Gilbert Cates

Producing Director

Gilbert Cates is recognized as a leader in television, film and theater.

Currently presiding as the Producing Director of The Geffen Playhouse, he is dedicated to enriching the Los Angeles theatrical spectrum by presenting the finest in contemporary and classical theater.

In November 1996, Cates was the recipient of the Jimmy Dolittle Award for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theater. He received the 1999 Ovation Award for best play for Collected Stories, starring Linda Lavin and Samantha Mathis, which he directed at the Geffen.
The accolades for Cates expand into other areas of the entertainment industry. He produced and directed the 1970 film version of the Broadway hit I Never Sang for My Father, starring Melvyn Douglas, Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons. The movie earned three Academy Award nominations. Cates also directed Joanne Woodward and Sylvia Sidney in the 1973 film Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, which received two Oscar nominations. Other film directing credits include: The Promise, One Summer Love, The Last Married Couple in America, Oh! God Book II and Backfire. He further distinguished himself as director and/or producer of a number of television dramatic specials. These include NBC’s 1972 Emmy Award-winning To all My Friends on Shore, starring Bill Cosby; ABC’s 1974 The Affair starring Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner; NBC’s 1975 After the Fall starring Faye Dunaway and Christopher Plummer. Other credits include: Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, The Kid from Nowhere, County Gold, Faerie Tale Theater’s Rapunzel and Goldilocks and the Three Bears; Hobson’s Choice, Burning Rage, Consenting Adults, Fatal Judgment, Do You Know the Muffin Man, Call Me Anna, Absolute Strangers, In My Daughter’s Name, and Tom Clancy’s Netforce (Cates directed James Agee’s A Death in the Family for Masterpiece Theater’s American Collection of PBS and Donald Margulies’ Collected Stories for PBS Hollywood Presents). In September 2002, he directed David Eldridge’s Under the Blue Sky for The Geffen Playhouse and directed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 2005, the inaugural production in the newly-renovated Geffen Playhouse. In February 2007 he directed Jeffrey Hatcher’s A Picasso in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.

Mr. Cates served two terms as President of the Directors Guild of America from 1983 to 1987. In 1989, he received the Guild’s Robert B. Aldrich Award for extraordinary service and, in 1991, he received the DGA’s Honorary Life Membership. He also served as Dean of the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television (which he founded) from 1990-1998.

In 2006, Cates produced the 78th Annual Academy Awards show for ABC, his 13th occasion producing the Awards, for which he has already garnered 84 nominations and 17 Emmy Awards.

Mr Cates was born in New York City and attended Syracuse University. Married to Dr. Judith Reichman, he has four children, two stepchildren and is a grandfather .


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Randall Arney

Artistic Director

Randall Arney begins his seventh season as Artistic Director at The Geffen Playhouse where he has directed Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out, Stephen Jeffreys, I Just Stopped by to See the Man, Rebecca Gilman’s Boy Gets Girl, David Rambo’s God’s Man In Texas, and Conor McPherson’s The Weir.

Arney directed the world premiere of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile in Chicago as well as subsequent premiere productions in Los Angeles, Off-Broadway, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Tokyo.

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An ensemble member of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company since 1984, he served from 1987 to 1995 as the company’s artistic director. Broadway transfers under his leadership include The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Song of Jacob Zulu (6 Tony Award nominations), and The Grapes of Wrath (1990 Tony Award, Best Play).

Additional directing credits for Steppenwolf include I Just Stopped by to See the Man, Martin McDonough’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden, Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class, Lee Blessing’s A Walk in the Woods, and John Olive’s Killers. Mr Arney’s acting credits with Steppenwolf include Born Yesterday, Ghost in the Machine, The Homecoming, Frank’s Wild Years, You Can’t Take It With You, Fool for Love, Coyote Ugly, True West, and Balm in Gilead. Film and television credits include Normal, Weapons of Mass Distraction (both for HBO), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), and Judging Amy (CBS).

Mr Arney has an M.F.A. in acting from Illinois State University


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Ken Novice

Managing Director


Ken Novice’s career in the professional theatre spans 25 years and over 250 productions. Prior to joining Geffen Playhouse, he served as Managing Director and Director of External Affairs at Pasadena Playhouse where his credits include the revival of Fences starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Basset and the world premieres of Sister Act the Musical, Ray Charles Live, Stormy Weather starring Lesley Uggams and many others. He was Director of Marketing and Public Relations for San Diego’s Tony Award-winning Old Globe Theatre where his credits include Jack O’Brien’s acclaimed revival of Damn Yankees, the Tony Award-nominated musical The Full Monty, Henry IV starring John Goodman and Sheldon Epp’s Tony-nominated hit Play On! among many others. His credits also include marketing and public relations for the Tony Award-winning Denver Center Theater Company and New York’s Circle Repertory Company. As Director of Programming for YouthStream Media Networks he developed national marketing and public relations programs for most of Hollywood’s major motion picture studios. Novice also served as Head of the Theatre Management MFA/MBA program at California State University, Long Beach and has been a guest lecturer at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. He holds a BA from the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from San Diego State University.

 

 

 

 


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