The Creators

Kate Brennan

http://www.katebrennan.org

Kate Brennan is a performer, educator and creator splitting her time between Oklahoma City, New York and Philadelphia. Kate performed and taught for a decade in Philadelphia and NYC before relocating to Oklahoma City to become Head of Voice in the BFA program at Oklahoma City University. In Philadelphia she worked with a variety of theatre companies including New Paradise Laboratories, Walnut Street Theatre, Lunavid a Theatre Co., EgoPo Classic Theatre Co., Mauckingbird, Pig Iron, Simpatico Theatre Project and Passage Theatre Co. Kate is also the Artistic Director for BCKSEET Productions (www.bckseet.com) where she founded the education program, BCKSEET Ignition in 2007. BCKSEET produced two of her original musicals: Some Assembly Required in 2010 with an accompanying cast album, and ELFuego in 2012. BCKSEET Productions continues its work in OKC now as Ignition Arts. Kate’s teaching roster has included University of Virginia, Temple University, St. Joseph’s University, Rosemont College, Montgomery County Community College, and Merion Mercy among others. In NY she taught with Theatre Direct International’s Broadway Classroom program as well as HB Studios and with McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton. In 2013, Kate completed the Shakespeare & Company Winter Intensive where she studied with master teachers Tina Packer, Dennis Krausnick and Toni Simotes among others; she has additionally trained with Louis Colaianni, Kristin Linklater, Andrew Borthwick-Leslie, Andrea Haring. At Oklahoma City University, Kate is developing her own artist training called Brennan Check-In. Drawing from Yoga, Linklater Voicework, Thai Bodywork and Artistic Exercises, Brennan Check-In develops a creative habit that reinforces the resilience, resourcefulness, connection, positivity and health required to maintain life in the arts. In addition to being Artistic Director of Ignition Arts and a member of AEA, Kate is a Certified Yoga Teacher, Certified Thai Bodyworker, a Designated Linklater Teacher, and creator of three musicals: Some Assembly Required (2010), ELFuego (2012) and ALIEN8 (2017). Written with playwright David Lee White, ALiEN8 was most recently developed with the McCarter Theatre Center Education Program in Princeton, NJ. Other shows co-created with White include CLEAN SLATE and the short plays MONUMENTAL and SEEING SOMEONE. She is writer and host for The Brennan Book Blog Podcast, available on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher, and its accompanying blog, The Brennan Book Blog at brennanbookblog.tumblr.com. This January she will return to HBMG’s Winter Playwrights Retreat in Creede, CO as a guest artist. Kate holds an MFA from the University of Virginia.

David Lee White

http://www.davidleewhite.net

David Lee White is a New Jersey based playwright who has worked with Passage Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Dreamcatcher Rep, PlayPenn, Writer’s Theatre of NJ, Bristol-Riverside Theatre, as well as many other theatres in the NJ/NY/PA area. For fourteen years, David Lee White was the Associate Artistic Director and Resident Playwright at Passage Theatre in Trenton. In 2016, David was commissioned by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Stage Exchange Program and Passage Theatre to create the play FIXED, based on interviews with mental health care professionals and people suffering from bi-polar and schizoaffective disorders. The play premiered at Passage Theatre in May, 2017. Previously, his play BLOOD: A COMEDY was seen at Passage Theatre (2009) and Dreamcatcher Rep (2012). His play SLIPPERY AS SIN also received its world premiere at Passage in 2011. The one-act play WHITE BABY was originally produced at Passage Theatre, then at Emerging Artists Theatre in NY. His solo show PANTHER HOLLOW was performed at Dreamcatcher Rep, The United Solo Festival in NY, The New Jersey Fringe Festival, Passage Theatre, Arcade Comedy Theatre in Pittsburgh, Point Park College and Drexel University. David has created three shows for the High School Summer Intensive in McCarter Theater’s education program – FIVE MINUTES TO PLACES and the musicals ALiEN8 and CLEAN SLATE with composer Kate Brennan. Other collaborations with Brennan include the short plays MONUMENTAL and SEEING SOMEONE. At Passage, David created “Stoop Theatre” with the Trenton High drama club and created the show THIS TRENTON LIFE which was the subject an Emmy-Award nominated broadcast on PCK Media’s STATE OF THE ARTS. His play WAYS TO BE HAPPY received a reading in the Hive Exposed series in NY in March of 2015 and will be produced by Dreamcatcher Rep in 2020. Other plays include THE FESTIAL QUARTET (readings at Bristol-Riverside Theatre and Writer’s Theatre of New Jersey) and ROCKET SEX MAGIC – a comedy about real life rocket scientist/occultist Jack Parsons (reading at Writer’s Theatre of New Jersey) His musical LIVE STREAM, with composer Sarah Donner and co-creator Adam Immerwahr, was workshopped at Bristol-Riverside Theatre as part of their America Rising series. Another musical, THE ANGRY GRAMMARIAN with composer Jeffrey Barg, was recently workshopped with the Player’s Club of Swarthmore. David received his BA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh.