About Our Board...
The California International Theatre Festival Board of Directors:
- LINDA PURL, Founding Festival Director/President
- M. EDGAR ROSENBLUM, (1932-2010) Founding Executive Director - in perpetuity
LINDA PURL, Founding Festival Director/President
Linda began her career in the theatre in Japan, where she was raised and became the only foreigner to have trained at the Toho Geino Academy. Her studies continued at LAMDA and later at both the Neighborhood Playhouse and Lee Strasberg Institute. Stage credits include Broadway’s Tony nominated The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Getting and Spending; Off Broadway: The Baby Dance; Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Regional work: the original production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Dinner With Friends, Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Getting and Spending, Old Globe Theatre; The Road To Mecca (with Miss Julie Harris), The Baby Dance, Long Wharf; John Brown's Body, Lobero Theatre; Nora (with Michael York), All the Way Home (with Miss Kim Hunter), The Three Penny Opera (with Miss Betty Buckley), The Baby Dance (also at the Pasadena Playhouse), Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Real Thing, Hedda Gabler, Mark Taper Forum Rep; Beyond Therapy, Romeo and Juliet, L.A. Public Theatre; A Doll's House, Allied International Productions; The Man Who Could See Through Time, South Coast Repertory; The Merchant of Venice, Globe Theatre; Grease, Sacramento Music Theatre; On a Clear Day, San Bernardino Civic Light Opera; Oliver, The King and I, Toho Imperial Theatre, Tokyo; Love Letters with both Stacey Keach and Desi Arnaz, Jr.; Tusitala Berkshire Theatre Festival; Little Foxes, Footfalls, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Streetcar Named Desire, Rubicon Theatre Company; The Guys, Berkeley Rep; Mariana Pineda, Santa Fe Opera; Seven Deadly Sins, Princess Grace Theatre, Monaco; Phaedra in the inaugural performance of the Getty Classical Arena; The Glass Menagerie, Cleveland Playhouse.
Linda has received six Dramalogue Best Actress Awards and two Dramalogue Awards as Best Producer. She has received two Santa Barbara Independent Awards and is a three time nominee of the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Award for Best Actress. She is the recipient of the Connecticut Critics' Award for Outstanding Performance in a Play.
As a main stay of television, Linda has starred in over 40 television Movies-of-the-Week, although is probably best known as Charlene Matlock from the series Matlock and as Ashley Pfister, Fonzie’s fiancée, from Happy Days. TV highlights have been Born Free, The Last Days of Pompeii (with Sir Laurence Olivier), The Manions of America (with Pierce Brosnan), Like Normal People the award winning docu-drama about a mentally challenged couple. Linda's feature film credits include Disney's Mighty Joe Young, The Walking Major (with Toshiro Mifune) and Leo and Loree (produced by Ron Howard).
Linda tours with her solo concert Come Rain or Come Shine nationally and internationally. Additionally she is currently touring in a centenary salute to Great American songwriter Johnny Mercer with Lee Lessack and Rhapsody for Two, a dancing tribute to romance from the '40s with Kevin Spirtas. Linda's recordings include "Alone Together" and "Out of this World – Live with Special Guest Artist Desi Arnaz, Jr." She served as Founding Executive Director of the Colorado Festival of World Theatre and Festival Director of the 2008 Rubicon International Theatre Festival.
Back to top.
Back to Principal Team.
M. Edgar Rosenblum (1932-2010)
Founding Executive Director - in perpetuity
Arts Management Consultant; Site Visitor, National Endowment For The Arts; Auditor, New York State Council on the Arts. Former Executive Director, Theatre For A New Audience, New York. Executive Director of Long Wharf Theatre 1970-1996. With Arvin Brown, Mr. Rosenblum brought Long Wharf Theatre to a position of international prominence. He was involved in every aspect of theatre operations including day-to-day production, fiscal planning, development and marketing. Many Long Wharf productions extended their lives to other stages on Broadway, Off-Broadway and television. This expansion enabled the work of Long Wharf Theatre to reach a larger audience throughout the nation and abroad. Long Wharf Theatre, under Mr. Rosenblum's leadership, was the recipient of many awards, including: The Jujamcyn Theatres Award for development of creative talent in the theatre, 1986, Obie Award for Ensemble performance, 1983; Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre 1978; Tony awards for Long Wharf productions transferred to New York, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1987; Tony Award nominations, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1987, 1994; The Pulitzer Prize for Drama to productions of The Shadow Box and The Gin Game. Other recent positions include, Executive Producer: Stanley by Pam Gems (three Tony nominations, two Outer Critics Circle Awards), 1997; Producing Consultant, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Consultant, Theatrevision Project, Old Globe Theatre..
In the summer of 1991, Mr. Rosenblum led a delegation to the People's Republic of China to forge an alliance between Long Wharf Theatre and The Shanghai People's Art Theatre. Mr. Rosenblum and Mr. Brown returned to China in 1993 to mount a production (in Chinese) of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. The production went on to tour China and won many accolades at the Hong Kong Festival of 1994. Other productions include the Tony Award-winning production of All My Sons by Arthur Miller, David Mamet's American Buffalo (London, New York, Washington DC and San Francisco), Simon Gray's Quartermain 's Terms, The Gin Game, Sizwe Bansi is Dead, David Storey's The Changing Room, Peter Nichols' The National Health, David Rabe's Streamers and Eugene O'Neill's Hughie (Al Pacino).
Mr. Rosenblum served on the Board of Trustees of the American Arts Alliance, two as Chairman of the Board, Board of Directors of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, founding President , National Corporate Theatre Fund, former President LORT (League of Resident Theatres) and the Executive and Negotiating Committees. Mr. Rosenblum has worked as a consultant to the Abbey Theatre (The National Theatre of Ireland) the Arts Councils of Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island and Alaska. He has been a consultant for FEDAPT (the Foundation for Extension and Development of American Professional Theatre) and other arts institutions throughout the United States. He has taught graduate classes in Theatre Administration at the Yale School of Drama. In 1994 he was honored with an "Arts Award" from the New Haven Arts Council. Mr. Rosenblum is the former Producer and Executive Director of the Woodstock Playhouse, Woodstock, NY and the Hudson Valley Repertory Theatre. He has worked in management positions both on and Off-Broadway, as well as for National and International tours.
