Tesla cast and creative team bios
Cast
Gregory Harrison
Gregory Harrison's five-decade career spans television, film, and theater. He has starred in more than 500 hours of television, including nearly 50 Movie of the Week productions, a dozen miniseries, and countless episodic guest appearances. Now starring on General Hospital, Harrison's series leads have included Logan's Run, Trapper John M.D., Falcon Crest, Family Man, New York News, Reunion, One Tree Hill, Reckless, Rizzoli & isles, Chesapeake Shores, Hallmark's current Signed, Sealed, Delivered, and is recurring on ABC's 9-1-1. His feature films include North Shore, Razorback, It's My Party, The M Word, Fair Haven, and Jimmy and Carolyn, and his Broadway credits include Steel Pier, Follies, and Chicago (Broadway and national tour). His regional theater credits include The Hasty Heart and Picnic (Ahmanson), The Lion in Winter (Laguna Playhouse), Guys and Dolls, Paper Moon: The Musical (Papermill Playhouse. Harrison has also performed more than a dozen live radio plays for LA Theater Works. Since co-founding Catalina Productions in 1981, Gregory has produced and/or directed numerous television movies, series episodes, and over 50 plays at the Coast Playhouse in Los Angeles.
Dan Lauria
Dan Lauria has appeared as a guest star in over 70 television episodic programs and more than 20 Movie of the Week productions, plus a score of motion picture credits. Lauria is a very familiar face to the off-off, off, and regional theater scene having performed, written, or directed over 50 professional stage productions—including his highly acclaimed Dinner With the Boys, which he wrote and starred in. In 2010-2011, Lauria was seen on Broadway as the legendary coach Vince Lombardi in LOMBARDI, with the beautiful and talented Judith Light playing Marie Lombardi. The production was directed by Thomas Kail of Hamilton fame. Lauria returned to Broadway in the 2013 and the 2014 productions of the Tony-nominated A Christmas Story: The Musical directed by John Rando. Lauria recently wrote and starred in the off-Broadway hit production of Just Another Day with Patty McCormack. However, Lauria is most recognized as the dad on the highly acclaimed, Emmy-winning ABC television show The Wonder Years.
Hal Linden
Hal Linden is an American actor, singer, and musician whose career has spanned more than 65 years. Linden is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the titular police precinct captain Barney Miller in the hit series that aired on ABC from 1975 to 1982, earning multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his work.
Linden made his Broadway debut in 1957 in Bells Are Ringing. He later starred in the 1962 revival of Anything Goes. He has performed in more than 20 Broadway and off-Broadway productions. His numerous stage credits include Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Scottsboro Boys, Tuesdays with Morrie, On Golden Pond, Chicago, Cabaret, and The Rothchilds, for which he won the 1971 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Feature film credits include: Bells Are Ringing (1960), When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1979), Starflight One (1983), Out To Sea (1997) with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, A New Life (1988) with Alan Alda, Time Changer and The Samuel Project in 2020. His most recent feature film, You People, premiered in 2023. Linden starred in several more series for network television: Blacke's Magic (1986), Jack's Place (1992-93), and The Boys Are Back (1994). Numerous guest appearances include: Two Broke Girls, Hot In Cleveland, Gilmore Girls, Will and Grace, The Drew Carey Show, The Nanny, The King of Queens, Touched By An Angel, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: SVU. Linden has spent considerable time traveling the country with his show, Hal Linden In Concert. The set is an entertaining combination of songs and theatrical musings highlighting memorable moments from his life and career. He recently starred in the off-Broadway play Two Jews Talking, which was a fall 2022 hit at the St. Clement's Theatre. In 2011 Hal released his first CD titled It's Never Too Late. The disc, a labor of love that Linden recorded over a period of three decades, includes 14 tracks that range from classic pop to jazz standards, Broadway and feature film tunes, and favorites from the Great American Songbook. A classically trained clarinetist (he joined the musician's union at 15), Linden played in dance bands before being drafted into the Army, where he sang and provided entertainment for the troops. He enrolled at New York's American Theatre Wing, where he trained in voice and drama. Linden was married for 52 years to his wife, Frances, until her passing in 2010. They have four children. Linden serves as spokesman for the Jewish National Fund.
