LAUREN CALDWELL (Director)
Lauren is the Hippodrome’s Artistic Director and returns to direct after a four-week sabatical in which she studied with world-renowned director Anne Bogart at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville. She has directed over 30 shows on the Hippodrome mainstage, including this season’s The Rocky Horror Show, How I Learned To Drive, Like Totally Weird and last season’s Dracula, The Glass Menagerie and Beehive. Last summer, she revived her role as Louise in Always...Patsy Cline and appeared in this season’s A Tuna Christmas. She has written a play entitled To Be or Not To Be...That is Two Questions, which will go on its second statewide tour this fall and has written a “free” adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, which was produced on the Hippodrome mainstage. She is currently working on two other pieces: one based on the life of poet and novelist May Sarton and a play about Joe Carstairs, the fastest female speedboat racer in the world.  She conceptualized a comprehensive curriculum guide for Hippodrome productions, Perspectives, which is distributed to Alachua County High Schools, Santa Fe Community College and the University of Florida. A native of Texas, Lauren holds a BFA in directing from Baylor University and a MFA in acting from the University of Florida. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Drama League, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. She owns and operates Legal Acts, a consulting company for attorneys, and is actively involved in the Prosecution/Public Defenders’ Program at UF. This year, Lauren joined the Law School  as a coach for the student competing trial teams. She was recently named Arts Person of the Year by The Gainesville Sun.

JESSIE JANET RICHARDS 
(Co-Director, Choreographer) 
Jessie returns to the Hippodrome after repeating the title role in last season’s remount of the critically acclaimed  Always ... Patsy Cline.  Having previously co-directed the Hippodrome's original production of Beehive in 1998, she is thrilled to be back, working side by side with Lauren Caldwell.  For three years, she was the Factory Girl and understudied Fantine in Les Miserables on Broadway.  She appeared as Mrs. Walker in the Casa Mañana production of The Who’s Tommy and as Mary Jane Wilkes in the national tour of Big River, earning a Carbonell Award nomination. Jessie’s regional credits include Godspell, American Jukebox and Little Shop of Horrors, and she has been in numerous radio and television commercials as well as appearing on various soap operas.  Jessie has directed and choreographed many live industrials and was in the original production of Beehive in NYC and subsequently traveled with the show to places such as Hawaii and Brazil.  She would like to dedicate this show to the memory of the creators of Beehive, especially Mr. Larry Gallagher.

JAMES MORGAN (Scenic Designer)
Jim is the Artistic Director of Manhattan’s acclaimed York Theatre Company, where he has spent  25 years creating more than 90 designs, including last season’s No Way to Treat a Lady, for which he received a Drama Desk award nomination, and, currently, The Show Goes On, starring Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt.  Broadway credits include Sweeney Todd (York’s revival, Drama Desk nomination); the musical Anna Karenina (American Theatre Wing Design nomination); The Miser, Taking Steps, and Getting Married, to name a few.  He has created designs for National companies including On the 20th Century, The Jukebox, and The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me (also San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston), among others.  Regional theaters designs include Manhattan Theatre Club, Goodspeed Opera House, Chicago Lyric Opera, Asolo, Cleveland Play House, Cincinnati Playhouse, Coconut GrovePlayhouse, McCarter, and Portland Opera.  Directing credits include Oh Coward!, Falsettoland (Carbonell Award, Best Director and Best Musical), and workshops of Jonathon Courie’s play Jack Hart.  Recent/current projects: Cy Coleman’s new musical Exactly Like You (Goodspeed), Radio Gals (Geva) and No Way to Treat a Lady (Coconut Grove Playhouse).  A Florida native, UF Graduate and recipient of the H.P. Constans Award, he lives in Manhattan.  Jim directed and designed the Hippodrome's 1996 production of Sylvia.  This is his 30th design for the Hippodrome. 

MARILYN WALL-ASSE (Costume Designer) 
Marilyn is a Hippodrome co-founder, Artistic Associate and the Costume Designer-in-Residence. She has designed and built costumes for more than 150 Hippodrome productions.  She is a four time recipient of the Outstanding Young Women in America Award and received the Margaret Sanger Certificate of Appreciation in 1987.  She has twice  received a Governor’s Award as one of Florida’s Outstanding Artists and was the only theatrical artist to be granted that award this year.  Her Hippodrome acting credits include The Madwoman of Chaillot, Cabrona, Bedroom Farce, Robber Bridegroom,  Crimes of the Heart and Season’s Greetings.  Directing credits include Macbeth, Same Time Next Year and Tangled Tales, which she also co-authored.  In the film world, Marilyn has designed costumes and makeup for A Flash of Green, Shimmer, Ruby in Paradise, Gathering Evidence, Miami Hustle and the recently released Ulee's Gold with Peter Fonda and Patricia Richardson.  She has served as makeup artist to the famous faces of Phil Donahue, Al Gore and Bill Clinton at their local appearances.  Marilyn recently received her second Emmy nomination for her costume designs for the children’s television show, Salsa, and this time took home the statuette from the ceremonies held in Atlanta on June 5.

