CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright - Mary Jane Schaefer
Mary Jane Schaefer, the author of Upstart!, lives and works in the United States, although she completed her Master's Degree in English Literature with one summer at Oxford University. A PhD from New York University followed. She has taught English on the university level at New York University, Brooklyn College, and Queens College, Queens, New York. She currently belongs to The Dramatists Guild and The Theatre Artists Workshop of New England, at the latter of which her Shakespeare trilogy, The Lives of Shakespeare, was developed and directed by Mark S. Graham. Acting credits include many Shakespearean productions, including two professional stints with Shakespeare on the Sound in Rowayton, Ct., when the Artistic Director was Ezra Barnes.
Her plays have appeared at many festivals, including The Utah Shakespeare Festival, Directed by Henry Woronicz and The International
Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, CT. Her Shakespeare monologue has been performed at The Shakespeare Festival Theater's Outdoor Summer Festival, in Stratford, CT, as well as many other venues in Ct.
In New York City : The entire trilogy was presented as professional staged readings performed by the Equity actors of The Theatre Artists Workshop of New England at The historic Players Club, directed by Mark S. Graham, sponsored by John Andrews, President of The Shakespeare Guild (international).
Also in New York City: All three plays of the trilogy were presented, as they were completed, at The National Arts Club, sponsored by the Theater Department of the National Arts Club, directed by Mark S. Graham. Equity actors supplied by The Theatre Artists Workshop of New England.
Director - Alexandra Spencer-Jones
ASJ is based in London and works as a freelance director and theatre facilitator internationally.
They are currently the Artistic Director of the award-winning Action To The Word, Associate Director of SIX The Musical West End and an Associate of Shakespeare's Globe.
Directing credits include: A Clockwork Orange (West End Soho Theatre, The Park Theatre, Broadway's New World Stages and International Tour), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare's Globe), Gobsmacked (Southbank Centre and International Tour), A Generous Lover (International Tour), A Midsummer Night's Dream (NT Riverside/Latitude Festival), Macbeth (Vienna English Theatre), Dracula (West End Arts Theatre), Chopped Logic (Latitude Festival/Camden People's Theatre) Twelfth Night (Shakespeare's Globe), Constance & Sinestra and The Cabinet of Sceams (New Wimbledon Theatre/International and Latitude Festival), Sweeney Todd (Glasgow Athenaeum), Spring Awakening (Stratford Circus), Godspell (Assembly Rooms Edinburgh), Pains of Youth (Master Shipbuilders), Romeo & Juliet (Stockwell Playhouse), Legally Blonde (Assembly Rooms Edinburgh), Women Beware Women (Camden People's Theatre/LIPA), Batboy (Chandler Glasgow), The Lost Boy Peter Pan (Pleasance Theatre), City of Angels (Stratford Circus), (Royal All Day Permanent Red Court Theatre), Titus Andronicus (C Venues Edinburgh), Rhythm of Silence (Latitude Festival/Charleston Festival), Street Scene (Glasgow Athenaeum), Rent (Birmingham Hippodrome), The Oresteia (Camden People's Theatre), The Threepenny Opera (C Venues Edinburgh) Shakespeare Shorts or What's In A Name (International Tour) and The Taming of the Shrew (European Tour).
As Movement/Associate Director: Six The Musical (West End, Korea), Bend It Like Beckham (West End), Oliver (Grange Opera), Peter Grimes (Grange Opera), La Perichole (Garsington Opera), The Wizard of Oz (West End, International) and Hope (Royal Court).
Lighting Design - Charlie Morgan-Jones
Welsh Lighting Designer Charlie has lit theatre and opera in the UK and Internationally.
Theatre includes: Derren Brown - Underground & Showman, Cool Rider, The Blues Brothers, Dracula (West End), REDD (Barbican), Mixtape, Tango After Dark (Sadler’s Wells), Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Unmasked (The Other Palace), Passion (Hope Mill), Avenue Q, Gobsmacked!, The Producers, Seussical, James and the Giant Peach (International Tour), Little Shop Of Horrors, The Lady Vanishes, Posh (UK Tour), Secret Life of Humans (English Theatre Frankfurt), 71 Coltman Street (Hull Truck), 3am (Curve, Leicester), The Snow Queen (Rose, Kingston), Macbeth (Theatre Severn), A Little Night Music (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire), Bat Boy (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), The Burnt Part Boys (Park Theatre), Love On Trial, And Crocodiles Are Hungry At Night (Bilimankwhe), Into The Woods (Lowry, Manchester).
Opera includes: La Bohème (Norwegian National Opera), Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Opera Company), Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung (Longborough Festival Opera), Tristan I Izolda (Polish National Opera), La Bohème, Gianni Schicchi, Il Tabarro, Lisbon Floor (Copenhagen Opera Festival), Romeo et Juliette (Malmö Opera), Aida, Fidelio (Dorset Opera 40th Anniversary Season), Mansfield Park, The Magic Flute, The Marriage Of Figaro, The Beggar's Opera, Savitri, Riders to the Sea, L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, Venus and Adonis, Actéon, Ava's Wedding, Dialogues Des Carmelites (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire), Street Scene (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Dubai - Rostov - New York (National Opera Studio).
Immersive Theatre includes: Inside Pussy Riot, The Time Portal, Capturing The Future, The Golden Needle - Hong Kong (Les Enfants Terribles), An Alien Encounter, The Rainforest at Christmas (Eden Project), The Fabulous Fund Fair (London Fashion Week), Goosebumps Alive (The Vaults).