SOMETHING ROTTEN!

Book and music: Something Rotten!

Karey Kirkpatrick began his career as a screen and songwriter for Disney Animation where he penned The Rescuers Down Under and James and the Giant Peach. With more than a dozen feature films produced, screenplay credits include Chicken Run  (Golden Globe nomi­nee for Outstanding Comedy), Charlotte's Web, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Spiderwick Chronicles  and Over the Hedge, which he also co-directed. He directed the Paramount Pictures film Imagine That starring Eddie Murphy and co-pro­duced, wrote and performed on the film's soundtrack. He recently directed the Warner Brothers animated musical SMALLFOOT for which he also co-wrote the screenplay and the songs (with brother Wayne). He has won a number of Tony, Oscar and Grammy awards and that number is zero. Other credits: husband of Nada, father of Sami, Maia and Finn.

Music: Something Rotten!

Wayne Kirkpatrick is the Grammy Award-winning songwriter of Change the World by Eric Clapton (Song of the Year). Top 10 singles include Every Heartbeat, Good for Me (Amy Grant); Wrapped Up in You (Garth Brooks); Boondocks, Bring It on Home, Little White Church (Little Big Town); Place in This World (Michael W. Smith). He is a multi-formatted song­writer with songs recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Faith Hill, Joe Cocker, Gabe Dixon, Trisha Yearwood, Babyface and Peter Frampton, among others. His songs have been featured in TV shows (Grey's Anatomy, True Blood, Hart of Dixie) as well as feature films (Almost Famous, Phenomenon, Smallfoot).  Wayne lives in Nashville with his wife Fran and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame for 2018. Favorite produc­tions: Kourtney, Shelby and Carson.

Book: Something Rotten!

John O'Farrell is one of the UK's best known comic authors and script writers. Best-selling novels include The Best a Man Can Get, May Contain Nuts and The Man Who Forgot His Wife. Non-fiction includes An Utterly Impartial History of Britain , the political memoir Things Can Only Get Better and its recent sequel plus three collections of his satirical columns for The Guardian newspaper. O'Farrell's books have been translated into thirty languages and adapted for BBC Radio and television. Winner, British Comedy Award. Previously a writer (and later panelist) on BBC's Have I Got News For You and lead writer on ten series of ITV's Spitting Image. Currently writing the sequel to Chicken Run, and adapting one of his novels for Sony International Pictures.

2024: Director and Choreographer of Something Rotten! 28th season. Stratford: Director and choreographer of Chicago, Billy Elliot the Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Show (the longest running show in Festival history), The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, The Madwoman of Chaillot, A Chorus Line, The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Charlie Brown, Cyrano de Bergerac, Oklahoma!, Oliver!. Elsewhere: Recently, as director and choreographer, Goodspeed Opera House's critically acclaimed world première and highest grossing show, Summer Stock; The Griswolds' Broadway Vacation (5th Avenue, Seattle); The Hockey Sweater: A Musical (NAC, Segal Centre). As director: Bernhardt Hamlet (Goodman Theater, Chicago); Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream (NACO); Yorkville (Blyth Festival); The Very Best of Broadway with Audra McDonald and Marvin Hamlisch; Rock 'N' Roll, It's A Wonderful Life (Canadian Stage); Lecture on the Weather, A Soldier's Tale with F. Murray Abraham (Detroit Symphony Orchestra); Mozart: A Life in Letters (Toronto Symphony Orchestra); Annie Get Your Gun (Massey Hall). Creative producer of the ground-breaking musical and visual series Undisrupted (NAC/CBC Gem). Creative producer/director of Life Reflected, a multimedia orchestral production (world première NACO with Canadian and European tours). Choreography: Siegfried (Canadian Opera Company/Opéra National de Lyon); Tosca, Red Emma, Oedipus Rex (Dora Award) (COC). Film and TV: (selected) Politics is Cruel, Mean Girls, Eloise, Martin and Lewis, Stormy Weather, Romeo and Juliette, Don Giovanni, Feast of All Saints. Et cetera: I want to thank my family for their unconditional love and support. 

