Anchorage Daily News

Among the prominent veteran and up-and-coming theater personalities at this year's Last Frontier Theatre Conference:

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Christopher

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Hutton

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Lutwak

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PETER ELLENSTEIN, artistic director of the William Inge Center for the Arts in Independence, Ka.

Prior to taking that post in 2001, he was producing director of the Los Angeles Repertory Company for seven years. There, he directed the acclaimed Los Angeles premiere of Sondheim and Weidman's "Assassins." He has worked in theater across the country, from Los Angeles to New York, Florida to Alaska, and has been a consultant with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Academy Award-winner PATRICIA NEAL has been a regular presence at the Valdez theater conference virtually since its inception.

Following a sensational stage debut, winning Tony and Drama Critics' Awards, Neal went to Hollywood and starred in "The Fountainhead" and "Hud." She kept up her live theater career and has had several distinguished television roles, including "The Homecoming," "The Lou Gehrig Story," and "All's Quiet on the Western Front." Her most recent film part is in "Flying By" with Billy Ray Cyrus, scheduled for release in 2008.

Bostin Christopher is originally from Alaska; his grandfather built a homestead in Chickaloon in 1953. His Alaska stage work included the character of Little John in "Tracers," solo performances in Eric Bogosian's "Pounding Nails in the Floor With My Forehead" and "Drinking in America," and directing the state's first production of "Sylvia."

He now lives in New York, from which he has landed roles in regional theater and television, including "Law and Order." This year, he will be seen in the titular role in Warner Bros./Raw Feed film's "Otis," starring Daniel Stern, Illeana Douglas and Kevin Pollak. "Otis" was an official selection at the South By Southwest Film Festival, chosen for the opening night of the festival. The film has also been accepted into major film festivals in Cleveland, Boston, London and Wales. It will be shown at 10 p.m. June 27-28 at the Wild Berry Theater in Anchorage.

Mark Lutwak was the artistic director for Honolulu Theatre for Youth for six years, directing 28 plays, including 15 world premieres, and developing several new play programs. His career also includes work as a freelance stage and video director in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Seattle and Hawaii, developing and directing new plays at such theaters as New Dramatists, New York Theatre Workshop, Public Theatre, Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices, New Harmony Project, Seattle Group Theatre, First Stage Milwaukee and several other companies.

He recently staged Jo Roets' "Cyrano" for Cyrano's Playhouse in Anchorage.

Arlene Hutton is best known for "The Nibroc Trilogy," which includes "Last Train to Nibroc," (Drama League Best Play nomination), "See Rock City" ("In the Spirit of America" MacLean Foundation Award) and "Gulf View Drive" (LA Weekly and Ovation Award nominations). The trilogy played to critical acclaim last season both in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway.

Hutton's work has been presented four times at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is a three-time Samuel French Short Play winner. Currently the Tennessee Williams Fellow in Playwriting at Sewanee, a position she also held in 2005, Hutton is on the faculty of this summer's Sewanee Writers' Conference.

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