2009 TCG Fall Forum on Governance - Speakers

 

Marge Betley

Marge Betley has served as Geva Theatre Center’s literary manager/resident dramaturg since January 2000, during which time the company has developed numerous new plays and musicals and produced more than a dozen world premieres. She co-authored the adaptation of Geva’s 2007-08 production of Pride and Prejudice, and collaborated on the launch of The Hornets’ Nest series of topical play readings and community dialogues. During her 25-year career in the arts, she has developed, dramaturged and/or produced new works in theatre, music-theatre and opera with organizations across the U.S., including Nautilus Music-Theater, Prince Music Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, the Mark Taper Forum, the Bonderman Festival, the O’Neill Playwrights and Music Theatre Conferences, the Playwrights Center, Stage 13 Productions and Living Room Opera, of which she was co-founder and co-artistic director. Her career has also included stints with Houston Grand Opera, Opera News and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has been a contributing writer to American Theatre, Opera News, Performance Twin Cities and other arts publications, and has served on funding panels for the NEA, LMDA and the Rockefeller Foundation. Ms. Betley is a former Fulbright scholar in dramaturgy.

Jennifer Bielstein

Ms. Bielstein joined Actors Theatre of Louisville in the fall of 2006. As managing director she oversees all of the financial, marketing, development and general business operations of the theatre while working in partnership with artistic director Marc Masterson. She serves on the board of the National Corporate Theatre Fund, is vice president of the Arts and Cultural Attractions Council, secretary of the League of Resident Theatres, a member of the 2008 Leadership Louisville class and recently served as a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. Ms Bielstein received the honor of being voted Today's Woman magazine's Most Admired Woman in the Arts and was acknowledged in both Louisville Magazine's 15 Metro People to Watch and Business First's 40 Under 40. Ms. Bielstein moved from Chicago, where she served as executive director of Writers' Theatre. During her tenure there she opened a second venue and more than doubled the operations of the company including the programming, audiences and revenues. Previously she worked as director of marketing and communications for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she was responsible for almost $6 million in annual revenues through ticket sales. She has also worked for About Face Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre and Lincoln Park Zoo where she helped to create and launch the successful Jammin' at the Zoo series in 1994. Ms. Bielstein has served as an officer of the board of the League of Chicago Theatres representing 200 area theatres and as chair of the League's marketing committee through which she spearheaded development of a city-wide program to introduce new audiences to theatre. She was also on the board of the Glencoe Chamber of Commerce, About Face Theatre and the Producers Association of Chicago-Area Theatres, and served as a grants review panelist for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Ms. Bielstein is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in business administration and theatre.

Susan V. Booth

Susan V. Booth is the artistic director of the Alliance Theatre Company. Ms. Booth’s regional directing credits include: the Alliance, Goodman Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Northlight Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Connecticut Repertory, City Theatre Company, New York Stage and Film, Victory Gardens Theater, Touchstone Theatre, Organic Theatre, RAPP Arts, La Jolla Playhouse, Ojai Playwrights Festival, the National Playwrights Conference and L.A.Theatreworks’ Theatre On the Air. Ms. Booth has held teaching positions at Northwestern and DePaul Universities and the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and currently serves as adjunct faculty with Emory University.  She holds degrees from Northwestern and Denison Universities and was a fellow of the National Critics Institute.  She is a member of Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2003, was cited as a Lexus Leader for the Arts by WABE and "Atlanta's Best New Visionary" by Atlanta Magazine in 2004, was named one of Atlanta’s “25 Power Women to Watch” in 2006 by Atlanta Woman Magazine and was chosen as the Best Local Director in The Sunday Paper’s 2006 and 2007 Readers’ Choice Awards.  She also serves as an officer on the board of the Metro Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition and is the co-chair of the City of Atlanta’s One Book, One Community Program. Ms. Booth serves on the TCG Board of Directors.

