BEN BLAZER (Walter Prime) is very happy to return to Pittsburgh Public Theater for Marjorie Prime and even happier to be collaborating with Marya on this meaningful play. He was privileged to appear last season as Nugget in Equus and Bernardo in Hamlet. Ben is a local stage/camera/voice actor and an assistant professor of movement and acting at Point Park University. He has trained extensively in the physical approaches to performance of Tadashi Suzuki and Shogo Ohta and holds a BA in acting from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in acting from the University of South Carolina. Ben is a proud member of Pittsburgh Local 489 Studio Mechanics Union, Actors’ Equity Association, and the P3/East Studio.

MICHAEL GREER is overjoyed to return to The Public where he was last seen in Guys & Dolls. Favorite credits include You Say Tomato, I Say Shutup (Jeff Kahn) at the Denver Center, Shrek: The Musical (Big Bad Wolf) at North Shore, Miss Saigon (2010 Tour), Jesus Christ Superstar with Kansas City Starlight, and The Full Monty (Keno) and Altar Boyz (Luke) with Pittsburgh CLO.

LAWRENCE KARL is excited to make his first appearance with Pittsburgh Public Theater in Equus. Recent credits include: Deadly Lessons (Quill Saddlehorn) and Love is a Battlefield (Tyson Hinesburger) with Mystery Theatre Pittsburgh, Momentum: A Festival of New Plays (Stage Directions) with City Theatre, Pippin (Lewis) with Princeton Summer Theatre, A Pirate’s Tale (Robert) with Shadows and Flames Productions, and the world premiere of December Things (Crawford) with Slippery Rock University Theatre. He performed in Scotland’s Edinburg Festival Fringe in Dark North (Daniel DarkNorth) and an adaption of Electra: An American Gothic (Orestes). He is a Pittsburgh native who received his BAs in Theatre and Dance from Slippery Rock University. Lawrence also works as an overhire with City Theatre and as an actor with Lovely Days Events Entertainment.

Ryan is very excited to return to Pittsburgh Public Theater (A Few Good Men, Equus). Ryan has also performed with Pittsburgh CLO, City Theatre Company, PICT, Off the Wall Theater, PMT, Saint Vincent’s Summer Theater, Stage 62, South Park Theater, and more. He is very grateful for the opportunity to tell one of his all-time favorite stories.

Amy Landis (understudy/Martha)- Pittsburgh Public: Murder On The Orient Express, SWEAT, EQUUS, Comedy of Errors, ELECTRA, Born Yesterday, The Bird Sanctuary.  NYC: Urban stages, Lincoln Center Salon, West Bank, Ohio. Regional: Meadow Brook, American Repertory Theater, Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theater, Centenary Stage, Seven Angels, Fulton Theater, Gretna Playhouse.  Pittsburgh: Playhouse REP, Irish & Classical, Quantum, Bricolage. Training: A.R.T. Institute/Harvard University.

BENJAMIN JAMES MICHAEL holds a BFA in Acting from West Virginia University. Ben has appeared with numerous professional summer stock and regional companies. Favorite roles include Benny Southstreet (Guys & Dolls), Connie (The Grapes of Wrath), Claudio (Measure for Measure), Tybalt (Romeo and Juliet), Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing), Jim/Tom/Kenneth (Clybourne Park), Pippin (Pippin), Max Brod (The Trap), John (Monongah Mining Disaster), and Barker (Poe). TV: Ben Hoffman (“Spirit World”), Sider (“You Became I”), and Holloway (“The Men Who Built America”). Aside from his professional acting career, Ben has demonstrated talents in Scenic Design and Props Construction with many professional companies. Some of his favorite Scenic and Props designs include Coriolanus, Extremities, and The Dresser.

LUKE STEINHAUER is originally from Mt. Lebanon and is excited to make his Pittsburgh Public Theater debut! Regional theater credits include: The Muny, Theatre Aspen, Music Theatre Wichita, Pittsburgh CLO, and Unquowa Rep. Luke currently resides in New York City, is a graduate of the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Program, and a proud member of Actors Equity. When not performing, Luke is a Certified Master Teacher Candidate in Estill Voice Training.

