Fully Committed

ABOUT THE COMPANY

MARTIN BURKE* – AT ZACH THEATRE: The Laramie Project (2002 and 2012), The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, The Drowsy Chaperone, Take Me Out, Fully Committed (2003), The Santaland Diaries (1998-2003, 2006-2007, 2009- 2011), House Arrest, Circumference of a Squirrel, Shakespeare’s R&J, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika. IMAGINE THAT PRODUCTIONS: House of Several Stories, A Writer’s Vision(s), Down the Drain. OTHER THEATRE: Celebrity Autobiography at The Long Center, Greater Tuna with Joe Sears (Charles Dugan Presents), Twelfth Night (Sneck Up! Productions, Vortex Repertory Company), Jeffrey (Capital City Playhouse), Richard III/2 Actors and Family Affair (Public Domain), Shopping and F**king and Fur (Vortex Repertory Company). AWARDS: B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Ensemble” for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Laramie Project and Shakespeare’s R&J; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy” for House of Several Stories; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Featured Actor in a Drama” for Take Me Out; Austin Critics’ Table Award “Best Actor, Drama” and B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy” for Circumference of a Squirrel; Austin Critic’s Table Award “Best Actor, Comedy” for The Santaland Diaries; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play” for Twelfth Night, Angels in America: Perestroika and Family Affair; Austin Critic’s Table special citation “Show Savior” for Richard III/2 Actors, Family Affair and Lucifa. OTHER CREDITS Martin holds a B.F.A. in Acting from The University of Texas, Austin.

* = Member Actors’ Equity Association

ABOUT THE ARTISTIC STAFF

DAVE STEAKLEY (Producing Artistic Director) – Now in his 21st season, Dave is dedicated to creating a place where our community gathers for a collective imaginative act. Dave believes theatre offers an arena in which we might be challenged to understand not just our own lives, but also the world in which we live, and is committed to creating plays and musicals that open meaningful conversations on topics that have resonance in our community.

Under Dave’s leadership, ZACH has produced multiple World Premieres, including new plays by Anna Deavere Smith, Steven Dietz, Everett Quinton, John Walch, Allen Robertson and The Flaming Idiots. ZACH served as the Central Texas hub of the nationwide, year-long festival 365 Plays/365 Days by Suzan-Lori Parks. Dave created the first bi-lingual adaptation of Webber and Rice’s musical Jesucristo Superstar, and set The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess in Katrina ravaged New Orleans with a jazz/R&B reinvention, which received national acclaim from The New York Times and the Gershwin Estate.

Todd Gershwin says, “It was Dave’s creative production of Porgy & Bess that really opened my eyes to the need to finally allow a creative team to interpret the opera in a fresh manner for a musical theater audience, which led to the current Broadway production.” Anna Deavere Smith says, “Dave is the future. The YES in his theater’s walls is as palpable as the walls themselves. That Yes, I believe, will lead to something brand new, perhaps to connect with a broader, more global environment as audience.”

Dave has served as the Producer, Director and Choreographer of more than 275 ZACH Productions, including: Next to Normal, Hairspray, August: Osage County, Rent, Metamorphoses, Our Town, Caroline, or Change, The Clean House, Take Me Out, I Am My Own Wife, Urinetown, Crowns, Omnium- Gatherum, Hedwig, Jelly’s Last Jam, The America Play, Dreamgirls, Angels In America and the first professional repertory production of The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later.

His regional directing credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, New Stage Theatre, American Heartland Theatre, WaterTower Theatre, City Theatre and Downstairs Cabaret. As a playwright, he wrote Rockin’ Christmas Party and Keepin’ It Weird, featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, The Wall Street Journal and American Theatre. Dave has served multiple times as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts Theatre and Musical Theatre Divisions, the Texas Commission on the Arts Young Masters Program and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre New Works Committee.

The City of Austin declared May 18, 2001 and October 22, 2011 as “Dave Steakley Day” on the occasion of his 10th and 20th ZACH Anniversaries. He is the recipient of the 2010 Kick Ass Award, 2005 Austin Circle of Theaters’ “Outstanding Contribution to Austin Theatre” Award, six Austin Chronicle “Best of Austin, Best Stage Director” awards, the 2000 Austin Under 40 Outstanding Arts & Entertainment Award, and multiple Austin Critics’ Table and B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Director and Choreographer. In 2009, he was crowned Austin Dancing with the Stars Champion along with pro Jolie Generalov. Dave has a cameo as Assistant Director to Jack Black in Richard Linklater’s film Bernie, in which he along with choreographer Robin Lewis staged the Music Man theatre sequences featuring Jack Black, Jill Blackwood and several ZACH actors.

CHRISTINA H. YOO (Set Design) – is from Seoul, South Korea and a third year MFA theatrical design candidate at University of Texas Austin. Her recent set design credits include 360 (round dance) and Bacha Bazi at University of Texas Austin, and Sideways Stories from Wayside School at ZACH Theatre.

