WHO’S WHO

National Endowment for the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, Virginia Commission for the Arts and the United Way.

In addition to participating in union negotiations with the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), David has guest lectured at Greensboro College, UNC-Greensboro, Virginia Wesleyan University, Christopher Newport University, Skidmore College and Texas Tech, among others. He received an MFA degree in Theater Management from Yale University School of Drama and a BA degree in Drama from UNC-Greensboro in his native North Carolina. David and his husband Jeff reside in nearby Portland, CT and enjoy hiking throughout the gorgeous CT woods when not taking in a live performance.

DONNA LYNN HILTON (Artistic Director) [she/ her] is a highly-effective creative producer with a significant record of leading, developing and producing new musical theatre works as well as inspiring a re-envisioning of the canon. She has led the creation of many of Goodspeed’s most successful productions of recent years, including the 2014 World Premiere of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn and last season’s 42nd Street. She inspired the creation of Goodspeed’s critically-acclaimed production of Show Boat and brought to Goodspeed the new musicals Because of Winn Dixie, Chasing Rainbows, Amazing Grace, Anne of Green Gables and this season’s Summer Stock and The 12. At The Terris Theatre, she led the early development of many new musicals, among them, The Circus In Winter, Passing Through and Band Geeks!. With the development of Hi, My Name Is Ben, she led Goodspeed’s first collaboration with a resident theatre outside the US—Scotland’s Dundee Rep Theatre. Donna Lynn led the creation of the Johnny Mercer Writers Grove, the partnership with the Johnny Mercer Foundation which welcomes nearly 50 musical theatre composers, lyricists and librettists to Goodspeed’s campus each winter and has become one of the premiere development opportunities available to emerging musical theatre writers. She led an expansion of Goodspeed’s Festival of New Musicals and through the Festival brought to Goodspeed the first US development of the international hit Come From Away. Donna Lynn is a past-president of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. She serves as a Trustee for Dundee Rep Theatre/Scottish Dance Ensemble and, closer to home, CT Landmarks. Donna Lynn began her career as a stage manager of Musical Theatre and Opera and remains a proud member of Actors Equity Association. She and her husband, Sound Designer Jay Hilton, make their home in Hadlyme with Cookie and Macy.

ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, founded in 1913, represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers in the US. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Equity seeks to foster the art of live theater as an essential component of our society.

Goodspeed Musicals is a professional theatre operating under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Orchestra members are represented by The Connecticut Valley Federation of Musicians, AFM Local 400.

Goodspeed Musicals is a member of The League of Resident Theatres.

The scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers in LORT Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

Terris Theatre Reopening Donors

Goodspeed is grateful to the donors listed below who raised their paddle to make a contribution at our 2022 Gala in support of the reopening of The Terris Theatre.