Artistic Personnel
William Partlan (Artistic Director) directs each presentation of Triple Espresso and
collaborates with directors around the world to adapt the play to other languages and
cultures. He also serves as Associate Professor in Directing in the School of Theatre
and Film of the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University.
He has directed off-Broadway, regional and international premieres over the last 25
years. He is known for his work with new plays and playwrights like Alan Ball, Lee
Blessing, Jeff Hatcher, and John Patrick Shanley. He has directed numerous plays at
the O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights’ Conference including premieres of August
Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Fences. Bill directed All God’s Dangers,
starring Cleavon Little, at Cricket Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, offBroadway and for PBS’ American Playhouse. His acclaimed American premier
production of Hugh Whitemore’s The Best of Friends was produced off-Broadway by
Michael Douglas and Producers Circle. He directed Swim Visit and Sacred Journey
off-Broadway at Primary Stages. Regionally, he has directed at Actors Theatre of
Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Alliance Theatre, The Empty Space,
Florida Stage, Jewish Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, New Mexico
Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Festival Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Trinity
Repertory Theatre, Virginia Stage and Yale Repertory Theatre. Bill was the Artistic
Director of Cricket Theatre in Minneapolis for nine years, where he premiered over
fifty new plays, including Triple Espresso.
He has directed for National Public Radio’s Earplay series and has served as an
on-site reporter for the National Endowment for the Arts and as Jury Chairman for the
2000 Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre. He is a magna cum laude
graduate of Dartmouth College and the National Theatre Institute. He has his MFA in
Directing from the University of Minnesota on a Bush Foundation Fellowship.
Michael Pearce Donley is a songwriter and concert artist; he wrote the original
music and produced the recorded tracks for Triple Espresso. He's been seen as
"Sparky" and "Smudge" in the long-running hit Forever Plaid, and as "LM" in Pump
Boys and Dinettes. Recently he and playwright Brook Berry wrote Nibblers: a
musical with sharks, which premiered at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. His original
music has been featured in the popular children's recording GT and the Halo Express,
and he was the musical director for the national live radio program Sunday Nite. He's
the proud papa of Emma and Lewis, and there's only one word he can say about his
wife: Joy.
Bill Arnold (Author/Buzz Maxwell) Bill has performed at comedy and magic clubs,
as well as corporate events all over the world. He spent many years doing stand-up at
David Wood's Ribtickler in Minneapolis, and has appeared in the last 3 seasons of
Generation Cross, which was broadcast in Minneapolis, Long Island, New Orleans,
and Boston. In his vast amounts of spare time he enjoys taking pictures, lifting
weights, and avoiding the sun. He would like to thank his family and friends that
politely watched him do his magic tricks when he first started, and now would like to
thank them again for still watching. He can be reached at buzzmaxwell@aol.com
Bob Stromberg (Author/Bobby Bean) received a B.A. from North Park College in
Chicago, followed by two years of study with Tony Montenaro at Celebration Mime
Theatre in Maine. It was there he met Michael Cooper and created “Stromberg and
Cooper’s Mummerstock Theatre” which performed over 4000 shows in schools
and community theaters throughout New England. In 1989 he began full time
Christian ministry, performing his personal style of storytelling, original music and
comedy around North America. In 1992, he began a regular spot on the nationally
syndicated radio show, Sunday Nite. Bob has written two books, Why Geese Fly
Farther than Eagles, and Finding the Magnificent in Lower Mundane. He lives in
the Twin Cities with his wife Judy and continues to tour extensively as a featured
entertainer and communicator.
Nayna Ramey (scene designer) is based in the Twin Cities. Her regional work
includes Liliom, Indian Ink and Morningstar at Missouri Repertory Theatre/Kansas
City; Voice of the Prairie at Next Act/Milwaukee, Hair at the Historic Pantages
Theatre/Minneapolis; Hamlet and The Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare Santa
Cruz/California; The Tempest, Cymbeline, Antony and Cleopatra, Mrs. Warren’s
Profession and Uncle Vanya at American Players Theatre/Spring Green,
Wisconsin; My Way, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown at the McKnight
Theatre/St Paul; Noises Off, Talley's Folly and Pygmalion at Indiana Repertory
Theatre; Sisters of Swing, Hiding in the Open and Main Street at the Great
American History Theatre and over 48 productions at Chanhassen Theatres
including Anything Goes, Annie, Cats, Sound of Music, Oil City Symphony, Big
Bang, My Fair Lady and Camelot.
Michael Klaers (Lighting Design) regional credits include Talley’s Folly, Mother
of the Movement, and To Kill A Mockingbird at the Indiana Repertory Theatre;
Greater Tuna at Actors Theatre Louisville; Many Colours Make the Thunder King,
The Mystery of the Rose Bouquet, The Short Plays, A Christmas Carol and The
Merchant of Venice at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, where he also served as
lighting supervisor on the tour of k: Impressions of the Trial and Old Times. Also
in the Twin Cities he designed Sacred Journey, The Cover of Life, Scotland Road,
Tribes, and Lonely Planet for the Cricket Theatre; O Pioneers! for the History
Theatre, Letters From Manila for the Southern Theater; among many others.
Kathleen Egan (Costume Design) designed Having Our Say at Indiana Repertory
Theatre. Her Twin Cities credits include Howard Mohr’s How to Talk Minnesotan
at the Plymouth Playhouse; The Short Plays at the Guthrie on First; and the
Midwest premiere of The Kentucky Cycle at the History Theatre; and several
projects for Cricket Theatre, including The Cover of Life, Three Postcards, Five
Women Wearing the Same Dress, Scotland Road, and Lonely Planet. Nationally,
Egan’s work has been seen off-Broadway at the Hartman Theatre, Pennsylvania
Stage Company, for dinner theatres and for several colleges and universities across
the country. She taught Costume Design at Emporia (Kansas) State University and
for the University of Minnesota and was the Costume Manager at Indiana
Repertory Theatre.
John Markiewicz (Sound Design) has twenty years experience in performance
audio, live broadcast, recording and installations. He is the owner of Audio Logic
Systems, located in Bloomington, MN, an installation and full service
production company providing audio, video and lighting services, as well as
planning and consultation. John’s many credits include work with Fannie Mae,
Interbank, Minnesota Public Radio, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts,
Green Bay’s Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, Concordia University, the
University of St. Thomas and the College of St. Catharine; and with a wide range
of artists including Bobbie McFerrin, Savion Glover, Lee Greenwood, Pam Tillis,
Tony Campolo, Phillips, Craig and Dean, Ken Davis, Jaci Velasquez, Juice
Newton, Pat Boone, B.J. Thomas, Point of Grace and Jars of Clay.