Douglas R. Brown

Douglas R. Brown graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University in 1972. Mr. Brown then joined the Midwest subsidiary of Leisure Technology, Inc., a large public homebuilder. After graduating from Loyola University Law School in 1978, he began practicing law with a focus on corporate and real estate matters, ultimately opening his own law firm. Mr. Brown joined Cambridge Homes, Inc. in 1983 as vice president and general counsel. He was later named senior vice president and, in the early 1990's, president and chief operating officer. Since the acquisition of Cambridge by D.R. Horton, Inc., the nation's largest homebuilder, he has served as the president of Horton's Chicago based Cambridge Homes division. He is a member of the Home Builders Association of Illinois and the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago. He also serves on the board of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, as chairman of the board of directors of the Harris Bank Libertyville group of banks, as a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, as director of the Western Golf Association and on the Board of TCG.

Gabriella C. Calicchio

Gabriella C. Calicchio assumed the post of managing director at The Children's Theatre Company in October 2007 after serving for six years as managing director of the Marin Theatre Company and previous to that as executive director of the Diablo Ballet in Walnut Creek, California. Her arts administration career began in Boston where she worked as the gallery and theatre manager at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Sanders Theater at Harvard University and at Huntington Theatre. She was a CSI Fellow at Stanford University, earned a MA in Arts Administration and Education at Lesley University and a BA as a drama/dance major at Bard College. Ms. Calicchio serves on the Board of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and is a member of the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable.

Debbie Chinn

Debbie Chinn is in her second season as managing director at CENTERSTAGE, after having served as managing director of the California Shakespeare Theater from 2001 through August 2008. During her tenure, she raised Cal Shakes’ profile from that of a Shakespeare festival to a theater of national prominence (named “Best Classic Theater” by San Francisco magazine in 2007). Over the past two decades, she has held leadership positions with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, San Francisco Symphony, University of San Francisco, Center Theatre Group and American Conservatory Theater. Locally, Ms. Chinn serves on the Baltimore Cultural Tourism Advisory Committee and on the board of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. In addition, she has served as a panelist for the NEA and on the boards of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras, Bay Area Leadership Foundation, Sonoma County Repertory Theatre and the California Arts Advocates. This year, she was awarded the prestigious Gene Price Award by the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle in recognition for her longstanding leadership in the Bay Area region and for her work in developing increased audiences for Shakespeare and the classics.

 

Charlie Deull

Charlie Deull is an executive vice president with Clark Transfer, Inc., the leader in theatrical transportation, and is the co-chair of the Broadway Green Alliance, an industry-wide initiative to educate, motivate and inspire the theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally friendlier practices. He served for many years as senior vice president and general counsel of Scholastic Inc., the children’s publisher and media company and before that practiced law with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton. Mr. Deull has taught courses and volunteered for many years with not-for-profit organizations involved in international development and is the co-author of Working Together; NGO Cooperation in Seven African Countries.

Teresa Eyring

Teresa Eyring is the executive director of Theatre Communications Group. Prior to arriving at TCG in 2007, she spent more than twenty years as an executive in theatres around the U.S. Positions included: managing director of the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis from 1999-2007; managing director of the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia from 1994-1999 and assistant executive director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis from 1989-1993. Ms. Eyring began her theatre career as director of development for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. in 1983.  She completed an MFA in theatre administration at the Yale School of Drama in 1989.  Ms. Eyring is currently active as an executive committee member of the Performing Arts Alliance, chair of the follow-up process for the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention and advisory committee member for the August Wilson Center in Pittsburg, P.A. She is also a member of the Tony Awards nominating committee. 

