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Rick, Dildine, Executive Director:
Rick joined SFSTL in September 2009, having most recently served as Managing Director of Chicago’s About Face Theatre, whose work has been recognized with the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award. For seven years he was associated with the Stephen Foster Theatre, a 50-year old outdoor theater company in Kentucky. Beginning as Production Manager and moving up to Associate Artistic Director, he was appointed Artistic Director from 2005-2008. In 2008, as the theater celebrated the half-century mark, the State Senate of Kentucky passed legislation recognizing his work with the “Official Outdoor Musical of Kentucky.” From 2006-08, Dildine was the Producer of the Brown University/Trinity Rep New Plays Festival and Playwriting Coordinator for the graduate playwriting program at Brown University, all under the leadership of Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel. Rick also spent two seasons as a member of the acting company at the Warehouse Theatre in South Carolina. He is a past recipient of the National Directing Fellowship from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and has served on the Arts & Cultural Advisory Council for the Chicago 2016 Bid for the Olympics.
Dildine received his BA from Ouachita University, his MFA in Acting from Brown University and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
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Melaine Bennett, Director of Development:
A lifelong theatre lover, Melaine Bennett comes to Shakespeare Festival St. Louis with more than 14 years of experience in arts administration and fundraising at major theatres around the country, including South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Most recently, Bennett served as the Director of Development and Acting Managing Director at Intiman Theatre in Seattle. Named as one of the “Newsmakers of 2010” by Puget Sound Business Journal, she is a graduate of The University of Mississippi and received her M.F.A. from The University of Alabama. Bennett shares her home with two talented rat terriers, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
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Christopher Limber, Education Director:
Christopher Limber is an award-winning playwright, composer, director and actor. His commissioned play for the Festival, Me & Richard 3, won the 2009 Kevin Kline Award for Outstanding Production for Young Audiences and is published by Playscripts, Inc. During a 30-year career as a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, Christopher has acted in over 75 productions and directed more than 50, including shows for The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Two of his directorial projects received awards: Bent at HotCity Theatre received a St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Judy Award” (2001), for Best Drama, and 12th Night for St. Louis Shakespeare was named “Best Shakespeare Production” in 2001 by The Riverfront Times. SFSTL’s Education Programs were named "Best Children's Theatre" by The Riverfront Times (2005). He co-wrote and directed commissioned Education Tour productions The Tempest in a Flash!, Much A Doo-Wop About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night's Dream...In the Wink of an Eye!, all of which received Kevin Kline Award nominations, and for 2009, Quick-Brewed Macbeth, earned SFSTL its second consecutive Kevin Kline Award for Outstanding Production for Young Audiences. His published scores include Kabuki Ugly Duckling and The Secret Garden, both collaborations with playwright Pamela Sterling. Secret Garden won the Most Distinguished Play Award from The American Association of Theatre in Education.
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Robin Weatherall, Resident Composer:
Robin is from London, was educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Goldsmith’s College at the University of London. A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for almost two decades, he worked on 189 productions including Peter Brook’s groundbreaking production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and toured extensively throughout the world. Currently Robin directs, composes and designs sound for productions both in the USA and Europe specializing in the plays of William Shakespeare. His scores for the Festival’s productions of The Tempest and Hamlet won Kevin Kline Awards in 2005 and 2010; he also received nominations for 2007's production of Much Ado About Nothing and for Metamorphoses in 2006. Robin is very active in the field of education. He directs high school programs for Shakespeare Festival St Louis and teaches both music and drama at Lutheran High School North.
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