Steven Klein (producer) explained

Steven Klein
Birth Place:Boston, Massachusetts
Education:BA in Theater
Alma Mater:Yale University
Years Active:1996–present
Organization:Firefly Theater & Films
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Steven Klein is an American film, television, and theater actor and producer. He is the founder of Firefly Theater & Films, a Los Angeles–based production company. The company has staged a number of productions, including works by Itamar Moses, Jane Martin, and Geraldine Hughes. Through Firefly, Klein has also produced several films including Finders Keepers, Print the Legend, and Wrestle. As an actor, he has appeared in various stage, film, and television roles including in An Infinite Ache, The Circle, and Burn Notice.

Early life and education

Steven Klein was born in Boston and grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts.[1] He attended Yale University, where he founded and ran the Yale Undergraduate Shakespeare Company. He acted in a number of productions at Yale including The Tempest, which was directed by fellow Yale alumnus and future business partner, Matt Shakman.[2] Klein also received training at Kristin Linklater's Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts.[3] He graduated from Yale in 1998,[4] with a BA in Theater.[5]

Career

Klein founded Firefly Theater in 1996.[3] Matt Shakman also played a role in the foundation of Firefly, which operated as a theatre collective staging experimental projects in its early days.[2] Klein's first major Los Angeles stage appearance[6] came in a March 2000 production of Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking at the Celebration Theatre.[7] In August 2000, Klein's Firefly Theater company staged a production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure at the Black Dahlia Theatre,[3] a Los Angeles playhouse and companion theatre company set up by Shakman and Klein.[1] [2] Klein would go on to serve as staff producer and occasional actor at the Black Dahlia in the following years.[8] One of the early works he produced[1] and acted in at the Black Dahlia was Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow in April 2001.[9] Also in 2001, Klein co-created with producer Bruce Cohen a short film collective called Catme with film producer, Bruce Cohen. In 2003, Klein was a producer on Geraldine Hughes' one-woman show, Belfast Blues, which premiered at the Black Dahlia Theatre[1] in February of that year.[10] The show went on to stage several other productions[1] including at the Off Broadway Barrow Street Theatre in New York[6] and the Off West End Soho Theatre in London.[11] Klein also had his first television guest role in 2003 on an episode of .[12] In January 2004, he acted in a production of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.[13] In September 2004, Klein produced and starred in David Schulner's An Infinite Ache alongside Suzy Nakamura at the Black Dahlia Theatre.[1] [14] He later returned to Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre to reprise his role in a separate production of the play in 2007.[15] He continued producing and acting in several Firefly co-productions, including Jane Martin's Flags (2007) at the Black Dahlia Theatre[8] and Itamar Moses' The Four of Us (2008) at the Elephant Theatre Lab.[16] The former play was transferred to the Off Broadway 59E59 Theater later in 2007.[17] In 2010, Klein appeared on an episode of Burn Notice.[18] Also that year, his Firefly Theater outfit expanded into film production,[19] and its name was changed to Firefly Theater & Films.[20] Firefly's first film was a 2011 documentary feature about aspiring teenage magicians called Make Believe,[19] which won the documentary award at the LA Film Festival.[6] In 2011, Klein co-created (with Jordana Malick) the annual Unscreened event in which screenwriters, directors, and actors would stage a series of short plays using scripts that were often initially intended for film or television.[21] The series ran until 2015 and featured actors like Lindsey Kraft, Jerrika Hinton, Tig Notaro, Nate Corddry, Maria Thayer, and Klein himself in plays penned by writers like James Ponsoldt, Aisha Muharrar, and Dahvi Waller.[20] [21] [22] In 2014, Klein was a producer on the 3D printing documentary Print the Legend, which premiered on Netflix in September of that year.[23] The following year, he served as executive producer on another documentary, Finders Keepers.[24] Through Firefly, he has also produced several other films, including Kensho at the Bedfellow[25] (2017),[26] Out of Omaha (2018),[27] and Wrestle (which was distributed by Oscilloscope[28] and premiered on PBS' Independent Lens in 2019).[29] In 2017, he produced and acted in a production of Lin Bo's Caught at an art gallery in Los Angeles. The event, which was described as both an art installation and a theater piece, was a co-production between Firefly, VS. Theater Company, and Think Tank Gallery.[30] In 2020, Klein co-created, produced, and starred in a television pilot for a comedy series called Everyone Together.[31] It went on to win the award for best comedy pilot at SeriesFest that year.[32]

Credits

Film and television

YearTitle
[33]
RoleNotes
2003DraysikEpisode 3.9: "North Star"
2006Pizza Time[34] French GundersonUnaired TV pilot; also producer
The Problem with PercivalShort film; producer
No. 6Short film; producer
2007First.Card playerShort film
The Grand DesignDougShort film; producer
2008The SkyjackerWalter Neese
Sons of AnarchyManagerEpisode 1.2: "Seeds"
2010Burn NoticeAlexiEpisode 4.7: "Past & Future Tense"
2011Make BelieveDocumentary; producer
NatureBob
2013Problem of EvilEzra
2014Print the LegendNetflix documentary; producer and writer
2015Finders KeepersDocumentary; executive producer
White Collar StonersJean-Paul Smith
2017Kensho at the BedfellowMaxAlso producer
The CircleMan from the Crowd
2018WrestleDocumentary (premiered on PBS' Independent Lens); producer and writer
Out of OmahaDocumentary; producer and writer
The ChairShort film
2020Everyone TogetherMartinTV pilot; co-creator, producer, and writer
2024In Our Blood[35] Isaac KozlovProducer

