MEET THE CAST & CREW OF ST. NICHOLAS
DANA HART*, The Critic
(*Member of Actor's Equity Association)
Dana first appeared with Ensemble in 2001 in a hardhat in Steel Bound directed by Lucia Colombi and last year in a straw boater in The Iceman Cometh directed by Ian Hinz. Since St. Nicholas last played here he has also performed with Cleveland Public Theater in Antebellum, Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, and Titus: A Grand and Gory Rock Musical; True North Cultural Arts in Sound of Music; Actors’ Summit in Ring of Fire; Cesear’s Forum in Elegy for a Lady; Cleveland PlayHouse in The Fagan Effect; Oberlin Summer Theatre Festival in Cradle Will Rock; twice for his guardian director Sara May at The Beck Center in 33 Variations and The Pitmen Painters; and most recently in the Equity Members’ Project: Heartbreak House. In November and December he will appear with Convergence-Continuum in another Dublin Playwright’s work: Marc O’Rowe’s Terminus and next March in a CPT’s revival of Standing on Ceremony. Dana won 2 BEST ACTOR nods for his previous performance of ST NICHOLAS at Ensemble. BEST ACTOR, New Herald as well as BEST ACTOR, The Cleveland Scene Magazine (Best of Cleveland 2011).
SARAH MAY, Director
Sarah is thrilled to be back home at Ensemble Theatre to restage Conor McPherson's St. Nicholas with the inimitable Dana Hart! Sarah's past Ensemble shows include the award-winning revival of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate, Paul Robeson featuring Tony Sias, Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters' First One Hundred Years, and many others. She will direct Thurgood, a celebration of the great civil rights activist and Supreme Court Justice, opening January 30 on Ensemble's mainstage. Sarah’s work as a director is well known in the Cleveland area. Some highlights include: 33 Variations, The Pitmen Painters, Race, Wings (starring Dorothy Silver) and The History Boys, all for The Beck Center; as well as the Dobama/Karamu collaboration of Tony Kushner's Caroline or Change; Tuck Everlasting for The Cleveland Play House; Things of Dry Hours for CPT; Six Degrees of Separation for Charenton Theatre; A Solder's Play and Mulebone for Karamu; and Fires in the Mirror and Grapes of Wrath at Dobama. Sarah began her career at the Cleveland Play House and Karamu Theatre. She spent 10 years in New York City performing, directing, and developing educational theatre programs for Playwrights Horizons, The Henry Street Settlement, and The Roundabout Theatre. She returned to Cleveland in the 1980’s to serve as Director of Education for Great Lakes Theatre Festival and Artistic Director of Karamu Theatre.
Conor McPherson (Playwright) is one of Ireland's celebrated new playwrights. Born in Dublin in 1971 McPherson began writing for the stage while at University College of Dublin. His first plays embraced the Irish tradition of storytelling in monologues: The Good Thief, This Lime Tree Bower, Rum and Vodka, and, of course, St. Nicholas (1995). In 1997 he incorporated that style into his international hit play The Weir (produced by Ensemble Theatre in 2000, under the direction of Licia Colombi.) McPherson's success at a young age led to a well-publicized breakdown and battle with alcoholism. He made a triumphant return to the stage with Port Authority (London's West End, 2001), The Dublin Carol (premiered on Broadway in 2002), Shining City (2006), The Seafarer (2007), The Veil (commissioned by The National Theatre of London in 2010) and, most recently The Night Alive (The Atlantic Theatre, Off-Broadway, awarded The New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play 2014.)
Click Below for a SNEEK PEAK... A Promotional Video from Ensemble's 2011 Production of St. Nicholas.
