Spankin' Yanks - People

Company Members

Gordon Carver - DIRECTOR Gordon Carver is the founder and director of Spankin' Yanks. He directed and produced the European premiere of The Jammer by Rolin Jones (Pilitzer Prize nomination for The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Off-Broadway 2005) at the Edinburgh Fringe 2004, which was awarded a Fringe First for Outstanding New Writing. He has directed a number of productions at Yale's Cabaret theatre, including Heiner Muller's Philoctetes, an original devised work entitled Dark Rooms, and ‘An Evening of Beckett Shorts.’ He has recently assisted productions of American Buffalo (with Chris Nothe) and The Father at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, 2005, and just prior to this project he was the Dramaturge and the Assistant Director on the world premiere production of Marcus Gardley's Dance of the Holy Ghost: a play on memory at the Yale Repertory Theatre. To contact Gordon please email info@spankinyanks.com

Justin Sherin - PLAYWRIGHT Justin Sherin's plays have been produced and developed in London at the Royal Court Theatre, the Old Vic, and Theatre 503/Latchmere, and in the US at the Hangar Theatre and the Cherry Lane Alternative. He has directed many new plays, as well as work by Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill and Lanford Wilson. He has taught playwriting and directing at Yale Repertory Theatre's Dwight/Edgewood Project. Associate Director, Yale Cabaret.

Alixandra Gage Englund - Spankin' Yanks Co-Founder and COSTUME DESIGNER Alixandra Englund designed Spankin' Yanks' previous production The Jammer. Recent credits also include: Thicker Than Water 2006 (Youngblood, EST); One Flea Spare (Columbia Stages); The Comedy of Errors (Yale Repertory Theatre); Skin of Our Teeth, Banditos (Yale School of Drama); Moonbitch, Nocturne, The Colored Museum, Vladimir Mayakovsky (Yale Cabaret); Wandering Home (New Haven Arts and Ideas Festival), Guest from the Future (Bard SummerScape); Heir of Civility (Chamber Dance). New York Credits include: Hell (PS 122), Dreaming de Pisan (short film).

Richard McGeehan – SET DESIGNER Richard McGeehan has an extensive background in interior design. This will be his first set design for the stage.                             

Marnye Young - ACTRESS (GRACE)  Marnye has an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Credits include: Off Broadway: Big Times (Petunia the Popcorn Girl), W.E.T. (dir.Leigh Silverman).Off-Off Broadway: Fucking Ibsen Takes Time (Nora) dir. Benjamin Mosse, Fringe Festival; Bloody Mary (Bloody Mary), 45th Street Theatre; One Flea Spare (Morse), Minor Latham Playhouse; Man is Man (WWII PinUp Girl), Prospect Theatre (dir.Jackson Gay); The Feigned Courtesans (Marcella), NY Classical Theatre. Regional: Arms and the Man (Louka) and Street Scene (Mrs. Jones) at Chautauqua Theatre; Man of La Mancha (Fermina) (dir. Tom Bullard) and Free to Be (Vicki) (dir. Jim Saba) at Hope Repertory; Steeplechase the Funny Place (Goil) (dir. Tim Vasen) the New Harmony Project. Yale Repertory Theatre: It Pays to Advertise (Marie/Ms. Burke) (dir. Stan Woyewodski, Jr.) and u/s Fighting Words (dir. Liz Diamond) and u/s Rice Boy (dir. Liz Diamond). Film: “One Up” and “Aaron’s Ex-Girlfriend”. Marnye Young is a proud member of Actor’s Equity.

Anthony Manna - ACTOR (HARRIS) Tony has an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Recent credits include: "The Hasty Heart" (The Keen Company), "F*cking Ibsen Takes Time" (SoHo Playhouse/NY Fringe), "Romeo and Juliet" (Shakespeare NYC); REGIONAL: "The Taming of the Shrew (dir Mark Lamos) and "You Never Can Tell" (Yale Repertory Theatre), "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," "The Game of Love and Chance," "Guys and Dolls," and "Charley's Aunt" (Hope Summer Repertory Theatre);  FILM: "Squiggles," "Devolving" (Best Actor in a Leading Role, 2004 Sundeis Film Festival). 

James Lloyd Reynolds - ACTOR (FINCH) New York Theatre: On The Mountain by Chris Shinn at Playwrights Horizons, Kicker, Connelly Theater, Piece The Duke and The Jammer NY Fringe Festival, Regional Theatre: Antony and Cleopatra at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Yale Summer Cabaret: Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hot ‘N’ Throbbing, Private Eyes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical (Spike), Faust is Dead Yale School of Drama: Lonesome West, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Wild Party, The Sungatherers by Tim Acito, Film/TV: The Good Shepherd (Dec 06), Catwoman, The Road From Erebus, Law and Order,Criminal Intent, and One Life to Live. MFA Yale School of Drama 2004

 

Brandon Woolf - ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/ASSISTANT DIRECTOR  Brandon Woolf leads a duel life: Deputy Director of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths – a national campaign to prevent hospital-acquired infections – by day, and aspiring theatre director and producer by night. Prior to joining Spankin’ Yanks, Brandon directed and produced Bertolt Brecht’s Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at Columbia University (December 2004) and served as associate producer and assistant director for La Strada Theatre Company’s production of Brecht’s In the Jungle of the Cities (2005). Brandon is currently considering Doctoral programs in Drama

Ji-Youn Chang - LIGHTING DESIGNER Ji-Youn is currently enrolled in the Design MFA at Yale's School of Drama. She has previously worked in Edinburgh at the prestigious Assembly Rooms.

Phillip Peglow - SOUND DESIGNER.  Philip is yet another MFA graduate from the Yale School of Drama. His recent work includes 'The Spelling Bee' - on Broadway and regional tours.

Ryan Durham - STAGE MANAGER. Ryan is a current Yale School of Drama student, getting his MFA in Stage Management.  Yale Repertory Theatre: The Cherry Orchard and The Clean House. Yale School of Drama credits include The Duchess of Malfi, Hedda Gabler, As You Like It, A Lone, and most recently The Lacy Project.  He spent three years with The Cutting Ball Theater Company in San Francisco California, working on such shows as Hamletmachine, Myakovsky: A Tragedy, and Roberto Zucco.  Education: BA, Drama, Vassar College; MFA, expected 2007, Yale School of Drama.