Charles Shaughnessy
Charles Shaughnessy was born to a showbiz family in London and educated at Eton and Cambridge University, where he tried to "do something sensible" by getting a degree in law. It didn't work. Performing in the celebrated Footlights Revue was a lot more fun than torts and land law, so he decided to join the family business after all. A couple of years in repertory theater and then starring role in a TV show at the BBC put Shaughnessy on the map the UK, so he shook it all up again and pursued a gorgeous American actress to America, married her, and raised two equally gorgeous daughters who are the light of his life. They were recently joined by a grandson, who made his debut on this earth in September of 2022. In 1984, Shaughnessy made his professional U.S. debut at the Mark Taper Forum in Howard Brenton's The Genius. He went on to a successful and multifaceted career on stage and screen that took him from exotic locations like Hawaii and Paris to stages on Broadway and the North Shore Music Theatre. He considers himself extremely lucky to have made a living in this crazy business and has enjoyed every second. You might recognize him from his roles on some beloved TV shows like The Nanny, Mad Men, and Days of Our Lives, but then again—you might not.
French Stewart
French Stewart is best known for his work on the classic TV series Third Rock From The Sun. Most recently, he appeared as Chef Rudy for eight seasons on Chuck Lorre's hit show Mom with Allison Janney. He has also appeared on Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, Just Shoot Me, Trial and Error, The Drew Carey Show, NewsRadio, Community, Psych, Bones, The Closer, Castle, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Roseanne, Limetown, Deadly Class, Leverage, and recurring roles on Will Trent, The Middle, NCIS and Secrets & Lies. Stewart's film credits include Stargate, Leaving Las Vegas, Queen Bees, Inspector Gadget 2, and cult favorite Love Stinks. For the past 30 years, Stewart has also been a proud participant in LA theater: both as a member of Justin Tanner's legendary Cast Theater (Zombie Attack, Pot Mom, Party Mix, Teen Girl and Happy Time X-Mas) and is on the advisory board at Sacred Fools Theater Company. Recent stage credits include Harvey (Laguna Playhouse) Finks (Rogue Machine) Tesla (Laguna Playhouse) Matthew Modine Saves The Alpacas (Geffen Playhouse), Watson (Sacred Fools Theater Company), Voice Lessons (with Laurie Metcalf) off-Broadway at Theatre Row, and most recently the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. He also appeared as Buster Keaton in Stoneface at The Pasadena Playhouse (awarded Production of the Year by LA's Stage Raw).
Vanessa Claire Stewart
Vanessa Claire Stewart co-wrote and starred as Keely Smith in Louis and Keely: Live at the Sahara for Sacred Fools Theater Company (Ovation Award for best actress, best musical). Louis and Keely later moved to the Geffen Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse, and Royal George Theatre in Chicago. She also penned Stoneface starring French Stewart (Sacred Fools, Pasadena Playhouse). Her favorite roles: Veta, Harvey (Laguna Playhouse); Dora, An Octoroon (Fountain Theatre); Alex, A Clockwork Orange (LA Weekly award for best actress); Natalie; Finks (Rogue Machine Theater); Laura, The Glass Menagerie (Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre); Jackie, Magic Bullet Theory, Sacred Fools Theater; Louise, Gypsy; Olivia, Twelfth Night (Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival). Her Film and TV work includes: Rules of Engagement, Wanda Sykes Show, Alex and The List, Bed and Breakfast, Almost Super, Chase the Slut (Edinburgh Film Fest); as singer/host: host of the 2008 LA Weekly Awards (El Rey Theater), 2009 Newport Beach Jazz Festival, Host, 2017 Los Angeles Ovation Awards (Ahmanson Theater); 2018 Stage Raw Awards (LATC center); 2017, 2018, 2024 Legends Show (McCallum Theatre, Cerritos Center for the Performing arts).
