The Festival Team

​Photo Credit: Peter Hellberg

Eric Simonson, Founder

Simonson, a Wisconsin native and part-time Door County resident, has a rich and varied career, including writing, directing and acting in Broadway plays, and directing for opera, film and television. He has been nominated for a Tony, an Emmy and an Oscar, winning the Oscar for his documentary film “A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin.” He is an ensemble member of the renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago and has developed television shows for HBO, STARZ, USA, FX, History Channel and NatGeo networks.

 

Alan Kopischke, Producer

Alan Kopischke is an actor and arts consultant with a long career in new play development and producing collaborative arts events. As an actor, he won a Dramalogue Award and performed with the American Conservatory Theatre, Steppenwolf, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Organic, Peninsula Players and Victory Gardens, in addition to film and television appearances including “Walker, Texas Ranger.” He has produced play reading series for American Conservatory Theatre and Peninsula Players and produced The Big Read Door County.

 

 

Robert Simonson, Mixologist

Robert Simonson writes about cocktails, spirits, bars and bartenders for The New York Times. He is the author of the books “The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktail” and “A Proper Drink,” the first-ever history of the cocktail renaissance, and “Three-Ingredient Cocktails,” which was nominated for a 2018 James Beard Award. He was a major contributor to “The Essential New York Times Book of Cocktails.” His writing have appeared in Imbibe, Whiskey Advocate, Eater, Food & Wine, Saveur, Lucky Peach and Punch, where he is a contributing editor. His line of custom Old-Fashioned glass was recently released by Cocktail Kingdom. He lives in Brooklyn. 

 

Art Kopischke, Media Director

Art Kopischke is a multimedia theatre artist who works interdisciplinarily in theatre, drag, performance art, comedy, and interactive media installation. Their work has been presented at the Public Theater, Abrons Arts Center, HERE Arts, the Brick Theater, the Flea, 3 Dollar Bill, Chaos Computer, Trans Pecos, ApartmentPARTY, and locally at Third Avenue Playhouse, Peninsula Players, the Door Community Auditorium, and World Premiere Wisconsin. 

A graduate of Bard College and Brooklyn College, Art now works as the Audio Video Supervisor at the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University.

 

Dan Klarer, Associate producer

Dan is a professional theater artist living in Door County and works as an actor, fight director, stage manager, and costume designer. He has performed these jobs and more for theater companies around the Midwest including: Third Avenue PlayWorks, Peninsula Players, Northern Sky Theatre, Door Shakespeare, First Folio Theatre, Artists’ Ensemble, Theatre at the Center, Children’s Theatre Madison, Madison Ballet, Chicago Kids Company, and the Goodman Theatre. Dan has taught stage combat and worked at a variety of sanctioned workshops through the Society of American Fight Directors and Dueling Arts International. He has choreographed and directed stage violence for all four professional theaters in Door County and taught/assisted at several schools across the country including: UW-Green Bay, Pace University, and Adelphi University. Dan received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama from UW-Stevens Point and his Master of Arts degree in Acting from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.