New Members 2020
NTC is proud to introduce its newest members!
NEW MEMBER BIOSPatreshettarlini (Pat) Adams
Patreshettarlini (Pat) Adams is the Resident Stage Manager at The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. She has been with the organization since 1996. She is also a thirty-year member of Actors’ Equity. Her career encompasses work on over 100 productions, including the Crossroads Theatre Company, New Brunswick, NJ; Freedom Theatre, Philadelphia, PA; New Victory Theater, NYC; Ford’s Theater, Washington, DC; The National Black Theater Festival, Winston-Salem, NC; The National Black Arts Festival, Atlanta, GA.; the Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa; and, of course, The Wilma! She has also traveled internationally with acclaimed dance company, Noche Flamenca! Pat is the recipient of the Bonaly Recognition for Stage Management (2017); an inaugural honoree in 2018 from her alma mater (IUP), with its Alumni Award of Distinction/College of Fine Arts; and a 2020 recipient of the Del Hughes Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Art of Stage Management. She is proud to serve as Secretary for the Philadelphia Area Liaison Committee; a Christ-Servant Minister and Trustee Chairperson at Emmanuel UMC; and a member of Theatre Philadelphia's Board of Directors. For Love, Faith, and Family…. Matthew Gutschick
Matthew Gutschick is Artistic Director of The Rose Theater in Omaha. Recent directing credits include: Howie D: Back In The Day (World Premiere), Prancer (World Premiere), Stupid F*&^ing Bird (Parallel 45). Writing credits include Van Gogh & Me, and The Little Engine That Could. Under Matthew’s direction, The Rose developed programming for PreK audiences and expanded its commitment to outreach, tackling gang violence, teen pregnancy, and youth incarceration. In 2020, The Rose opened a new 27,000 sq. ft. education space. Graduate of the School at Steppenwolf. Member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab BA: Wake Forest University MFA: Yale School of Drama. Tony Hagopian
Tony Hagopian is a performer, instructor, producer, and arts administrator. As the Executive Director of the University Resident Theatre Association (URTA), he advocates for professional training of theatre artists, working closely with top theatre programs across the country. He speaks regularly with students about graduate school, professional practice, and navigating pathways to theatre careers. He has been part of the Broadway companies of Frost/Nixon, Betrayal, and The Realistic Joneses, performed at New York’s Mint Theatre, Lucille Lortel, HERE, LaMama ETC, and Cherry Lane, and regionally at The Old Globe; Cincinnati Playhouse; Pittsburgh Public; Shakespeare Theatre Co.; Pioneer Theatre; Kansas City Rep; Alabama Shakespeare; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Indiana Rep; PlayMakers; New Jersey Shakespeare; PCPA, and many others. TV includes: “Madam Secretary”, “The Blacklist”, “Blue Bloods”, “The Good Fight”, “Gossip Girl”, “Law & Order”, and “The Sopranos”. He produced the world premiere of Simon Dawes Becomes a Planet at New York’s Access Theater. Education: Fresno State University (BA, Theatre Arts), Temple University (MFA, Acting), and UConn (online graduate prog., Arts Administration). Member AEA, SAG-AFTRA. Janet Hayatshahi
Janet Hayatshahi is an actor, director, and educator. She served as Associate Artistic Director and ensemble member of San Diego’s Sledgehammer Theatre and ensemble member of Chicago’s Eclipse Theatre Company. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Randolph-Macon College. Directing credits include: A Vast Hoard (Chalk Rep), A Man, his Wife, and his Hat (Moxie Theatre), 9 Parts of Desire (Mo’olelo PAC), The Turn of the Screw (Cygnet Theatre), directing assistant for Robert Woodruff on Notes From Underground (La Jolla Playhouse), and multiple productions at the university level. As an actor, Janet has worked at Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Rep, Sledgehammer Theatre, Mo’olelo PAC, Circle X, Eclipse Theatre Company, European Rep, and Grüntaler9. She also tours her solo show Launching Ships, created with collaborator Kirsten Brandt. Training: MFA in Dance Theatre from UCSD; MA, SDSU; BFA, Ithaca College; certificate PCPA. She is a proud member of AEA and SDC. www.hayatshahi.com Ron Himes
