Introducing OpenStage’s 54th Season Directors
Meet The Directors of Season 54
OpenStage Theatre & Company is thrilled to feature such a stellar team of directors for our 54th Season. Learn more about all five directors below.
Dracula
By Steven Dietz
Based on the novel by Bram Stoker
Directed by Peter Anthony
Peter Anthony returns to OpenStage for the first time since 2018 to direct Dracula, bringing his signature mastery of atmospheric gothic drama and immersive stage design to this classic tale of horror. His keen eye for suspense and theatrical storytelling promises to make this production a haunting experience.
PETER ANTHONY is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist, director and designer of over a hundred productions staged in Colorado, California, and Oregon. His work ranges from Shakespeare to gritty contemporary drama, from grand opera to multimedia dance theatre creations. He is a playwright and novelist, and is a member of the Dramatist Guild of America. Mr. Anthony’s original works include a rock opera, Ruins (with Perry Sheafor) and Dreamland staged for IMPact Theatre, Speed Of Darkness/Velocity Of Light for the Dance Connection, and Miranda Moon for OpenStage Theatre. In 2020 he wrote and directed his film adaptation of Macbeth, Sleep No More (produced by Factor Five Films) which was accepted to the Black Swan International Film Festival, and the London Movie Awards. Mr. Anthony holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in directing from The University of California, Irvine, where he studied with the internationally acclaimed director, Jerzy Grotowski.
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Tryingto Keep Him Alive
By Selina Fillinger
Directed by Jessica Jackson
Jessica Jackson brings her wide-ranging experience as a director and multidisciplinary theatre artist to POTUS. Her collaborative approach and instinct for comedy create a dynamic space for the play’s sharp humor and larger-than-life characters.
JESSICA JACKSON is a director, composer, actor, writer, and rampant improviser. During her time as Artistic Director of Creede Repertory Theatre, this award-winning theatre produced 6 world premiere productions, 7 new play festivals, & 12 world-premiere commissions for young audiences. She founded Boomtown Improv Comedy and helmed the devised Pants on Fire: a totally made-up musical for kids. Some of her favorite projects: Socially distanced golf-cart odyssey The Rough (writer/director) & satirical musical Small Ball (director) with The Catamounts, Roe (director) and The Laramie Project (director) at Oklahoma City University, Colorado premieres of Miss Holmes (director) and William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead (director), the world premiere of Sight Hound (director) by Pam Houston, Billy Hell (composer-Denver Post Ovation Award Best Original Music), and sundry original shows created with Jeff Carey (composer/director). Most recently, she directed The Cottage with OpenStage. She’s working on a new full-length musical, Singletrack, with Steven Cole Hughes and goofing around with her 12-year-old daughter, Penny, and brilliant husband, Matt.
In The Next Room (Or, The Vibrator Play)
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Jacob Offen and Jennifer R. Bray
OpenStage Artistic Director Jacob Offen brings his experience as a longtime company leader to In the Next Room (Or, The Vibrator Play), joined by esteemed company member Jennifer R. Bray in her directorial debut with OpenStage. Together, their shared history with the company and complementary perspectives bring a collaborative energy to the rehearsal room.
JACOB OFFEN has played many roles at OpenStage Theatre & Company – actor, staff member, board member, and now director and Producing Artistic Director. Misery marks his directorial debut at OpenStage. Jacob taught Acting at the University of Houston during histenure as an MFA candidate, and recently at the University of Northern Colorado. He designed a comprehensive curriculum rooted in Stanislavsky, Hagen, Meisner, Roy Heart and Cecily Berry, and coached actors in scene work/audition preparation. Further, Jacob has created acting, voice, and Shakespearean text workshops at the Texas Shakespeare Festival, Houston Shakespeare Festival, and for acting students of all ages. While he served as the Company Development Administrator (2011 – 2015), he produced and directed entertainment for OST&C’s spring fundraisers (Casino Royal: The Sting, Viva Las Vegas, Oceans 11, le Cirque Rouge!). He is thrilled to put his years of experience as a performer and teaching artist to work for Misery and for many future productions to come!
JENNIFER R. BRAY is thrilled to co-direct at OpenStage this season, continuing a return to directing that began last season as Assistant Director with The Wizard of Oz at Fort Collins Children’s Theatre. She continued that summer with The Merry Wives of Windsor at OpenStage. She holds a B.A. in Performing Arts with an emphasis in Acting/Directing from Iowa State University, where she was selected to direct Pseudolus as part of a mini-thesis on Greek and Roman theatre and production practices. Jen has worked onstage and offstage with numerous Northern Colorado theatre companies, including Bas Bleu Theatre, Windsor Community Playhouse, Encore! Encore!, and Loveland Community Theatre, where she directed Incorruptible. In a season filled with fierce, complicated, funny, and searching women, Jen dedicates her work to all of the amazing women who have shaped, supported, challenged, and inspired her, and with love to Brian, who is always beside her.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Heather Ostberg Johnson
Heather, OpenStage’s Associate Artistic Director and a celebrated movement artist, returns with her take on a Shakespeare classic, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Her signature physical storytelling promises to bring a fresh, kinetic energy to this timeless story.
HEATHER OSTBERG JOHNSON, theatre maker, movement artist, and Associate Artistic Director of OpenStage, is thrilled to be back for another season! She wears many hats as a director, actor, writer, improv comedian, teacher, clown, and dancer—and is happiest somewhere in the messy middle of all of it.
Heather has directed The Mousetrap, Pride & Prejudice, and Dance Nation with OpenStage, and performed in The 39 Steps, receiving a Henry Award for her role as Clown 2. Outside of OpenStage, she performs and directs regularly with The Comedy Brewers, The Band of Toughs (Denver), The Story Bakers, and a variety of developing new works.
A lifelong lover of movement, devising, and physical theatre, Heather has trained with SITI Company, Frantic Assembly, Michael Chekhov Acting Studio, Double Edge Theatre, Giovanni Fusetti, and Pandemonium Studio. She currently teaches at Colorado State University, where she gets to share her love of physical, playful, and collaborative storytelling with the next generation of theatre makers.
When she isn’t making theatre, Heather is keeping two young kids alive and attempting to keep all the plates spinning. She is endlessly grateful for her vast circle of supportive friends and family—and sends the loudest shoutout to Reed Johnson!
