Welcome to our web page dedicated to Ashland University Theatre alumni. The page will contain information about the doings of our alums. In the coming months we will be continually adding to the page as we receive information from alumni who wish to participate. The entries will be alphabetical and will contain the year of graduation as well as the concentration major. We hope you will take the time to check out what your fellow graduates are doing and to send in your own information. For details on submitting your name and biography for the alumni page, please contact Michelle Williams at mwillia7@ashland.edu . Enjoy!

*Email Alert*

We are in need of your current email addresses for our new twice-yearly email newsletter. The deparment is hoping to publish its first issue this fall. The newsletter will contain information about recent department events, upcoming events and productions, photos, information on recent grads, and faculty news, in addition to any news our AWESOME ALUMS would like to contribute!  You can email me at the above address with your contact information. Please pass this message along to any other alums who may not have had a chance to check out this site!

alums in the news

Florida Repertory Theatre  presented The Shape of Things by Neil Labuteasa special addition to its 10th Anniversary Season, with three performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 23, 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. Right: AU grad John Warren ('06), right, in The Shape of Things at Florida Repertory Theatre

The play is an edgy and adult drama featuring the talents of Florida Rep'sstaff andinterns, and was directed by AssociateDirector, Jason Parrish ('05), seen most recently in AFunny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The Shape of Things is a darkly fascinating look at four young people in a very real and visceral situation, and tests the most deeply entrenched ideas about art and love.

"The Shape of Things" starred Rob Hagle, Alesia Lawson, Rachel Lomax and John Warren, Florida Rep's acting interns, who spent last season working in various capacities at the theatre as well as performing in the Lunchbox Theatre Series and the Children's Touring Program.

 

alumni updates

Lauren Whitt Akers '06

BA Theatre Education

Current Occupation: Teacher

Lauren recently began her new position at South High School (Columbus Public Schools) as the Drama Teacher. She previously worked at the Columbus Montessori Education Center. Her husband, Jeff, also an AU alum, is the Assistant Director of Residence Life at Otterbein College.

Carrie Balchak '08

BA Theatre, Speech Communication

Carrie has returned to her hometown of Parma in search of work.

Aretta Baumgartner (Casebolt) ‘91
BA Theatre/Public Communication
Current Occupation: Puppeteer/Actor/Educator/Artistic Director, ImagineNation
Union Affiliations: Puppeteers of American, Union Internationale de la Marionette Aretta (BA, Ashland University ; MA, University of Cincinnati ) is a full-time performer/educator. She's trained as a puppeteer, mask artist and movement specialist, and tours nationally and internationally to share her passions. The current Great Lakes Regional Director of the Puppeteers of America, Aretta's also the Artistic Director of ImagineNation ( www.INpuppets.com ), a member of the artists' collaborative known as Performance Gallery ( www.performancegallery.org ) and is a vocalist for the Steely Dan tribute band AJA ( www.ajamusic.net ).

Michael Beyers ‘01
BA Theatre (Lighting Design), Minors in English and Philosophy
Current Occupation: Resident Lighting Designer and Production Manager at Hillsdale College

Michael has lit a wide variety of shows in his ten years lighting entertainment. In the rock and roll industry he is the full time Lighting Designer for Columbus , OH , based band One Under. In theatre his work has been showcased at The Performance Network ( Ann Arbor , MI ); Jewish Ensemble Theatre ( Detroit , MI ): Hilberry Repertory Theatre ( Detroit , MI ): Cain Park ( Cleveland , OH ); Ensemble Theatre ( Cleveland , OH ); and the Attic Theatre ( Appleton , WI ). He also lights dance on a regular basis. His work has been nominated for many awards, which includes his lighting design for the epic Kentucky Cycle at the Hilberry Repertory Theatre. He teaches Stage Lighting and is the resident Lighting Designer at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale , MI , and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Wayne State University in Detroit , MI .

Melissa Beth Bialko ‘01
BA Theatre
Current Occupation: Professor of Design and Women's and Minority Studies

Matt Bugay '08

BA Musical Theatre

BS Spanish

Current Occupation: Actor

Matt will return to Huron Playhouse for summer theatre this year. In the fall he plans on moving to Chicago to pursue his acting career.

