JudyLee Oliva  Book, Lyrics, Music - As any artist can attest, art takes time. Chickasaw playwright JudyLee Oliva, a prolific writer, has taken more than a decade to resurrect the legacy of Native storyteller Te Ata Fisher, one of Oklahoma’s most intriguing historical figures. And for a good reason.

Over the past 10 years, Oliva has been busy debuting more than a dozen of her own original plays and scripts to audiences across the United States. Nearly all of them have received awards and critical acclaim.

In 1999, her play On the Showroom Floor took second place at the James H. Wilson Playwriting Competition at the Deep South Writers Conference in Louisiana. After several readings and more competitions, it won first place three years later at the National Writers Association in the Play Division.

Oliva’s play 99¢ Dreams won the Women Playwrights Initiative Competition in 2004 in Orlando, Fla., after winning the Five Civilized Tribes’ Allece Garrard Best Play prize two years prior in Oklahoma.

Oliva has won multiple awards for other originals. Her play Mark of the Feather was published in 2001 by Alliance Press at Ohio State University. Lamia Ink Magazine published Pasture in 1999, the same year the play debuted at their ninth annual International Play Fest in New York City.

In October 2000, Te Ata was named the winner of the Five Civilized Tribes Best American Indian Musical Play. Oliva was awarded $10,000 cash for the prize – in gold krugerrands and silver coins – and this year, Oliva received a grant from the Chickasaw Nation to bring the world premiere to life. The play also is scheduled for publication in an anthology of Native women’s plays by the University of Michigan Press.

Last year, the Chickasaw Nation hailed Oliva as one of the “Dynamic Chickasaw Women of 2005.”

An author of two books and multiple articles about theatre, Oliva has worked in professional theater as well as regional and academic theater for 20 years. She holds an MFA in directing from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. in theater and drama from Northwestern University in Chicago. She enjoys conducting playwriting workshops while developing her own work and has served as artist-in-residence in a wide variety of settings.

Oliva is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Native Writers Circle of the Americas and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Native Women Playwrights Archive.  (video)

Sherry Landrum  Theatrical Director - Sherry Landrum is Artistic Director of the Chattanooga State Repertory Theatre and the Professional Actor Training Program at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Chattanooga, Tenn., where she has directed The Boy Friend, Cinderella, Working, Moonchildren and The Last Train to Nibroc, among others. She has won three Best Director awards, two from the Los Angeles Drama Critics and one from the Tennessee Theatre Association. Off-Broadway, Sherry has directed Rosemary Leaves, written by husband Rex Knowles, Cheatin’ written by Del Shores and Luck of the Draw, an improvisational musical form she created and developed. Regionally, she has directed at the Oxford Shakespeare Festival in Mississippi, American Heartland Theatre in Kansas City, the Pioneer Square Theatre in Seattle, Stephens College in Columbia Missouri, the Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville, Tenn., and the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. She directed the premieres of Del Shore’s first plays, Cheatin’ and Daddy’s Dyin’ - Who’s Got the Will? She co-founded, directs and performs with the award-winning improv comedy group Chattanoodle. While living in Los Angeles, Sherry appeared in numerous commercials, movies and television shows, including hosting her own show on CBS. Sherry has written two musicals with George S. Clinton. Smoky Mountain Suite was presented in Los Angeles, Crossville and New York and aired on PBS and the Gene Autry Radio Theatre.

A workshop production of That Other Woman’s Child ran for six months in Los Angeles and was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times as a show that “successfully weds country music with the American Musical Theatre.” That Other Woman’s Child was presented at the Chattanooga State Repertory Theatre, and local critic Ruth Cartlidge wrote: “…the most original piece of musical theatre to hit Tennessee stages in a very long time. That Other Woman’s Child is an auspicious debut for Landrum and partner Rex Knowles’ new professional theatre at Chatt. State. Don’t miss this show. It’s beautifully staged, well performed and a great time.” For 10 years, Sherry served on the faculty of the New Actors Workshop,     a two-year professional actor training program founded by George Morrison, Mike Nichols and Paul Sills) where she taught acting technique and improvisation and chaired the master’s degree program. Sherry holds a master’s degree in theatre arts from Antioch University and is a member of SSDC, AEA, SAG, AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild. She is the proud parent of two daughters (and two actors!), Canedy and Jessie.  (video)

Elizabeth “Liz” Ruiz-Miller  Assistant to the Art Director - Serves as the assistant to the   Art Director. The 22-year-old Comanche student is a junior at Cameron University in Lawton, where she is concentrating on theatre performance. A former USAO student, she appeared in university productions of The Vagina Monologues, Musical Revue and Many Faces of Comedy.

