Arena Stage

Stephen Richard joined Arena Stage in 1991. In addition to his leadership and management responsibilities, he is the primary liaison with Arena's extraordinary Board of Trustees, where he serves as Vice President. Mr. Richard represents Arena Stage to regional and national organizations, such as the League of Resident Theatres, and by serving on and chairing NEA panels. He currently serves on the boards of the Federal City Council, the Greater Washington Cultural Alliance and the National Music Center and Museum Task Force. Mr. Richard previously managed the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Los Angeles Theatre Center. He has taught at UCLA, Cal State-LA, Carnegie Mellon and in the Masters in Arts Management Program for Goucher College in Baltimore. He also works as a consultant for non-profit organizations. His clients have included The Howard Heinz Endowments (Pittsburgh), the National Kidney Foundation (New York), American Symphony Orchestra League (New York) and the Williamstown Theatre Festival (Williamstown, MA).

Molly Smith has been a passionate leader in new play development for the past 30 years while at Arena Stage as well as at Perseverance Theatre in Alaska, the theater she founded and led for 19 years. During ten seasons as Arena's Artistic Director, she has focused the repertory on American voices, making Arena the largest theater in North America focusing on American writers. She founded Arena's downstairs series, which has read and workshopped some sixty plays, half of which have gone on to full productions. Ms. Smith has commissioned or championed numerous world premieres including Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive and Mineola Twins; Tim Acito's musical adaptation of Gloria Naylor's novel The Women of Brewster Place; Moises Kaufman's 33 Variations; Charles Randolph-Wright's Blue; Zora Neale Hurston's lost American play Polk County; and Passion Play, a cycle by Sarah Ruhl. Her directorial work has been seen at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, and in Canada at the Shaw Festival, Tarragon Theatre and Centaur Theatre; it includes classics such as South Pacific, Mack and Mabel, Anna Christie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Smith has served as Literary Advisor to the Sundance Theatre Lab and formed the Arena Stage Writers Council, comprised of leading American playwrights. An avid traveler, Ms. Smith brings artists of international renown to work at Arena Stage and serves as a member of the Board of the Theatre Communications Group as well as the Center for International Theatre Development. She directed two feature films, Raven's Blood and Making Contact, and received Honorary Doctorates from both Towson and American Universities.

Camp Director Anita Maynard-Losh has 30 years of experience in arts education as an instructor and administrator, including summer programs for young people at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and several successful programs in Alaska. Anita came to Arena Stage from Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, where she was Associate Artistic Director, and administered all of the theater's educational programming. She was a full-time faculty member in the theater department at Webster University in St. Louis, and headed the theater department of the University of Alaska Southeast. She has worked as an artist in the schools in urban settings as well as in remote Alaskan towns and villages. She acted at ACT, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the Marin Shakespeare Festival, and other theaters in California, and her acting credits at Perseverance include Arkadina in The Seagull and Vivian Bearing in Wit. At Perseverance Theatre, she directed eighteen mainstage productions, including Angels in America, The Waiting Room, and an Alaska Native interpretation of Macbeth set in the context of the indigenous Tlingit culture of Southeast Alaska, which received a Shakespeare in America touring grant from the NEA.

JODY BARASCH is thrilled to be working with OCT. Recent area projects: Festival Coordinator for Musefire Production's New Works Festival, Production Stage Manager for Musefire Production's Busybodies: A trio of One-Act Plays, Assistant Stage Manager for Gallaudet University's Deaf Way II. By day, Jody serves as House Management Coordinator and AccessAbility Director at Arena Stage is Washington, DC.

is a professional actor and teaching artist. He has taught for several summers at The State Theatre of Georgia's Springer Theatre Academy as well as numerous workshops for students around the country as a member of the National Players. Favorite roles have included Othello in Othello, Masoula the Wedding Planner in Father of the Bride and Alonso in The Tempest. Most recently he was seen in Ion atThe Shakespeare Theatre Company. Anthony received his BFA inacting from Columbus State University.

has a BFA from Southern Methodist Unversity's Meadows School of the Arts and is a certified hatha yoga instructor. Brittany's interests include writing, world languages, circus arts and travel. Brittany has studied theater internationally, training in movement and physical theater. In Paris she also learned how to walk on stilts and with nine other actors created a site-specific installation performance at the Friches Theatre Urbain; she studied Commedia dell'Arte in Italy, and worked with the Spanish company, Teatro Punto. In addition to stilt-walking and masked performance, Brittany is an aerialist, specializing in silks. This is Brittany's first summer teaching at Camp Arena Stage.

is an actor and teaching artist working in the D.C. area. Having graduated with a BFA in Theatre Studies from Southern Methodist University he has acted with the Source Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, the Maryland Shakespeare Festival and others. Over the past two years he has taught at several elementary schools through the Creative Kids after-school program with the InterAct Story Theatre. This past spring he has been on tour, teaching and performing with the Maryland Shakespeare Festival's Shakespeare Alive program. He is currently preparing to star in a show in the upcoming Capital Fringe Festival.

