MELANIE DREYER (Co-Artistic Director) was born and raised in Colorado and was trained as an actor and director in New York and Chicago. In 1992 she co-founded ShatterMask Theater, a critically acclaimed Equity theatre specializing in exploring alternatives to traditional modes of production. She has directed over forty productions, two of them in German. Her translations of contemporary German plays have been presented at multiple theaters in the United States. International collaborations include work in Turkey, Russia, Germany, and Argentina. She holds a BA in Theatre and Music from the University of Denver, an MA in Dramatic Literature from Washington University St. Louis and an MFA in Directing from Northwestern University in Chicago, where she worked with Mary Zimmerman, Frank Galati, Tina Landau and Bob Falls. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Cornell University. Contact Melanie at melanie@intlculturelab.org.

GABRIELE SCHAFER (Co-Artistic Director) was born and raised in Germany, educated and trained in theater in the US. In 1981 she co-founded ICL predecessor Thieves Theatre, which produced the world premiere of R.W. Fassbinder's controversial Trash, the City and Death in her translation. Further authors translated include Andreas Jungwirth, Heiner Mueller, Oliver Czeslik, and Ferdinand Bruckner, among others. In Germany she has acted at Hamburg's Thalia Theater, Theater Rampe and Theaterhaus Stuttgart. Other acting credits: New York's Public Theater, Seattle's Annex Theater, the Wellington, NZ, and Los Angeles fringe festivals, the Yale Repertory Theater, among others. In 2007-08, Gabriele originated the role of Kathleen in ICL's productions of Outside Inn. She has studied butoh since 2001 and until 2007 was producer of the CAVE New York Butoh Festival. She holds a BA in Theater from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama. Contact Gabriele at gaby@intlculturelab.org.

NICK FRACARO (Resident Dramaturg) was born and raised on an Illinois farm. In 1981 he co-founded and became artistic director of the cross-disciplinary Thieves Theater for which he directed Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade at Toronto's Theatre Centre, Heiner Mueller's Despoiled Shore Medeamaterial Landscape with Argonauts and the world premiere of Fassbinder's Trash, the City and Death in New York, among many others. He was a founding member of RAT, an international coalition of theater workers dedicated to sharing resources and ways of working, for which he organized conferences in New York, Philadelphia and Rosario, Argentina. As dramatug at Dallas' Undermain Theater in 1999, he created one of the first theater blogs which he continues today at RatSass (ratconference.com/blog). He holds a BA from Illinois Benedictine College and an MA in Literature and Creative Writing from The University of Illinois at Chicago. Contact Nick at nick@intlculturelab.org.

ROGER GRUNWALD (Resident Actor) was born and raised in San Francisco, received his B.A. in Humanities (German and French) from the University of California, Berkeley and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He was a founding ensemble member of the California Shakespeare Theater, the Robert Lewis Acting Company and co-founded the Castillo Theatre (www.castillo.org), one of New York's leading experimental/political theatres. For over two decades Roger performed leading roles in more than fifty Castillo productions including several works by Heiner Müller and was a member of Castillo's resident comedy improv troupe. One of Roger's signature roles was the character of Heiner Müller, which he played in a number of original works by Castillo's retired artistic director, Fred Newman. In 2007-08, Roger originated the role of Chris in ICL's productions of Outside Inn. Contact Roger at roger@intlculturelab.org.

MARKUS HIRNIGEL (Resident Actor) was born in Vienna, Austria. After studying at the University of Vienna, he moved to New York to enroll at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner. He became a member of La Mama E.T.C. and worked extensively with the company, touring Europe and Asia. During that time, he frequently returned to Europe completing his studies in England at RADA and working in productions in London, Oxford, Edinburgh and Spoleto, Italy. In 1995 he returned to Austria to work for four seasons and numerous productions under Gerard Mortier at the Salzburg Festival. In 1997 Elizabeth Swados invited him to participate in a two-year exploration of racism in the US in her production of The Hating Pot, later presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2002, he appeared as Vershinin in a production of The Three Sisters in The Chekhov Festival at the Connolly Theatre working with the viewpoint techniques of Anne Bogart. Since then he has worked most consistently with New Stage Theater Company in New York City. Contact Markus at markus@intlculturelab.org.