Dean R. Gladden

Dean R. Gladden is in his fourth season as the managing director of the Alley Theatre where he is responsible for the administrative, financial, marketing, facilities and development aspects of the theatre. His career in the performing arts spans over 30 years. Prior to joining the Alley, he was managing director at The Cleveland Play House for 19 years. He has negotiated the rights to 60 world and American premieres and established international exchanges with the Czech National Theatre in Prague, the Hungarian National Theatre in Miskolc, the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava and The New Experimental Theatre in Volgograd, Russia. Mr. Gladden holds a BA in Music from Miami University and an MA in Urban Arts Administration from Drexel University. He also graduated from the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program in Strategic Perspectives in Non-profit Management. He currently serves on the executive committee and the board of the Houston Downtown Alliance, is a board member of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, and an American Leadership’s Forum fellow. He was past president of The Rotary Club of Cleveland and the Cleveland Rotary Foundation and is a current member of the Rotary Club of Houston. He has served on the executive committee of the League of Resident Theatres and was vice president of the National Corporate Theatre Fund. Mr. Gladden has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, Ohio Arts Council, Wisconsin Arts Council and Kentucky Arts Council. He has taught Arts Management classes at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, Bowling Green State University, University of Houston and University of Akron, where he was director of the graduate program in Arts Management. He has lectured nationally for the American Council for the Arts, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the National Association of State Legislators and the American Dance Festival. Mr. Gladden has also conducted arts management workshops in Budapest, Hungary, under the sponsorship of The United States Information Agency.

 

Seth Greenleaf

Seth Greenleaf is a partner at GFour Productions, producers of 9 to 5, La Cage Aux Folles and Menopause the Musical among other shows. He created "Green from 9 to 5", Broadway's first show specific outreach campaign for environmental awareness. He is a graduate of UCLA's department of Theatre, Film and Television and The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He leads the education and outreach committee of the Broadway Green Alliance (BGA), designed to build awareness of the overall greening efforts happening on Broadway while using its high profile to get day to day tips and better practices out into the world.

Andrew Hamingson

Andrew Hamingson is the executive director of The Public Theatre, where he oversees all administrative and fiscal matters, including institutional development, board recruitment, budgeting, marketing and fundraising. Additionally Mr. Hamingson is a managing partner of the transfer of HAIR (Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Musical 2009) to Broadway, coming off its run at The Delacorte Theater during the 2008 Shakespeare in the Park Season. He also oversees The Public Theater’s $35 million Building Campaign which includes renovation to the main entrance, lobby and façade of The Public Theater. Before joining The Public in 2008 Mr. Hamingson served as the Atlantic Theater Company’s managing director, starting there in August 2004. While there Andrew oversaw all administrative and fiscal matters including the negotiations, planning and construction of Atlantic’s new state of the art $6 million theater complex on West 16th Street. In 2006 Atlantic Theater Company transferred Spring Awakening and The Lieutenant of Inishmore to Broadway. Prior to Atlantic, Mr. Hamingson worked at the Manhattan Theatre Club for 12 years, the last five as director of development. While there he managed all aspects of the annual $8 million fundraising campaign. He was responsible for raising $35 million for the capital campaign for the renovation of the historic Biltmore Theater. Beyond his fundraising responsibilities, he helped to redesign the new facility and led the team to create operational policies at the Biltmore. Mr. Hamingson has a BS in Accounting from the John Wiley Jones School of Business, State University of New York at Geneseo, and an MA in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. He has been a visiting professor at the Yale School of Drama since 1997 and an adjunct professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School for Education and Arts Professions since 2007. He serves as a board member for TCG where he is the chair of the development committee and sits on the executive committee. Additionally he serves on the board of the Off Broadway League and is a member of the New York City’s Cultural Institution Group’s steering committee. He is also a member of the advisory coard of Page 73 Productions and Berkshire Theater Lab.

 

Jeffrey Herrmann

Jeffrey Herrmann became managing director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 2007 after eight seasons as producing director of Alaska’s Perseverance Theatre. A native ofSchenectady,N.Y., Jeffrey grew up inWest Hartford,C.T., received his BA in English atVassarCollegeand his MFA in theatre management at the Yale School of Drama. Prior to his enrollment at Yale, he was managing director of the Albany Berkshire Ballet inPittsfield,M.A. During his time at Yale, he worked at the Mark Taper Forum inLos Angelesand as associate managing director of the Yale Repertory Theatre.

