GENE COLLIER has written sports and social commentary for newspapers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia since the 1970s and has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, losing spectacularly both times. He was co-author (with Rob Zellers) of The Chief, a one-man play based on the life of Steelers founder Arthur J. Rooney, Sr. It became the most successful play in the history of Pittsburgh Public Theater. He persists in an ill-conceived moonlight career as a stand-up comic and has appeared in comedy clubs coast to coast. He’s even performed in some of them. He lives in Ross Township with Gerry, his wife of 35 years, and has two adult sons, Sean and Andy, both of Pittsburgh.

SCOTT C. WISE is excited to be working on his first production at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Scott directed the premiere of Rocky Bleier in The Play at Heinz Hall, and has directed for Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre (James Joyce’s The Dead, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre), Opera Theater of Pittsburgh (A Little Night Music, Candide), and his own adaptation of Peer Gynt with composer Douglas Levine at Playhouse REP.