Carol Dunne
Producing Artistic Director
cdunne@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 110
Carol Dunne has served as Producing Artistic Director of Northern Stage since 2013. At Northern Stage she has directed 20 productions including The Railway Children, Million Dollar Quartet, Once, and Disgraced. She launched New Works Now in 2014 and since then Northern Stage has presented seven world premieres and three Off-Broadway transfers including the New York Times Critic’s pick Only Yesterday. In 2017, Dunne received a Genius Grant from the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation, and with the Foundation she created and now directs the BOLD Theater Women’s Leadership Circle (www.boldtheater.org), a $1.75 million annual grant in its fifth year which is breaking the glass ceiling for women in theater. Dunne is also a Senior Lecturer in Theater at Dartmouth College where she directs plays and musicals including Cabaret and Rent. With the Dartmouth Department of Theater, she launched the Experiential Term providing professional development to Dartmouth students. Prior to coming to Northern Stage, Dunne was Producing Artistic Director of the New London Barn Playhouse from 2008 until 2015.
Jason Smoller
Managing Director
jsmoller@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 126
Jason Smoller is proud to join the visionary team at Northern Stage in its 25th Anniversary Season. Before moving to the Upper Valley, he was the Director of Development and Marketing at Irish Repertory Theatre in Manhattan. During the COVID shutdown, he worked closely on the strategy behind the organization’s successful online season, reaching 60,000 patrons in more than 20 countries, and the theatre’s reopening. Jason also streamlined the theatre’s fundraising programs, resulting in an increase of 20% in contributed revenue. Prior to his tenure at Irish Rep, Jason held fundraising and external relations roles at The New York Pops orchestra and The Morgan Library & Museum. Jason is an accomplished oboist and holds a Masters in Orchestral Performance from Manhattan School of Music, as well as an AB in French and Music from Brown University. His first full-time job was at Northern Stage in 2012. Jason grew up in the theatre, where from an early age he developed a passion for lighting design and stage management. He made a few forays onto the stage at the Weekend Theatre, a community theatre in Little Rock, Arkansas, including a run as Huck Finn in Big River.
ADMINISTRATION
Susan Dicken
Associate General Manager
sdicken@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 134
Starting her Northern Stage career as the Box Office Manager in 2018, Susan is eager to step into the role of Associate General Manager. Previously Susan spent a year as the General and Company Management Apprentice at Cleveland Play House. She also worked at Near West Theatre developing programming that coincided with their new ADA compliant building including sensory friendly productions, signed performances, and generally making the arts accessible to all. Susan holds a Bachelors of Arts in Marketing and Economics from Wilmington College and completed her course work for her master’s in Arts Administration at The University of Akron.
Jess Johnston
Finance and Admin Consultant
jjohnston@northernstage.org
Jess joined the Northern Stage staff as the Production Manager in 2015, before becoming the General Manager in 2020. Having graduated with a BA in Theatre from the University of Mary Washington in 2006, Jess spent the following 9 years working in event and stage management with a number of companies in New York and regionally, before permanently relocating to Vermont. Her stage management work includes 16 world premiere productions, 5 years as PSM for the Brits Off Broadway festival at 59e59 Theaters, and 7 summers of Vermont Theatre at Weston Playhouse and Dorset Theatre Festival. In addition, Jess managed events such as the National Magazine Awards, the Annual Blossom Ball, and the Product of the Year Awards, and spent 5 years as Associate General Manager for Japan Day, an annual cultural festival in Central Park. Jess is so happy to help fulfill Northern Stage’s mission of changing lives, one story at a time.
Wayne Trask
Facilities Manager
wtrask@northernstage.org
DEVELOPMENT
Robin Caissie
Director of Development
rcaissie@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 116
With over 27 years of development experience, Robin has held senior positions at Valley Regional Healthcare, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and The Trust for Public Land. Her development experience includes annual and leadership giving, planned giving, campaign and event planning, and non-profit management. She earned her B.S. degree in business management from Franklin Pierce University. Robin enjoys teaching yoga and loves running, hiking, tap dancing, and anything that involves the outdoors. She and her husband Stephen reside in Norwich, Vermont with their sweet dog Danny.
Milena Zuccotti
Associate Director of Development
mzuccotti@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 117
Milena Zuccotti is overjoyed to return to Northern Stage after an absence of 11 years. Originally from Brooklyn, she first arrived at the company in 2005, spending six years in administrative and development roles. Other work has included the Wang Center for the Performing Arts and Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in Boston; the New London Barn Playhouse, where she served five years as Managing Director; the Dartmouth Dept of Theater; and the Dorset Theatre Festival, where her fate as a Vermonter was sealed when she met her husband Jason. They live in Hartland with daughters Cassie and Lily and a cacophony of household pets.
Ruth Ann Pattee
Development and Campaign Manager
rpattee@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 117
Ruth Ann Pattee has worked with Vermont schools, organizations, and community groups for over 20 years as a theater educator, and for 15 years with non-profit arts organizations as a database manager and fundraiser. She grew up outside Philadelphia, studied Theatre Arts and Communications at East Stroudsburg University, and moved to Vermont in 1989. In response to the lack of theater programs for children in her area, in 1998 Ruth Ann founded KidsACT, a children’s theater company based at the Valley Players Theater in Waitsfield, Vermont. Ruth Ann began working on development programs in 2005 with the Mad River Chorale community chorus while also continuing her passion for theater education. From 2016-2019, she was the Campaign Manager for the Joslin Memorial Library’s More Than Just a Good Read capital campaign to renovate and make handicapped-accessible the 100 year old library building in Waitsfield Village. Ruth Ann lives in the Mad River Valley and, most days, enjoys her commute to Northern Stage by listening to a theater podcast or catching up on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.
