and at Cornish College of the Arts, where she was awarded the Drama Department’s Award for Teaching Excellence. She has also been honored with the Genius Award in Theater from the Seattle newsweekly, The Stranger, and has been recognized as an Artist of the Year by Seattle Magazine. Marya holds a BA in English and Theatre Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from the University of Washington’s School of Drama.

Adaptation writer 

Greg has established an international reputation in his work for young audiences of all ages. In 2024 as a nationally acclaimed playwright in the USA he was awarded the Charlotte B Chorpenning Award for his outstanding body of work for young people. His plays take the realities of life and the harshness of our classic stories and render an epic work that speaks directly to, not at, young people. He trusts young audiences to grasp big emotions and ideas. His plays are works of transformation and grand adventure. His scripts have a fluid muscularity, a rhythm that is echoed in the strongly physical nature of his direction. Music is an essential component. A close collaboration with composers and on-stage musicians to create a live and original score ensures that the music is fully integrated into the work, driving the story forward, evoking place and emotion in a very specific way. 

 

It is important that the audience is not just a passive observer, that they are acknowledged by the actors and that the story being told is shared by everyone in the room. Greg is currently a guest director at The Minneapolis Children's Theatre where he has been commissioned to write and direct many adaptations of well-known classics including Huck Finn, Antigone, The Hobbit, Snow White, Pinocchio, The Jungle Book, and Robin Hood. He has also directed Romeo and Juliet, Wrinkle In Time, Charlotte's Web and Sleeping Beauty for the Children's Theatre. Other productions he has written and directed include Tir Na N'og  for Travelling Light Theatre **** (Guardian), Nominated TMA Award. 'Why The Whales Came' an adaptation of a Jim Sheridans film 'Into The west' for The Plymouth Theatre Royal and Theatre Alibi **** (Guardian) Nominated TMA Award. 

 

Greg has written over thirty original scripts many of which are currently being produced at Theatres and other venues throughout The States and Canada. Some are also available through 'Plays for Young Audiences.’

Jennifer Zeyl, (she/they) Jennifer is thrilled to return to Pittsburgh Public Theatre! Previous PPT designs include A Raisin in the Sun and A Tell Tale Heart. JZ is a Seattle-based director, designer and producer. In Seattle, she has designed and/or directed for Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, ArtsWest, ACT Theatre, On the Boards, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Washington Ensemble Theatre and Seattle Children’s Theatre. Nationally, her work has hit the stage at Guthrie Theatre, New York Public Theatre, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The Omaha Rose, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Long Wharf Theatre, New Orleans Fringe and Two River Theatre Company. She is honored to serve Intiman Theatre as Artistic Director, where she oversees an Associate of Arts Degree in Technical Theatre for Social Justice through Seattle Central College. She is Founding Co-Artistic Director of Washington Ensemble Theatre, winner of The Stranger Genius Award in Theatre and four-time Gregory Falls Best Scenic Design recipient. Jennifer is grateful to receive funding for her generative touring work from: The Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Theatre Communications Group, Map Fund, Creative Capital, Artist Trust, 4Culture, and The NEA. BFA Directing, BFA Theatre Design - University of Rhode Island 1996, MFA Scenic Design - University of Washington, 2003.

Previous designs for Pittsburgh Public Theater include Little Shop of Horrors, Marjorie Prime. Additional regional credits include: Indecent, The Great Moment, Tiny Beautiful Things, The Odyssey - Public Works (Seattle Rep); In the Heights (Portland Center Stage, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Milwaukee Rep); Bulrusher, Native Gardens, Hir (Intiman Theatre); The Year of Magical Thinking, Romeo and Juliet, The Wolves (ACT); Urinetown, Little Shop of Horrors (ACT/The 5th Avenue Theatre); The Pajama Game, How to Succeed in Business…, Jasper in Deadland (The 5th Avenue Theatre); Spelling Bee, String, Trails, Afterwords (Village Theatre); Dancing at Lughnasa (Tantrum Theatre); Full Gallop (The Old Globe); In the Heights, Seven Spirits on the Sun (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park). Robert is the Lighting Director of Seattle Rep. robertjaguilar.com @fake_robert

Melanie Burgess is a Seattle based Costume Designer having designed costumes for over 170 productions for: Seattle Opera, Seattle Repertory Theatre, 5th Avenue Theatre, ACT, Intiman Theatre, Village Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, New Century Theatre Company, Seattle Theatre Company, Strawberry Theatre Workshop,Taproot Theatre,. Regionally for: The Guthrie, Cincinnati Playhouse, Denver Center, Arizona Theatre Company, Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, Tantrum theatre-Ohio, and Idaho Theatre for Youth.

Is a lifelong Tolkien fan and is thrilled to be collaborating on The Hobbit. His 100+ sound designs at Pittsburgh Public Theater include the world premieres of Billy Strayhorn; Something to Live For, L’Hotel, The Chief, Harry’s Friendly Service, The Glorious Ones, and Paper Doll; original music for Marjorie Prime, A Doll’s House Part 2, Hamlet, Equus, and Circle Mirror Transformation; as well as designs for Sweat, The Diary of Anne Frank, Thurgood, Red, and Little Shop of Horrors. Other collaborations include Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Reduced Shakespeare Co., Asolo Rep, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Playhouse, NBA Ballet in Tokyo, TheaterWorks Hartford, The Huntington, Long Wharf Theatre, and Dallas Theater Center.

Stewart Blackwood is thrilled to be joining The Public for this production! His creative and technical work has been viewed nationally at venues such as the Cleveland Play House, Center Theatre Group, and La Jolla Playhouse. He is a professor of Composition and Sound Design at Carnegie Mellon University and holds an MFA from UC San Diego.

Lisa R. Stafford (Production Stage Manager) is a NYC based stage manager. Her NYC work includes The Chekhov Dreams, Offal Endings (Theatre Row), The Astonishing Times of Timothy Crachit, Through the Darkness, Composure, Mesquite, NV (Workshop Theater), Lost Not Found, Detained (UP Theater), A Peregrine Falls (Loading Dock Theatre), The Worth of Water, American Fables (HERE Arts Center).

Past Pittsburgh Public Theater productions: Steel Magnolias, A Tell-Tale Heart, Noises Off, An Iliad, Dragon Lady, Little Shop of Horrors, Barefoot in the Park, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Kelly has also done several productions with Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. 

Lindsay L. Barr is a freelance dramaturg and arts administrator. A Carnegie Mellon University alum (BFA Drama '20), she's worked localy with Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and City Theater. Recent credits: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Dramaturg-City Theater). Lindsay is a member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and serves on the board of Aviva Arts.