RING OF KEYS Announces New Executive Leadership

Ring of Keys, the only national network of queer women, trans, and gender non-conforming professional artists working on and offstage in musical theatre, has announced a new Executive Director, Aislinn Frantz (she/her). Frantz will succeed Founding Executive Director, Andrea Prestinario (she/her), who will continue to work with the organization as Board Chair.

Prestinario co-founded Ring of Keys with Royer Bockus in 2018, leading the company into its nonprofit designation in 2020. During her tenure, Prestinario has grown the Membership to over 600 queer women and TGNC artists and has programmed over 30 workshops for the Membership (Keys). She also co-produced Ring of Keys' first Queering the Stage concert in 2018 and Queering the Canon Concert in 2020. Due to the success of the inaugural Queering the Canon concert, Prestinario will executive produce the second season at Joe's Pub, with three concerts celebrating and expanding upon the work of Andrew Lloyd Weber (January 31, 2022), Stephen Sondheim (February 23, 2022), and Kander & Ebb (March 8, 2022). Each concert will showcase canonical tunes performed alongside new original songs written by Ring of Keys songwriters. This Series seeks to queer the original canon of musical theatre, while highlighting upcoming songwriters who are currently queering our stages and creating a new canon.

About her choice to step down from her role as Executive Director, Prestinario says, "I have spent the last four years building Ring of Keys from an idea to a nonprofit and carving out a space that didn't exist before. I'm very proud to have been in service to my community, but ultimately, all of the work that goes into founding a non-profit at its early stages without pay was unfortunately unsustainable. Movement work is deeply challenging, but watching our Keys receive opportunities because of Ring of Keys was my currency and my passion for the representation of queer women and TGNC artists will never waver.

I am elated to pass the torch to Aislinn Frantz because of her commitment to social justice, experience in the nonprofit and arts administration sectors, and her passion for our mission. Aislinn will be Ring of Keys' first paid contractor, and I am thrilled to see Aislinn have the appropriate support for a leader of a non-profit. I feel confident that with Aislinn at the helm, Ring of Keys will flourish into its next chapter."

Aislinn Frantz takes on the role of Executive Director alongside her role as Associate Producer at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. As a queer woman who is committed to anti-racist and anti-oppressive values in all her work, Frantz is a natural fit for Ring of Keys, which seeks to queer the stage to create a more inclusive musical theatre landscape for all. In addition to her work at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Frantz sits on the board of the Bret n Paul Foundation's Ollie Awards, co-chairs the New Works committee at the National Alliance for Musical Theater, and has supported other organizations such as Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.

About her appointment, Frantz says, "Like so many of us, I fell in love with theater through musicals. Once I began working in literary management and dramaturgy and was in the rooms for new musicals, I was surprised to find them as homogenous as the teams of classical musicals I grew up listening to. This moment of much-needed change as a country and industry has invigorated my desire to take an active role in progress, guided by a responsibility to tell vital stories to all audiences. This opportunity to take on a leadership role at an organization that uplifts the voices telling and embodying those stories in the art form I cherish is a dream. I'm so grateful to Andrea for the foundation she has laid with this important organization."

To learn more about Ring of Keys, the Keys, and upcoming events, please visit www.ringofkeys.org

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