MISSION
NextStage Productions engages audiences with provocative art that lifts up voices which need to be heard. We create powerful, positive experiences, where both creators and audiences alike can feel celebrated and changed. We expand and reframe the theatrical cannon by creating new works and reinvigorating classics, and by forging partnerships with regional theatres.
We stand against all forms of hate and abuse-culture, and we strive to build a creative space where everyone belongs.
ABOUT
NextStage Productions was founded in 2008 as Carollo & Palumbo LLC, when longtime friends and frequent theatrical collaborators Daren A.C. Carollo and Michael Palumbo joined forces. Highlights of their collaboration include co-producing the musical bare Off-Broadway at New World Stages in 2012, and investing in A Time to Kill on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre in 2013.
Their current project is the new Broadway production A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, opening Fall 2024 at Studio 54, starring Tony Award Winner James Monroe Iglehart.
Founding Partners
DAREN A.C. CAROLLO (Artistic Curator)
daren@nextstageproductions.com
Daren founded NextStage Productions (formerly Carollo & Palumbo, LLC) with his business partner and friend, Michael Palumbo in 2008.
Daren is an award-winning director and producer with over 175 credits during the last twenty years. He was a leader in the San Francisco Bay Area arts scene since 2001. Daren served as the Co-Executive Director of San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon, as well as leadership positions with Diablo Theatre Company, Berkeley Playhouse, and Broadway By the Bay.
Daren’s directing highlights include A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Les Misérables, Assasins (three productions), Sweeney Todd, Ripcord, Clybourne Park, Noises Off, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Trip to Bountiful, Dracula, Peter Pan, The Drowsy Chaperone, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Curtains, and To Kill A Mockingbird (twice) He has directed for 42nd Street Moon, Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre, Napa Valley Opera House, Ohlone and Solano Colleges, Town Hall Theatre Company, DRAA’s On Broadway, El Campanil Theatre and Contra Costa Civic Theatre. He has been a member of Actors’ Equity Association since 1997. He is a proud member of Theatre Bay Area’s Theatre Services Committee.
Daren is making his New York stage management debut with The Ask by Matthew Freeman, opening off-Broadway.
For all that Daren has been blessed and honored to accomplish theatrically thus far, he is most proud of his greatest accomplishment: being the father of his son, Jack.
MICHAEL PALUMBO (COO)
michael@nextstageproductions.com • http://michaelpalumbodesign.com/
Michael Palumbo has an extensive background in theatrical design and production. He has been a lighting and scenic designer for more than 25 years, and has designed over 300 productions for theatre, opera, dance, and music, including world and regional premieres. He has contributed designs to companies including TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; San Jose Repertory Theatre; Opera San Jose; Marin Theatre Company; Magic Theatre; San Jose Stage Company; Aurora Theatre Company; Sacramento Opera; American Conservatory Theatre; San Francisco Playhouse; 42nd Street Moon; Capital Stage; Palo Alto Players; Teatro Vision de San Jose; City Lights Theatre Company; University of California, Davis; Pacific Repertory Theatre; and Children's Musical Theatre San Jose.
Michael has taught theatrical design at Susquehanna University, Santa Clara University, and Siena College.
Some of Michael’s favorite design projects include The Language Archive directed by Jeffrey Lo at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; The Aliens directed by Lila Neugebauer at San Francisco Playhouse; Peter and the Starcatcher at the University of California, Davis, directed by Mindy Cooper and Toby Sedgwick; Once at 42nd Street Moon directed by Cindy Goldfield; Marjorie Prime directed by Ken Rus Schmoll at Marin Theatre Company; and the premiere of Valley of the Heart at San Jose Stage Company, written and directed by Luis Valdez.
After many years working as freelance designer, Michael returned to graduate school, and he received his MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2017.
Current projects include lighting designs for The Play That Goes Wrong and Waitress at San Francisco Playhouse opening in Fall 2024.