SEARCHING FOR MR. MOON

Richard Topol – He is making his playwriting debut with Searching For Mr. Moon, and he thanks his co-writer Willy for the idea in the first place, and his patience and sense of humor along the way. As an actor he has previously appeared at Portland Stage in Loot and Scapin. He has performed on Broadway numerous times including as Lemml in the Tony Award winning production of Indecent, for which he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award; with Larry David in Fish in the Dark; with Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice; with Denzel Washington in Julius Caesar; with Mark Ruffalo in the Tony Award winning revival of Awake and Sing; with Joe Mantello in the Tony Award winning revival of The Normal Heart, and with Morgan Freeman and Frances McDormand in The Country Girl, directed by Mike Nichols. His off-Broadway appearances include productions at the Atlantic, Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center, The Public, The Vineyard and Primary Stages. His film and TV credits include Lincoln, Indignation, Mickey Blue Eyes, Party Girl, Curb your Enthusiasm, The Blacklist, all the Law & Order series and recurring roles on Billions, Godfather of Harlem, Manifest, Genius: Einstein, The Practice, Perception, and many others. Richard has received two Drama Desk Awards, a Cullman award from Lincoln Center, and an Audelco Award. He holds an MFA in Acting from NYU and a BA in Political Science from Brown University.

Willy Holtzman – His The Morini Strad, Inside Out, and The Real McGonagall received full productions at Portland Stage Company. Sabina and The First Mrs. Rochester were developed at The Little Festival of the Unexpected. New York productions include The Morini Strad, Sabina, Something You Did, Bovver Boys (Primary Stages), Inside Out (Theater for a New Audience), San Antonio Sunset, The Last Temptation of Joe Hill, The Closer (The Working Theatre). His plays have been produced regionally at City Theatre, The Long Wharf Theater, Geva Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, People’s Light, and Theater, Theatre J, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, The Colony Theater, Asolo Repertory Theatre, The Goodspeed Opera House, The Alliance Theatre, Northlight Theatre, and New York Stage and Film. He wrote and produced the Independent Film Edge of America for which he received the Peabody Award, the WGA Award, and The Humanitas Prize. He is a board member at New Dramatists and PlayPenn.

Julia Gibson directed Greater Tuna at Portland Stage several years ago and is very happy to return! She has directed with Rattlestick, Barrow Street, Origin Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Source, and Epic Theatre Ensemble in New York City; and at Chautauqua Theater Company, Gulfshore Playhouse, New London Barn, Juilliard, NYU Graduate Acting, SMU in Dallas, The Actors Center Conservatory, A.C.T. Conservatory in San Francisco, Stony Brook University, and Stella Adler Conservatory. She was Associate Director of the revival of Angels in America at the Signature Theatre. As an actor, she has performed on and off Broadway and at major theaters across the US, as well as on TV and film. She is currently Co-Head of the Graduate Acting Program at UNC Chapel Hill where she also serves as a company member of PlayMakers Repertory Company. She received her MFA in Acting from New York University (alongside Richard Topol), is a founding member of The Actors Center in New York City and of the National Alliance for Acting Teachers; she is a Fox Fellowship recipient and has narrated over 160 audio books. Julia recently received a Carolina Women’s Center Faculty Scholarship grant to create a theater piece about women and aging.

Rich Richard Topol

[*member Actors' Equity Association]

[**member United Scenic Artists]

[***member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society]

Director Julia Gibson

Scenic Designer Anita Stewart**

Costume Designer Anita Stewart**

Light Designer Mari Yokoyama**

Sound Designer David Van Tieghem**

Projections Designer Michael Commendatore

Stage Manager Meg Lydon*