The story of the country's Founding Fathers and their courageous fight for our nation's independence. They argue over the writing and details of the Declaration of Independence until, in the end, American Independence is gained.

Just in time for the Fourth of July, SMT wants to boldly wave the red, white and blue with as much pride as a stage can offer. So ready yourself for a romp through colonial Philadelphia at the moment when patriotism was first born. 1776, winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, blazes into vivid life in this most unconventional of Broadway hits.

The Broadway musical "1776" won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, beating out the musical, "Hair", and ran for three years. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography. It has completed a successful revival on Broadway at The Roundabout and Gershwin Theatres. "1776" received three Tony nominations for revivals along with "Cabaret" and "The Sound Of Music." The composer, Sherman Edwards, spent nine and one half years researching and creating the show.

Well, not with the SMT cast, of course! But you can find the 1972 film version of the Broadway musical comedy directed by Peter H. Hunt. You can find out more about the video by visiting the Internet Movie Database.

Tippen Davidson, Music Director/Producer
Tippen Davidson attended the Julliard School of Music in New York and is an accomplished violist and conductor. Mr. Davidson's SMT conducting and music direction credits include The Telephone/The Medium, Street Scene, H.M.S. Pinafore, La Boheme, Camelot, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Company, Kismet, The Barber of Seville, Iolanthe, Follies, West Side Story, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Rothschilds, The Merry Widow, Of Thee I Sing, The Marriage of Figaro, Patience, A Midsummer Night's Dream/The Fairy Queen, Candide, The Mikado, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Gondoliers.

Robert Fetterman, Scenic Designer
Robert Fetterman is happy to start his twelfth season with Seaside Music Theater. He has been Production Manager for the past three years and has designed scenery for more than thirty-five Seaside productions including Miss Saigon, My Way, Dracula, Cyrano, Damn Yankees, As You Like It, Tommy, Rough Crossing, Sweeney Todd, The Lion in Winter, The New Yorkers, West Side Story, A Chorus Line, On the 20th Century and Evita. He has also served as Charge Scenic Artist and Props Master. Mr. Fetterman has worked for the University of Memphis, Stetson University, The Cleveland Playhouse, The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Downie Productions, King Productions, Center Stage and San Jose Rep.

Stacey Galloway, Costume Designer
Stacey Galloway is happy to return for another season with Seaside. Her previous designs include Five Guys Named Moe, Honk! and Street Scene for SMT, as well as My Red Hand, My Black Hand, Gary Grinkle's Battle With Wrinkles..., Race (Long Wharf Theatre), Cymbeline (The Atlantic Theatre Acting Company), Dido & Aeneas (Johnathan Edwards College-Yale University), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (West Virginia Public Theatre), Hello, Dolly! and Damn Yankees (Mac-Haydn Theater), Lend Me a Tenor, The Business of Murder (Summer Theatre By The Grove), and El Capitan (Opera for the Young). Additionally, she designed costumes for many productions at Drake University, University of Wisconsin - Madison and West Virginia University, from which she received her MFA in Costume Design. She now works in New York as a freelance costume designer.

Mark Harborth*, Production Stage Manager
Mark Harborth returns this year for his ninth season at SMT. He has served as an actor (As You Like It), director (High Spirits, Forever Plaid) and Production Stage Manager. Prior to returning to Florida, he recently directed John Patrick Shanley's The Big Funk in New York, as well as an award-winning Noises Off. As a director, he has had over twenty years of experience including working on Broadway and directing off-Broadway, national tours, university theater, dinner theater, stock and regional theater, and numerous off-off-Broadway musicals and plays. As a Production Stage Manager, he has worked regionally at theaters like Tennessee Rep., but loves the time he spends with the people at SMT. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and Actors' Equity.

Chuck Hoenes, Choreographer
Chuck Hoenes is now in his twenty-third season at SMT and is proud to have directed five of the theater's top grossing hits: My Way, Ain't Misbehavin', 42nd Street, Fiddler on the Roof and Swingtime Canteen. He has served as director, choreographer or both for over eighty Seaside productions. For the past twenty-eight years, Hoenes has also acted as produced for Clock Tower Dinner Theater in Rockford, Illinois, where he has been responsible for more than 200 musicals, dramas and original musical revues. Beginning his career as a dancer in 1950's Chicago, Hoenes is now celebrating his 50th year in show business. Some career highlights include: choreographer for the television show All Time Hit Parade, producer and director of the Sue Charles Dancers and the international touring company of the Hit Paraders. He also performed in the national tours of Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof, Carousel and Can-Can. During Hoenes' career he has performed with more than a hundred greats, including such stars as Jan Peerce, Lucie Arnaz, John Raitt and Ann Miller.

Brian Kelley, Technical Director
This is Brian Kelley's sixth summer working full-time for Seaside Music Theater. Previously he worked as Head Stage Staff for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Legend of the Seas and as 2nd Rigger for Station Casino in Kansas City. Mr. Kelley served as carpenter for the national tours of Joseph, 42nd Street and Smokey Joe's Caf￩. He is the proud owner of Spunky, the three-legged wonder. Mr. Kelley would like to thank all the sweaty people in the shop who make his summer so much easier.

