Much Ado About Nothing
by William Shakespeare • Directed by Rita Giomi
Artistic Team
Rita Giomi (Director)
SSC: Merry Wives of Windsor, Julius Caesar, Blood and Iron
Rita is a Seattle-based freelance director with over 25 years experience in professional theatre. Her recent local credits include Sleeping Beauty and The Devil and Daniel Webster for Seattle Children’s Theatre, Lobby Hero for Seattle Public Theatre, and The Drawer Boy at Tacoma Actors Guild. She is currently Artistic Associate at Seattle Children’s Theatre where her work has been seen extensively. Her other Seattle-area credits include work with Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Empty Space Theatre, Tacoma Actor’s Guild, Seattle Group Theatre, Village Theatre, Centerstage, Alice B. Theatre, Seattle Mime Theatre, Seattle G.A.P. Theatre, Bainbridge Performing Arts, Unexpected Productions, and Stark/Raving Theatre. Around the country, her work has been seen at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, Purdue University and Louisiana State University. She has also served as a visiting professor and guest artist at Purdue University, Louisiana State University, University of Washington, and Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Since 1993 she has served as the artistic director of the Young Actor Institute at Seattle Children’s Theatre, an intensive, summer training program for high school-age students. Ms. Giomi received an MFA in directing from the University of Washington, and she is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
Craig Wollam (Scenic Designer, Technical Director)
SSC: Julius Caesar, Blood and Iron, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet
Craig is happy to be vacationing with Rita in Italy again. As a freelance scenic and lighting designer Craig’s work has been seen at NWAAT, Seattle Public Theatre, Mirror Stage, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, Wooden O Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Opera, Centerstage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Village Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Spectrum Dance Theater, Civic Light Opera, Golden Fish, ArtsWest, Bellevue Opera, Wing Luke Museum, The Bruce Lee Exhibit for Inter*Im, ReAct, Exchange Theatre, Black Box Opera, Tacoma Actors Guild, and Alice B. Theatre here in Washington. Out of town, Craig has designed for Arizona Theatre Company, Chicago Theatre Center, Atlanta’s 14th Street Theatre, Boston’s Lyric Theatre, Dance Theatre Workshop of NY, the Spoleto Festival of Italy, the Colony in Miami, the Zephyr in LA, and the Actor’s Playhouse NY. Recent projects include Sleeping Beauty for Spectrum Dance, Death of a Salesman for Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, Honus & Me with Seattle Children’s Theatre, Noises Off and Nicholas Nickleby at Centerstage, Jungle Book for Youth Theatre Northwest, La Cenerentola with Bellevue Opera, Lobby Hero and Jenny Chow for Seattle Public, and Production Design for Plight. Craig is co-founder and Technical Director of Seattle Scenic Studios, a non-profit serving non-profits and education throughout Western Washington.
Heidi Ganser (Costume Designer)
SSC: Debut
This is Heidi’s first time designing for Seattle Shakespeare Company where she has been the Costume Shop Manager for the 2005-2006 season. Heidi recieved her MFA in Costume Design from University of Washington in 2002 and has since designed for Empty Space Theatre, Taproot Theatre, Consolidated Works, ExitTheatre, Defibrillator, Sierra Repertory Theatre and Ball State University. Heidi is a Founding Member and Co-Artistic Director of The Washington Ensemble Theatre (WET) where she has designed costumes for all eight productions to date.
Tim Wratten (Lighting Designer)
SSC: Cyrano de Bergerac, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet
Tim loves to play with light and is delighted to return to Seattle Shakespeare Company to light this show. Having worked in British rep theatres (Bristol Old Vic, Manchester Library, Coventry Belgrade) for many years, in 1996, Tim and family decided to come and play in Seattle (the weather is the same). Since then he has completed over 40 shows, including designs for Empty Space Theatre, New City Theatre, Seattle University, and the Alliance Theatre Atlanta.
Marleigh Driscoll (Properties Designer)
SSC: Cyrano de Bergerac, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Kate and Isabel, Macbeth, The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Marleigh is delighted to be working with Seattle Shakespeare for the second full season. She has been a stage manager and assistant director at Book-It Repertory Theatre for I Am of Ireland, Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant, and In a Shallow Grave; as well as the Flying Karamazov’s Fun House at ACT She has also designed props for Wooden O Theatre for their last six seasons, and also served as Production Manager for their most recent productions of Macbeth and Twelfth Night. Marleigh also has a Master’s Degree in Architecture and spent seven years as Production Manager for the Drama Department at North Seattle Community College.
Robert A. “Max” Langley (Sound Designer)
SSC: Cyrano de Bergerac, Richard III
Robert is pleased to be designing for Seattle Shakespeare Company. He has designed sound for There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom, Invisible Friends, Bunnicula, Kenny’s Window, and Boxcar Children for Seattle Children’s Theatre. He has also designed sound for Boomer Productions’ presentation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Seattle Repertory Theatre’s production of A Doll’s House and M.O.B. tour production of Homecoming, and the Group Theatre’s premiere production of A…My Name Is Still Alice in 1993.
Kimberly White (Voice and Text Director)
SSC: Cyrano de Bergerac, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It, King Lear
Kimberly has worked with Shakespeare’s text over the past 16 years as coach, teacher, director, and producer. She has taught and coached for the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Washington, Freehold Conservatory Theatre, University of British Columbia, Otterbein College, and the Korean University of the Arts. Kimberly spent the past five summer seasons in Idaho where she directed and coached for Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, a company she co-founded in 2000 and served as its Artistic Director for several years. She was Associate Director on Richard III for Harvard/Radcliffe University at the Loeb Theatre. She has been a faculty member with Shakespeare and Company (Lenox, Mass.) for eleven years and worked as “Lamentation Coach” for their ground-breaking production of Richard III. Kimberly has also worked with Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival and Seattle Children’s Theatre, and she served as co-director of the local innovative youth program, Young Shakespeare Workshop. Kimberly is a designated Linklater voice teacher. She is the proud mother of Hannah.
Miller Freeman IV (Production Stage Manager)
SSC: Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello
Miller is excited to be Stage Manager for Seattle Shakespeare Company’s Much Ado About Nothing. Miller has worked as Stage Manager for several shows throughout Seattle, including Uncle Willy’s Chocolate Factory produced by the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, Rebecca and Waxwings with Book-It Repertory Theatre, and several shows at Theater Schmeater and the University of Washington.
Seattle Scenic Studios (Scenic Construction)
Seattle Scenic Studios’ mission is to serve the region’s non-profit arts and cultural organizations and introduce, inspire and train the next generation of technical theatre artists. Our clients include Seattle Public Theatre, ReAct, Youth Theatre NW, Civic Light Opera, Wing Luke Asian Museum, Book-It Repertory, Eastside Musical Theatre, Centerstage, BrownBox, Broadway Bound, Spectrum Dance Theater, Studio East, Bainbridge KidiMu, Tacoma Children’s Museum, The Bruce Lee Exhibit for Inter*Im and Bellevue Opera to name a few. Our education program currently works with the Bush School, Summit, Roosevelt HS, Bothell HS, Olympic View, NW School. Our education and production programs are supported in generous part by 4Culture, Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture Affairs, and Boeing.