National Foundation Board Taps Business, Entertainment Industry Leaders, And Long-time Volunteer

The National Board of Trustees of the Educational Theatre Foundation (ETF) has announced the appointment of Alex Birsh, Mark Drum, Carolina Garcia, and Megan Tulac to a term on the National Board from 2019 to 2021. The ETF National Board of Trustees is composed of prominent leaders across a diverse range of industries, including entertainment, finance, hospitality, law, education, and nonprofit theatre, all with a common passion for theatre education.

Alex Birsh has been vice president of Playbill since October 2016 and was recently named Chief Digital Officer. Previous to Playbill, he was with the Topps Company and Major League Baseball Advanced Media, where he developed digital content. He has a degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. He is the third Birsh to join Playbill, after his grandfather, Arthur, and father, Phil. Playbill is the principal in-kind media partner for the Educational Theatre Association and received EdTA's Standing Ovation Award in 2017, earning praise for growing awareness about the value of theatre education through their placement of public service messages both on their website and in their print editions, reaching more than 600,000 people annually.

Mark Drum is an actor and arts advocate as well as a volunteer in educational theatre at the state and national levels. He also serves as a technical trainer with Apple, Inc. Drum is an alum of International Thespian Troupe 6513, Farmington-Harrison High School, Farmington Hills, Mich. He served as a Michigan State Thespian Officer and as an International Thespian Officer. He continues to serve the International Thespian Society as a New York Chapter board member and teaching artist. He has a degree in theatre from the University of Northern Colorado. He is the first Thespian alum to endow a fund with ETF, which when completed will help Thespian alums with financial need complete their bachelor's degrees in theatre education.

Carolina Garcia is a director of original series at Netflix, where she focuses primarily on young adult and family content. She oversees the creative and production of shows including The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, Fuller House, Arrested Development, and others. She began her career in entertainment at 20th Century Fox Television as a creative executive on the original series team for shows including Bones, Modern Family, Fresh Off the Boat, American Horror Story, and Glee. She has a degree in business administration and political science from the University of San Diego and is an alum of International Thespian Troupe 2129 at Claremont High School in Claremont, Calif.

Megan Tulac Phillips is head of marketing and communications, enterprise agility, at McKinsey & Company. With a degree in public policy from UC Berkeley and a master's from the London School of Economics, she was the director of research at the National Institute for Play, categorizing and evangelizing the science behind play behavior prior to joining McKinsey & Company in 2012 as a founding member of their enterprise agility service line. Tulac Phillips is an alum of International Thespian Troupe 2527, St. Lucy's High School, Claremont, Calif. She served as the California Thespian state president and as an International Thespian Officer, with fellow ETF board member Mark Weinstein, now senior vice president of Hilton, in 2000-01.

The Educational Theatre Foundation (ETF) provides essential financial support to enhance excellence in theatre education and to expand access to school theatre programs for every child, putting them on a more positive life path. ETF is focused on three areas: JumpStart Theatre, to create sustainable musical theatre programs where there previously were none; need-based grants to schools, to provide teaching and performance resources and equipment in under-resourced schools; and merit and need-based grants to individuals, to nurture the next generation of theatre teachers and artists. ETF is the philanthropic arm of the Educational Theatre Association, which is the home of the International Thespian Society, an honorary organization established at more than 5,000 schools that has inducted more than 2.3 million theatre students since its founding in 1929.

ETF also enjoys the support of an Honorary Board and an Advisory Board.

The Educational Theatre Foundation was launched November 2017 as the philanthropic arm of the Educational Theatre Association, which is the home of the International Thespian Society. ETF provides essential financial support to enhance excellence in theatre education and to expand access to school theatre programs for every child, putting them on a more positive life path. ETF is focused on three areas: JumpStart Theatre, to create sustainable musical theatre programs where there previously were none; need-based grants to schools, to provide teaching and performance resources and equipment in under-resourced schools; and merit and need-based grants to individuals, to nurture the next generation of theatre teachers and artists. In its first year, ETF has awarded more than $650,000 in grants, directly impacting high school theatre programs in 50 cities, and enabling the development of musical theatre programs in underserved middle schools in six states.

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