Lisa Chanel joined the board of TheaterWorksUSA in 2014 and is a lifelong patron of and advocate for the arts. She has previously served on committees at her children’s multi-national, bilingual school in Paris, where she was Vice President of the Parents Association and worked closely with directors of the school to increase fundraising, improve communication and organize a host of other activities to support the school’s student body. Before moving abroad, Lisa worked in Equity waiver theater and publishing and advocated pro bono for children’s access to quality daycare.
Andrew Fisher is the founder and CEO of Myriad Supply, a cybersecurity consultancy and integrator that delivers complete, secure IT infrastructure to mid-market and large enterprises. Myriad services hundreds of clients in financial services, healthcare, higher education and retail as a full-service one-stop resource. Myriad has been on the “Inc. 5000” list of fastest-growing private companies nine years in a row and has been recognized as a "Best Place to Work" by Crain's New York and Inc. Magazine. Prior to founding Myriad in 2003, Andrew worked at Monitor Group as a management consultant. Andrew earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale University.
Michael Harrington (Executive Director) led New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts as Executive Director from 2007 to 2015, building an identity for Skirball as a distinct venue in New York City and accepting the Drama Desk Award for presenting the Outstanding Unique Theatrical Experience in 2014. From 2015 to 2017, Michael was the University Director of Arts Advancement at Long Island University. Originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he studied as both an undergraduate and graduate at NYU. Professional affiliations include International Performing Arts for Youth, International Society of Performing Arts, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and Autopistes Contemporary Circus Network. He has served on grant review panels for the Rockefeller Foundation's Multi-Arts Production Fund, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and others.
Kim Isaacs Katz is a Principal and Senior Financial Advisor at Bernstein. Kim advises high-net-worth individuals, families and institutions, as well as their respective trusts, estates, foundations, endowments and pension plans. She works closely with her clients’ trusted tax advisors, legal advisors and business managers on a wide range of matters, including charitable giving, spending policy, tax and estate planning, retirement planning, concentrated stock positions and the sale of privately held businesses. Kim oversees Bernstein University, a program she designed to provide young adults with the skills needed to better navigate the markets and the business world. In addition, Kim’s practice offers specific investment strategy and planning support for performing artists, writers, producers and musicians. Over her career, she has also developed a unique understanding of the planning needs of women, providing tools, options and advice to empower them to make sound financial decisions that are fully consonant with their personal goals and comfort. Kim earned her master’s degree in finance and international business from New York University. She has a bachelor’s degree in drama from Vassar College.
David Lo Mastro David Lo Mastro is a financial services project management professional. He has worked at Credit Suisse since 2013 and is a Vice President, Strategic Change Program Manager, within the Risk Division, focusing on many regulatory initiatives. Prior to joining the team at Credit Suisse, he spent seven years with J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, where he was a Client Service Manager for their Top 20 Global Clients and later was a Product Manager, responsible for stability, production support and the strategic development of four global applications on a client self-service platform. David has a 15 year background in the service industry and was an opera singer in Philadelphia where he studied. He was on the roster of multiple regional opera companies for eight years.
Alyssa Mack is an experienced research management professional with extensive background in sell- and buy-side equity and fixed income research. She was recently appointed Chief of Staff for the Office of the CEO at AllianceBernstein, where she was previously the U.S. Associate Director of Research. Alyssa is also committed to supporting her community through the Columbia Cares program and is a Sustainer at the New York Junior League.
Leslie Monsky is President of Decorative Things, a manufacturing company that she founded in 1988 to turn ordinary things into decorative things. Initially, Leslie sold home decorative accessories to retailers. Now, the business has become the retailer through online selling. Leslie spent her childhood in Jacksonville, Florida, where her mother Joan founded a company, similarly called Theaterworks, to bring live theater to the Jacksonville school system and beyond. Joan worked closely with TheaterWorksUSA. Leslie is thrilled to be carrying on her mother’s passion for children’s theater. Leslie is also passionate about preserving modern architecture and serves on the New York Tri-State Board of DOCOMOMO, an international modern architecture preservation group. Leslie is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia Business School.
