Witness Uganda

(she/her) Diane Paulus is the Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University. A.R.T.: 1776, WILD: A Musical Becoming, Gloria: A Life, Jagged Little Pill, ExtraOrdinary, The White Card, In the Body of the World, Waitress (film available online, French-language production in Quebec summer 2024), Crossing, Finding Neverland, Witness Uganda, Pippin (Tony Award, Best Revival and Best Director), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Tony Award, Best Revival; NAACP Award, Best Direction), Prometheus Bound, Death and the Powers: The Robots’ Opera, Best of Both Worlds, The Donkey Show. Other work includes Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna, Invisible Thread at Second Stage, and the Public Theater’s Tony Award-winning revival of HAIR on Broadway and London’s West End. As an opera director, her credits include The Magic Flute, the complete Monteverdi cycle, and the trio of Mozart-Da Ponte operas, as well as the upcoming Carmen (2024 Glydenbourne Festival). Paulus is Professor of the Practice of Theater in Harvard University’s English Department and Department of Theater, Dance & Media. She was selected for Boston magazine’s 2023, 2022, 2020, and 2018 lists of Boston’s most influential people, the 2014 Time 100, Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and as one of Variety’s “Trailblazing Women in Entertainment for 2014.”

A.R.T.: Debut. Staged and created work for companies including: The Juilliard School, Ailey 2, Atlanta Ballet, BalletMet Columbus, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, The Holland Dance Festival, Smuin Ballet. Recent: Beyonce’s “Mrs. Carter Show,” collaboration with tap legend Savion Glover on a new dance project. Broadway credits: Aida, Hairspray, Billy Elliot (original cast). Awards: Princess Grace Award.

A.R.T.: Witness Uganda. Broadway/ West End: The Testament of Mary (Fiona Shaw); All My Sons (John Lithgow & Dianne Wiest); Top Girls, MTC; Cyrano de Bergerac (Kevin Kline); The Glass Menagerie (Jessica Lange); Fiddler on the Roof (Tony nomination); Medea (Fiona Shaw); Sinatra. Other design credits: The Death of Klinghoffer, Eugene Onegin, Met Opera; Così fan tutte, Met Opera/ENO; Thebans, ENO; High Society, Old Vic; John Gabriel Borkman, BAM; The Low Road, NSFW, Royal Court; Miss Fortune, Bregenz, Royal Opera; Death in Venice, La Scala (Premio Franco Abbiati della Critica Musicale Italiana); The Cunning Little Vixen, Glyndebourne.

A.R.T.: 1776, ExtraOrdinary, The White Card, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), O.P.C., Witness Uganda, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Best of Both Worlds. Chair, American Theatre Wing. Broadway credits include: Purlie Victorious (Tony nomination), Good Night Oscar (Tony nomination), Ain’t No Mo’ (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), Trouble in Mind (Tony nomination), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Tony nomination), Sweeney Todd, 1776, A Beautiful Noise, Skeleton Crew, On Your Feet, Motown the Musical, Topdog/Underdog. TV/Film: Descendants: The Rise of Red, Disney+; The Great Lillian Hall, HBO; Annie Live!, NBC.

A.R.T.: Alice vs. Wonderland, Mouth Wide Open. A.R.T. Institute: Hansel and Gretel. Work includes: Else Where, Leiderabend, BAM; Master and Margarita, Bard Summer Scape; An Oresteia, Classic Stage; Crowns, Goodman Theatre; Sweeney Todd, Virginia Opera. Maruti has received the Drama Desk Sam Norkin Award 2013 for Tiny Dynamite and Pilo Family Circus and Drama Desk nominations for: In the Heat of the Night, Slaughterhouse 5, and Blindness.

(he/him) A.R.T.: ExtraOrdinary, Jagged Little Pill, Waitress, Finding Neverland, Witness Uganda, The Heart of Robin Hood. Broadway: Jagged Little Pill (Tony nomination); Waitress, NYC and UK; Finding Neverland; Pippin (Tony nomination); La Cage aux Folles (Tony and Drama Desk nominations). Other recent credits: Bhangin It, La Jolla Playhouse; Anything Goes, Barbican and Tour; Lune Rouge, PY1; The Tempest; Red Velvet; Invisible Thread; Young Frankenstein; Pirate Queen; Carrie (Drama Desk nomination); Parade (Drama Desk nomination); Fosse, NYC, UK; Ragtime. Jonathan has designed fifteen Cirque du Soleil productions including Drawn to Life, MJ ONE, LOVE, KA, O, Mystère, Ovo, Corteo, and more. Operas include a residency at the Royal Opera House and the LA Opera. designingsound.com

A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway and national tour: The Book of Mormon. Other credits include: Iron Curtain, The Hidden Sky and more with Prospect Theater Co. in NY; Village Theater in WA; NYMF; and the NY and Edinburgh Fringe.

