I am a passionate arts and culture advocate and a designer with 20+ years of experience. Spare time interests include photography, architecture, built environment design, Browns/Guardians/Cavaliers, and podcasts of all sorts.
Artistically, I have twice been honored with the Ohio Arts Council’s Individual Excellence Award in 3D Design & Illustration for my body of scenic design work. I was also grateful to receive the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Scenic Design of 2013. As an artist, I have collaborated with organizations that include Great Lakes Theater, Beck Center for the Arts, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theater, Ensemble Theater, Playhouse Square, Stages Repertory Theater, and others.
In my current roles as Managing Director for Great Lakes Theater (GLT), Cleveland's Classic Company at Playhouse Square, and Director of Marketing for Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival (LTSF) - I have the privilege of working with extraordinary and collaborative colleagues to exceed contributed/earned income goals and to identify/realize strategic growth initiatives.
I have served GLT in a host of capacities since 1999, including work within its marketing, development, and production departments. At the helm of GLT’s marketing and communications, I conceived and executed a comprehensive audience research, re-branding and resource re-allocation initiative which resulted in a 25% increase in attendance. During the process, I also created and implemented marketing/communications initiatives which supported GLT’s successful $20.2M capital campaign to realize a new permanent home (Hanna Theatre, Playhouse Square) highlighted by national coverage in the Wall Street Journal, American Theatre Magazine and myriad other regional print and broadcast features.
As a member of GLT’s education department, I produced several series of outreach programming that pioneered partnerships with Cleveland’s public broadcasting stations, the Cleveland International Film Festival and over 30 other cultural organizations. I produced touring productions of four original plays and adapted/directed/designed a pair of original oral history-based productions which were selected as models of excellence in humanities programming by the Ohio Humanities Council.
I'm a proud graduate of Youngstown State University.