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CECILY STRONG (Trudy, she/her) Cecily Strong is best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, where she recently completed her 10th season. Strong received back-to-back Emmy nominations in 2020 and 2021 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on SNL. She has entertained viewers with her standout “Weekend Update” character, Cathy Anne, Michael Che’s wacky chain-smoking neighbor who offers her opinions on current events. Her recurring character Gemma, a British “singer” with various boyfriends, also quickly became a fan favorite. She has earned rave reviews for her  notable Judge Jeanine Pirro, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Melania Trump impressions. Strong has co-hosted “Weekend Update” alongside both Seth Meyers and Colin Jost. Strong recently starred on Apple TV+’s 2021 hit musical series, Schmigadoon!, on which she also serves as a producer. Her memoir, This Will All Be Over Soon, was released in the summer of 2021. In 2021, she made her New York stage debut at The Shed in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, and now returns to star in the production at the Mark Taper Forum. In Chicago, Strong impro-vised regularly at the iO Theater and served as an understudy for the Second City Main Stage and E.T.C. shows. She performed as a member of the Second City national touring company and has also appeared at the Chicago SketchFest, Chicago Just for Laughs, the New York Sketch Fest, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Strong has appeared in the films The Female Brain and Paul Feig’s reboot of Ghostbusters, as well as Melissa McCarthy’s The Boss, The Bronze, and The Meddler. Additionally, Strong headlined the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

LEIGH SILVERMAN (Director, she/her) Leigh Silverman’s Broadway credits include Grand Horizons  (2ST; Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Lifespan of a Fact (Studio 54), Violet (Roundabout; Tony nomination), Chinglish (Goodman Theatre; Longacre), and Well  (Public Theater; ACT; Longacre).  Recent Off-Broadway credits include Soft Power (Public Theater; Ahmanson Theatre/Curran Theater; Drama Desk nomination), Tumacho (Clubbed Thumb), Hurricane Diane (New York Theatre Workshop; Two River Theater), Harry Clarke (Vineyard Theatre/Audible,Minetta Lane; Lortel nomination), Wild Goose Dreams (Public Theater; La Jolla Playhouse), Sweet Charity (New Group), On The Exhale (Roundabout), and The Outer Space (Public Theater). Encores include Bring Me to Light, Violet, The Wild Party, and Really Rosie. Silverman received 2011 and 2019 Obie Awards for Sustained Excellence. Upcoming projects include Suffs (Public Theater)

JANE WAGNER (Playwright, she/her) Jane Wagner, a distinguished American playwright, has won numerous awards, including two Peabodys, four Emmys, and a Writer’s Guild Award for her work in television and the seldom-given NY Drama Critics’ Circle Special Award for her Broadway success, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. Wagner made her writing debut with the acclaimed CBS teleplay entitled J.T. and her book of the same title. In 1971, Wagner began working with Lily Tomlin on an Edith Ann album, Edith Ann: And That’s the Truth (1972), which began an award-winning, creative alliance that has lasted for nearly fifty years. They went on to co-write and produce two more Grammy-nominated albums, Modern Scream (1975) and On Stage (1977). Together, Wagner and Tomlin also produced six television specials as well as three animated |specials that starred the precocious Edith Ann. In 1977, Wagner wrote and directed Appearing Nitely, a one-woman show in which Tomlin made her Broadway debut. Wagner  subsequently wrote the screenplay for the movie, The Incredible Shrinking Woman. In 1985, Wagner brought The Search... to Broadway, where it became one of the most acclaimed plays of the 1985-86 Broadway season. The hardcover edition of The Search... became the first play in twenty years to appear on The New York Times bestseller list. In 2013, Harper Collins issued a new release of the book to celebrate 25 years in print. Wagner has also written and exec-produced the narration for the Emmy-winning HBO documentary, An Apology to Elephants. In 2019, Lincoln Center honored Wagner and Tomlin with a retrospective of their careers, Two Free Women. Together they founded the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center. In 2020, Wagner was honored with the prestigious Lambda Literary Visionary Award, for her “innovative and barrier-breaking work.” Wagner’s continuing career in writing, drawing, art, text, photos and videos can be found at lilytomlin.com. On New Year’s Eve 2013, she married her long-time partner, Lily Tomlin. 