Maureen (Mo) Callum
BA Theatre
Current Occupation: Homemaker for Seven Children

Mo's current involvement in theatre consists of one musical production a year. She co-directs, choreographs, and performs in the shows. From audtions in January to opening night in May, they rehearse four nights a week. This annual production involves about 200 volunteer adults and 125 junior high students at a cost of approximately $90,000 a production. The 125 junior high students who perform are incredible, and the level of excellence they achieve is amazing.

Sally Bernardine Carle
BA Theatre (Costume)
Current Occupation: Owner/artist, KarmaCraft.com
Union Affiliations: IATSE 768, 784 in California

Sally graduated in 1978 and worked two seasons for the Cleveland Playhouse (seamstress) and Great Lakes Shakepeare Festival. In 1980 she moved to Santa Maria, CA, and was wardrobe mistress for PCPA, then a wardrobe dresser for San Francisco Opera. In 1982 she moved to Los Angeles and was one of Lauren Bacall's dressers on Woman of the Year. She was also a seamstress at Center Theatre Group. She also worked wardrobe for Joffrey Ballet, 42nd Street, CATS, Pippin, etc. She opened her own seamstress shop and freelanced for movies and TV. After years in LA, she moved on to become a seamstress/first hand at Milwaukee Rep & Studio Theatre in Buffalo. Now she is on her own making jewelry/crafts and selling them online at her website www.KarmaCraft.com.

Rebecca Miller-Christie '06

BS Theatre Education

Current Occupation: Drama Teacher, Medgar Evers Fine and Performing Arts Elementary School

Rebecca spent her student teaching semester in Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland, and married on March 17, 2007. She now lives in Chicago, Il, and is drama teacher at the Medgar Evers Fine and Performing  Arts Elementary School.  She recently finished a drama recital and is directing and designing make-up and costumes for Disney's Jungle Book Kids for the school. Rebecca is a manager of a Drama Integration Program at her school with Karen Erickson of Creative Directions, a premier writer of the Illinois Drama Standards. She also wrote a grant to receive a Middle School Dance Program in cooperation with Joffery Ballet and was a co-coordinator to another dance inclusion into the classroom with Hubbard Street Studio Chicago. She aspires to volunteer in education with Lookingglass Theater or Emerald City Theater  this summer.  She is very excited to start her teaching career and is very thankful for her Theater Education at AU. Shemisses the faculty and staff and wishesall the best for Alumni.

Kim (Powers) Cox '01

BA Theatre

Current Occupation: Educational Theatre/Scenic Designer

Kim received her MFA in Scenic Design from Kent State University in 2006. She recently completed her second season as the first scenic design assistant for the Denver Center Theatre Company in Colorado. In the fall she will travel toCoastal Carolina University as Guest Artist and Lecturer in Scenography. Kim has designed scenery for the Denver Center Education Department (CO), National Theatre (OH), Ohio Light Opera, and Attic Theatre (WI), among others. She has also been a freelance scenic artist for the past eight years.

Katie Doll

BA Theatre/BS Business Administration

Kt will be moving to Cleveland to become the stage manager for Ensemble Theatre's first two shows of the 08.09 season, Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Lucky Star by Beth Henley. 

Kirk Domer ‘99
BA Theatre, Acting and Design
Current Occupation: Associate Chair/Head of Design, Michigan State University
Kirk received his MFA in Scene Design from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As Resident Scene Designer for the Ohio Light Opera, Kirk has designed for world premiere operettas of A Friend of Napoleon, Pride and Prejudice , and North American premieres of A Soldier's Promise, The Violet of Montmartre , and Autumn Maneuvers . He has designed for Boars Head Theater, Eastman Opera, Mercury Opera, Madison Repertory Theatre, Summer Circle Theatre, Riverwalk Theatre, Ashland Summer Theatre Festival, and Make*a*Circus. Photo: Set design for A Midsummer Night's Dream.                                              

Stephen E. Dreikorn ‘06
BA/BS Theatre, Political Science, History

Erin Goodwin '03

BA Theatre

Current Occupation: Actress

Erin has been working on a musical spoof of the movie Beaches. It was just an  idea a year ago, so she is really excited to have finally done it! It premired February 5-6 at 8p.m. at The West End Theatre, 263 West 86th Street, between West End Avenue and Broadway. Get more info on the show and us here: http:// wunderkindconsortium.com/about/upcoming.html.

