Our Team
Learn more about the TYA/USA Staff and Board.
Leadership
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Sara Morgulis
Executive Director
Sara is an award-winning theatremaker, educator, and nonprofit leader. She previously served as the Director of Education at New York City Children’s Theater, where she led with her personal mission of engaging young people through accessible and inclusive theatre practices. She is an Adjunct Faculty Member for the M.F.A Performing Arts Management Program at Brooklyn College and the Disability Services and Accessibility Consultant at CUNY’s MA in Applied Theatre program, where she received her Master’s degree. Her Master’s thesis research about training young people to be peer facilitators was published in a 2015 edition of RIDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance. In 2015, Sara received the TYA/USA Ann Shaw Fellowship Award, which funded a trip to London to visit Oily Cart Theatre and learn about their play development process. Sara used that research to co-create FIVE, a multi-sensory touring musical designed for students with disabilities, which has now toured to over 8,500 students in schools across NYC. Sara also served as Director of Programs at Actionplay, an organization dedicated to providing autistic, neurodivergent, and disabled teens and young adults with equal access to the theatremaking process. Sara has served on panels and presented workshops at many conferences, including the American Alliance for Theatre and Education Conference, the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Conference, NYU Forum on Educational Theater, ARTWORKS Arts in Education Conference, and the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable Face to Face Conference. Sara was the Associate Artistic Producer of the 2019 UP CLOSE Festival and is a freelance TYA producer and director. In collaboration with The Kennedy Center’s David Kilpatrick, she devised New York City Children’s Theater’s first show for the very young, Please Bring Balloons. Her arts education work extends to CO/LAB Theater Group, Creative Arts Team, Miracle Project New York, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and People’s Light. She previously served on the Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium Steering Committee and is a current Board Member of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable. www.saramorgulis.com
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Rachel Lee
Programming Manager
Rachel Lee (she/her) is an arts administrator based in New York City, devoted to working in a community-oriented capacity in the interest of supporting education and collaboration. Since joining the TYA/USA team, Rachel has supported producing and curation of the four-part, multi-month online 2021 TYA/USA Virtual Festival & Conference; three in-person regional events across the USA for the TYA/USA on Tour series as well as the parallel online Virtual Pass offering; and a number of one-off professional development webinars. Rachel’s passion for arts administration was realized and nurtured as a high school student during her two consecutive years on the producing team of The 5th Avenue Theatre’s “Rising Star Project” mentorship program. As a college student, she continued to develop her skills as a theater professional by interning and working in a variety of roles for a range of organizations in the greater Seattle area and New York City including The 5th Avenue Theatre, Village Theatre KIDSTAGE, Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center, and the New Light Theater Project. In 2018 Rachel graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, concentrating in Theater and Russian Literature. Prior to joining the TYA/USA team as Programming Manager, Rachel served as Education Registrar at Seattle Children’s Theatre where she fell in love with Theatre for Young Audiences.
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Stephen Fala
Membership and Communications Associate
Stephen Fala (he/him) is a New York based theatre for young audiences creative. His work as a teaching artist includes seminars with The Rev, workshops and readings with Philadelphia Young Playwrights, and music direction at Music Theatre Philly. Stephen is the creator and host of the theatre for young audiences industry podcast Pipe and Drape. He has performed Off Broadway with Sesame Street: The Musical, regionally with Walnut Street Theatre and Barter Theatre, and toured theatre for young audiences with Nickelodeon, Disney Cruise Line, Lexington Children’s Theatre, TheaterWorksUSA, and The Rev. stephenfala.com
Board of Directors
Our board is comprised of highly skilled leaders, administrators, artists, and educators from across the country dedicated to advancing professional TYA theatre.