ROBERT P. ROBINS (Lighting Designer) 
Bob has been Lighting Designer-in-Residence at the Hippodrome for the past 14 years.   During this time, he has designed the lighting for more than 150 productions.  He has also stage managed numerous productions including Hippodrome Mainstage, state tours and Theatre for Young Audiences tours.  In addition to designing and stage managing, Bob also engineers the soundtracks and sound reinforcement for all Hippodrome productions. He is an Actors’ Equity Association stage manager and a member of IATSE Local 115.   Bob has designed more than 250 productions regionally in the United States, including theater, dance, and industrials.   For the past six years, he has taught at the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.  He spends what time he has away from the theater with his very supportive wife, Jodi, and their two children, Kayla and Evan.

TIMOTHY J. DYGERT (Production Manager)
 This is Tim’s sixth season at the Hippodrome as a member of the production team.  Tim started as a carpenter while in college and has held the titles of Master Carpenter, Technical Director, and now, Production Manager.  He designed the set for Private Eyes and has been involved in the creation of over fifty mainstage and touring productions.  Tim has also designed several industrials in and around Gainesville including scenery for Gator Growl, Puttin on the Ritz, and the American Heart Association’s “Five points of Life” ride, as well as the Hippodrome TYA production of  To Be or Not To Be... That is Two Questions.

LORELEI ESSER(Property Design)
Lorelei has been designing properties for the Hippodrome since the 1994 production of Earthly Possessions.  She has long been recognized in our community for her accomplishments and contributions as an independent artist.  Her medium, the collection and assemblage of “the stuff of life” can now be experienced in the sets of the Hippodrome’s productions.  Lorelei’s understanding of time periods, cultures, the writer’s intentions, the director’s vision along with her tenacity for detail bring artistry to the craft of properties design.

DOUGLAS MAXWELL (Sound Design) 
Douglas  served as Musical Director for the recent production of The Rocky Horror Show,  Musical Director and “Joe” Bob in last season’s Always ...  Patsy Cline and this season's remount and for the recent production of Beehive.  Over the past three years, Douglas has acted as Sound Designer at the Hippodrome for The Lion in Winter, Sylvia, A Streetcar Named Desire, Dracula, The Glass Menagerie, Just So Stories, and To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he also composed and performed an original score.  He has acted as Musical Director for Sunday in the Park with George, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and The Secret Garden at the Gainesville Community Playhouse.  He graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelors in Music Composition and is currently pursuing his Masters in Electro-Acoustic Music.  Most recently, he wrote original music for The Last Night of Ballyhoo at the Hippodrome and Our Town at the Gainesville Community Playhouse. 
 

TAMERIN DYGERT (Dramaturg) 
Tamerin holds a B.A. in Theatre and English Education from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  As Dramaturg and Literary Manager, Ms. Dygert compiles research materials for the artistic team; contributes to production concepts; serves as features writer/editor of the curriculum guide, Perspectives; and writes articles for Ovation newsletters.  She also assists in Mainstage season selection; negotiates Mainstage production rights; and directs the New Play Reading Series which she founded in 1998.  A native of Maryland, Ms. Dygert has worked at Baltimore’s Center Stage; toured with Shakespeare on Wheels; served as a freelance dramaturg with Baltimore’s Performance Workshop, Inc.; and taught English and Drama at Bais Yaakov School for Girls.  She has taught Hippodrome theatre arts classes, directed Florida Teen Playwright Festival productions and appeared on the Mainstage in The Sisters Rosensweig, A Christmas Carol and Just So Stories.  Ms. Dygert is a member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), a professional association serving literary managers, dramaturgs and theatre professionals throughout North and South America.

AMBER WATERS (Wig Design)
Amber owns The Tease, a downtown salon. She has been a successful cosmetologist in Gainesville for 14 years, having worked in such fine salons as Ian & Co. and Encore for Hair. She opened The Tease in Gainesville’s beautiful, historic downtown in 1997. Amber has been involved with hair design at the Hippodrome for the last eight years. She totally enjoys working with the wonderful, creative individuals at the Hippodrome. In the past she has designed hair and wigs for productions such as The Mineola Twins, Sylvia, Always Patsy Cline, and the last years production of Beehive. She loved Beehive so much that she came back for more. Her editorial work has been published in trade magazines and local publications. She is also the exclusive stylist for the very stylish and fabulous Mrs. Oil. Amber would like to thank the Hipp for asking her to be a part of the magic.