Steven Maler is the founding Artistic Director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC), which presents free productions of Shakespeare on the Boston Common. His CSC production of TWELFTH NIGHT won the Elliot Norton award for “Best Production,” his production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM won the Norton Award for "Outstanding Director,” his production of SUBURBIA for the SpeakEasy Stage Company won the Norton Award for "Best Production," and his production of John Kuntz’s STARF***ERS won the Norton Award for “Best Solo Performance.” STARF***ERS was presented in the New York International Fringe Festival and won the “Best Solo Performance Award.”
In 2008 he directed the critically acclaimed production of AS YOU LIKE IT on Boston Common and in Springfield for CSC, seen by over 65,000 people. He also recently directed the American Premiere of Peter Eötvös' operatic treatment of Tony Kushner’s ANGELS IN AMERICA. Other productions include THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, starring Jennifer Dundas, HAMLET, starring Jeffrey Donovan, MACBETH, starring Jay O. Sanders, HENRY V, starring Anthony Rapp, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, ROMEO AND JULIET, AS YOU LIKE IT, JULIUS CAESAR, and THE TEMPEST for CSC; Enrico Garzilli’s MICHELANGELO for Opera Providence; TURN OF THE SCREW for The New Repertory Theatre; SANTALAND DIARIES and PORCELAIN for the SpeakEasy Stage Company; TOP GIRLS and WELDON RISING for The Coyote Theatre; and THE L.A. PLAYS by Han Ong for the American Repertory Theatre, where he was the Artistic Associate for New Plays.
Recent projects include the new musical WITHOUT YOU, written by and starring Anthony Rapp, at the City Theatre of Pittsburgh.
From 2002-2006 he was the Vice President for Artistic Programming at Citi Performing Arts Center (formerly The Wang Center). At Citi Center, he created the Programming and Investment Committee to engage Trustees around programming challenges; he launched American Voices, a series of staged readings of classic American plays featuring some Broadway’s best actors – Leslie Uggams, David Morse, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Denis O’Hare, Blair Brown, Anthony Mackie, Charles Busch, Paul Rudd and Fred Weller; and he
launched Artropolis, a subscription series offering high quality family entertainment with educational study guides and artist talkbacks (productions include Rachel Portman’s operatic treatment of THE LITTLE PRINCE, Deaf West’s production of BIG RIVER, PROJECT BANDALOOP, and AGA-BOOM).
His feature film, THE AUTUMN HEART, starring Tyne Daly and Ally Sheedy, was in the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival and won the "Audience Choice" award at The Nantucket Film Festival. It was released in September 2000.
He is a graduate of the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University where he directed WOYZECK, PERICLES, THE DUCHESS OF MALFI, and GHOSTS. He was the associate director of HENRY IV, PARTS 1 AND 2 and HENRY V at the American Repertory Theatre, and TITUS ANDRONICUS and HAMLET in Tokyo.
He grew up in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on the John Motley Morehead scholarship. He has lived in the Boston area for twenty years.
Gali Halpern is the General Manager of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC), which presents free productions of Shakespeare on the Boston Common. A native of Israel, she has been working on and around stages since she was 9. Ms. Halpern holds a BA in Management and Communications from the Tel Aviv University and a Msc. In Arts Administration from Boston University. She has worked with a multitude of Performing Arts Organizations in the US and Israel in both Management and Artistic capacities.
In the US, she has worked for Columbia Artists Management in NY, The Wang Center for the Performing Arts in Boston, Boston University, Berkshire Theater Festival and the Opera Institute at Boston University. In Israel, she has worked with the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Education, the Israel Festival and the Zimriyah. A long-time member and MC of Israel’s leading professional Youth Choir, The Efroni Choir, she has performed in most venues in Israel and toured to Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany, Canada and the US.
She is the Book writer, lyricist and Director for Vice The Musical, a theater piece currently in development with a planned staging in Berlin, Germany in 2010 and is collaborating with a Lebanese writer on a play about life on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border. In 2008 she joined the Soprano section of the Zamir Chorale of Boston.
Joyce Linehan (Press) is a life-long resident of Dorchester, and a media specialist. She owns Ashmont Media, a communications company specializing in the development of innovative media campaigns, community outreach and government relations for arts and culture groups, and currently works with First Night Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Opera Boston, Boston Athenaeum, The Boston Conservatory, New England Foundation for the Arts, Boston Comedy Festival and others. Ashmont Media is the parent company of Ashmont Records, an internationally distributed independent record company and book imprint. In the past, she has worked in both the non-profit arts world and the for-profit entertainment industry. She spent six years as the Senior Director of Artists and Repertoire for Sub Pop Records, owned by the Warner Music Group, and has been involved in artist management for the past twenty years, working with artists like the Lemonheads, Smithereens and the Pernice Brothers. Linehan is the Board President of the Dorchester Arts Collaborative, a non-profit that develops and facilitates arts programming in Dorchester to cultivate the social, cultural, and economic enrichment of Boston's largest and most diverse neighborhood. She is also on the Board President for Interim House, a residential treatment facility for substance abusers and formerly served on the Boards of the Strand Theatre and St. Mark’s Area Main Street in Dorchester. She has worked as a volunteer on numerous campaigns and community projects. Linehan has her B.A. and M.A. in American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where she was the recipient of a Spayne/Bollinger Research Grant, and the American Studies Book Award. Her interests include public policy, politics, the media, popular culture, fine arts and her dog, Charlie Ashmont.
Ryan joined CSC in 2009 as Assistant Director for Comedy of Errors.
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