JAMES A. PETOSA
(Artistic Director)

Mr. Petosa began his association with Players when he composed the original music score for the 32nd Tour's production of The Tempest. Since then National Players productions have included Cyrano de Bergerac, Dracula,  Animal Farm, Amadeus, As You Like It, The Elephant Man, among others.  Since 1994 he has served as the Artistic Director for the Olney Theatre Center and since 2002 the Director of the School of Theatre in Boston University's acclaimed College of Fine Arts. He is one of three co artistic directors the Potomac Theatre Project/NYC just completing its third year at Manhattan's Atlantic Theatre Company after twenty years of producing in Washington, D.C.  He is the recipient of a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical and a nominee for Outstanding Direction of a Play as well as a nominee for Outstanding New Play for Look! We Have Come Through!, co-authored with Carole Graham Lehan.  Regional credits include D.C.'s Studio Theatre, Roundhouse Theatre, Theatre J, Washington Jewish Theatre, as well as guest artist residencies at Catholic University of America, University of Maryland - College Park, George Washington University, and Middlebury College.  He is a member of Actors Equity Association and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

CLAY HOPPER
(Associate Artistic Director; Director, Much Ado About Nothing)

Mr. Hopper has been directing for National Players and Summer Shakespeare Festival since 2003. Credits include Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Amadeus. He also directed Triumph of Love on Olney Theatre Center’s Main Stage and Call of the Wild, a musical adaptation of Jack London’s novel by Jon Lipsky, first as a workshop at Boston University, then as a touring production for The National Players on tour 59, culminating in the World Premier on Olney Theatre Center’s Main Stage in 2009. Other recent credits include On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning at Contemporary America Theatre Festival Actor’s Lab. In 2002 he founded and produced a new play series called New Works/After Hours at Lincoln Center Institute's Clarke Studio Theatre. Off-off-Broadway: A Home Without by Robert Westfield, Different Zen by Clay Hopper with Third Eye Rep, Earthworms by Albert Innaurato with The Working Group, Triage by Chris Shiea with Miranda Theatre, and The Interrogation by Murphy Guyer with The Miranda Theatre. He has taught acting at Boston University, Woolly Mammoth’s Theatre School, and College of Wooster, where he directed King Lear and was visiting assistant professor in 2006. As assistant director he has worked at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Woolly Mammoth Theater Company. Clay received his BFA from North Carolina School of the Arts and his MFA from Boston University's College of Fine Arts. .

DAVID GRAM

(Director)

David is delighted to be returning for his third stint with the National Players after having directed Lord of the Flies last year. Originally from Toronto, David is currently a Boston-based director, actor, and teacher. Selected directing credits: A Little Night Music, The Good Person of Szechwan, What the Butler Saw, Bug, A Man of No Importance, Waiting for Godot, Tartuffe, Twelfth Night, The Maids, and the musical City of Angels. David was the book director for Boston University’s 2010 spring production of Merrily We Roll Along. As an actor, he was most recently seen in BCAP’s IRNE nominated production of David Rabe’s A Question of Mercy. Selected acting credits include: I Am My Own Wife (BCAP), The Birthday Party, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Red Noses, The Tempest (National Players), The Taming of the Shrew, Variations on the Death of Trotsky, and the musical Assassins. David received his BFA in Theatre from Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, BC), and his MFA in Directing from Boston University, where he is currently on faculty. He is also an Associate Artist with the Boston Center for American Performance (BCAP), the professional extension of BU’s School of Theatre. David was recently appointed Artistic Director of Boston Opera Collaborative. He is a playwright, librettist, dramaturg, and musical theatre aficionado!

