GREGORY BOYD – At the Alley he has directed Wonderland (premiere), The Gershwin’s An American in Paris (premiere), Jekyll & Hyde (premiere, and first national tour), Treasure Island (premiere), Cyrano de Bergerac, Hitchcock Blonde, Hapgood, The Pillowman, The Invention of Love, Rock n Roll, Three Sisters, In the Jungle of Cities, After the Fall, The Greeks, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, among others. Recent productions outside the Alley include Travesties (Sam Waterston, Tom Hewitt) at Long Wharf, Our Town (Hal Holbrook) at Hartford Stage, Design for Living (Marisa Tomei, Campbell Scott, Steven Weber) at Williamstown. He is co-author of The Civil War (Tony Nomination, Best Musical). During his tenure, the Alley has risen in national and international prominence, winning the Special Tony Award and experiencing record growth in its Houston audiences, while also transferring its productions to major European Festivals (including two in one season at the Venice Biennale), to Broadway, and on tour to 40 American cities. Boyd's addition of artistic associates such as Edward Albee, Robert Wilson, Frank Wildhorn, and Vanessa Redgrave and the late Corin Redgrave, and his commitment to maintaining a resident company of actors has made the Alley unique among American theater companies. 

At the Alley, Mr. Boyd has produced over 100 new productions of the widest ranging repertoire in the country, and his Alley premieres have been nominated for eight Tony Awards -among them the premieres of Not About Nightingales by Tennessee Williams (Alley, London, Broadway, director Trevor Nunn), Jekyll & Hyde, (Alley, National Tour, Broadway), The Civil War (which he also co-authored). New Alley productions have included: Shakespeare’s Roman Plays (with Vanessa and Corin Redgrave); Robert Wilson’s productions of Hamlet, When We Dead Awaken and Danton's Death (with Richard Thomas); Ellen Burstyn in O’Neill’s Long Day's Journey Into Night and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (Parts 1 & 2) both directed by Michael Wilson, David Cromer’s productions of The Farnsworth Invention, The Clean House, and Orson’s Shadow, and premieres by Rajiv Joseph (Gruesome Playground Injuries), Kenneth Lin (Intelligence-Slave), Keith Reddin (Synergy); Eve Ensler (Lemonade): and Alley Artistic Associates Edward Albee (The Play About the Baby), Horton Foote (The Carpetbagger's Children), Ken Ludwig (The Gershwins' An American in Paris, Leading Ladies) and Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, Wonderland, and The Civil War). In addition, Boyd directed the recordings of “The Civil War” and “Jekyll & Hyde” for Atlantic Records.

Boyd has served as Panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Massachusetts Council for the Arts. He has taught on the faculties of Carnegie-Mellon, Williams College, the University of Houston and the University of North Carolina, where he headed the Professional Theatre Training Program. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is a Distinguished Alumnus, and at Carnegie-Mellon.

FRANK WILDHORN - Multi-Grammy and Tony Award nominated composer/producer Frank Wildhorn's works span the worlds of popular, theatrical, and classical music.

In 1999, Wildhorn became the first American composer in 22 years to have three shows running simultaneously on Broadway: Jekyll & Hyde (written with Leslie Bricusse), which received four Tony nominations; The Scarlet Pimpernel (written with Nan Knighton), which received three Tony nominations; and The Civil War (written with Jack Murphy and Gregory Boyd), which received two Tony nominations.  He also wrote additional songs for Broadway's Victor/Victoria (written with Leslie Bricusse) and was represented on Broadway by Dracula: The Musical (written with Don Black and Christopher Hampton). Wildhorn was also a producer and co-creator for Harlem Song, the first open-ended theatrical run at the famed Apollo Theater in New York City.