Ron Himes is the Founder and Producing Director of the Saint Louis Black Repertory Company and the Henry E. Hampton, Jr. Artist-in-Residence at Washington University. The Black Rep has developed a national reputation for staging quality productions from an African-American perspective. He founded the company in 1976 while still a student at Washington University, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. The Black Rep began touring to other college campuses and, in 1981, found a home in the former sanctuary of the Greely Presbyterian Church in north St. Louis City, which the company converted and renamed the 23rd Street Theatre. In 1991, after a multi-million dollar renovation, the company moved into the former First Congregation Church building, located in the heart of the Grand Center arts and education district in midtown, renaming it the Grandel Square Theatre. He has produced and directed more than 200 plays at The Black Rep, including all ten plays written by August Wilson. His Black Rep directing credits include: Spell #7, Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope, Nina Simone; Four Women, Canfield Drive, Dot, Lines In The Dust, Twisted Melodies, Sunset Baby, Purlie, Black Nativity: A Holiday Celebration, the critically acclaimed productions of Ruined and The Montford Point Marine. Himes also created and directed the highly acclaimed, Crossin’ Over and Tell Me Somethin’ Good. He has directed a number of world premieres including Torn Asunder, Smash/Hit!, Insidious, Home the Musical, Servant of the People, Riffs and Urban Transitions: Loose Blossoms. Directing credits from theatres across the country include Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Fences (The Clarence Brown Theatre in Knoxville); The Colored Museum and Blues for an Alabama Sky (Indiana Repertory Theatre); Flyin’ West (Delaware Theatre Company); For Colored Girls.........(People’s Light and Theatre Company in Philadelphia); Riffs (Seven Stages in Atlanta); Spunk, Spell #7 and Radio Golf (Studio Theatre in Washington, DC); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and I’m Not Rappaport (Old Creamery Theatre in Garrison, IA); and An Enemy of the People (Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, AK). University and College credits include: Crumbs From The Table Of Joy and Our Town, (University of Southern Indiana in Evansville);Intimate Apparel, (University of Indiana in Bloomington); You Can’t Take It With You, (University of Wisconsin in Madison); The Championship Season and The Dance on Widow’s Row, (Dillard University in New Orleans); Three Ways Home (University of Illinois in Champaign); The Darker Face of the Earth (University of South Carolina in Columbia); Blues for Mr. Charlie, Hairspray, Ragtime, The Lion and The Jewel and Trojan Women (Washington University in St. Louis). In 2003, Himes was appointed the first Henry E. Hampton, Jr. Artist-in-Residence at Washington University, a joint appointment of the Performing Arts Department, African and African American Studies. In 2010 he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the third World Festival of Black Arts and Cultures in Dakar, Senegal and he has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2013 Outstanding Organization of The Year Award from 100 Black Men and The Citizen of The Year Award from the Gateway Classic Foundation, 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award from University College at Washington University, St. Louis 2004 Heroes Pierre Laclede Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, The Arts & Education Council in 2001; Creative Artist Award, The Better Family Life in 1997; Woodie Award for Outstanding Direction, the St. Louis Black Repertory Company’; and Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1993, and from Washington University in 1997 and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Life and Legacy Award from the National Pan-Hellenic Alumni Council. Himes has served on boards, panels, and advisory councils for a number of arts organizations, including the United States Artists, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The Theodore Ward Playwriting Awards, National Endowment for the Arts; the John F. Kennedy Center; the Arts and Humanities Commission, the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education; the Missouri Arts Council; the Regional Arts Commission; the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis; the Regional Commerce and Growth Association; the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Foundation; and the Midwest African-American Arts Alliance. Richard Romagnoli
Richard Romagnoli In 1986 he cofounded and remains the co-Artistic Director of the Potomac Theatre Project. For PTP/NYC, directed 35 plays, many by Howard Barker, Harold Pinter. Additional writers for PTP/NYC include Edward Albee, Gore Vidal, Vaclav Havel, Pavel Kohout, Snoo Wilson, Tariq Ali and Samuel Beckett. Directed regionally in D.C. and Boston. Developed new plays at The Young Playwrights Festival at the Public and the Shenandoah Playwrights Festival. An associate of Barker’s The Wrestling School and co-founder of The Barker Project with Robert Emmet Lunney and Jan Maxwell. Professor Emeritus, Middlebury College; directed numerous productions, including four honored by the Kennedy Center and KCACTF. Ph.D. School of Theatre, Florida State University. Mark Shanda
