CYRANO CREATIVE TEAM
in 1890. Rostand is best known for his
heroic comedy Cyrano de Bergerac, which
had its premiere in 1897 starring BenoîtConstant Coquelin in the title role.
MICHAEL HOLLINGER
Translator/Co-Adaptor
Michael Hollinger is delighted to return
to Portland Center Stage, where his
play Opus was seen in 2001. Other plays
include Red Herring and Incorruptible
(both staged at Artists Repertory
Theatre), Hope and Gravity, Ghost-Writer,
Tooth and Claw and An Empty Plate in
the Café Du Grand Boeuf, which together
have enjoyed numerous productions
around the country, in New York City
(Primary Stages and Ensemble Studio
Theatre) and abroad (London, Paris,
Tokyo, Athens, Poland and Slovenia). His
new play Under the Skin premiered
this winter at Philadelphia’s Arden
Theatre Company, and his musical A
Wonderful Noise (co-authored with
Vance Lehmkuhl) premiered at Creede
Repertory Theatre in 2009. Awards
include a Steinberg New Play Citation
from the American Theatre Critics
Association, a Los Angeles Drama Critics
Circle Award, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy, an
Edgerton Foundation New American
Plays Award, four Barrymore Awards
(including the F. Otto Haas Award for an
Emerging Theatre Artist), nominations
for Lucille Lortel and John Gassner
awards, and fellowships from the
Independence Foundation, Mid-Atlantic
Arts Foundation and Pennsylvania
Council on the Arts. Michael is an
associate professor of theatre at Villanova
University, and a proud alumnus of New
Dramatists.
AARON POSNER
Adaptor
Aaron is proud that this is the third
adaptation of his to be produced by PCS.
The previous ones were Sometimes a
Great Notion and The Chosen. Aaron
is a freelance director and playwright,
the founding artistic director of
Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company,
and an associate artist at the Folger
Theatre in Washington, D.C., where this
new translation and adaptation of Cyrano
premiered. Aaron has won numerous
awards as both a director and playwright
including an Outer Circle Critics Award,
The John Gassner Award, the inaugural
Theatre Bay Area Award for directing,
three Barrymore Awards, and Helen
Hayes Awards as director or playwright
four of the last ten years. His published
and produced plays include Stupid
F**king Bird, Life Sucks (Or the Present
Ridiculous), My Name is Asher Lev, Who
Am I This Time? (And Other Conundrums
of Love), A Murder, A Mystery & A
Marriage, and several others. Aaron has
directed more than 150 productions
at major regional theaters across the
country including Actor’s Theatre of
Louisville, The Alliance, American
Players Theatre, The American Repertory
Theatre, Arena Stage, Cal Shakes,
Folger Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Seattle
Repertory Theatre, Signature Theatre,
Studio Theatre, Theatre J, Woolly
Mammoth and more. Aaron is originally
from Eugene, is an Eisenhower Fellow,
a graduate of Northwestern University,
and lives outside Washington D.C. with
his wife, actress Erin Weaver, and his
amazing three-year-old daughter, Maisie.
JANE JONES
Director
Jane is the founder of Book-It and
founding co-artistic director of Book-It
Repertory Theatre in Seattle with Myra
Platt. In her 25 years of staging literature,
she has performed, adapted and directed
works by such literary giants as Charles
Dickens, Eudora Welty, Edith Wharton,
Raymond Carver, Jim Lynch, Amy Bloom,
John Irving, John Steinbeck and Jane
Austen. Her directing credits include
work with Seattle Repertory Theatre,
Portland Center Stage (Drammy Award,
Best Production and Best Director,
Twelfth Night), Mark Taper Forum
(Ovation Award, Best Director with Tom
Hulce, The Cider House Rules), Atlantic
Theatre Company, NYC (Drama Desk
Nomination) and Book-It. Favorite
Book-It productions include Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn: Uncensored, The
House of Mirth, The Awakening, Owen
Meany’s Christmas Pageant, Truth Like
the Sun, A Tale of Two Cities, Howard’s
End and Pride and Prejudice. In 2008,
she and Co-Artistic Director Myra Platt
were honored to be named by the Seattle
Times among seven Unsung Heroes and
Uncommon Genius for their 20-year
contribution to life in the Puget Sound
region. She is a recipient of the 2009
Women’s University Club Brava Award,
a 2010 Women of Influence Award from
Puget Sound Business Journal, and the
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s 20th
Anniversary Founders Award. Jane
was a finalist for Stage Directors and
Choreographers’ 2012 Zelda Fichandler
Award.
WILLIAM BLOODGOOD
Scenic Designer
William returns to Portland Center Stage
for his thirteenth production, having
previously designed the scenery for
Misalliance (2007), The Beard of Avon and
Twelfth Night (2008), Snow Falling on
Cedars (2010), The Imaginary Invalid and
Oklahoma! (2011), Sweeney Todd (2012)
and Other Desert Cities (2015). William
has designed for many regional theaters
in the U.S. and abroad, i