Jekyll & Hyde holds the distinction of being the first new American musical to have two internationally released concept recordings of the score: Highlights From Jekyll & Hyde and Jekyll & Hyde: The Complete Work. Songs from the show such as "Someone Like You," "A New Life" and "This Is the Moment" have been performed worldwide and have been featured at the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Series, the World Cup international soccer championships, Miss America Pageants, the 1996 Democratic National Convention and the inauguration of President Clinton (sung by Jennifer Holliday). The Broadway cast recording was released in July of 1997 and received a Grammy nomination that year. The Broadway production of Jekyll & Hyde is the longest running show in the history of the Plymouth Theater. The show has seen three major tours and over 500 regional productions in the United States and Canada. More than 100 international productions also have been seen in such countries as Germany, Austria, Spain, Hungary, Japan, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdon, Japan, and Australia. There have been 32 international recordings of Jekyll & Hyde in 28 different languages.  A new recording entitled Jekyll & Hyde: Resurrection was released in 2006 on the GlobalVision Records label.

The Scarlet Pimpernel played at both the Minskoff Theatre and the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway. The show has been seen on two tours of the United States and Canada, and in such countries as Finland, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Malta. The show's score yielded a Top 40 Adult Contemporary hit with the song "You Are My Home," a duet recorded by Peabo Bryson and Linda Eder. The Broadway cast recording was released in February of 1998, and a new album entitled The Scarlet Pimpernel: Encore! was released in November 1999. A German-language recording was released in 2003. The Scarlet Pimpernel also has the distinction of winning Best Musical in Japan in 2007, performed by the famed Takarazuka Revue.

Wildhorn has produced two star-studded concept albums of The Civil War: The Nashville Sessions and The Complete Work (a two-disc album). These feature such artists as Hootie & The Blowfish, Blues Traveler, Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, Dr. John, and Patti LaBelle, among others. The show had its world premiere in 1998 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, TX, and played its pre-Broadway engagement at the Shubert Theatre in New Have, CT. Following its Broadway production in 1999, the show was seen on a two-year national tour that featured John Schneider, Larry Gatlin and BeBe Winans.  Under the title For the Glory, the show had a run at the newly restored  Majestic Theatre in Gettysburg, PA in 2006.  In 2008, The Civil War was performed at the National Theatre in Washington DC for President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, and featured a star-studded cast that included Trisha Yearwood, Clay Aiken, BeBe Winans, Larry Gaitlin, Hal Holbrook, Avery Brooks, Dr. Maya Angelou, and an ensemble of Broadway’s best.

International projects include: Carmen (written with Jack Murphy and Norman Allen) in Prague, Czech Republic in 2008 (cast recording on EMI Czech Republic); The Count of Monte Cristo (written with Jack Murphy) in St. Gallen, Switzerland in 2009 (cast recording on MWB/HitSquad) and Seoul, South Korea in 2010 (cast recording from EMK Musical Company); Never Say Goodbye (written with Shuichiro Koike), performed by Takarazuka Revue in Takarazuka and Tokyo, Japan in 2006 (Wildhorn was the first non-Japanese artist to be commissioned to write an original musical for the company), the success of which resulted in their follow up with The Scarlet Pimpernel in 2010 (cast recordings for both productions from Takarazuka Revue Co.); Rudolf: The Last Kiss (written with Jack Murphy and Nan Knighton) in Budapest, Hungary in 2006, Tokyo, Japan in 2008, and Vienna, Austria in 2009 (cast recording on MWB/HitSquad); Cyrano de Bergerac (written with Leslie Bricusse) in Tokyo, Japan in 2009; Dracula in St. Gallen, Switzerland in 2005 and Graz, Austria in 2007 (cast recording on MWB/HitSquad); Mitsuko (written with Jack Murphy and Shuichiro Koike) as a musical concert in Vienna in 2005, and performed in a combined concert with Frank Wildhorn & Friends in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan in 2010; Tears of Heaven (written with Robin Lerner and Phoebe Hwang) opens in Seoul, South Korea in 2011 and will yield a concept recording in English; Jekyll & Hyde everywhere!

