Mrs. Barth is beyond thrilled to be at the helm of the BHSDC this year. As a BHSDC alumna herself, the entire process of Shrek has felt like a true homecoming. In 1998, Mrs. Barth was fortunate enough to be cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz...the first production of the newly built Performing Arts Center here at BHS, but her first drama club role was in a Summer Family Theatre production of Barnum as a clown at age 6. All of her greatest drama club memories are thanks to past drama club director John Sullivan, for pouring his heart and soul into this club. It is because of his guidance and leadership that Mrs. Barth fell in love with the magic of the theatre. After BHS, she traveled for a year with Up With People, earned a BFA in Musical Theatre from Emerson College, received her Actor's Equity card while performing for three years at Disney World in Orlando, FL, and earned her MM in Music Education from Boston University. Currently, Mrs. Barth teaches music and directs the chorus at Barnstable Intermediate School. When she's not in the theatre, you can find her having family fun with her husband and their two sons!

Matthew Kohler is a native to the Cape, former BHSDC member (Class of '08), and a teaching theatre artist year round. He is the current Technical and Facilities Director at Cape Cod Theatre Company | Harwich Junior Theater and the Stagecraft and Theatre Technologies Instructor at Cape Cod Community College. He is very excited to be a part of bringing Shrek to the Performing Arts Center stage and is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the drama club where he started his theatre career, as well as work with and teach such talented students here at the BHSDC.

Kris has an extensive history with the BHSDC beginning way back in 1983 when as a naive freshman, she began her career as a shrieking head in the Annual Haunted House. She continues that role today as the Music Director for Shrek. Between then and now, Kris appeared on stage in various roles with BHSDC, Barnstable Summer Family Theater, Barnstable Comedy Club, and the Cotuit Center for the Arts. In the summer of 1990, former BHSDC Artistic Director John Sullivan handed Kris the baton for the Velveteen Rabbit, and she’s waved it a lot ever since. Notable shows for which she has been music director include The Hobbit, The Wizard of Oz, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Mary Poppins, and The Reluctant Dragon. Kris is an elementary music teacher in the Mashpee Schools. When not teaching, you’ll find her running ninja warrior obstacle courses with her son, Isaac. She is excited to be back with so many BHSDC alums on the creative team!

This is Ms. Wyt’s sixth musical with the BHSDC, and is over the moon about working with this team of creatives and these fabulous students who have not been able to do live theater for two years! When she first began her teaching career on Cape Cod, she remembers coming to BHSDC musicals and fell in love with Pippin, Joseph, Fiddler, Barnum, Seussical, Mame, Christmas Carol, On the Twentieth Century, Chicago, and so many more! She got to see Mrs. Barth share the stage with her mother, Lorraine Dunnett in The Music Man and Wizard of Oz (with a purple horse of a different color!) She believes in the joy of community that musical theater and just music making in general can bring to those who create it and who attend the performances. While in high school, Ms. Wytrwal was a proud percussionist in the Norwood High Mustang Marching Band, a piano player for their jazz band, a singer in their jazz choir and Madrigal Singers. She moved on to sing with the Ithaca College Jazz Choir, the Berklee College Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and MJ and the In Crowd. She has directed music for shows at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, the Barnstable Comedy Club, the Cape Cod Theater Company, the Cotuit Center for the Arts, and taught at Summer Sounds for the Cape Cod Conservatory. Ms. Wytrwal teaches Piano Class and directs the choirs at Barnstable High School. She would like to thank all those who have supported all the efforts of the BHSDC for mounting this production of Shrek! It’s been a journey!

As a Barnstable High School graduate, Julie Lariviere is a product of BHSDC, both on stage and as a pit musician. Her first production was as the bass player in the pit for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1979), and her most recent was as the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz (2008). Her entire family (parents, siblings, children, nieces, and nephews) has a long tradition of participating in shows with both BHSDC and Barnstable Summer Family Theater. She is excited to carry on this tradition in a new role. She has been teaching math for a long time, and for the last 19 years here at BHS. She is grateful for the many talented people who have supported her during this crazy time. She is also thrilled to work with such a devoted and enthusiastic group of performers.

Brooke Styche has been teaching English at BHS for the last 18 years. She is a graduate of Trinity College's Theater and Dance program and, before becoming an English teacher, was the director of a local dance studio. She has choreographed many musicals over the years at both Barnstable High and Sandwich High School. Brooke believes that everyone can dance and that there is nothing more beautiful than finding the story in the steps and the movement in the melody. It has been a joy to dance with the Shrek cast and to watch them find their way!

This is Kylee Youmans-Driskell's third musical working with BHSDC. This season, she is a "jack-of-all-trades" as a member of the creative team she is assisting the director (Mary), producer (Julie), and Brooke Styche as choreographer. Kylee has had a life-long passion for performing. She was a competitive dancer from age 11 through college, and has coached recreational and all-star competitive youth cheerleading on the Cape since 2012. She is a speech-language pathologist here at Barnstable High School, and lives in Plymouth with her husband and their five pets. Kylee is over-the-moon that BHSDC is back on stage this year, and can't wait to see the students perform in Shrek: The Musical!

