God of Carnage

About the Company

LAUREN LANE* (Veronica Novak) – just played Madame Lyubov Andreievna Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard as a URTA Guest Artist at The University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Brant Pope. AT ZACH THEATRE: August: Osage County and Becky's New Car, winning both the Austin Critics’ Table Award for “Best Actress” and B. Iden Payne Award for “Best Actress in a Comedy” for both productions. She also starred in The Clean House at ZACH Theatre, for which she received a B. Iden Payne nomination for “Best Actress in a Drama.” In 2009, she won the B. Iden Payne Award for “Best Actress in a Comedy” for her work as “Sue” in House of Several Stories. REGIONAL THEATRE: A Writers Vision(s) for FronteraFest as well as joining the New York cast for the Austin production tour of Celebrity Autobiography. For six years, Lauren was a company member of Tim Robbins’ award winning Los Angeles-based theatre company – The Actors Gang – where she won a Drama-Logue award for her work in Electra directed by Oskar Eustis. She has also worked at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, The American Conservatory Theatre and Dallas Theatre Center, among others. TV/FILM: For six seasons, she played “C.C. Babcock” on the television show, The Nanny. She also played the female lead, “Chris Novak,” on the TV detective show Hunter, as well as a recurring role on L.A. LAW. Last April, Lauren was seen at The Kennedy Center in Nebraska at Noon and Two Socks Discuss Loss as part of the acting company of The American College Theatre Festival. OTHER: Lauren graduated from the M.F.A. program at The American Conservatory Theatre. She is an Assistant Professor at Texas State University and lives with her daughter Kate in Austin. Lauren is represented by Collier Talent. 

EUGENE LEE* (Alan Raleigh) – AT ZACH THEATRE: Vet in Suzan-Lori Parks’ The Book of Grace. REGIONAL THEATRE: Eugene enjoys an acting career that goes back as far as a command performance of a University Drama department production of A Raisin in The Sun for President Lyndon B. Johnson on his Texas ranch in 1972. On the professional stage, his career goes as far back as the original cast of Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller with the Negro Ensemble Company to a Broadway appearance in Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson. Other professional theatre credits include the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (2008) performing in five of the ten August Wilson Century of Plays, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre production of Wilson’s Two Trains Running, Huntington Theatre in Boston production of Fences (Fall 2009) and the world premiere of Marcus Gardley’s every tongue confess at Arena Stage in D.C. (Fall 2010). Other Negro Ensemble Company appearances include Home by Samm Art William, Sons and Fathers of Sons by Ray Araanha and Manhattan Made Me by Gus Edwards. Lee appeared as Sterling in the Huntington Theatre staging of Radio Golf and Eli in their Broadwaybound production of Gem of The Ocean, as well as the True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta productions of Fences by August Wilson, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men by Lonne Elder and Miss Evers’ Boys by David Feldshuh. As a playwright, he has written the plays East Texas Hot Links, Fear Itself, Somebody Called: A Tale of Two Preachers, Killingsworth and the musical Twist. TV/FILM: Dallas, Good Times, The White Shadow, Guiding Light, playing coroner Hud Sanders on The District, The Women of Brewster Place mini-series with Oprah Winfrey, The Jackson Five: An American Dream, and recent features Blacklisted and Coach Carter. He has written episodes for television that include Homicide: Life on the Streets, Walker Texas Ranger, Michael Hayes, The Turks and The Journey of Allen Strange. OTHER: Mr. Lee serves as Artist in Residence and Artistic Director of the Texas State University Black and Latino Playwright’s Conference. 

ANGELA RAWNA (Annette Raleigh) – AT ZACH THEATRE: Mrs. Muller in Doubt (2008 Austin Critics’ Table Award). REGIONAL THEATRE: Sonny’s Last Shot by Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (Lady in Blue). TELEVISION: Regina Howard on NBC’s Emmy Award-winning drama Friday Night Lights, co-starred on the WB’s Jack & Bobby and FX’s Oil Storm, guest star roles on Parenthood and Private Practice. FILM: Currently shooting Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater, A Scanner Darkly, The Return, The Cassidy Kids, Elvis and Anabelle and Friday Night Lights. ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Several national commercials. 