PETER SHAFFER is the acclaimed author of more than 18 plays. Three of his works were adapted for film: The Royal Hunt of the Sun in the 60s, Equus in the 70s, and Amadeus in the 80s. Both Equus and Amadeus received Tony Awards for Best Play and Amadeus won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Shaffer. His first play, Five Finger Exercise, was directed in London by fellow Englishman, John Gielgud, in 1958. Shaffer’s other plays include Black Comedy, Lettice and Lovage, The Gift of the Gorgon, The Private Ear, The Public Eye, and The White Liars. Peter’s twin brother, Anthony, wrote the play Sleuth, which also received a Tony Award for Best Play. Peter Shaffer died in 2016 at age 90.

TED PAPPAS celebrates his 18th season as The Public’s leader and his 25th year of close association with the company as a director.  Acknowledged for his tremendous versatility, Ted has worked on and off-Broadway, directed a hip-hop concert that galvanized the Cannes Film Festival, produced and directed a Las Vegas extravaganza for impresario Steve Wynn, choreographed a musical for famed director Harold Prince, directed at New York City Opera under the leadership of Beverly Sills, and served as choreographer of NBC’s "Saturday Night Live." He has travelled from coast to coast and Canada staging productions for major regional theaters and opera companies, establishing a reputation as a uniquely gifted man of the theater.  In 1998 he was elected President of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, the national labor union. For Pittsburgh Public Theater he has staged 56 shows, encompassing an extraordinary range of styles and periods.  His acclaimed production of The Chief played to standing-room only houses for nine seasons and was filmed. His productions of Oedipus the King, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Amadeus, and My Fair Lady broke Public Theater box office records. Ted has produced over 100 productions for Pittsburgh Public Theater, including 10 world and American premieres.  He studied Shakespeare with Samuel Schoenbaum and modern drama with Eric Bentley, and holds degrees from Manhattan’s Hunter College and Northwestern University.

JAMES NOONE Broadway: Sunset Boulevard (revival), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, A Time to Kill, A Bronx Tale (play), Come Back Little Sheba, Match, Urban Cowboy, A Class Act, Judgment at Nuremberg, Jekyll and Hyde, The Rainmaker, Night Must Fall, The Sunshine Boys, Getting and Spending, The Gin Game. Off-Broadway: The Persians, Three Tall Women, Fully Committed, Full Gallop, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Cowgirls, Ruthless!, Breaking Legs, Boys in the Band, The Woman in Black, and many others. Opera: Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opera National de Bordeaux, Houston Grand, New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Canadian Opera, Portland Opera. Television: “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” (HBO), Sweeney Todd, Passion, Candide, Camelot, Company (shown in movie theaters). Awards: Drama Desk Award, American Theatre Wing Design Award, L.A. Ovation Award, two Helen Hayes Awards. Mr. Noone is head of Scenic Design, Boston University School of Theatre.

Pittsburgh Public Theater: Twelfth Night, The Fantasticks, Guys & Dolls, A Servant To Two Masters, Othello, My Fair Lady, L’Hotel, Noises Off, Candida, Born Yesterday, As You Like It, Electra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Goodspeed Opera House: Funny Thing....Forum. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park: Speaking in Tongues, God of Carnage, The Fantasticks. Off-Broadway: Closer Than Ever, Divine Sister, and The Tribute Artist (Charles Busch). Irish Rep: Bedbound, The Playboy of the Western World, The Importance of Being Earnest, Major Barbara. Drama Dept.: June Moon, Rude Entertainment. Manhattan Theatre Club: The Green Heart. Broadway: The Gin Game (Julie Harris/Charles Durning), The Sunshine Boys (Tony Randall/Jack Klugman), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Other theater credits include New York Philharmonic: Company (dir. Lonny Price), San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas: Thomashefsky’s A Flowering Tree (dir. Peter Sellars), Les Sylphides, Don Quixote, and Troy Games for Hungarian National Ballet at the Budapest Opera House. KirkBookman.com.