ARTISTIC & EDUCATION
Robert David Grant
Director of Education
rgrant@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 122
Robert David Grant, a Vershire native, makes his return to the Upper Valley after 10 years working in the New York theater and film industry. He first appeared at Northern Stage in 2016 playing the title role in Macbeth, where a chance workshop with Dartmouth’s Shakespeare society sparked a love of teaching and actor training which guides him to this day. After returning to appear as Edgar in 2019’s King Lear, Robert directed YES Ensembles’ Richard III, solidifying his love for the work being done by Northern Stage’s education programs and prompting him to apply for the role of Director of Education. Robert appeared onstage in New York with The Mint Theater Company, Pearl Theater, Drama League, The Acting Company, The Flea Theater and The Westside Theatre, and regionally with The Guthrie, Geva Theatre Center, Yale Rep, Barrington Stage Company, Shakespeare Theatre of NJ and Yale Cabaret, among others. His TV credits include the Emmy-winning HBO drama Succession, sharing scenes with Brian Cox, Holly Hunter and Cherry Jones, and The Orville on Fox. A member of The Actors Center, Robert has been fortunate to train and collaborate with some of the leading voices in actor training, and holds a BA from Princeton University and an MFA from Yale School of Drama.
Sarah Elizabeth Wansley
BOLD Associate Artistic Director
swansley@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 118
Sarah Elizabeth Wansley directs and develops new plays and musicals, as well as highly theatrical adaptations of classic works. Previously she was the Artistic Producer at Chautauqua Theater Company and the inaugural recipient of the Cleveland Play House Artistic Directing Fellowship for Women. Recent directing projects The Amish Project by Jessica Dickey at PlayMakers Repertory Company, Egress by Melissa Crespo and Sarah Saltwick at Cleveland Play House, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by Alice Birch at Dobama Theatre, The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe at SUNY Purchase and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Chautauqua Theater Company. She has directed new work at New York Stage and Film, The Flea Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, White Heron Theatre, and Pipeline Theatre Company. Sarah is a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a 2018 Drama League Resident Artist, a 2015 Drama League Directing Fellow, and a member of the 2011 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. Sarah received her MFA in Directing from UCSD; from 2016-2020 she was a faculty member at Fordham University. Upcoming: Heisenberg by Simon Stephens at Northern Stage.
Jaclyn Pageau
Associate Director of Education
jpageau@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000 ext. 121
Jaclyn Pageau is a New Hampshire native and is excited to be coming back to the Upper Valley for her first full season at Northern Stage where she has previously been a founding E-Term member and teaching artist. She graduated in 2018 from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in Theater and has spent the last two years as a stage manager and theater educator based out of NYC. Most recently, she stage managed the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s education tour of Romeo & Juliet and was a camp teacher at The New London Barn Playhouse. jaclynpageau.com
Kate Kenney
Director of BridgeUp: Shakespeare in the Schools
kkenney@northernstage.org
Kate Kenney is delighted to take on this exciting position with Northern Stage. A lifelong lover of Shakespeare and a passionate advocate of arts education for all, Kate trained for a year at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, and has been a teaching artist for Bridge UP since its inception in 2016. Kate is also an actress and aerialist whose favorite credits include Romeo & Juliet (Juliet), Eurydice (Eurydice/Aerialist), Peter Pan (Wendy), Hamlet (Ophelia), The 39 Steps (The Woman), and HACK! An I.T. Spaghetti Western (The Soldier). Some of the great companies Kate has been an actress with include Shakespeare & Company, The Pearl, Shakespeare Forum, New Light Theater Project, Oldcastle, Lost Nation, Penobscot, and NJ Rep. Kate is a Company Member of Shakespeare & Company and Ensemble Studio Theatre. Kate has spent a decade volunteering in New York State prisons with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, a non-profit dedicated to building life skills through theatrical techniques. Shows inside the walls include Our Town, Twelfth Night, Golden Boy and Superior Donuts at Sing Sing Correctional, Macbeth, Cyrano, and The Odd Couple at Fishkill Correctional, and Cafe of the Heart and Midnight at Greenhaven Correctional. Kate holds a BFA in Acting from Rutgers University,
and an MS in Corrections and Offender Rehabilitation from the University of Cincinnati.
Samuel Empey
Education Fellow
sempey@northernstage.org
Sam Empey is native Vermonter and could not be more excited to be back in his home state. Sam is extremely excited to be taking on the Education Fellow position for 2022-2023. As an educator, Sam has worked as a teaching artist/camp counselor at Hackmatack Playhouse, Camp Encore and Seacoast Repertory Theatre. He recently was one of the directors for The Spring Playwright Festival at Weston Playhouse. As a performer Sam has appeared in productions with Entropy Theatre Company, Prescott Park Arts Festival, The Firehouse Center of The Arts and Hackmatack Playhouse. Sam graduated with his B.A. In Musical theatre from The University of New Hampshire in 2018.
Brandy (Yijin) Zhang
Programs Associate
bzhang@northernstage.org
Brandy arrives at Northern Stage as a new graduate from Dartmouth College, where she was closely involved with theatre productions throughout her college career, primarily as a stage manager. She is excited to join the Northern Stage team and keep exploring the Upper Valley a while longer! She is super ready to embark on her professional journey in theatre thousands of miles away from Shenzhen, China, where Brandy calls home.
Aileen Wen McGroddy
BOLD Resident Director
PRODUCTION
Brian R. Sekinger
Director of Production
bsekinger@northernstage.org
(802) 296-7000
