McKenna is an award-winning British playwright, screenwriter, librettist, and lyricist. He specializes in original and adapted theater (musical and otherwise) together with audio drama and, increasingly, original screenplays. Musical theater credits include: The Lord of the Rings (DORA Award, Olivier nomination), Maddie, Lautrec and La Cava (West End); Only You Can Save Mankind and Murder Mystery Musical (Edinburgh Festival Fringe); Last Dance and a forthcoming revival of Maddie (New York); The Heidi trilogy (Prix Walo nomination) and The Return of Peter Pan (Europe). Upcoming musical theatre projects include: Jack Cole,Trouser Bar, Bette & Joan & Baby Jane, Looking Glass Wars, and Celtic Warrior. Radio credits include: core writer on Home Front (Outstanding Achievement Award), adapted The Forsytes, The Complete Smiley, China Towns, East of Eden, Marnie, Brother Dusty Feet, and writing several original dramas, including Me And Little Boots, Meeting Jack, and three series of Eleanor Rising (BBC Radio 4). Other theater credits include: Ladies In Lavender (BroadwayWorld UK Best Regional Play), the upcoming The Forsyte Saga, Exhibitionists, Rocky Road, The Paradine Case, Ruling Passions, To Serve Them All My Days, How Green Was My Valley, the upcoming The Paradine Case and seven Peter James thrillers – The Perfect Murder, Dead Simple, The House On Cold Hill, Not Dead Enough, Looking Good Dead, Wish You Were Dead, and the upcoming Picture You Dead. TV credits include: Heartbeat (Royal Television Society Award), Like Father Like Son, The Crooked Man, The Cuckoo, and Great West End Theatres. Screenplays include: Oscar’s Boys, Agent 160, High Crimes and Draugr. Find out more on www.shaunmckenna.me.

Theatre credits (as Director) include: The Constituent, Lungs, Present Laughter, ‘Art’, The Caretaker, The Master Builder, Future Conditional, Speed-the-Plow, OLD VIC: IN CAMERA – A Christmas Carol, Faith Healer, Three Kings and Lungs (The Old Vic); A Christmas Carol, Groundhog Day and The Norman Conquests (The Old Vic/Broadway); Matilda the Musical (RSC/ West End/Broadway/International tour); Ghost the Musical (West End/Broadway/South Korea); La Bete (West End/Broadway); God of Carnage (West End/Broadway/LA); Deathtrap, Endgame (West End); Our House, Much Ado About Nothing (West End/UK tour); Boeing-Boeing (West End/Broadway/UK tour); The Lord of the Rings (West End/Toronto); Buried Child and Volpone (National Theatre); Follies (Broadway); Life x 3 (National Theatre/The Old Vic/Broadway); True West (Donmar Warehouse/Broadway); The Unexpected Man (RSC/West End/ Broadway); ‘Art’ (Broadway/West End/Los Angeles); Hamlet and Henry V (RSC); Betrayal, Death of a Salesman, The Plough & the Stars, Fiddler on the Roof, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, True West and Peter Pan (Leeds Playhouse). Opera credits include: Falstaff and Cosi Fan Tutte (ENO); The Rake’s Progress (ROH/WNO). Film credits include: Matilda the Musical, Pride – BIFA Best British Independent Film, Simpatico. Matthew was an Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse and Artistic Associate at The Old Vic before being appointed Artistic Director of the theater in 2014.

Rahman has redefined contemporary Indian music. Taking after his father, a Tamil film composer, Rahman started composing jingles. In 1991, Tamil director Mani Ratnam offered Rahman a movie called Roja – a run-away success bringing nationwide fame. By 2000, Rahman had come to the attention of Andrew Lloyd Webber, who brought Bombay Dreams to London’s West End and Broadway. Then, in 2008, Rahman’s music for Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire confirmed Rahman’s global presence with Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Song, 2 Grammys, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Rahman, recently turned to writing and directing, setting up a film studio in Chennai YM Studios – releasing 99 Songs and Le Musk, the latter a VR multi-sensory project, exploring new ways of storytelling. He is noted for collaborations with Coldplay, Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sarni Yusuf, and U2 (his daughters, Khatija and Raheema adding their vocals to the U2 track “Ahimsa” written to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi). Most recently, Rahman’s time has been taken up with his new state of the art recording facility in Dubai, The Firdaus Studio, set up for producing orchestral sessions and recording high quality film soundtracks – and also establishing and mentoring the all-women orchestra comprising of musicians from over 23 nationalities called The Firdaus Orchestra.

