INTO THE WOODS

Creative Team Bios

SCOTT LAFEBER — Director
Scott has acted on Broadway, regionally and for television, and has a long association with the renowned Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts as an actor, stage manager, and cabaret performer. From 1996 to 2007 Scott served as artistic director for The New Harmony Theatre, a LORT summer theatre in Indiana.  At New Harmony, he directed the world premiere of A Moon To Dance By which was subsequently optioned and received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nomination in 2009. He has directed across the country with actors such as Olivier Award-winner Laura Michelle-Kelly and multiple Tony Award-nominees Terrence Mann, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Dee Hoty. Into The Woods marks his sixteenth show for Emerson Stage. Scott teaches in the BFA Musical Theatre program at Emerson. For Sylvie Mireille: Wishes are children…

EMMA GOLDMAN –– Assistant Director
Emerson Stage credit: Spring Awakening (Assistant Company Manager). Emerson College credits: Musical Theatre Society’s Big Fish (Executive Producer), Fun Home (Associate Producer), American Idiot (Stage Manager), Children of Eden (Stage Manager), Heathers the Musical (Assistant Director); RareWorks Theatre Company’s And She Dwelt… (Co-Producer) and Marty and Tad are LIVING! (Producer). A huge thank you to Scott, the rest of the Woods team, and the cast for such an incredible rehearsal process.

JONATHAN GOLDBERG — Music Director
Jonathan Goldberg is a member of Emerson’s Musical Theatre faculty. Recent music director credits for Emerson Stage: Next To Normal, Flora The Red Menace, Working, Urinetown, Titanic, Guys And Dolls and Carousel, as well as the 2010 Emerson Stage production of Into The Woods. Recent Boston regional productions: Pacific Overtures, Road Show, Sondheim On Sondheim, and Sweeney Todd (Lyric Stage Company Of Boston); and Little Women, Ragtime and Billy Elliot (Wheelock Family Theatre). Jon has won four IRNE awards for Lyric Stage productions of A Little Night Music, Man of La Mancha, Grey Gardens, and Kiss Me Kate. Other credits: Pacific Overtures (North Shore Music Theatre), Forever Plaid (Stuart Street Playhouse), and three years with the Boston company of Nunsense.

LUCIANA STECCONI — Scenic Designer
Luciana Stecconi’s previous designs for Emerson Stage include Working and Spring Awakening. She has designed for Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Huntington Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Mosaic Theater, Theater J, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Georgetown University, Catholic University, American University, Imagination Stage, and many more. She’s the Assistant Professor in Scenic Design at Emerson College. Stecconi holds an MFA in design from Brandeis University and is a member of USA Local 829.

JORDAN BARNETT (he/him) –– Scenic Designer
BFA ’22 Theatre Design & Technology. Emerson Stage credits: The Late Wedding (Lighting Designer), Marisol (Lighting Designer), Corduroy (Assistant Scenic Designer), Good Breeding (Assistant Scenic Designer), and 10 Out of 12 (Assistant  Lighting Designer). Other credit: Neopolitcal Cowgirls Hysteria (Lighting Designer). Thank you Luciana, Josie, and Evonne for being an amazing team, and to my parents for supporting my dreams. Jupnett.com

MOLLY SHAUGHNESSY (she/her) — Costume Designer
BFA ’22 Theatre Design & Technology. Emerson Stage credits: As You Like It (Wardrobe Supervisor), Next to Normal (Wardrobe Supervisor), Everybody (Wardrobe Supervisor), This Golden Day (Costume Designer), Amanuensis, or The Miltons (Co- Costume Designer), Augusta and Noble (Assistant Costume Designer). Emerson College credits: Emerson Independent Video’s Russian Roulette (Costume Designer) and The 39th Annual EVVY Awards (Wardrobe Stylist Assistant). Thank you to my family and friends for all of their continuous love and support.