THOMAS WARD* (Michael Novak) – joins ZACH Theatre for the first time. OFF-BROADWAY: The Unseen by Craig Wright (Cherry Lane Theatre). REGIONAL THEATRE: Hamlet, Relative Values, Much Ado About Nothing and Julius Ceasar (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); The Merry Wives of Windsor (Nashville Shakespeare Festival); Talking Pictures (Stage West, Ft. Worth); Humble Boy and As You Like It (WaterTower Theatre, Dallas). FILM: Sironia (also co-writer) by Kaboom Productions, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival and won the “Audience Favorite” award. ADDITIONAL CREDITS: M.F.A. from University of Alabama, currently Assistant Professor of Acting in the Baylor University Department of Theatre. www.thomaswardonline.com. 

About the Artistic Staff

MATT LENZ (Director) – is delighted to return to Austin to direct at ZACH Theatre, having previously directed ZACH productions of Aida, Love! Valor! Compassion! and Dirty Blonde. BROADWAY: Catch Me If You Can (Associate Director), Hairspray (Associate Director – Matt also directed the Hairspray National Tours, South Africa, Las Vegas, Toronto and German companies), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Resident Director for Broadway and Tours) and The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken: WICKED’s 5th Anniversary Celebration at the Gershwin Theater. OFF-BROADWAY: The Irish Curse (Soho Playhouse), Idaho! (New York Music Theatre Festival ’08 – “Best Show of Festival” and “Best Director” Awards), Fingers and Toes (NYMF ’10) REGIONAL: Hairspray (Paper Mill Playhouse), [title of show] (George Street Playhouse), Idaho! (Forestburgh Playhouse), Saint Heaven, Scituate (Stamford Ctr.), Aida, Beauty and the Beast, Hairspray (St. Louis MUNY), The Full Monty, South Pacific, Grease (North Carolina Theatre) Confidentially, Cole (Tiffany Theatre, LA). Matt is currently developing two new Broadway bound musicals: Empire and The Jolson Show.  

MICHAEL RAIFORD (Scenic Design) – is a freelance scenic and costume designer based in Austin. Michael has been a resident designer at ZACH Theatre for almost 20 years, where he has designed more than 100 productions. Recent ZACH projects include Spring Awakening, Hairspray, The Book of Grace, August: Osage County, Rent, The Drowsy Chaperone, Becky’s New Car, Let Me Down Easy, Love Janis, Shooting Star, Caroline or Change and The Clean House. Michael has also designed more versions of Rockin’ Christmas Party than we can count! Michael is in his fifth season designing for the Humana Festival of New American Plays at The Actors Theater of Louisville. This season includes Elemeno Pea by Molly Smith Metzler and Bob by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb. Previous Humana projects at ATL include Sirens by Debra Zoe Laufer, Fissures by Dominique Serrand, Phoenix by Scott Organ and Absalom by Zoe Kazan. Other projects at ATL include Jouét, Shipwrecked, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and The Kite Runner. Other favorite regional productions include Well, The Chosen, and Inherit The Wind at Cleveland Playhouse; The Young Lady from Rwanda at Kansas City Repertory Theatre; Guys and Dolls and Tin Types at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Florida; The Bartered Bride at Opera Boston; The Fantastiks at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC; and What Goes Up at New Victory Theatre, NYC. Other Austin productions include Rigoletto for Austin Lyric Opera, Big Love and Tesla for The Rude Mechanicals and When Something Wonderful Ends for our own Barbara Chisholm. Upcoming designs this season include Carmen at Central City Opera and The Magic Flute for Ballet Austin. Michael received his M.F.A. from the University of Texas, where he taught for 10 years, and he is a member of United Scenic Artists.  

