Staff
Click on names to read bios
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William Sanders
William Sanders is in his 28th season as artistic director, leading the organization to produce acclaimed area premiere productions such as Angels in America Parts 1 and 2; Falsettos; Search for Signs…, Lips Together Teeth Apart; Marvin’s Room; The Normal Heart; The Grapes of Wrath; The Film Society, Six Degrees of Separation; Follies; The Scarlet Letter; Passion; The Cider House Rules Parts 1 & 2; tick…tick…BOOM!; RENT, August: Osage Count, Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, Other Desert Cities, Constellations, Fun Home, Billy Elliot and A Man of No Importance. He has had the pleasure of working at Lincoln Center Theater, the Roundabout, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Ahmanson/Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles as assistant director to Joe Mantello on several Broadway and Off-Broadway productions including the Tony-award winning Love! Valour! Compassion!, Design for Living, Blue Window, Proposals and A Man of No Importance. Working in the theatre he has been lucky enough to “be in the room” with marvelous talents including actors Roger Rees, Faith Prince, Nathan Lane, Patricia Clarkson, John Glover, Julie Halston, J. Smith Cameron, Alan Cumming, Jennifer Ehle, Ruthie Henshall, Hayley Mills, Joie Lee, Carolee Carmello, Katharine Helmond, Jerry Stiller, Kelly Bishop, Dominic West, Larry Pine, Rue McClanahan, Allison Janney, John Benjamin Hickey, and Sally Murphy as well as playwrights and composers Neil Simon, Terrence McNally, Jon Robin Baitz, Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Peter Hedges, Marshall Mays, Susan DiLallo, Stephen Weiner and Craig Lucas but none more gratifying than the talent right here in the Lehigh Valley. Also in New York he enjoyed stage-managing the Off-Broadway productions of The Vagina Monologues and the Obie Award-winning Saved or Destroyed? for Rattlestick Theatre, where he briefly served as Associate Artistic Director. Off -Off Broadway he has directed JasonSongs, Dance In The Giddy Circle, Trust, How Far Will You Go?, A Girl You Should Know, Genesius, and Mommalogues.
He has directed and/or choreographed at Goodspeed Musicals, The Sharon Playhouse, American Family Theatre, YOLO Theatre Group, manhattantheatresource, New York City Opera Education Department, Shepherd Hills Dinner Theatre, The Trilogy Theatre, and PA Stage. Locally he has worked at Muhlenberg (Little Shop of Horrors, Damn Yankees, Joseph…, Schoolhouse Rock Live, and others) and the Theatre Outlet (jasonSongs, The Laramie Project, Bricks, Lysistrata). He has created choreography for all the musicals he directed locally, as well as productions of My Fair Lady, On the Twentieth Century, The Sound of Music, and Once Upon a Time in New Jersey at Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, The Cradle Will Rock at Theatre Outlet, and Angry Housewives, Over Here, Irma La Douce, Mack and Mabel, Company, Gypsy and others elsewhere. His choreography for the 2003 production of The Wiz at Emmaus H.S. was the recipient of the first FREDDY award for choreography. Bill received the Arts Ovation Award in 1998 for Outstanding Acheivement in the Performing Arts and his production of Gypsy was honored with an unprecedented 25th anniversary special recognition award from Arts Ovation. He has been a recipient of the Community Arts Award from the Pennsylvania Diversity Network for his commitment to bringing LGBT themed work to the Lehigh Valley and has been honored with the prestigious Allentown Human Relations Award. He attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, holds a BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and is a member of Actor’s Equity and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. He and his husband Jason make their home in Allentown very nearby in the vibrant West End with their theatredog, Alfie.
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ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/ PRODUCTION MANAGER
Rae Labadie
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Luke BlomstromTECHNICAL DIRECTOR
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Carly Covel
Carly Covel is the Marketing Director for Civic Theatre. She is responsible for overseeing and implementing all marketing, and communications related activities that are necessary to sustain and grow the organization. Carly feels honored to serve an organization dedicated to bringing excellent, elevated theatre arts to the Lehigh Valley community.
Carly is a graduate of Eastern University and holds her Bachelor of Arts in Interpersonal Communication Studies with a minor in Theatre Performing Arts. She lives with her husband, Michael, daughter Lydia, and their cat, Marlowe in Harleysville where she enjoys, gardening, baking, reading, photography, crochet and crafting along with many other creative pursuits that cross her path.
