The Onion Cellar Program - American Repertory Theater

AMANDA PALMER*
Lead singer, songwriter, and pianist for the internationally renowned punk cabaret duo The Dresden
Dolls. Inspired by the workshop and experimental theater she was exposed to by Steven Bogart
while attending Lexington High School, Palmer went forth to make theater outside of the box during
and after college. Directed The Shadowbox Theatre’s The Last Show On Earth in 1995 and Hotel
Blanc in 2002 (both collectively written workshop pieces) as well as creating the now legendary
Harvard Square living statue street performer known as “The Eight Foot Bride”, who has now traveled
and handed out flowers to passing strangers on three continents. She has incorporated her theatre roots and passion for
directing into The Dresden Dolls’ shows both on and off stage by organizing The Dresden Dolls’ Brigade, a volunteer art corps
which features everything from local street performers and living statues to butoh and physical theatre groups who often choreograph
pieces and installations in conjunction with band’s live show. Most recently Palmer contributed piano and vocals to
…And You Will Know us by The Trail of Dead’s recent major label release and was also named one of the most stylish in Boston
by The Boston Globe.
NEIL P. STEWART
Second year acting student at A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. Institute credits:
Zoya’s Apartment, War and Peace, The Front Page. New York credits: Hello Herman, Death
in One-Acts, Feiffer’s People (Back House Productions). Regional: I’ll Tell You What
(SceneShop, Fort Worth, TX); featured several times in the Broadway Theatre Project’s annual
revue (Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center). Founder, former creative director of Back House
Productions, in residence at the Arthur Seelen Theatre at New York City’s legendary Drama Book
Shop. Member of the permanent acting faculty at Tampa’s Broadway Theatre Project, founded by Ann Reinking, and recipient
of its Gwen Verdon Award. Film: lead in the independent short Up to the Roof (Hook Line Sinker Films), 7-11’s Operation
Alert.
BRIAN VIGLIONE*
Introduced to the drums by his father at age five with his interest quickly deepening at age nine
when rock music became a primary focus and passion. In 1992 Brian’s father brought him to see
The Elvin Jones’ Jazz Machine and he witnessed his first up-close exposure to the drummer who
would become his principal inspiration on the instrument. At sixteen he began playing gigs in clubs
with bands around New England before moving from New Hampshire to Boston in 1999. Played with
several Boston punk bands on both drums and bass guitar, before forming The Dresden Dolls in October 2000 with songwriter/pianist,
Amanda Palmer. When not on tour with The Dresden Dolls, he gives drum lessons and collaborating with many
other Boston musicians including The Gill Aharon Trio, Neovoxer Ensemble, Reverend Glasseye, and HUMANWINE.
Artistic Staff
JONATHAN MARC SHERMAN — Writer
Co-founded the Malaparte theater company. His plays include Things We Want, Sophistry, Veins & Thumbtacks,
Evolution, Sons & Fathers, Jesus on the Oil Tank, Serendipity & Serenity, Wonderful Time, and Women & Wallace.
Dr. ANTHONY MARTIGNETTI — Consultant
Writer and psychotherapist, lives in Lexington, Mass.
MARCUS STERN — Director
Associate Director of the A.R.T. and the A.R.T./ MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. A.R.T.: Suzan Lori Parks’ The
America Play, Adrienne Kennedy’s The Ohio State Murders, Büchner’s Woyzeck, Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, Adam
Rapp’s Stone Cold Dead Serious, and Nocturne; Christopher Durang’s Marriage of Bette and Boo (also at NYU and
Harvard University). A.R.T. Institute: a stage adaptation of the film Donnie Darko. Other: Hang Ong’s The Chang Fragments
and Martin Crimp’s The Treatment, The Joseph Papp Public Theater; Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits, Theater Neumarkt, Zurich;
Jose Rivera’s Marisol, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Humana Festival; Mac Wellman’s Hyacinth Macaw, Primary Stages, New
York; Instant Girl’s On the Run, Dance Theater Workshop; Mac Wellman’s The Land of Fog and Whistles, Whitney Museum
Biennial; Neena Beber’s The Living Goddess, The Magic Theater; Erin Cressida Wilson’s Cross Dressing in the