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Idris Goodwin
Board President
Idris Goodwin is an award-winning storyteller for multiple generations. An accomplished playwright, breakbeat poet, content creator, and arts champion, Goodwin is recognized as a culture bearer who celebrates community values and cultivates histories with care. Idris is the author of over 60 original plays ranging from his Hip Hop inspired breakbeat series to historical dramas to works for young audiences. Titles such as And In This Corner: Cassius Clay, How We Got On, Hype Man: A Break Beat Play, This is Modern Art (co-written with Kevin Coval) and the ground breaking Free Play: open source scripts for an antiracist tomorrow, are widely produced across the country by a diverse mix of professional and academic venues. Driven by a passion for cultural impact and civic engagement, Idris also serves as Artistic Director of Seattle Children’s Theatre. Prior to this he was Executive Director of The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, where he also taught as a professor in The Department of Theater and Dance. Previous to this Idris led StageOne Family Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky as Producing Artistic Director. Idris is Board President of Theater For Young Audiences/USA and also serves on the board at Children’s Theater Foundation Association. In addition to Idris’s work in theater he’s created original content for and/or appeared on Nickelodeon, HBO Def Poetry, Sesame Street, NPR, BBC Radio, and the Discovery Channel. “Your House is Not Just A House”, his first picture book, will be published by Harper Collins in 2024.
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Matt Gutschick
Vice President
Matthew Gutschick is Artistic Director of The Omaha Theater Company (The Rose)where he has directed Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Disney’s Mary Poppins, Greg Banks’s Robin Hood, Ramona Quimby, Christmas Story: The Musical. Under Matthew’s direction, The Rose has developed classes and productions for PreK audiences. He has also been instrumental in the commission, production and presentation of ground-breaking new works including Palette of Possibility, The Rose’s first show developed specifically for youth with autism. The Rose’s residency with Daniel Beaty has radically altered the company’s approach to outreach, with programs focused on gang violence, teen pregnancy, and youth incarceration. Matthew is a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf, member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and holds a BA from Wake Forest University. He earned an MFA in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama.
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Ellen Conn
Treasurer
Ellen Conn is a Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional with a focus on creating values-aligned financial thinking and processes for arts organizations. She is the General Manager of Childsplay in Tempe, Arizona, where she previously served as the Director of Finance. In her ten years with Childsplay she has spearheaded new budgeting processes, led strategic planning efforts, and worked across all departments to ensure shared financial understanding and sustainability. She served as the first Treasurer on the Board of Directors for Phoenix based startup Rising Youth Theatre, helping them to develop their financial values, systems and processes. She lives in Gilbert, Arizona with her family.
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Allison Mui Mitchell
Secretary
Allison Mui Mitchell, Director of Public Relations, manages press for The New 42nd Street and its projects, and promotes The New Victory and its programs through strategic messaging, creative writing and strong media relationships. Part of the communications team since 2006, Ms. Mitchell was previously at RLM Finsbury, where she worked on crisis management for clients in healthcare, entertainment and finance. In New York, she has freelanced for various theater and film clients, as well as several startup companies. Ms. Mitchell served on the Junior Board for contemporary dance company Doug Varone and Dancers and is currently an Advisor for healthcare fashion company Care+Wear. She is a graduate of The University of Virginia with a B.A. in Media Studies.
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Shelley Quiala
Board Member at Large
Shelley Quiala is the Executive Director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, CT. During her nearly 4 years in the role, Arts & Ideas produced its first hybrid Festival; began offering programming in Spanish; increased full-time staff’s and board’s racial diversity by 50%; doubled financial and programmatic commitment to Neighborhood Festivals in New Haven’s culturally diverse communities; and presented hundreds of local and international artistic luminaries, including Wynton Marsalis, Baratunde Thurston, Angelique Kidjo, Jon Secada, Gregory Porter, and Dolores Huerta. The work has been recognized and awarded by the Greater New Haven Chapter of the NAAC, The Gateway Community College Foundation, and New Haven’s Freddy Fixer Parade Committee. Prior to her role at Arts & Ideas, Shelley served as Vice President in Programming, Education, and Community Engagement at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN. Under her leadership there, concerts, comedy, dance, and educational programming reached more than 150,000 people annually, and school programming participation grew by more than 50 percent. She also led major initiatives in bilingual programming and community engagement centering on narratives of Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Among her many community service efforts and in addition to the IPAY Board, Shelley is a Board member of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, the Connecticut Tourism Coalition, and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP). She frequently speaks at national and international conferences and forums and has led humanitarian and cultural delegations from Connecticut to Havana, Cuba for the past two years. Shelley graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, with a double major in Spanish and Performance as a Medium for Social Change.