Mark Shanda is the University of Kentucky’s Dean of the College of Fine Arts. He is the former Divisional Dean of Arts and Humanities at The Ohio State University where he was a faculty member in the Department of Theatre for 31 years, including 5 years as Chair. Co-author of two widely used theatre technology textbooks, Shanda served as President of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). He has been technical director for over 200 productions and holds a BA in Political Science from Iowa State University and an MFA in Technical Production from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Joanna Sherman
Joanna Sherman, Artistic Director, Bond Street Theatre, has been directing theatre projects for social improvement globally since 1984. The company works primarily in post-war and disadvantaged communities, collaborating with local artists, and applying the arts in the peacebuilding process, with a focus on refugees, women, and marginalized populations. Current focus areas: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Egypt and South Africa. She is a frequent speaker and advocate for Theatre for Social Justice. She received the 2014 Lee Reynolds Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women, the 2015 Otto Award for Political Theatre, and the 2018 Public Service Award from Cooper Union School of Fine Arts and inducted into their Hall of Fame. She served as Cultural Envoy in Myanmar and India. Under her directorship, the company received a MacArthur Award for its intercultural programming. She has been a speaker on the role of the arts in peacebuilding at the United Nations, National Council on Women, United States Institute of Peace, universities, and other fora, and published in American Theatre magazine. Ms. Sherman has a BFA from Cooper Union, and an MA in Theatre & International Studies from New York University. Jon Young
Jon Young is a Full Professor of Scenic Design at the University of Oklahoma and a member of USA 829. Young was a recipient of the 2016 Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts from the University of Oklahoma and 2015 recipient of the Gold Medallion from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Young has designed professionally for Houston Shakespeare Festival, Stages Repertory Theatre, Creede Repertory Theatre, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Black Hills Playhouse, Unicorn Theatre Late Night Theatre and Coterie Theatre. Young has designed over 30 productions at the University of Oklahoma for Dance, Drama, Opera and Musical Theatre. His design for Stupid F##king Bird at Stages Repertory Theatre was published in the Summer 2016 issue TD & T. Designs for Sunday in the Park with George and The Odyssey were published in the Summer 2012 issue TD & T. His scenic design for After Juliet was invited to be a part of the World Stage Design 2009 exhibit in Seoul Korea. You can follow his work on his work on the following social media sites: https://www.youngscenicstudio.com and @youngscenicstudio Mark Clayton Southers*
* Mark was inducted in 2018, but will be joining us for the first time in 2020. Mark Clayton Southers and his family reside in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District. He is an award winning playwright, stage director, scenic designer, photographer and theatrical producer. He is the founder and producing Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company where he has produced well over 160 full length and one act plays, including August Wilson’s complete 10 play Pittsburgh Century Cycle. As a Playwright his very first play When the Water Turns Clear was produced at Chicago’s ETA Theater. His second play Ashes to Africa was a finalist at the 2001 Dayton Playhouse Future Fest. His third play Ma Noah was the recipient of the 2004 Theodore Ward prize at Columbia College, Chicago. He has written over 20 full length and One-Act plays including the poem play Angry Black Man Poetry aka End Angered Species which had a successful run at Teatr Śląski in Katowice, Poland in 2009 and Miss Julie, Clarissa and John which ran at the 2017 National Black Theatre Festival and also had a three week run in 2017 at Scotlands prestigious Edinburg Fringe Festival. His current playwriting projects include two plays for his 19th Century Cycle Wise Art & The Igbo Landing as well as Cyril about the well known Forensic Pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht. Favorite directing credits include Paul Robeson for the Griot Ensemble Theatre Company; Pill Hill for New Horizon Theatre; Dutchman for Bricolage Theater Company; Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Piano Lesson for American Stage Theatre, Gem of the Ocean for Human Race Theatre; Passing Strange and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom for Short North Stage Theatre; PaPa Doc and Robeson for Trilogy Opera Company, and Dorothy Six, Seven Guitars, VALU-MART, Jitney and FENCES for The Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. Mark is a member of the Dramatist Guild of America, and the former Artistic Director of both the August Wilson African-American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh PA and the Short North Stage August Wilson Festival in Columbus Ohio. For additional info please visit: www.markclaytonsouthers.com |