Director
Thousand Islands Playhouse/Sudbury Theatre Centre
June/September 2017
On December 4, 1956, history was made when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley gathered for an impromptu jam session at Sun Records, the birthplace of Rock & Roll. Step inside the recording studio for this seminal moment in music history and hear the rock hits that you know and love.
This was my directorial debut at the Thousand Islands Playhouse, a place that I have attended since I was a child. After serving as the Associate Artistic Director for two seasons, I was thrilled to make my debut on the Springer stage in my third season at the Playhouse. This musical was a lot of fun—great tunes and a great cast made for a great time! I also enjoyed diving into the history of this period, and finding out more about these legends of Rock ‘n’ Roll. But the real work of this project was in finding the story of this jukebox musical. We spent a lot of time considering the “fiction” of the piece, and where we were able to get creative with these icons.
Photos by Stephen Wild
Set and Costume Design by Anna Treusch
Sound Design by Ben Malone
Lighting Design by Louise Guinand
Featuring Pieter Huyer, Shruti Kothari, Calvin Laveck, Jesse MacMillan, Jason O’Brien, Jonathan Patterson, Michael Vanhevel and Joshua Wiles