Todd Almond recently appeared on Broadway in Girl from the North Country and can be seen on HBOMax’s “Gossip Girl.” He recently toured the U.S. in his original musical Kansas City Choir Boy starring alongside rock icon Courtney Love, and starred in three of his original musicals at the famed Delacorte Theater in Central Park (The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, and The Odyssey). His musical Girlfriend—based on the Matthew Sweet album of the same title—is a favorite for theater companies around the country, and he is currently collaborating with producer David Foster on a new original musical. He has previously collaborated with Sarah Ruhl (Melancholy Play: A Chamber Musical), Jenny Schwartz (Iowa), Laura Benanti (In Constant Search for the Right Kind of Attention), Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz (Twohander), Kelli O’Hara (Live at Carnegie Hall), and Andrew Rannells (Live from Lincoln Center). 

Lear deBessonet became artistic director of Encores! in 2020. Previously, she served as resident director of Encores! under Jack Viertel. From 2012-2020, she worked at The Public Theater, where she founded the acclaimed Public Works program and served as resident director. At The Public, she directed Disney’s Hercules, Miss You Like Hell, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and the Public Works productions of The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, and The Odyssey at the Delacorte. Other directing credits include Good Person of Szechwan starring Taylor Mac and Lisa Kron (The Foundry Theater/The Public), Suzan-Lori Parks’s Venus (Signature Theatre), Pump Boys and Dinettes (Encores! Off-Center), and Big River (Encores!). Her directing work has received an Obie Award, Lortel Award, Lilly Award, and multiple Drama Desk nominations. 

Desdemona Chiang is a Taiwan-born American stage director based in Seattle, WA and Ashland, OR. She directs in a variety of genres, including new plays, Shakespeare, and musicals. Chiang is known for her visceral, no-nonsense approach to theater, with her distinct point of view as an immigrant and Asian American woman, and an interest in using storytelling to spark social discourse. Her directing credits include the Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis), Alley Theatre (Houston), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, OR), South Coast Repertory (Coasta Mesa, CA), Pittsburgh Public Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, Seattle Rep, Studio Theatre (Washington D.C.), Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven, CT), Seattle Children’s Theatre and ACT Theatre (Seattle). M.F.A. Directing: University of Washington School of Drama.

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Derek Edamura is a local documentary filmmaker who has been telling stories in the region for the past 13 years. He has worked on a variety of films including The Long Haul: Story of the Buckaroos and Sam Choy’s Poke to the Max, which both premiered at Seattle International Film Festival. Currently, he works at the Northwest Film Forum as the Education Director developing educational programming and artist mentorship opportunities to empower the next generation of storytellers and filmmakers.

Born and raised in Seattle, Mills is so honored to be back at Seattle Rep for her third Public Works production. Her choreographing experience includes Seattle Rep’s Public Works: The Odyssey and The Winter’s Tale; The Sound of Music at The 5th Avenue Theatre; Assassins at ACT; and Little Shop of Horrors at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Thank you to Hattie for asking me to be a part of this. And I could not have done this without my exceptionally talented and dedicated partners in all things choreography, Taylor Symons and Lexi Warden. 

Select musical direction credits include: Beauty and the Beast (2022), Urinetown, Mamma Mia!, Grease, Jasper in Deadland, Little Shop of Horrors, RENT, Joseph...Dreamcoat, Smokey Joe’s Café, Hair (The 5th Avenue Theatre); You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (2022), She Loves Me, ...Howard Barnes, In the Heights, Hairspray, Newsies, Dreamgirls, Pump Boys and Dinettes (Village Theatre); The Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, The Odyssey, Here Lies Love (Seattle Rep); Head Over Heels, Violet, American Idiot (ArtsWest); The Spitfire Grill (Showtunes!); Daddy Long Legs, Bright Star (Taproot Theatre); How Can I Love You (Ignite Creative); Spring Awakening (Balagan). Music Supervisor: Lizard Boy (Seattle Rep). A 2010 Gregory Award and 2011/2014 Gypsy Rose Lee Award recipient, Tancioco is a vocal coach, arranger, and composer who enjoys educating youth and cultivating new musicals. Support live theater!

Steven Tran (he/him) makes a lot of art. Some examples include: music directing Lizard Boy at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, directing the animated mini-musicals Northwest Bookshelf and Baseball Saved Us for The 5th Avenue Theatre, music directing and arranging/orchestrating The Lamplighter radio play at The 5th Avenue Theatre, composing The Stars Between, an opera for singers/strings/laptops with Seattle Opera’s Creation Lab, producing viral songs for YouTubers, and creating and performing his solo show The Sonata Years. The Winter’s Tale is Steven's fourth Seattle Rep Public Works production, and he hopes watching it brings you as much joy, delight, and wonder as the program brings him. Follow @snk_tran on Instagram for antics, selfies, and half-marathon training updates.

Darcey Zoller lives and works in Seattle, WA as an Art Director in theater, on TV, and film sets. She enjoys collaborating to make dreams a reality and was truly honored to be a part of Seattle Rep’s rendition of The Winter's Tale. 

Danielle Nieves (she/her) is a costume designer, artist, and curator. As a Latinx artist she is passionate about projects that uplift community voices and share stories that engage and challenge the canonical narrative. Regional credits for costume design include: American Mariachi co-production at Dallas Theater Center and The Goodman Theatre, Real Women Have Curves at Dallas Theater Center, and Behold the Dreamers at Book-It Repertory Theater. Off-Broadway credits: Pity in History, No End of Blame, Gertrude The Cry, and Lovesong of the Electric Bear at PTP/NYC. She is profoundly grateful for Skip Mercier who taught her the meaning of chosen family. daniellenieves.com

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Previous designs for Seattle Rep include In the Heights, Indecent, Public Works’ The Odyssey, MAC BETH, I Am My Own Wife, and Lizard Boy, among many others. Other Pacific NW credits include: In the Heights, The Curious Incident... (Portland Center Stage); Native Gardens, Hir, and Angels in America (Intiman Theatre); Romeo and Juliet and The Wolves (ACT); Urinetown (ACT/The 5th Avenue Theatre); Jasper in Deadland (The 5th Avenue Theatre); ...Spelling Bee, String (Village Theatre); Uncle Vanya (The Seagull Project). Regional credits include Little Shop… and Marjorie Prime (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Susan (The Public Theater UTR); Full Gallop (The Old Globe); In the Heights, Seven Spots on the Sun (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); In the Heights (Milwaukee Rep). Film: The Jinkx and Dela Holiday Special (Hulu), Potato Dreams of America. Robert is the Lighting Director of Seattle Rep. robertjaguilar.com IG: @fake_robert 

Production Stage Manager, Seattle Rep. Select stage management credits: Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Odyssey (Seattle Rep’s Public Works); The Servant of Two Masters (Seattle Rep, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, ArtsEmerson); MAC BETH, Here Lies Love, Well, A Raisin in the Sun, All the Way, The Great Society, The Piano Lesson, Boeing Boeing, Fences, You Can’t Take It With You, Gem of the Ocean (Seattle Rep); The Sound of Music, Cinderella, Guys and Dolls, White Christmas, Cabaret (The 5th Avenue Theatre); Angels in America, A Doctor In Spite of Himself (Intiman Theatre); Brooklyn Bridge, Lyle the Crocodile (Seattle Children’s Theatre).