 

Moisés Kaufman

Moisés Kaufman is a Tony and Emmy nominated director and award-winning playwright.  Most recently, Mr. Kaufman directed the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning I Am My Own Wife on Broadway (Obie award for direction, Tony, Outer Critics, Lucille Lortell, Drama Desk Awards nomination). Mr. Kaufman’s plays Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project have been among the most performed plays in America over the last decade.  TIME Magazine called The Laramie Project "one of the 10 best plays of 2000" and it was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and remains one of the most performed plays in America today. Mr. Kaufman also directed the film adaptation of the The Laramie Project which aired on HBO. The film’s cast included Peter Fonda, Laura Linney, Christina Ricci and Steve Buscemi among others. It was the opening night selection at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and won a Special Mention for Best First Film at the Berlin Film Festival. Mr. Kaufman received two Emmy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writer. Other directing credits include Macbeth (Shakespeare in the Park), Master Class with Rita Moreno (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), This is How it Goes (Donmar Warehouse), Lady Windermere’s Fan (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Women in Becket, Machinal, In the Winter of Cities and The Nest. He is currently working on his adaptation of One Arm by Tennessee Williams, as well as further plans for 33 Variations - about Beethoven's Diabelli Variations. Mr. Kaufman is a Guggenheim Fellow.

Rachel Kraft

Rachel Kraft joined the Lookingglass Theatre Company as executive director in September 2005, bringing almost 20 years experience in the arts. For 12 seasons she served as director of development at the Goodman Theatre, in addition to past key roles at the Arts and Business Council, Northlight Theatre and the Chicago Dance Coalition. Rachel is a new trustee of the Jewish Women's Foundation in Chicago, an active member of the Alumnae Council of the Chicago Foundation for Women, and a charter board member of the Kindling Group, a not-for-profit organization that creates documentary programming about important social, civic and historical issues. Ms. Kraft was elected to the TCG Board of Directors in June 2006 and currently serves on the executive committee.

Rocco Landesman

Rocco Landesman was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 7, 2009 as the tenth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Prior to joining the NEA, he was a Broadway theatre producer. Mr. Landesman was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He pursued his undergraduate education at Colby College and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and earned a doctorate in Dramatic Literature at the Yale School of Drama. At the completion of his course work, Mr. Landesman stayed at the school for four years, working as an assistant professor. His ensuing career has been a hybrid of commercial and artistic enterprises. In 1977 he left Yale to start a private investment fund which he ran until his appointment in 1987 as president of Jujamcyn, a company that owns and operates five Broadway theaters: St. James, Al Hirschfeld, August Wilson, Eugene O'Neill and Walter Kerr theaters. Before and after joining Jujamcyn, Mr. Landesman produced Broadway shows, the most notable of which are Big River (1985 Tony Award for Best Musical); Angels in America: Millenium Approaches (1993 Tony Award for Best Play); Angels in America: Perestroika (1994 Tony Award for Best Play) and The Producers (2001 Tony Award for Best Musical). In 2005, he purchased Jujamcyn and operated it until President Obama announced his intention to nominate him to the NEA chairmanship. Mr. Landesman has been active on numerous boards, including the Municipal Arts Society; the Times Square Alliance; The Actor’s Fund and the Educational Foundation of America. Mr. Landesman has also vigorously engaged the ongoing debate about arts policy, speaking at forums and writing numerous articles, focusing mainly on the relationship between the commercial and not-for-profit sectors of the American theatre. Over the years, he returned to the Yale School of Drama and Yale Rep to teach. Mr. Landesman is married to Debby Landesman, an independent consultant and the former executive director of the Levi Strauss Foundation; she advises corporations and foundations on their philanthropic strategies. He has three sons: North, Nash and Dodge. Mr. Landesman's biggest passions are theatre, baseball, horse racing and country music. On any given day he will insist that one of these is the perfect expression of American culture. At one time or another, he owned three minor league baseball teams, various racehorses and a collection of Roger Miller long-playing records.

