Playwright: The Hypochondriac. 

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, who used the stage name Molière, was born in Paris on or shortly before his baptismal date of January 15, 1622. His father, Jean Poquelin, was a furniture upholsterer by appointment to King Louis XIII; his mother, Marie Cresse, died when he was 13. He studied Latin and Greek at the Jesuit Collège de Clermont, then went on to obtain a law degree in 1642. His real love, however, was the theatre, and in 1643 he joined forces with the Béjart family - with whose eldest daughter, Madeleine, he had apparently fallen in love - to establish a small company, the Illustre-Théâtre.

The venture was short-lived, ending in bankruptcy. Molière, as he became known, spent the next 12 years touring the provinces with a troupe of itinerant players, for whom he began writing short comedies in the commedia dell'arte tradition to supplement their repertoire of tragedies and to showcase his own considerable talents as a comic actor.

The troupe returned in 1658 to Paris, where it appeared before Louis XIV, and in 1659 Molière scored his first big hit as a playwright with Les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Young Ladies). Throughout the next quarter-century, he established himself as the most popular dramatist of his time, with such plays as L'École des femmes (The School for Wives, 1662), Tartuffe (1664), Dom Juan (Don Juan, 1665), Le Médecin malgré lui (The Doctor in Spite of Himself, 1666), Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope, 1666), L'Avare (The Miser, 1668) and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman, 1670).

In 1662, when he was 40 years old, Molière married Madeleine Béjart's 19-year-old sister, Armande, for whom he wrote many of his leading roles. They had three children, only one of whom, Esprit-Madeleine, survived infancy. Toward the end of the decade, Molière developed what appears to have been tuberculosis, and on the night of February 17, 1673, shortly after performing the lead in his last play, Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid or The Hypochondriac), he collapsed and died at his home. He was buried without ceremony four days later. 

Adaptor: The Hypochondriac. 

Richard Bean was born in Hull, England, in 1956. After school, he worked in a bread plant before leaving to study psychology at Loughborough University. He has worked as a psychologist and a stand-up comedian. His work for the stage includes The Mentalists (Wyndham's Theatre); Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre); Toast (Park Theatre); Pitcairn (Out of Joint/Chichester Festival Theatre/Shakespeare's Globe); Great Britain (National Theatre); Under the Whaleback (The Wilma Theater); One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre (Lyttelton)/Adelphi Theatre/Theatre Royal Haymarket/Music Box Theatre, New York/world tour) - 2011 Evening Standard Award for Best Play, 2011 Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, 2012 Whatsonstage.com Award for Best New Comedy; a stage version of David Mamet's The House of Games (Almeida); The Big Fellah (produced by Out of Joint); Pub Quiz Is Life (Hull Truck); England People Very Nice (National Theatre) - Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play; The English Game (produced by Headlong); Up On Roof (Hull Truck) - nominated for TMA Play of the Year; In the Club (Hampstead Theatre); a version of Molière's The Hypochondriac (Almeida); The Heretic (Royal Court) - 2011 Evening Standard Award for Best Play; Harvest (Royal Court) - nominated for Evening Standard and Olivier Best New Play awards, winner Critics' Circle Best New Play; Honeymoon Suite (Royal Court) - Pearson Play of the Year; Under the Whaleback (Royal Court) - George Devine Award; Toast (Royal Court); The God Botherers (Bush Theatre); Smack Family Robinson (Newcastle Live!); The Mentalists (Lyttelton Loft, National Theatre); Mr England (Sheffield Crucible Theatre). His radio plays include Of Rats and Men, Yesterday, Unsinkable and Robin Hood's Revenge.

2016: Commedia dell'arte coach for The Hypochondriac. Stratford: Commedia/mask masterclasses for the Birmingham Conservatory under Michael Mawson/David Latham. Commedia coach: Don Juan. Choral direction: Comedy of Errors. Commedia masterclass: The Taming of the Shrew. Elsewhere: Former Artistic Director, NTS (initiated writing/directing programs); former Artistic Director, Piggery Theatre; former chair, RTS. Directing (selected): Place des Arts: Nathalie Choquette's La Diva (Charles Dutoit, MSO). NTS: Servant of Two Masters, The Miser, Flea in Her Ear. Piggery: Noises Off, Lend Me a Tenor, Crimes of the Heart. Théâtre Français de Toronto: Les Fridolinades. Théâtre du Vieux Terrebonne/Quebec tour: Tenor Recherché with Benoît Brière. Translations English/French: Lend Me a Tenor, Old Love, East of Berlin, The Little Years. Mask Masterclasses: Las Vegas (Cirque du Soleil), Moscow Art Theatre, Glasgow (RSAMD), Shanghai Theatre Academy, Capetown (Emerging Artists). Training: L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

2016: Production stage manager of the Festival Theatre and assistant stage manager of A Little Night Music. 33rd season. Stratford: Maggie has been PSM at the Avon, Tom Patterson and Festival theatres for 25 seasons. Stage-management credits include Henry IV (parts 1 and 2); Iolanthe; The Imaginary Invalid; My Fair Lady; A Man for All Seasons; Kiss Me, Kate; Guys and Dolls; The Government Inspector; Coriolanus; The Mikado (national tour, London's Old Vic); and Twelfth Night (U.S. tour). Elsewhere: Maggie has worked at the St. Lawrence Centre (Toronto Arts Productions), MTC and the Grand Theatre, where she stage-managed a Dora Award-winning production of A Little Night Music. She stage-managed Eugene Onegin (Manitoba Opera), the first Dream in High Park and the first Dora Awards. She did publicity for the NDWT Company and toured Canada with the Charlottetown Festival. Training: Graduate of the National Theatre School.