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Anthony Rizzuto
Anthony@civictheatre.com |(O): 610-432-8943 x206 (M): 610-216-7291
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Darlene Mozeko
Darlene Mozeko is the Box Office Manager at Civic Theatre of Allentown. She is responsible for maintaining the ticketing platform, selling and fulfilling ticket orders, memberships, and subscriptions, assisting Civic Theatre School with registrations and providing customer service to all patrons. Darlene became involved at Civic when her son attended Civic Theatre School. She learned to run the light board for the CTS production of The Little Mermaid (2013) which lead to running lights for all productions beginning in February 2015 until October 2019. She also joined the movie staff in 2017 and, in November 2019, she became Box Office Manager. Darlene is very passionate about the arts and Civic, in particular, and is thrilled to be a part of this wonderful organization.
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FILM MANAGER
Franny Aguilar
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JoAnn Wilchek Basist
JoAnn Basist has been a CTS instructor, director, and administrator for the past 30 years. She is a proud 1973 graduate of Civic Theatre School. She has been seen onstage at Civic in numerous productions-- most recently as Carole Scrooge in Christmas Carole 1944. She holds a B.A. in Acting/Education from Cedar Crest College, an M.Ed. from Kutztown University, and additional graduate credits from Oxford University. Mrs. Basist is currently an Adjunct Professor at Cedar Crest College and also directs Main Stage productions for the college. She is a two-time Allentown Arts Ovation Award recipient.
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BUSINESS MANAGER
Robin Horn
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MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATE
Haley Arnold
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VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
Chelsi Fread
Board Members
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Marilyn Marles
BOARD PRESIDENT
President, The Marles Group -
Veronica Bocian
1ST VICE PRESIDENT
Manager, Customer Marketing at Traliant & Adjunct Professor of Communications, Lehigh Carbon Community College -
Amy Barnett
2ND VICE PRESIDENT
Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, Josh Early Candies -
Tim Erickson
TREASURER
Partner, Investment Advisor at Erickson Financial Group, LLC -
Kausar Jaffer
SECRETARY
Realtor, RE/MAX -
JoAnn Wilchek Basist
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Adjunct Instructor, Cedar Crest College
Civic Theatre School Administrator, Civic Theatre of Allentown -
Sharon Glassman
PRESIDENT EMERITUS
Retired Educator -
Veronica Cummings
BOARD MEMBER
Revenue Cycle Ambulatory Operational Trainer at St. Luke's University Health Network -
Maria DeFebo Edwards
BOARD MEMBER
Retired Senior Graphic Designer, PPL and owner Magda Design Studios -
Justan Parker Fields
BOARD MEMBER
Relationship Manager, Shift4 Payments; Executive Director, Change Now! Lehigh Valley -
Rod Harrelson
BOARD MEMBER
Resident Dance Supervisor - Hamilton, Baseline Theatrical LLC -
Ilene Hochberg Wood
BOARD MEMBER
Bestselling Author; Handbag Historian, Curator, and Collector; and Community Activist -
Meghan LeBlanc
BOARD MEMBER
Design Manager - Custom Studio (Edelman, Knoll Textiles, Maharam) & Custom Projects Manager (Knoll) -
Liz Martin
BOARD MEMBER
Managing Director, West End Alliance & Allentown Chamber Associate -
Kara Mohsinger
BOARD MEMBER
Chief Financial Officer, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley -
Jason Roth
BOARD MEMBER
Owner, Lawrence Roth Salon -
William Sanders
Managing Artistic Director,
Civic Theatre of Allentown -
Lauren Sokolski
BOARD MEMBER
Director of Marketing & Public Relations, St. Luke's University Health Network
Advisory Board
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Actress
Kelly Bishop
After working for a dozen years as a dancer, Kelly Bishop's breakout role was Sheila in Michael Bennett's A Chorus Line for which she garnered Tony and Drama Desk awards. Broadway plays include Neil Simon's Proposals, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Six Degrees of Separation at Lincoln Center. Favorite films include An Unmarried Woman, Dirty Dancing and Miami Rhapsody. Television work has consisted of several unsold pilots, numerous guest appearances and seven years as Emily Gilmore on "The Gilmore Girls."
