Original Creative Team

Darren J. Butler (Writer, Director)​ 

Darren is an internationally award winning writer. For over thirty years, Darren has written, directed, and taught for stage and film. For twenty-one years, Darren directed The Miracle Worker at Helen Keller’s Birthplace. This internationally recognized production is the Official Outdoor Drama for the State of Alabama. Darren wrote and directed the short film, A Fix, starring the late Skye McCole Bartusiak and Emmy nominated actress Julianna Mauriello (“Stephanie” from Lazytown). In 2006, Darren was fortunate enough to have an hour long drama entitled, Succession, optioned by NBC/Universal, which gained his admittance into the Writers Guild of America. (Not to be confused with the current running show “Succession” coincidentally of the same name!)

His stage musicals - Runaway Home and We The People have been produced around the country, and two of the monologues fromRunaway Home were published in Young Women’s Monologues from Contemporary Plays #2 edited by Gerald Ratliff. Recently, his short screenplays of Teddy and The Last Mile were finalists in the Big Shoulder Film Festival in Chicago.

As an author, Butler has written four books in the Abbie, Girl Spy series - The Case of the Missing Locket, The Ducks and Diamonds Mystery, The Secret of Crybaby Hollow, and The Masterpiece. Darren had the opportunity to direct Lindsay Lohan as she performed the voice of Abbie Walker for the audio book of The Ducks and Diamonds Mystery.  Additionally, he published a children’s fantasy novel entitled Merlin’s Curse and Helen Keller - Leader Without Sight or Sound for Seacoast Publishing. His professional bookCountdown to Assessment trained teachers how to prepare students for the Alabama Direct Assessment on Writing for 5th, 7th, and 10th grade students. His literacy research led to the release of RIP & Write - Integrating Reading Comprehension.

For thirty years, Darren has worked on the professional stage as a director, actor, writer, and lyricist. Previously, he served as the theatre teacher for Florence High School and Middle School, where he and his students won multiple awards on the local, regional, and state level. Darren’s one act play, Take My Seat received superior ratings at the Walter Trumbauer Theatre Festival at the district and state level and won a Stanley Award for Best One Act Play. Today, he serves as the Director of The Conservatory of Fine Arts for Orange Beach High School and Middle School, where Darren also serves as the theatre teacher and artistic director. 

Darren holds an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Point Park University’s Conservatory for the Performing Arts. He and his wife, Freda, live in Orange Beach, Alabama with their four children Evie Rosa, Jack, Hans, and Coco. 

DR. DAVID RUEBHAUSEN (Set Design) began his theatrical career in the Kansas City area working as the Student Technical Director for William Jewell College theatre and acting in such productions as Marat/Sade, The Importance of Being Earnest, Romeo and Juliet and The Insect Comedy. While there he also performed walk-ons with such visiting groups as The Acting Company and the Houston Ballet, working with such directors as Robert Brustein (American Rep) and Tomas MacAnna (Abbey Theatre). While completing graduate work in Minneapolis, Dr. Ruebhausen served as Theatre Instructor and as Managing Director for the University of Minnesota Theatre and Minnesota Centennial Showboat. While in the Twin Cities, he directed and/or designed for such productions as Children of a Lesser God, The Bourgeois Gentleman, Ghosts, Arms and the Man and Beyond Therapy. Dr. Ruebhausen served as the senior faculty member for UNA Theatre, teaching courses in design, directing, voice, acting, history, dramatic literature and arts management. Dr. Ruebhausen has directed and/or designed such UNA productions as The Man of La Mancha, Dracula, Noises Off, The Tempest, Guys and Dolls, Playboy of the Western World, Lysistrata, Candida, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Once Upon A Mattress. He has also worked with several Shoals community theatre productions. When not teaching or producing theatre, Dr. Ruebhausen pursues his research in theatrical accessibility for artists and audiences with disabilities. Most recently, he has served as an Artist in Residence with The Florence Academy of Fine Arts (FAFA) Theatre Department, where he designed sets for Our Town, Peter and the Starcatcher, Take My Seat, and The Music Man.