MARY HAMRICK (Scenic Co-Design, she/her)New York credits include The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (co-design with Christine Jones at The Shed), One Thrilling Combination (The Public Theater, dir. Ted Sperling); Leisure, Labor, Lust (HERE); and Portals (Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre). Regional credits include Other World (World premiere at Delaware Theatre Company, dir. Adrienne Campbell-Holt), Oh Hello tour (dir. Alex Timbers) and Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers (Blank Theatre Co.). Hamrick has worked as  an associate on many Broadway productions including King Kong, The Cher Show, Rocky, Macbeth, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

CHRISTINE JONES (Scenic Co-Design, she/her)Christinejonesworks.com. DESIGNER: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Tony and Olivier Awards for Scenic Design) American Idiot (Tony Award). Other Broadway, Off-Broadway, and West End Scenic Design credits include: Spring Awakening (Tony Nomination), Macbeth, Birthday Candles, The Cher Show, Cyrano, Let the Right One In, and Burn This. Additional shows at The Public, The Signature Theatre, Second Stage, New York Theatre Workshop, and more. Renovation and Design of The Lyric Theatre with Brett Banakis. Opera: Rigoletto, La Traviata (The Metropolitan Opera). Obie Award for Sustained Excellence. DIRECTOR: Queen of the Night, The Paramount Hotel, (Drama Desk for Best Unique Experience), SOCIAL! the social distance dance club conceived and co-directed with Steven Hoggett and David Byrne, for The Park Avenue Armory (Time Out’s Best Event of 2021). ARTIST: Creator and Artistic Director of Theatre for One, a portable private performing arts space designed with LOT-EK Architects and a digital platform designed by OpenEndedGroup. Chorus of Us, a video piece included in Park Avenue Armory’s online celebration 100 Years, 100 Women. Curator, Kid A mnesia an upside-down digital/analogue universe created from original artwork and recordings by Radiohead.  

ANITA YAVICH (Costume Design, she/her) Anita Yavich designed costumes for Broadway for Fool for Love, Venus in Fur, Chinglish, and Anna in the Tropics. Her New York design credits include The Life at Encores, Soft Power, Oedipus El Rey at the Public; The Mother at the Atlantic Theater Company, The View UpStairs at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre, Nathan the Wise, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Orlando, Venus in Fur, New Jerusalem and Texts for Nothing at Classic Stage; Thom Pain, Big Love, Kung Fu, Golden Child, and Iphigenia 2.0 at Signature Theatre; The Oldest Boy at Lincoln Center Theater; The Explorer’s Club at Manhattan Theatre Club; The Legend of Georgia McBride, The Submission, Coraline the Musical, The Wooden Breeks at MCC. Opera credits: Cyrano De Bergerac at La Scala and Metropolitan Opera; Les Troyens at The Metropolitan Opera. Current projects: Der Ring des Nibelungen at Opera Australia, Brisbane; Lempicka at La Jolla Playhouse. She has received Obie, Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk Awards, and the Irene Shariff Young Master Award.

LAP CHI CHU (Lighting Design) He has designed regionally for the Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Contemporary Theater, Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Arena Stage, Dallas Theater Center, and the Alley Theater. His New York design credits include The Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Signature Theatre, Second Stage Theatre, Performance Space 122, and Kitchen Theatre Company. His awards include the Obie for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design, the Lucile Lortel Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Angstrom Award for Career Achievement in Lighting Design, the Ovation Award, and multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards. He is a professor and the Head of Lighting Design at University of California, Los Angeles. lapchichu.com

JEFF GARDNER (Sound Design, he/him) Jeff is thrilled to be returning to the Mark Taper Forum after working with Phylicia Rashad on Blues for an Alabama Sky. A sound designer, foley artist, and actor based in Los Angeles, additional credits include In The Upper Room at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The Cake and Paradise Blue at the Geffen Playhouse; and Native Son at Kirk Douglas Theatre and Antaeus Theatre Company. He has also done work for the Wallis Annenberg Center, Pasadena Playhouse, A Noise Within, Circle X Theatre, Echo Theater Company, Rogue Machine, IAMA Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company DC, Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, Cleveland Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival as well as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Jeff can be seen at L.A. Theatre Works where he regularly performs live sound effects. jeffthomasgardner.net

ANDREA ALMOND (Composer, she/they) Select Theatre Credits: Off-Broadway: Gloria: A life. Los Angeles: A Walk In My Neighborhood, The 11:11.West Hollywood: Famous, Geffen Playhouse: The Door You Never Saw Before, Black Super Hero Magic Mama; (Associate Designer). Theatre Aspen: Gypsy. DCPA: Wild Fire. South Coast Rep: Once the Musical; (Associate Sound Designer). Dallas Theater Center: Public Works Dallas As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Public Works Dallas The Winter’s Tale. Touring: Something Rotten First National Tour (Assistant Audio). She received her MFA in Sound Design from the University of California Irvine. Along with Andrea’s design career, she is a Producer and DJ who makes music under  the alias Sherpa Slim.

