Festival Artistic and Technical Team

STEVEN A. DAIGLE, artistic director, is professor of opera and artistic director of Eastman Opera Theatre at The Eastman School of Music. His experience as a stage director—for companies from coast to coast—encompasses over 150 titles and a wide range of opera and lyric theater repertoire: from Handel’s Serse to Massenet’s Manon, from Copland’s The Tender Land to Philip Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox, from Kern’s Zip! Goes a Million to Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot. Steve has served on the faculty of Kent State University and as assistant and acting director of the Opera Theater program at the Oberlin Conservatory.

Steve began with Ohio Light Opera in 1990 and in 1999 was appointed artistic director. During this tenure, he has introduced 75 new titles to OLO’s repertoire, supervised OLO’s highly acclaimed series of CD and DVD recordings, created English translations for five Emmerich Kálmán operettas, and received critical acclaim for his commitment to researching, reconstructing, and producing neglected operettas and early musicals. Articles and reviews of Daigle’s work have appeared in Opera News, Opera London, American Record Guide, Gramophone, Fanfare, Classical Singer, and Opera Now. In May of 2015, Steve received the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester. JULIE WRIGHT COSTA, associate artistic director, is held in high regard as an interpreter and director of operetta. She is celebrating her 31st season with Ohio Light Opera, for which she has sung in over 100 different productions, performed over 80 roles, and directed more than 20 titles. This season, she staged The Light on the Horizon for Utah Opera and created a virtual recital of British art song for Opéra Louisiane with collaborative pianist/conductor Michael Borowitz. Career highlights include performances with the opera companies of Nevada, Cleveland, Michigan, Carolina, and Utah. Favorite performances include leading roles in Don Giovanni, The Turn of the Screw, Bitter Sweet, La Rondine, Countess Maritza, Camelot, and the title role in Hello, Dolly! As stage director, she has collaborated in productions for the Moab Music Festival, Nevada Opera, Opera Southwest, The Eastman School of Music, The University of Utah, Utah Opera, Opéra Louisiane, and Western Plains Opera. She can be heard on recordings for the Newport Classic, Albany Records, and Operetta Archives labels. Julie resides in Salt Lake City with her husband, composer John Vasconcelos Costa, and their dachshunds, Freddie, Rose, and Tiny Tim. She is a tenured professor of voice, and voice area head, at the University of Utah School of Music.

WILSON SOUTHERLAND, music director/piano, is in demand throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. He first appeared as rehearsal pianist at OLO from 2006-08 and has since traveled the world: he served as pianist, coach, assistant conductor, and recitalist at Opera Africa in Pretoria, the New Israeli Opera, AIMS Graz in Austria, and The Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman. He made his conducting debut with Philip Glass’ Les enfants terribles at North Carolina Opera in 2012. For six years, Wilson was the senior coach and primary pianist under Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival, and he went on to accompany the esteemed conductorviolinist in recital at the Kennedy Center. In the fall of 2015 he joined the faculty of the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa as the first faculty opera coach in the university’s 184-year history. In 2016 Wilson joined the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as assistant professor of opera, where he conducted the revised world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Out of Darkness in 2017. Wilson is also artistic director of the Rochester Gay Men's Chorus, alongside his duties at Eastman. He holds degrees in piano from Vanderbilt University and The Juilliard School. SPENCER REESE, choreographer/tenor, is overjoyed to return for his eighth summer with Ohio Light Opera. Having worked on more than 40 shows with OLO, recent onstage favorites include Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Danny Churchill in Girl Crazy, Valentine Lamar in Babes in Arms, and Billy Crocker in Anything Goes. While 2020 was largely a year of hibernation for live performance, he was delighted to stay connected with so many wonderful friends and colleagues as we traded tap shoes for tech skills. He performed three selections for OLO’s virtual season and taught countless Zoom voice lessons. He also served as music director for Where the Good Songs Go, a new group headed by Ian Silverman and Steven Daigle that researched and recorded the earliest shows of important musical theater