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Aiko Bethea
Board Member
Aiko Bethea (she/her) is a leader, builder, and connector. She successfully navigated leadership roles in government, philanthropic, nonprofit, and private sectors. In each sector she created and served in inaugural roles to meet growing organizational needs. Aiko is an award-winning and highly sought after equity consultant, executive coach, and speaker. She is founder of RARE Coaching & Consulting, a consulting practice focused on coaching leaders and organizations to remove barriers of inclusion. Her practice integrates operations, leadership coaching, and education strategies that yield measurable outcomes. Aiko is Sr. Director of the Daring Way™ and Dare to Lead™ communities of Brené Brown Education and Research Group. She oversees development and implementation of the overall strategy for the communities, as well as the specific diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging strategy and oversight of the global 1000+ member facilitator community. Aiko gained experience as a litigator, then as an attorney for the City of Atlanta. She served on the Government Counsel team, led by Stacey Abrams. As part of Shirley Franklin’s administration, she led the Legislative Counsel legal team, then served as the compliance director for the city where she oversaw federal, state, and local grants. She then was recruited by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she served for over 7 years as Deputy Director over a compliance team, Grants & Contracts Management.
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Olivia Aston Bosworth
Board Member
Olivia Aston Bosworth is an artist, educator, and producer who believes deeply in the power of theatre for young audiences, and the profound impact stories can have on people of all ages. As the Head of Youth and Family Programs at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA, Olivia manages educational programming for children birth through 5th grade and their families. She produces the Alliance Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young program, acting classes, drama camps, and family programming. Through each of these initiatives, she works to break down barriers to access to the arts for families regardless of age, economic status, and ability. Olivia is the creator of TODDLER TAKEOVER: AN ARTS FESTIVAL FOR THE VERY YOUNG at the Woodruff Arts Center. Alongside her counterparts at the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Olivia curates a series of workshops, performances, and arts experiences annually to welcome the youngest artists and arts patrons to the world of performing and visual arts. Most recently, Olivia co-created an original Theatre for the Very Young show, KNOCK, KNOCK, to serve as an annual winter tradition for families in Atlanta. Olivia has presented on Theatre for the Very Young best practices, performances, and applications at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) National Conference, the Georgia Association for the Education of Young Children (GAEYC) Annual Conference, the Southeastern Museums Conference, and at the TYA/USA National Festival and Conference, formerly One Theatre World in Chicago (2015), Bay Area (2017), and Atlanta (2019).
Olivia had the pleasure of serving as the Membership and Events Associate for TYA/USA in 2019-2020, producing over 100 virtual events and supporting the exponential growth of membership during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was Assistant Producer on the TYA/USA National Festival and Conference in Atlanta in 2019 prior to her formal role within the organization. Additionally, Olivia is a Part-time Assistant Professor of Theatre at Kennesaw State University. Olivia holds a M.A. in Creative and Innovative Education program at Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA), as well as a B.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw, GA).
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Khalia Davis
Board Member
Khalia Davis (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and Artistic Director of Bay Area Children’s Theatre where she recently led the world premieres of a kids play about Racism, which brought together over 40 theater producing partners and was viewed on Broadway on Demand nearly 80,000 times during its limited run then became a free resource for educators and their students, and The Imaginaries: An Immersive Musical, an original new work created by the newly-formed BACT Writer’s Room. As a director and arts educator, she has worked with prominent theaters such as Bay Area Children’s Theater, Atlantic Theater Company’s Atlantic for Kids, New York City Children’s Theater, Disney Theatrical Group, Spellbound Theatre and more. As a producer, Ms. Davis has helped organizations reach hundreds of thousands of young people through, interactive “edu-tainment” with the nationally known Story Pirates, generating new digital pre-school content with Spellbound at Home, and a children’s web series chronicling the experiences of a little black puppet girl named Nia living through the COVID-19 pandemic with her personal web-based company, Kids at Heart Productions. Before assuming her new role as Artistic Director, Ms. Davis served as the Director of Inclusion and Education with Brooklyn Children’s Theatre restructuring their children’s musical theater programming through an anti-racism lens. She made her professional theatrical debut at thirteen years old launching a life-long career as a performer splitting her time between California and NYC. Awards: 2019 Emerging Leader Fellowship-TYA/USA, 2019 NYCCT Leader Fellowship, 2021 Corey Medallion Award-Children’s Theatre Foundation of America. BA in Theater Arts from the University of Southern California www.khaliadavis.com!