Creative Team
Michael Arabian (Director)
People still talk about Michael's 2012 production of Waiting For Godot at the Mark Taper Forum (five Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards including outstanding production and direction, and five Ovation Awards including best production). It was cited by LA Times critic Charles McNulty who called it a "luminous revival." Other productions at the Mark Taper Forum include Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape; Edward Albee's The Sandbox; Harold Pinter's A Slight Ache; workshops of new works at Taper Two and at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Staging The Unstageable. His site-specific company, Theatre InSite, formed a partnership with CBS Radford Studios (a first for LA theater), to produce live TV pilots (Third Rock From The Sun) and inventive large-scale productions including Romeo And Juliet (which Baz Luhrmann used for his film version), where audiences followed scenes and car chases through the backlot's streets; and The Trojan Women starring Mariette Hartley and an amphibious Marine Corp Humvee, set during the Gulf War and staged in 400,000 gallons of water at the Gilligan's Island Lagoon site. A musical about menopause Is It Just Me Or Is It Hot In Here, which Menopause The Musical was taken from. In New York he co-directed with Gene Fiest at the Roundabout, Othello starring Earle Hyman, Powers Booth, and Nicholas Kepros; Foul Shots by Ray Barry and Joe Culp at Theatre for the New City; and Zimmer by Donald Margulies at the Jewish Rep. Arabian also directed Disgraced at the San Diego Rep (San Diego Critics Award nomination for Best Production) and Red starring John Vickery. He directed Leslie Caron in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks at the Laguna Playhouse; and God of Carnage at La Mirada Performing Arts Center. LA theater includes 100 Aprils by Leslie Ayvazian at Rogue Machine; The Suppliant Women(ΙΚΕΤΙΔΕΣ) with a new translation by George Theodoridis presented by The Getty Villa and Rogue Machine; The Double V (victory in WWII, victory for racial equality) by Carole Eglash-Kosoff at the Matrix Theatre; Kingdom Of Earth by Tennessee Williams at the Odyssey Theatre, Danny And The Deep Blue Sea (14 Critics Choice Awards); The Laramie Project Revisited—Ten Years Later starring Barbara Bain for the Tectonic Project and Grand Performance; and Some Kind Of Love Story by Arthur Miller produced by Martin Landau and Mark Rydell for the Actors Studio. His film King of the Ants shot on 35 mm is available on Netflix. Arabian has won over 50 awards. He trained at the Academy of Dramatic Art at Oakland University in Michigan and in London at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts (Central School of Speech and Drama).
Dan Duling (Playwright)
Dan Duling's plays have been produced throughout the U.S. and honored with a number of awards including the Oregon Playwrights Award for Stranglehold. Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage was originally showcased at Laguna Playhouse following an earlier staged reading as a benefit for Caltech. His recent plays include Only You and Monstrosity. His multi-award–winning play Hard Road Home was selected for a showcase at UCLA by the Audrey Skirball-Kenis new play development program. Duling is also a member of SAG-AFTRA and a former journalist, having written for publications such as the L.A. Weekly, the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. His writing for media has included work for Oregon Public Broadcasting, Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central. Last Lives, a feature based on his screenplay, originally premiered on the SyFy channel. He earned his PhD in drama from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he enjoys writing the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. www.danduling.com.
