NEXT TO NORMAL

Creative Team Bios

M. BEVIN O’GARA — Director
Emerson Stage Debut. Bevin spent three years as Producing Artistic Director at the Kitchen Theater Company in Ithaca, NY. There she directed Cry It Out, Proof, Tribes, Grounded, Ironbound, Girlfriend, Brawler, and Brahman/i. Other credits include: The Who & The What by Ayad Ahktar, Milk Like Sugar by Kirsten Greenidge (Elliot Norton Award nomination for Best Production) and Becoming Cuba by Melinda Lopez at the Huntington Theatre Company; The Pink Unicorn, Small Mouth Sounds (Elliot Norton for Best Ensemble), The Bridges of Madison County, appropriate, A Future Perfect, Tribes (Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for Best Production), and Clybourne Park (Elliot Norton Award nomination for Best Production) with SpeakEasy Stage Company; Brahman/i, Chronicles of Kalki, You for Me for You, Love Person, and The Pain and the Itch with Company One Theatre; Brawler, Two Wives in India and Gary (Elliot Norton Award nomination for Best Production) with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre; Phedre with Actors’ Shakespeare Project; Fast Company with the Lyric Stage Company, Marjorie Prime with the Nora Theatre Company, How Soft the Lining and Translations with Bad Habit Productions, 2.5 Minute Ride with New Repertory Theatre, and Melancholy Play with Holland Productions. She holds a BFA in Theatre Studies from Boston University and is currently teaching at Emerson College and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

DANIEL WOZNIAK (he/him) — Scenic Designer
BFA ’22 Theatre Design & Technology. Emerson Stage credits: What Remains Hidden (Is Still Known) (2nd Assistant Scenic Designer); Stupid F##king Bird (Assistant Scenic Designer); Good Breeding (1st Assistant Scenic Designer); This Golden Day (Assistant Props Lead); Going to California (Scenic Designer); Spring Awakening (Assistant Scenic Designer); This Girl…Nothing (Assistant Props Lead). Daniel would like to thank Kristin Knutson, Joe Keener III, Bevin O’Gara, Deb Booth, and the design and production teams. He would also like to thank his family, for encouraging his pursuit of design, and his boyfriend Dylan, for always being a source of comfort.

CHELSEA KERL (she/her) — Costume Designer
Chelsea Kerl is a Boston-based freelance artist and educator. Select recent designs include: Witch (The Huntington); Parade (Moonbox Productions); Pass Over (SpeakEasy Stage Company/Front Porch Arts Collective); Greater Good (Company One Theatre/American Repertory Theatre); Willy Wonka (Wheelock Family Theatre at BU). Other: costume shop manager, resident costume designer, and costume design professor at Wellesley College and Wellesley Repertory Theatre; affiliated faculty at Emerson College; previously staff in the costume shop of the American Repertory Theatre. Education: MFA in costume design from Boston University, previously attended the University of Maryland. Chelseakerl.com.

NARISSA KELLIHER — Lighting Designer
BFA ’23 Theatre Design & Technology. Emerson Stage credits: Marisol (Assistant Lighting Designer), Interior of the Artist Without Her Sister (Assistant Lighting Designer), Corduroy (vMix Technician), and This Golden Day (Assistant Lead Electrician). Emerson College credits: Full Fathom Productions’ Fefu and Her Friends (Lighting Designer); Mercutio Troupe’s Spooktacular (Lighting Designer); and Emerson Shakespeare Society’s Helen (Lighting Designer). Upcoming: Emerson Stage’s Into the Woods (Lead Electrician).

SUSAN EYRING (she/her) — Sound Designer
BFA ’23 Theatre Design & Technology. Emerson Stage credits: Spring Awakening and This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing (Assistant Production Sound Engineer), Going to California and Marie Antoinette (Assistant Sound Designer). Emerson credits: Emerson Shakespeare Society’s Humble Boy (Mix Engineer), EVVY40 (Audio Assistant), and EVVY41 (Audio Manager). Other Credits: French Woods Festival’s Fiddler on the Roof and Catch Me If You Can (A2). Thanks to Lucy, Mom, Dad, Bevin, and Team Sound for the endless support. soeyring.wixsite.com/home

LAUREN CORCUERA — Props Lead
Emerson Stage credits: Stupid F##king 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!

