TYA/USA: Board Members

Board

Board Officers
Megan Ann Rasmussen, President Joette Pelster, Vice-President, Finance & Development Karen Sharp, Vice-President, Membership Ernie Nolan, Vice-President, Communications Michael J. Bobbitt, Secretary Ruth C. Mercado–Zizzo, Treasurer Brian Guehring, Member at Large to the Executive Committee Official International Representative to ASSITEJ International Kim Peter Kovac, ASSITEJ Vice President Home Office Administrative Assistant Chris Garcia Peak
Megan Ann Rasmussen, PRESIDENT Producing Artistic Director, Firehouse Theatre for Youth 1134 Laurelwood Drive, Fruit Heights, UT 84037 W: 801-543-2574 F: 801-543-2547 meganannrasmussen@msn.com	Megan Ann Rasmussen is Producing Artistic Director of the Firehouse Theatre for Youth that she founded outside of Salt Lake City, Utah in 2003. Megan Ann’s articles and photography have been published in TYA Today, AATE’s Stage of the Art, NEXT and on the TYA/USA web-site. Recently she was appointed editor of the ASSITEJ International newsletter that is published three times a year to ASSITEJ centers in 85 countries. Megan Ann and her husband, David, live outside Salt Lake City with their three children.
Joette Pelster, VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT Executive Director, The Coterie Theatre 2450 Grand Blvd., Suite 144, Kansas City, MO 64108 W: 816-474-6785, ext. 229 F: 816-474-7122 jpelster@coterietheatre.org	Joette Pelster is the Executive Director at the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. She was one of the primary creators of the Dramatic AIDS Education Project. She assisted in bringing the Gem Theatre for Cultural and Performing Arts, a new theatre in the 18th and Vine Historic District, into operation. From 1986-1993, she was the Executive Director of the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey. While there, she spear-headed the creation of AileyCamp, a nationally replicated program in six cities. Her background is in arts administration and includes extensive community arts coalition experience. Joette has also been the Marketing Director for Kansas City's Folly Theatre and was a founding member of the Nebraska Director's Theatre.
Ernie Nolan, VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS Director of Performance Studies and Assistant Professor of Theatre Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts Northside 101 1700 Mishawaka Ave. South Bend, IN 46634-7111 W: 574-520-4268 F: 574-520-4317 Email\|Photo	Ernie Nolan is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Program (BFA Musical Theatre) and The Theatre School at DePaul University (MFA Directing). An Artistic Associate of Emerald City Theatre in Chicago, his ECT credits include directing and choreographing the Chicago profession al premiere of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, SEUSSICAL, THE JUNGLE BOOK and adapting and directing SNOW WHITE: AS PERFORMED BY TJ BARKER AND HIS TROUPE OF THEATRICALS. As a Resident Artist at The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri, recently named by TIME magazine as one of the top theatres for young audiences in the country, his credits include directing and choreographing.
Karen Sharp, VICE PRESIDENT, MEMBERSHIP Education Director, Seattle Children’s Theatre 201 Thomas Street Seattle, WA 98109 W: (206) 443-0807 x 1126 F: 206-443-0442 Karens@sct.org	Karen Sharp is a 1982 graduate of the Goodman School of Drama. She has taught and coordinated arts education programs throughout the Puget Sound region for over twelve years. Ms. Sharp began teaching for SCT in 1998 and has taught numerous classes for students ages 3½ through eighteen years old. In 1999 Ms. Sharp joined the SCT staff and has worked as Education Outreach Coordinator, Drama School Director and, since 2005, as SCT Education Director where she oversees both the Drama School and Outreach programs. She has taught and developed curricula for classes at local universities and for classroom teachers in which participants learn how to integrate drama into classroom curriculum.
Ruth C. Mercado-Zizzo, TREASURER Director of Education, Citi Performing Arts Center 270 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116 W: 617-532-1259 F: 617-532-1340 ruthcmercado@gmail.com	Ruth C. Mercado is the Director of Education, Citi Performing Arts Center. She previously worked with The People's Light and Theatre Company in Malvern, PA. Ruth received her Master of Fine Arts in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University and is a graduate from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Michael J. Bobbitt, SECRETARY	Michael J. Bobbitt is the Producing Artistic Director of Adventure Theatre, DC Area’s longest Running children’s theatre. He has directed, choreographed and performed at many theatres in the DC Metropolitan Area. His National and International credits include the NY Musical Theatre Festival, Mel Till is 2001, and 1996 Olympics. He studied creative writing and music at Susquehanna University and theatre and dance at The Washington Ballet, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and NY University’s Tisch School of the Arts (Cap 21) and has taught theatre and dance at George Washington University, Catholic University, Montgomery College, Howard University, and the Washington Ballet. Michael serves as a Commissioner for the Montgomery County Commission for Children and Families. For his writing Michael has received numerous grants – including a grant from the National Alliance of Musical Theatre.