ALEX BOSCO KOCH –– Projections Designer
Broadway: Be More Chill (Drama Desk, Lortel, Outer Critics Circle nominated) and Irena’s Vow. Off-Broadway: Buyer & Cellar (North American Tour; Menier Chocolate Factory; Barrow Street; Rattlestick); Fireflies (Atlantic; Lortel nominated); I Was Most Alive With You (Playwrights Horizons); The Liquid Plain (Signature; Oregon Shakespeare Festival); GOODBAR (The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival). Regional: Indecent (Guthrie); The Who’s Tommy (Denver Center); Approval Junkie, Tiger Style (Alliance; Huntington Theatre Company); Stax, Marley (Baltimore Center Stage); Invisible Man (Court Theatre, Chicago; Studio Theatre, Washington DC; Huntington); ReEntry (Baltimore Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Roundhouse Theatre). Concert: The Magnetic Fields 50 Song Memoir.

PIPER PHILLIPS –– Projections Designer
BFA ’23 Theatre Design & Technology. Emerson Stage credits: As You Like It (Lighting Designer), Marie Antoinette (Production Electrician), This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing (Associate Scenic Designer), and Everybody (vMix). Emerson College credits: Musical Theatre Society’s La Cage Aux Folles (Lighting Designer); The 40th Annual EVVY Awards (Production Electrician); and Mercutio Troupe’s The Trial of Errors (Lighting Designer). piper-phillips.format.com

GRACE TUCHMAN (she/her) — Lighting Designer
BFA ’22 Theatre Design & Technology. Emerson Stage credits: Interior of the Artist Without Her Sister (Lighting Designer) and Baltimore (Production Electrician). Emerson College credits: Mercutio Troupe’s All Night: A Party in the Suburbs (Lighting Designer) and I’m Going to Kill You Jimmy Fallon (Lighting Designer); Musical Theatre Society’s Big Fish: The Musical (Lighting Designer); and The 40th Annual EVVY Awards (Co-Lighting Designer). A special thanks to Talia for being the best Co anyone could ask for! Many thanks to her family and friends for their endless support.

TALIA ELISE –– Lighting Designer
BFA ’22 Theatre Design & Technology. Emerson Stage credits: The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Lighting Designer), Amanuensis, or The Miltons (Lighting Designer), Stupid F##king Bird (Production Electrician), The Devil On Your Shoulder (Assistant Lighting Designer), Flora and Ulysses (Assistant Lighting Designer), Love and Information (Assistant Production Electrician), and Urinetown (Assistant Lighting Designer). Emerson College credits: Musical Theatre Society’s American Idiot (Lighting Designer); RareWorks Theatre Company’s GUYS (Lighting Designer); and National Broadcasting Society’s Musicians Wanted: Featuring Lick Neon (Co-Lighting Designer). Thanks to Scott for his guidance, my family for their support, and Grace for being a wonderful collaborator/friend. taliaeliselighting.com

MEGAN CULLEY — Sound Designer
Selected credits: Antigone (Cleveland Play House); Cullud Wattah/The Loophole (The Public Theater); Holmes & Watson Apt. 2B (KCRep); Terminus (New York Theatre Workshop); Grounded/Hurricane Diane/Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Dobama Theatre); 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (ACT of CT); Stranger Sings! (Off-Broadway); Inanimate (The Flea Theater); The Last Match (B Street Theatre); Roan @ the Gates (Luna Stage); The Color Purple (Theatre Horizon). Associate Designer: Flying Over Sunset by James Lapine (Lincoln Center Theater, Broadway); for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (The Public Theater); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (KCRep).

LAUREN CORCUERA — Props Lead
Past prop credits: Emerson Stage: Next to Normal, Stupid F***ing Bird, Men on Boats; Brandeis University: Circle Mirror Transformation; Moonbox Productions: Cabaret; Gloucester Stage: the Agitators, Barefoot in the Park, Tiny Beautiful Things, Seared, Think of Me Tuesday; Lyric Stage: Breath and Imagination, Little Shop of Horrors, Murder on the Orient Express, The Cake, The Treasurer, Be Here Now, The Last Five Years, and Mr. Parent. Thanks to Ava, Olivia, Ryan, and the shop!