Värttinä is a contemporary Finnish group with a folk music/roots-based style featuring multiple female vocals and an ensemble of instrumentalists. Värttinä combines traditional Finno-Ugric vocal elements with trad and original compositions and dynamic performances. Founded in 1983 they have gone through various changes in line-up with the period from 1995-2005 being their most creative and productive as a group of nine members. Music for The Lord of the Rings stage production was composed and produced during this time as was their album Miero for the Real World records label. Today the band is a six-piece and is active with tours and concerts.

CHRISTOPHER is a Tony Award winner for the “Best Original Score”, NY Outer Critic Circle Honouree for A Christmas Carol, and Grammy nominee for the Matilda US Album. Theatre Credits (as Composer) include: A Christmas Carol – Tony Award, Best Score (Old Vic Theatre, Broadway); The Divide and Future Conditional (The Old Vic); Orchestrator, additional music/Musical Supervisor on Groundhog Day (The Old Vic/ Broadway – Olivier Award, Best New Musical); Matilda: The Musical (RSC/West End/Broadway/International Tour). Musical supervisor, arranger & orchestrator for Ghost The Musical (West End/Broadway); Co-composer/Orchestrator on The Lord of the Rings (Toronto/West End) and Musical Supervisor/ Orchestrator on Bombay Dreams (West End). Theatre credits (for Arrangements and Musical Direction) include: Closer to Heaven, Whistle Down the Wind and Oliver! (West End); MD/Keyboards on The Plantagenets, The Tempest, The Comedy Of Errors, A Clockwork Orange, The Plain Dealer, Pericles, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry IV Part I, Singer, Some Americans Abroad, Playing With Trains, ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, The Changeling, Romeo & Juliet and Tamburlaine (RSC). Film credits include: Matilda The Movie (Original Score, Orchestrations, Executive Music Producer), Pride (Composer), and Evita (Conductor & Vocal Coach). Recordings include: Producer on Matilda The Movie Soundtrack Album, Groundhog Day original Broadway cast album and Matilda: The Musical original London & Broadway cast albums; Associate Producer on Ghost original London cast album; Co-Producer on The Lord of The Rings original London cast album. An organ scholar at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Christopher was Musical Director of the Cambridge Footlights for three years before graduating and working for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Hart is the current Artistic Director and Joint CEO of The Watermill Theatre in the UK where he originally directed The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale in 2023. CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Red (Associate Director). WEST END: Private Peaceful, Pope Joan (National Youth Theatre); Huis Clos (Donmar Warehouse). WATERMILL THEATRE: Much Ado About Nothing, Notes from a Small Island, Othello (Co-Director); Spike (UK Tour); As You Like It, Camelot in Concert, Kiss Me, Kate, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sweet Charity, The Borrowers (UK Tour, Wilton’s Music Hall); Crazy for You (UK Tour); Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour); Journey’s End, Twelfth Night (UK Tour, Wilton’s Music Hall); The Tempest, Great Expectations, Heroes. RADIO: Existentialism in Theatre(BBC). AWARDS: 2024 The Stage Award for Theatre of the Year for The Watermill Theatre, 2024 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Regional Production for The Lord of The Rings at The Watermill Theatre, 2023 Broadway World UK Award for Best Direction of a Musical for The Lord Of The Rings, 2023 Broadway World UK Award for Best Direction of a New Production of a Play for Notes From A Small Island.