Brian Guehring, Member at Large to the Executive Committee
Kim Peter Kovac, Director, Theatre for Young Audiences, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts PO Box 101510, Arlington, VA 22210 W: 202-416-8837 F: 202-416-8297 kpkovac@kennedy-center.org	Kim Peter Kovac is Director of Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences in Washington, DC, which commissions, produces, tours and presents performances for children, young people and families. He’s helped develop nearly seventy-five new plays, operas and dances for young audiences and is a major architect of New Visions/New Voices, the Center’s program to help develop new TYA plays.
Board Members
Dolores Apollonia Chávez MEMBER-AT-LARGE Executive Director, Common Ground 4878 Granada Street, Los Angeles, CA 90042 W: 302-258-8676 commonground05@sbcglobal.net	Dolores Apollonia Chávez is the Founder of Common Ground and Executive Director of Company of Angels. As Producer for P.L.AY./CTG she produced numerous productions that toured throughout Los Angeles, the Mark Taper Forum, the Kennedy Center and Scotland. She has also served as a consultant with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the NEA.
Megan Alrutz Assistant Professor of Applied Theatre and Community Cultural Engagement University of Texas at Austin 1608 West 8th Street Austin, TX 78703	Megan Alrutz recently joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin as an assistant professor of Applied Theatre and Community Cultural Engagement. For five years prior, she was a theatre professor and coordinator of the MFA program in Theatre for Young Audiences at the University of Central Florida, where she directed ArtsBridge, Digital U, and many other community-engaged projects. She earned a Ph.D. in Theatre (with an emphasis in Theatre for Youth) from Arizona State University, and a B.A. in Theatre from Rutgers University. Dr. Alrutz is a scholar, director, dramaturg, and teaching artist whose creative and scholarly interests focus on applied theatre and community-based devising, intersections of live theatre and digital storytelling to explore issues of voice and identity, and investigating arts integration and drama-based pedagogy for the university classroom. She recently represented TYA/USA at the International Directors Seminar in Hamburg, Germany and she is currently co-editing Playing with Theory in Theatre Practice (Palgrave MacMillan 2010) and serving as the editor for TYA Today.
Chris Anthony Associate Artistic Director, Shakespeare Festival/LA 1238 W. 1st Street Los Angeles, CA 90026 W: 213-481-2273 x 16 F: 213 975-9833 Chris@Shakespearefestivalla.org	Chris Anthony is a director, teacher, actor and administrator specializing in community-based art making. Holding an MFA from CalArts, she has taught in venues ranging from Elementary Schools to Adult Correctional Facilities. Chris began her career with The Black Rep in St. Louis where she recently directed Othello. She has worked with the award-winning Will Power to Youth program for over a decade. In addition to producing Will Power and other programs for youth, Chris also designs a professional development programs for classroom teachers and teaching artists. Her other professional affiliations have included Plaza de la Raza, Cornerstone Theater, and Young Native Voices.
Roger Bedard Arizona State University, 4219 E Bannock, Phoenix, AZ 85044 W: 480-965-2032 F: 480-965-5351 roger.bedard@asu.edu	Roger L. Bedard holds the Evelyn Smith Family Professorship at Arizona State University where he heads the Theatre for Youth MFA and Ph.D. Programs and directs ARTSWORK: The Kax Herberger Center for Children and the Arts. He teaches graduate level courses in theatre for young audiences and dramatic theory and criticism.
	Doug Cooney is a writer in Los Angeles. His plays and musicals for young people include The Beloved Dearly, Imagine, Nobody’s Perfect and the stage adaptation of The Very Persistent Gappers Of Frip – and have been commissioned and produced by the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Institute, South Coast Rep, the Mark Taper Forum, among many others. He is an internationally recognized novelist, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. As a community-based artist through Florida Stage, he has worked extensively in literacy-challenged high schools, the juvenile justice system, disabled communities and among the homeless under grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, the MacArthur Foundation and Theater Communication Group.
	Scot Copeland has been Producing Director of Nashville Children’s Theatre since 1985. He has directed more than one hundred plays for young audiences and has written twelve. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Montevallo in Alabama and his MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has served on the boards of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, and served two terms as President of ASSITEJ/USA. He is a current trustee of the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America.
	Jeff Frank is First Stage Children’s Theater’s Artistic Director. He earned a BFA in Acting/Directing from UW Whitewater in 1987 and an MFA in Child Drama from the University of Utah in 1990. Jeff served as the Artistic Director of Project Interact at Zachary Scott Theater Center from 1990-92. After teaching and performing throughout New England for 2 years, Jeff served as the Director of Outreach for PA Stage in Allentown, PA. Jeff was hired as Education and Academy Director at FSCT in 1996, and was named Artistic Director at FSCT in 2003. Jeff has directed over 30 professional productions including world premieres of 12 DAYS – A MILWAUKEE CHRISTMAS, THUMBELINA, SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, and A MIDNIGHT CRY, and has consistently garnered praise for his work with young performers and adults and his ability to help craft plays that inspire and excite young people and their families. In collaboration with Oregon Children's Theatre, First Stage commissioned and premiered Lois Lowry's adaptation of her novel GOSSAMER which Jeff directed.
