My new full-length play,Grimm's Juniper Tree, received its' world premiere in February 2014. The play was produced by The Renegade Company in Philadelphia. Grimm's Juniper Tree is in part an adaptation of the Grimm's fairy tale "The Juniper Tree", but it also mashes with it a contemporary re-telling of "Hansel and Gretel" and features several other characters from various Grimm's tales. The production was directed by M. Craig Getting (director of the critically-acclaimedHeroes at the Lantern Theatre) and starred Renegade's Associate Artistic Director Griffin Stanton-Ameisen (recently featured in Delaware Shakespeare Festival'sTwo Gentlemen of Verona).
The production of The Amish Project that I directed earlier this year in Philadelphia, has been nominated for the Brown Martin Award for Outstanding Production. The show was a co-production between The Renegade Company and Simpatico Theatre Project. It starred Janice Rowland and featured designs by Daniel Kontz, K. Moriah Smith, Dany Guy and Chris Haig.
Brown Martin Philadelphia Award seeks to honor those plays that best lead audiences to a better understanding of the unique experience of particular segments of our global community. The fellow nominees include productions from the Wilma Theatre, Arden Theatre and 1812 Productions. The Amish Project is a one-woman show by Jessica Dickey that fictionally recounts the shooting at an Amish School House that occurred in 2006 in Nickle Mines, PA.
For a complete list of honorees at this year's Theatre Philadelphia event, please visit:
http://www.theatrealliance.org/barrymore-awards
Below are some excerpts from the production's reviews:
"A deeply moving production and a performance that's not to be missed"
-Stage Magazine
"It is the kind of seriously strong performance that, along with James Stover's sharp direction....makes this production of 'The Amish Project' a provocative and memorable work"
-Philadelphia Daily News
"Incisive. I felt stricken and disturbed-in a good way"
-City Paper
"Under Stover's direction, Rowland invests fully in her characters...reveals the resiliency of the human spirt".
-Philadelphia Weekly
"A stunning performance, directed with care by James Stover"
Last summer, I again returned home to Ashtabula to direct "The Wiz" at Straw Hat Theatre.
"The Wiz" is a motown version of "The Wizard of Oz" featuring songs including "Ease on Down the Road", "Be a Lion" and "Home". It was produced on Broadway in the 70s starring Stephanie Mills and then as a Sidney Lumet directed film (starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson).
"The Wiz" opens August 2nd. Straw Hat Theatre is located in Ashtabula, Ohio; on the grounds of the Ashtabula Arts Center. During the summer of 2012, I directed "Godspell" there and below is a clip from that show.
-Associate Artistic Director of Philadelphia's The Renegade Company from 2011-2013. The company has produced productions of A Prometheus Bound (a new folk musical based on the classic play by Aeschylus, Hamletmachine and themedeaplays by Heiner Muller, Glass: Shattered (based on the Tennessee Williams classic) and two critically-acclaimed productions of Jessica Dickey's The Amish Project. During my tenure the company received its first grants. I will continue working with Renegade as an Associate Artist.
-played Dave Sherman and Antony Penrose in the East Coast premiere of Carson Krietzer's
Behind the Eye with Philadelphia's Gas & Electric Arts.
-played Christy in Too Much of Nothing with Inis Nua Theatre (part of A Play, A Pie and a Pint series)
-Directed Family Values at Philadelphia's Plays & Players, part of P&P's 24-Hour Plays.
-starred in short film (alongside Matt Leisy from Off-Broadway's The Fantasticks) called "Someone that I Used to Know". View it on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/21270509
-Directed Godspell at Straw Hat Theatre in Ohio
-starred as 'The Passenger' in New City Stage Company's Terrorism.
-Directed the world premiere of Hazardous for Philadelphia Theatre Workshop
(part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint series at Society Hill Playhouse)
-played Epimetheus in The Greek Theatre Project with Iris Theatre Company (part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival).
Commercial for Widener University
-Playwright of Wilkes (full length play, 2 staged readings, selected for PTW's PlayShop Festival)
-created the role of Robert Bates III in the world premiere of The Eclectic Society at the Walnut Street Theatre
-created lead role of Colin in world premiere of The Invisible Play for Philadelphia Theatre Workshop
-critically acclaimed performance as Angelo in Measure for Measure with Quintessence Theatre
-played Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol at the Walnut Street Theatre
-Director of world premiere of Office Girl at NYC's Secret Theatre
-Assistant Director of the world premiere and Off-Broadway transfer of
Jon Marans' The Temperamentals
-performed in production of Youth Ink at McCarter Theatre
-Sgt. Trotter in The Mousetrap and Earl/Radio Singer/ensemble in Violet (directed by Drama Desk Nominee Igor Goldin) at Berkshire's Theater Barn
-played Czechowski in award-winning new musical Yank!
starring alongside Tony Nominee Bobby Steggert and Olivier Nominee Nancy Anderson
-starred in A Year with Frog and Toad at Virginia Musical Theatre
opposite Daytime Emmy Winner Matthew Wilson
-appeared in the world premiere of Roger Rosenblatt's Away in the Manger at NYC's Flea Theatre
-Directed regional premiere of Marcus is Walking at
Tennessee's Roxy Regional Theatre
-Assistant directed for two productions of Broadway's 24-Hour Plays assisting Tony Nominee Thomas Kail
worked with actors including Elijah Wood, Jennifer Aniston and Sam Rockwell
-supporting role (The Program Director at WKD-FM) in Queen of Media a feature film biopic about Wendy Williams, starring Robin Givens
-guest appearance on NBC's 'Law & Order'
-Assistant Directed/Understudied/Performed in Keen Company's Off-Broadway Revival of Tea and Sympathy
-performed in National Tour of My Soul is a Witness
civil rights musical written by Jefferson Award winner David Barr III
-played Lysander in first folio/unrehearsed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at New England Shakespeare Festival
-performed for two seasons at the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival (including roles in Twelfth Night, Peter Pan, The Merchant of Venice and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown).
-Directed Indigenous Peoples for NYC's Wonderland One-Act Festival,
which won the festival's Best Play and Audience Favorite Awards
-supporting role in feature film The Minority, available on Netflix
-Sparky in Forever Plaid at Arizona's Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
-playwright of Bound and Stoned, short play that premiered at MadLab Theatre in Columbus, OH
-Directed David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries
at the Short North Playhouse in Columbus, OH
-played Professor Trixy in the musical The Cradle Will Rock with Stage 5 Repertory Theatre (a now deceased Equity Theatre company in Columbus, OH)
-Casting Apprentice at Johnson-Liff Casting, worked as Casting Assistant on Broadway's The Producers and the Off-Broadway Revival of Crimes of the Heart -played Troy Hatfield in the outdoor drama Hatfields & McCoys at Theatre West Virginia
-Graduated with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Otterbein College