Jenna Gribben '08

BA Costume Design

Current Occupation: Costuming

Jenna will work for the Ohio Light Opera this summer and get married in December.

Jeff Haffner '94

BA Theatre

Current Occupation: Actor

Jeff is currently a free-lance actor in Cleveland, where he performs with Magical Theatre Company (Bunnicula, Kidscripts) and is a company member with Kalliope Stage (Dear World, Fanny Hill, and Can Can). He returned to Ashland this past December to play "Drosselmeyer" in Ashland Regional Ballet's The Nutcracker. After returning to teach at AU in 2004, Jeff served as the Education Director at the Florida Repertory Theatre in Fort Myers, helping fellow AU alums Amanda Devictor and Jason Parrish find work at that company. He was then offered a Post Graduate Fellowship at the University of Arizona (2005-2006; 2007), where he taught acting and commedia dell'arte and performed as a guest artist (Sideshow, The Philadelphia Story, and Romeo and Juliet). In between stints in Tucson, he was a guest artist at PCPA Theaterfest (Santa Maria, CA - A Little Night Music and Dames At Sea) and with Blue Monkey Theater (Portland, OR - Disney's Aladdin). This past summer, Jeff taught acting, commedia dell'arte, and jugglingat the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan. He is a member of Actor's Equity Association.

Christopher Michael Hauzie ‘88
BA Theatre/English/Communications
Current Occupation: President, Chrome Media, Graphics and Design

Christopher has been living and working in Asia since 1989. His official residence is Tokyo , Japan . However, he also resides at various times during the year in Singapore and Bangkok , Thailand . He is currently running his own design firm called Chrome Media with offices in Tokyo and Singapore . He lives with his long-term partner and four fantastic dogs. He is active in sports and gym and still models occasionally.

Sarah Kaplan (Kozak) ‘04
BA Theatre, Integrated Language Arts
Current Occupation: English/Drama teacher at Theodore Roosevelt High School
Sarah is currently living with her husband Phil in Stow . She is the Drama Director at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent . Sarah directs two productions a year in addition to designing and building the sets. She also teaches junior and senior English and Acting and Directing. In her spare time Sarah is working on her Masters degree and enjoying married life.

Candice Kozinski

BA Electronic Media Production/Minor in Theatre

Current Occupation: Intern at Disney

Candice has taken an internship with Disney in the fall.

Melissa Kraus '06

BA Musical Theatre/Applied Music/Spanish

Current Occupation: Executive Assistant to Artistic Director, O'Neill Theatre

Melissa will be moving from NYC to Connecticut to become the Executive Assistant to the Artistic Director of the O'Neill Theatre. The O'Neill is home to the National Playwrights, Music Theater, and Puppetry conferences as well as the National Theater Institute, O'Neill Critics Conference, O'Neill Cabaret Conference, summer Commercial Theater Institute, and Young Playwrights Conference. Alumni of these programs include Lloyd Richards, August Wilson, John Guarre, Israel Horowitz, John Patrick Shanley, Edward Albee, Adam Bock, Adam Rapp, Regina Taylor, Craig Wright, Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, Robert Redford, John Krasinski, Jennifer Garner, Jeremy Piven, Lin-Manuel Miranda, David Lindsay-Abaire, Brian Dennehy, and many more. (And Lorca Peress- the Artistic Director of Multistages with whom she has worked for the past year, and who referred Melissa to this job.) Some recent shows that have premiered there are Avenue Q, In The Heights, & Spring Awakening- all recent Tony-Award winners.

 

Alesia Lawson '07

BA Theatre

Current Occupation: Acting Intern

Alesia worked at the Lees-McRae Summer Theatre in North Carolina in the summer of 2007. She was in West Side Story and also used her Drop of a Hat experience to perform for several publicity events. Alesia is currently at the Florida Repertory Theatre working with fellow graduates John Warren ('07) and Jason Parrish ('05) as an acting intern.