SOPHIE KLOKINIS — Stage Manager
BFA ’22 Stage & Production Management. Emerson Stage credits: Corduroy (Stage Manager), Marie Antoinette (Company Manager), Baltimore (Company Manager), The Late Wedding (Production Supervisor), Interior of the Artist Without Her Sister (Production Supervisor), Mad Moon (Production Assistant), Squeaky Fromme Love Song (Assistant Company Manager), Augusta and Noble (Assistant Production Supervisor). Other credits: Huntington Theatre Company’s Sweat (Production Assistant) and Hurricane Diane (Sub Production Assistant); Pennsylvania Shakespeare Company’s Crazy For You (Carpentry and Deck); Full Fathom’s Almost, Maine (Stage Manager), and EVVY38 (Assistant Stage Manager). Boundless love and gratitude to every human being that touched this wonderful show. To Carter, Elise, Alayna, and Ethan, to Greta, to Deb, to my family, and to Bubby.

CIARA BERARDI — Dramaturg
BFA ’25 Theatre. Emerson Stage credit: Three Romances for the Unwell and Otherwise (Stage Crew). Emerson College credit: Musical Theatre Against The Grain’s Rock of Ages (Assistant Marketing Director). Regional credits: Manasquan’s Silver Linings (Stage Manager, Ensemble), Shrek the Musical (Ensemble, Construction), Dracula (Ensemble, Construction), Big Fish (Mermaid, Construction), and Peter and the Starcatcher (Ensemble, Construction). Thanks to everyone that’s helped me get this far.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM –– Music/Lyricist
STEPHEN SONDHEIM wrote the music and lyrics for Saturday Night (1954), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), The Frogs (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeny Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park With George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Assassins (1991), Passion (1994) and Road Show (2008) as well as lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959) and Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965) and additional lyrics for Candide (1973). Anthologies of his work include Side by Side by Sondheim (1976), Marry Me A Little (1981), You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983), Putting It Together (1993/99) and Sondheim On Sondheim (2010). He composed the scores of the films “Stavisky” (1974) and “Reds” (1981) and songs for “Dick Tracy” (1990) and the television production “Evening Primrose” (1966). His collected lyrics with attendant essays have been published in two volumes: “Finishing the Hat” (2010) and “Look, I Made A Hat” (2011). In 2010 Broadway’s Henry Miller’s Theatre was renamed The Stephen Sondheim Theatre in his honour; in 2019, London’s Queens Theatre was also renamed the Sondheim.

JAMES LAPINE –– Playwright
JAMES LAPINE is a playwright and director. On Broadway he has worked with Stephen Sondheim on Sunday in the Park with George; Into the Woods; and Passion. He also conceived and directed the musical review Sondheim on Sondheim. With William Finn he created Falsettos recently revived by Lincoln Center Theater; Little Miss Sunshine; Muscle; and directed Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Other Broadway credits include his play based on Moss Hart’s memoir Act One (also LCT), Amour, The Diary of Anne Frank, Golden Child, and Dirty Blonde. He has written the plays Table Settings, Twelve Dreams, The Moment When, Fran’s Bed and Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing. Lapine has been nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning on three occasions. He has also been the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, SDC’s Mr. Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater, and inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL –– Rights Holder
Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world’s leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting theatres from around the world the rights to perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond. Founded in 1952 by composer Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker, MTI is a driving force in advancing musical theatre as a vibrant and engaging art form. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these musicals to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 70,000 professional, community and school theatres in the US and in over 60 countries worldwide. MTI is particularly dedicated to educational theatre, and has created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performers and audiences. MTI’s Broadway Junior™ shows are 30- and 60-minute musicals for performance by elementary and middle school-aged performers, while MTI’s School Editions are musicals annotated for performance by high school students.