ACT Announces New Staff, Promotions

A Contemporary Theatre announces new staff and promotions as well as its first Kenan Directing Fellow to finish out its 50th anniversary year. ACT is committed to excellence in the field of live performance with a mission of raising consciousness through theatre. Executive Director Carlo Scandiuzzi is elated to welcome new staff to the ACT Team and existing staff to new roles within the company.

Clare Hausmann Weiand has been promoted to Director of Development and brings 20 years of private sector and non-profit fundraising experience to ACT. She has raised money for Seattle Art Museum and Pacific Northwest Ballet and was most recently the Alumni Director at Seattle Preparatory School. She considers audience and donor experience the key element in the development of any strategy and is thrilled to be a part of the 50th Anniversary Season and the next 50 for ACT.

Alyssa Byer has been promoted to Production Manager. Byer joined ACT in 2007 as Events and Venue Manager then moved into Producing Special Events in 2009 and became Production Manager for the ACTLab (formerly Central Heating Lab) in 2011. Prior to joining ACT, Byer spent four years as Production Stage Manager at Seattle Children's Theatre, three years as Venue Manager for Bumbershoot, and was a Stage Management Intern with Seattle Repertory Theatre.

This is ACT's first year with a Kenan Directing Fellow. The Thomas S. Kenan Directing Fellowship and ACT seek to provide emerging directors with practical knowledge and experience as artists embarking on a career in regional theatre. ACT joins Lincoln Center Theatre and The Kennedy Center as the three institutions partnering in this program. Each Directing Fellow is mentored by incoming Artistic Director John Langs as well as by the Artistic Fellow Director, and the entire ACT staff, in varying capacities. Wiley Basho Gorn will be with ACT for six months assisting Langs on Mr. Burns, a post-electric play and A Christmas Carol, helping with inter-departmental projects, as well as directing a fellowship showcase.

Additional Staff Updates

· Valerie Brunetto - new Public Relations and Communications Manager

· Wiley Basho Gorn - new Kenan Directing Fellow

· Sarah Guthu - new Grants Manager

· Robert Hankins - Promoted to Associate Director of Development

· Andrew P. Storms - new Development Coordinator and Board Liaison

Valerie Brunetto graduated from Whitman College with a degree in Theatre and has worked with various Seattle arts organizations, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, New Century Theatre Company, Seattle Children's Theatre, and Ghost Light Theatricals. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Arts Leadership at Seattle University and her thesis "Word-of-Mouth and the Arts: Why and How We Need to Change the Way We Talk About the Performing Arts" was published the American Journal of Arts Management. As the Public Relations and Communications Manager, Valerie is dedicated to supporting ACT's mission to raise consciousness through theatre.

Wiley Basho Gorn hails from the woods of Ulster County nestled in upstate New York's Hudson River Valley. He is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he received a BFA degree in Directing from the School of Drama. While there he assistant directed many productions (favorites include: Of Mice and Men, A Lie of the Mind, Romeo and Juliet) as well as produced and directed his senior thesis project of Venus in Fur. Regional/New York City directing work includes The Tempest (Taksu Theatre Co. NYC), and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: a Sea-Shanty Musical (Peppercorn Theatre, Winston-Salem NC). Assistant/Associate director work: Take One Step (Peppercorn Theatre, Winston-Salem NC), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Sonnet Rep, NYC), Luv (Guild Hall, East Hampton NY). Wiley has a deep passion for nature, the violin, Shakespeare, and stories of epic proportion. He is thrilled to be joining ACT and the Seattle theatre community this fall and excited for his artistic work to continue in growth, development, and specificity.

Dr. Sarah Guthu holds a Ph.D. in Theatre History and Critical Theory from the University of Washington, where she specialized in European modernist drama and the American regional theatre movement; her dissertation included a case study of ACT's early years. Sarah first joined ACT's staff as Literary and Artistic Intern in 2004. Over the years, she has joined Amy Wheeler to teach in the Young Playwrights Program, created educational ClassACT brochures, written feature articles for ACT's Marketing department, and reviewed a lot of scripts. In 2013, she gave a talk on dramaturgy to ACT's Board of Trustees. As Grants Manager, Sarah is eager to expand and deepen ACT's relationships with funders and artists in Seattle's vibrant community!

Robert Hankins, a MFA graduate of the Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, co-founded and served as Artistic Director of Red Tape Theatre in Chicago before moving to Seattle in 2006. In his time at ACT, he has been a member of executive, sales, membership, ticket office, and front of house teams. Robert hopes to continue ACT's drive to deepen its individual relationships and foster community conversation.

Andrew P. Storms joins the Development team after graduating with his MFA in Arts Leadership from Seattle University. He has previously worked in audience development at Seattle Repertory Theatre, as well as in operations and development at New Century Theatre Company, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and the Boise Art Museum. In his new role Andrew serves as administrative support to senior staff and the Board of Trustees; he hopes to continue to build a career in fundraising and is specifically looking to help bolster ACT's efforts in prospect research and board relations.

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