2024: Music director of Something Rotten! 45th season. Stratford: Music director (selected): Monty Python's Spamalot, You Can't Stop the Beat, Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Show, Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, The Sound of Music. Composer of numerous productions including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Memoir and Inherit the Wind. Elsewhere: Music director: Rich and Famous (director John Rando), A Christmas Carol (director Carey Perloff) (ACT San Francisco); Oliver!, The Music Man (Citadel Theatre, director Robin Phillips); Brent Carver in Concert (Soulpepper). Composer: I Am My Own Wife (NAC); Don Carlos (Soulpepper); Cyrano (Citadel Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire (Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia). Awards: Tyrone Award and five Guthrie Awards (Stratford Festival), two Sterling Awards (Citadel) and nominated for Music Direction (San Francisco Bay Awards).

(he/him)

2024: Set and costume designer of Something Rotten! 20th season. Stratford: Richard II, Chicago, Billy Elliot, Little Shop of Horrors, The Music Man, The Rocky Horror Show, Guys and Dolls, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Hosanna, The Comedy of Errors, An Ideal Husband - set; The Crucible, A Chorus Line, Bunny, The Sound of Music, Christina, The Girl King, Taking Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, Edward II, The Triumph of Love - set and costumes. Elsewhere: Design for Jasper at the Signature Theatre, Off-Broadway for Yonder Window, set for Embrasse at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, costumes for Frame by Frame at The National Ballet of Canada and Ex Machina, set for Hadrian at the Canadian Opera Company, and costumes for Ricciardo e Zoraide at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy.

2024: Lighting designer of Something Rotten! and Twelfth Night. 13th season. Stratford: Pride and Prejudice, Of Mice and Men, Ghosts, Timon of Athens, Henry V, Duchess of Malfi, Hosanna, John Gabriel Borkman, The Changeling, The Crucible, Paradise Lost. Elsewhere: Lighting designer for major theatres across Canada and many venues internationally. Recent productions include: Giselle and Krabat (Ballet AM Rhein, Dusseldorf); Jazz, Maria Stuart (Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe); I Forgive You (Artistic Fraud); Swan Lake, Emma Bovary (National Ballet of Canada); The Shadow of a Doubt (Shaw Festival); Carmen (Edmonton Opera); Angels in America (That Theatre Company); A Kiss to the World (Ballet Am Rhein, Dusseldorf); Dion (Coal Mine Theatre). Upcoming: Aportia Chryptych (Canadian Opera Company); Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart (Shaw Festival). Online: bonnie-beecher.squarespace.com.

2024: Sound designer of Something Rotten! Stratford debut. Haley's recent design credits include Broadway: Monty Python's Spamalot. Regional: Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, The Wiz, And So That Happened, Disney's Beauty and the Beast (The 5^th Avenue Theatre); Tick, Tick… Boom!, Sunset Boulevard, Guys and Dolls, Monty Python's Spamalot (Kennedy Center); Cabaret (The Old Globe); Mamma Mia! (Village Theatre); How Can I Love You (Cave B); We've Battled Monsters Before (ArtsWest). Et cetera: Love to Brent, Hannah and her family. 

2024: Fight and intimacy director of the 2024 season. Seventh season. Stratford: Fight director of The Rez Sisters and intimacy director of Serving Elizabeth (2021); Fight director for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Selected Fight/Intimacy Director Credits: 3 Sisters (Soulpepper); Bad Roads (Crow's); WildWoman (Soulpepper); Hamlet (The Rose); Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (TIP); Fall on Your Knees (Canadian Stage/Neptune/NAC); Maggie (Theatre Aquarius); Counter Offence (Segal Centre); Fairview (Canadian Stage); Prodigal (Crow's); Trojan Girls & The Outhouse of Atreus (Factory); Our Place (Cahoots/TPM); Kronborg (Confederation Centre). Other: Stage combat instructor, fight director, and sexual choreographer at the National Theatre School. Selected Stunt Performer/Stunt Actor Credits: Law and Order: Toronto, SEE, Star Trek: Discovery, Pretty Hard Cases, Titans, The Boys, Rabbit Hole, What We Do in the Shadows, various Ubisoft motion capture productions. Online: anitanittoly.com.