BILL GRAHAM, SR.
(Acting Coach, Benefactor)

William H.Graham has been associated with National Players for over fifty years as artist and administrator. After serving in the Navy from 1944 to 1946, Mr. Graham received his BA in Pre-Law from LaSalle University, and received an MA in Drama from The Catholic University of America. He has directed over 50 theatrical productions, and had leading roles in over 40 productions. Mr. Graham has served as Managing Director of St. Michaels Playhouse, Executive Director of Olney Theatre, and Chairman of The Catholic University of America’s Drama Department. He was a founder and director of the MFA acting program at Catholic University. He is currently the chairman of the Board for Olney Theatre Center for the Arts. A member of Actor’s Equity Association (AEA), Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG), and American Federation of Television and RadioArtists (AFTRA), Mr. Graham has narrated for National Geographic, Voice of America, and PBS. Thanks to Mr. Graham’s dedication to National Players, the touring company continues to thrive.

HALO WINES
(Acting Coach)

Halo Wines serves as Associate Artistic Director for Olney Theatre and National Players. Her most recent appearances at Olney include Melanie Fine in Brooklyn Boy, Maureen/Clara in In the Mood (world premiere), Lavinia Penniman in The Heiress, Esty in Morning’s at Seven, Aunt Ev in The Miracle Worker, Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, Azra in Necessary Targets, Daisy Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy, Madame Spritzer in 13 Rue de L’Amour, and Ruth Steiner in Collected Stories (a reprise of her 2001 performance at Theatre J as part of Olney’s Potomac Theatre Festival). Her directing credits include Olney’s Is He Dead?, Hedda Gabler, Omnium Gatherum, Having Our Say, The Miser, The Rivals, Tartuffe, Summer Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, National Players Tour 54 production of As You Like It, Catalyst Theater’s Cloud Nine and Catholic University’s The Mad Woman of Chaillot. She has been honored with five Helen Hayes Award nominations and received the award for her triple performance in Cloud Nine at Arena Stage, where she spent 25 years as a resident company member.

MARK LANKS (Lighting Designer)
Mr. Lanks returns to National Players having previously designed Tour 59 (Twelfth Night and Call of the Wild) and summer 2007 tour of The Tempest. Other recent designs include Glory Days on Broadway, Big River at Olney Theatre, The Happy Time and The Studio at Signature Theatre, An Evening with Scott Bakula for Ford's Theatre, Julia Nixon in Concert at the Lincoln Theatre, Tick Tick Boom! at MetroStage, and Songs for a New World at Strathmore Music Center. He received a BA in Musical Theatre from Susquehanna University and an MFA in Lighting Design from Boston University.

ELISHEBA ITTOOP (Sound Designer)
Elisheba is excited to be back at Olney Theatre.  Olney: Trumpery, Tree Boy.  Regional: The Kennedy Center, Teddy Roosevelt and the Ghostly Mistletoe, Mermaids, Monsters, and the World Painted Purple, Golden Age (Assistant Designer), Trumpet of the Swan (Associate Designer).  Shakespeare Theatre: Dog in the Manger (Assistant Designer).  Everyman Theatre, Blackbird.  Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Goodnight Moon, Treasure Island (Composer), Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Beauty and the Beast, The Drama Club, Surviving the Applewhites, The Wizard of Oz.  Center for Puppetry Arts, Tall Tales, Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, The Ghastly Dreadfuls.  Elisheba was a resident sound designer at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center for the 2010 National Playwrights Conference, recipient of the Kenan Fellowship at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and winner of the 2008 USITT Rising Star Award.  Education: New York University, BFA Theatre Arts.  North Carolina School of the Arts, MFA Sound Design.  

MADELEINE RUSSELL

(General Manager)

Madeleine Russell originally hails from Ames, Iowa.  She has a BFA with special distinction from the University of Oklahoma, School of Drama. Favorite shows there include, Texarkana Waltz, Noises Off, Marat/Sade, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and Dancing at Lugnasa.  Her local DC credits include The Tempest and Two Gentleman of Verona (National Players Summer Shakespeare), Cinderella and her Sisters (Olney Theatre Center), Herbie: Poet of the Wild West (2009 DC Capital Fringe Festival), Fool at the Circus (Synetic Family Theatre), and Losing It (2010 DC Capital Fringe Festival). As an alum of The National Players 59th annual tour (Olivia in 12th Night and Pup in Call of the Wild),she has a very special place in her heart for The National Players and would love to get in touch about bringing Shakespeare to your area!