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Composer
Stephen Flaherty
Stephen Flaherty writes music for theater, film, recordings and the concert stage. He is perhaps best known as the composer of the Broadway musicals Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Grammy nominations), Seussical (Grammy and Drama Desk nominations), Once on This Island (Tony nomination, Olivier Award for London's Best Musical), and also contributed music to Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (original songs) and Neil Simon's Proposals (incidental music). He has also written four musicals produced at Lincoln Center Theatre: The Glorious Ones (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations), Dessa Rose (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations), A Man of No Importanc (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, Drama Desk nomination) and My Favorite Year. Other theater scores include Lucky Stiff and Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein (Chicago's Jefferson Award for Best New Musical). Film credits include Anastasia (Academy Award nominations for Best Score and Best Song, two Golden Globe nominations and a gold record for its soundtrack), Bartok the Magnificent (original score and songs) and the upcoming After The Storm. Concert work includes commissions from the Boston Pops, Carnegie Hall and the Guggenheim Museum. "The Ahrens and Flaherty Songbook," a print anthology, is available through Alfred Music. His songs have been recorded by Aaliyah, Johnny Mathis, Richard Marx and Donna Lewis, Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel, Donny Osmond, Thalia and Deana Carter, among others. Mr. Flaherty serves on the Dramatists Guild Council, where he co-chairs the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program for emerging writers with Lynn Ahrens, his longtime writing partner.
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Producer
Tom Kirdahy
Mr Kirdahy is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer whose projects have spanned Broadway, off-Broadway, the West End, national and international tours. He recently produced the first Broadway revival of August Wilson’s THE PIANO LESSON starring Samuel L. Jackson and directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson. He is currently producing the upcoming musical NEW YORK, NEW YORK from legendary songwriting team John Kander and Fred Ebb, featuring additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, an original story by David Thompson with Sharon Washington, and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman; the new play GREY HOUSE by Levi Holloway, starring Laurie Metcalf, Tatiana Maslany and Paul Sparks, with direction by Joe Mantello; the Broadway smash-hit HADESTOWN (8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical) and its national tour; and the off-Broadway revival of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Drama Desk Award, Best Revival).
Select Broadway credits: THE INHERITANCE (4 Tony Awards, including Best Play); Terrence McNally’s FRANKIE & JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE starring Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon (2 Tony nominations, including Best Revival); ANASTASIA; the box office record-breaking IT’S ONLY A PLAY starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick; THE VISIT starring Chita Rivera (5 Tony nominations). Select West End credits: THE INHERITANCE (4 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play), THE JUNGLE, Edward Albee’s THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA? Select off-Broadway credits: the world premiere of THE WHITE CHIP, THE JUNGLE, WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT (all of which were NYTimes Critic's Picks). Additional Tony nominations: MOTHERS AND SONS, AFTER MIDNIGHT, RAGTIME, MASTER CLASS.
Recipient, Robert Whitehead Award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Theater Producing. Recipient, Miss Lilly Award, a prize in recognition of his advocacy for women in a male-dominated industry. Kirdahy serves on the Broadway League Board of Governors, the Executive Board of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and is a member of the Harry Ransom Center Advisory Council at the University of Texas. As an attorney he spent nearly two decades providing free legal services to people living with HIV/AIDS and served for many years on the Executive Committee of the NYC LGBT Center. Graduate, New York University School of Law, NYU CAS.
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Director/Actor
Joe Mantello
Joe Mantello’s directing credits include Assassins (Tony Award); Wicked; Take Me Out (Tony Award); Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; A Man of No Importance; Design for Living; Terrence McNally and Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking for the San Francisco Opera; The Vagina Monologues; Bash; Another American: Asking and Telling; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Proposals; The Mineola Twins; Corpus Christi; Mizlansky/Zilinsky or Schmucks; Blue Window; God’s Heart; The Santaland Diaries; Lillian; Snakebit; Three Hotels; Imagining Brad; and Fat Men in Skirts. Mantello also directed the film Love! Valour! Compassion! As an actor he appeared in Angels in America (Tony nomination), The Normal Heart, The Glass Menagerie and The Baltimore Waltz. He is the recipient of the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Clarence Derwent, Obie, and Joe A. Callaway awards. He is a member of Naked Angels and an associate artist at Roundabout Theatre Company.
