The Return of CITILITES

Coming out after 15 years, CITILITES THEATRE returns to the St. Louis professional theatre scene, opening its new season with Terrence McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion!

CITILITES was born when Matt and Mary Caulley’s love for the theatre inspired them to seek out professionals who would help them realize their dream. They operated out of the New City School space in the Central West End from 1993 to 1996 under the supervision of artistic directors Michael Brightman and G.P. Hunsaker. Their well-reviewed shows included Evita, Steambath, a successful production of Chicago before Encores! revived it on Broadway and the St. Louis premiere of And the World Goes ‘Round.

Hunsaker and Brightman both return as Artistic Director and Artistic Associate, respectively with Seth Ward Pyatt as Managing Director. A mixture of new and former board members make up the rest of the company. “Lively musicals, drama and comedies - that’s Citilites” is how KFUO-FM’s Steve Allen described the theatre after its first season. “A group set apart by the depth of their talent, inventive staging and breaking away from tradition” is a reputation that CITILITES intends on keeping.

Mission Satement

To maintain the fine tradition of St. Louis Professional theatre by producing popular works as well as recent Off-Broadway successes that are less than fifteen years old (excluding musicals) and have not been produced in the St. Louis theatre area within the past five seasons.

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Staff

GP HUNSAKER (Artistic Director)
gphplays@sbcglobal.net
GP is an actor and director from Omaha, NE and has a BA and MA in Theatre. He is thrilled to bring back Citilites Theatre for which he served as Artistic Director from 1994 to 1996. Directing credits include Love! Valour! Compassion!, Into the Woods, West Side Story and I Hate Hamlet. Favorite roles to date are Stanley (A Streetcar Named Desire), Li’l Harp (The Robber Bridegroom) and Lancelot (Camelot). Recent St. Louis shows include Glengarry Glen Ross and Why Torture is Wrong... and the People Who Love Them for Hot City, The Lady of Dubuque for Muddy Waters and The Country Girl for Avalon Theatre. He has worked with The Black Rep, Echo Theatre Company, and New Line Theatre among others, including his own dinner theatre (P.L.A.Y.S.).

MICHAEL BRIGHTMAN (Associate Artistic Director)
brightmanmichael@yahoo.com
Michael directed the inaugural production of Evita and is very pleased to once again be a part of Citilites, the company that he founded along with Matt and Mary Caulley back in 1994. In the St. Louis area Michael has performed and directed with such companies as Mustard Seed, StrayDog, Kirkwood Theatre Guild, Looking Glass Playhouse, CJ Productions, New Line and Soundstage. He was recently seen at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in the Kevin Kline nominated productions of Frost/Nixon and Emma, A New Musical.

SETH WARD PYATT (Managing Director)
swpyatt@citilitestheatre.com
Seth is a director, designer, actor and musician from St. Louis. Locally he has worked with The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, STAGES St. Louis, St. Louis Actors’ Studio, New Line Theatre, Black Cat Theatre and Ozark Actors Theatre. Seth has held residencies at Galveston Island Musicals and Granbury Opera House in Texas and at Timber Lake Playhouse near Chicago. Favorite credits are Citilites' Love! Valour! Compassion! (Buzz), two productions of The Producers (Leo Bloom; musical director), Gypsy (Jocko/Weber/Kringelein/Cigar), The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 (Patrick O'Reilly), Urinetown (lighting designer), The Andrews Brothers (director), The Last Five Years (director), West Side Story (musical director) and All Shook Up (musical director).

Board