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. OFF BROADWAY: Sweeney Todd (Barrow Street Theatre, Drama Desk Award Nomination). REGIONAL: The Lion (Arizona Theatre Company). WEST END: Sweeney Todd, The Selfish Giant. INTERNATIONAL: The Lord of the Rings, Whistle Down the Wind, Assassins(Watermill Theatre); Brassed Off (Theatre by the Lake); The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man (Nottingham Playhouse); Family Tree (Actors Touring Company, UK tour); The Death of A Black Man (Hampstead Theatre); Noughts & Crosses (Pilot Theatre, UK tour); The Wiz (Hope Mill Theatre); Blue/Orange (Theatre Royal Bath); Ghost Quartet (Boulevard Theatre); Black Men Walking (Eclipse, Royal Exchange); Cabaret (English Theatre Frankfurt, Deutsches Theater Munich); Red Dust Road(National Theatre of Scotland); Babette’s Feast (Print Room); Twelfth Night, The Merchant Of Venice(Shakespeare’s Globe); Ghosts (Theatr Clwyd); Island (National Theatre). EXHIBITIONS: V&A Museum Theatre & Performance Collection, Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design 2019. AWARDS: BroadwayWorld UK Best Set Design and Best Costume Design Awards for The Lord of the Rings.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Queen of Spades (Lyric Opera Chicago). WEST END: Rumi the Musical (London Coliseum). OFF BROADWAY: Judgment Day (Park Avenue Armory). INTERNATIONAL: The Lord of the Rings, Spike, Othello, Brief Encounter, As You Like It (Watermill Theatre); “Daddy” A Melodrama (Almeida Theatre); The Ballad of Hattie and James (The Kiln Theatre); Dick Whittington (Watford Palace Theatre). OPERA: Handmaids Tale (English National Opera); Pierre Lunaire and Mavra (Royal Opera House); Cherry Town (Welsh National Opera); Jakob Lenz (English National Opera). FILM: little grasses crack through stone, Moving in Time (New Adventures Dance Company); Alexander, World War Z. TELEVISION: Dope Girls (BBC). EDUCATION: MA in choreography, Diploma in classical and contemporary dance, Central School of Ballet. AWARDS: Christoper Gable Choreographer Award. DANCE CREDITS: Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Dance Company, Play without Words (Sadlers Wells Theatre); Kiss Me Kate (Theatre du Chatelet); Bombay Dreams (West End); Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Red Shoes, The Nutcracker. Mehra is a mentor for young artists who teaches lecturers on careers in the industry and creative choreography/movement workshops.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. MUSIC DIRECTION: Sinatra (Birmingham Rep); Anything Goes(Barbican, UK Tour); City of Angels (Garrick Theatre); & Juliet (Manchester Opera House); Perfect Show for Rachel (Barbican); West Side Story, Guys & Dolls, Sweet Charity (Royal Exchange Manchester); The Band (UK Tour); Three Phantoms (Parisian Theatre); The Wicker Husband(Workshop); Travels with my Aunt (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Smallest Show on Earth (UK Tour); Mack and Mabel, Titanic (Princess of Wales, Toronto, Southwark Playhouse); The Roles I’ll Never Play (St. James Theatre); Cinderella (Qdos, Cliffs Pavilion). MUSIC SUPERVISOR: Fiddler on the Roof (Regent’s Park Open Air); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Ambassadors Theatre, Southwark Playhouse); Titanic, Ragtime (Charing Cross Theatre, UK and International Tour). ASSISTANT MUSICAL DIRECTOR: & Juliet (Manchester Opera House); City of Angels (Donmar Warehouse); The Pyjama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre). KEYBOARD: Stephen Ward (Aldwych Theatre); Multistory (RSC Workshop); Tick, Tick, Boom! (Duchess Theatre). FILM: The End, Cyrano, Cats.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Revolution(s) (Goodman Theatre); Grease (Drury Lane Theatre); Big Fish (Boho Theater, Joseph Jefferson Award — Best Music Direction); The Choir of Man (Apollo Theater Chicago); Rent (Porchlight Music Theatre); Passing Strange (Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre); Billy Elliot, Brigadoon, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Carousel (Music Theater Works). REGIONAL: The Scarlet Pimpernel (John W. Engeman Theater, NY); We Will Rock You, Legally Blonde, Escape to Margaritaville, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Robber Bridegroom, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Man of La Mancha, Mamma Mia!, Into the Woods, The Little Mermaid (Timber Lake Playhouse). ACADEMIC: Yeast Nation (North Park University); The Old Man and the Old Moon, Fun Home, Violet, Cabaret, Tintypes, She Loves Me, Spring Awakening, Hot Mikado, Urinetown (Loyola University Chicago). EDUCATION: DM Composition, Northwestern University. McBride is a visiting Assistant Professor at North Park University.