Amy Lay

Musical Theatre

Current Occupation: Acting

Amy currently performs with Shadowbox Cabaret in Columbus, OH. Her duties also include wig and makeup design.

Whitney Locher

BA Theatre

Current Occupation: Costume Designer

Whitney received her MFA in Costume Design from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2005. She has designed for Twelfth Night at Ohio Northern University and for DirectorFest 2006 with the Drama League in New York City. At the Allenberry Playhouse in Boiling Springs, PA, she designed for Clue: The Musical, Oklahoma!, The Full Monty, and Stand by your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story.

Tara Murphy

BA Musical Theatre, Minor in Music

Tara was recently cast in East vs. West Side Story at/with the Ballet Tech Cincinnati, a pre-professional dance company.

Jason Parrish ‘05
BA Theatre

Current Occupation: Actor & Associate Director, Florida Repertory Theatre
Union Affiliations: Actors' Equity Associaton

The Florida Rep's production of The Shape of Things was a HUGE success, and Jason is finishing out his summer in Rhode Island as the Company Manager/Associate Producer with Theatre By The Sea. They did four huge musicals this summer, and he was the director/host of the Cabaret Series. He had a great time working with former AU Professor Ken Martin. Jason is loving life, keeping theatre alive in Southern Rhode Island. He is going back to Florida Rep for another season as Associate Director and will jump into directing Schoolhouse Rock Live, Jr. with the interns. It'll be performed on site and on tour. It is Jason's pet project, and the first musical they have ever produced to tour in the program. The theatre scored some funding for it, and MTI worked with them to make it happen as well. Then Jason will be doing his first official freelance directing gig for The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre (Prather Entertainment Group). He will be directing Forbidden Broadway Greatest Hits Volume 1 in their small Off Broadway Palm Space. It runs October 16 - December 20 in Fort Myers. He will be in two shows at the Rep (Alone Together and The Last Romance). www.floridarep.org. Photo: Alesia Lawson & Jason Parrish, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail (April 2005)

Amy E. Poynton (Stoch) '80
BA Theatre
Current Occupation: PhD Candidate, TA at University of Illinois
Union Affiliations: SAG, AFTRA, AEA

After 20 years and a fair amount of success in Hollywwod, she (temporarily) left the business and is pursuing her Ph.D in Theatre Histoy/Theory at the University of Illinois. Her hopes are to teach at the university level, run her choreographed storytelling troupe in earnest, and continue on with her acting career. Really, she'd like to win millions in the lottery, but she must be realistic (she guesses).

Elizabeth Richmond ‘48
BA Speech
Current Occupation: Retired, Ashland University Professor & Department Chair, Speech/Theatre

Going way back to the mid-1940s, the department had been enervated by the employment of Professor Miley. Elizabeth arrived on campus the same year and was soon active in theatre, as was her future husband, Sam, who died in 1991. She remembers three productions most vividly. In spring 1945 she played the 12 year-old Jesus in Journey to Jerusalem and was called back in 1949 to play Jesus' mother Mary in another production (name forgotten). The third would be Angel Street in which she played the role of the innocent- later played on the screen by Ingrid Bergman in the renamed Gaslight. Little did she imagine then that she would one day have a Ph.D and would head the department from 1980 to the mid-90s.

Greta Rothman ‘94
BA Theatre/Minor in Music, vocal concentration
Current Occupation: Director of Special Events for Alumni/Development Office, Western Reserve Academy

After graduating from Ashland University , Greta accepted an internship in Group Sales and Special Events at the Tony Award-winning McCarter Theatre in Princeton , NJ . After the year-long internship was completed, Greta was asked to stay on as full-time House Manager, which she happily agreed to do for the next three years. In 1998 New York City called, and Greta moved to Queens so she could work as the Office Manager and Special Events Director for the MCC Theatre. After two years with MCC, Greta went to work as Special Events Director for The Drama League where she organized their annual awards and was privileged to work along side such luminaries as Henry Winkler, Liam Neeson, John Lithgow, and Chita Rivera. Though making it through 911 made her feel like a New Yorker at heart, Ohio called her back, and in 2002, she made the move. She currently works as the Special Events Director for Western Reserve Academy in Hudson and continues to perform on the side. Great has her own musical comedy cabaret show called “Those Seven Little Words: I Love You So You are Probably Gay,” which she has performed at numerous theatres and as a fundraiser for the North Coast Men's Chorus and high school gay/straight alliance groups.