Jerry Lapidus, Company Manager
Jerry Lapidus came to Daytona Beach to become a part of the SMT family after many years working with developing theaters for Actors' Equity Association, the actors' union, in New York. Since then, he and his family (attorney Anita and equestrian Kim) have accumulated three dogs, four horses, a barn cat and a big green pick-up truck and mini-van to carry them all. Although frequently mistaken for Richard Dreyfuss, Lapidus has promised his family not to jeopardize his job by attempting to act for Seaside. Mr. Lapidus has also worked for AMAS Repertory Theatre, Circle Repertory Theatre, the Roundabout Theatre and Long Island's Gateway Playhouse.

Richard Lighthall, Sound Designer
Richard Lighthall was introduced to theater at a very young age and began mixing productions at the age of 12. Mr. Lighthall has assisted in sound system design and installation for numerous theaters and served as an audio consultant for Carnival Cruise Lines. He is a lead production employee at his hometown civic center and is an IATSE Journeyman. Mr. Lighthall currently holds the Audio Engineer position at Middle Tennessee State University.

Lester Malizia, Director/General Manager
Lester Malizia is celebrating his twenty-first year as a director and his fourteenth year as General Manager of Seaside Music Theater. While at Seaside, he has directed such pieces as Miss Saigon, Great Expectations, Master Class, Street Scene, Cyrano, Sweet Charity, Company, La Boheme, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods and Nine, as well as SMT's acclaimed productions of Amadeus and Cosi Fan Tutti. In 1999, he had the pleasure of sharing the stage with many friends as Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner. Mr. Malizia is also a founding member of Orlando's Rogue Theater Company where he directed the Florida premiers of Unidentified Human Remains and The True Nature of Love and David Mamet's Oleana. He recently completed directing the Angels in America project at the Civic Theater in Orlando. His production of the turn-of-the-century operatta Floradora is in the permanent video collection of the Library of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. He has served on the board of the National Alliance of Music Theaters, has been Chairman of the Professional Division for the Southeastern Theater Conference and is currently Chairman of the Professional Division of the Florida Theater Council and President of the Florida Professional Theater Association. In 1999, Malizia was awarded the Distinguished Career Award by the Florida Theater Council.

Joseph P. Oshry, Lighting Designer
Joseph Oshry is pleased to be lighting 1776 as his debut project for Seaside Music Theater. Since 1986 he has designed lighting for over three hundred productions with such organizations as the Bayfront Center and Ruth Eckerd Performing Arts Hall, Palm Beach Opera, The Asolo Center, Florida Studio Theatre, Ballet Eddy Toussaint USA, Florida Repertory Theatre in Ft. Myers and New Stage in Mississippi. Mr. Oshry serves as Resident Lighting Designer to The American Stage in St. Petersburg, and he lights the season for the Interlochen Dance Ensemble in Michigan, as well as the season for the Opera Tampa at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Mr. Oshry received the Individual Artist Fellowship for 1997-98 from the Florida Arts Council, Division of Cultural Affairs and sevred on the Division's Theatre Fellowships Panel for the 1999-2000 grant period. He is a member of the United Scenic Artists Local 829 and of IATSE Local 412. Mr. Oshry lives in Bradenton with his wife, Denise, and he encourages you to visit his website at www.josephoshry.com.

Terry Tichenor, Co-Music Director
As SMT's "on call" music director and pianist, Terry Tichenor was most recently seen in My Way. While last season's collaboration with Donna Drake on the production of Honk! remains an all-time favorite experience, conducting shows such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Hello Dolly!, Crazy For You, 42nd Street, High Spirits and appearing on the Seaside stage as the accompanist, Manny, in Master Class are but a few of his contributions. Terry coaches and accompanies in the voice studios of Jane Christeson and Lloyd Linney at Stetson School of Music. He works privately with the voice studios of Mollie and Robert Rich, as well. His collaborations as a workshop clinician with Associate Producer Julia Truilo has been extremely rewarding to his growth as a musical artist. Terry is a recipient of the Ila B. Murphy Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to SMT. He was most recently recognized by Pi Kappa Lamda at Stetson School of Music for outstanding service to the music school.

Julia Davidson Truilo, Associate Producer
Julia Truilo is a founding member of SMT and has performed here in a host of capacities both onstage and off. Her favorite roles for the company include Ida in last season's Honk!, Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as Rosina in Barber of Seville, Anna in King and I, Gina/Harpo in A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine and Sally in Follies. She also directs for the company, including 1998's highly successful Camelot. Ms. Truilo spends her non-stage time watching the budget as SMT's Associate Producer. Elsewhere she has performed major roles in operas from Monteverdi to Robert Ward, as well as in a host of operettas and musical comedies with such companies as the Santa Fe Opera, the Orlando Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, New York's Bandwagon Theater Company and the Opera Ensemble of New York. She continues to do concert and oratorio work with ensembles around the country.

(*) Courtesy of Actors' Equity Association