Brian Gale (Lighting and Projection Design)
Projection: Love Among The Ruins, Laguna Playhouse; lighting: Twilight Los Angeles, Lonesome Traveler, Almost Maine, Rubicon Theatre; Gods of Comedy: McCarter Theatre and The Old Globe; Hostage, Bronco Billy, Skylight Theater; Scraps, All My Sons, Two Trains Running, Matrix Theater; El Nino, Mexican Day, 100 Aprils, Rogue Machine; The Things We Do, Punk Rock—Odyssey, Waitress, God of Carnage, Carrie the Musical, La Mirada; Red, Disgraced, San Diego Rep; Little Shop of Horrors, Cleveland Playhouse; Sleepless In Seattle: The Musical, Intimate Apparel, 12 Angry Men, The Heiress, Pasadena Playhouse; And Then They Came For Me, Emperor's Nightingale, Frederick, Witches, Mrs. Nelson, Goldilocks, Lewis Family Playhouse; Waiting for Godot, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Harps and Angels, The Mark Taper Forum; La bohème, Don Giovani, Jenůfa; and lighting and projection for LA Opera's complete Ring Cycle.
Gale is a member of IATSE USA Local 829 and spent 24 years with the Walt Disney Company Theme Parks, Shows and Special Events worldwide.
Tony Palermo (Sound Effects)
Tony Palermo is a radio dramatist, performer, and educator based in Los Angeles. He has done more than 2,500 shows and has been heard on NPR and satellite radio as well as audiobooks and radio-on-stage shows with L.A. Theatre Works, California Artists Radio Theatre, theater troupes, and on national tours. His holiday-themed plays, A Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life!, Auntie Scrooge—a BACKWARDS Christmas Carol, and The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow have seen hundreds of productions around the world since 1996. His sound effects work on Yuri Rasovsky's Sherlock Holmes Theater contributed to its winning an Audie Award—the Oscar of audiobooks. Palermo directed the 60th anniversary production of Norman Corwin's On a Note of Triumph—for which he also re-created Bernard Herrmann's orchestral score. He provided live sound effects for shows such as Eric Idle's What About Dick? (currently on Netflix as a radio-on-stage film), CART's Together Tonight, Good House for a Killing, L.A. Theatre Works Hamlet, A Doll's House, and Copenhagen as well as performing 65 solo shows at the California State Fair. His Sonic Storytelling Studio at San Francisco's Exploratorium is a permanent exhibit that has seen thousands of visitors since 2006. His Sparx Sound Effects Extravaganza assembly programs and workshops are popular with schools and colleges across California, the U.S. and the world. He also hosts the RuyaSonic radio drama website, offering info on writing, directing, scoring, engineering, and sound effects.
Conwell S. Worthington II (Producer)
Conwell Worthington II recently was one of the producers on the critically acclaimed Love Among the Ruins. He has worked as a producer since the notable 1977 Broadway revival of The King and I starring Yul Brynner and Constance Towers that extensively toured North America. He staged a second national tour with Mitch Lee that returned to Broadway at the Broadway Theatre. A highlight was celebrating Yul Brynner's 4,000th performance in the role with Richard Rodgers and Billie Hammerstein in attendance in Los Angeles. Other productions include the first Broadway revival of The Music Man starring Dick Van Dyke and first production of Dirty Dancing originally produced in Australia and then to the U.S. Worthington was one of the three producers of the original production team of Disney's Beauty on the Beast on Broadway and then the Los Angeles production at the Shubert Theatre. He also produced international productions of Beauty and the Beast in Austria, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Worthington will be producing a revival of Hair, the musical comedy Adam & Eve and Steve, and new musicals An Extra Penny and, with the Andrews Sisters estate, The Swing Sisters based on their life and times. www.jbtheatricalproductionsllc.com
For Caltech:
Campus Arts & Culture Liaison: Michael Alexander
Director of Campus Event Productions: Nate Stuffel
Event Programming Manager: Cara Stemen
Stage Manager: Dwayne Miles
Technical Director: Erick Ferguson
Lighting Technician: Derrick McDaniel
Stage Technician: Veronica Bowers
Ticket Office Manager: James Muro
Caltech and J.B. Theatrical Productions thank Dr. George Trammell, Director of the Instructional Labs in UCLA's Physics & Astronomy Department for the loan of the Tesla coil used in this production.