Suzan-Lori Parks

Named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” Suzan-Lori Parks is one of the most exciting and acclaimed playwrights in American drama today. She is the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for the Broadway hit Topdog/Underdog and is a MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, among her many other honors. In 2007 her project 365 Plays/365 Days was produced in over 700 theatres worldwide, creating one of the largest grassroots collaborations in theatre history. Ms. Parks' numerous plays include Topdog/Underdog, In the Blood (2000 Pulitzer Prize finalist), Venus (1996 OBIE Award), The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (1990 OBIE Award for Best New American Play) and The America Play. Her first feature-length screenplay was Girl 6 written for Spike Lee. She has also written screenplays for Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington and adapted Zora Neale Hurston’s classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God which starred Halle Barry and premiered on ABC’s Oprah Winfrey Presents. Ms. Parks is co-author of the screenplay for The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington (December 2007). Her well-reviewed first novel Getting Mother's Body (Random House, 2003) is set in the west Texas of her youth and follows the scrappy Beede family as they embark on a riotous road trip in hopes of recovering a fortune of jewels – rumored to be buried with a long-dead relative. She is the author of Ray Charles Live!, a musical based on the life of Ray Charles that premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse. In November 2008 Suzan-Lori Parks became the first recipient of the master writer chair at The Public Theater, a three-year residency in which she will also be a visiting arts professor in dramatic writing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her play The Book of Grace will premiere during the 2009-10 season at the Public. Holding an honorary doctorate from Brown University, Ms. Parks credits her writing teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, for starting her on the path of playwrighting. One of the first to recognize her writing skills, Mr. Baldwin declared Ms. Parks “an astonishing and beautiful creature who may become one of the most valuable artists of our time.”

Susan Medak

Susan Medak has served as Berkeley Repertory Theatre's managing director since 1990, leading the administration and operations of the theatre. She is president of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), the management association that represents 75 of the nation’s largest nonprofit theatres. Ms. Medak has often served on program panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and chaired two panels for the Massachusetts Arts Council as well. She served two terms on the Board of Theatre Communications Group, including three years as the organization’s treasurer. Closer to home, Ms. Medak chairs the Downtown Berkeley Business Improvement District. She is also a board member of the Downtown Berkeley Association and the founding chair of the Berkeley Arts in Education Steering Committee for Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Cultural Trust. Ms. Medak serves on the faculty of Yale School of Drama and is a proud member of the Mont Blanc Ladies’ Literary Guild and Trekking Society. She lives in Berkeley with her husband and son.

Bonnie Metzgar

Bonnie Metzgar is the artistic director of About Face Theatre and an award-winning producer, director, playwright and dramaturg. Before joining About Face, she was a professor and director of the graduate playwriting program at Brown University. In addition to teaching, Ms. Metzgar also served as artistic director of Brown’s New Plays Festival for three years with Paula Vogel. Most notable is Metzgar’s involvement as co-creator and producer of the 365 Festival–a national festival based on 365 Days/365 Plays, a yearlong play cycle written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Ms. Metzgar was the artistic leader for this landmark international event, a shared global premiere by hundreds of theatres, universities and art spaces throughout the U.S. and abroad. Time Magazine named the 365 Festival one of its top ten theatre events in 2006. From 2004 to 2007, she was associate artistic director of Curious Theatre Company in Denver, where she curated new works and directed for the mainstage. Curious Theatre’s War Anthology, for which Ms. Metzgar was lead writer, director, and curator, won Colorado Theatre Guild’s 2006 Henry Award for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Ensemble. The Denver Post named Ms. Metzgar its 2006 Colorado Theater Person of the Year. During this time, Ms. Metzgar was also a literary committee member of the National New Play Network. From 1995 to 2003, she served as associate producer at the Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival under George C. Wolfe, where she oversaw a wide range of works including several Broadway transfers including Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk and Elaine Stritch: At Liberty. As founding producer of Joe’s Pub from 1998 to 2001, Ms. Metzgar was the creator of a now world-famous performance venue. Her responsibilities included providing creative vision for all aspects of the new venue–programming, staffing, marketing strategy, identity and designing of the performance space; programming entertainment for the seven-nights-per-week cabaret/nightclub space; working with restaurant partners and overseeing all show-related operations. Ms. Metzgar received her BA from Brown in 1986. Her thesis advisor was Paula Vogel. She was an MFA candidate in playwriting in the theatre department at the University of Iowa in 1987-88.

