Eugene Lee
Recipient of the 2009
SETC Distinguished Career Award
Keynote Presentation: The Adventures of Eugene Lee
Saturday, March 7th at 2:30 PM

What do Wicked, Sweeney Todd and Saturday Night Live (SNL) have in common? The indomitable Eugene Lee, set designer extraordinaire.

Imagine a day job as an artist that began in 1974 and continues today. Thirty three years ago, Mr. Lee was the first to blend the performers with the audience for a new, edgy TV variety show called Saturday Night Live. Now imagine maintaining that 'edge' while designing hundreds of productions for theatre, TV, and film.

From Broadway Houses to Regional Theatres (Mr. Lee has been the resident designer for Trinity Rep since 1967), Mr. Lee has helped transform production values by creating unique, extravagant designs that integrate the set into the performance.

You might not know this but while most designers rely on using computer technology to design, Mr. Lee has perfected and continues to use the “napkin” technique.  All this to say, the artist still takes pencil to paper to create his magic.

SETC is honored to present our Distinguished Career Award to a gentleman who holds three Tony Awards for Leonard Bernstein's Candide, Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, and Stephen Schwartz's Wicked. Other honors include the American Theatre Wing's Design Award, the Outer Critics' Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Pell Award, and the Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Achievement. He was recently inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in New York.

After growing up in community theatre in Beloit, Wisconsin and a short stint at University of Wisconsin, Mr. Lee landed at Carnegie Mellon where he got his first BFA degree.  His second, from the Art Institute of Chicago was followed by an MFA from Yale Drama School and three honorary doctorates.

He is currently represented, not only on Broadway, but also internationally, by the
musical Wicked, with 8 companies performing worldwide.  Other New York theatre work includes The Normal Heart, Agnes of God, Showboat, Ragtime, Ruby Sunrise,
Grandchild of Kings, Designated Mourner, The Hairy Ape, The Masterbuilder, A Number, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, Crime and Punishment, and Beast.  Film work includes Coppola's Hammett, Huston's Mr. North and Malle's Vanya On 42nd Street.  

He lives with his wife Brooke in Providence, Rhode Island where they raised their two sons.

Beth Leavel
From SETC Auditions to a TONY Award:
Beth Leavel Fondly Remembers Her SETC Roots
Keynote Presentation: Friday, March 6th at 2:30 PM

"It was the SETC auditions that gave me the courage to say 'I can do this!'"

Beth Leavel remembers the date, time and place of her one and only SETC audition: "Way too early in the morning" in the grand ballroom of Nashville's Opryland Hotel in March 1980. "The response to that audition informed my entire professional career." The TONY Award-winning actress was speaking from her star dressing room at the Hilton Theatre on Broadway between a Wednesday matinee and evening performance of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, where she played the role of Frau Blucher through December 2008.

"We had just closed a production of I Do! I Do! at UNCG (University of North Carolina Greensboro) and I had to throw something together for my SETC audition.  I picked a loud, belting number from that show and I think it woke people up."  Beth received over two dozen callbacks, made and kept as many appointments as possible, then accepted a position in the first internship class at Pennsylvania Stage in Allentown.  "They promised me my Equity card," she recalled, but the proximity to the Big Apple and the number of New York actors in the company helped paved the way for her move to NYC in 1981.

A North Carolina native, Beth graduated with a BA in social work and minor in theatre from Meredith College in her hometown of Raleigh, where her best friend and Meredith classmate Cathy Rodgers now chairs the theatre department. Both attended UNCG with Beth receiving her MFA in acting; her master's thesis was creating the role of Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!

Beth received the 2006 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, NY Outer Critics Circle Award and L.A. Drama Critics Award for her performance in the title role of The Drowsy Chaperone.  Other Broadway credits include Dorothy Brock in the revival of 42nd Street, Tess in the original company of Crazy for You (with Susan Stroman), Mrs. Bixby in The Civil War, Ellie in Hal Prince's Show Boat and Anytime Annie (her Broadway debut) in 42nd Street.  Ms. Leavel was also seen in City Center's production of No, No, Nanette.
Beth will be coming to SETC in Birmingham directly from Los Angeles, where she will have just finished starring in Minsky’s, the world premiere new musical at the Ahmanson Theatre. Based on the 1968 Norman Lear film The Night They Raided Minsky's and earlier novel by Rowland Barber, the show has songs by Tony Award-winner Charles Strouse and lyricist Susan Birkenhead, book by Tony Award-winning librettist Bob Martin and director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw at the helm.  SETC participants will be the first to find out from Beth how the show went in L.A. and if (and when) it is headed to Broadway.

Mark Redanty & David Shaul
A Stage and Screen Agent Talk-Back: Keynote Thursday, March 5th at 2:30 PM
Musical Theatre Master Class: Thursday, March 5th at 5:30 PM

"If you are trained in theatre, you can work in any medium." - Mark Redanty

"Talent, Training and Timing...the best ingredients for success" - David Shaul

As agents in L.A. (Shaul) and N.Y.C. (Redanty), these two gentlemen work with both stage and screen actors. The difference for them is not the medium but the artistry the performer brings to their work. They considers themselves Artist's Representatives who work with actors who approach their acting seriously, valuing training and dedication of performance over the lure of fame. Working with those kinds of actors has kept them passionate about their work for the past 25 years.  

Many of their clients work in numerous areas of the business and not in just one medium. They have clearly been successful at helping actors achieve their goals. The list of stage and screen actors they have represented and/or continue to represent are:

James Earl Jones	Star of stage and screen
Louise Fletcher	Academy award winner One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Kristin Chenoweth	Broadway star of Wicked and TV's Pushing Daisies
Patrick Wilson	Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor
James Morrison	Star of TV's 24
Deirdre Lovejoy	Star of HBO's The Wire
Jack Coleman	Star of TV's Heroes
Jean Stapleton	Star of TV's All In The Family
Dean Norris	Star of TV's Breaking Bad
Faith Prince	Tony winner for Guys and Dolls
Michael Nouri	TV's Damages and Brothers and Sisters and feature film Flash Dance, among others
Robert Morse	Tony winner for TRU, How to Succeed in Business and Emmy nominee for TV's Mad Men
Donna McKechnie	Tony winner for A Chorus Line
Beth Leavel	Tony winner and Friday's Keynote at SETC

Mr. Redanty and Mr. Shaul became partners/owners of Bauman-Redanty & Shaul, a bi-coastal, full service talent agency, in 2000. Mr. Shaul heads the Los Angeles office and Mr Redanty heads the New York office.