2024: Associate choreographer of Something Rotten! Fifth season. Stratford: Associate Director/Choreographer: Chicago. Assistant choreographer: The Music Man, The Rocky Horror Show, Billy Elliot, Little Shop of Horrors. Elsewhere: Choreographer: My Fair Lady (Capitol); Step by Step, Rock of Ages, Mamma Mia! (SWC); Odd Squad (TVO); The Music Man (SAC); Hit That Jive Jack (H&S Foundation). Associate choreographer: The Griswolds' Broadway Vacation (5th Avenue Th., Seattle); Summer Stock (Goodspeed Musicals, Connecticut); Grand Hotel (Shanghai). Assistant choreographer: In the Heights (Sheridan); Once on This Island (Acting Up Stage); TIFF Thanks You (Cineplex). Training: Randolph Academy, Canadian Dance Company. Et cetera: Huge thanks to Donna, Laura, Julius, Jason, the creative team, the cast, and the crew. Thanks to Bruce and the T-House team. Love to my family, friends, Kris, Lil L, Big E and Cam.

2024: Associate costume designer of Something Rotten! Third season. Stratford: Costume designer: Shakespeare's N****. Costume and set designer: Cymbeline (Langham Directors' Workshop). Assistant set and costume designer of Monty Python's Spamalot, Les Belles-Soeurs and The Miser. Costume designer: exercise your demons, Much Ado About Nothing and What If If Only (Langham Directors' Workshop). Assistant costume designer: Every Little Nookie. Elsewhere: Costume and set designer: ECHO (a front company). Dresser: Singin' in the Rain (Mirvish Productions); Pomegranate (Buddies in Bad Times); The Little Mermaid, Canada 151: Better Late Than Sorry (Drayton Entertainment); Four Seasons (Four Seasons Project). Stitcher: Spring Showcase (The National Ballet School). Training: BFA in Performance Production and Design (Toronto Metropolitan University); Diploma in Fashion Techniques and Design (George Brown College). Online: rebeccachaikin.com Instagram: @rebeccachaikin.

(he/him)

2024: Associate sound designer of Something Rotten! Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Mixer: White Christmas, Little Mermaid, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods (5^th Avenue Theatre); Sound design: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Little Shop of Horrors, Songs for a New World (Village Theatre); Million Dollar Quartet (Flat Rock Playhouse); Sound designer with Norwegian Cruise Lines. Training: Western Carolina University. Et cetera: Thank you to Haley for inviting me along on this adventure!

2024: Associate conductor and keyboard for Something Rotten! Third season. Stratford: Associate conductor and keyboard for Monty Python's Spamalot, substitute keyboard/accordion for Chicago; Lessons in Temperament (Meighen Forum). Elsewhere: Five seasons with the Shaw Festival as a music director, composer and sound designer; Writer/performer of Lessons in Temperament (Outside the March, Soulpepper NYC); Composer/lyricist of Chasse Galerie (Soulpepper, Storefront); Composer/sound designer for The Effect (Coal Mine Theatre); Conductor/pianist for Rose (Soulpepper), Canada Rocks (Charlottetown Festival), Assassins (Talk is Free Theatre). As an actor: La Bete, Chasse Galerie, It's a Wonderful Life, The 27 Club, A Moveable Feast (Soulpepper); Four Chords and a Gun (Starvox); The Golem's Mighty Swing, Mr. Burns (Outside the March). Training: Soulpepper Academy, Shaw Festival's Music Director Internship, BMUS from Queen's University. Awards: Dora Award for Sound Design/Composition of Chasse Galerie.

2024: Associate fight director of the 2024 season. Third season. Stratford (selected):King Lear, Richard III, Little Women. Elsewhere: Hamlet (Hit & Myth Productions); The Amen Corner (Shaw Festival); Romeo and Juliet (National Theatre School); Girl in the Photograph (Chameleon Productions). Selected Film and TV (Acting and Stunts):FUBAR, The Fabric of Christmas, Chucky, Far Cry 6, Mayor of Kingstown, Reacher, Revenge of the Black Best Friend, The Hot Zone, The Boys, Dark Matter, Kill Joys, Teen Titans, Lucky Day, Amazing Race Canada, Frankie Drake. Training: Humber Theatre Performance program, various martial arts schools, acting for film and TV at the renown Pro Actors Lab in Toronto. Online: Instagram: @davidchinchillaofficial. 

