American
Century Theater Announces New "Second Decade" Board of Directors
The American Century Theater
appointed a new Board of Directors at its May 6, 2006 meeting.
TACT is the Arlington-based non-profit professional theater
company dedicated to rescuing great 20th Century
plays and musicals from obscurity.
The new Board, pointedly dubbed
"the Second Decade Board," will address the strategic and
organizational actions required to move the eleven year old
company to "the next level," said theater co-founder and artistic
director Jack Marshall. "These are accomplished and determined
people from around the nation who will help us achieve our
mission," Marshall says. "While we produce in the Capital
area, the artistic, historic, and cultural impacts of the
plays we mount have been felt nationwide."
The new board members include:
Rebecca Christy. Christy,
Arlington, VA and Newport, RI resident is an accomplished
artist, designer and theatrical producer who divided her time
between the performing arts and the Foreign Service. She recently
returned from Brunei where her husband Gene Christy served
as U.S. Ambassador. She produced the American Century Theater's
acclaimed The Andersonville Trial, which received
a Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding
Resident Play, and the Carol Burnett tribute, Laughter
at Ten O'clock.
Peter Kellogg. Kellogg
has two Tony nominations as playwright
and lyricist for his musical version of Anna Karenina.
His latest musical, Chasing Nicollette (starring
Bronson Pinchot), recently premiered at the Prince Theatre
in Philadelphia. He is also working on Stunt
Girl, based on the life of Nellie Bly, which will be
workshopped at the Village Theatre in Seattle this spring;
and Desperate Measures, a western musical loosely
based on Measure for Measure, which premiered last
year at Lyric Stage and Casa Manana in Texas. From Chappaqua,
NY.
Wendy T. Kenney.
Kenney is an attorney specializing in contract and grant issues. She
recently retired from the full-time practice of law to pursue
other interests, including participation on the TACT Second
Decade Board. A graduate of the Georgetown University
Law Center, and currently serves on the Steering Committee
for the Law Center's Women's Forum.. She is a trained
singer and pianist, and has performed in, accompanied, or
served as musical director for numerous theatrical productions
and musical events. Ms. Kenney was elected Chair
of the Board. From Potomac, MD.
Jacqueline Manger.
Manger is the Chief Operating Official with the D.C. investment
firm West Creek Capital. As a professional actress and singer
she performed in the touring companies of several Broadway
musicals, and has served as choreographer, assistant director
or director of numerous American Century Theater productions
including the Helen Hayes nominated Danny
and Sylvia, was co-author and director-choreographer
of the original World War II Christmas revue If Only in
My Dreams, and starred in TACT's Helen Hayes nominated
revival of The Cradle Will Rock. From Montgomery
County, MD.
Steven Mazzola: Assistant
to the Shakespeare Theatre Artistic Director
Michael Kahn and affiliated teaching artist. For TACT he has
directed Tea and Sympathy, The Second Man, The Autumn
Garden, Hotel Universe and A Flag is Born.
Has directed The Royal Hunt of the Sun (WSC) and
A Streetcar Named Desire (Keegan). In addition to
teaching for Woolly Mammoth Theatre and the National Conservatory
of Dramatic Arts, Steven is on the faculty of University of
Maryland University College. Named 100 Washingtonians to Watch
in Washingtonian magazine. MFA in dramaturgy
from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. From
Washington, DC.
Loren Platzman.
Platzman is an educator, entrepreneur, and inventor. Following
studies at the Paris Conservatory, he achieved both his undergraduate
and doctorate degrees at MIT. He was a professor at the University
of Michigan and Georgia Tech, and founded a dot-com, On Technology,
which had a successful public offering and was subsequently
acquired by Symantec. He is developing a new software
startup in the area of science education. Platzman was the
musical arranger for Hollywood Pinafore, the Helen
Hayes Award winning Danny and Sylvia, and
the upcoming Call Me Mister. Atlanta, GA.
Janet R. Reingold.
Reingold is President of Reingold, Inc., a full-service strategic
communications and capacity-building consulting firm. She
has consulted to major national business organizations, leading
corporations and their foundations, nonprofit organizations
and public interest groups. Author of publications on social
marketing, management, collaboration, human resources, and
social policy. She has written for four presidents of the
United States, two vice presidents, Cabinet secretaries, and
dozens of corporate CEOs, governors, and civic leaders. Reingold
was an executive in the U.S. Department of Labor, and manager
of the Vice President's Task Force on Youth Employment. From
Washington, DC.
Philip H. Yasinski.
Yasinki is experienced managing businesses, associations,
academic, and cultural institutions. Formerly Vice President
of the Close Up Foundation and the White House Points of Light
Foundation, he directed the President's outreach programs
to increase business support for youth and community service.
Previously, Mr. Yasinski served as the Senior Vice President
of the National Alliance of Business; Executive Director of
University Development at Georgetown University; and at the
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies he directed programs to attract business leadership
and support to SAIS activities in Latin America, Europe, Canada,
and a University Center in Nanjing, China. He has also directed
worldwide fundraising and public affairs for CARE, the international
aid and development organization. From Washington, DC.
Returning Board members are Jack
Marshall, TACT CEO and Artistic Director, and Marketing
Director David Siegel. Marshall is from Alexandria,
VA and Siegel is from Fairfax County, VA. Bart Whiteman,
founder of the Source Theater and the Source One-Act Theater
Festival had also agreed to join the Board after working with
TACT since inception. Mr. Whitman died suddenly last month.
"The Board will build on TACT's
mission to keep the classic American stage repertoire before
audiences and to ensure that the ideas, words, and stories
of some of our greatest writers continue to teach, amuse and
inspire." said Kenney. "We are a Board that is equipped, determined
and ready to help the American Century Theater to meet its
full potential to the community and all those who contribute
their time and resources to such a worthy mission. I am honored
and excited to take on this challenge.
In other actions, TACT officially
announced the appointment of Robert McElwaine,
screenwriter, playwright and lyricist as the American Century
Theater's resident playwright. He wrote the book and lyrics
for the Helen Hayes winning musical Danny and Sylvia.
He served as publicist for many of Hollywood's biggest
starts in the 1950's and '60's.
Ed Bishop was
officially announced as a TACT Artistic Associate. He is a
veteran actor, producer, teacher and director. His innovative
and daring directing work for TACT includes a new production
of Uncle Tom's Cabin, that received world wide attention
through the Voice of America and an acclaimed production of
Eugene O'Neill's expressionistic masterpiece The Emperor
Jones.
The American Century Theater
is a 501(c)(3) professional nonprofit theater company dedicated
to producing great, important, and neglected 20th Century
American plays and playwrights. TACT is funded in part by
Arlington County through the Cultural Affairs Division of
the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources
and the Arlington Commission for the Arts; the Virginia Commission
for the Arts; and numerous foundations and many generous donors.
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