Creative Team Bios

ANNA CRACE(DIRECTOR)

Anna Crace is a Director and Dramaturg originally from the UK and now based in Minnesota. Recent credits include:Director: The Girl On The Train (Lyric Arts); Geminae (The Southern Theater); The Daughter Abroad (Theatre503); blueisblueisblueisblue (The Peckham Pelican); This Wall (English Theatre Berlin); you/me/tomorrow (Apiary Studios); Stranded (National Youth Theatre). Associate* & Assistant Director: Born With Teeth* (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); A Midsummer Night’s Dream* (Filter Theatre, U.K. Tour); Born With Teeth (Guthrie Theater & Asolo Rep), Twelfth Night (Guthrie Theater), Small Mouth Sounds (Jungle Theater); The Seagull, The Plough and the Stars, Jack and the Beanstalk (Lyric Hammersmith). Dramaturg: Vietgone (Guthrie Theater), A Different Pond (STC), Raymie Nightingale (STC) A Christmas Carol (Guthrie Theater). Training: B.A., Drama, The University of Manchester; M.A., Dramaturgy and Writing for Performance, Goldsmiths, University of London; M.F.A., Directing, Birkbeck, University of London. Anna is currently the Manager of New Play Development at Stages Theatre Company!

JC LIPPOLD (MUSIC DIRECTOR)

JC is grateful to walk alongside amazing storytellers at Stages Theatre Company in this production! As music director, JC has worked at Stages Theatre Company since 2011. His favorite shows include Bridge to Terabithia, Spookley the Square Pumpkin & the last two Pippa/Kenny World Premieres "What Do You Do With an Idea?" and "Maybe". Here's to dragons, tacos and the power of theatre!

MEGAN TORBERT(CHOREOGRAPHER)

Megan has been an employee of Stages Theatre Company since her return to the Twin Cities in 2019 in various roles such as a part-time Teaching Artist and choreographer, and full-time Marketing Manager. For the past 10 years Megan has choreographed musicals at a number of schools and theatres throughout the Twin Cities and Omaha areas including Holy Family High School, SPA, The Rose Theater, and Creighton University. She is thankful for the fulfilling opportunities to do what she loves - teaching the joys of theatre to young people of all ages. Megan would like to thank her incredibly supportive and patient wife, Marissa, for putting up with her choreographing musicals in the kitchen at the most inopportune times.

ADAM RUBIN (AUTHOR)

Adam Rubin is the author of a dozen critically acclaimed picture books, which have sold more than five million copies combined. They include Dragons Love Tacos, Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel, High Five, Gladys the Magic Chicken, Secret Pizza Party, Robo-Sauce, the Those Darn Squirrels trilogy, and El Chupacabras, which won the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Publishers Weekly called his #1 New York Times bestselling story collection The Ice Cream Machine a “madcap middle grade debut.” Visit Adam online at adamrubinhasawebsite.com and follow him on Twitter @rubingo.

DANIEL SALMIERI (ILLUSTRATOR)

Daniel Salmieri is an artist and illustrator from New York City. He has illustrated 12 picture books including four best-sellers, one of which is Dragons Love Tacos. He regularly contributes to The New Yorker and The New York Times and other print and digital media. Daniel currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife, son, and their dog Ronni.

SHARON KENNY (COMPOSER & LYRICIST)

Sharon Kenny writes songs and the words that go with them.  She lives in New York. Kenny's solo projects include Songs About You; (Songs About Me), Holiday Happy, My Name Is Sharon, Adjectives & Nouns (EP), and Pianocentric.  Her music has been prominently featured worldwide on television, most notably with five placements on Lifetime’s hit show, Dance Moms.  Kenny’s song "Hotel Heart" reached #68 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts; her music has cumulatively garnered nearly 25 million views on YouTube. Sharon’s theatre work has been commissioned and/or developed at New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Theatreworks Palo Alto, Yale Institute of Music Theatre, The Institute of American Musical Theatre, and Stages Theatre Company. She is an alum of ANTFest (Ars Nova), The Johnny Mercer Songwriter's Project (American Music Theatre Project), Prospect Theatre Company's Musical Theatre Lab, and Space on Ryder Farm. She has performed sold out shows to Joe's Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, and the Gramercy Theatre, and has been a finalist for the Fred Ebb, Jonathan Larson, and Richard Rodgers Awards. As a pianist, she has played extensively on Broadway. www.sharon-kenny.com, @sharonkennymusic

CRISTINA PIPPA (PLAYWRIGHT)

Cristina Pippa is an award-winning playwright and filmmaker. Collaborations with Sharon Kenny include commissioned world premieres for 92NY, such as Ice Queen and Tempest, which was recommended by The New York Times, as well as musical adaptations of Kobi Yamada's What Do You Do with an Idea? and Maybe for Stages Theatre Company. Cristina also wrote adaptations of Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo and The Most Magnificent Thing with music/lyrics by Michael Gruber for Stages. Her short film Amelia premiered at the Toronto International FIlm Festival and won the Golden Gateway Award at the Mumbai Film Festival. Cristina completed her BA at Columbia University and her MFA at the University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop, where she received the Iowa Fellowship for the Arts and the Norman Felton Fellowship.