Trap Door's Theatre Announces Two New Company Members

Trap Door Theatre is proud to announce two new company members: Monica Payne as Resident Director and Danny Rockett as Resident Sound Designer.

Monica Payne is a freelance director who recently devised and directed the Jeff-recommended Into the Empty Sky at Trap Door.

Other recent projects include Our Country's Good (UCLA) and a workshop production of Camino Real for CSU Summer Arts/Steppenwolf Classes West. She spent much of 2015/16 working on Trash Story, an award-winning Polish play by Magda Fertacz, directing full productions in both New York (Kulture+ Productions) and Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as a staged reading for the International Voices Project (representing Trap Door) in Chicago. She has made two trips to Poland in recent years with the Adam Mi

Other projects include a critically acclaimed production of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye for the Pittsburgh Playhouse; Ploughman from Bohemia for Theatre Lumina; Racine's Phedre; Euripides' Hecuba; Mark Twain's Huck Finn; her own adaptation of Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Euripides' Elektra; William Inge's Natural Affection; and Sam Shepard's Savage Love. She also directs music videos, including "We Are" and "The Old Man and his Daughter" for Kaitlin Huwe. A former actress, Payne has appeared on stage with Steppenwolf, The Artistic Home, The Hypocrites, The Journeymen, Famous Door, and Collaboraction, among others. She is a member of the 2008 Lincoln Center Director's Lab in New York, as well as the 2012 Director's Lab West in Los Angeles. She holds an M.F.A. in Directing from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. www.monicapaynedirector.com

Danny Rockett has performed on Broadway, radio and television in a career in music and theatre spanning over 2 decades. A composer, whose work has been featured on numerous stages, films, tv shows and music halls, Rockett has primarily written for theatre, radio, and rock bands. Rockett plays multiple instruments and is an accomplished producer, teacher and musical director whose work can be heard on dozens of albums in a plethora of musical styles. With a humorous and unorthodox approach, Rockett attempts to reinvent the art of sound production with every new challenge and endeavor. Danny is the proud recipient of a Joseph Jefferson award for Best Original Music for last season's How to Explain the history of Communism to Mental Patients.