Barbara Pasternack (Artistic Director) has optioned, commissioned and produced nearly 100 musicals and plays based on a variety of well-known literary properties including The Lightning Thief, Skippyjon Jones, Junie B. Jones, The Giver and Sarah, Plain and Tall, which was selected for the Eugene O’Neill Festival and presented at the National Alliance of Musical Theatres Conference. In 2001, Barbara accepted the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award "for TheaterWorksUSA’s artistic vision and commitment to the support and development of theater artists." She has sat on panels for ASCAP, NYU and TCG and has been a Lucille Lortel Award nominator since 2005. For the past four years, she has sat on the selection committee for The Rhinebeck Musical Theater Retreat. In 2010, Barbara accepted The Andrew Goodman Foundation Hidden Heroes Award for outstanding achievement in promoting human dignity and civil rights. Under her leadership, TWUSA’s productions have been recognized with nominations and wins by the Lucille Lortel Awards, Drama Desk Awards, and Drama League Awards.
Judy Prince served as Chair for TheaterWorksUSA from 1980 to 1987 and was overjoyed to rejoin the organization in 2013. A lifelong supporter of the arts, she previously served on the Volunteer Council of the New York Philharmonic, for which she eventually became the President. As a Clinical Dietician in Ambulatory Care at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Weill Cornell, Judy cared for women and children from all over the world and was awarded the Outstanding Teacher Award for the Dietetic Interns and a Special Care Award for Outstanding Service. Now retired, she is on the Board of Directors of her co-op at Knolls Crescent; is as an active member of several committees at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, where she is also an ordained elder and deacon; and enjoys sharing TWUSA’s performances with her grandchildren.
Chuck Santoro draws upon his marketing and theater background to bring insight and creativity to meetings and events. Since forming Proscenium Events, he rolled out the 787 Dreamliner for Boeing in South Carolina. He traveled to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and brought gaming to life for Snapdragon by Qualcomm, and he has led the creative for Harley-Davidson’s Global Dealer Meeting for the past five years. Lowe’s Home Improvement and TD Ameritrade have trusted his leadership and creative vision on all of their events, big and small, for the past three years, and, for over a decade, he has produced events for T-Mobile, ranging in audiences from 50 to 5,000. In theater, Chuck directed and co-wrote Off-Broadway’s Finnegan’s Farewell, which was published by Samuel French, and was an assistant director at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City. He is proud to say that he got his Equity card from TheaterWorksUSA back in the 1990s touring the country in Rapunzel. Chuck holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University.
Thomas Smith is the managing member of Smith Buss and Jacobs, LLP. His primary area of practice is commercial real estate, representing clients in connection with purchases, sales and financings of office; multifamily and shopping center properties; and commercial leasing of office and retail space. Thomas has represented sponsors and tenant associations in connection with the conversion of dozens of rental properties in New York City and Westchester to cooperative and condominium ownership. He and his firm represent over 250 community associations in New York City and Westchester. Thomas serves as the managing member of real estate companies that now or previously owned and operated office, retail and residential properties in Westchester and Fairfield counties. He is a founder of The Westchester Bank, a community bank based in Westchester County. Since the bank’s inception in 2008, Thomas has served as a member of the bank’s Board of Directors and Chair of the Loan Committee and was elected Chair of the Board of Directors in 2014. He serves on the Board of Directors for Yonkers Partners in Education, a foundation that partners with the Yonkers Public School District, business and philanthropic communities, and higher education institutions developing and funding programs to increase the number of students who complete a post-secondary program that prepares them for a successful career. He has served on the Mount Kisco Zoning Board of Appeals and as a member of the Bedford Central School District Construction Steering Committee, as well as various other municipal committees and boards.