SUSAN BRANCH TOWNE (Costume Design) – Previous ZACH Theatre designs: Hairspray, August: Osage County, The Drowsy Chaperone, Our Town,The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Clean House, Jesus Christ Superstar/Jesucristo Superestrella, Present Laughter, Bad Dates, Urinetown, Aida, Cabaret, It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, Always...Patsy Cline, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, The Laramie Project and Jelly’s Last Jam. Other Austin credits include The Magic Flute for Ballet Austin and The Bat for Austin Lyric Opera; and The Music Man, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Annie Get Your Gun, The Secret Garden and Crazy For You for Zilker Theatre Productions. Favorite regional engagements include King Lear, The Diary of Anne Frank, and A Flea In Her Ear at the Denver Center Theatre Company; Crowns, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Twelfth Night, and The Taming of the Shrew at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival; My Fair Lady, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Chicago, Julius Caesar, Tartuffe, Richard III and Sophisticated Ladies at Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City; and The Producers, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Forum for Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre. In New York, Susan designed for New York City Opera and numerous Off-Broadway productions. Susan is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University and the Yale School of Drama, and is a 25-year member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. 

SARAH EC MAINES (Lighting Design) – joins ZACH Theatre for the first time. NATIONAL THEATRE: Associate/Assistant Lighting Designer for Jersey Boys (eight productions including Broadway, Las Vegas and Toronto), In the Heights (First National Tour), Gypsy starring Patti Lupone (Broadway and NYCC). OTHER THEATRE: Lighting Designer for A Little Princess (world premiere concert version); As You Like It and All Shook Up at Texas State University; Mikado and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Florida State Opera. OTHER CREDITS: Sarah holds an M.F.A. in Theatrical Lighting Design from the University of California, San Diego, and is a professor at Texas State University, San Marcos. She is a member of USA 829.  

SAM KOKAJKO (Sound Design) – has been working with ZACH Theatre as a sound engineer and designer for the last two years and is excited to be working with them once again. Recent ZACH Theatre sound credits include Hairspray (Sound Design), Red Hot Patriot, Rent, The Drowsy Chaperone, Love, Janis, and many more. Other sound design credits include Footloose, Beehive, The Wedding Singer, Annie, Brigadoon, Grease, and Little Shop of Horrors. Sam also works as a freelance sound engineer/designer for several companies in Austin - including Zilker Theatre Productions and Austin Shakespeare - and enjoys working with video, recording and other forms of media.  

BLAKE REEVES (Properties Design) – AT ZACH: 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 this summer. Blake is a proud member of the Society of Properties Artisan Managers. 

TINA GRAMANN (Fight Choreographer) – Tina choreographed fights for Spring Awakening, The Book of Grace, August: Osage County, The Grapes of Wrath, Porgy and Bess, Take Me Out, Cabaret, Omnium Gatherum, Misery, bee-luther-hatchee, As You Like It, Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and more. Tina’s weapon specializations include single sword, broadsword, rapier and dagger, and hand to hand combat. Four-times recognized by the Society of American Fight Directors, Tina received her M.F.A. from the University of Houston School of Theatre.  

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. He has more than ten years experience in technical theatre and has worked as a Technical Director for eight years. 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, Florida. Paul is the author of Managing the Creative Mind: A Technical Director’s Process.  

JIM O’SULLIVAN (Technical Director) – is excited to be working on his second show at ZACH. He came to Austin from TheatreWorks–Silicon Valley where he was the Assistant Technical Director from 2007-2011. He worked on more than 30 productions, with 7 world premieres, at TheatreWorks including the musicals Emma, Tinyard Hill and Daddy Long Legs. He also served as Technical Director for Renegade Theatre Experiment and the Cutting Ball Theatre. He won an Arty Award for scenic design of On Golden Pond at the Benicia Old Town Theatre Group.  

BLAIR HURRY (Costume Shop Manager) – 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.  