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Daniel Hahn
Board Member
Daniel Hahn (he/him) is Playhouse Square’s Vice President of Education, overseeing programs serving over 200,000 annually. He has been an arts programmer for over 20 years. Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio, resides on the traditional land of the Erie and Kaskaskia peoples, and is the largest performing arts center in America outside of New York City. Key initiatives include presenting and producing a Children’s Theater Series, the Dazzle Awards, Disney Musicals in Schools, an International Festival, Sensory-Friendly Programming and virtual streaming programming. Mr. Hahn joined Playhouse Square in 2013 after serving as Great Lakes Theater’s Director of Education for 12 years. He has commissioned and produced multiple plays including the New York Times bestseller WHAT DO YOU DO WITH AN IDEA? (2020); the NEA and Joyce Foundation award-winning CARTOGRAPHY (2019); HANSEL & GRETEL (2017); AIRPLAY (2016); and multiple virtual productions. Originally trained as an actor at New York’s American Music and Dramatic Academy and the National Shakespeare Conservatory, he graduated summa cum laude from both Baldwin Wallace University (BA, Theater) and the University of Akron (MA, Theater). Awards include Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year (2021), The Broadway League’s national award for Outstanding Achievement in Education (2019), Milestones Autism Resources Community Innovator Award (2016) and the National Rehabilitation Association’s Award for Excellence (2015).
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Michael Hammerstrom
Board Member
Michael Hammerstrom (he/him) returned to his hometown of Portland, OR in 2019 to serve as Director of Marketing & Development at Oregon Children’s Theatre, the region’s largest nonprofit performing arts company for young audiences. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the organization through its most profitable grassroots fundraising campaign to date, resulting in a merger of the Marketing and Development teams under his leadership. In 2023, he returned to his public media roots as Market Research Analyst for Oregon Public Broadcasting, where he currently serves as a member of the Equity Team. He studied at Interlochen Center for the Arts before earning his BFA in Musical Theatre and Liberal Arts from The Boston Conservatory, then touring as an actor with Theatreworks/USA, where he discovered his passion of ensuring all youth can see themselves on stage. He built his communications and fundraising career in Washington, DC, at KABOOM!, a national nonprofit working to end playspace inequity; CuriosityStream, the nonfiction streaming service from the founder of The Discovery Channel; and PBS, where he trained K-12 educators on how to incorporate PBS KIDS content into their curriculum. He works consistently as an actor in Portland and has shared the stage with numerous Broadway and Hollywood stars in a series of benefit concerts for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in NYC. He is also active in the GALA chorus community as a member of the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus; a former Board member of Bridging Voices, and a former member of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC. He is proud to be a contributor to Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Futures for Theatre for Young Audiences: An Interactive Guide. He currently resides in Portland with his partner and two dogs. Visit http://MichaelHammerstrom.com for more.
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Jacqueline Handy
Board Member
“What’s in a name?” Though called sometimes by “Jacqueline” and other times by “Jackie,” the names of Jacqueline Handy stand as testament to her singular ability to flow professional and familiar. In this, her seventh year serving young people and families at Lincoln Center, Jacqueline is building community within the company while building support for its artistic offerings around the City. In her current role as Senior Programming Manager, Jacqueline continues her bridge-building as a scout for up and coming ensembles, keen on extending dance, music and theatre performance opportunities to young and artistically underserved audiences. So, what’s in name? That which we call Jacqueline Handy, by Jacqueline, Jackie, or any other name, would be as collaborative?
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Mireya "Murry" Hepner
Board Member
Mireya (Murry) Hepner is the producer of the City of Rancho Cucamonga’s MainStreet Theatre Company, the resident Equity Company at the Lewis Family Playhouse, producing innovative shows specifically for children and family audiences. Before MainStreet, she spent many years working on Broadway, Off Broadway, in Regional Theatre, and on the road, working on diverse projects in various capacities. Some past favorites include Lapine and Sondheim’s Passion (stage manager, original workshop & Broadway), Anna Deavere Smith’s House Arrest (Coordinating Producer: Arena Stage), The Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Production Manager, Universal Amphitheatre, L.A.) and touring the U.S. and Australia with legendary mime Marcel Marceau. She has a BA in Theatre from UCLA, trained as a stage manager at the London Academy of Music and Drama, and as an Arts Manager in the MFA program at Brooklyn College.
