Bob Lohrmann (Director) has directed over a dozen productions of Shear Madness in cities including Vancouver, Calgary, Philadelphia, Portland, Prince Edward Island and Toronto. He is the Associate Artistic Director of the show in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center where he also trains international directors of the show. In addition to having played all the male roles in Shear Madness in DC, Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland, Mr. Lohrmann is also a charter company member of The People’s Light Theatre Company, where he has appeared in principal roles in more than 35 productions, including Holy Ghosts, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot, Charley’s Aunt, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, 1000 Clowns, Lenny, Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie, As You Like It, Marat/Sade, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Roshomon, La Ronde, Our Town, Inherit the Wind, Precious Blood, Wait Until Dark, and The Good Woman of Setzuan. He directed the acclaimed one-man show The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me in Washington and Don’t Dress for Dinner in Lake George. In the Philadelphia area, Mr. Lohrmann has performed at the Wilma Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, The Arden Theatre Company, the Wilmington Grand Opera House, Bank Street Theatre, and Locust Street Theatre, as well as Ford’s Theatre in Washington. Additionally, he has appeared in dozens of commercials and industrials and several feature films. He was the announcer for the Nickelodeon kids show “Finders Keepers” (…tell em’ what they’ve won, Bob!). His Philadelphia-based production company writes, casts, and produces commercials and industrial training films and created and published the highly successful The Actor’s Casting Guide. His comedy sketches have been performed at the Manhattan Punchline in New York. He lives in West Chester Pennsylvania with John Lilley, his partner of 29 years.

Jason Coll (Associate Artistic Director, General Manager CLO Cabaret) A graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama, Mr. Coll was a member of the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop in NYC. He has directed and music directed several productions for the CLO including A Musical Christmas Carol, three Richard Rodgers Awards shows honoring Broadway legends Gwen Verdon, Bernadette Peters and Shirley Jones, as well as numerous Gallery of Heroes productions.  He has directed the on field entertainment for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Skyblast extravaganza at PNC Park and is the author of eleven musicals and a ballet, six of which have been produced by Pittsburgh CLO for its Gallery of Heroes Program. His latest show, The Incredibly Innovative Innovators of Pittsburgh premiered in January as part of Pittsburgh Celebrates 250.  Jason was named one of Pittsburgh’s “40 Under 40” by Pittsburgh Magazine and PUMP. With CLO’s Van Kaplan, he created the CLO/CMU New Works program, which unites CMU Drama students with Broadway caliber directors and writers as they present staged readings of new musicals. Jason is the creator of a television pilot, Write On!, and is also the composer/writer of The Three Sleuths - a live, interactive multimedia show that featured forensic legends Dr. Cyril Wecht, Dr. Henry Lee, Dr. Michael Baden and their most famous cases at the Rio Suites and Casino in Las Vegas. This fall, Jason composed the music to Let’s Play, choreographed by Pittsburgh CLO’s Kiesha Lalama-White for the Gus Giordano Jazz Company in Chicago.  Most recently he directed the production of The Big Bang at the cabaret.  Love to Lisa and Liam.  Enjoy the show!  www.jasoncoll.com

Andrew David Ostrowski (Lighting Designer) For CLO Cabaret: Plaid Tidings, Forbidden Broadway, Forbidden Broadway SVU, and Forever Plaid. For CLO: Carousel, Hello Dolly! Funny Girl, My Fair Lady, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and A Musical Christmas Carol. Andy has also been the Associate Lighting Designer on 50 plus CLO shows. Recent work includes Assassins for the Playhouse Conservatory and King Lear for PICT. He also recreated his work on The Missionary Position at Merrimack Rep. in Lowell Mass. In the fall he designed the world premiere of the musical written by Michael Rupert titled Streets of America for the Playhouse Conservatory. He also designed the American premiere of Mother Teresa is Dead for City Theater. He designed a dance piece for Gus Giordano’s jazz company in Chicago. He also designed a critically acclaimed production of Forever Plaid at North Shore Music Theater. He has toured most of Western Europe as the lighting director of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. His work on a production of Faith Healer toured 13 cites in Ireland. He has designed for Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theater, City Theater, Quantum Theater, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical, Pittsburgh Musical Theater, Virginia Stage Company, The Arden Theater, Theater of the Stars, Club Med, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Busch Gardens Williamsburg Virginia, Spoleto Festival USA, as well as others. Andy would like to thank his family and friends for their ongoing support.

