For Email Marketing
you can trust

Become a DFT
V.I.P.!
(member)

 

Season Sponsored

by APS

 

2008/2009
Season

 

Romantic Comedy
by Bernard Slade
Directed by E. E. Moe
Nov. 6 - 23, 2008

 

Lilia!
Written and performed by Libby Skala
Jan. 10, 2009

 

A Time To Dance
Written and performed by Libby Skala
Jan. 17, 2009

 

Last of the
Red Hot Lovers

by Neil Simon
Directed by Petey Swartz
Feb. 5 - 21, 2009

 

SPECIAL EVENT

Oscar Night Party!

A fabulous night of entertainment and fun. Why watch the Oscars at home when you can come celebrate with us?
Proceeds benefit Desert Foothills Theater and Foothills Community Foundation.

February 22,  2009

 

The World
Goes 'Round

Music By Fred Ebb
Lyrics by
John Kander

Directed by
Dee Dee Wood

Mar. 26 - Apr. 5, 2009

 

American Association of Community Theatre

 

DFT black channel
DFT black channel
DFT black channel

 

DFT and DFT Gecko Teatro
Staff, Directors, Cast & Crew

As we add artists to our season, we'll add them here. Check back often!

 

Meribeth Reeves (Managing Director) is a native of Carefree, Arizona who began her theatrical career at Coronado High School under the direction of Jim Newcomer.  She attended Oberlin College, where she focused her studies on theater criticism and direction under the tutelage of Roger Copeland; and on music education as a double-degree student in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (cello) and Oberlin College.  Upon completion of her BA in theater, she moved to Pittsburgh and began her career in arts marketing with the Pittsburgh Dance Council (PDC) moved up the ranks to Marketing Director.  She was responsible for all marketing and promotion of PDC events and during her tenure saw ticket income nearly double.  At PDC she had the great fortune to work with wonderful dancers and choreographers like Bill T. Jones, Mark Morris, Judith Jamison, Joan Myers Brown, Merce Cunningham, Bella Lewtizky, Twyla Tharp and others. She also continued her work in theater through board membership and consulting with a variety of theater and dance organizations in Pittsburgh.  In her “down” time, she directed and stage managed several productions including her play, Mina and Vlad, and served as a stringer for several local newspapers.  Meribeth was an inaugural member of Pittsburgh’s prestigious Leadership Development Initiative, a program designed to develop and future leaders in the Pittsburgh community.  After the birth of her children, Meribeth began consulting with a variety of non-profit organizations on web design, marketing, PR, fundraising and board development.  In addition, she taught arts management classes at Point Park University.  Upon moving to Arizona, she continued her consulting, and became actively involved in her children’s schools serving on a variety of Cave Creek Unified School District committees. She served as Black Mountain Elementary School PTO Co-President from 2004-2006 and again serving in that capacity in 2007-2008. An avid runner (finisher of 4 marathons) Meribeth founded the Luminaria Run, now in its 6th year with over 1200 runners and walkers participating each year. Meribeth began work with DFT in May of 2006 as communications manager. She worked with DFT to increase both earned and contributed income. She also initiated development of DFT’s Gecko Teatro and oversaw the creation of the BMES Black Box Theater. Meribeth loves living back in her hometown with her husband and two children and is thrilled to be a part of DFT as it looks toward a bright future in this wonderful community.

 

Wes Sullivan (Managing Producer, Lighting Designer, Technical Theater Instructor) is a theatrical lighting designer who has returned to Phoenix after graduating from the University Nevada Las Vegas with an MFA in Lighting Design. In Las Vegas he worked for Lance Burton and most recently was the Assistant Lighting Designer for "Stomp Out Loud," at Planet Hollywood Casino. He also worked for the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago during their Telluride Colorado residency. Wes is glad to be back in Phoenix with his beautiful wife, but unfortunately misses the casinos sometimes, though his pockets don't.

 

Miss Brenda B. Waffle (Founding Director, Gecko Teatro) was owner and director of the award winning Columbus Youth Theater in Columbus, Ohio for ten years. For the past fifteen years, Miss Waffle has been a teacher for the Cave Creek Unified School District and has been performing in theaters throughout the valley.  Miss Waffle was excited to be able to combine her two great passions: teaching children and theater.  Miss Waffle had been on stage acting since the third grade.  She acted in or directed over forty shows during this time period. Miss Waffle passed away July 2008.

