national Office Staff

Liaison to the Board of Directors

Oversight of Institute Operations and the National Office

Major Gift Development

LAURA LEE EVERETT joined USITT as its Executive Director in early 2023. She was introduced to the membership at the Annual Conference & Stage Expo in St. Louis. She was previously the Chief Programs Officer for OPERA America.

Joining OPERA America in 2012, she facilitated the creation and opening of the National Opera Center in New York City. She created the public programming series Onstage at the Opera Center and established the curating cycles for the production design galleries featuring the work of celebrated scenic, costume, lighting, projection, wig, and production designers’ work in opera. Additionally, she produced professional development programs at the National Opera Center to facilitate composers and librettists, singers and pianists, and leadership training for future leaders in non-profit arts administration. She produced all programming and content for the bi-annual New Works Forum, gatherings of up to 400 producers, presenters, creators and collaborators of new music.

For OPERA America, she executive produced the Opera America Songbook (a collection of 50 commissioned songs for the opening of the National Opera Center), and Fierce Grace: Jeannette Rankin, a commissioned song cycle about the first U.S. congresswoman, written by an all-woman team of composers and librettists. In 2015 she launched the Women’s Opera Network and in 2022, produced the inaugural Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera, recognizing the best work created for digital platforms by artists and producers across the U.S. and Canada.

As the program officer for all of OPERA America’s granting programs, annually funding more than $2M for new work creation and development, innovation in programming and production, and civic practice initiatives, Everett was instrumental in the 2014 creation of the Opera Grants for Women Composers programs, awarding more than $1M to 98 composers, and to companies producing their work. She was essential in cultivating the funding and creation of the 2019 and 2020 IDEA grant programs offering developmental grants for work and residencies by BIPOC composers and librettists.

Everett spent 10 years as the managing director at the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland and eight seasons with the Aspen Opera Theater Center. In both positions, she cultivated support for programs developing new work, training the next generation of performers, directors, designers, and technicians, and giving students in the performing arts the essential opportunity to gain experience in classic repertoire and contemporary work.

She spent more than 20 years of her career as a stage and production manager specializing in opera and in this capacity has overseen productions and worked with many of the leading companies across the U.S.

Everett is no stranger to USITT, having been actively involved as a volunteer for a number of years. Before taking on her current role, she served as the Management Commissioner.

Said USITT President Carolyn Satter, “I am confident that Laura Lee is the visionary thought-leader that we sought to create a robust future-proof organization that can achieve success at the next level. Along with her copious industry knowledge is her fund-raising expertise which will be a critical component in advancing the Institute while basing all that we do on our bedrock Core Values of inclusion, excellence, and responsibility.”

Read the release announcing Laura Lee as USITT's Executive Director.

Education and Training events and initiatives

Oversight and management of Education and Training for Annual Conference

Corporate partner liaison for educational content

CHRISTINE TROSCHER started with USITT in 2013 as the Education & Training Coordinator. Her theatrical career began after receiving her BA from a small SUNY college in upstate NY in 1990. From there it was on to summer stock, puppet theatre, and being an all-around stagehand before moving to Houston to work at the Alley Theatre. After some good fortune and good connections and a summer at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, those connections brought her to San Diego and the La Jolla Playhouse.

Christine eventually joined I.A.T.S.E. Local #122 where she was exposed to all kinds of industry experience. But the union card and networking led her back to NYC where she was fortunate to go to work for I.A.T.S.E. Local #1. Before long, Christine had a hankering to return to Upstate NY where she continued to work in the industry but as a Venue Manager.

After several years and one good job listing, she found USITT practically in her backyard and the rest is, as they say, his/herstory.

Marketing, Membership, and Promotional Strategy

Website Content Development

User Experience

MARK BLACKMON is responsible for all membership, marketing, and promotional operations of the Institute.

He was asked to join USITT in 2018 as Director of Marketing & Public Relations to analyze and reinvigorate Institute communications. The next year his remit was expanded to include responsibility for and management of membership activities and annual conference registration, two of the Institute’s three primary earned revenue streams. (The third stream being booth sales at annual Stage Expo.) His work in branding and institutional messaging sees him working closely with the Executive Director and the Director of Sales & Events.