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. WEST END: The Time Traveller’s Wife, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, The Merchant of Venice 1936, Wild About You, Death Drop: Back in the Habit, Your Lie In April, Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! INTERNATIONAL: Royal Shakespeare Company, Bristol Old Vic, Kiln Theatre, Almeida, Royal Court, Southbank Centre, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Royal & Derngate, The Watermill, Chichester Festival Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Barbican Theatre. OPERA: Danish National Opera, Scottish Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, English Touring Opera, Opera Holland Park, OTC Ireland, Blackheath Halls Community Opera, Trinity Laban, Guildhall School, Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music. EDUCATION: Guildhall School of Music and Drama. AWARDS: Broadway World Award for Best Lighting Design (The Lord of the Rings); WhatsOnStage Award nomination (The Time Traveller’s Wife); Knight of Illumination nomination (Cosí fan Tutte).

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Sunset Boulevard. WEST END: Pippin in Concert, Wild About You in Concert, Evita, Love Never Dies in Concert (Theatre Royal Drury Lane); Sunset Boulevard (Olivier Award, WhatsOnStage Award); The Wizard of Oz, The Last Five Years (Vaudeville Theatre, Garrick Theatre); Gillian Lynne Celebration (Gillian Lynne Theatre). LONDON: Kiss Me Kate (Barbican); Yeast Nation (Southwark Playhouse); The View Upstairs (Soho Theatre). INTERNATIONAL: Oliver! (Chichester Festival Theatre); Evita, Billy Elliot (Curve Leicester); Bhangra Nation (Birmingham Rep); Cinderella, Dick Whittington, Beauty and the Beast (Nottingham Playhouse); The Lord of the Rings, Our Man in Havana (Watermill Theatre). AWARDS: 2024 Olivier Award for Best Sound Design for Sunset Boulevard.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. WEST END: Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends; My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?), Six, The Great British Bake Off Musical. INTERNATIONAL: Hercules, Tarzan (Disney Theatrical); Sunset Boulevard (Princess Theatre); In Dreams (Leeds Playhouse/Toronto); Oliver! (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Lord Of The Rings, Notes From a Small Island (Watermill Theatre); Hey Duggee The Live Theatre Show (Royal Festival Hall); RENT and Cinderella (Hope Mill Theatre); Now Is Good (Storyhouse Chester); Gypsy (Alexandra Palace); A Christmas Carol (Dominion Theatre); NoiseBoys, VIVA Club (Norwegian Cruise Line); Cinderella In Concert (Cadogan Hall). TOURS: Hairspray (UK Tour); Hey Duggee The Live Theatre Show (UK Tour); Dawn French Is A Huge Tw*t! (UK/Australia Tour, BBC); The Sound of Music (Netherlands Tour). Reeve won the award for Best Video Design in the 2023 Broadway World UK/West End Awards for his work on The Lord of The Rings at the Watermill Theatre.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. WEST END: The Time Traveler’s Wife (Associate Director); Back to the Future the Musical (Resident Director). INTERNATIONAL: Directing Credits: Summer Camp for Broken People (Pleasance Theatre, Summerhall); FAT TONGUE (Riverside Studios); Park Bench (Park Theatre); United Queendom (Kensington Palace for Les Enfants Terribles); Inside Pussy Riot (Saatchi Gallery for Les Enfants Terribles); The Hole (Old Rep); FREAK (The Space). INTERNATIONAL: Associate/Assistant Director Credits: The Game’s Afoot (Madame Tussauds for Les Enfants Terribles); Kiss Me Quickstep (New Vic Theatre, Stoke, UK Tour); The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Only on Sundays (The Birmingham REP); A Third (Finborough Theatre). TOURS: Mr. Men and Little Miss on Stage. ACADEMIC: Spring Awakening (Trinity Laban, London); Love & Information (DTA, Birmingham). EDUCATION: BA in theatre and english, University of Birmingham. AWARDS: 2015 JMK Regional Leverhulme Arts Scholarship, 2022 Olivier Award Best New Musical for Back to the Future the Musical, Winner of 4 WhatsOnStage Awards including Best New Musical for Back to the Future the Musical. Harris is the Associate Artist of the twice Olivier Award-nominated theater company Les Enfants Terribles and is the Co-founder of the arts organization WildChild.