Brian Dykstra

Brian is an actor, playwright and HBO Def Poet. Previously at The Kitchen Theatre: Mr. Cutter in Clean Alternatives (Playwright - also NYC and Edinburgh), Elyot Chase in Private Lives, Max in A Play on Words (Playwright - also NYC), Don in Strangerhorse (playwright), Rex in A Marriage Minuet, Gus in Call Me Waldo, and two one-man shows, The Jesus Factor (Playwright, still available on DVD), and HO! (Playwright) ALL directed by Margarett Perry. Other plays directed by Ms. Perry include: First Prize, The Body Politic, Bobby Gould In Hell, and That Damn Dykstra: The Boxed Set (Playwright), Brian Dykstra: Cornered & Alone (Playwright.) Plays directed by someone OTHER than Ms. Perry include: Mark Rothko in RED (St. Louis Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and B Street Theatre), Walter in The Price (B Street Theatre) Trigorin in The Seagull (ART), Claudius in Hamlet (Northern Stage), Heisenberg in Copenhagen (Arizona Theatre Company), Eddie Carbone in A View From The Bridge (Theatre Fest), Gabe in Dinner With Friends (Philadelphia Theatre Company) and Sir Toby in Twelfth Night (Pittsburgh Public Theatre). TV & film: HBO’s “Def Poetry” “Third Watch”, “Law & Order”  “Chappelle’s Show”, “(718)”, Corn, Spectropia, Another Bed, Freedomland and Knight & Day. Other productions of his plays: Hiding Behind Comets, Spill The Wine (dir. Margarett Perry), and The Two of You (Kitchen Theatre – directed by Margarett Perry.)  This is his first biography in which someone’s name other than his has been listed more times. And that's a blessing.

Margarett Perry
Director

Margarett has directed over 15 productions at the Kitchen Theatre since coming here in 2006 with Clean Alternatives by Brian Dykstra. She directed the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Clean Alternatives at 59E59 Theaters that went on to win the Fringe First Award at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe before arriving in Ithaca. Perry also directed the KTC productions of Brian Dykstra’s A Play on Words, The Two of You, Strangerhorse and HO! Perry is an award-winning director of new plays and is a frequent collaborator with Dykstra. This production marks her 14th Dykstra premiere. Perry directed last season’s Mrs. Mannerly and the world premiere of Call Me Waldo by Rob Ackerman that went on to receive an Off-Broadway run with the Working Theatre. Other KTC favorites include Private Lives, Old Times, Chesapeake, The Soup Comes Last and A Marriage Minuet. Recent Off-Broadway world premieres include First Prize by Israela Margalit (Arclight), The Body Politic by Richard Abrons (59E59), Spill The Wine by Brian Dykstra (TBG) and Mother Tounge by FJ Hartland (Abingdon). Perry is a regular at the Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio where she has directed God of Carnage, Painting Churches, The Retreat From Moscow and most recently the world premiere of Michael Slade’s Under A Red Moon, which went on to a production at the Carnegie Center in Covington, KY. Her HRTC productions have won Day Tony Awards for Best Overall Production and Best Ensemble, among others. She has directed numerous solo shows including the extended Off-Broadway run of Brian Dykstra The Jesus Factor at the Barrow Street Theatre that began its development at KTC and the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run of Brian Dykstra Cornered & Alone that landed Brian on the NRA and Rush Limbaugh’s “watch list”. Film/TV credits include: “The Jesus Factor” (DVD/UpRoar Entertainment), "Another Bed”, “Wet” (Houston Film Festival Remi Award for Direction) and “The King & Me” (TVpilot-ABC). Perry was the Producing Artistic Director of Access Theater in NYC for six years where she directed and produced numerous plays and world premieres. She is an Artistic Fellow at The Lark Play Development Center where she has worked with a variety of writers developing new plays.  www.margarettperry.com

KTC: Circle Mirror Transformation, Mary’s Wedding, The Brothers Size. NYC: A Charity Case (Theatre Row), Friends & Relations (June Havoc Theatre), Brilliant Traces, First Prize (Arclight Theatre), Baltimore in Black and White (Cell Theatre), How I Fell In Love (Abingdon Theatre Company), Brian Dykstra’s Ho! (The Drilling Company), Pearl’s Gone Blue (2011 Fringe, Fringe Encores, Best Overall Production winner), Sammy Gets Mugged (2011 Fringe), among others. Ithaca College: Floyd Collins, Children of Eden, Metamorphoses (lighting). Running to Places: Thoroughly Modern Millie, Romeo & Juliet (lighting), ...Charlie Brown (lighting). Elsewhere: The Last Five Years (Winston-Salem, NC), After the Revolution (Williamstown). David has spent summers at the Barrington Stage Company and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He is a graduate of Ithaca College. To view more of his work, please visit: www.davidarsenaultdesign.com.

Lisa has designed and coordinated costumes for a number of previous productions at the Kitchen Theatre, including Circle Mirror Transformation, Irma Vep, Red Light Winter, Broke-ology and Waiting For Spring. Other favorite designs at the Kitchen include Mary’s Wedding, Bed and Sofa, Last Train To Nibroc, I Become A Guitar, Nine Parts Of Desire, and Precious Nonsense. She runs her own studio, where she designs and constructs prototypes, mascots and custom clothing for film and public appearances. She has been the Textiles Coordinator and Design Associate for MacKenzie-Childs, Ltd., and presently runs the costume shop at Cornell University. There she is responsible for training students in all aspects of costume construction, and has designed costumes for Picasso At The Lapin Agile, Beat Box Bard, Bedroom Farce, and Drama, Dance And The Disco Of Desire, among others.

Don is an associate professor of Sound Design at Ithaca College and a professional sound designer. Previous designs at the Kitchen Theatre Company include I Become a Guitar, The Two of You, Old Times, Strangerhorse, After Ashley and Call me Waldo. He also recently served as the sound design curator for the U.S. National Design Exhibit at the 2011 Prague Quadrennial. Previously he was the resident sound designer and sound department head for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (1996-2005), where he designed nearly seventy plays, musicals, and many new works from the Southern Writer’s Project play festival. He has also designed sound for the Denver Center Theatre Company, Hangar Theatre, Signature Theatre Company, Cornell University, Riverside Opera Ensemble, and others.