CREATIVE TEAM BIOS

KELLI FOSTER WARDER (DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER) - Kelli Foster Warder is a director & choreographer based in the Twin Cities and is the associate artistic director and director of impact at Theater Latte Da. Kelli has been a teacher and arts administrator for over 25 years. Her work as a choreographer and director has been seen on stages in the Twin Cities and the country including Hennepin Theatre Trust, Children's Theatre Company, The Ordway, Artistry, The 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle, Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida and the ZACH Theater in Texas. Kelli has produced and created productions internationally in La Paz, Bolivia and Panama City, Panama.

JASON HANSEN (MUSIC DIRECTOR) Jason Hansen has held positions of music director, composer, orchestrator, educator, and/or performer for over 75 productions throughout the Twin Cities. His work has been seen and heard at the Children’s Theatre Company, Theater Latté Da, Mixed Blood Theater, Guthrie Theater, Ten Thousand Things, History Theater, Chanhassen Dinner Theater, Jungle Theater, Theater Mu, Arkansas Repertory Theater, Northern Sky Theater, Artistry, Illusion Theater, TigerLion Arts, Open Eye Figure Theater, University of Minnesota, UofM Centennial Showboat, MN Fringe Festival, and with the Hennepin Theater Trust’s Spotlight program. He has helped direct and create over 15 world premiers and has provided orchestrations for new works in the Twin Cities and regional theaters throughout the country. He won the 2018 MN Theater Award for Best Performative Direction. Jason also serves as the music arranger for Alive & Kickin, a human services arts organization giving voice to seniors. Jason is heavily involved with community organizations and Twin Cities area school districts. He is a commissioned composer and arranger developing new music for choir, cabaret and theater and his works can be found with both Hal Leonard and Alfred Music. He lives in Saint Paul with his wife Alise and daughters Madeleine and Elodie.

LYNN AHRENS (BOOK & LYRICS) - Lynn Ahrens won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and received two Grammy nominations for Broadway's Ragtime. For Twentieth Century Fox's animated feature film Anastasia, she was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes. She and longtime collaborator Stephen Flaherty received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2015 they were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. Broadway: Anastasia; Once On This Island (Olivier Award, Best Musical; Tony nominations, Best Book and Score); Seussical (Grammy nomination); My Favorite Year; Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life; Rocky; Madison Square Garden's A Christmas Carol; Ragtime (2010 Broadway revival). Off-Broadway and regional: Lincoln Center Theater's Dessa Rose, The Glorious Ones (both Drama Desk-nominated) and A Man of No Importance (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Musical); Lucky Stiff; Little Dancer (Kennedy Center world premiere). Film and television credits include A "Christmas Carol" (NBC-TV); Camp (IFC Films); "Schoolhouse Rock" (ABC-TV) and others. (Emmy Award and four Emmy nominations). She is a Council member of the Dramatists Guild of America, a co-founder of the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program, and a Lilly Award winner for Lyrics. www.ahrensandflaherty.com

STEPHEN FLAHERTY (MUSIC) - Stephen Flaherty is the composer of the Broadway musicals Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC Awards, two Grammy nominations), Seussical (Grammy, Drama Desk nominations), Once on This Island (Tony nomination, Olivier Award, Best Musical) and Rocky. Additional Broadway includes Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (original songs) and Neil Simon's Proposals (incidental music). Stephen has also written four musicals at Lincoln Center Theatre: The Glorious Ones (OCC, Drama Desk nominations), Dessa Rose (OCC, Drama Desk nominations), A Man of No Importance (OCC, Best Musical, Drama Desk nomination) and My Favorite Year. Other theater includes In Your Arms (Old Globe), Little Dancer (Kennedy Center), Lucky Stiff (Playwrights Horizons) and Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein (Chicago's Jefferson Award, Best New Musical.) Film includes Anastasia (two Academy Award and two Golden Globe nominations), the documentary After The Storm and Lucky Stiff. Mr. Flaherty's concert music has premiered at the Hollywood Bowl, Boston's Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Guggenheim Museum and Symphony Space. This year celebrates Stephen's 32-year collaboration with lyricist-librettist Lynn Ahrens. Stephen and Lynn are members of the Dramatists Guild Council and co- founders of the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program. In 2015 they were inducted into the Theater Hall Of Fame. Upcoming: the stage adaptation of Anastasia. AhrensAndFlaherty.com.

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