Judith O. Rubin

Judith O. Rubin is the board chair of Playwrights Horizons and a member of the Tony Awards administration committee. For eight years she served on the NEA's National Council on the Arts, and for six on the Board of TCG. Since 1989, she has been a member of the New York State Council on the Arts. She serves on the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission of New York City, the University's Council Committee on Theatre at Yale, and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) Board of Overseers. Ms. Rubin was a member of the Board of Regents of New York State, representing Manhattan. She is a trustee of Mount Sinai Medical Center, a former trustee of Public Radio International and of the Center for Arts and Culture, a think tank in Washington, D.C. She served as president of the 92nd Y from 1984 to 1988 and was Commissioner for Protocol during the administration of New York City Mayor David Dinkins. Ms. Rubin is the chair of the National Council on the American Theatre.

Roche Edward Schulfer

Roche Edward Schulfer is in his 29th year as executive director of Goodman Theatre. He has overseen the production of more than 330 plays including more than 118 world or American premieres. Mr. Schulfer instituted the Goodman's annual production of A Christmas Carol, which celebrates its 31st anniversary as a Chicago holiday tradition this season. Under his leadership the Goodman has received numerous local and national awards for excellence including being named the Best Regional Theater in the United States by Time Magazine (2003) and the Tony Award for outstanding regional theatre (1992). Mr. Schulfer has negotiated the presentation of Goodman productions in New York, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Paris and many other cities. He coordinated the design, development and construction of the new Goodman Theatre facility which opened in 2000 positioning the Goodman as a catalyst in the revitalization of Chicago's downtown theatre district. Mr. Schulfer served as chair of the American Arts Alliance and the Illinois Arts Alliance, the national and statewide arts advocacy coalitions serving more than 2,500 organizations. He is a founder and current chair of the League of Chicago Theatres, the trade association representing more than 200 Chicago-area producing and presenting theater companies. Mr. Schulfer is serving a second term on the Board of Theatre Communications Group and has served on negotiating committees for the League of Resident Theaters. He was a member of the Illinois Arts Council and has served on grant panels for the NEA, Illinois Arts Council and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Mr. Schulfer is a member of the board of Lifeline Theater in Rogers Park, the Arts & Business Council, the Chicago Central Area Committee, the Chicago Loop Alliance and the Economic Club of Chicago. He has been recognized for his work by the City of Chicago, the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago magazine, Crain's Chicago Business, Lawyers for the Creative Arts, The Arts & Business Council, Columbia College, the American Arts Alliance and the Illinois Arts Alliance. Mr. Schulfer is a recipient of the Raymond R. Snyder Award for career achievement from Lifeline Theatre. He is a guest lecturer at local and national colleges and universities and consults with numerous arts organizations. Mr. Schulfer currently teaches at the Theatre School at DePaul University. He is a graduate of the University of the Notre Dame where he was the producer for the cultural arts commission.