JASON AMATO (Lighting Design) – Jason’s career has spanned 18 years, designing more than 500 local and international shows. In addition to designing at ZACH for 12 years, he is the resident lighting designer for Austin Shakespeare, Blue Lapis Light and the Vortex Repertory Theatre. Recent shows at ZACH: The Laramie Project, The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, Hairspray, The Book of Grace, August: Osage County, Red Hot Patriot, Rent, Metamorphoses, Becky’s New Car, Our Town, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Grapes of Wrath, Shooting Star, Beehive and Caroline, or Change. The Austin Critics’ Table Awards has honored Jason for outstanding lighting in 25 shows. He has also received B. Iden Payne Awards for his lighting of Troades, Trickster, The Exonerated, Omnium-Gatherum, Triskelion, Panoptikon, Despair’s Book of Dreams and The Deluge. In 2008, Jason received the “Outstanding Contribution to Austin Theater” award from Austin Circle of Theaters. You can also view his design work at www.jasonamato.com.

BLAIR HURRY (Costume Design) – grew up in Austin and studied Costume Design & Technology at the University of Texas. Her costume design works at ZACH Theatre include Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, Metamorphoses, Shooting Star (2009-2010 Season), Farm to Market and Call It Courage (ZACH’s Performing Arts School). Other local designs include Vampyress (Vortex Theatre), Parade: A Musical (St. Edward’s University), The Famous Rio Grande, The Trojan Women and Cabaret (University of Texas). Prior to ZACH, she built costumes for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Ohio Light Opera Company and STAGES: St. Louis. She also worked as Head of Wardrobe and Make-up for the national tour of Playhouse Disney’s The Doodlebops LIVE! and the 2008 national tour of The Moscow Ballet’s The Great Russian Nutcracker. She is currently an active member of the local 205 IATSE union.

CRAIG BROCK (Sound Design) – is ZACH’s Resident Sound Designer, in addition working as a recording engineer and music producer since 1989. At ZACH Theatre: Dividing The Estate, The Laramie Project, The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, Next to Normal, Rent, Metamorphoses, The Drowsy Chaperone, Becky’s New Car, Our Town, Flaming Idiots, Spelling Bee, Love, Janis, The Grapes of Wrath, Let Me Down Easy, Shooting Star, Caroline, or Change, The Clean House, Altar Boyz, Porgy and Bess, Speeding Motorcycle, High School Musical, Jesus Christ Superstar/Jesucristo Superestrella, Take Me Out, Rocky Horror, I Am My Own Wife, Urinetown, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Rockin’ Christmas Party and The Santaland Diaries. REGIONAL THEATRE: Evil Dead, City of Angels, Dream, Annie, The Music Man and Starlight Express. Album credits include: El Tri, Mana, Luis Miguel, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Guns & Roses, David Crosby, Stephen Stills.

BLAKE REEVES (Properties Design) – AT ZACH THEATRE: Dividing The Estate, The Laramie Project, The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, Next to Normal, God of Carnage, Spring Awakening, Hairspray, The Book of Grace, August: Osage County, Fiction, Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins and Rent. Blake has also worked with ZACH’s production team in numerous facets for The Santaland Diaries, The Drowsy Chaperone, Metamorphoses, Becky’s New Car, Our Town and The Flaming Idiots. In addition to production work, he performed with the award-winning cast of Our Town. Blake attended Baylor University and, during his time as a student, he designed, choreographed and performed in a number of productions. He later returned to serve as the Coordinator of Special Performances for the university, producing and designing several shows. He also provided prop design for Footloose with Zilker Theatre Productions last summer. Blake is a proud member of the Society of Properties Artisan Managers.

PAUL FLINT (Director of Production) – joined ZACH Theatre in 2008. He earned his B.F.A. from Shorter College and M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, with a focus on Technical Direction, Scenic Design and Arts Management. His theatre credits include the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Ga., Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York, Vitalist Theatre Company in Chicago, Ill., and he is a founding member of Seaside Repertory Theatre in Seaside, Fla. Paul is the author of Managing the Creative Mind: A Technical Director’s Process.

CARMELA VALDEZ* (Stage Manager) – has a degree from the University of Texas at Austin and worked on local productions ever since. Her credits include: assistant stage managing for Austin Lyric Opera’s Cinderella, The Bat, The Barber of Seville, Il Trovatore, The Marriage of Figaro, Elektra, and Tosca. She has also stage managed The Clean House, Always...Patsy Cline, The Vagina Monologues, Fully Committed (2003) and The Santaland Diaries at ZACH Theatre.

BECKY MODE (Playwright) – A former actress, waitress, and coat check girl, Becky Mode has written the play Fully Committed, and has written for HBO (A Little Curious), CBS (Cosby), Disney (Out of the Box, JoJo’s Circus, and PB&J Otter), Nickelodeon (Little Bill), Columbia Pictures (Cactus Flower) and ABC (Born in Brooklyn pilot, Fully Committed pilot with Jay Roach and Tribeca Films). She is currently working on JoJo’s Circus for the Disney Channel. She is the proud mother of Leo and Kate.

* = Member Actors’ Equity Association