The Creative Team of Noted London and Broadway Professionals
Playwright Roy M. Close
Roy M. Close, a native Minneapolitan, holds a BA in English from the University of Minnesota. His teachers included Allen Tate, John Berryman, and Charles Nolte. From 1971 to 1992 he worked as a performing arts critic (theater, classical music, and dance) and editor for The Minneapolis Star and Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
He is the author of Critical Conditions, a study of criticism in Minnesota, and more than a dozen plays, including the musical Lies, Lies, Lies and the short plays Zambezi Blue, A Postcard from the Corn Palace, Killing Mother, After Goldilocks, and Your Call Is Very Important to Us. He co-wrote A Brief Crack of Light with William Semans.
Close worked as a grant writer for Artspace Projects, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit real estate developer for the arts starting in 1999. He’s a retired director of Artspace and former President of the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Fringe Festival.
Gareth Johnson General Manager
Gareth Johnson has produced and managed productions for more than 30 years for an “A” list of clients, including Sir Michael Codron, The GradeLinnit Company, Playful Productions, Lee Menzies, Patrick Myles, Oliver King, and Guy Chapman. He started as an actor and stage manager in the 1970’s.
In 2023, general management included the continuing tour of The Lavender Hill Mob and the production of Mongol Khan at the London Coliseum. Also, he was General Manager (GM) for co-producers Maxwell Mitchell and Sandy Marshall; Oliver King of Wild Yak Productions and did project management for Playful Productions.
In 2022, Johnson re-started development projects put “on hold” during the pandemic, including Hay Fever⎯The Musical which was workshopped last year; Charley⎯The Musical for Pretpakhuis, given a rehearsed reading; and the development of Alliance.
Prior to the pandemic, he was General Manager with GradeLinnit Company of Man of La Mancha with Kelsey Grammer, Chess, Carousel, 42nd Street, and Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close.
Playwright William Semans
Most recently he wrote and produced the play A Brief Crack of Light (previous title Exit Strategy) to critical acclaim in both Minneapolis and Los Angeles. William founded the Cricket Theater in Minneapolis and was its producing director for 13 years.
He has produced and staged over 100 productions. Under his tenure the theater was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Regional Theater.
He also co-produced, directed and wrote the feature film, Herman USA. William Semans co-produced the award-winning World War II documentary series, The American Hero. He also produced Fighter Aces of World War II, the 1988 Military Video of the Year, as well as Ladies Sing the Blues, nominated in 1989 as Best Long Form Music Video of the Year.
His World War II documentaries are being streamed on several channels both in the U.S. and internationally.
Karen Lindsay-Stewart Casting Director
Casting Director Karen Lindsay-Stewart has thirty-four years of experience in casting actors for film, televison, and theatre in the UK, inclduding two Harry Potter films.
Among the notable films that she has cast: Marie Antionette, Submarine, The Velveteen Rabbit, Secret Garden; and the Murder is Easy, The Pale Horse, and The War of the Worlds television series. She’s worked with a wide range of clients including BBC, Warner Bros, BritBox, and Amazon. Karen Lindsay-Stewart worked with director Michael Lindsay-Hogg on the film Object of Beauty with John Malkovich and Andie MacDowell.
Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg
His Broadway credits include: The Normal Heart, Agnes of God (2 years on Broadway and two Tony Awards), and Tony Award nominated Whose Life is It Anyway. He also directed Boys of Winter and the original Off Broadway production of The Normal Heart. Agnes of God was also made into a film with Jane Fonda and Ann BancroftLindsay-Hogg started his career by directing films for British rock stars, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He went on to direct the award winning Brideshead Revisited and BBC Play for Today and Play of the Week. Michael also directed numerous domestic and international TV movies and feature films.
Lindsay-Hogg contributed film for Peter Jackson’s documentary The Beatles: Get Back and appears in it, directing their last live performance. He recently penned the memoir Luck and Circumstance. Also a painter, he’s exhibited his artwork internationally.
Attorney Jean Ward
Jean Ward is one of New York’s best-known theater lawyers, with over 30 years’ experience representing producers, authors, film companies and other stage rights holders, not-for-profit theatre companies, theatre owners, creative personnel, and investors. She is recognized in the 2022 edition of Best Lawyers in America for Entertainment Law—Theatre and is listed as a “Super Lawyer” by SuperLawyers magazine.
Jean is a 6-time NYC Entertainment Lawyer of the Year. Shows that she’s represented include Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Five Guys Named Moe, and Miss Saigon.
Current projects include representing Anais Mitchell (Broadway’s Hadestown) and Asher Muldoon (upcoming musical adaptation of The Butcher Boy), the composers and lyricists of the upcoming stage adaptation of True Blood, the stage and upcoming film version of Cyrano, and the co-bookwriter/director of the upcoming Blues Brothers stage musical.