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Actress
Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress. After making her Broadway debut as Rita in Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss in 1990 (for which she received a Tony Award nomination), Parker came to prominence for film roles in Grand Canyon (1991), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), The Client (1994), Bullets over Broadway (1994), A Place for Annie (1994), Boys on the Side (1995), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), and The Maker (1997). Among stage and independent film appearances thereafter, Parker received the 2001 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Catherine Llewellyn in David Auburn's Proof, among other accolades. Between 2001 and 2006, she recurred as Amy Gardner in the NBC television series The West Wing, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2002. She received both a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of Harper Pitt in the acclaimed HBO television miniseries Angels in America in 2003.
Parker went on to enjoy large success as Nancy Botwin, the lead character in the television series Weeds, which ran from 2005 to 2012 and for which she received three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series between 2007 and 2009 and received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2006.
Her later film appearances include roles in The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), Red (2010), R.I.P.D. (2013), and Red 2 (2013). Parker returned to Broadway in 2019 to star in The Sound Inside, for which she won her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. In 2022, she reprised the role of Li'l Bit, which she had originated off-Broadway in 1997, in How I Learned to Drive on Broadway, a performance which earned Parker her fifth Tony nomination. Since 2007, Parker has contributed articles to Esquire magazine and published her memoir, Dear Mr. You, in 2015. In 2017, she starred as Roma Guy on the ABC television miniseries When We Rise.
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Designer
Jason Sherwood
Jason JASON SHERWOOD is a two-time Emmy Award-winning designer and creative director.
He won his first Emmy Award for production designing Rent Live on Fox.
He won his second consecutive Emmy Award in as many years for production designing the 2020 Oscars, and is also the youngest designer in history to ever design on the show.
He has also been recognized with nominations for the Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Art Directors Guild Award, and multiple Henrey Hewes Design Awards.
In the live music space, he has designed projects and performances for Sam Smith, the Spice Girls, Sara Bareilles, Camila Cabello, Elton John, Eminem, Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monae, and more.
On television, he has designed performances and shows for The Oscars, Rent Live, the People’s Choice Awards, on Saturday Night Live, Ellen, the Late Late Show, the Grammy Awards, the Brits, and more,
He has designed dozens of theatre productions, including world premiere new musicals and plays at theatres everywhere including New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Signature Theatre, Playwrights Realm, the Guthrie, The Old Globe, Denver Center Theatre Company, 5th Avenue Theatre, and many more.
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Actress
Christine Taylor
Christine Taylor has endeared herself to audiences over the last few decades with her roles in numerous hit films and television shows including Dodgeball, Zoolander, The Wedding Singer, Tropic Thunder, Arrested Development, and her iconic portrayal of Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie, and A Very Brady Sequel.
Recently, Taylor recurred in the critically acclaimed series Search Party opposite Alia Shawkat, as well as Odd Mom Out opposite Jill Kargman. As a producer, she co-created the non-scripted Red Nose Day special Celebrity Escape Room hosted by Jack Black. Other notable films credits include Friendsgiving, Little Boxes, The Craft, The First Time, License To Wed, Dedication, and Overnight Delivery.
On the small screen, Taylor got her start as a teenager, starring in Nickelodeon’s first scripted series, Hey Dude; and headlined the Fox series Party Girl based on the cult film in the 1990’s. She has had memorable guest star appearances on several hit tv shows such as Friends, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Elementary, Burning Love, My Name is Earl, Spin City, Ellen and Murphy Brown.
Currently she can be seen in the newly launched half hour comedy series High Desert on Apple TV+ alongside Patricia Arquette, Matt Dillon and Bernadette Peters. Additionally, Taylor co-hosts the popular iHeart Radio podcast Hey Dude…The 90’s Called with her former Hey Dude co-star David Lascher. She can also be seen this June starring in the short film Let Liv, which will make its big screen debut at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival.
In addition to her work as an actor and producer, over the last 20 years, Taylor has served on the board of Project ALS, which is an organization that raises funds for research towards finding effective treatments and a cure for ALS.