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Reiko Ho
Board Member
Reiko Ho is an accomplished director, performer, and educator from Hawaiʻi. She is Artistic Associate and Marketing Director for Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) and is part of the companyʻs Emmy® Award winning team creating HTYʻs hit television show, The HI Way. Reiko loves creating work inspired by the diverse communities of her island home. She holds a Masters degree in Theatre for Young Audiences with a special focus on Asian Theatre. Much of her decades-long directorial focus has been on showcasing original plays by Hawaiʻi artists and creating space for AANHPI representation.
Reiko is currently directing the Hawaiʻi premiere of Lauren Yeeʻs Cambodian Rock Band for Manoa Valley Theater (MVT). Other directorial projects for the 2021-22 season included The Joy Luck Club (MVT), Lee Catalunaʻs Musubi Man (HTY), and The Carp Who Would Not Quit (HTY) which she also wrote. The Carp Who Would Not Quit is on tour nationally this spring. Upcoming projects for the Fall of 2022 include creating and directing Chinee, Japanee, All Mix Up, a devised piece about Asian American identity for the University of Hawaiʻi and writing and directing Step by Step, a preschool show centered around health equity for HTY. She will also direct Lloyd Suhʻs The Chinese Lady for Theatre Tierra del Sol in Florida.
Reiko also serves as the consultant for the Honolulu news site Civil Beatʻs Hawaiʻi Storytellers Series and is the owner/sensei of Red Lotus Hawai’i, a martial arts and fitness school.
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Todd Hulet
Board Member
Independent Artist: composer, director, designer, and producer. Currently, Executive Director of the Orange County NY Arts Council. Formerly, Head of Events and Entertainment at LEGOLAND New York, Director of Dramatic Arts at Poughkeepsie Day School, and Artistic Director of the Hudson Valley Theatre Initiative and James Earl Jones Theater. He is an award-winning theatre artist with national credits as composer, stage director, designer, and producer. His catalogue of original theatre works includes eleven musicals and eight plays. Works have been presented at Childsplay, Seattle Children’s Theater, Magik Theater, TADA!, NYC Dept of Education, Ovation! Musical Theatre, quite productions, and more. He is grateful to spend his days cultivating local arts and culture with the OCNY Arts Council, preaching the importance of creativity in our economy and quality of life.
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Jenny Anne Koppera
Board Member
Jenny Anne Koppera, Artistic Director of Spinning Dot Theatre, has her MFA in Drama/Theatre for the Young from Eastern Michigan University, and she is active nationally and internationally in the field of children’s theatre. In 2010, she received a national AATE Doyle Fellowship Special Recognition Award for her work in the field, and in 2011, she was one of 6 global interns selected for the ASSITEJ World Congress. In 2012, Jenny was selected as one of the Rye Fellows at the IPAY Showcase, and she was the TYA/USA Delegate to the International Directors’ Seminar hosted by ASSITEJ Germany in 2013. She was honored to be selected as the 2014 Ann Shaw Fellowship Recipient. In 2014 and 2017, she was honored to act as a Write Local. Play Global. Delegate at the ASSITEJ World Congresses in Poland and South Africa. Jenny has worked with TYA/USA, ASSITEJ International, International Performing Arts for Youth Showcase, American Alliance for Theatre and Education, The Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices program, Write Local. Play Global., and Imaginate Children’s Theatre Festival. Locally in Michigan, Jenny was one of the founding creators of Eastern Michigan University’s Global Play Project, CrossTown Theatre Troupe, and the Educational Theatre Collaborative. Professionally, Jenny comes from a background in dance, theatre, and the study of the French language. In addition to her work with Spinning Dot Theatre, she frequently directs, choreographs, and lectures at Eastern Michigan University.
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Joanne Seelig Lamparter
Board Member
Joanne Seelig Lamparter joined Imagination Stage in 2014. As Artistic Director of Education and Theatre for Change she has led the organization’s school and community partnerships, theatre arts training programs, and the development of new work based on youth voices . Under Joanne’s leadership Imagination Stage’s youth programming has been featured at international festivals, national conferences, at local universities and even on Capitol Hill! An arts educator with over 18 years of experience she has administered programs for Smithsonian, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The National Building Museum and Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Joanne has a passion for arts education research and was a Research Assistant on the Cultures of Thinking project at Harvard’s Project Zero. Joanne has served as a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Maryland State Arts Council. She has taught in a variety of educational settings including theatres, museums, public schools, and juvenile detention centers. Joanne currently serves as a theatre education advisor for the PBSKids series, Pinkalicious. She holds a Masters in Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Washington University.
