Staff Bios:

Rob Melrose (Artistic Director) is the artistic director and co-founder of The Cutting Ball Theater where he has directed The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamletmachine, As You Like It, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Mayakovsky: A Tragedy, My Head Was a Sledgehammer, Roberto Zucco, The Vomit Talk of Ghosts (world premiere), The Sandalwood Box, Pickling, Ajax for example, Helen of Troy (world premiere) and Drowning Room (world premiere) and has translated No Exit, Woyzeck and Ubu Roi. He has directed at The Guthrie Theater: Pen; The California Shakespeare Theater: Villains, Fools, and Lovers; Actors’ Collective: Hedda Gabler; Alias Stage: Creditors; Crowded Fire: The Train Play; C.A.F.E.: Chain Reactions; Perishable Theatre: All Spoken by a Shining Creature (world premiere); Yale Summer Cabaret: Endgame, The Shawl; Princeton Summer Theater: Twelfth Night. As assistant director he has worked at Berkeley Repertory Theatre: The Pillowman (Les Waters, director) American Conservatory Theatre: Indian Ink (Carey Perloff, director); The Guthrie Theater: Othello (Joe Dowling, director) Yale Repertory Theatre: Twelfth Night (Mark Rucker, director) and as directing intern at The McCarter Theatre: The Glass Menagerie (Emily Mann, director). He has a M.F.A. in directing from the Yale School of Drama and graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University. He received a Fox Foundation Fellowship to observe rehearsals and productions of Shakespeare in translation in France, German and Italy and to study Strindberg in Sweden. He also received a Ford Fellowship to study Commedia dell’Arte in Italy with Antonio Fava and is a 2007 – 2009 recipient of the NEA / TCG Career Development Program for Directors.

Paige Rogers (Associate Artistic Director) co-founded The Cutting Ball Theater in 1999 and has appeared in their productions of My Head Was a Sledgehammer, As You Like It, The Vomit Talk of Ghosts, Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew. As director, her work with Cutting Ball includes Life is a Dream for The Hidden Classics Reading Series and 1000 South Kelly and Learning English as part of Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 plays/ 365 days. In 2008 she will direct Mud by Maria Irene Fornes at Cutting Ball. Paige has directed over twenty productions for students at Cornell University, Princeton University, The American School in Switzerland, Trinity Rep Conservatory and others. As an actor and singer she has worked locally with Sonoma Rep, Berkeley Opera, Lamplighters, and on tour with Cal Shakes. Nationally she has been seen at The Kennedy Center, McCarter Theater, Trinity Rep and The Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Adriana Baer (Associate Artist) was the Associate Artistic Director of The Cutting Ball Theater for three years. Cutting Ball directing credits include Woyzeck, The Maids, and No Exit. Other directing credits include Miss Julie, Girls in Uniform, and Spring’s Awakening. She has worked with The Public Theater, Theater Communications Group, Berkeley Rep, SF Circus Center, Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, CalShakes, and ACT.  She received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College, and currently attends the MFA Directing program at Columbia University.

Bill Selig (Associate Artist) holds an MFA in directing from the American Repertory Theatre's joint program with the Moscow Art Theater and Harvard University, where he also earned a BA, cum laude, in filmmaking and photography. Before graduate school, he worked in New York for five years. He was Assistant to the Executive Producer at Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), where he was directly involved in several Broadway premieres, including PROOF. He also directed and acted at a number of off-off-Broadway venues. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2004, he has directed for Golden Thread, Playground, and AlterTheater and worked as General Manager for Killing My Lobster.

Robert McPhee (Box Office Manager) is the Box Office Manager for the Cutting Ball Theater.  Cutting Ball credits include Woyzeck, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, The Maids, Risk Is This..., Macbeth, No Exit and AvantgardARAMA.  Outside of the Cutting Ball, he has worked on thirty plus other productions throughout Northern California in a variety of technical positions ranging from stage manager to scenic designer.  He holds a Bachelors of the Arts in Technical Theater and Design from San Francisco State University, and an Associate of the Arts in Theater from Mendocino College.  Currently, he is working in the south bay as a teacher for children with autism.

Caitlin Doughty (Series Producer) moved to the Bay Area after five years in Chicago, where she earned a degree in Medieval History from the University of Chicago. While in Chicago, she directed and co-wrote three productions with The University of Chicago Theatre, and assisted director Tina Landau on her production of The Cherry Orchard at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Since arriving in San Francisco, she has worked at the Magic Theatre as a producer on Victor Lodato's Dear Sara Jane, and as a production assistant on the world premiere of Wendy MacLeod's Birnham Woods.