The Scioto Society, Inc, producers of the Outdoor Drama Tecumseh! has introduced it’s director for the 2018 season of Tecumseh, Brent Gibbs, as well as a Sleepy Hollow Experience At Haunted Mountain Artistic Director, Brian Clowdus.
Brent Gibbs has a long history with Tecumseh! and last served as Director, Fight Director and Production Stage Manager from 1993-2001. Since 1993 he has taught at the University of Arizona, where he heads the professional actor training program in the School of Theatre, Film and Television.
Brent recently attained the rank of Full Professor and over the years he has received numerous teaching awards including the College of Fine Arts’ Anthony Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching. Many of the students he has worked with over the years have gone on to have successful professional careers in film and television as well as on stages around the country, including on Broadway. Since 2001 he has served as the Artistic Director for the Arizona Repertory Theatre, which is housed on the University of Arizona campus. At ART he has directed well over 30 productions.
Among those, 18 titles were from Shakespeare’s canon, including many of his well known works such as King Lear, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet but also many of his lesser known scripts such as Titus Andronicus, Pericles and Cymbeline. In 2016 he directed The Tempest and The Comedy of Errors at ART as part of the Folger Library’s First Folio Celebration.Brent is also a professional fight director based in Tucson, Arizona. In Arizona his work has been seen at the Arizona Theatre Company, The Rouge Theatre, The Southwest Shakespeare Company and the Arizona Opera Company. Over the years his work has also been seen at regional theatres around the country, including the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, the San Jose Repertory Theatre and The Guthrie Theatre.
Said Gibbs; “I am very excited and humbled to be asked back to direct Tecumseh! It is exciting to have the opportunity to introduce a new generation of actors and theatre artists to the joy and hard work that goes into creating an outdoor drama of this caliber. It is humbling to once again lead a creative team as we tell the very important story of Tecumseh. To me it has always been a story about courage and bravery but it is also a story of love and of the heartbreak that love can bring. Stories like this have always been crucial and we are fortunate to have Allen W. Ekerts’s beautiful script to guide us. Outdoor drama is a pure American art form and Tecumseh!! is one of the finest examples of that art form. I have always considered myself exceedingly lucky to be an alumni of this fine organization and this summer I look forward to returning to the mountain to once again ply the trade I learned there.“
The Sleepy Hollow Experience will take over Haunted Mountain in an immersive theatrical experience co-produced with Brian Clowdus Experiences. This groundbreaking production of a classic American story has been mounted by Clowdus near Atlanta at the Serenbe Playhouse and near Boston at Old Sturbridge Village. The production in Chillicothe will be unique in that the entire Haunted Mountain experience will be revamped to fit the Sleepy Hollow theme. Clowdus will re-imagine The Haunted Trail, Escape Rooms and even the concessions to create a fully immersive experience.
Brian Clowdus is the Founder & Executive/Artistic Director of Serenbe Playhouse, the nation’s premiere outdoor site-specific theatre company and recently named One Of The Top 20 Theatres In The Nation by Playbill. Brian is also the CEO of Brian Clowdus Experiences which is taking his environmental work all across the country, expanding at an unprecedented rate. He has performed and directed in Tokyo, London, Canada, Central and South America, The Caribbean, NYC, LA and in almost every other major city in the United States. Brian was named the Top Artistic Director in Atlanta and one of the Top 20 Atlantans to Watch by Creative Loafing, one of the Top 15 Atlantans under 40 by Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Magazine, one of the Top 40 Under 40 by Georgia Trend, one of The Most Eligible Bachelors in Atlanta by Jezebel Magazine and most recently one of the Most Influential Atlantans In The Entertainment Industry by Men's Book Atlanta.
”I am over the moon to be bringing The Sleepy Hollow Experience to Ohio! I have fallen in love with Chillicothe and the venue at Tecumseh and can't wait to see how the city and environment help shape this version! They say third time's a charm and I am honored for this be my third venue housing the production. The Sleepy Hollow Experience will also live outside of Atlanta and Boston this year, but without a shadow of a doubt Sleepy Hollow on Sugarloaf Mountain will be one for the books and I look forward to what creepy magical experience we are going create this fall!” said Clowdus.
Scioto Society CEO, Brandon Smith, says that the quality of work being done in Chillicothe each year is attracting some of the best artists in the country, including the two high caliber directors. “Not only does the quality of what we do attract great actors and technicians, but the best people in our field who direct, train horses, design lights…they all want to work with us at Sugarloaf Mountain. We also know how to treat people right. The biggest investment we make each year in in our people both on stage and off. They are our biggest asset, our biggest expense and one of the reasons that we feel we enrich our community so much. These folks give their best to us while they are here and they consistently want to return to create new things. We provide an enriching and supportive environment where they can produce their best work.”
Tickets for The Sleepy Hollow Experience at Haunted Mountain will go on sale on Feb 1, while tickets for the 2018 season of Tecumseh are on sale now. For tickets and information, go to www.tecumsehdrama.com or call 1-866-775-0700.