composers. Spencer holds a DMA degree from the University of Connecticut, where he studied with Connie Rock, as well as a master’s degree in stage directing from the Eastman School of Music, where he first studied with Steven Daigle. Equally at home in the styles of musical theater, operetta, and opera, he serves as the artistic director for the Connecticut Gilbert and Sullivan Society, as well as a teaching artist for Goodspeed Musicals. TYLER BENSON, technical director, is excited to return to the Ohio Light Opera for his third season. His last time in Wooster, he was master carpenter in 2017. Since then, he has enjoyed traveling the country as a touring assistant carpenter, assistant pyrotechnician, and head carpenter with Feld Entertainment’s Disney on Ice. He also spent a summer as master carpenter at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY, where he had the pleasure of working with artistic director Scott Schwartz. Tyler holds a degree in technical theater with a minor in German studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Tyler is ecstatic to be back in Wooster and is thrilled to bring back the joy of live entertainment. JUSTIN GIBSON, lighting director, is excited to be returning to Ohio Light Opera for his sixth year, after being away since 2017. A Raleigh, NC native, Justin holds a BFA in lighting design/stage management from East Carolina University. He is currently the resident lighting designer at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, TN, where he has worked for four years. Favorite designs of his include The Music Man (Ohio Light Opera), Tuck Everlasting, Once: a New Musical, and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Playhouse on the Square). When Justin isn’t working, he can often be found outside with his dog, Emma. He would like to thank his friends, family, and fiancée for all of their love and support. CHARLENE GROSS, costume designer, is thrilled to be back with her opera family for this summer season. As the resident costume designer of Ohio Light Opera, she has designed 55+ titles and was production manager for over a decade. Designs for theater, dance, and opera have been seen on and off Broadway in New York City, across the country, and on the West End London stage. Theater credits include work with the Cleveland Playhouse, Florida Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Rep Theatre, Cleveland Museum of Art, The Royal Theatre, The Public Theater (NYC), and The Ingenuity Festival. Designs for dance include GroundWorks, The Yard, The Juilliard School, Gibney Studios, Dance Space, and Kunningham Studios. Academic designs include work with the Pennsylvania State University, Eastman Opera Theatre, Baldwin Wallace, New York University, Ashland University, Columbia University, University of Memphis, and The College of Wooster. Charlene is an assistant professor of costume design at Penn State School of Theatre. Always one to stay busy, she is an innovator-inresidence at Penn State’s Center for Pedagogy in Arts and Design, chair of faculty council for the College of Arts & Architecture, and a faculty senator, as well as a proud member of United Scenic Artist, Local 829. DANIEL HOBBS, costume and wardrobe specialist, is a scenic and costume designer and in the fall will be visiting professor of scenic design for the University of South Florida. He has worked as a designer in New York, Los Angeles, and across the country, as well as teaching design at the College of Wooster, Ashland University, and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He is excited to return for this special season with the Ohio Light Opera. Past shows with OLO include Into the Woods, South Pacific, The Pajama Game, Anything Goes, The Student Prince, and One Touch of Venus. MARK HOUSER, video and stream engineer, has been technical director for Eastman Opera Theatre since 2015, has been an IATSE local 25 member since 1983, and has worked in all professional venues in Rochester, NY. He has also worked hundreds of traveling productions in all areas of stagecraft, traveled for CMI communications as an AV technical manager for corporate events across the country, and has served as the general manager for the full service contractor of the Meadowlands Exposition Center. DANIEL HUSTON, production manager, is excited to be back for his tenth season with the Ohio Light Opera. Daniel lives in New York City, where he works as a freelance lighting designer, production manager, and educator. A native Ohioian, Daniel graduated from Mount Union College, before receiving his MFA in lighting design from Michigan State University. He has designed

opera, theater, dance, and event lighting around the country. Some of his recent lighting designs with the Ohio Light Opera include: Perchance to Dream, Candide, and Iolanthe. In addition to his design work, Daniel has taught lighting design and technology at multiple universities across the Midwest and in New Jersey. Since 2016, he has also been working and designing retail and display lighting around New York City. KIAH KAYSER, scenic and props artisan, is a freelance scenic designer/artist originally hailing from Minnesota. Her recent design credits include: Decision Height, Curious Incident (Hollins University); The Taming, Peter Pan, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and School House Rock Live! (Playhouse on the Square); Girl Crazy, Music in the Air (Ohio Light Opera), As Is (Regeneration Theatre), A Piece of My Heart (Onomatopoeia Theatre), It’s a Wonderful Life (TheatreSquared). She received her MFA in scenic design form University of Arkansas. In addition to her design work, Kiah had also worked as a scenic artist for Irish Repertory Theatre, Infinite Scenic, Variety 57, The Ohio Light Opera, Opera Memphis, Repertory Theatre of Iowa, Prairie Repertory Theatre, and Cedar Rapids Opera. When she is not teaching at Hollins or designing around the country, she loves sitting with her dog and fiancé while reading a good book on the couch. CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, sound designer, developed the sound degrees at Michigan Technological University and has experience in theater and film sound design, recording, live sound reinforcement, theater directing and devising, sound system consulting, and broadcast sound for sporting events. He recently worked on the National Endowment for the Arts funded project Listening to Parks, which features, in an immersive multimedia installation, soundscapes and images from the five National Parks surrounding Lake Superior. This last year he created sound design training videos for a project funded by the Japanese Ministry of Culture, collaborated on the sound design for a virtual reality experience with faculty at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and supervised student sound design of nine video games designed and programmed by University of Wisconsin Stout students. Christopher is a past sound commissioner for The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and is currently co-chair of Education for the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA), as well as the editor of the USITT Teaching Archive.

MAYA RICKARD, wardrobe assistant, is beyond thrilled to be working with the Ohio Light Opera for her third season. She studied musical theater at Ashland University, gaining nominations for the Irene Ryan award, as well as coming home a finalist from the MTI competition. As a singer, actress, scenic designer/artist, technician, she is happy with any opportunity to create art for the audience. Some previous roles include Meg (Little Women), Gertrude (Seussical), and Fiona (Shrek the Musical). Scenic design experience includes Chekhov’s Three Sisters and Euripides' The Trojan Women. ABBY SCHNECK, production stage manager, is excited to be back at OLO this season, especially after a year of no theater. Recently, she has worked with Cape Fear Regional Theatre in North Carolina, The Wick Theatre and Costume Museum in Florida, The Hippodrome State Theatre in Florida, The Lyric Theatre in Utah, and the Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont. Productions include: South Pacific (OLO), Into the Woods (OLO), Downstairs (Dorset Theatre Festival), Shrek the Musical (CFRT), Murder For Two (CFRT), A Chorus Line (The Wick Theatre), Mamma Mia! (CFRT), Peter and The Starcatcher (The Lyric Theatre), Let The Right One In (The Hippodrome), No Child Left Behind… (CFRT), and Sense and Sensibility (The Lyric Theatre). Abby holds a bachelor’s degree in theater stage management from Northern Michigan University.

SCHULTE, wardrobe master, is thrilled to be returning to live theater. He has been a part of OLO since 2004. Over the years, Mark has worn many hats here at OLO, including cast member, costume designer, and wardrobe master. He looks forward to keeping the cast looking their best, as they perform for you this summer. He is a proud member of the IATSE Cleveland Wardrobe Union Local 883.