Cara Talty’s interests and career trajectory span the performing arts to healthcare, science and corporate marketing. She began performing at the age of 9 and trained and performed as a singer/actor/dancer throughout her early 20s. She received a bachelor’s degree in musical theater and is a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA. Cara toured in TheaterWorksUSA’s first tour of Jekyll and Hyde in the fall of 1990. She still occasionally performs with the Alliance Theater Group, a small professional theater group in New Jersey. Additionally, she sat on the board of the Red Oaks School in Morristown, NJ. Cara holds a doctorate degree in physical therapy. As a physical therapist, she was the lead PT on the Traumatic Brain Injury Unit at the Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation in West Orange, NJ. Her physical therapy interests include a specialty in vestibular and balance disorders. She worked as a medical device marketing consultant for Medtronic and traveled the country educating and training physicians, surgeons and other health care providers on the use of implantable devices to treat Parkinson's Disease and other neurological conditions. Cara is also the mother of three children: Declan; Maren, a professional actress herself; and Conor.
Tom Toce is a songwriter active in the musical theater and cabaret genres. A compilation of his work Hopelessly in Love: The Lyrics of Tom Toce enjoyed an extended run at the Metropolitan Room in New York City and featured the talents of cabaret stars Carole J. Bufford, Jack Donahue and Jennifer Sheehan. Tom’s song “Shalom, Santa,” with music by Douglas J. Cohen, won the 2014 MAC Award for Best Comedy Song. Other MAC nominations include one in 2016 for Male Debut for his show Songwriter in the House, which played at the Metropolitan Room and featured Tom performing his songs; Best Recording in 2014 for the cast album of Hopelessly in Love; and another Best Comedy Song in 2013 for “Bye-Bye, Aloha, Yo!,” with music by Jeff Lazarus. Tom has written a number of shows for children, including The Babe and I (book and lyrics) at the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival, Curious George (book and lyrics) for TheaterWorksUSA and two other TWUSA shows (lyrics) with music by Doug Cohen. His cabaret songs have been recorded by Tovah Feldshuh, Cynthia Crane and others. An earlier anthology of his songs, Can It Be Love?, was presented at the Eighty-Eights in Greenwich Village and starred Tovah Feldshuh. He creates a cryptic puzzle each month for Contingencies, the national magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. He is a two-time Jeopardy champion and is in the Jeopardy Hall of Fame for highest score in a single game.
Suzanne Cohen is a New York City-based philanthropist and arts advocate. She currently sits on boards for Reid Hall (Columbia University, Paris), the Bibliothèque nationale de France (International Board, Paris), and the Center in Paris (University of Chicago, Visiting Committee). In the past, she has served on boards for the Jewish Theological Seminary, The Rosenbach, and the Jewish Women’s Association of Hong Kong.
Tim Freydberg is a Vice President at CBRE, Inc., where he specializes in representing companies on their commercial real estate needs in New York City. He grew up around theater as his parents were both producers and has always loved being involved in the arts world. Tim earned bachelor’s degrees in Business Economics and Finance from Sacred Heart University.
Tracy Stein(Chair) graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, then practiced law as a commercial litigator at a major NYC law firm for over 10 years. She now does advocacy, public interest and board work on behalf of a wide range of New York non-profit organizations. Because of a long-standing love of theater and the Arts, Tracy has been involved in numerous non-profit and school theater programs. Most recently, she helped form and now serves as Vice President of the Friends of Chappaqua Performing Arts Center.
In addition to her work promoting the Arts, Tracy recently completed a Masters of Science in Global Affairs from New York University, where she researched and wrote extensively on energy, environment, and sustainability. She has published numerous articles and op-eds, and wrote advocacy pieces for NYU’s Institute for Policy Integrity. She also sits on the Board of Earth Day Initiative, serves on the Town of New Castle Sustainability Advisory Board, and is Chair of UJA Northern Westchester Women’s Philanthropy. Tracy also served on Hillary Clinton’s finance team for the 2016 election.
Mary Donohue began her professional career at JPMorgan. Over the years she held several IT management positions in various business areas. Mary then worked at other financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse holding IT management positions.
She was a member of the Fordham Marymount Alumni Board from 2009-2017.
Mary has traveled for personal and professional reasons throughout Asia, Europe and the United States.
Adrienne Lin is a marketing manager at PepsiCo, where she works to translates the overall beverage and food marketing strategies within the Foodservice division. Adrienne has also marketed personal care products at Unilever and wine and spirits at companies like Moet Hennessy. Before her transition to marketing and move back to the East Coast, Adrienne worked in finance and at a ticketing startup in San Francisco.