Barbara Anderson (Costume Designer) has designed costumes for productions at the CLO, PPT, Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival Theatre, Yale School of Drama, Carnegie Mellon Theatre Company and many others. She did the costumes for the premiere of the CLO musical, Casper, The Musical, as well as five original musicals for the CLO Gallery of Heroes series. Credits in film and television include six feature films with George Romero. PBS projects included designs for The Silence At Bethany, Leatherstocking Tales, Decades of Decision, the John Marshal series, Wonderworks, Once Upon a Classic, and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Locally she created historical costumes for the John Heinz Regional History Center. She has also done mascots such as dragons and dinosaurs, shows for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and academic regalia. Barbara is the Anathan Professor of Drama at Carnegie Mellon and Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts.

Tim Brady (Production Stage Manager) returns to the CLO Cabaret after working as stage manager for The Big Bang and performing in A Musical Christmas Carol. As an actor, Tim has appeared in 11 productions of CLO’s A Musical Christmas Carol and the 2004 summer productions of The Music Man (Charlie Cowell) and 1776 (Judge Wilson). He has also appeared in CLO’s Porgy and Bess, Evita, Casper the Musical and spent 10 years with the CLO’s Gallery of Heroes program. Other local theaters that Tim has performed with are The Pittsburgh Pops, Starlight Productions, The New Pittsburgh Jewish Theatre, Stage Right, and The Theater Factory. Tim was the managing director of the Conley Inn Dinner Theater in Irwin for 17 years. He is excited to be working on this wonderful production of Shear Madness.

Tarah M. Grant (Properties Mistress) A graduate of Adelphi University with a BFA in Technical Theatre Design, Tarah has worked in the Arts and Theatre for 20 years as a dancer and technician. Her previous work with the CLO Cabaret as props mistress include Plaid Tidings and The Big Bang. Tarah is the former Technical Director for The Academy of Musical Theaer in Meadville and current Production Manager for Empty Jug Productions in Pittsburgh. Other credits include: Pittsburgh Musical Theater, NYC Fringe Festival, Ohio Theatre: NYC, Bucks County Playhouse, McKeesport Little Theater and Dance Del Bello. Thanks to all involved with Shear Madness.

Marilyn Abrams (Cranberry Productions), original Co-producer, and Bruce Jordan (Cranberry Productions), original Co-producer/Director, are the owners and creators of Shear Madness, the longest-running non-musical play in American theater history. These two New York actors anticipated the trend for interactive theater and acquired the world stage, film and television rights to a murder mystery originally titled Scherenschnitt, written by German playwright Paul Pörtner. Jordan directed and created the role of Tony Whitcomb, salon proprietor, and Abrams created the role of Barbara DeMarco, the gum-chewing manicurist.
This exuberant duo oversees the Shear Madness productions in Boston and Washington, D.C, while serving as advisors to Shear Madness companies in cities as diverse as Rome, Athens, Budapest, San Diego, Mexico City, Fort Lauderdale, Johannesburg, Lisbon, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires and Madrid. While each occasionally takes time out to pursue other stage and film work, both make frequent visits to Shear Madness cities where Jordan maintains the artistic quality of the productions and Abrams handles the sales and marketing.

The 25-year-old Boston company has been listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running play in American theater history. On Jun 9, 2005, the D.C. production of Shear Madness became the second longest-running production with 7,221 performances. Completing the Triple Crown of theater history race is the Chicago production, which holds the number three spot in the long-run stakes.

The play was awarded a special citation at the prestigious Elliot Norton Awards in Boston in 2005 for “25 years of hair-raising hijinks that have kept dozens of Boston actors employed and taught a generation of performers the art of comic timing.” Boston’s Warrenton Street, location of the historic Charles Playhouse, is officially known as “Shear Madness Alley.” Other honors include the Mystery Writers of America Raven Award, The Boston Globe’s “Best Comedy of the Year,” The Chicago Tribune’s “Best Play of the Year,” the USO Award for “Outstanding Contribution in the Theatrical Arts” and The Philadelphia Daily News’ “Best Play of the Year.”
Abrams and Jordan are the recipients of the Charlie Chaplin Comedy Award given by the National Comedy Hall of Fame as the creators of Shear Madness, the first play ever to be so honored.