2024: Assistant director of Something Rotten! 13th season. Stratford: Appeared in The Music Man, Julius Caesar, Sound of Music, Man of La Mancha, Crazy for You, Tommy, Elektra, Camelot, Kiss Me Kate, Evita, Cabaret and others. Elsewhere: Monique has performed from coast to coast in Canada and the US. as an actor, singer and dancer for the past 35 years. Most recently, she has had the good fortune to work as a director, designer and dramaturg on several plays with Here for Now Theatre in Stratford including Whack! (associate director), Infinite Possibilities, The Tracks, Every Day She Rose and Margaret Reid.  Et cetera: A huge debt of gratitude to Donna Feore for inviting me on this journey and many thanks to the gang at Talent House. Much love to Mark, Char and my entire family. This one's for Greg. 

(she/they)

2024: Assistant set designer of Something Rotten!, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet and London Assurance. Second season. Stratford: Richard II, Wedding Band. Elsewhere: Designer: There are No Gays in Chechnya (Page 1 Theatre). Costumes: Sweet Charity (AUTS). Online: @freddy.vancamp. 

2024: Assistant lighting designer of Something Rotten! and Twelfth Night. Second season. Stratford: Assistant lighting designer, King Lear and Rent. Lighting designer, The Langham Directors' Workshop 2023. Lighting designer, Birmingham Conservatory presentation: Three Sisters. Elsewhere: Lighting designer and technical director: Gintarine Jonines (Toronto Gintaras). Lighting designer: Newsies (Yellow Door Theatre); Little Rock Show (Artist - Robbie Roth); Tinkerbell (University of Windsor). Assistant lighting designer: Fall for Dance North 2023. Lighting and projection designer: Homeland. Lighting and set design: The Twenties EP Release (Artist - Patrick Dean). Lighting designer: Uphill Climb (Berklee College of Music NYC); This is How We Live (TMU); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (TMU); Mixtape (Mixtape projects). Training: MA, Live Experience Design, Berklee College of Music. BFA, Performance Production, Toronto Metropolitan University. Online:www.linaskairysdesigns.com and @linokdesigns.

(she/her)

2024: Assistant lighting designer of Something Rotten!, Romeo and Juliet and London Assurance. Third season. Stratford: Assistant lighting designer of Rent, Much Ado About Nothing, Les Belles-Soeurs, Chicago, Hamlet and The Miser. Elsewhere: Lighting design: The Two Noble Kinsmen (Shakespeare BASH'd); Legally Blonde, London Road (MacEwan University); La Boheme, Is He Dead?, Almost Maine, The Underpants, Stupid F***ing Bird, Threads: Impact (University of Wisconsin); The Drawer Boy (Port Stanley Festival Theatre); Three Sisters (University of Windsor). Associate lighting designer: FRONTIERS | FRONTIÈRES and WATER SPIRIT (Lua Shayenne Dance Company); Maggie (The Savoy); The Rhubarb Festival (Buddies in Bad Times). Assistant lighting designer: Nutcracker, Fall for Dance North (Meridian Hall); White Girls In Moccasins (Buddies in Bad Times); Tea (University of Wisconsin); Training: MFA - Theatre and Drama - Lighting Design (University of Wisconsin - Madison); BA(H): Drama and Communication Media and Film (University of Windsor). 

(he/him)

2024: Sound designer of The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? and assistant sound designer of Something Rotten!, La Cage aux Folles. Third season. Stratford: Richard II (associate sound designer); DWP 2022 (sound designer); Frankenstein Revived, Rent, King Lear, Les Belles-Soeurs, Chicago, Hamlet and Death and the King's Horseman (assistant sound designer). Elsewhere: Sound designer for Jack! A Beanstalk Panto (Capitol Theatre); A Huron County Christmas Carol, John Ware Reimagined (Blyth Festival); associate sound designer for Orphée+ (Edmonton Opera); composer for BODY, Alone Together, Four, What Happened To Lee (Human Body Expression); Lasterday (Kaeja d'Dance); A Sonata Of Shadows (CCDT); orchestra for 42nd Street, Singin' In The Rain, Piaf/Dietrich, Ain't Too Proud (Mirvish); percussionist with TorQ Percussion Quartet and Ladom Ensemble. Recording: Debut album, Guess I'm a People Too (2019) available on all platforms. Et cetera: Grateful to be working alongside such incredible artists to bring this season to life!