E. D. INTEMANN (Resident Lighting Designer) was born and raised in Colorado. He was Assistant Professor of Theatre at Frostburg State University and Associate Professor in the University of South Carolina’s MFA program. Currently he is a Senior Lecturer and the Resident Lighting Designer at Cornell University where he has designed lighting and/or scenery for over 50 shows. Professionally he has designed Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters; at Dancespace at St. Marks and La MaMa in New York City; the Eastman School in Rochester, NY; the Charlotte Repertory Theatre in North Carolina; the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore; and the Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin.  Internationally he designed for the Confrontations Theatre Festival in Lublin, Poland. He is a member of Burning Coal Theatre Company in Raleigh, North Carolina, and of United Scenic Artists Local 829 in scenery and lighting design. He holds a BA from Denver University, magna cum laude, and an MFA from Cornell University. Contact Ed at ed@intlculturelab.org.

ANDREAS JUNGWIRTH (Resident Playwright) was born in Linz on the Danube in Austria. After breaking off a study of German literature, he trained as an actor at the Vienna Conservatory. He has lived in Germany since 1989, where he worked as an actor at various, mostly east German stages until 1996. From 1992-1998, he collaborated with composer Wolfgang Heisig. Their dadaistic performances took them to cabarets and variety theaters throughout the German-speaking realm. In 1996, Andreas moved to Berlin and has since worked mostly as a writer. His first play commission came in 2001 from the Landestheater Linz. Since then, his plays have been produced at Theater Konstanz, TJG Dresden, Theater Pheonix (Linz), Theater Rampe Stuttgart/University of Pittsburgh, Thalia Theater (Hamburg), State Theater of Darmstadt, among others. He has a particular passion for radio plays of which he has created ten in recent years, including for Österreichischen Rundfunk (ORF), Deutchlandradio Kultur (DLR), Westdeutschen Rundfunk (WDR) and the Norddeutschen Rundfunk (NDR), among others. Contact Andreas at andreas@intlculturelab.org.

STEPHANIE MAYER-STALEY (Resident Scenic Designer) was born and raised in a small village in the heart of Bavaria, Germany. She was trained as a visual artist in both Germany and the USA. Her work ranges from set and lighting design to installation, land art, painting, photography and stone masonry. Living "between two worlds," her art reflects her desire for cross-cultural understanding. Her work has been produced, displayed and honored in the USA as well as in Germany. In America, her recent visual art (installation, sculpture and mixed media) has been displayed at the Pittsburgh Biennial and Three Rivers Arts Festival as well as the Art Olympics at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh. She continues to merge the borders between scenic design and installation art. Stephanie holds a BES in Elective Studies (Studio Art) from St. Cloud State University and an MFA in Technical Theater/Design from California State University under the mentorship of Danila Korogodsky. She currently heads the Design Program at the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. Contact Stephanie at stephaniem@intlculturelab.org.

STEPHANIE SCHMIDERER (Resident Actor) was born and raised in Vienna, Austria. She trained as dancer and actor in London, Vienna and New York, where she currently resides. After being a member of the highly acclaimed Viennese Serapions Theater ensemble, she joined Totales, then co-founded the Vienna Salon Theater, where among other productions she starred in the one woman show Der Nackte Schubert commemorating Franz Schubert's 200th anniversary. NYC acting credits include: The Human Voice, Betrayal, No Exit, King Lear at La Mama ETC, and The Seagull, The House of Bernarda Alba and Twelve Angry Women with BOO Arts at ManhattanTheatreSource, where in 2008 she also produced the American premiere of the German play The Story of Herr Rath. US film credits include the short film Haber opposite Juliane Köhler, which in 2008 won the Oscar-qualifiying top award Best of Fest Grand Prize at LA Shorts. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Vienna University. Contact Stephanie at stephanies@intlculturelab.org.

PEI-CHI SU (Resident Costume Designer) grew up in Taipei and was trained as scenic and costume designer in Taiwan and the US. After graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University, Pei-Chi’s scenic and costume designs where part of more than 75 productions in Pittsburgh regional theaters between 2001 and 2009. Her other designs have been seen at New York’s Pan Asian Rep, St. Louis Rep and ICL at New York’s 59E59 Theaters. Her international credits include Theatre Rampe Stuttgart and Galway Arts Festival, Hang-Tang Yuefu Dance Group in Festival d’ Avignon and Asia-Pacific Film Festival. Pei-Chi has collaborated with Michael Rupert and Matthew Riopelle’s musical Streets of America, Amy Hartman’s Chicken Snake, George Griggs and Darrah Cloud’s musical Hearts are Wild, Mat Smart’s 13th of Paris, Tammy Ryan’s FBI Girl and Baby’s Blues and Marcus Steven‘s musical Red. Pei-Chi holds an MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently an Assistant Professor and Director of Costume Design at Hofstra University. Contact Pei-Chi at peichi@intlculturelab.org.