THE NUTCRACKER

Michael Pink is the longest serving artistic director in Milwaukee Ballet history. Since joining the Company in December of 2002, he has established himself as a prominent member of the Milwaukee arts community, demonstrating his commitment to the future of dance through new work, education and collaboration. 

Pink is known internationally for his theatrical productions including Dracula, Esmeralda, Swan Lake, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Romeo & Juliet, La Bohème, Don Quixote, Mirror Mirror, Dorian Gray, and Beauty and the Beast, which have been hailed as “Classical Ballet for the 21st Century.” His production of Peter Pan signified a major landmark in the Company’s history and was broadcast nationally by PBS in 2014. 

Pink trained as a classical dancer at The Royal Ballet School and danced with English National Ballet. He was the founding director of Ballet Central in London and the associate artistic director of Northern Ballet in England.

Todd Edward Ivins designs scenery, costumes, and projections spanning works of dance, opera, plays, musicals, stand-up comedy, corporate events, and newsrooms. He is elated to return to Milwaukee Ballet, having previously designed scenery for Beauty & the Beast and scenery and costumes for both Dorian Gray and Mirror Mirror. He has also worked with Michael Pink on many musicals and A Christmas Carol at Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Also at the Rep, Ivins has designed 14 shows, including Othello, Cabaret (scenery and costumes), West Side Story, Dreamgirls, The Color Purple, Ragtime, A Christmas Carol, Junk, Next to Normal, Of Mice and Men, and Assassins (scenery). Career highlights include The Illusionists Turn of the Century on Broadway, Circus 1903, and one of the first regional productions of Les Misérables. He sends love to his muses: his daughter, Agatha, and wife, Abigail Trueblood. Learn more about Ivins’ shows at www.ivinsart.com and Instagram: @ivinsart 

David Grill is a Drama Desk Nominee, fourteen-time Emmy® Award Nominee, and five-time Primetime Emmy® Award winner. He has also won a 2015 and 2016 Telly Award for his Lighting. His Broadway musical and dance credits include Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, The American Dance Machine, and works for Milwaukee Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet Met, Houston Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, Cincinnati Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and numerous choreographers. Grill is also responsible for lighting The Drew Barrymore Show and New York Philharmonic, providing Lighting Direction for the National Memorial Day and A Capitol Fourth concerts on PBS, and lighting over 17 Super Bowl Halftime Shows.  He has been featured in numerous publications and is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Design / Technology Program at Purchase College, State University of New York. 

Gregory A. Poplyk is an Emmy® nominated costume designer whose work has been seen in New York both on and off Broadway and for the New York City Ballet, as well as on television as part of HBO’s The Gilded Age and TNT’s The Alienist. Regionally, he has designed for theatres such as the Paper Mill Playhouse, The 5th Avenue Theatre in Washington, Goodspeed Musicals, Theatre Under The Stars in Texas, and the Ordway in Minneapolis. Among his favorite projects he lists Ringling Brother’s, Barnum and Bailey Circus, The Big Apple Circus and Disney on Ice’s production of Frozen. Internationally, his work has been seen in England, Hungary, and South Korea. He is a member of the TDF Costume Collection Advisory Committee, which presents the TDF Irene Sharaff Awards recognizing outstanding contributions in the field of costume design. His work can be seen at www.gregpoplykdesign.com.