Molly Smith

Molly Smith has been a passionate leader in new play development for the past 30 years while at Arena Stage as well as Perseverance Theatre in Alaska, the theatre she founded and led for 19 years. During ten seasons as Arena's artistic director, she has focused the repertory on American voices, making Arena the largest theatre in North America focusing on American writers. She founded Arena's downstairs series, which has read and workshopped some sixty plays, half of which have gone on to full productions. Ms. Smith has commissioned or championed numerous world premieres including Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive and Mineola Twins, Tim Acito’s The Women of Brewster Place, Moises Kaufman’s 33 Variations, Charles Randolph-Wright's Blue, Zora Neale Hurston's lost American play Polk County and Passion Play, a cycle by Sarah Ruhl. Her directorial work has also been seen at the Shaw Festival in Canada, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, Tarragon Theatre in Toronto and Centaur Theatre in Montreal, and includes classics such as South Pacific, Mack and Mabel, Anna Christie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Smith has served as literary advisor to the Sundance Theatre Lab and formed the Arena Stage Writers Council, comprised of leading American playwrights. An avid traveler, Ms. Smith brings artists of international renown to work at Arena Stage and serves as a member of the Board of the Theatre Communications Group as well as the Center for International Theatre Development. She directed two feature films, Raven's Blood and Making Contact, and received Honorary Doctorates from both Towson and American Universities.

Jim Steinberg

Jim Steinberg has served on the board of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts since 2000. He sits on the finance, development and strategic planning committees. For 11 years he was a board member of the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School (1991-2002), serving as treasurer, president and capital campaign chair.  He currently is co-chair of their New Works Program. He is also a consultant to Thirteenth Night Theatre Company in New York and Curious Theatre in Denver. Mr. Steinberg is one of only two honorary members of the American Theatre Critics Association. He holds a bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin (1971) and a masters (1974) and doctorate (1975) from the University of Oregon in English. He is a trustee of the Helen G. Bonfils Foundation and vice-chair of the Lowell Whiteman School, a director of the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and treasurer of the Mimi & Harold Steinberg Foundation. Mr. Steinberg is a board member of The Public Theater and a graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute. The Rotary International Foundation recently honored him for his leadership efforts in helping victims of Hurricane Rita.  For the past 32 years his work as a professional photographer has garnered numerous national and international awards and in 2006 he was named one of the decade's 100 most important nature photographers. Mr. Steinberg is president of Portfolio Publications and a member of the National Council on the American Theatre.

David Styers

David Styers serves as a senior governance consultant for BoardSource. In this position, he provides project management, consulting and training services to major clients on governance and emerging trends and developments in the nonprofit sector. Mr. Styers brings extensive nonprofit experience concentrated in training, consulting and organizational development. He advises clients such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Goodwill Industries and the League of American Orchestras on ways to identify criteria and success measures of board initiatives of affiliates and to identify actionable steps to move agency boards toward the objectives in a strategic plan including measuring impact, obtaining diversity and managing talent. He trains extensively on a variety of topics such as the board's roles and responsibilities, fundraising, shared leadership and exceptional governance practices. Prior to joining BoardSource, Mr. Styers served as senior director at the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, where he led the work to build capacity and national partnerships for more than 360 affiliate volunteer centers across the country. During his nearly eight years at Points of Light, he designed and conducted trainings at local, state, national and international conferences and consulted with many nonprofits and associations across the country and around the world. His areas of expertise include board and fund development, leadership and partnership development, outcomes measurement, strategic planning and volunteer management. Prior to joining Points of Light, Mr. Styers helped establish the Catherine French Group, an independent consulting firm specializing in executive search and recruitment with nonprofit boards and executives of symphony orchestras and other music and arts organizations. He also served as the lead staff for governance services at the League of American Orchestras. Mr. Styers serves on several boards, including the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration and as vice president of the Alexandria Volunteer Bureau. He is a summa cum laude graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Religion from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and is a Certified Pew Partnership for Civic Change Leadership trainer and Points of Light Youth Leadership Institute trainer.