ANTHONY FEOLA (he/him) — Stage Manager
BFA ’22 Stage & Production Management. Emerson Stage credits: Marisol (Stage Manager), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Production Supervisor), Spring Awakening (First Assistant Stage Manager), Stupid F##king Bird (Second Assistant Stage Manager), and Into the Woods (upcoming, Associate Production Supervisor). Other Emerson credits: Big Fish (Stage Manager); 13! The Musical (Stage Manager); and EVVY41 (upcoming, Stage Manager). Professional credits: Northern Stages’ The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (Replacement Production Stage Manager) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Assistant Stage Manager). Anthony would like to thank his family and friends for all of their support, especially Deb and Tim for all of their guidance through this process.

MICHELLE SHAPIRO — Dramaturg
MFA ’23 Theatre Education. Emerson College credit: Musical Theatre Society’s Big Fish (Assistant Director/Sound Designer). Thanks to the cast and crew, much love to Feola & Lafo, so proud of you! michelleashapiro.com

BRIAN YORKEY –– Lyricist/Librettist
Yorkey received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the 2009 Tony Award for Best Score, for Next to Normal. Brian is currently the Executive Producer and Showrunner of 13 Reasons Why for Netflix, Paramount Television and Anonymous Content.

​Brian was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical for Next to Normal, and his work on the show earned him the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Score. He partnered again with the Next to Normal team on If/Then (Tony Award Nominee for Best Score) starring Idina Menzel. Brian co-wrote the libretto for The Last Ship (Outer Critic’s Nomination, with John Logan), with a score by Sting. His musical adaptation of Freaky Friday for Disney Theatricals enjoyed a National Tour before being adapted into a Disney Channel Original Movie. Current theatrical projects in development include the original musical Jesus in My Bedroom, with composer Tim Symons, as well as stage musical adaptation of Magic Mike.

Additional theatre credits include Making Tracks, which has played off-Broadway and regionally, the musical adaptation of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet and the play, Book of Jobs with Alex Glover. Brian has directed off-Broadway and regionally and for seven years was associate artistic director at Village Theatre in Washington state, one of the nation’s leading producers of new musicals.

He’s a graduate of Columbia University, where he was artistic director of the Varsity Show, an alum of the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the WGA.

TOM KITT –– Composer
KITT received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as two Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Orchestrations for Next to Normal. Next to Normal also received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score. He is also the composer of If/Then (Tony Nom., Outer Critics Nom.); High Fidelity (Broadway); Bring it On, The Musical (co-composer with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Broadway); Superhero (2nd Stage); Disney’s Freaky Friday (Stage Production and Original Disney Channel Movie Musical); Dave (Arena Stage); The Winter’s Tale, All’s Well That Ends Well, and Cymbeline (The Public’s NYSF); From Up Here and The Madrid (MTC); Orphans (Broadway), The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons), and As You Like It  (Toho Co., Japan). As a music supervisor, arranger, and orchestrator, credits include SpongeBob Squarepants, The Musical (Tony Nom., Outer Critics Nom, Drama Desk Nom.); Head Over Heels; Jagged Little Pill; Grease Live!; Rise (NBC); and American Idiot. His work with Green Day also includes additional arrangements for their Grammy Award-winning album 21st Century Breakdown and their album trilogy, ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! Tom received an Emmy Award as co-writer (with Lin-Manuel Miranda) for the 2013 Tony Award opening number, Bigger. Other Television Songwriting credits include a musical episode of Royal Pains, and songs for Penny Dreadful, Sesame Street, and Julie’s Greenroom. As a musical director, conductor, arranger and orchestrator, credits include the Pitch Perfect films, 2Cellos featuring Lang Lang (Live and Let Die), The Kennedy Center Honors, 13, Debbie Does Dallas, Everyday Rapture, Hair, Laugh Whore, Pippin (Deaf West), and These Paper Bullets. Upcoming projects include musical adaptations of the films Almost Famous, Magic Mike, and The Visitor.

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.