SANDY BOREN-BARRETT (DIRECTOR) - Sandy Boren-Barrett has been with Stages Theatre Company (STC) since 1990, allowing her to pursue her passion for theatre production and education, along with community building theatre serving young audiences. During her time in leadership STC has been awarded National recognition with the 2017 Harold Oaks Award for Innovative Contributions to the Field of Theatre for Young Audiences, as well as the 2018 – 50/50 Applause Award for promoting gender equity with playwrights. STC’s 2019-2020 season selection was highlighted in TYA Today Magazine as an example of “a promising increase in representation specifically in works that feature the stories of contemporary young people of color”. Sandy led an international performance tour and artistic exchange with “the egg Theatre, the Young Peoples Theatre of Theatre Royal” in Bath England. Collaboration is at the core of her work, and as an accomplished director has directed over 75 productions at STC which include many new works, dance-inspired productions, and world premieres. She directed the local premier, mainstage production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the musical which remains the highest attended production at Stages Theatre Company. Sandy remains on the Executive Committee, as former chair of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA) and last spring worked with Racially Conscious Collaboration (RCC) to gain her certification in racial equity organizational leadership.

JC LIPPOLD (DIRECTOR & MUSIC DIRECTOR) - JC is grateful to walk alongside amazing storytellers at Stages Theatre Company in this production! As music director, JC has worked at Stages Theatre Company since 2011. His favorite shows include Bridge to Terabithia, Spookley the Square Pumpkin & the last three Pippa/Kenny World Premieres "What Do You Do With an Idea?",  "Maybe" and "Dragons Love Tacos: The Musical".

KRYSTI WIITA PHILLIPS (CHOREOGRAPHER) - Krysti Wiita Phillips loves being back with the Stages Theatre Company Family! After working alongside Michael Matthew Ferrell, she is honored to step into the choreographer position. She has worked on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical (2022), Stage’s Tuck Everlasting, Elf the Musical, Jr. (2021 & 2019), Mary Poppins, and Beauty & the Beast. Krysti has also worked at many theatres around the twin cities including Theatre Latte Da, Children’s Theatre Company, Artistry, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Chanhassen Dinner Theaters, Duluth Playhouse, GREAT Theatre, and Eagan Community Theater. She has also had the joy of working with Hennepin Theatre Trust’s SpotLight Awards and high schools around the area. Krysti is extremely grateful to her husband and daughter, Jory and Delaney, and her family for all of their love and support.

DENNIS KELLY (BOOK) - Work for theatre includes Debris, Osama the Hero, After the End, Love and Money, Taking Care of Baby, DNA, Orphans, The Gods Weep, and The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas. He has written the book for the new musical of Pinocchio which opened at the National Theatre at the end of 2017, and in 2018 his new play Girls and Boys opened at the Royal Court. His plays have been performed worldwide and to date have been translated into nearly forty languages. For television he co-wrote and co-created Pulling and wrote and created Utopia. For film, he wrote the screenplay for Black Sea, directed by Kevin MacDonald. He also wrote the book for the Olivier and Tony winning Matilda the Musical. In 2010, DNA became a set text on the GCSE English Literature syllabus.

TIM MINCHIN (MUSIC & LYRICS) - Tim Minchin is an Australian musician, comedian, composer, actor, writer and director. He has toured extensively in the US, UK and Australia, performing solo, with bands, and with symphony orchestras. He's released five DVDs, the most recent recorded with the Heritage Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. He is the composer lyricist of two hit West End / Broadway musicals, Matilda and Groundhog Day, both of which won the Olivier Award for Best West End Musical and garnered nominations for Best Score and Best Musical in Broadway's Tony Awards. Minchin wrote, produced and starred in the Sky Atlantic / Foxtel TV series, Upright, in 2019. Other screen-acting credits include Atticus Fetch in Season 6 of Californication, a Logie Award-winning Smasher Sullivan in the ABC's Secret River, and Friar Tuck in Lionsgate's Robin Hood reboot. Stage highlights include Judas in the UK / Australian Arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar in 2012, and Rosencrantz in the Sydney Theatre Company's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead the following year. He has published two books: the graphic novel, "Storm", and the illustrated childrens' book, "When I Grow Up". He is a member of the Order of Australia, a philanthropist and a mediocre juggler.