Seema Sueko

Seema Sueko is the co-founder and artistic director of Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company. For Mo`olelo, she directed Since Africa, The Adoption Project: Triad, Permanent Collection, and Good Boys; and directed Since Africa again for The Old Globe. Some of her acting credits include Jennifer in The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at The Old Globe and Yale Repertory Theatre (KPBS Patte Award), Connie in A Chorus Line at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol at San Diego Repertory Theatre, and The Phoenician Women at NYC's The Ohio Theatre. She is a three-time winner of the Chicago "Jeff Citation" Award for her performances in the world premiere of Rebecca Gilman's The Crime of the Century (Best Actress in a Principal Role), The Waiting Room (Best Actress in a Supporting Role) and A Piece of my Heart (Best Ensemble). Ms. Sueko received the KPBS Patte "McDonald Playwriting Award" and the Anti-Discrimination Committee's "Artistic and Cultural Achievement Award" for her script, and Mo`olelo's inaugural show, remains. She was commissioned by Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis to co-write Messy Utopia, which received the Ivey Award 2007, and Hijab Tube, a play for young audiences on the theme of Islam in America. Ms. Sueko holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, is a member of Actors' Equity Association, and was named one of the "50 People to Watch in 2005" by San Diego Magazine.

Megan Wanlass Szalla

Megan Wanlass Szalla has been a member of SITI Company since 1995. She was the company stage manager for five years prior to becoming SITI’s executive director. In her tenure with SITI, Ms. Wanlass Szalla has helped to create over 25 shows. She began working with Anne Bogart during The Adding Machine at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Ms. Wanlass Szalla has an Arts Administration Certificate from New York University, attended the Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders at Stanford University Business School, was a member of the Arts Leadership Institute Charter Class at Teachers College, Columbia University and holds a B.A. in Theatre from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. She is on the Board of TCG.

Jack Uldrich

Jack Uldrich is a renowned global futurist, independent scholar, sought-after business speaker and best-selling author. His books include the best-selling, The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business and the award-winning, Into the Unknown: Leadership Lessons from Lewis & Clark’s Daring Westward Expedition. His latest book is Jump the Curve: 50 Essential Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies.  Mr. Uldrich’s other written works have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Futurist, Future Quarterly Research, The Wall Street Reporter, Leader to Leader, Management Quarterly and hundreds of other newspapers and publications around the country. He also writes a regular column on emerging technologies for The Motley Fool, and is a frequent guest of the media worldwide—having appeared on CNN, MSNBC and National Public Radio on numerous occasions. In addition to speaking on future trends, emerging technologies, innovation, change management and leadership, Mr. Uldrich is a leading expert on assisting businesses adapt. He has served as an advisor to Fortune 1000 companies and is noted for his ability to deliver provocative, new perspectives on competitive advantage, organizational change and transformational leadership. Highly regarded for his unique ability to present complex information in an entertaining, understandable and digestible manner that stays with his audiences long afterwards, Mr. Uldrich has spoken to hundreds of businesses and organizations, including General Electric, General Mills, the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Pfizer, Invitrogen, St. Jude Medical, AG Schering, Imation, Fairview Hospitals, Touchstone Energy, The Insurance Service Organization, The National Kitchen & Bath Association, The National Paint & Coatings Association and dozens more.

Lico Whitfield

Lico Whitfield is a graduate of Rutgers University where he obtained his BFA in Theatre. Though his major concentration of study was in acting Mr. Whitfield supported his studies by working in set construction, rigging and as an overhire laborer with various branches of IATSE in N.J., N.Y. and L.A. He began his journey in theatrical administration in the box office of the California Musical Theater in his native Sacramento where he also spent time in various positions at The B Street Theatre. After relocating to Brooklyn, he found himself working his way up from the mailroom at The William Morris Agency and serving as an assistant in the theatrical division where he first met Kenny Leon. Since joining the staff of True Colors Theatre Company in the fall of 2008 Mr. Whitfield has assumed various responsibilities and serves as a primary point of communication between the True Colors board of trustees and also True Colors’ unique civic involvement group, the Young Executive Board.

Bill Wright

Bill Wright is director of communications and marketing at Independent Sector, a nonpartisan coalition of nonprofits, foundations and corporate philanthropy programs that collectively represents tens of thousands of charitable groups of all missions and sizes across the country. His responsibilities include helping develop and implement IS's key messages, overseeing electronic communications and working with the media. He was previously managing web editor at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and he has also worked at the National Park Service and taught high school history. He received his BA from Williams College and master's degrees from Brown University and Duke University.