The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College

Mike Leach (Production Manager/Sound Engineer) is a long time, esteemed audio engineer. Hailing from Washington, DC and cutting his teeth mixing in such notable venues as the 9:30 Club, Mike has toured with many notable artists such as Flight of the Conchords, Aimee Mann, Emily King, Paula Cole, Lisa Loeb, Bret McKenzie (just to name a few). Mike has toured with Jason Neulander and the cast of the Intergalactic Nemesis as well as recording and mixing the music for Jason’s feature film “Fugitive Dreams”. When not on the road, Mike works out of his home studio in Seattle, WA, Translunar Control, mixing and editing music and podcasts.

Emily Maschari (Company Manager) is a newcomer to the theater world, working as a QA engineer by day but fostering an interest in film and performing arts in her spare time. Her involvement with the Austin film scene brought her to the set of Jason’s short film, “Martin.” Now, ready for her next adventure, she's lacing up her pirate boots, ready to run the backstage side of the show and learn even more about how entertainment gets made in the modern era.

Johnny Dombrowski (Illustrator) is an award winning illustrator living in Brooklyn, NY, creating comics and illustrations older than he is. He's worked for clients including Activision, Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Mutant, Mondo, Jack White, Phish, New York Times, The New Yorker, Epic Games, and many more. You can find more of his work at johnnydombrowski.com or @jdombrowski on all social media platforms.

Lee Duhig (colorist) is a prolifically-humble digital color artist who has worked with seemingly every comic book publisher you can name in less than a minute. His longest stint is certainly with Marvel, where he (under the name "GURU-eFX") has colored hundreds of titles and thousands of pages for two and a half decades. He enjoys collecting more physical media than one safely or reasonably should. Like all great nerds, he resides in the Lonestar state.

Buzz Moran (sound effects creator) works mainly in the field of sound, including theatrical sound design, recorded music, performing live sound effects, and recording the sound of fields. Buzz has worked as Music Editor on numerous films, including Hit Man, A Scanner Darkly, and Before Midnight. He has worked extensively with Jason Neulander since the mid-90s, including creating the sound effects for the Intergalactic Nemesis trilogy. The guy we're talking about, Buzz Moran, also hosted a PBS web series called What's That, Buzz?, which is accessible on the internet thanks to technology.

Sam Lipman (composer) is an award-winning composer whose works have been performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. His recent Unbroken Call—the first-ever commission by the Austin Symphony Orchestra—premiered with featured soloist Giveton Gelin of Jon Batiste's group, earning multiple standing ovations. His orchestral ballet MoonFall sold out its two-week premiere and earned 12 award nominations. Lipman has composed for film, including Terrence Malick and Richard Linklater, and teaches Film Scoring at the University of Texas.

Simon Shaw (producer) is the President of Shaw Entertainment Group, a leading force in booking and developing artists’ careers. With over three decades of experience on both sides of the Atlantic as a booking agent, promoter, programming director and producer Shaw brings rare insight into the world of live entertainment. Starting as a London-based tour manager in 1994, he went on to represent Broadway shows, rock bands, and now artists making work for young audiences. A former IPAY board member, Shaw remains an influential voice in North American presenting and touring networks.

Reimagining Treasure Island - What I Changed and Why

When I began conceiving Treasure Island Reimagined I had a simple goal in mind: taking a classic story and making it relevant to a contemporary audience without losing the core elements that made the story classic in the first place. To my mind, what makes the Stevenson novel a classic is its rollicking story-line and the fact that everything we think of when we think of pirates today originated in this novel:

The one-legged pirate

The talking parrot

The treasure map with an X on it

“Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum…”

“Shiver my timbers!”

Long John Silver

The list goes on and on. I wasn’t going to change any of that.

But I’m the father of two active and imaginative daughters and one thing I’ve noticed is that there just aren’t many classic adventure stories with girls as protagonists. So I wondered what might happen if I made the protagonist here a girl. The more I dove into the book and researched the time period of the story, the more excited I got.

For starters, a girl who dreamed of adventure in mid-Eighteenth Century England didn’t have many options. Once a girl married, she and all her possessions became the property of her husband and she had few legal rights herself. One alternative in real life was to, yes, become a pirate. In fact, some of the most infamous pirate captains were women — most notoriously Mary Read and Anne Bonny.

So, unlike with a “Jim,” where seeking adventure would be seen as normal, with a “Jane,” things would get more complex. For starters, she would need to disguise her very identity to get on board the ship at all. Later in the story, when one of the pirates tantalizes her with the offer of joining his crew and one day maybe becoming a captain herself, the offer would take on another layer of meaning. After all, in polite society there was no such thing as a female captain of any ship. And she has to fight that much harder to get the respect she deserves. Even some of her allies underestimate her — simply because she’s a girl.

This adaptation is dedicated to my daughters. In fact, the character of Jane is very much modeled on my younger daughter. Scarlett’s curiosity, humor, and logic are in the very DNA of the Jane Hawkins you’ll see on the stage and screen tonight. When Jane asks a question by saying, “Question,” that’s Scarlett.

I made a few other changes, too. I urge you to read the original novel. I had a lot of fun updating it and you might find it fun to see what I did and did not change. Most importantly, I did my very best to excise the boring parts. Please let me know if I failed in that regard.

We are so excited to share our work with you tonight. Swing by the signing table after to say hi. Enjoy the show!

- Jason

Thank You!

Thanks to: Sharron Anderson, Sarah Andre, Neil Austrian, Dalia Azim, Joel Bergh, Ron Berry, Vicky Boone, Lietza Brass, Carrie Bresnehan, Josh Brown, Christy Davis, Marianne DeLeon, L.B. Deyo, Brian Fahey, Ryan Flores, Meg Greene, Jennifer Haley, Jake Isgar, Laird Jimenez, Rob Jones, Sherri Leathers, Keith Maitland, Theo Maitland, Danu Mara, Shannon McCormick, Emily McCue, Katie Miller, Jose Minguel, Julian Minguel, Adie Montes, Piper Neulander, Scarlett Neulander, Chad Nichols, Michael Okooti, Jeff Pinsker, Marc A. Pouhé, Joe Punske, Sarah Ruttan, Mike Saenz, Sam Schneidman, George Sledge, Adam Sultan, Owen Summers, Katy Vine, JT Walker, Sherri Weathers, Ken Webster, Sarah Wilson

Austin Independent School District, Austin Public Library, FuseBox Festival, KUT/KUTX, STAPLE!, Texas Book Festival