Paul Rycik '07

BA Theatre, Electronic Media Production

Current Occupation: Owner, Recorded Memories

Paul owns the media company, Recorded Memories, and has been accepted into the Master of Letters/MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance program at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia, beginning this fall.

Heidi Sarvis-Sapp ‘82
BA/BS Comprehensive Communications, Theatre, Secondary Education
Current Occupation: English/Drama teacher at Bellevue High School
Professional Affiliation: Ohio Education Association/National Education Association

Heidi is in her twenty-fifth year of teaching and is currently teaching English/Drama at Bellevue High School . She has two children, Andrew and Emily, with her husband David. Last summer she taught a children's theatre workshop at Lakeside for two weeks. Lots of fun!

Brian C. Tarter '07

BA Theatre

Current Occupation: Actor

Brian performed in Sweet Charity as a member of the Young Professionals Company at Porthouse Theatre last summer. He is currently working for Theatre IV.

Marty Thoman '08

BA Theatre/BS Political Science

Marty landed a job working for Busch Gardens Williamsburg as their pyrotech and roof crew, which runs until November.  He would like to pass it on to students in the department that even if you don't study a specific field, you can still get a job and training in other fields of technical theatre.

Allison Toth '08

BA Theatre/Minor in Music

Current Occupation: Actress

Allison will perform with the Ohio Light Opera this summer.

Melanie Wagner '07

BA Theatre

Current Occupation: Actress/Director

Melanie has been working with Missoula Children's Theatre as a member of their Tour Staff as an Actor/Director since May 2007.

Keri Walters (Kurlinski) ‘91
BA Theatre/ Music Theory
Current Occupation: Associate Director, Advising, School of Fine and Performing Arts, Columbia College Chicago

Keri currently works as Associate Director for the Advising Center at Columbia College Chicago with the School of Fine and Performing Arts. In 2005 she appeared in a mom and dad production of Anton Chekov's Ward No. 6 , and also wrote and recorded original music for the show. In summer 2007 she appeared in Tennessee Williams' Camino Real at Chicago's Atheneaum Theater.

John Warren '07

BA Theatre, Minor in Music

Current Occupation: Acting Intern

In the summer of 2007 John Warren worked at Huron Playhouse and is now at the Florida Repertory Theatre in Fort Myers with AU theatre alums Alesia Lawson ('07) and Jason Parrish ('05) as an acting intern.  Photo: John Warren (left), Dusten Welch (right), & Andrew Goldsworth (background), Romeo & Juliet, 2006

Dusten Welch '07

BA Theatre, Minor in English

Current Occupation: Educational Theatre

Dusten is working with the Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland doing educational outreach in the local schools.

Jon West '08

BA Theatre, Minor in Art

Current Occupation: Technical Theatre

This summer Jon will once again work with the Ohio Light Opera as Scene Shop Foreman. In the fall he will pack his bags and tour with Blues Journey, a Kennedy Center company, as Technical Director/Sound Supervisor, making a welcome stop in Hawaii!

Megan Woodward '06

BS Theatre Education

Current Occupation: Director

On July 30, 2008, Megan will be graduating in Sacramento, California, from AmeriCorps NCCC. Through her term of service, she worked on many different service projects all over the country. Megan helped build a house on 14 foot stilts with Habitat for Humanity Calcasieu Area out of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and tutored in a 5th and 6th grade classroom at Maple Elementary in Sacramento, California. She also helped renovate a youth center and paintball field for Ketchikan Youth Initiatives in Ketchikan, Alaska. Currently she is working on her last project in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the Habitat for Humanity volunteer housing center Camp Hope. After Megan finishes her ten months with AmeriCorps, she is moving back to Wooster, Ohio, to work as a director at the Wayne Center for the Arts. She wants to continue her work with non-profits as well with either STEPS or Every Woman's House.