Fernando obtained his bachelor's degree in music education/ vocal performance from the Catholic University of Bolivia and the National Conservatory of Bolivia. He currently works as a music teacher, orchestra and choir director for an inner city school in DC. Fernando, a.k.a. Mr. V, was featured on all major local channels in Atlanta when he created the youngest choir in America. As a performer he worked in Europe for two years with the Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra. As an opera singer he had the opportunity to perform in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Ireland and Turkey. He had the honor to privately perform for former President of France (Jacques Chirac) and Princess Masako Owada from Japan. His professional career also includes performances at all major South American Festivals such as Cosquin in Argentina and Ipacarai in Paraguay. He currently serves as a board director for the Opera Camerata of Washington and also as an advisor for the South American region with the World Intellectual Property Organization. www.myspace.com/truecantante

recently joined Arena's staff, after 25 years in New York. He began his career on the Broadway-bound Quilters at Pittsburgh Public, while at Carnegie Mellon, and later studied voice at Juilliard and writing with Maury Yeston. Since then, Greg's worked from Off-Broadway to Carnegie Hall, making his acting debut in The Mikado (Playhouse 91), his directing debut with Baby Buddha (Zipper), and his writing debut with At Second Sight (Theater 890). Along the way, he also founded a magazine (The Dramatist) and a theater company (Music in a Box), worked for Uta Hagen and Stephen Sondheim, and been lucky to act with Matthew Broderick, dance with Donna McKechnie, and sing with They Might Be Giants. If you listen closely, you can hear him on the Bucket List soundtrack and Wall to Wall Sondheim CD.

Karen Zacarias is the founding Artistic Director of Young Playwrights' Theater. A local D.C. playwright, Karen has had three world premieres in 2008: The Book Club Play (Round House Theatre), Chasing George Washington (The Kennedy Center), and Looking for Roberto Clemente (Imagination Stage).

is a native of South Carolina and a graduate of Claflin University. He is currently working on an MFA in television and film production at Howard University. He has worked with young people and film through Claflin University's summer GearUp program. A believer in the power of cinema, Kendall aims to make films that impact the world and his culture. Kendall is the co-creator of the hip-hop DVD magazine "T.A.P.E." (Through All People's Eyez), which explores hip-hop as a culture.

Kent Peacock, originally from the suburbs of Detroit, MI, is a recent graduate of American University holding a BA in Sociology and American Studies. While at AU he also pursued his interests in the performing arts, obtaining a minor in music and participating in numerous theater productions. Academically, Kent focused on the classifications and stratifications of sex, gender and sexuality in American society with an emphasis on how they are presented in the performing and written arts. Kent is thrilled to be a part of such a progressive, forward-thinking, social-justice oriented organization as Family Pride and looks forward to all the successes there are still to come.

is excited to be returning to Camp Arena Stage! A native Rhode Islander, Laurie graduated from Stonehill College with degrees in English, theater and education, as well as a certification to teach grades 5-12. For the past two years, Laurie has taught English and theater in a variety of venues, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island public schools, Trinity Repertory Company and Arena Stage. Most recently she worked with the young actors on the Kennedy Center's revival of Ragtime. She hopes to continue working as a teaching artist in the DC area and using the arts to inspire and expand young minds.

is a 'Jane of All Trades' graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts' Experimental Theatre Wing. She was selected by the chair of the department of drama to attend the International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam, where she lived and discovered a love of clowning and Commedia dell'Arte. Favorite performances include The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and a bilingual adaptation of Moliere's The Middleclass Gentleman, both nationally touring productions. Her play, Tales from the Cliff: A Twilight Myth, was published and produced at The Burrows Theatre (NYC). Having spent the past six years in New York City, Liz is so happy to resettle in the DC area, and very excited to spend the summer exploring art with the young people at Camp Arena Stage. Most recently, Liz was awarded Best Acting at the 2009 Bethesda Play in a Day Festival, and can be found during the evenings teaching acting for film at the Youth Film Academy. An advocate of exploration, Liz aspires to becoming unstoppable on her banjo.

received her BFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has performed internationally as Beauty in the world premiere of Michael Hienzsch's Beauty and the Beast (Paris, France) and as Anita in West Side Story at the Gogol Theater (Moscow, Russia). Regionally, Maria has played leading roles in Peter Pan, Oliver, Into the Woods, Annie, The Wizard of Oz and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Maria has also acted in and co-directed NYC Equity showcases, concerts and benefits for Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids, and worked as a casting director in NYC. She most recently spent four years developing a drama program for a private school in Connecticut, and has an extensive background spanning 22 years with Met2 Educational Theater.

Nicola Cavendish was raised in the Okanagan Valley in the village of KALEDEN where she learned how to count clouds under an apricot tree and slide down grassy orchard slopes in the summertime on huge pieces of cardboard. In 1975 she graduated from UBC's Theatre Dept and six months later she began a professional career with the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company. Since then she has performed across Canada, from Montreal to Calgary and everything in between. Nicola was also at the Shaw Festival for four seasons and in Blithe Spirit on Broadway and in Washington DC. She is best known for Shirley Valentine which she will perform at Arena Stage in Montreal and in Toronto this winter. She has directed The Mousetrap for the Arts Club Theatre, Garage Sale for the Belfry Theatre and Candida for Chemainus Theatre.

is a dancer/singer/actor who will graduate next year with a degree in musical theater from Catholic University. She has received additional acting training at the Studio Theatre Conservatory. Stacey is a company member of Synetic Theater, and was also seen in Strega Nona at Adventure Theatre this spring. As a movement artist, Stacey combines her long-term love of ballet with Synetic's intense training in Georgian Mime Theater. She is a 3-year-member and president of RedLine A Capella at Catholic U. In her free time, Stacey sculpts, draws, and is always eager to try out a new craft project with her six younger siblings. Stacey has a passion for developing special skills, including eating and breathing fire, and unicycling.

In the 1970s, Valerie Harper burst on to the television screen in The Mary Tyler Moore Show > and captivated viewers and critics alike as the wisecracking-yet-vulnerable Rhoda Morgenstern. She was a regular on the TV series until 1974.