2024: Stage manager of Something Rotten! 28th season. Stratford (selected): Chicago, Billy Elliot, A Chorus Line, Crazy for You, Fiddler on the Roof, Camelot, Oklahoma! and My Fair Lady. Elsewhere: Over 40 years as a stage manager in live entertainment including gala events, music concerts, opening ceremonies and fundraising events. Over 25 years with the Canadian Opera Company as a stage manager and production stage manager. 25 years spent as a singer/dancer and choreographer. Associate director/choreographer to her mentor, Alan Lund. Et cetera: I am dedicating my season to my daughter Stephanie. She passed away on November 7, 2023, from breast cancer. We all miss her: her husband Andrew, her children Kennedy, Koston and Connor, her sister Jennifer and me, her mother. Enjoy the show from heaven Steph because there could not be a better angel!

2024 Assistant stage manager of Twelfth Night and Something Rotten! Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Dear Evan Hansen, Kinky Boots, The Wizard of Oz (Mirvish); Fun Home (Musical Stage Company/Mirvish); Life After (Canadian Stage/Musical Stage Company). Other credits include shows for the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Cahoots, The Globe Theatre, Theatre Aquarius and Drayton Entertainment.

2024: Assistant stage manager of Something Rotten! and London Assurance. Third season. Stratford: Assistant stage manager: Rent, Les Belles-Soeurs, Chicago and Hamlet. Elsewhere: Before coming to Stratford, Tiffany was an assistant stage manager with the Canadian Opera Company for 20 seasons working on shows such as Aida, Turandot, Elektra, Götterdämmerung, Siegfried, Louis Riel, Falstaff, Don Giovanni, La Bohème, Rigoletto, La Clemenza di Tito, Die Fledermaus, L'Amour de Loin, A Florentine Tragedy, Gianna Schicchi, Death in Venice, Iphigénie en Tauride and more. Tiffany also Stage Managed at Opera Hamilton working on Barber of Seville and The Pearl Fishers. Tiffany has worked with The National Ballet of Canada in past seasons on shows such as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Swan Lake and Innovation. Tiffany's most favourite job though is being Mom to her three girls, Kennedy, McKinley and Reagan.

2024: Assistant stage manager of Something Rotten! Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Assistant stage manager at the Shaw Festival for nine seasons. Selected credits include Gypsy, A Grand Night for Singing, Gem of the Ocean, Just to Get Married, Cyrano de Bergerac, Desire Under the Elms, Trouble in Mind, Shawground, Fairground, Gatsby's Jazz, Sonny's Blues,Getting Married, Mythos, The Magician's Nephew, Wilde Tales,1979, Sweeney Todd, The Next Whisky Bar, Top Girls,Our Town, Peter and the Starcatcher (Shaw Festival); Little Red Robin Hood (Ross Petty Productions); 1979 (1979 Productions); A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper); Armide, Persée (Opera Atelier, Royal Opera House of Versailles); Abduction from the Seraglio (Opera Atelier); Educating Rita, She Loves Me (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Blue/Orange, The Winter Wonderettes (Theatre Kingston). Training: B.A.H., B.Ed (Queen's University).

2024: Production stage manager of the Festival Theatre. 10th season. Stratford: Production stage manager of the Festival Theatre ('23). Assistant stage manager of Chicago, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Romeo and Juliet, A Chorus Line, As You Like It, Hamlet, The Sound of Music, Crazy for You and Fiddler on the Roof. Elsewhere: Production stage manager for the Charlottetown Festival, Soulpepper, Perchance Theatre, Theatrefront. Stage manager for The Segal Centre/NAC, Citadel Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Opera on the Avalon, Western Canada Theatre, Persistence Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Tarragon Theatre. A proud Newfoundlander, Krista stage managed the first Newfoundland production of Come From Away (Rubinoff/ACC) in Gander last summer.

(she/her)

2024: Production assistant of the Festival Theatre. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Ghost the Musical, The Fiancé (Chemainus Theatre Festival). Training: University of Victoria. Online: @louesums. Et cetera: Louey would like to thank her little sister, family and friends for all their love and support.