 

Lori Vander Maten (Director, Gecko Teatro,
Theater I, Theater II, BMES)
Lori has worked in theatre since the 1980’s as an actress, writer, director, producer, designer and stage manager.  She has worked in professional, community and educational theatre and has taught and directed at the adult, college, high school, middle school and elementary school levels.  She is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who earned both her BA in Theatre and her MFA in Playwriting from UCLA.  Her musical adaptation of Little Women was the winner of the YES Festival of New Plays and premiered at the University of Northern Kentucky in 2001.   Her first full-length play, Storms Without Warning was the winner of the Siena College International Playwriting Competition, and she was a guest-artist-in-residence at Siena College for the premiere production of that play.  Her full-length play, Seasons, was 4th runner up for the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award, and her musical, Make Believe, was the two-time winner of the Burdette Fitzgerald Award for Theatre for Young Audiences.  Her screenplay, Goin’ Home was a semi-finalist in the Walt Disney Fellowship for Writers Competition, and her screenplay, Razha, was a semi-finalist in the Fade-In Screenplay Competition.  Favorite acting roles include:  Meg in Brigadoon, Anne in All My Sons, Elaine in Arsenic and Old Lace, Mrs. Beaver in Narnia, Amy in The Contender, Mopsa in A Winter’s Tale, and most recently, Rose in God’s Favorite.  She has studied acting at UCLA, The University of Arizona and the Arizona Theatre Company . Favorite directing experiences include:  The Merchant of Venice, West Side Story, The Actor’s Nightmare, Working, A Marriage Proposal, The Singer, Rich and Pearl, Make Believe and portions of The Kentucky Cycle.  She also directed a short film, Secret Sisters, which was a semi-finalist in the Miramax/LivePlanet Project Greenlight directing competition.  Since moving to Phoenix in 1999, Lori has taught at Southwestern College, Scottsdale Community College, Paradise Valley Community College and most recently at Scottsdale Christian Academy.  She is currently working on several writing projects, teaching a class here and there, doing a bit of theatre, and being a wife to Mike and a mom to daughters Kailee and Erin
.

 

 

.

 

DFT 2008/2009 Directors

E.E. Moe (Director, Romantic Comedy, fall 2008) is a member of the Society of Stage Directors/ Choreographers (SSDC). Her work has garnered awards from L.A. Drama Critics Circle, Drama-Logue, LA Weekly, LA Reader, Robby Awards, NY/LA Theatre Development Awards, Career Achievement and publication honors for more than one-hundred productions. She is a founder actor/director of Arizona Civic Theatre/Arizona Theatre Company, a member of numerous arts councils, Senior Faculty Guest Artist in Directing/Acting at SCC, and Artistic Director/Co-Founder of the time honored MEGAW Theatre/Actors Studio, Inc of CA/AZ.(c1973-current).

 


Petey Swartz (Director, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Spring 2009) has been hooked on theatre ever since she played a thundercloud in the 5th grade and over the years, she has donned many hats in numerous valley productions.  She directed and did sound and costume design for Moon Over Buffalo at the North Valley Playhouse, which recently garnered six ariZoni nominations, including Best Director and Best Overall Production. Petey also directed and handled design elements for the ariZoni award-winning Six Degrees of Separation and was the Assistant Director, Stage Manager and sound designer for NVP’s Gin Game.
At Mesa Encore theatre, Petey was director and sound designer for this summer’s very successful run of “Breaking Legs”, staged at the Mesa Arts Center. Acting is another of Petey’s passions and some favorite performances include Hale Center Theatre’s Fiddler on the Roof, John Loves Mary, and You Can’t Take It With You, On the Spots’ Skimpies, (ariZoni nomination), iTheatre Collaborative’s The Bad Seed, and Stageworks’ Cinderella, the World’s Favorite Fairy Tale, (recent ariZoni nomination).
Between roles on valley stages, Petey has played multiple zany characters in the popular Mystery Mansion Dinner Theatre. She is an accomplished voiceover talent as well. For the last five years, Petey was heard on radio and television as the commercial voice of AJ’s Fine Foods. Whether she is directing, acting, doing design duties, props, set dressing, or voiceovers, Petey is totally committed to giving audiences the highest quality product possible. It is her passion, experience and diligent attention to detail that make all the difference between a good show and a great show.
 