	Marty Johnson is currently the Artistic Director for iTheatrics, a New York-based company that specializes in musical theatre educational programs for students, teachers, and schools. Specifically, he develops materials for all of Music Theatre International’s educational programs including the TYA, School Edition, Broadway Junior and Kids Collection series. Previously, Marty served as the Director of Education at North Shore Music Theatre, where he created the company’s first school touring program and the award-winning Youth Performance Academy. Before that he was the Director of Education at Virginia Stage Company, and the Director of Drama/Theatre for Youth at Karamu House. Marty is the former Chair of the Professional Network for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, and received an MFA in Theatre for Youth from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
	David Kilpatrick, Manager of Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences in Washington, D.C., is particularly focused on overseeing the program’s national touring initiative. He also assists with the Kennedy Center’s script development efforts, and contributes to season planning, including bookings, commissions and New Visions/New Voices. David was formerly Education Outreach Coordinator at Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, coordinating a local touring company that reached more than 40,000 students each year in schools across the Delaware Valley. He received his Masters in Educational Theatre at New York University in 2002 and spent two years afterwards as an Education Associate for The New Victory Theater. David has taught for NYU’s Study Abroad programs and worked with the Jim Henson Legacy, a non-profit organization committed to celebrating the work of the world-famous Muppet creator.
Barry Kornhauser TYA Director/Playwright-In-Residence, Fulton Opera House P.O. Box 1865, Lancaster, PA 17608 W: 717-394-7133, ext. 105 bkornhauser@thefulton.org	Barry Kornhauser. Fulton Theatre Playwright-In-Residence and Associate Director. Barry was the 2009 winner of the AATE’s Charlotte Chorpenning Award. Other honors include the AATE Distinguished Play Award, IUPUI/Bonderman Award, Helen Hayes Best Play Award, Ivey Playwriting Award, “Best Practices” prize, ASSITEJ Observership and “Best Plays of Decade” Commendation, fellowships and grants from NEA, TCG, Mid-Atlantic Arts, PCA; invitations to New Visions/New Voices, One Theatre World. Max, Sam, Ariel’s dad.
Joan Lazarus Associate Professor of Theatre, Head, Theatre Studies Program, Executive Dir., UT Connections Youth Theatre, Department of Theatre and Dance 1.162 Winship Building D3900, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 W: 512-232-5326 F: 512-471-0824 j.lazarus.td@mail.utexas.edu	Joan Lazarus has served as a teaching artist, consultant, K-12 arts educator, member of numerous national boards and advisory committees and past President of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. She is currently a professor at The University of Texas at Austin and is author of Signs of Change: New Directions in Secondary Theatre Education.
	Gillian McNally currently serves as Assistant Professor of Theatre Education at the University of Northern Colorado, where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate level students. She has directed Bocon and Holes and supervised the touring production of Tomato Plant Girl. Prior to UNC, she served as the Resident Teaching Artist for People’s Light and Theatre. At the University level, Ms. McNally has taught for The University of Texas at Austin, Temple University, West Chester University and Arcadia University. Her writing has been published in Stage of the Art and Theatre for Young Audiences Today. A proud Longhorn, she holds an M.F.A. in Drama and Theatre for Youth from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.F.A. in Acting from Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts.
	Rosemary Newcott has been directing, acting and teaching at the Tony Award-winning Alliance Theatre since 1988, and now serves as its Artistic Director of Theatre for Young Audiences. Directing credits there range from the world premiere of Einstein Is A Dummy to the acclaimed high school Collision Project. She has also directed at the Horizon Theatre, Center for Puppetry Arts, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Virginia Stage Company, Seaside Rep and more, and holds extensive stage and film acting credits. A recipient of the prestigious Grace Foundation Award, Newcott was named PBA Lexus Leader of the Arts and Best Director by The Atlantic Journal-Constitution for the 2001-02 season. In 2005 she received the GTC Distinguished Career Award and in 2008 became a recipient of a Princess Grace Special Project Grant.
Honorary Members
Ann Shaw FOUNDING PRESIDENT, Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (formerly ASSITEJ/USA) VICE PRESIDENT and MEMBER OF HONOR, ASSITEJ International 1810 Calle de Sebastian D-1, Santa Fe, NM 87505 H: 505-986-1699 F: 505-986-1699 annmimishaw@aol.com
Nat Eek PRESIDENT, Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (formerly ASSITEJ/USA) PRESIDENT and HONORARY PRESIDENT, ASSITEJ International 800 West Imhoff Road, Norman, OK 73072 H: 405-329-0705, 505-983-5689 nateek@telepath.com
Harold Oaks PRESIDENT, Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (formerly ASSITEJ/USA) TREASURER and PRESIDENT, ASSITEJ International 923 West 20 North Orem, UT 84057 hrijoaks@yahoo.com
Scot Copeland PRESIDENT, Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (formerly ASSITEJ/USA) Nashville Children's Theatre 724 Second Ave. S. Nashville, TN 37210 W: 615-254-9103 F: 615-254-3255 scopeland@nashvillechildrenstheatre.org

About the Board
The TYA/USA Board is a volunteer board. If you are interested in more information about the TYA/USA board, please contact TYA/USA.