Carlo Goldoni was born at Venice in 1707. From his earliest years he appears to have been interested in the theater: his toys were puppets and his books, plays. It is said that at the age of eight he attempted to write a play. The boy's father placed him under the care of the philosopher Caldini at Rimini, but the youth soon ran away with a company of strolling players and came to Venice. There he began to study law; he continued his studies at Pavia, though he relates in his Memoirs that a considerable part of his time was spent in reading Greek and Latin comedies. He had already begun writing at this time, and, as a result of a libel in which he ridiculed certain families of Pavia, he was forced to leave the city. He continued his law studies at Udine, and eventually took his degree at Modena. He was employed as law clerk at Chioggia and Feltre, after which he returned to his native city and began practicing. But his true vocation was the theater, and he made his bow with a tragedy, AMALASUNTA, produced at Milan, but this was a failure. His next play, BELISARIO, written in 1734, succeeded. He wrote other tragedies for a time, but he was not long in discovering that his bent was for comedy. He had come to realize that the Italian stage needed reforming, and adopting Molière as his model, he went to work in earnest, and in 1738 produced his first real comedy, L'UMO DI MONDO. During his many wanderings and adventures in Italy, he was constantly at work, and when, at Leghorn, he became acquainted with the manager Medebac, he determined to pursue the profession of playwriting in order to make a living. He was employed by Medebac to write plays for his theater in Venice. He worked for other managers, and produced during his stay in that city some of his most characteristic works. In 1761 he went to Paris, where he continued to write. Among the plays which he wrote in French, the most successful was LE BOURRU BIENFAISANT, produced on the occasion of the marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in 1771. He enjoyed considerable popularity in France, and when he retired to Versailles the King gave him a pension. But when the Revolution broke out, he was deprived of it. The day after his death, however, the Convention voted to restore the pension. He died in 1793.

Constance Congdon has been called "one of the best playwrights our country and our language has ever produced" by playwright Tony Kushner in his introduction to her collection TALES OF THE LOST FORMICANS AND OTHER PLAYS. In addition to TALES OF THE LOST FORMICANS, which has had more than 200 productions world-wide, Ms. Congdon's plays include CASANOVA and DOG OPERA, both produced at the Public Theatre; LOSING FATHER'S BODY, (Portland Stage, Maine); LIPS, (Primary Stages); and NATIVE AMERICAN, (Portland Stage, Maine), (Lyric Hammersmith Studio). Her latest play, PARADISE STREET, is being developed at New York Theatre Workshop. A MOTHER, starring Olympia Dukakis, and a new verse version of THE MISANTHROPE, are both commissioned and produced by American Conservatory Theater. MOONTEL SIX, was commissioned by the A.C.T. Young Conservatory and subsequently performed at London's National Theatre, followed by another production of the two-act version at San Francisco's Zeum, directed by Young Conservatory Director, Craig Slaight. THE AUTOMATA PIETÀ, another YC commission, received its world premiere at San Francisco's Magic Theatre in 2002; NIGHTINGALES went to the Theatre Royale Bath's Youth Theatre. Ms. Congdon's NO MERCY, and its companion piece, ONE DAY EARLIER, were part of the 2000 season devoted to Ms. Congdon at the Profile Theatre. She has also written a number of opera libretti and seven plays for the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis. Ms. Congdon's plays have been produced throughout the world, including Cairo and Berlin. Her plays are published, mainly, by Broadway Play Publishing. Samuel French published DOG OPERA. A collection of four of her plays has been published by TCG, Inc. Her new verse version of TARTUFFE will be included in the next Norton Anthology of Drama, as well as in a single-volume Norton Critical edition. She's been writing a long time and can thank the NEA, the Rockefeller Foundation, the W. Alton Jones Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Arnold Weisberger Award, the Berilla Kerr Award, and, most recently, The Helen Merrill Award for making this more possible. She's an alum of New Dramatists, member of The Dramatists Guild, and of PEN. Ms. Congdon has been teaching playwriting at Amherst College for eleven years.

