Meet the Creative Team of Come From Away
Meet the Creative Team of Come From Away
Tom Quaintance† (Director) is in his eleventh season with Virginia Stage Company, where he has directed Emma, Little Shop of Horrors, The Three Musketeers, Henry V, Every Brilliant Thing, A Merry Little Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice, The Santaland Diaries, and Matilda The Musical. Regionally Tom directed Twelfth Night at the Guthrie Theater, and as an Associate Artist at PlayMakers Repertory Company he directed An Enemy of the People, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and The Little Prince. As Artistic Director of Cape Fear Regional Theatre (CFRT), Tom produced over 35 plays and directed many others, including the World Premiere of Downrange: Voices from the Homefront, a play based on interviews with military spouses from Fort Bragg. As the founder of FreightTrain Shakespeare in Los Angeles, he earned a Drama-Logue Award for his direction of Pericles. Other Los Angeles credits range from King Lear to The Devil With Boobs. A member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Tom is a graduate of Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) with a B.A. in Theatre and Economics, and the University of California, San Diego MFA directing program, where he was the assistant director on the original production of The Who’s Tommy. Tom and his wife Wallis are the proud parents of Mireille Julia and Annika Christine.
Laura Lloyd (Assistant Director) (she/her) is a Senior Lecturer of Musical Theatre and Dance at Christopher Newport University. Originally from Texas, she performed in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area before getting her MFA in Acting from Western Illinois University. She performed, directed, and choreographed for regional theatres around the country before going into academia. Favorite roles include Cinderella in Into the Woods and Squeaky Fromme in Assassins. Favorite choreography credits include Legally Blonde, Oklahoma, Pippin, The Music Man, and A Chorus Line. Favorite directing credits include Gypsy, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Sweeney Todd. Laura is a trained dancer in ballet, tap, and jazz styles and is a certified instructor of the Elemental Body Alignment System, which deepens the student’s understanding of where movement comes from. She is also very passionate about preserving the history of American musical theatre. She is excited to work with Virginia Stage Company for the first time, and is looking forward to directing Christopher Newport University’s production of Come From Away.
Jeni Schaefer (Costume Designer) is the Director of Design and Resident Costume Designer at the Virginia Stage Company, celebrating her 25th season. Regional credits include: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The 39 Steps at Westport Country Playhouse, The 39 Steps at White Heron Theatre, A Christmas Story at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Hound of the Baskervilles at The Hangar, Theatre Squared and White Heron Theatre, Always...Patsy Cline PCPA Theatrefest, World premiere of Tom Jones for Florida Studio Theatre, Wit for Playmakers Repertory Theatre.
Jeni's favorite VSC productions include; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Wait until Dark, Emma, Little Shop of Horrors, Merry Christmas Carol and Sherlock Carol, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Three Musketeers, Dial M for Murder, Henry V, The 39 Steps, The Hobbit, Every Brilliant Thing, Sense and Sensibility, Guys and Dolls, Matilda, Fun Home, Always Patsy Cline, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Pride and Prejudice and The Wiz.
Sartje Pickett § (Sound Designer) is a composer and sound designer working in theaters across the United States. Credits at Virginia Stage Company include Fat Ham, Dracula: a Feminist Revenge Tragedy Really, and The Three Musketeers. Other regional credits include Uncle Vanya, The 39 Steps, Dancing at Lughnasa, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Proof, Love’s Labours Lost, and Mary’s Wedding at American Players Theatre; Nothing Up My Sleeve at Round House Theater; The Great Leap and Twelfth Night at The Guthrie; Hamlet and A Delicate Balance at Yale Repertory Theater; The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, and Richard III at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Nina Simone: Four Women at Milwaukee Rep and Kansas City Rep; Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson - Apt 2B at Trinity Rep.
