Steven Klein (producer)

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.

Steven Klein
Born
EducationBA in Theater
Alma materYale University
Occupations
Years active1996–present
OrganizationFirefly Theater & Films
Websitewww.fireflyinc.com

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 Star Trek: Enterprise.[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

Year Title
[33]
Role Notes
2003 Star Trek: Enterprise[12] Draysik Episode 3.9: "North Star"
2006 Pizza Time[34] French Gunderson Unaired TV pilot; also producer
The Problem with Percival Non-actor role Short film; producer
No. 6 Non-actor role Short film; producer
2007 First. Card player Short film
The Grand Design Doug Short film; producer
2008 The Skyjacker Walter Neese
Sons of Anarchy Manager Episode 1.2: "Seeds"
2010 Burn Notice[18] Alexi Episode 4.7: "Past & Future Tense"
2011 Make Believe Non-actor role Documentary; producer
Nature Bob
2013 Problem of Evil Ezra
2014 Print the Legend Non-actor role Netflix documentary; producer and writer[23]
2015 Finders Keepers[24] Non-actor role Documentary; executive producer
White Collar Stoners Jean-Paul Smith
2017 Kensho at the Bedfellow[25] Max Also producer
The Circle Man from the Crowd
2018 Wrestle[28] Non-actor role Documentary (premiered on PBS' Independent Lens); producer and writer[29]
Out of Omaha[27] Non-actor role Documentary; producer and writer
The Chair Non-actor role Short film
2020 Everyone Together[32] Martin TV pilot; co-creator, producer, and writer

Theater

Year Title
[5]
Role Venue Notes
2000 Shopping and Fucking[7] Gary Celebration Theatre (Los Angeles)
Measure for Measure[3] Gentleman Black Dahlia Theatre (Los Angeles) Producer
2001 Orson's Shadow[9] Sean Black Dahlia Theatre Also producer
2002 Ragged Time[35] Yellow Kid Black Dahlia Theatre Also producer
2003 Belfast Blues[10] Non-actor role Black Dahlia Theatre (2003)
Soho Theatre (2004)[11]
Barrow Street Theatre (2010)[6]
Producer; Off West End (2004), Off Broadway (2010)
2004 Biloxi Blues Arnold Epstein Walnut Street Theatre (Philadelphia)
An Infinite Ache[14] Charles Black Dahlia Theatre
Walnut Street Theatre (2007)[15]
Also producer
2007 Flags[8] Chaplain Black Dahlia Theatre
59E59 Theater[17]
Also producer; Off Broadway in second run
2008 The Four of Us[16] David Elephant Theatre Lab (Los Angeles) Also producer
2011–2015 Unscreened[20][21][22] Various roles Various Annual short play series; co-creator and producer
2014 Completeness[36] Elliott VS. Theatre (Los Angeles) Also producer
2017 Caught[30] Bob Think Tank Gallery (Los Angeles) Also producer

References

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