U.S. projects include: Bonnie & Clyde (written with Don Black and Ivan Menchell) played at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, CA in November 2009 and will have a second production at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, FL in November 2010; Wonderland (written with Gregory Boyd and Jack Murphy)had its world premiere at the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, FL from November 2009 to January 2010, ran at the Alley Theatre in Houston, TX from January to February 2010, and opens on Broadway in 2011; Zelda (written with Jack Murphy), based on the lives of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, had its world premiere at the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in Marlton, NJ in 2005; Camille Claudel (written with Nan Knighton) played at Goodspeed Opera's Norma Terris Theatre in 2003 and yielded the song "Gold," heard at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 1998, Wildhorn wrote all original music and served as music director for the Goodwill Games in New York City.  In 2005, Wildhorn was commissioned by NYC & Co. (New York City’s tourism board) to write a new theme song for the city, “New York: The Time of Your Life”.

He has written original material for Linda Eder's concerts at the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, her two Carnegie Hall solo concerts and her recent holiday concert at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. He also co-produced and wrote original material for Eder's albums: Linda Eder, And So Much More, It's Time, It's No Secret Anymore, Christmas Stays the Same, Gold, Broadway My Way and Storybook. He has also produced Eder's Christmas concert special for the Bravo television network, as well as Broadway's Best on Bravo, for which he also served as creative director.

Artists who have recorded and performed his music include Whitney Houston (with the international number one hit "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?"), Natalie Cole, Kenny Rogers, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli, Julie Andrews, Freddie Jackson, Deana Carter, Tracy Lawrence, John Berry, Trisha Yearwood, Trace Adkins, Patti LaBelle, Bryan White, Amy Grant, Ben Vereen, Regina Belle, The Moody Blues, Jeffrey Osborne, Stacy Lattisaw, Dennis DeYoung, Molly Hatchet, Brenda Russell, John Raitt, Anthony Warlow, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Mathis, and Colm Wilkinson, to name a few.

Wildhorn is an associate artist in musical theatre with an endowed chair at the Alley Theatre in Houston, TX, where he launched Jekyll & Hyde (1990), Svengali (1991), and The Civil War (1998). He also wrote music for Arthur Kopit's play The Road to Nirvana and scored the play Cyrano de Bergerac.

Wildhorn is the recipient of the Charles Dickens Award from USC, where there is also a scholarship under his name.  He was honored by USC in 2010 with the prestigious Tommy Award.

As a record executive, Wildhorn created and ran Atlantic Theatre, a division of Atlantic Records/Time Warner Music from 1994 to 2004.  He currently has his own label deal (Soul Bear Records) with Sony Masterworks (a division of Sony Music).  The first release of this new venture was the concept recording of the forthcoming Broadway musical Wonderland.  He also has an international recording partnership, MWB (Music Without Borders), with his partner Martin Bohm’s company MG-Sound/HitSquad Records in Vienna.  Recent releases from that partnership include The Count of Monte Cristo (the first concept recording in English of a German production and a cast recording in German), Dracula (cast recording), Rudolf (cast recording, DVD, and double-CD live recording), and Wonderland (concept recording).

Upcoming projects include: Havana, Casanova, Excalibur, Mata Hari, Ali, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

MARGUERITE DERRICKS - (Choreographer) choreography has enhanced hundreds of films, television programs, commercials, music videos, and stage productions. She recently choreographed the feature film, Fame. Derricks received the prestigious Emmy Award for three consecutive years.  Her first was for the long running television series, “3rd Rock From the Sun.”  She won her second Emmy Award for “Fame LA”and a third for “The 1998 Goodwill Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies.”  Her films include Little Miss Sunshine, Spiderman 3, Donnie Darko, Charlie’s Angels, the Austin Powers trilogy and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, earning her MTV Movie Awards and American Choreography Awards nominations.  Her television credits include “The 58th Emmy Awards,” numerous “MTV Awards” and “Fashion Rocks” telecasts, “That 70’s Show”(American Choreography Award nominee) and “CSI Miami.”  Also in demand for commercials, Derricks has created memorable ad campaigns include “Old Navy,”“GAP,”“Pepsi” and “Jack in the Box.” Derricks’ choreography can be seen in Cirque Du Soleil’s Zumanity, now in its 8th sold-out year at the New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas.  Most recently, Derricks won the Astaire Award for Choreography of a Fictional Film Fame. She also recently completed choreography on a new Ivan Reitman film, currently untitled but once called Friends With Benefits, starring Natalie Portman, Kevin Kline and Ashton Kutcher.

