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FROM BROADWAY TO OBSCURITY

October 26, 2020 — 8 p.m. EST Re-aired March 28, 2021 — 3 p.m. EST

"Mays is a rare gem and Arden is ingenious. For true theater lovers, there can be no better gift this season.”

Eric Gutman’s From Broadway to Obscurity, which was recorded at Marygrove Theatre by Detroit Public TV, is a musical love letter to both Broadway and Michigan. At the peak of his career playing several roles in the Tony and Grammy award-winning smash hit Jersey Boys on Broadway, Eric Gutman made the decision to return to his hometown in Metro Detroit so he could raise his two young daughters close to family. Weaving together beloved songs from musical theatre and popular music, dead-on celebrity impressions, and sneak peeks at what goes on backstage at one of the biggest hits in Broadway history, Gutman, who made the transition from Broadway star to suburban Michigan Dad, will share his extraordinary gifts with audiences in this thrilling concert experience.

Eric Gutman’s From Broadway to Obscurity re-aired on DPTV on March 28, 2021 at 3 p.m. EST.

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Creator & Preformer

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Eric Gutman

Creator & Preformer

Eric is thrilled to be returning to Detroit Public Theatre after the nearly sold-out runs of both his one-man show, “From Broadway to Obscurity” (2016 Wilde Award, Best One Person Show) and “Murder Ballad”. Eric has previously performed in “Hedwig…” on guitars and bass with Breathe Art Theatre Project and The Ringwald Theatre (also as MD). When not in Detroit, Eric tours with Under the Streetlamp, a retro rock and roll experience celebrating music from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond. Broadway/National Tours: Jersey Boys; Off-Broadway: Forbidden Broadway, Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. Thank you to Courtney, Sarah and Sarah Clare for continuing to collaborate with me in so many ways and for bringing relevant and important art to the city. My involvement in this show is dedicated to my wife, who would never allow me turn down an opportunity to play this amazing show. IG: @theguter or @underthestreetlamp

Meet The Creative Team

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Sarah Clare Corporandy

Executive Producer

In addition to her role as Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director with Detroit Public Theatre, Sarah Clare is entering her 11th season at Chautauqua Theater Company at the Chautauqua Institution in New York, where she serves as the Managing Director. During her time at CTC, she has also served as the line producer for the Inter-arts collaborations of The Romeo and Juliet Project and Go West. Sarah Clare served as Managing Director for Philadelphia’s celebrated interdisciplinary ensemble Pig Iron Theater Co. and as company manager for Barrington Stage and New York Stage & Film. She served as an artistic partner with the Canadian-American cross-border Breathe Art Theatre Project and on the advisory boards of New York Shakespeare Exchange and the Serenbe Playhouse in Georgia. From 2009-2012, Sarah Clare held a full-time professorship at Savannah College of Art and Design, teaching in the master’s program for arts administration on both the Savannah and Atlanta campuses and through their online eLearning program, for which she developed new course curricula. She currently serves as a professor at SCAD. Her work has been published in the International Journal of the Arts in Society.

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Andrew Borba

Producer

Honored to be working here in Detroit and for DPT, Andrew is in his fourth season as Artistic Director of the renowned Chautauqua Theater Company and Conservatory, one of the best summer theaters and most competitive summer training programs in the country. He’s directed over fifteen productions at CTC from new works, Shakespeare, and plays that for some reason all take place in 1939, as well as the interdisciplinary pieces Mango Suite, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, Ellis Island, and Go West! with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Dance Company and Chautauqua Opera in the 4,400-seat amphitheater. He has directed multiple productions in Los Angeles and New York, most notably the award-winning Hamlet, First Quarto at Theater of Note; as an educator, he has directed for and served on the faculty of some of the nation’s foremost actor training programs, including The Juilliard School (his alma mater) NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USC, UCLA, and UC Irvine. As an actor, Andrew has performed in theaters around the country, including South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, The Globe Theatre, Berkeley Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (five​ seasons), Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Stage Company, Long Wharf, and others. He has appeared in over fifty TV series as well as the films Straight Outta Compton, Interstellar, Taken 3, and Charlie Wilson’s War. Andrew is a graduate of Brown University and New York University. He lives in Los Angeles and is a professor of Acting in the MFA program at UC Irvine.

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Courtney Burkett

Producer

Courtney’s DPT directing credits include Cry It Out, Marie and Rosetta, Murder Ballad (Wilde Award Nomination: Best Musical; It’s All Theatre: Best of Season), American Hero, and the touring production of Detroit ‘67. Courtney played Laurie in DPT’s production of Pipeline. Prior to co-founding DPT, Courtney spent five years as Director of Theatre Programs at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, where she trained and mentored hundreds of young actors. Directing credits at Mosaic include The Tempest, Candide, Hastings Street, Lil Ham, and The Crucible. Before Mosaic, Courtney was a founding artistic partner with Breathe Art Theatre Project, where she directed and produced many productions and appeared in boom (Winner: The Rogue Critic Best Supporting Actress). Courtney spent two years working at the University of Michigan as the managing director of the CRLT Players. In that position, she oversaw 50 applied theatre performances annually on campuses throughout the country. Courtney also served as the business manager for the University of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company. While at UDM, Courtney taught in the Department of Theatre and directed and performed in Theatre Company productions. Courtney is a fourth generation native Detroiter. She received her BFA from Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts and her MFA from Wayne State’s Hilberry Theatre program.

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Brian P. Sage

Director

Brian P. Sage is a graduate of Wayne State University, where he earned his MFA in acting while performing as a member of the Hilberry Repertory Theatre Company. He earned his BA in theatre performance from Western Michigan University. Brian also had the honor of studying with the Moscow Art Theatre School as a part of Wayne State’s study abroad program.