TILLY GRIMES is an English theater designer based in New York. Recent credits include Lightning Rod Special’s Underground Railroad Game, Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds directed by Rachel Chavkin, Kingdom Come by Jenny Rachel Weiner directed by Kip Fagan. New York work includes Roundabout, Ars Nova, The Foundry, Red Bull Theatre, Cherry Lane, The Pearl, Clubbed Thumb, Here Arts Centre, The Barrow Group, The Pearl, New Georges, and La Mama Theatre. Regional work includes the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Alley Theatre, Goodspeed Opera, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Wilma, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Two Rivers Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Company, and Westport County Playhouse. Guest artist credits include Julliard, New York University, Duke University, Fordham, Rutgers, and the University of Rochester. Tilly has taught at Brown University and received her MFA from New York University.

Is a lifelong Tolkien fan and is thrilled to be collaborating on The Hobbit. His 100+ sound designs at Pittsburgh Public Theater include the world premieres of Billy Strayhorn; Something to Live For, L’Hotel, The Chief, Harry’s Friendly Service, The Glorious Ones, and Paper Doll; original music for Marjorie Prime, A Doll’s House Part 2, Hamlet, Equus, and Circle Mirror Transformation; as well as designs for Sweat, The Diary of Anne Frank, Thurgood, Red, and Little Shop of Horrors. Other collaborations include Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Reduced Shakespeare Co., Asolo Rep, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Playhouse, NBA Ballet in Tokyo, TheaterWorks Hartford, The Huntington, Long Wharf Theatre, and Dallas Theater Center.

DON WADSWORTH Over the past decade Don has helped actors develop British, Canadian, German, Romanian, Irish, Scottish, Polish, German, Russian, Australian, and Italian accents for a wide variety of productions. He has worked on and Off-Broadway and for a variety of regional theaters. Don has the distinction of coaching actors in several world premiere productions. He has worked with actors on a dozen feature films (often helping British actors, like Tom Hardy, learn an American dialect) and recently served as the dialect coach for the television series, “Outsiders.” Don is Head of the Acting/Music Theater program in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama. His voice can be heard in various television commercials across the country.

Pat McCorkle, C.S.A. and Katja Zarolinski, C.S.A. Broadway: More than 50 productions including Amazing Grace, On the Town, End of the Rainbow, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, She Loves Me, Blood Brothers, A Few Good Men. Off-Broadway: More than 60 original productions including Clever Little Lies, Becoming Dr. Ruth, Tribes, Our Town, Falling, Freud’s Last Session, Toxic Avenger, Almost Maine, Killer Joe, Driving Miss Daisy. Feature films: Senior Moment, Year by the Sea, Child of Grace, My Man is a Loser, Ghost Town, Secret Window, Tony and Tina's Wedding, The Thomas Crown Affair, The 13th Warrior, Madeline, Die Hard With a Vengeance, School Ties, etc. Television: “Twisted” (ABC Family), humans for “Sesame Street,” "Californication" (Emmy nomination), “Hack” (CBS),  “The Education of Max Bickford” (CBS), “Chappelle’s Show,” “Strangers With Candy,” “Barbershop” (Comedy Central), and series for Showtime, HBO, TMC.

RUTH E. KRAMER returns to Pittsburgh Public Theater for her 39th show. Guys & Dolls, My Fair Lady, 1776, The Royal Family, Amadeus, Cabaret, The Mikado, Man of La Mancha, You Can’t Take it With You, and Forum are among her favorite, previous productions. Other credits include Lost in Yonkers at Weston Playhouse; The Full Monty, Rock of Ages, and Chicago at Alpine Theatre Project (MT); Off-Broadway productions of Anne of Green Gables and Tovah: Out of Her Mind; multiple summer seasons at Maine State Music Theatre and Mountain Playhouse; and stints at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Riverside Theatre (FL), Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, New Jersey Shakespeare, Ogunquit Playhouse, Goodspeed-at-Chester, and the Great Lakes Theater Festival. Ms. Kramer lives in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC, is an avid Geocacher, and proudly serves on the National Council of Actors’ Equity Association.

PHILL MADORE is delighted to return to Pittsburgh Public Theater for a third season. Previous credits include Death of a Salesman, Twelfth Night, Between Riverside and Crazy and Guys & Dolls. Locally, Phill served as the resident stage manager for Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre for seven seasons where he worked on more than 75 productions, including the complete stage works of Samuel Beckett and J.M. Synge. Other area credits include 1984 at Bricolage and BUG at barebones productions. Regional work includes North Shore Music Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, New Rep, and Westport Country Playhouse. Phill is an alum of Point Park University and a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association for 12 years!