CREATIVE TEAM BIOS

MELANIE SALMON-PETERSON (DIRECTOR)

AT STC: Recent credits include: What Do You Do With An Idea?, Buckets, Leo Lionni’s Inch by Inch, The Most Magnificent Thing, Stone Soup, Swimmy, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Bear Snores On, and at FAIR School Crystal James & the Giant Peach Jr & Lion King Jr.” Favorite Play or Musical at STC: Favorite I cannot pick, but several are special to me for a variety of reasons – Stone Soup for its dedication to community service and the wonderful opportunity to perform a the Ivey Awards. Swimmy-stunning design work and a wonderful ensemble with which to create, Dandelion Seed as our first TFVY, working with Jim & Nate & Abbee to create it; Zen Shorts for its zen-like process, so peaceful and beautiful to work on; Edward Tulane for its visual beauty; How I Became a Pirate – both here and on the tour to Bath, England; You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, beautiful, entertaining and so much talent. Wow, I better stop now. I could go on.

JEANNINE COULOMBE (PLAYWRIGHT) - Jeannine is a Minnesota native and the author of more than 10 full-length plays and numerous shorter works. Her plays have been seen at Clubbed Thumb, Manhattan Repertory, Producer’s Theatre, Stage Left, History Theatre, Theatre Unbound, Thirst Theatre, Minnesota Fringe, Ebullient Theatre, Playwrights Center, University of Iowa, University of Minnesota-Duluth and A Theatre Company. Her work has been published by Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Kraus, and Heinemann. Ms. Coulombe won the University of Iowa’s IRAM Award for Best New Play (HUMMINGBIRDS, 2003), the Maebaum Award (BEAKERS, 2002) and the National AIDS Fund CFDA-Vogue Initiative Award from the Kennedy Center (THE VACANT LOT, 2001.) She was also an alternate for the Jerome Fellowship (2003) and a semi-finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference (2002 & 2006.) Ms. Coulombe received her MFA from the University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop and her BFA in Theatre and BA in History from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. In addition to playwriting, she was a founding member of the Twin Cities company Theatre Unbound and has worked locally as a director, producer, dramaturg and costume designer.

KATE DICAMILLIO (AUTHOR) - Kate DiCamillo is the author of many books for young readers. Her books have been awarded the Newbery Medal (Flora & Ulysses in 2014 and The Tale of Despereaux in 2004); the Newbery Honor (Because of Winn-Dixie, 2001), the Boston Globe Horn Book Award (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, 2006), and the Theodor Geisel Medal and honor (Bink and Gollie, co-author Alison McGhee, 2011; Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride, 2007). She is a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Emerita, appointed by the Library of Congress. A native of Florida, Kate now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.