Mike Buchwald  Costume Designer - Mike Buchwald is professor of costume design and head of OU School of Drama’s Design Area. During his tenure at OU, Mike has been recognized with the Regents’ Award for Superior Teaching, the Associates’ Lecturer of Excellence Award and as the Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence. As Resident Costume Designer for the School of Drama and University Theatre, he has designed over 300 plays, musicals, operas and ballets for OU productions. His extensive body of work as a Guest Designer for commercial theatre, television and film has kept him in demand as a design consultant for several other universities including Yale University, the University of Arkansas and Abilene Christian University. Buchwald’s body of theatrical knowledge not only includes costume and makeup design for stage and screen, but he also is an accomplished director with numerous credits in academic and professional theatre. In addition to the fourteen productions he has directed while at OU, he served for several seasons as Artistic Director of the Southwest Repertory Theatre in Santa Fe, N.M.

Annmarie Duggan  Lighting Designer - Annmarie Duggan has recently completed a sabbatical replacement professorship at the University of California, Fresno were she taught lighting design and stage management. Recent design credits include Animal Cracker, for the Skylight Opera, Milwaukee, Wisc., Beauty and The Beast for Seaside Music Theatre, Daytona Beach, Fla., the York Theater production of Captain Louie in New York City and The American Girls Revue, The American Girl Theatre, Chicago, Ill. Annmarie designed lights for the world premiere of Sherry Landrum and George S. Clinton’s bluegrass musical That Other Woman’s Child. Her work has been seen in theatres around the country, including Coconut Grove Playhouse, Worcester Foothills Theatre, Cumberland County Playhouse, The New Victory, Invisible Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, Little Theatre on the Square, Florida Studio Theatre, Northern Stage, Hampton Playhouse, Circa21 Playhouse, Music Theatre North, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, Century Center, Carousel Theatre Stoneham Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre and New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts. Annmarie resides in New York City with her daughter Hunter.  (video)

Jay Vosk  Music / Arrangements - Jay Vosk has written more than 100 works including instrumental chamber music, as well as orchestral, band and choral compositions. In addition, he has written works for dance and theater. He has earned a dozen awards and commissions and has collaborated with various artists in dance and theatre. His work has been performed across the United States and Europe. His most ambitious work for theater to date is Te Ata, in collaboration with playwright JudyLee Oliva. Since 1981, Vosk has been a music instructor at Pima College in Tucson, Ariz. At Pima, he has taught music theory, music history and courses on popular music in America as well as courses on Jewish music at the University of Arizona. Vosk was born in New York City in 1948. He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Composition with a minor in saxophone from the Eastman School of Music in 1971. He earned his Master’s of Music degree from the University of Michigan in 1973.

Robert Cothran   Scene Designer - Robert Cothran has enjoyed a career as a scene designer that extends over 55 years and more than 200 productions shown in theatres ranging from the East Coast to the West Coast and from Puerto Rico to Canada. He has worked with notable directors Michael Kidd (Room Service, Eisenhower Theatre, Kennedy Center, 1983), Joshua Logan (Rip Van Winkle, Opera House, Kennedy Center, 1984) and many others. He designed the original workshop production of Ralph Allen’s Sugar Babies (then called New Magestic Follies; Clarence Brown Theatre, 1976) and Allen’s Honkeytonk Nights on Broadway. Besides Te Ata, Cothran’s work includes two other world premiere productions. In addition to designing more than 70 productions at the Clarence Brown Theatre in Knoxville, where he was resident designer for 25 years, Robert also has designed sets for theatres in Buffalo, Pittsburg, Washington D.C., Richmond and many others. Robert studied stage design at Yale Drama School, under Donald Oenslager, Frank Bevan and Stanley McCandless. He is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. Throughout his career he has also done work in graphic design and, in more recent years, in printmaking and mural painting. His lithographs are in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress, The Smithsonian Institute, the Ammon Carter Museum, the University of Tennessee and other public and private collections.  (video)

Beth Shumway  Choreography - Beth Shumway has spent her life dancing. With a master’s degree in theatre from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., she has spent much of her professional career as a choreographer, teaching others about the history, myths and art of cultural and modern dance. The Oklahoma City native began teaching modern dance in 1970 at St. Mary’s College of Maryland while also performing with the Louis Tupler Dance Company of Washington, D.C. Beth went on to found and direct Prairie Dance Theatre for 25 years. A non-profit performing modern dance company, PDT toured a 10-state region performing thousands of concerts and children’s shows. The most popular children’s shows she developed were based on treatments by the late Dr. Howard Meredith of USAO and were designed to teach children about different American Indian tribes. The Oklahoma State Department of Education and the Oklahoma Arts Council chose Beth to be one of the first “Movement Specialists” of dance in Oklahoma schools. Along with many residencies in Oklahoma communities, she also taught part-time at Casady and Heritage Hall High School as well as the University of Central Oklahoma.

Christy Stanlake  Dramaturge/Historian - Christy Stanlake is a Native American theatre scholar who holds a doctorate from Ohio State University in theatre history, literature and criticism, and a Master of Arts in theatre from the University of Oklahoma. Her research in Native American theatre has been published in sources such as Modern Drama, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism and the Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance. Currently, Christy is an assistant professor at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where she runs the Navy Theatre program and teaches courses in English and dramatic literature.  (video)

Rhenada Finch  Musical Director - Rhenada Finch is a recent graduate of the University of Science and Arts with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music. She has extensive accompanyment experience and has served as a music department accompanist for four years. She enjoys ensemble work and loved playing keyboard for the USAO Showband while a student. Rhenada has worked with the Chickasha Community Theatre as music director/accompanist on two productions, A 10-Year Review and The Secret Garden. Rhenada and her husband of 27 years have three grown children. They live on a farm 40 miles southeast of Chickasha - in the middle of nowhere! She enjoys the country life - working with cattle, hay and farm activity.

