PROFILE WITH ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AUGUST VIVERITO - CLICK HERE
2008 OVATION INTERVIEW WITH THE ARTISTIC DIRECTORS - CLICK HERE
AUGUST VIVERITO (Founding Artistic Director)
Prior to forming 'The Production Company', Mr. Viverito served as the Artistic Director for the long-lived Attic Theatre Ensemble creating a renaissance within that company after a period of struggle. He has also served on the Executive Board of The Knightsbridge Theatre and was founder of The McCormick House Theatre back on the East Coast. He is currently serving as Communications Manager for the venerable West Coast Ensemble. For the Attic, Mr. Vivirito directed hit productions of the World Premiere of Richard Hirschs Peripheral Vision, Backstage West "Critic's Pick" The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, and Studz Terkel/Stephen Schwartz/Nina Fasos Musical Masterpiece Working. He has directed for other stages productions of The Rainmaker, Beautiful Bodies, Little Women, Godspell, Our Town, Jesus Christ, Superstar and many others including numerous original works. As a stage performer, he has appeared in leading roles in many acclaimed productions including Assassins, Blood Brothers, Pippin, Merrily We Roll Along and Sweet Charity.
T L KOLMAN (Co-Founder, Associate Artistic Director)
T L Kolman is a critically acclaimed actor/director/producer. Directing credits include The Shadow Box (One of the Top Ten Plays of 2004 – Reviewplays.com), Agnes of God, and Ordinary People. He has produced numerous productions including the world premiere of Nicholas Nickleby, Dancing at Lughnasa, Working and The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. As an actor his recent stage appearances include the world premiere of Buddies at Celebration Theatre, Sunday in the Park With George (Ovation Nomination ‘Best Musical’), Insurrection: Holding History, Medea, The Elephant Man, Love! Valour! Compassion! and Nicholas Nickleby. Film and television roles include A Day of Rest, Temptation, Contact, Mixed Nuts, Star Trek: Enterprise, Melrose Place, Picket Fences and Murphy Brown. Mr. Kolman can be heard as the singing vocals of "Ratha Sam" on the CD recording of Cambodia: The Musical.
SKIP PIPO (Associate Artistic Director - Membership)
Skip has had the good fortune to work with an earlier iteration of The Production Company in the critically acclaimed Nicholas Nickleby and is privileged to have been asked to be a part of its now official creation. He has appeared on stage in LA at The Attic Theater ( The Chalk Circle), Stella Adler (Queen of Sheba and A Credit to His Race, both for Unity Players Ensemble), The Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry West ( Party of 13, the theater's inaugural production), Hollywood Rep. (GB Shaw's St. Joan), and various other locales. Skip also appears in film, television, and commercial projects including the recently wrapped Poker Run, which might, just might, get distribution of some kind
ALLYSON RYAN (Managing Director - Members Forum)
Allyson is a native New Yorker who spent ten years in tiny black box theatres learning the ropes. She was one of the founding members of the NYC based theatre company, BrainBalm, where she directed numerous shows and served as location manager. You can currently see Allyson in a Duracell commercial frantically searching for her child, Kevin. She is continually amazed by the support of the people in her life and cannot thank them enough.
RICHARD MARTIN HIRSCH (Playwright-in-Residence)
Richard Martin Hirsch has written over two dozen plays for the stage. His work has received staged readings and/or productions in New York City (Abingdon Theatre, Access Theatre, Emerging Artists Theatre, and Reverie Productions), Boston (Boston Theatre Works), Spokane (Spokane Civic Theatre), as well as numerous theatres in and around Los Angeles including Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Blank Theatre, Pacific Resident Theatre, Company of Angels, The Met Theatre, Theatre 40, Moving Arts, and the Vox Humana Theatre Company. In April, 2006 his full length drama, The Quality of Light, received a critically acclaimed full production at the Long Beach Playhouse and was named a Critics Choice in the Los Angeles Times, Backstage West, and LA Weekly Newspapers and resulted in Richard being nominated for an OVATION AWARD for Best World Premiere Play. In February, 2007, his full length drama, Atonement, had its World Premiere at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, California and was named a Critic’s Pick and “Pick of the Week” by LA Weekly. And his new play, The Monkey Jar, will have its World Premiere at Theatre 40 in February, 2008.
Richard is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre (LA) Playwrights’ Unit, as well as the Theatre 40 Professional Resident Theatre Company, the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights, The Playwrights Center, and the Dramatists Guild. He is very proud and excited to be a part of The Production Company’s inaugural season and to serve as its Playwright-in-Residence.
GREGORY BLAIR (Co-Founder)
Gregory has been active in the arts for many years. As a playwright, Mr. Blair has seen two of his shorter plays produced: A Day at the Beach with Me & My Wife debuted at First Stage and The Last Banana in a run at the Adam Hill Theater, with Drama-Logue gleefully declaring it "zany fun". As a screenwriter, he has optioned several scripts and placed in multiple competitions, including the esteemed Academy Foundation's Nicholl Fellowships. As a novelist, his outrageous comedy Spewing Pulp (now available at amazon.com) has been honored with three Stonewall Society nominations. Finally, as an actor, Mr. Blair has graced the stage in many productions, including Sylvia, Working, and, Molieres Scapin. Having all that under his belt, he figured it was time to honor the words of Mel Brooks and be a producer. With the formation of The Production Company, that has gloriously come to fruition.