|
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)--one
of the country's largest dance-only presenters where she 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, directing, writing,
stage managing and consulting with a variety of theater and
dance organizations in Pittsburgh. 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
and 2008-2009. An avid runner (finisher of 4
marathons) Meribeth founded the Luminaria Run,
now in its 7th
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.
DFT 2010/2011 Directors
SARA
BERNSTEIN
(Director,
Bye Bye Birdie, Suessical, Jr.) Sara
Bernstein is an actor, director, choreographer, and
theatre educator with credits in Arizona, Maryland, and
Chicago. Sara served for five years as Phoenix’s Education
Manager to introduce people of all ages to theatre and
promotes arts education. Through Arizona Theatre
Company, where she taught acting classes to Maricopa County
high school theater students and exposed them to
performing arts events and venues throughout the
Valley. During the summer of 2008, Sara directed
Seussical for ATC’s Summer on Stage, an acting
intensive program for high school students. This
production was featured at last year’s Arizona Thespian
Conference in downtown Phoenix. Additionally, in the
summer of 2007, Sara choreographed Lucky Stiff
for the same program. In the spring of 2010, Sara directed
the critically acclaimed, City of Angels. In
the spring of 2008 she directed DFT's ariZoni winning production of I Love You, You’re
Perfect, Now Change for which Sara also received an Arizoni for Best Director of
a Musical. Sara has directed youth theatre productions
including Really Rosie, Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Sound of Music, and
Flapper. As an actor, Sara has played Amy in
Company, the Witch in Into the Woods, and
Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof. She received a
Bachelor of Music Degree in Musical Production and
Direction from Northwestern University. Following
graduation, Ms. Bernstein worked for the Lake Forest
Children’s Theatre Company in Highland Park, Illinois as
a teacher and director of youth productions, directing
four productions with students ages five to fourteen.
DARLENE DUFFY (Music
Director, Seussical, Jr., Spring 2011) 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 Masters in education for grades K-8.
Professional credits include leads in The Sound Music, Oklahoma, The
Music Man, Hello Dolly, the Old Maid and the Thief, Carmen and Le
Nozze di Figaro. Ms. Duffy directs the band/choral program at
Sonoran Trails Middle School in the Cave Creek Unified School District.
KEVIN
GLENN (Music Director, The Rocky Monster Show, Fall 2010)
has been working
with Desert Foothills Theater for many years. He is a previous artistic
director of DFT. His performing credits include Jimmy Powers in City
of Angels (DFT); Sky Masterson in Guys & Dolls (DFT);
Andrew Thomas, the architect, Titanic: the Musical (Scottsdale
Community Players); Rapunzel’s Prince, Into the Woods, (DFT);
Darryl, Three Divas and a Darryl, (Darknight Productions);
Various characters in Broadway Based On…True Stories; ...Fairy
Tales;...Crime & Punishment; ...The Holidays (SCAN Originals).
Musical Direction for DFT’s Grease, Footloose, Fame, and
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (for which he won an AriZoni
Award), and Darknight Productions’ Coyote Dreams and
Football: the Musical. He has also served as music director for
Cactus Shadows High School Shadowbox Players productions of Little
Shop of Horrors, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, and West
Side Story. He currently performs in the valley’s newest swing band,
Main Event Swing Band. Kevin has served as composer and song writer for Nick
Johnson’s Alithea Productions of Alice, Cinderella, Don Quixote, Once
Upon a Planet, Symphony of Silence, and The Odyssey. A
collection of Kevin’s songs is available on CD album title; see in full at
CDBaby.com.
www.kevinglenn.com.
Bill
P. Moore (Musical Director, Bye Bye Birdie) - Theatrical
experience began with a church youth group production of Little Mary
Sunshine in Glendale, AZ, where he was born. He has since musically directed
Working, Minnie's Boys, Pump Boys & Dinettes, You're a Good Man, Charlie
Brown and Godspell, in addition to appearing in Tintypes, Evita, The Amorous
Flea and Something's Afoot at Phoenix Theatre and A Funny Thing…Forum at NAU.
Recently retired from Honeywell, Bill is happily searching for additional
musical opportunities with his newly-won freedom from that long-running
"day-gig".
Petey Swartz (Director, Rocky Monster Show and Inspecting Carol,
Fall
2010) 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
2008 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.
Petey has been nominated for a 2008 AriZoni Award for her work on DFT's
production of Last of the Red Hot Lovers.
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.
Lori
Vander Maten (Director, The Dixie Swim Club)
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.
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.
|
|