RunningTime:
90 minutes with no intermission

About The Artists:

CLAUDIA SHEAR
Playwright:
Broadway: The Smell of the Kill (dir. Chris Ashley, Drama League Award), Dirty Blonde (dir. James Lapine, Tony and Drama Desk Nominations for Best Play and Best Actress, Drama League Award, Theatre World Award). London: Chicago, Who’s The Daddy?, Dirty Blonde. Off-Broadway: Blown Sideways Through Life (dir. Chris Ashley, Obie Award, Drama Desk Nomination). Regional: Restoration (La Jolla Playhouse), The Smell of the Kill (Berkshire Theatre Festival), Dirty Blonde (Kennedy Center, Helen Hayes Award Nominations for Best Play and Best Actress), End of the Day (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Blown Sideways Through Life (Coronet Theatre). Television: “Friends,” “Earthly Possessions” (dir. James Lapine), “Blown Sideways Through Life” (dir. Chris Ashley). Film: Blow Sideways Through Life (American Playhouse, Rose D’Or Montreux, Comedy Festival), Living Out Loud, It Could Happen To You, The Opportunists. Ms. Shear writes for various publications, including The New York Times, New York magazine, Vogue and Travel & Leisure. Claudia is a member of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, NYTW’s Usual Suspects and The Dramatists Guild.

CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY
Director:
Christopher Ashley is the current Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse in LA Jolla, CA.
Broadway: MEMPHIS; XANADU; ALL SHOOK UP; ROCKY HORROR SHOW (Tony Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations – Best Direction of a Musical); THE SMELL OF THE KILL; and VOICES IN THE DARK. Off Broadway: REGRETS ONLY; THE MOST FABULOUS STORY EVER TOLD; BUNNY BUNNY; JEFFREY (Obie Award and Luiclle Lortel Award – Outstanding Direction); COMMUNICATING DOORS; BLOWN SIDEWAYS THROUGH LIFE, and DAS BARBECÜ.

Other recent directing credits include MEMPHIS at both La Jolla Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre; the world premieres of Alfred Uhry’s WITHOUT WALLS at the Mark Taper Forum (starring Laurence Fishburne), and Joe Hortua’s BETWEEN US at Manhattan Theatre Club; Charles Busch’s THE LADY IN QUESTION at Bay Street Theatre; the world premiere of Daniel Goldfarb and David Kirshenbaum’s PARTY COME HERE at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Paul Rudnick’s VALHALLA at New York Theatre Workshop (Lucille Lortel nomination – Outstanding Direction); the world premieres of THE WONDER OF THE WORLD and NEWYORKERS (Outer Critics Circle nomination – Outstanding Off Broadway Musical, Drama Desk nomination for Best Revue) at Manhattan Theatre Club; the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of SWEENEY TODD (starring Brian Stokes Mitchell and Christine Baranski; Helen Hayes Award winner for Outstanding Direction of a Resident Musical) and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG; the National Tour of SEUSSICAL: THE MUSICAL; LI’L ABNER for City Center Encores; the world premiere of Alfred Uhry’s WITHOUT WALLS at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; Paul Rudnick’s RUDE ENTERTAINMENT and MONDO DRAMA and THE COUNTRY CLUB (both by Douglas Carter Beane) at The Drama Dept.; the world premieres of THEY ALL LAUGHED and LUCKY IN THE RAIN, and the revival of REDHEAD at Goodspeed Musicals; LIGHT UP THE SKY at Williamstown Theatre Festival; the American premiere of WHAT YOU GET AND WHAT YOU EXPECT by Jean-Marie Besset at New York Theatre Workshop; and WORKING by Stephen Schwartz at Long Wharf.

Additional New York credits include AS THOUSANDS CHEER at the Drama Dept; Anna Deveare Smith’s FIRES IN THE MIRROR at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater (Lortel Award – Outstanding Direction); Paul Rudnick’s THE NAKED EYE, THE WHITE ROSE, BELLA BELLE OF BYELORUSSIA, THE NIGHT HANK WILLIAMS DIED, and BUZZSAW BERKELEY at the WPA; Dario Fo’s EVE’S DIARY/STORY OF THE TIGER and Dale Stein’s A BREATH OF FRESH AIR at New York Theatre Workshop; PORTFOLIO and EXPERTS at Manhattan Punchline and Richard Greenberg’s NEPTUNE’S HIPS for the Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon.

In addition to his work for the stage, Mr. Ashley directed the feature film of JEFFREY and the American Playhouse production of BLOWN SIDEWAYS THROUGH LIFE for PBS.