Amy Jones (Music Director) is thrilled to return to Virginia Stage Company as Music Director of Come From Away, having previously directed and music directed Ring of Fire and Always… Patsy Cline at VSC. A New York-based director, choreographer, and music director, Amy works both in NYC and at regional theatres across the country. Recent credits include Beautiful: The Carole King Musical(Director-Flat Rock Playhouse), Legally Blonde(Dir/Choreo-Arrow Rock Lyceum), The Diary of Anne Frank (Dir-Holmdel Theatre Company), and Sex n’ the City: A Super Unauthorized Musical Parody(Dir/Choreo/MD-Las Vegas/tour). Her Broadway choreography credits include Broadway Backwards at the Al Hirschfeld and Palace Theatres, and her music direction of Texas in Paris at the York Theatre received an AUDELCO Award nomination. Amy is a member of SDC and Actors’ Equity Association. Special thanks to Artistic Director Tom for the opportunity to collaborate once again.
Bart Kuebler § (Associate Music Director) Bart Kuebler’s artistic work includes music and lyrics for the Off-Broadway premiere of John Cariani’s Love/Sick, and book, music, and lyrics for Moonshiner, a Musical Fabulism, produced as part of the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival. He has led the world premieres of Second to Nun/Marguerite, Frog Kiss, and Love, Always; contributed to the development of more than a dozen new musicals; and toured internationally with artists ranging from Bernadette Peters to Piolo Pascual. He first worked at Virginia Stage Company in Billy Bishop Goes to War; the story now comes full circle with another remarkable Canadian musical.
Away from the keyboard, Bart has served as an artistic director, producer, educator, Army musician, and theatrical jack-of-most-trades. He holds degrees from Harvard University and William & Mary, shares daily absurdities with Amanda, and remains steadfastly devoted to the dictates of an infallible Magic Eight Ball.
Charlotte Bydwell (Choreographer) is thrilled to be returning to VSC! Previous shows include Emma, Sense & Sensibility, Thanksgiving Play and Venus in Fur. Charlotte’s choreography and movement direction have been seen Off-Broadway (most recently at the Public Theater), on national tours and at leading regional theaters such as the Old Globe, Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Cape Playhouse. On camera, she was the season choreographer for Comedy Central’s series ALTERNATINO (featuring Arturo Castro),and has worked on music videos, short films and fashion videos. Select credits as a performer include: HELP (The Shed), The Michaels (Public Theater) and A Month in the Country (Williamstown), Privates Lives (Cape Playhouse) and Much Ado About Nothing (The Old Globe). As a director and creator of her own work, Charlotte has received grants/residencies from the Canada Council for the Arts, Baryshnikov Arts, the Foundation for Contemporary Art, the Mercury Store, Chashama and Impulstanz, among others. She created ‘Moving into Language’, a movement-based approach to acting, which she has taught at Juilliard, Marymount Manhattan College, Baryshnikov Arts, Limón Dance, Gibney Dance Center and Barnard. She is on faculty at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, HB Studio and The New Group. Training: Juilliard BFA in Dance, The Old Globe/USD MFA in Acting. More info: www.charlottebydwell.com
Taylor Meszaros* (Stage Manager) is very happy to be back at VSC after last season’s Malcolm X and Redd Foxx… She is a Come From Away based in Pittsburgh and spends her time as an AEA Stage Manager and as a Standardized Patient for local university medical programs. Select regional credits include Malcolm X and Redd Foxx… (Dallas Theatre Center), King James (Cleveland Play House), Somewhere Over the Border (People’s Light), Fat Ham (TheatreSquared), White Christmas, The Skin of Our Teeth, Hair! (Berkshire Theatre Group), 12th Night,Frida… A Self Portrait, Young Americans, Two Trains Running, and Schoolgirls…(Pittsburgh Public Theatre), Eureka Day, Little Women, Another Kind of Silence, POTUS, Native Gardens, The Garbologists, What the Constitution…, Cambodian Rock Band,The Burdens, Where Did We Sit…Bus?, The Absolute Brightness…, Wild With Happy, Feeding the Dragon, Smart Blonde, and Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir (City Theatre Company). She dedicates this production to anyone who has ever welcomed a Come From Away.
† Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Inc., an independent labor union.
§ Member of United Scenic Artists, local USA-829 of the IATSE
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