Theater

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Boehm . Mike . Overflowing with ambition . November 7, 2004 . Los Angeles Times . 28 February 2021.
  2. News: Spindle . Les . Matt of All Trades . March 20, 2008 . Backstage . 28 February 2021.
  3. News: Manus . Willard . Black Dahlia Theatre and Firefly Theatre on Measure, Aug. 25 . August 25, 2000 . Playbill . 28 February 2021.
  4. News: Advice for Life After Yale (or finding your footing in the real world) . November 29, 2009 . Minnesota Rising . 28 February 2021.
  5. News: Steven Klein . Actors Access . 28 February 2021.
  6. News: Ng . David . L.A. theater veteran wins LAFF documentary award for 'Make Believe' . June 29, 2010 . Los Angeles Times . 28 February 2021.
  7. News: McBride . Murdoch . L.A. Premiere of Shopping and... Bows March 1 at Celebration Theatre . February 14, 2000 . Playbill . 28 February 2021.
  8. News: Mitchell . Sean . A dramatic battle to bring war onto stage . August 26, 2007 . Los Angeles Times . 28 February 2021.
  9. News: Ehren . Christine . Orson's Shadow Looms Over Los Angeles April 12-May 12 . April 12, 2001 . Playbill . 28 February 2021.
  10. News: Haithman . Diane . Child's play in a war zone . February 16, 2003 . Los Angeles Times . 28 February 2021.
  11. News: Belfast Blues . June 16, 2004 . The Stage . 28 February 2021.
  12. News: Wed Highlights . November 7, 2003 . Johnson City Press . 28 February 2021.
  13. News: Jones . Kenneth . Biloxi Blues Steams Up Philly Winter at Walnut Street Jan. 13-Feb. 29 . January 13, 2004 . Playbill . 28 February 2021.
  14. News: Nichols . David C. . An 'Ache' that's felt in soul of marriage . September 17, 2004 . Los Angeles Times . 28 February 2021.
  15. News: Shapiro . Howard . Play gets its arms around love in a keen 90 minutes . March 17, 2007 . The Philadelphia Inquirer . 28 February 2021.
  16. News: McNulty . Charles . Envious of a friend's success . September 19, 2008 . Los Angeles Times . 28 February 2021.
  17. News: Isherwood . Charles . Far From Iraq, an American Family Feels Dangers of War . September 18, 2007 . The New York Times . 28 February 2021.
  18. News: Klein . Steven . The Acting Career You Dream of Doesn't Exist . September 29, 2010 . Backstage . 28 February 2021.
  19. News: Genzlinger . Neil . More Than Abracadabra . May 12, 2011 . The New York Times . 28 February 2021.
  20. News: Sneider . Jeff . James Ponsoldt's New Short Play Highlights Latest 'Unscreened' Series (Exclusive) . April 23, 2015 . TheWrap . 28 February 2021.
  21. News: Zeitchik . Steven . Setting the stage for their big break . March 20, 2013 . Los Angeles Times . 28 February 2021.
  22. News: Rickwald . Bethany . Chris Klein to Perform in Unscreened . January 17, 2012 . TheaterMania . 28 February 2021.
  23. News: Nededog . Jethro . Netflix Sets Date for Award-Winning 'Print the Legend' Documentary (Exclusive) . August 19, 2014 . TheWrap . 28 February 2021.
  24. News: Grierson . Tim . 'Finders Keepers': Review . March 9, 2015 . Screen Daily . 28 February 2021.
  25. News: Project of the Day: 'Kensho at the Bedfellow' . March 11, 2014 . IndieWire . 28 February 2021.
  26. News: Dukart . Lisa . Cheltenham Native Releases Movie 'Kensho at the Bedfellow' . March 10, 2017 . Main Line Today . 28 February 2021.
  27. News: Moore . Roger . Documentary Review: "Out of Omaha" . September 24, 2019 . Roger's Movie Nation . 28 February 2021.
  28. News: Galupo . Mia . Oscilloscope Picks Up Sports Doc 'Wrestle' for North America . January 8, 2019 . The Hollywood Reporter . 28 February 2021.
  29. News: Phillips . Craig . FILMMAKERS CAPTURE YOUNG MEN WRESTLING TO SUCCEED AND BE SEEN . May 15, 2019 . PBS . 28 February 2021.
  30. News: Miller . Daryl H. . An immersive theater piece that'll have you 'Caught' up in ideas . November 7, 2017 . Los Angeles Times . 28 February 2021.
  31. News: Gray . Peter . SXSW Episodic Pilot Program Review: Everyone Together (Episode 1) hones a snappy, dark-leaning sense of humour . March 17, 2020 . The AU Review . 28 February 2021.
  32. News: Vejvoda . Jim . SeriesFest Independent Pilot Competition Award Winners Announced (Exclusive) . June 23, 2020 . IGN . 28 February 2021.
  33. News: Steven Klein . IMDb . 28 February 2021.
  34. News: 2006 Winners . 2006 . New York Television Festival . 28 February 2021.
  35. Web site: Brittany O’Grady & E.J. Bonilla Lead Genre Pic ‘In Our Blood’ With Duncan Jones & Morgan Freeman Among Backers; Watch First Footage. Deadline Hollywood. Andreas. Wiseman. July 3, 2024. August 1, 2024.
  36. News: Birchall . Paul . Ragged Time . October 8, 2002 . Backstage . 28 February 2021.
  37. News: VS. Theatre and Firefly Theater & Films to Present Revised Version of COMPLETENESS, 11/6-12/7 . September 9, 2014 . BroadwayWorld . 28 February 2021.