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Sammy Lopez
Board Member
Sammy Lopez (he/him) is a curious theatre-maker dedicated to uplifting historically excluded voices and stories through the arts. He recently produced HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO on Broadway and GUN & POWDER at Paper Mill Playhouse with his company P3 Productions. His co-producing credits span Broadway, Off-Broadway, Touring, and the West End, including JUST FOR US, the Tony Award-winning A STRANGE LOOP, THE KITE RUNNER, The Old Vic’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL, BE MORE CHILL, ORLANDO, and BANDSTAND (Associate Producer). In addition to his work at P3 Productions, he is the producing director at New York City Children’s Theater, developing new theatre experiences for young audiences and families, including adaptations of FISH IN A TREE (Off-Broadway, 2023), SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT (Virtual Production, 2022), and the original play ¡CORRE, ABUELITA, CORRE!, inspired by his Abuelita (NYC Tour, 2023). Other projects in development include the original musical BRADICAL & THE PINK SOCKS and an adaptation of THE WORD COLLECTOR by Peter H. Reynolds. In 2020, Sammy co-founded The Industry Standard Group (TISG) and Second Act Theatrical Capital (2ATC), a decentralized leadership cohort of BIPOC producers strategically formed to promote work reflecting diversity and increase the presence of BIPOC investors and producers in the commercial producing arts and entertainment field. He is the program mentor for Theatre Producers Of Color (TPOC) and a partner/educator with The Business of Broadway. Previously, he was an account manager at Marathon Digital, representing Broadway productions, regional theatres, and other live entertainment clients. He was a 2022 TEDxBroadway speaker, a recipient of The Shubert Organization’s inaugural Artistic Circle, and a Broadway League Fellow & Rising Star. Sammy is a proud graduate of Syracuse University’s School of Drama and L.A. County High School for the Arts, and he serves on the board of the New 42, TYA/USA, The Broadway League, and CO/LAB Theater Group.
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Tiffany Maltos
Board Member
Tiffany Maltos (she/her) is the Director of Education & Engagement at Seattle Children’s Theatre, former Staff Writer for TYA Today, and a founding member of the BIPOC in TYA Advisory Board. She graduated from Bowdoin College in 2011 with a degree in Interdisciplinary English/Theatre and focus on Theatre for Young Audiences. She received her Teaching Certificate in 2012 and taught in a high school before officially transitioning her career to theatre. Tiffany was an SCT Drama School Teaching Artist Intern in 2013 before returning to her hometown of San Antonio, TX, where she was the Education Manager at The Magik Theatre and a teaching artist for The Classic Theatre. Upon moving to the Pacific Northwest, Tiffany served as a board member for Theatre Puget Sound from 2017 – 2020 and is a current trustee of the TYA/USA Board. In 2021, Tiffany was named in American Theatre Magazine’s Role Call for her practice as an administrator, teaching artist, and arts activist. Tiffany has been featured as keynote moderator, contributor to Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Futures for Theatres for Young Audiences, speaker for the Listen, Learn, Lead webinar series (TYA/USA), and TIMEOUT with Brodrick (podcast).
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Anita Menon
Board Member
Anita Menon is a director and choreographer who is recognized as one of the leading exponents of Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form originating in Southern India. Anita is the recipient of the prestigious Performing Arts Fellowship in 2014 from the Regional Arts and Culture Council (Portland, Oregon), the first Asian-American to receive this honor. As the Founder and Artistic Director of the Anjali School of Dance (Sacramento, California), her classical yet inventive approach creates an exceptional style that is distinct, meaningful and appealing to diverse audiences around the world. Anita has collaborated with Northwest Children’s Theater & School to create unique productions for young audiences that involve Indian dance, music and culture. Besides, The Jungle Book & Chitra: The Girl Prince, (both of which received multiple Portland Area Musical Theater Awards and Drammy nominations and awards), Anita is currently working on her latest collaboration Tenali: The Royal Trickster. She also serves as a Cultural Consultant and Liaison with the Indian American community.
