Yvonne Conybeare:

Yvonne Conybeare (Director) is a resident director at the Metropolitan Playhouse, where she most recently conceived and directed the original musical The Devil and Tom Walker, penned by Anthony P. Pennino and starring Erik Gratton as Tom Walker. She has directed for the Gallery Players where she directed A Lie of the Mind (coincidentally, Gabriel Vaughan was originally cast as the lead in this production but had a scheduling conflict). The Misanthrope and Holiday, and the Abingdon Theater Company where she directed Elvis and Juliet starring Fred Willard and David Rasche.

She has led the Metropolitan Playhouse's revivals of The Truth, Inheritors, Missouri Legend, The Devil's Disciple, The City, The Show-Off as well as many works in the East Village Chronicles new play series. She founded an improvisational theater company in Dresden, Germany, and for six years helped manage New York's Freestyle Repertory. She's also worked extensively with playwright Staci Swedeen, directing ten of her one act plays and two full length works in various New York venues, and will direct Ms. Swedeen's play Pardon Me for Living at the Hudson Stage this fall. Ms. Conybeare is currently an assistant professor of theater at Fairfield University. She holds an MFA in directing from Brooklyn College and is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and the League of Independent Theaters.

Lucky Productions was founded in the summer of 2008, but that was only when we decided on what to call ourselves. It actually all started coming together quite a while before when Anthony P. Pennino's play, Toby, got into the hands of director Yvonne Connybeare and actors Erik Gratton and Gabriel Vaughan for a reading held at Endeavor Studios in February 2006. The four made a great team and decided to set about planning for a full production of the play. Producer and actor Michael Poignand joined in the fun in early 2008 and here we are now.

Erik Gratton:

Erik Gratton (Toby D) has made his living on the stage for 10 years. He has performed in 5 countries and throughout the Eastern United States. His favorite experiences include 5 years of work with rotating repertory companies. He's especially proud of the day he played Wilbur the Pig in the afternoon followed by Hamlet that same evening for The Maine Shakespeare Festival (where he first worked with Gabriel Vaughan). New York City credits include AS YOU LIKE IT (Rosalind), DON JUAN IN CHICAGO (Leporello), SCAPIN (Sylvestre), CYMBELINE (Cloten), and THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER (Tom Walker) directed by Yvonne Connybeare. Other favorite credits include playing Benedick in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, David O. Selznick in MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS, and Jack Keegan in WHIFFLEBALL: THE MOVIE.

Anthony P. Pennino:

Anthony P. Pennino (playwright) has written a number of works including: Italian-American Cantos; Children's Crusader: A Parable of the Progressive Era; Call It Peace; Story of an Unknown Man; and, most recently, The Devil and Tom Walker (librettist, conceived by Yvonne Conybeare, music and lyrics by Rob Kendt). Three of his plays have been published: Story of an Unknown Man, "Howard Hopped the A-Train", and "Forgeries of Jealousy". He has written for both theatrainplays and The 24-Hour Plays. His work has been seen across the United States as well as in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. He was recently named a Fulbright Scholar by the United States State Department for which he will be teaching Drama in Istanbul, Turkey. He also holds a 2005 Fellowship from the New Jersey Council for the Arts. Pennino teaches literature at Stevens Institute of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Drama from the University of London and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Columbia University.

Michael Poignand:

Michael Poignand (producer) began producing plays 10 years ago with the multi-media Seasonal Showcase company, Ring of Fire Productions. With Ring of Fire, Poignand produced Shakespeare's Henry IV parts 1&2 (Flamboyán), Seven Keys to Baldpate as adapted by Graeme Gillis and Kitt Lavoie (La Tea), Roadicide: the album by Michael Alltop and Richard Blankeship (The American Living Room), Strange News From Another Planet by Michael Alltop and Sheila Callaghan (Fringe 2003) and The FlashPoint Festival (Producer's Club II) including the musical It Must Be Love by Michael Boynton and Kevin Paul Giordano, Roll by Mac Rogers, The Autumn Festival by Jim Moscater, Film of My Life by Michael Maiello and Median Line by Kitt Lavoie. Poignand then went on to produce Festival, 'Tis the !@#$ing Season, I Have a Better Idea and Terrence McNally's Corpus Christie with Adam Fitzgerald, Lori Prince and KEF Productions. With Chatham Light Productions, Johnny Kinsman and C.C. McCandless, Poignand produced two films. The first, a micro-budget feature titled The Poker Game won an audience appreciation award at the 'Howl! New Filmmakers' portion of the NYIFF. The second, Whiffleball, is currently in post-production. Also an actor, Michael has worked in Off-Broadway, Regional and Off-Off-Broadway Theaters as well as Films and Studio Recordings.

Gabriel Vaughan:

Gabriel Vaughan (Toby M) has been acting in New York City and regionally for 15 years. New York City theater credits include: Ross (Ronald Storrs), House of Desires (Don Carlos) and The Shoemaker’s Holiday (Rowland Lacie) with The Storm Theatre, Members of the Tribe (Jonathan) for Act Out Productions (OOBR Award), King John (The Bastard) and Have You Met My Brother (Rigel) for Doppelgang Productions, Present Tense (Mexican Waiter) at EST, The Winter’s Tale (Florizel) with Theater 1010, The Master of Prayer (Young Rabbi Nachman) for The LITE Theater Co. and The Man Who Buried His Dogs in the Front Yard (Thorton Witherspoon) with the Turnip Theater Festival. Regional theater credits include: Hamlet (Hamlet) with The American Stage Theatre Company, King John (The Bastard), A Tanglewood Tale (Eustace Bright) and Much Ado About Nothing (Conrade) with Shakespeare & Company, Romeo & Juliet (Benvolio) with Princeton Rep, Hamlet (Laertes) Comedy of Erros (Dr. Pinch), and Charlotte's Web with the Maine Shakespeare Festival (where he met Erik Gratton in 2001), A Christmas Carol and The Prince and the Pauper with The Hampstead Players tour, Taming of the Shrew (Lucentio), Macbeth (Malcolm) and The Tempest (Ariel) with The Hampshire Shakespeare Company. Film credits include: Chasing Butterflies (lead) with Ma & Pa Pictures, currently in post-production, Master of the Kennel (lead) with Agent 26 Pictures, Us Poets (lead) with Blind Mice Films, Zephyr (lead) with BMB Productions, Mona Lisa Smile (Dancer) with Sony Pictures and The Day I Learned to See (lead) with Robb Productions. Television and print ads include Colgate Total, Ruby Tuesdays, Microsoft a, TMobile and World Heart Day. Industrials include United Bank of Scotland, Global Lead and NYSE. Gabriel has a degree in theater from Sarah Lawrence College and has studied with BADA in London.