JOSEPH WHITMEYER (Hairstylist and Wig Designer)) hails from central New York State. After a detour styling wigs for Walt Disney World, he returned as a hairstyl-ist on several Broadway shows including 42nd Street and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Joseph then began working in TV/film as a Key hairstylist on Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Normal Heart. He has been a member of the Saturday Night Live Hair Team for fourteen seasons, serving as a key for film units, and earning four Emmy Awards. He is also owner/operator of a wig design and rental company, Whitmeyer Wigs.

STEVE CUIFFO (Illusion Designer, he/him) Lucas Hnath’s Dana H. (Center Theatre Group/Broadway), The Thin Place (Playwrights Horizons) and A Public Reading...About The Death of Walt Disney (Soho Rep.); Geoff Sobelle’s Home and The Object Lesson (BAM); Elephant Room (Center Theatre Group); Antipodes, Old Hats (Signature Theatre); Lypsinka’s The Passion of the Crawford; Lenny Bruce at Carnegie Hall (St. Ann’s); North Atlantic & Brace Up! (The Wooster Group); Magic Director for David Blaine Live. Co-Founder of Secret Arts.

JUSTIN SCRIBNER (Production Stage Manager, he/him) is a stage manager, producer, playwright, poet, and self-care advocate. He has 20 years of experience stage managing plays and musicals on and Off-Broadway and around the country and is thrilled to be reunited with Leigh, Cecily, and the team for The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe after collaborating on the production last year at The Shed. Justin was most recently the Production Stage Manager of the Encores revival of Into the Woods on Broadway. Other Broadway stage managing credits include Once On This Island, The Crucible, Rock of Ages, A Chorus Line, RENT, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Lennon, Pacific Overtures, Jumpers, Little Shop of Horrors, and Nine. Justin is an Adjunct Professor for Columbia University’s MFA Stage Management program and the Producing Director of The Forest of Arden, devising immersive site-specific work using innovative technologies. His first collection of poetry and short stories, every grain of sand, was published in 2020.

MICHELLE BLAIR (Stage Manager, she/her) has enjoyed a long history of stage managing in Los Angeles and has worked extensively with Center Theatre Group on over thirty productions at their three theatres. Other favorites include A Christmas Carol First National Tour, The Pee-wee Herman Show at Club Nokia, A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters with Cornerstone Theater Company, Henry IV with Shakespeare Center Los Angeles, Jersey Boys in Las Vegas, and Eurydice and La Traviata with the Los Angeles Opera. Graduate of the University of Southern California and the University of Amsterdam. Mom to 14-year-old Liam and 10-year-old Imogen. For Susie Walsh. 

LORA K. POWELL (Stage Manager, she/her) Credits include national tours of Blithe Spirit (with Angela Lansbury) and Wicked, and the Los Angeles and San Francisco productions of An Act of God (with Sean Hayes). Broadway: Chicago, The Life, Annie Get Your Gun. Pantages Theatre: The Lion King, The Producers, Wicked.  Center Theatre Group: Amélie, Harmony, The Scottsboro Boys, Backbeat, Seminar, Follies and Bill Irwin’s On Beckett. La Jolla Playhouse: To the Yellow House, Here There Are Blueberries. Other credits: David Mamet’s The Christopher Boy’s Reunion, Parfumerie, Maurice Hines’ Tappin’ Thru Life, Satchmo at the Waldorf and Carrie the Killer Musical Experience. Ms. Powell is a faculty member at UC San Diego where she teaches stage  management in the department of Theatre & Dance. She is  excited to be making her Mark Taper Forum debut on this  production and grateful to be working with Center Theatre  Group once again.

SHAWNA VORAGEN (Stage Manager, she/her) is a Los Angeles based stage manager and member of Actors’ Equity. Select stage management credits include: King Lear, Witness Uganda, A Christmas Carol, UNMASKED: A Theatrical Celebration of Black Women’s Liberation (The Wallis); Paradise Blue (Geffen Playhouse); Medusa: The Musical, The Window [Staged Reading] (Deaf West Theatre); If I Forget, Citizen: An American Lyric, In The Red And Brown Water, The Brothers Size, The Ballad of Emmett Till (Digital Remount), Reborning (Fountain Theatre); 33 Variations, A Body of Water, Steel Magnolias (Actors Co-Op); Hocus Pocus: A Musical Cocktail Experience, A Christmas Carol Cocktail Spectacular (After Hours Theatre Company); Next to Normal (Triage Productions); and the acclaimed remount of Citizen: An American Lyric as part of Center Theatre Group’s inaugural Block Party. Thank you for supporting live theatre!

BILL DAMASCHKE (Producer) is the producer of the Broadway musical Moulin Rouge! The Musical which won 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Previously, Bill produced the Tony Award nominated Broadway musical The Prom and Netflix/Ryan Murphy film of The Prom. His other credits include being the co-producer of the Tony Award-winning Best Plays, The Ferryman and The Lehman Trilogy.  Bill spent 20 years at DreamWorks Animation, where he led the creative and operational direction of the  company. In his tenure, he oversaw the release of some of the company’s major films, including Shrek and Kung Fu Panda and the Broadway production of the award-winning Shrek The Musical. He continues his work in live theatre through his theatrical production company, StoryKey Entertainment.