 


Dee Dee Wood (Director and Choreographer) - Dee Dee Wood, with her extensive background in Hollywood and New York City for film, stage and television, started as a dancer on Broadway (Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, Lil'Abner, Destry). She soon turned to choreography. Her work can be seen in the films Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Beaches with Bette Midler, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Her television extravaganzas include The Statue of Liberty's 100th Birthday - Closing Ceremonies for which she won an Emmy Award; the 1984 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies; and numerous Super Bowl Half-Time shows. Dee Dee received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1998 American Choreography Awards in Los Angeles and was honored at the 2003 Dance Masters of America Awards in Las Vegas. She is on the Board of Judges for the Emmy's. In 2005, Dee Dee was inducted into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Ms. Wood has directed six shows for Desert Foothills Theater: All Night Strut, Sweet and Hot, Guys and Dolls, Forever Plaid, and A Grand Night for Singing and Hot 'N Cole. Check out this wonderful short video on YouTube about Dee Dee created by the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

 

Gecko Teatro Instructors

 

Darlene King (Musical Theater, DAMS)
Ms. King hails from the state of Kentucky, spent much of her professional life in Cincinnati, OH and now calls Arizona home. Her 30 years in music have focused on teaching and conducting. She holds a Music Performance degree in voice with a minor in piano from Northern Kentucky University as well as her teaching certification with a Master's in Education for grades K-8.  Professional credits include leads in The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, The Music Man, Hello, Dolly, The Old Maid and the Thief, Carmen and Le Nozze di Figaro. Ms. King directs the band/choral program at Desert Arroyo Middle School in the Cave Creek Unified School District.

 

Lori Vander Maten

Meribeth Reeves

Wesley Sullivan
 

DFT Staff

Meribeth Reeves

Wesley Sullivan

Brenda Waffle


2008/2009 Directors

E. E. Moe
Petey Swartz
Dee Dee Wood
 

Directors

Past DFT Directors/
Choreographers &
Music Directors

 

Artistic Advisors
Designers

Dee Dee Wood

Toby Payne

Diane Welle

Barbara Allen

 

Gecko Teatro Instructors

Brenda Waffle

Meribeth Reeves

Wesley Sullivan

Lori Vander Maten

Darlene King

 

Actors

Past DFT Actors/Designers and Crew

Artistic Collaborators/Designers



Diane Welle (Costume Design) - Diane has received two AriZoni Awards, one for her costume design for DFT's production of Lend Me a Tenor and one for hair and makeup for DFT's production of Breaking Legs. Last season, she designed the hair, wigs, and makeup for DFT's productions Into the the Woods and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. She has also designed costumes for DFT's productions of Moon Over Buffalo, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Breaking Legs, Fame: The Musical, Footloose, and Guys and Dolls for which she received an AriZoni Award nomination for Best Costume Design of a Musical and also for DFT’s AriZoni Award-nominated musical Sweet and Hot: The Songs of Harold Arlen. She has 29 years of costume design experience including figure skating competitions, ballroom dance competitions, and couture evening gowns for private clientele.

Toby Payne (Sound Design)
Toby Payne is a Phoenix native whose career in theatrical lighting and sound dates back to high school. While involved in West High productions, he was also working at Phoenix Little Theater as well as Sombrero Playhouse. He studied lighting design under John Paul at Phoenix College and toured Europe with the Phoenician’s entertaining our troops. He founded Stage Sound of Arizona in 1963, and toured with numerous top acts such as Andy Williams, Sammy Davis, Jr., Luther Vandross, Bobby Vinton and Johnny Carson. Stage Sound grew into a major staging company along with Audio Visual America, supplying audio visual, sound and lighting rentals, sales, design and installation worldwide to Fortune 500 companies such as CBS, Warner Brothers, PolyGram, Microsoft, Este Lauder, Fed-X, and General Motors. Stage Sound also supplied the sound systems for such events as The Papal Visit at ASU Stadium, World's Fair in New Orleans, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Colorado State Fair and the New Mexico State Fair. Toby retired from this business in 1995. For many years, Toby taught at the International Communications Industries Association "Infocom" Institute for Professional Development and was a member of the ICIA Professional Education Committee. He obtained his CTS (Certified Technical Specialist) certification in 1978 from ICIA. Since moving to Cave Creek, Arizona, in 1992, Toby devotes a great deal of time to working with the community in a variety of ways including mentoring high school students in theatrical lighting and sound, and served four years on the Governing Board of the Cave Creek Unified School District. He has worked for 18 years with the Desert Foothills Theater, Musicfest, the Film Society, high school productions in the Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center, the Cave Creek Christmas Pageant and many other community events and local churches.


Barbara Allen (Assistant Stage Manager/ Backstage coordinator) - A graduate of Arizona State University, Barbara retired as a bank vice president and started devoting her time as a community volunteer with various not-for-profit groups. She started doing backstage work with DFT in 1998 on the play Mousetrap and found that she truly enjoyed the experience. She has been a volunteer ever since on many DFT productions. Ms. Allen is a recipient of DFT’s “Outstanding Contribution by a Volunteer” award.

 

 
   

© 2007 Desert Foothills Theater