A.R.T.: The Lily’s Revenge (Director), The Wedding Band (reading, Co-Directed with Hilton Als), Witness Uganda (Associate Director), Johnny Baseball (Associate Director), Britannicus (Assistant Director). A.R.T. Institute: Twelfth Night: Or What You Will, BOB: A Life in Five Acts. Broadway: HAIR (Assistant Director). Regional: She Kills Monsters, Company One; Big Money, Williamstown Theatre Festival. New York projects include: I Hope I Die of Heart Disease! I’d Like To See You Manage Then!, Mabou Mines RAP; Cookie Crumble (by Elizabeth Meriwether); Mourn The Living Hector (Winner of a Fringe Excellence Award), NewYork Fringe; and multiple projects at Ars Nova (Director-in-Residence, 2008). Drama League Directing Fellow. M.F.A. in Directing, Columbia; B.A. in Theater Studies, Yale.

A.R.T.: We Live in Cairo; Jagged Little Pill; The White Card; Trans Scripts, Part 1: The Women; Witness Uganda; O.P.C.; The Glass Menagerie; Once; Ajax; The Blue Flower; Johnny Baseball; Best of Both Worlds. Casting director for Roundabout Theatre Company. Broadway: Caroline, or Change; Trouble in Mind; Moulin Rouge; Jagged Little Pill; Kiss Me Kate; The Play That Goes Wrong; Beautiful: the Carole King Musical; Sunday in the Park with George; Amélie; Violet; Winslow Boy; The Glass Menagerie; Mystery of Edwin Drood; Harvey; Don’t Dress for Dinner; Once; Road to Mecca; On A Clear Day…; Anything Goes; Brief Encounter; Scottsboro Boys; Sondheim On Sondheim; Hedda Gabler.

A.R.T.: Sleep No More, Let Me Down Easy. New York: Sleep No More, productions with Lincoln Center, Atlantic Theater Company. International: Death and the Powers: The Robots’ Opera. Regional: Huntington Theatre Company, Boston Ballet, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hangar Theater. B.F.A. in Stage Management from Boston University College of Fine Arts.

A.R.T.: Debut. Matt Gould is working on new musical commissions for Yale Rep (Lempicka), Center Theatre Group (The Family Project), and the Japanese nonprofit, Ashinaga (A Cantata) with Tony Award-winning director, John Caird. Matt’s additional credits include Twilight in Manchego, the Jonathan Larson Award-winning musical directed by Tony Award-winner Billy Porter; writing and directing Free Style for LA’s Reprise Theatre Company; and translating, adapting and directing Romeo and Juliet in Pulaar in Mauritania, West Africa. He has also composed and arranged music for Grammy winner Desmond Child, Terrence McNally, Vanessa Williams, and for Playwrights Horizons, Denison University, and Boston University. Matt is the winner of the Richard Rodgers Award and ASCAP’s Dean Kay and Harold Adamson Awards. His music has been performed at venues around the world including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Summit Series, TEDx Wall Street, and at Highland Oaks Elementary School where he lived his dream as a music teacher for seven years. Matt holds a degree in acting from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts and dedicates this show “to all my students here and abroad who continue to teach me so much.” Matt is the co-director of UgandaProject. www.witnessuganda.com

A.R.T.: Debut. Keyboard programming work: The Lion King, Gazelle Tour; Aladdin, Broadway; Shrek, MUNY. Candidate for B.S. in Music Industry from Northeastern University.

A.R.T.: Debut. Copyist: Blue Dress (film score, winner of Buffalo Niagara Film Festival for best short film), commissioned string arrangements for Skillet and Papa Roach. Viola for: Alkali Ensemble (Artistic Director), Performances with Houston Symphony Orchestra, New York String Orchestra Seminar. Semi-finalist 2012 Washington International Strings Competition. Master of Music from Rice University: Shepherd School of Music, Bachelor of Music from Carnegie Mellon University.