Outside of work, Adrienne loves road trips, international travel, wine tasting trips, and teaching and participating in social dances like swing, salsa, and waltz. Adrienne earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics at Stanford University and an MBA at The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Kevin Hooshangi was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and grew up in Colonia, New Jersey. He graduated with a BFA with honors from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2001 and with an MFA from the Actors’ Studio for Drama at the New School University in 2006. After years as an actor performing in a variety of theatre, film and television projects, Kevin became an entrepreneur and began a journey of owning several businesses. In 2006 he opened Village Pourhouse which is a bar/restaurant concept with several locations. In 2013 he opened American Whiskey in midtown Manhattan for which he has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and several other publications. He’s the son of neurosurgeon, Nossrstollah and nurse anesthetist, Lynell and he’s married to Elizabeth Wirth with whom he parents Cyrus John.
Chuck Cooper won the Tony award for his performance in Cy Coleman’s The Life. He has been featured in 15 Broadway shows in every theatrical genre from Shakespeare to musical comedy. His most recent guest starring TV appearances include "The Good Wife," “House of Cards,” “Madam Secretary,” “Gossip Girl,” “Nurse Jackie,” and “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight.” His other awards include: The Lucille Lortel Award for “The Piano Lesson,” The San Diego Critics’ Circle Award for “Two Trains Running, ” The Audelco Award for “Caroline or Change,” Two Drama Desk Nominations for “Choir Boy” and “The Life.” His favorite role is Eddie, Alex and Lilli’s father. He is gratefully married to playwright Deborah Brevoort. http://www.chuckcooper.net/
Charlie Hull is originally from Vienna, Austria, and was stationed in England serving in the US Air Force when he accompanied a fellow officer to an audition of Stalag 17 that resulted in scoring his first role in a theatrical production. In 1960, Hull moved to New York and was featured in many TV commercials and Off-Broadway productions prior to founding TheaterWorksUSA with the late Jay Harnick and Bob Adams, in 1961.
Under his 39-year tenure, TheaterWorksUSA grew to become America's largest and foremost Equity theatre for children and family audiences. The company has reached over 100 million people in 49 states and Canada and now performs for over two million young people annually, selecting shows from its ever-growing repertoire of 133 plays and musicals. TheaterWorksUSA has a distinguished history of not only providing young audiences with their first taste of the performing arts but also giving young actors, writers, directors, and designers an early opportunity to work in their field.
Hull's most notable achievements for TheaterWorksUSA include initiating a subscription series in a prestigious Off-Broadway Theater and developing a field trip program, initially at Town Hall, and then spreading across the country, reaching millions of kids every year. Hull was also President of the Producers League of Theatre for Young Audiences, President of Producers Association of Children's Theatre (PACT), and was awarded the Medal of Honor from the Actor's Fund.
Ellen Miller-Wachtel After more than 16 years, Ellen recently retired as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Major League Baseball. Prior to her work with MLB, Ellen served as General Counsel at Radio City Productions, General Counsel at Sony Online Entertainment, and Senior Counsel at NBC. She holds a J.D. from Boston College Law School/Columbia Law School and Bachelor’s from Cornell University.
Ellen is delighted to bring her passion and experience to TWUSA.
Yaritza Villalba is an Educator Innovation Lead at Microsoft Flip. She leads professional learning opportunities, centered on culturally responsive sustaining education (CRSE), to an international network of educators. With thirteen years of experience in Urban education, Yaritza supplies many effective strategies and resources for educating and supporting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous. and people of color) students and families. After graduating from the State University of New York at Albany, she began her career teaching Social Studies to overaged, under credited high school students in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York.
Later, she earned her first master's degree from Long Island University, Brooklyn, where she studied Adolescent Urban Education and expounded her knowledge of inclusive pedagogical practices. Over her career, Yaritza became an Assistant Principal of an Expeditionary Learning School and an author of culturally relevant children's books. Yaritza’s overall mission is to create opportunities and experiences for students of color to gain fair access to resources that spark critical thinking and meaningful conversations in and out of the classroom.