JUDY LISI (Producer, the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Producer) is the president of the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, which she joined on Oct. 1, 1992.  She previously served as executive director of the prestigious Shubert Performing Arts Center in New Haven, CT.  Prior to her work at the Shubert, Lisi served from 1979-1984 as artistic director of the Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Bridgeport, CT.  As the executive producer of all Straz Center productions, she has produced many highly successful shows, including Florida’s longest-running musical, Forever Plaid, which went on to tour the state. She served as executive producer on Wonderland: A New Alice.  A New Musical Adventure, which had its world premiere at the Straz Center in Dec. 2009.  Other successes include the grand opera that Lisi brought to the Straz Center, from the first production, Madama Butterfly, in 1996 to the world premiere of Anton Coppola’s highly dramatic Sacco & Vanzetti in 2001 to the most recent productions of Lucia di Lammermoor and La Rondine.  With a background in theater that includes performing as both a singer and an actress, Lisi has also directed more than 40 productions and written several shows including Waistwatchers: The Calorie Free Musical.  She holds a bachelor's degree from Sacred Heart University and a master's degree in theater and communication arts from St. Louis University.  Lisi has done doctoral course work in theater at the University of Minnesota and has studied opera at the Juilliard School of Music and with the Metropolitan Opera.  In January 2008, Lisi received the Patrick Hayes Award for lifetime achievement from the International Society for the Performing Arts.

WILLIAM FRANZBLAU (Producer/Executive Producer) was the Executive Producer/Producer of the 2003 Tony-nominated Best Play, Say Goodnight, Gracie and served as a co-Producer on Broadway’s American Buffalo starring John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer.  He served as Executive Producer of the Moscow Circus at the Gershwin Theatre, and co-produced the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Radio City Music Hall.  Mr. Franzblau founded Interfilm Inc., a publicly traded company combining interactive technologies with cinematic art, in which he produced three films.  He produced Disney's Virtual Reality Theme Park Attraction, Ride the Comix in Orlando and Chicago.  Off Broadway he produced Jewtopia and Evil Dead, the Musical.  He recently co-produced the North American tour of Little House on the Prairie, the Musical. 

Alley Theatre is one of the flagship American not for-profit professional theatres. Recipient of the Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, the Alley produces a wide ranging repertoire year-round on its two stages, with a Resident Company of artists, artisans and staff in its state of the art complex in downtown Houston. Under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean R. Gladden, the Alley has also brought its productions to 40 American cities, and to Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg and New York’s Lincoln Center, as well as to major European festivals (including two in one season at the Venice Biennale) and Broadway. Wonderland is the third Alley production on Broadway, following The Civil War (Tony Award nomination, Best Musical) and the newly discovered Tennessee Williams drama Not About Nightingales (Tony Award nomination, Best Play). Now in its 64th season, the Alley creates innovative productions of classics, neglected modern plays, and premieres. Notable productions include Jekyll & Hyde (premiere), Edward Albee’s The Play About the Baby, Marriage Play ( US premieres); Robert Wilson’s productions of Danton’s Death, When We Dead Awaken, and Hamlet; the epic ten-play The Greeks and Shakespeare’s The Roman Plays (with Vanessa Redgrave and the late Corin Redgrave), and premieres by Ken Ludwig (Treasure Island, The Gershwins’ An American in Paris) and Horton Foote, Eve Ensler, Keith Reddin, Herbert Siguenza, and  new work developed through the Alley’s New Play Initiative include Kenneth Lin’s Intelligence-Slave and two premieres by Alley Company artist Rajiv Joseph, Gruesome Playground Injuries, and The Medusa Body, which opens May 2011. For more information visit www.alleytheatre.org.