LORNE MICHAELS (Producer) is a writer and producer best known as the creator and executive producer of Saturday Night Live. On stage, he made his Broadway debut in 1979 directing Gilda Radner–Live from New York, produced the Tony Award-nominated musical Mean Girls, and produces 2022’s Leopoldstadt. Additional credits include TV’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and 30 Rock and feature films Three Amigos, Wayne’s World, Tommy Boy, and Mean Girls. Honors include 20 Emmy Awards, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, an individual Peabody Award, the  Order of Canada, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Kennedy Centers Honors.

THE SHED (Original Producing Theatre) is a new cultural insti-tution of and for the 21st century that produces and welcomes innovative art and ideas, across all forms of creativity, to build a shared understanding of our rapidly changing world and a more equitable society. In its highly-adaptable building on Manhattan’s west side, The Shed brings together established and emerging artists to create new work in fields ranging from pop to classi-cal music, painting to digital media, theatre to literature, and sculpture to dance. The organization seeks opportunities to col-laborate with cultural peers and community organizations, work with like-minded partners, and provide unique spaces for private events. As an independent nonprofit that values invention, equity, and generosity, The Shed is committed to advancing art forms, addressing the urgent issues of our time, and making its work impactful, sustainable, and relevant to the local community, the cultural sector, New York City, and beyond.

LUIS ALFARO (Associate Artistic Director, he/him/his) is pleased to return to Center Theatre Group after 17 years. A Chicano playwright born and raised in downtown Los Angeles, he has received fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; United States Artists; Ford Foundation Art of Change; Joyce Foundation; Mellon Foundation and is the recipient of the PEN America/Laura Pels International Foundation Theater Award for a Master Dramatist. He was the inaugural Playwright-in-Residence for six seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2013-2019); Playwright’s Ensemble at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre (2013-2020); Inaugural Latinx Playwrights at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (2021); and Ojai Playwrights Conference member since 2002. His plays include Electricidad, Oedipus El Rey, and Mojada, which have been seen at regional theatres throughout the United States and Europe. Luis spent two decades in the Los Angeles Poetry and Performance Art communities. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California (USC).

KELLEY KIRKPATRICK (Associate Artistic Director, he/him/his). Since his arrival at CTG in 2005, Kelley has produced over 100 productions, readings, and workshops, many of which have gone on to Broadway, Off-Broadway, and beyond. He has collaborated with celebrated artists including David Henry Hwang, Phylicia Rashaad, Ruben Santiago Hudson, Michael Friedman, Culture Clash, Lucas Hnath, Roger Guenveur Smith, Les Waters, Leigh Silverman, Lauren Yee, and Danai Gurira.

MEGHAN PRESSMAN (Managing Director/CEO) joined Center Theatre Group in 2019. Previously, she served as Managing Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (D.C.), Director of Development for Signature Theatre (N.Y.), and Associate Managing Director of Berkeley Rep. She is a graduate of Yale School of Drama/Yale School of Management, and serves as a mentor in the Theater Management program. Meghan has served as the Vice-Chair for the Theatre Communications Group Board of Directors, and is a member of the Broadway League.

DOUGLAS C. BAKER (Producing Director) joined Center Theatre Group in 1990. Doug is an active member of the Broadway League, the Independent Presenters Network (IPN), and is a proud member of the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers (ATPAM). In 2013, Doug received the Broadway League’s prestigious Outstanding Achievement in Presenter Management Award.

NAUSICA STERGIOU (General Manager) has worked supporting artists in theatres of all shapes, sizes, and locales including Center Theatre Group as General Manager and, previ-ously, as Audience Development Director. She oversees productions at the Taper and Douglas, as well as new play commissions and developmental productions. Nausica has taught Marketing and Management at USC’s School of Dramatic Arts and works with local nonprofits including Hollywood Orchard. BA Cornell University. MFA. Yale School of Drama.

GORDON DAVIDSON (Founding Artistic Director) led the Taper throughout its first 38 seasons, guiding over 300 productions to its stage and winning countless awards for himself and the theatre—including the Tony Award for theatrical excellence, Margo Jones Award, The Governor’s Award for the Arts, and a Guggenheim fellowship. The Kentucky Cycle and Angels in America (Part One) won the Pulitzer in consecutive years and, in 1994, three of the four plays nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play were from the Taper (Angels in America won). In 1989, Gordon took over the Ahmanson and, in 2004, he produced the inaugural season in the Kirk Douglas Theatre.