A.R.T.: Debut. Drummer: Goodbye Picasso, Instrument Thieves, Ms. Nina. Volunteer Percussion Teacher: UpBeat NYC, after school music education program (upbeatnyc.org). Bachelor of Music Composition, University of the Arts, Philadelphia.

A.R.T.: Prometheus Bound. Charlie Chronopoulos is an independent songwriter, and freelance musician. He has worked in the studio and on stage with several Grammy-winning talents including multiplatinum recording artist Serj Tankian of System of a Down. Writing under his middle name, Charlie Christos, he has released two full length albums, and had a single in the top 200 national radio charts in 2010.

A.R.T. Debut. Performances with theater artists Billy Porter, Shoshana Bean, Megan Hilty, Eden Espinosa, Ty Taylor, Matt Cusson, Valarie Pettiord, Rogelio Douglas Jr., Lucy Arnaz, Lillias White, Wayne Brady, and Tracie Thoms. Jonny is the Musical Director/Bassist for Taylor Dayne and was Bassist for For The Record, A critically acclaimed theater experience in Los Angeles 2008-2012. Currently performing/Touring with Star Search “Grand Champion” Jake Simpson, Country artist Michael Austin from NBC’s “The Voice” and Latin Pop superstar Ana Barbara. Bachelor in Music Production and Engineering, Berklee College Of Music. Currently Residing in Los Angeles.

A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: A Free Man Of Color (dir. George C. Wolfe, starring Jeffery Wright and Mos Def). Off-Broadway: RIO (featured percusionist). Senfuab has worked with Diddy, Wycleff, Shakira, Mos Def, KRS 1, Erykah Badu, The Roots, and Ankrah. He has appeared on national television on the VH1 “Hip Hop Honors Awards,” “Model City,” and on MTV’s “Making the Band 4.” He has played with groups such as Indoda Ensha, a percussion group for which he created drum arrangements; Forces of Nature; Ile Aiye; Silvana Magda at S.O.B.’s; Heritage; Asasseya; Carlinhos Brown; Timbalada. Senfuab has also taught and performed with Alvin Ailey. In addition to performing throughout the United States, he has also toured and entertained audiences in London, West Africa, Brazil, Mexico, and Amsterdam.

A.R.T.: O.P.C. (Asst. Stage Manager), Witness Uganda (Asst. Stage Manager), The Wedding Band (Staged Reading, Stage Manager). Broadway: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Production Asst./Sub. ASM), Off-Broadway: One Night Only (Stage Manager), American Theatre of Actors. Regional: Welcome to Jesus (Stage Manager), Hartford Stage; Dreamgirls (Asst. Stage Manager), Ivoryton Playhouse; The Dining Room, Westport Country Playhouse. 2011/12 Season Production Assistant, Two River Theater Company. Stage Management B.F.A. from Syracuse University.

A.R.T.: Finding Neverland, Witness Uganda, Pippin, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Prometheus Bound, Johnny Baseball. Broadway: Finding Neverland, Pippin, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. National Tour: Pippin, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, B.A. in Visual and Environmental Studies (Film Production). Mia has been assisting for Diane Paulus since graduating in 2010. Mia was also a Resident Director at The Flea Theater in NYC, where she directed new works by Trista Baldwin and Israel Horovitz. Other credits include: Ensemble Studio Theater, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, American Conservatory Theater, NYU Tisch, and Vassar Powerhouse.

A.R.T.: Debut. Created work for: Ailey II, The Joffrey Ballet (trainees), The Juilliard School (summer intensive), Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, The Ailey School, “Law & Order: Trial by Jury,” Kidz Bop Live!, The Ohmies, and recently coached Grammy Award winner Beyoncé for “The Mrs. Carter Show” World Tour. Broadway/National Tour credits: Fosse, Contact, Thou Shalt Not, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, and Disney’s The Little Mermaid. B.F.A. from the Juilliard School.

A.R.T.: Debut. Keyboard programming work: The Lion King, Gazelle Tour; Aladdin, Broadway; Shrek, MUNY. Candidate for B.S. in Music Industry from Northeastern University.

A.R.T.: Debut. Copyist: Blue Dress (film score, winner of Buffalo Niagara Film Festival for best short film), commissioned string arrangements for Skillet and Papa Roach. Viola for: Alkali Ensemble (Artistic Director), Performances with Houston Symphony Orchestra, New York String Orchestra Seminar. Semi-finalist 2012 Washington International Strings Competition. Master of Music from Rice University: Shepherd School of Music, Bachelor of Music from Carnegie Mellon University.