JEANINE TESORI won the Tony Award for Best Original Score with Lisa Kron for the musical Fun Home. She has also written Tony-nominated scores for Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center; Thoroughly Modern Millie (lyrics, Dick Scanlan); Caroline, or Change (lyrics, Tony Kushner); and Shrek The Musical (lyrics, David Lindsay-Abaire). The production of Caroline, or Change at the National Theatre in London received the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Her 1997 Off-Broadway musical Violet (lyrics, Brian Crawley) opened on Broadway in 2014 and garnered four Tony nominations, including Best Musical Revival. Opera: A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (libretto, Tony Kushner; Glimmerglass) and The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me (libretto, J. D. McClatchy, Kennedy Center). Music for plays: Mother Courage (dir. George C. Wolfe, with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline), John Guare's A Free Man of Color (Lincoln Center Theater, dir. George C. Wolfe), and Romeo and Juliet (Delacorte Gala). Film scores: Nights in Rodanthe, Every Day, and You're Not You. Ms. Tesori is a member of the Dramatists Guild and was cited by the ASCAP as the first female composer to have two new musicals running concurrently on Broadway. She was the founding artistic director of Encores! Off-Center at New York City Center, and a lecturer in music at Yale University. Most of all, she is the proud parent of Siena Rafter.

DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE is a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, screenwriter, lyricist and librettist. His most recent play, Ripcord, opens this fall at Manhattan Theatre Club. His previous play Good People premiered on Broadway, was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, The Horton Foote Prize, The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and two Tony nominations. His play Rabbit Hole received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, five Tony nominations, and the Spirit of America Award. David also wrote the book and lyrics for Shrek the Musical, which was nominated for eight Tonys, four Oliviers, a Grammy, and earned David the Ed Kleban Award as America's most promising musical theatre lyricist. David's other plays include Fuddy Meers, Kimberly Akimbo, Wonder of the World and A Devil Inside, among others. In addition to his work in theatre, David's screen credits include his film adaptation of Rabbit Hole, Dreamworks' Rise of the Guardians, and the upcoming Family Fang, starring Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken and Jason Bateman.

JASON MOORE (Director). Broadway: Avenue Q, Steel Magnolias. Carnegie Hall: Jerry Springer: The Opera. Off-Broadway: Speech and Debate (Roundabout), Avenue Q (the Vineyard), Guardians (the Culture Project), The Crumple Zone. Associate directing: Les Misérables (Broadway, national tour), Ragtime (Vancouver). Writer: The Floatplane Notebooks (Charlotte Repertory Theatre). TV directing: episodes of Dawson s Creek, Everwood, One Tree Hill and Brothers and Sisters. Jason has a BS in performance studies from Northwestern University.

Rob Ashford won the 2012 Olivier Award for his production of Anna Christie starring Jude Law and Ruth Wilson at London's Donmar Warehouse. The production opened to rave reviews with The Independent's anointing it as "picture perfect" and David Benedict stating that "the production's hallmark is its boldness." Rob most recently directed the Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Scarlett Johansson, and Macbeth with Sir Kenneth Branagh at New York's Park Avenue Armory and The Manchester International Festival. The Telegraph claimed "This is a Macbeth that won't just go down as a highlight of the Manchester International Festival but as one of the Scottish Play's great revivals," and Ben Brantley of the New York Times proclaimed "Mr. Ashford uses his experience as a celebrated director of musicals to stunning, time-bending effect." Rob received his 8th Tony Nomination for his work on the Broadway revival of Evita starring Ricky Martin, and received the Tony Award for his work on the Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Other Broadway credits include How to Succeed in Business (Tony Award Nominations for his direction and choreography), Promises, Promises (Tony Award Nomination), Shrek, John Water's Cry Baby (Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Fred Astaire Awards), Curtains (Tony Award nomination), and Wedding Singer (Tony Award nomination). In London, Rob also directed the highly acclaimed Olivier Award winning revivals of A Streetcar Named Desire starring Rachel Weisz and Parade at The Donmar Warehouse. Rob did the choreography and staging for last year's Academy Awards with Seth MacFarlane and won the 2009 Emmy Award for Best Choreography for his work on Baz Luhrmann's production number (featuring Hugh Jackman and Beyoncé) at the 81st Annual Academy Awards. He has also choreographed the opening number for The Tony Awards starring Neil Patrick Harris for the past 4 years. He choreographed the feature film Beyond The Sea directed by and starring Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey and Walt Disney Production's upcoming film Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh. Most recently, Rob directed and choreographed NBC's The Sound of Music Live!, for which he received a DGA Award Nomination, and this January directed The Barber of Seville at Chicago Lyric Opera. Rob is an Associate Director at The Old Vic Theatre. He also serves on the Executive Board of The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and is a Trustee of The Joyce Theatre in New York City.