The violin is the closest sound to the human voice.
Rob Smith, Playwright
Rob Smith is Chicago-based playwright, even though he grew up fearing snow in South Carolina. Some of his full-length plays are Underneath, Three-Pointed Star, Protection, Tightrope (premiering 2015), Morning Ghost, Three of Three, Double LubDub and an adaptation of Servant of Two Masters (co-written with James Sandlin Ashby). His short plays include the award winning one-acts Dust and Trash, The Family Photographer, Strands, The Packer, Night and Day (as part of A Crowded House), and Do Us Part. For the screen his work includes a number of short films, sketches, screenplays and the mocumentary; The Closed Theatre, about the world’s greatest avant-garde theatre company. He has received commission or had his work developed/produced at American Theatre Company, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, Stage Left Theatre, Lee Street Theatre, Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, and The Kennedy Center for the Arts. He received his BA from Catawba College and his MFA from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was twice the recipient of the Shubert Fellowship for Dramatic Writing. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. and TCG. When not writing Rob can be found doing something related to his other loves, baseball, football, history, cooking, and coming up with reasons to get doughnuts. But most of all, he loves his wife Kelly and their two cats, Molly and Bowie.
Tara Branham, Director
Tara Branham is a freelance director in Chicago. She is beyond excited to be directing the world premiere of Dust by Rob Smith at Heartland Studio. This summer, her work can also be seen at Stage Left Theatre’s LeapFest in The Darkest Pit. Tara’s work as a director has been seen with Step Up Productions, Deluge Theatre Collective, Pride Films & Plays, Prologue Theatre Company, Babes with Blades, Realize Theatre Group, and Halcyon Theatre. Tara has assistant directed for Tina Landau, Amy Morton, Kimberly Senior, Sean Graney, Lisa Portes, and Meghan Beals-McCarthy at various theatres including Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Chicago Dramatists. Previously, Tara was the Lead Producer of InchWorm Playreading Series, a series committed to producing readings of first drafts for underexplored playwrights. Plays featured by InchWorm have gone on to receive full productions with LiveWire Theatre, Victory Gardens and Azuka Theatre. Tara is also a founding member of The Deluge Theatre Collective, Poetic Forum Collective. and Director of Casting for Step Up Productions. An active student of theatre, Tara has trained in Meisner at Black Box Acting Studio and with Mary Lowry and Phil Timberlake in Ecstatic Voice and Lamentation and Roy Hart Technique. Tara has a Bachelor of Arts from Ball State University where her direction of Parkersburg by Laura Jacqmin won the American College Theatre Festival Region III 10-minute play competition.
Tate A. Geborkoff, Assistant Director
Tate A. Geborkoff is a playwright, poet and actor working and living in Chicago. Most recently his play It Rained All Night was selected as a semifinalist for the 2015 National Playwrights Conference and his immersive show Down the Moonlit Path was produced by Nothing Without a Company at the Preston Bradley Center. Other recent productions of his work includes A Heart of Tweed (Chicago Fringe Festival), And the Snow Came Down (Step Up Productions) and a recording of fairy tales with Nothing Without a Company. His play All Around the Mulberry Bush was selected as a semifinalist in the Great Gay Play and Musical Contest for 2014. As a poet, his most recent publications can be read in The Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Review (Tubilustrium), Curbside Splendor (The Gin Man and Pulp) and Burningword Literary Journal (The Carnal Flower).
Irina Gavrilova, Assistant Director
Irina Gavrilova is a rising junior at Yale College double majoring in Theatre Studies and French. Primarily a director, she has also dabbled in playwriting and lighting design. Her professional credits include assistant directing Hamlet for Oak Park Festival Theatre and working as a casting assistant for Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. Other recent credits include Make Believe the Make Happen (Yale Cabaret), 'Art' (Yale Drama Coalition) and Cabaret (Yale Theatre Studies). In addition to assisting Tara, this summer she is working as the Steppenwolf for Young Adults intern.
