Steve Schroer (Producing Artistic Director)
In 2002 Steve Schroer founded Hardcover Theater; today he continues to serve as its artistic director. For Hardcover he has written and directed thirteen shows, and co-written and/or co-directed three others, many based on works of literature never before adapted for the stage. As a very young man, Steve created the first official student theater program at the University of Chicago, which by the time he left was producing more than forty shows a year. While in Chicago, he also founded a small professional theater company and served as general editor of Chicago Review, a nationally distributed literary magazine. Since moving to the Twin Cities, Steve has taught theater, film, literature, writing, and history at the Guthrie Theater, the Children’s Theatre, the Playwrights’ Center, the University of Minnesota, Concordia University, Cardinal Stritch University, and Northwestern Health Sciences University. Between Chicago and the Twin Cities, he has directed around forty shows (including comedy revues, an opera, and plays by Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Boris Vian) and produced more than two hundred. Steve’s educational background includes both a B.A. and an M.A. in English literature. He was named one of City Pages’ Artists of the Year for 2007. Email.
John Adler (Resident Scenic Designer)
John has done tech and design for various Twin Cities theater companies, including scenery for Tom and Viv and Greek (Theatre Exchange) and lights for The Robber Bridegroom (Theatre in the Round). Among his Hardcover Theater credits are technical direction and scenic design for The Savage Joy of Breaking Things, Dr. Ox’s Experiment, Behind a Mask, and The Sea-Wolf. John is also an actor who has played such roles as Salieri in Amadeus, the title character in The Elephant Man, and Akaky Akakievich in The Overcoat (part of Hardcover’s Gogol anthology entitled The Nose).
Ryan Ripley (Resident Graphic Designer and Web Developer)
Ryan has been working with Hardcover Theater since the spring of 2007 when he stage managed The Savage Joy of Breaking Things. Since then, Ryan has helped write, direct and produce Absolute Pulp, Dark Side of the Brothers Grimm, and The Witch, Hardcover’s contribution to the Twin Cities Chekhov Festival. Most recently, Ryan has designed sound for Wormwood and She. Ryan is Hardcover’s resident graphic artist and web designer. He is also the Company and Production Manager at the Playwrights’ Center. Email.