Christopher Bayes began his theater career with the internationally acclaimed Theatre de la Jeune Lune where he worked for five years as an actor, director, composer, designer, and artistic associate. In 1989 he joined the acting company of the Guthrie Theater where he appeared in over twenty productions. His roles included Caliban in THE TEMPEST, Edgar in KING LEAR, The Herald in MARAT/SADE and Harlequin in TRIUMPH OF LOVE. In 1993, commissioned by the Guthrie Theater, he produced his one-man show THIS RIDICULOUS DREAMING based on Heinrich Boll's novel The Clown. In New York, he has directed RED NOSES by Peter Barnes, FOUR by Feydeau, THE BOURGEOIS GENTLEMAN, THE MOLIÈRE ONE ACTS, and THE LOVE OF THREE ORANGES by Carlo Gozzi at the Juilliard School; THE IMAGINARY INVALID by Molière, THE NEW PLACE by Carlo Goldoni, WE WON'T PAY… by Dario Fo, and his new adaptation of Molière's THE RELUCTANT DOCTOR OF LOVE for New York University's Graduate Acting Program; THE RAVEN by Carlo Gozzi at NYU's Experimental Theater Wing; UBU ROI at both NYU's Experimental Theater Wing and Fordham University; and Timeslips at HERE. Additionally, he has staged several original works including WRECKAGE at P.S. 122, THE BIG DAY (a clown show) and THE FIASCO BRO, CIRCUS at the Juilliard School, ZIBALDONÉ at HERE and the Present Company Theatorium, THE FOOLS/LOS LOCOS DEL PUEBLO at Touchstone Theater, NECROMANCE, A NIGHT OF CONJURATION at Dixon Place, CLOWNS at the New York International Clown Festival and The Public Theater and EVEN MAYBE TAMMY at The Flea. Outside of New York, his directing credits include THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS (Yale Rep, Shakespeare Theater, Guthrie Theater, Arts-Emerson and Seattle Rep), THE DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF (Intiman Theater, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep), ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST (Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep), co-production of SCAPIN at the Intiman Theater in Seattle and Court Theater in Chicago, COMEDY OF ERRORS at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Len Jenkin's new adaptation of THE BIRDS at Yale Repertory Theater, ENDGAME at Court Theater, THE MOLIÈRE IMPROMPTU at Trinity Repertory Theater. He was part of the creative team for the Broadway and Touring productions of THE 39 STEPS, for which he created additional movement and served as Movement Director. He also created the movement/choreography for John Guare's THREE KINDS OF EXILE at The Atlantic Theater. He has received numerous awards and grants including a Jerome Foundation Travel/Study Grant, a General Mills Foundation Artist Assistance Grant, and both a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship Grant and a Career Opportunity Grant. He is a 1999/2000 Fox Fellow. He has taught classes and workshops internationally at Cirque Du Soliel, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Big Apple Circus, Interlochen Arts Center, Vassar College, Stella Adler Conservatory, Bard College, Fordham University, University of Texas Graduate Acting and Directing Programs, National Shakespeare Conservatory, University of Minnesota Graduate Acting Program, the Guthrie Theater, Iowa State University and Theater de la Jeune Lune. He has served on the faculty of the Juilliard Drama School, the Actor's Center (founding faculty & master teacher of physical comedy/clown), Yale School of Drama, the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab, the Academy of Classical Acting at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington D.C., New York University's Graduate Acting Program and Tisch School of the Arts. His most recent position was that of Clinical Professor of Theater, Speech and Dance at Brown University and Director of Movement and Physical Theater at the Brown/Trinity Consortium in Providence, RI. In 2006, however, he threw caution to the wind, packed up his family and all of his nonsense and headed back to New York City. He is currently Professor and Head of Physical Acting at the Yale School of Drama.

Steven Epp has been an actor in the Twin Cities for 25 years. He's played Tartuffe, Hamlet, Gulliver, and Curusoe. Most of his career was spent on the stage with Theatre de la Jeune Lune, which closed its doors in 2008. Today, Steven still is considered a master of farce and quick change.