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Broadway debut for production designer and theatre lecturer
A production of the award-winning The Pitmen Painters featuring set and costume designs by Gary McCann, Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Studies at the University's School of Arts, has been announced for the historic Samuel J Friedman Theatre on Broadway in September.
The play, which was written by Lee Hall (Billy Elliott) and is directed by Max Roberts, has already been performed to capacity audiences in Ireland and the UK, including four runs at the Royal National Theatre, London. Gary McCann also designed a separate production, which opened in Vienna in 2009.
With more than ten years experience as a freelance designer, Gary McCann has worked in opera, TV production and corporate event design, as a visual artist on site-specific performances, and as a designer for a vast range of repertory theatres across the UK and for the West End. Recent designs include Guys and Dolls for Theater Bielefeld (Germany), Beethoven's Fidelio for Garsington Opera, and Norma for the National Opera of Moldova. He has worked as associate and assistant designer on projects at the Royal Opera House, The Met (New York) and for K Ballet in Tokyo. Two of his designs were used by the V&A Museum as part of their Collaborators Exhibition, organised by the Society of British Theatre Designers.
Future work includes commissions for the Nationale Reisopera of Holland, the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, and The Schonnbrunn Palace and the Volkstheater in Vienna.
Of his Broadway debut, Gary McCann said: 'I'm thrilled to be involved in the New York production of The Pitmen Painters - it's come a long way from the original version in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2007. The great thing is that the original cast are still on board, so the company is like one big family, and having visited New York last week to see the venue I'm sure we'll all have a terrific time there.'
To see more of Gary McCann's work, including the designs for The Pitmen Painters, go to www.garymccann.com
Contact: mediaoffice@kent.ac.uk
Story published at 10:07am 8 March 2010