LILY WILLIAMS (Company Manager) – graduated from Montana State University with degrees in Media & Theatre Arts and Spanish Language & Literature. During her time in Montana, Lily served as the producer and stage manager for numerous university productions, including The Last Acts and Allen Ball’s Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. She has vast experience in film, event management and visual art. 

IAN SCOTT* (Stage Manager) – AT ZACH: Stage Manager for The Book of Grace, Shooting Star, Urinetown, Crowns, The Vagina Monologues, Circumference of a Squirrel, Rockin’ Christmas Party (Austin and San Antonio), Art, Evita, Abundance, Pride’s Crossing, Angels in America, Z-Cabaret, Gospel at Colonus, Das Barbecü and Once On This Island; Actor in The Drowsy Chaperone (Underling), The Rocky Horror Show (Dr. Scott), The Who’s Tommy (Uncle Ernie), Jelly’s Last Jam, And the World Goes Round, Passion and Schoolhouse Rock. Additional ZACH credits include Keepin’ It Weird, I Am My Own Wife, Schoolhouse Rock (Project Interact), Bucky!, Plaid Tidings, Bad Dates, House Arrest, Shear Madness, American Play, Twisted Olivia, Rocky Horror, Forever Plaid, My Children My Africa, Falsettos, Buddy Holly, Harvey and Nunsense. REGIONAL THEATRE: Numerous credits with companies that include Arkansas Rep, Austin Contemporary Ballet, Ariel Dance Theater, Austin Circle of Theaters, Austin Handel/Haydn Society, Austin Lyric Opera, Austin Musical Theater, Austin Shakespeare Festival, Broadway Austin, Capital City Playhouse, Casa Manana/Bass Hall, Deus Ex Machina, Different Stages, Erwin Center, Imagine That Productions, Live Oak Theatre, Mary Moody Northen, Myrna Loy Center - Montana, Palmer Auditorium, Paramount Theater, Playfest, Scott Schroeder Presents, State Theater, Southwestern University, Teatro Vivo, Tex-ARTS, University of Texas and Zilker Theatre Productions.  

YASMINA REZA (Playwright) – is a French playwright and novelist based in Paris, whose works have all been multi-award-winning, critical and popular international successes, produced worldwide and translated into 35 languages. She has written seven plays - Conversations After a Burial, The Passage of Winter, ART, The Unexpected Man, Life X 3, A Spanish Play, God of Carnage and How You Talk the Game - and six novels: Hammerklavier, Une Desolation (Desolation), Adam Haberberg, Dans la Luge d’Arthur Schopenhauer, Nulle Part and L'Aube, le Soir ou la Nuit (Dawn Dusk or Night). Films include Le Pique-Nique de Lulu Kreutz, directed by Didier Martiny, and Chicas, written and directed by the author.  

CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON (Translation) - Hampton’s plays, musicals and translations have garnered three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, four Evening Standard Awards and the New York Theatre Critics Circle Award. Film/television awards include an Academy Award, two BAFTAs, a Writer’s Guild of America Award, the Prix Italian and a Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Plays at the Royal Court include: Treats, Savages, The Philanthropist, Uncle Vanya, Total Eclipse, Marya and When Did You Last See My Mother?. Also: Embers, Three Sisters, ART, Sunset Boulevard, The Talking Cure, Alice's Adventures Under Ground, White Chameleon, Tales From Hollywood, Don Juan Comes Back from the War, Tales from the Vienna Woods, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, Life X 3, Tartuffe, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Unexpected Man and Conversations After a Burial. Hampton’s plays have been performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Almeida, the Royal National Theatre and both on the West End and Broadway. His television credits include The Ginger Tree, Hotel du Lac, The History Man and Able’s Will. He has written the screenplays for Atonement, Imagining Argentina, The Quiet American, The Secret Agent, Mary Reilly, Carrington, Total Eclipse, Dangerous Liaisons, Wolf at the Door, The Good Father, The Honorary Consul, Tales from the Vienna Woods and A Doll’s House.