Brian served as the producing artistic director of the Whole Art Theatre in Kalamazoo, MI, for three seasons and has directed a number of professional productions in a variety of different venues. Professional directing credits include The Kings of Unionville, From Broadway to Obscurity, Company, Ordinary Days, Closer, South Pacific, Falsettos, Bat Boy: The Musical, and Oliver.

Brian’s seventy plus professional acting credits run the gamut from the classics to contemporary musical theatre. Some favorite roles include Max Bialystock in The Producers, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Harry Brock in Born Yesterday, Joe Keller in All My Sons, Dr. Dorn in The Seagull, Claudius in Hamlet, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Nicely Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls. He’s worked for a variety of companies throughout Michigan and Illinois, including Tipping Point Theatre (Northville, MI), The Encore Musical Theatre (Dexter, MI), The Jewish Ensemble Theatre (West Bloomfield, MI), The Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire (Chicago, IL), First Folio Shakespeare (Chicago, IL), Theatre Building Chicago (Chicago, IL), and Tibbits Opera House (Coldwater, MI).

Brian is also an assistant professor of theatre at Ohio Northern University in Ada, OH.

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Harley Miah

Lighting Design

Harley is a professional in the entertainment technology industry. He is a freelance lighting programmer for a large number of nightclubs, concerts and festivals across the country, and the chief lighting designer for IKO Global Productions. He has designed the lights for all of the shows in Open Book’s first three seasons and earned a Wilde Award for Best Design – Lights for his work on Red in 2015. Harley has been involved in the technical design of the new performance space from the ground up. He is also the resident lighting designer for the AKT Theatre Project in Wyandotte, and Outvisible Theatre Company in Allen Park.

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Alison Dobbins

Projection Design

Alison Dobbins is an Associate Professor of Integrated Performance Media design at Michigan State University. She received her M.F.A. in Digital Cinema from National University and her A.B. in Mathematics from Oberlin College. Her recent work includes projection design for Mitch Albom’s “Ernie and Hockey the Musical” and JinWen Yu’s “March Into Sunlight.” Alison is a media designer focused on integrating elements of dance, media, music, theater and computer science in performance.

She is the project director and creator of Theatre Engine: an interdisciplinary project focused on exploring audience engagement in dance through the use of mobile applications. Collaborators on this project are from the MSU College of Engineering & Computer Science, Brigham Young University, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, Colby College, University of Oregon, and St. Olaf College.  She is a co-principal investigator on Dancing Computer, an interdisciplinary project focused on developing methods to teach dance and computer literacy to elementary school students and a partnership between the Department of Theatre, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, and the College of Education at Michigan State University. Alison is the creator and project leader for the Media Theatre Performance Laboratory, a community-based initiative to establish new methods of understanding, teaching, and developing media/theater productions and a partnership between Michigan State University and Riverwalk Theatre.

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Patrick Hanley

Production Manager

Patrick works as the Production Manager for DPT. He has previously worked with DPT as a stage manager (Skeleton Crew) and house manager, and continues to be involved with DPT’s Shakespeare in Prison program as a facilitator and fight choreographer. He currently serves as the Education Director for Water Works Theatre Company, directing both the Teen Ensemble and KidsAct! programs. Patrick holds a BFA in Acting from Wayne State University.  His selective performance and stage management credits include productions with Matrix Theatre Company, Shakespeare in Detroit, the Elizabeth Theatre at the Park Bar, and numerous shows with Planet Ant Theatre.

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Logan Evan Thomas

Music Director & Piano

Logan Evan Thomas is an international award-winning innovative pianist, composer/producer and musical director residing in New York City. He has performed all over the world in iconic halls such as Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall, working with some of the biggest names in the music industry ranging from pop icons like Jennifer Lopez to jazz legends like Stefon Harris, and is currently touring as the pianist for the renowned Postmodern Jukebox. Overall he has released 2 studio albums under his own name, 2 albums from his collective group Manner Effect, and has executively produced over 10 albums for other independent artists of multiple genres. As a pianist he was honored to win 1st place at the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition, as well as finish 2nd place at the Montreux International Jazz Piano Competition, presented a concert in Carnegie Hall, and was a featured artist at The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. As a composer, Logan scored and executively produced the soundtrack for the feature length film “A View From Sunset Park”, which won Best Documentary at the NY International Film Festival. As a producer, Logan is well versed in creating music of almost any genre from pop, r&b/hip-hop, jazz, latin, classical and is masterful at developing and building new artists to get them ready for the mainstream market. His tracks have been licensed and used in Film, TV, Youtube Channels. Logan also enjoys musical directing and teaching, his latest gig being the musical director and supervisor of a PMJ style show created by RWS Entertainment for Holland America Cruise Lines.

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Katherine Nelson

Production Stage Manager

Katherine has been stage managing with Detroit Public Theatre since its inaugural season, with highlights including the coproduction of Detroit ’67 with Baltimore Center Stage and the world premiere of Birthday Candles. They have also stage managed with the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts and Chautauqua Theater Company. Additionally, Katherine is a costume designer. Recent Off-Broadway design at The New Victory Theatre (Riddle of the Trilobites). In addition to design credits with Detroit Public Theatre, regional designs include shows with Purple Rose Theatre Company, Flint Youth Theatre, Flint Repertory Theatre (Wilde Award nomination: Best Costume Design, Riddle of the Trilobites), Tipping Point Theatre, Williamston Theatre, and the Wharton Center. They are a graduate of the Purple Rose Theatre Company apprenticeship program. Katherine is a proud member and National Councilor of Actors’ Equity Association. www.knelsondesigns.com. 

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