Annica Canady Flute, Music Ensemble - A recent graduate of USAO, Annica Canady was a member of the university’s Wind Ensemble, Concert Choir and Student Woodwind Trio, to name a few. In 2003, she was one of four oboists selected for the entire state to play in the Oklahoma All-Collegiate Band, which is composed of university and college band members from across the state. Canady plays traditional flute in the Te Ata music ensemble.

Thom Proctor Percussion, Music Ensemble - a recent graduate of USAO, Thom Procter has been heard singing and performing various instruments including guitar, bassoon and piano in various choral groups and music ensembles. An accomplished composer, Proctor earned a bachelors degree in music this year and has performed with the OMEA Honor Band since 2004.

Jehnean Washington Flute - Jehnean Washington, of the Shoshone, Yuchi, Seminole and Cherokee nations, is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. She has performed as an actress, singer, dancer, storyteller, voice over artist, musician and songwriter within the venues of film, TV, radio, and theater. She is the current assistant director and a performer with the American Indian national touring company Mahenwahdose Productions. Jehnean has been inducted into the Oklahoma historical society’s American Indian comedy hall of fame and is a recognized performer and storytelling artist with the Smithsonian’s NMAI. She recently released a storytelling CD entitled, “Oniyah! The Tellers of Tales.” Jehnean is the owner of the independent record label JEHDAY Music, which is a rostered artist on 27 different arts councils across the nation and is a featured musical artist on CDBaby.com.

Rex Knowles  Consulting Producer - Rex Knowles is Executive Director of the Chattanooga State Repertory Theatre and the Professional Actor Training Program at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The training program is modeled after the New Actors Workshop in New York City founded by George Morrison, Mike Nichols and Paul Sills where Rex served on the full-time faculty and administered the program for ten years. As a theatrical producer, his productions have won more than 30 Los Angeles Drama Critic’s awards. His productions have included the premieres of Del Shores’ Cheatin’ and Daddy’s Dyin’ – Who’s Got the Will? and Sherry Landrum and George S. Clinton’s Smoky Mountain Suite, as well as their critically acclaimed bluegrass musical That Other Woman’s Child.

As an actor, Rex has appeared in numerous commercials, movies, stage productions and television shows (including the classics, “M*A*S*H,” “Starsky & Hutch,” and “The Dukes of Hazzard”). He co-founded and performs with the award-winning improv comedy group Chattanoodle. Rex has written for the game shows “Jackpot,” “The New $25,000 Pyramid,” “Top Card” and “Academic Bowl” and was associate producer on ABC’s “Double Talk.” Rex is the author of the play Rosemary Leaves, presented in New York and directed by his wife, Sherry Landrum. Rex’s comedy, The Night Reginald Filbert Called It Quits, was chosen as Grand Prize winner in the Festival of New Works at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre in spring 2006. He wrote and collaborated on music and lyrics for the musical comedy The Nutcracker Christmas Carol which premiered at the Chattanooga State Repertory Theatre. He has authored several screenplays and recently finished his first novel. Rex holds a Master’s Degree in Theology and the Arts from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He is a proud member of AEA, SAG, AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild and a proud parent of two daughters, Canedy and Jessie.  (video)

Garry Lee Posey  Stage Manager -  Garry Posey is familiar with all things theatre with more than two dozen stage directing and production credits. Garry holds an master’s in directing from the University of Mississippi and a bachelor’s in theatre from Catawva College in Saliasbury, N.C. He has directed several shows for the Chattanooga Youth Theatre in Tennessee, as well as the Mac-Haydn Summer Theatre in New York. In 2003, Garry received the Leighton F. Ballew M.F.A. Directing Award from the Southeastern Theatre Conference. He has received multiple theatre-related scholarships and has been a member of several college honors programs. In addition to stage production, Garry has experience with costume and scene design, playwrighting and theatre administration.

Shannan Osborn  Assistant Stage Manager -  Shannan Osborn graduated from USAO this spring. Her bachelor’s degree focused on two fields – theatre and vocal music performance. Shannon is acclimated to the stage. She directed and produced the controversial hit The Vagina Monologues and has served as a stagehand, stage manager and costume designer, among other roles, behind the scenes of several school performances. But not all of her experience has been backstage. Over the past five years, she has starred in multiple school productions, including Pippin, Vanities and Sing Me a Story, a musical review where she starred as Galinda, in the Broadway hit Wicked. She played roles in student productions of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and Syntax, as well as several other university productions. She is a member of the Comanche tribe, and will attend graduate school at Kansas State University to pursue a master’s degree in theatre.