Anita has over 9 years of experience serving on local, county and regional arts councils and boards. She strongly believes in giving back to the community and making a difference in the lives of artists by helping effect change at the policy level. She currently serves on the boards of the Northwest Children’s Theater & School as well as the Arts Council of Placer County. As an artist, she believes in choreographing dances with strong women role models including Jhansi Ki Rani, Meerabhai and Chitrangadha. Her passion has also been to choreograph Western stories through Indian dance including Red Riding Hood, Pegasus, and Wizard of Oz. Anita has also directed theatrical productions that are Indian adaptations of Classical Western plays including Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot murder mystery Death on the Nile titled Murder on the Ganges. Her productions are known for their big dance numbers using several styles of dance including Indian Classical, Folk & Bollywood.
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Ernie Nolan
Board Member - Official Representative to ASSITEJ International
Ernie Nolan is the Artistic Director of Nashville Children’s Theatre. He is an award winning director and playwright who received the Illinois Theatre Association’s 2014 award for Excellence in Theatre for Young Audiences. For Chicago Playworks at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago he has directed The BFG, The Giver, The Witches, A Wrinkle in Time, Number the Stars, and The Day John Henry Came to School. His work at The Broadway Playhouse includes A Charlie Brown Christmas, Fancy Nancy The Musical, Pinkalicious, The Cat in the Hat, Cinderella, Charlotte’s Web, and the world premiere of Hansel and Gretel: A Wickedly Delicious Musical Treat with Justin Roberts. Ernie’s playwriting has been produced nationally and at such theatres as The Coterie, First Stage, Walnut Street, Orlando Rep, and Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. He has written commissions for Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, MD, La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, CA, The Milwaukee Zoological Society, and his latest commission, My Broken Doll, for the Institute for Holocaust Education and The Circle Theatre in Omaha, Nebraska. Also a resident artist of The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, MO, he has directed and choreographed world premieres by such Tony-nominated artists as Willy and Rob Reale, Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and Bill Russell and Henry Krieger Ernie is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at The Theatre School at DePaul University as well as the Vice-President of Theatre for Young Audiences USA. He is a proud graduate of both the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Program (BFA Musical Theatre) and The Theatre School at DePaul University (MFA Directing).
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Harry Poster
Board Member
Harry Poster (he/him) is a producer, writer, and director. Currently he is the Producing Director at Abrons Arts Center. He has served as Producer for Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences, where he produced five seasons of original plays, musicals, and touring productions, including Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems, Debbie Wicks La Puma, and Mr. Warburton; Kid Prince and Pablo, by Brian Quijada, and Marvin Quijada; Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds, adapted by Martine Kei Green-Rogers; Beastgirl, by Elizabeth Acevedo, adapted by CQ Quintana and Janelle Lawrence, Earthrise by Lauren Gunderson, Bree Lowdermilk, and Kait Kerrigan; and Show Way The Musical by Jaqueline Woodson, and Tyrone L. Robinson. As the former Artistic Director of Peppercorn Theatre at Kaleideum, Harry produced over fifteen new works for young audiences in museums, gardens, and classrooms – focusing on showing the gears of theatre to empower young people to tell and make their own stories. He has been a production manager, director, and Core Member for Superhero Clubhouse – a collective that creates theater to enact climate and environmental justice, and currently helps produce Girl Tales – a podcast telling feminist stories for a new generation.
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Ana Romes
Board Member
Ana Romes serves as an Associate in the Litigation Department of Foley & Lardner’s Miami office. Her practice focuses on complex commercial matters in state and federal court. In a previous chapter-of-life, Ana received her M.F.A. in Drama and Theatre for Youth from The University of Texas at Austin, focusing her work on using art and theatre to create spaces for dialogue and social change. As part of this work, Ana coordinated youth programming for Population Services International in Nicaragua, using drama-based techniques to train health educators in themes related to sexual and reproductive health. Serving as a Board Member of TYA/USA marks a return to Ana’s passion for promoting the formative and transformative power of theatre in the lives of children and youth.
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Thorin "Tramelle" Shambray
Board Member
Thorin “Tramelle” Shambray is proudly the Education and Engagement Coordinator of the Birmingham Children’s Theatre, Birmingham, AL. Tramelle is an educator, administrator, actor, playwright, designer, choreographer, musician, and a man of many hats and gifts. Tramelle studied theatre, theatre education, secondary ELA, educational leadership, and holds a doctorate in divinity degree. With every title, his most proud accomplishments are being husband to Dr. Adrienne Shambray, and father of Sebastian-Dior and Nicholas-Grant Shambray.