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY PUPPET FABRICATION: Life of Pi, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, Angels in America. WEST END: Spirited Away (London Coliseum Theatre); Stranger Things (Pheonix Theatre); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Palace Theatre). INTERNATIONAL PUPPET DESIGN: The Lord of the Rings, The Wicker Husband (Watermill Theatre); The Dream Thief (National Theatre of Iceland); The Dinosaur Show (Southwark Playhouse); Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time (Burg Theatre, Southbank Centre); Wizard of Oz (Leeds Playhouse Theatre); Running Wild (Chichester Festival Theatre, Regents Park Theatre); Gnomus (Kew Gardens);Beauty and the Beast, Witches, Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, Noah (Chichester Festival Theatre). TOURS: The Dinosaur Show, Book of Mormon, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Dr Dolittle, Running Wild. FILM: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson); Artemis Fowl (Disney); Frankenweenie (Tim Burton). EDUCATION: BA, Central School of Art and Design UK; Goldsmiths College of Art UK; Motley Theatre Design School UK.ts.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: It Came From Outer Space. BROADWAY: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. OFF BROADWAY: Hundred Days (New York Theatre Workshop); In the Green (Lincoln Center); Outer Space (Public Theater); King Lear (Theater for a New Audience). REGIONAL: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, The Visit, Father Comes Home From the Wars. INTERNATIONAL: The Gift of Angels (Universal Studios, Osaka, Japan). EDUCATION: Yale School of Drama. AWARDS: 2017 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical (Natasha, Pierre &apm; the Great Comet of 1812), 2020 Lucille Lortel Award nomination, Outstanding Sound Design (In the Green). Pope currently serves as CST’s Interim Sound Supervisor.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Lookingglass Alice, Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth, Cascabel, The Great Fire (Lookingglass Theatre Company); The Snow Queen (Victory Gardens Theatre); Leonardo (Manual Cinema); Sink, Sank, Sunk, The Golden Truffle, The Cabinet (Redmoon Theatre). REGIONAL: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Syracuse Stage, Adrienne Arsht Center, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Segerstrom Center for the Arts. INTERNATIONAL: Singapore International Arts Festival, International Children’s Festival of the Arts (St. Albert, Canada). TELEVISION: Chicago Fire (NBC). EDUCATION: BS in theatre performance, Bradley University.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet. CHICAGO: Twilight Bowl, Relentless (Goodman Theatre); The Burials, Constellations, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); The Displaced (Haven Theatre – Joseph Jefferson Award nomination); First Love is the Revolution (Steep Theatre – Joseph Jefferson Award nomination). LOS ANGELES: Cabaret, Destiny of Desire, Dial M for Murder (Old Globe Theatre); Cassils Human Measure (RedCat Theatre); Radical (IAMA Theatre Company). REGIONAL: There’s Always the Hudson (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company); Othello (Dallas Shakespeare Theatre); West Side Story (Lyric Theatre Oklahoma). TELEVISION: GLOW (Netflix); You (Warner Horizons); Hunters (Amazon); The Summer I Turned Pretty (Apple TV+); Gaslit (NBC). Flesher is a Certified Intimacy Director and Intimacy Coordinator on the SAG-AFTRA registry, a SAG-AFTRA stunt performer, a Certified Fight Director and Fight Instructor with the Fight Directors Canada, and the founder and CEO of Intimacy Professionals Education Collective.