Direct reports currently include the Senior Manager for Member Services and the Engagement Marketing Manager, who oversee the membership and promotional teams within the department. He also manages various contractors in the communications field, including website and app developers, and the editorial and production teams for Theatre Design & Technology (TD&T), the Institute’s highly regarded journal.

He spent more than a decade in higher education administration, including as Director of News & Public Affairs at Monmouth University, Director of Communications at Wilson College, and serving Earlham College as Associate Vice President for Public Affairs and as Director of Media Relations, overseeing the college’s extensive publications portfolio, all interactions with the national media, and implementing strategies to attract national attention to the college using new and emerging technology.

As an arts marketer, Blackmon developed innovative audience development strategies replicated nationally by non-profit professional theatres. A sought-after speaker, he has presented at conferences and symposia across the country. Most recently, on behalf of USITT he presented “No More Lines: Reinventing the Box Office Post-COVID,” a radical reexamination of traditional front-of-house operations, at the AACTFest virtual national conference.

He developed key marketing and audience development materials for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks for 13 consecutive summer seasons and served for nearly a decade on the innovative senior management team at the Round House Theatre in suburban Washington, D.C., where he oversaw all sales, marketing and audience development, raising subscription revenue nearly 700 percent. Of the organization’s Top Ten highest grossing shows in its first quarter-century, Blackmon developed the promotional strategies for all of them.

Other industry credits include serving as Head of Institutional Development and later as a Board member of Baltimore Shakespeare Festival; Vice President of the League of Washington Theatres; and as a nominator for the Helen Hayes Awards.

Blackmon co-founded Chanticleer Productions, one of the nation’s first firms to create new media infrastructure for podcast programming accessible to the non-profit arena.

Originally schooled as a broadcast journalist, he has written in and developed story and content for virtually every conceivable format.  He makes his home in Syracuse with his husband and a basset hound. Life is too short to settle for bad theatre and weak tea.

Annual Budget

Liaison with Finance Committee

Investment, Fund, Cash Receipts oversight and management

FRAN TAYLOR started with USITT in 2021 as the Director of Finance.  She was born, raised, and educated in New York City and one of her favorite pastimes was attending Broadway and off-Broadway theatrical performances.  After graduating from Pace University with a degree in business administration, she began her career in public accounting as an auditor.  Fran moved to Virginia Beach, VA where she spent eight years traveling across Europe as a member of the finance team of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), performing internal financial and operational audits of the various international headquarters.  

After obtaining her certified public accountant (CPA) license, Fran opened her own consulting firm which specialized in training and support of small and start-up non-profits in the areas of 501(c) eligibility, implementing effective internal controls, audit planning and execution, and filing Forms 990.  She eventually decided to return to the workforce and has since served in financial leadership roles for various non-profit organizations and associations and welcomed with excitement the opportunity to reconnect to the theatre world when she joined the team at USITT.  

Fran’s current and past leadership duties include providing oversight of day-to-day finance and human resources operations, and ensuring transparent financial reporting to leadership teams, boards, and other stakeholders while applying best practices. Fran is team-driven and thrives on collaborating with her colleagues to bring about effective operational policies and processes which add efficiencies across the organization while working together to accomplish the mission of USITT.

Stage Expo Sales and Exhibitor Relations

Sponsorships

Advertising Sales and Partnerships

JODY HARRIS brings her passion for special event planning and over two decades of sales, event logistics and event planning expertise to USITT.

Prior to joining USITT in 2019, she served as Director of Events and later as Director of Food and Beverage at the Oncenter in Syracuse, overseeing all corporate, conference and social celebrations at the Convention Center, Arena and Theaters. At the helm of event operations, Jody worked in tandem with the Event team, Executive Chef, Banquet, Catering and Concessions team always delivering impeccable results with true hospitality. From intimate board of directors dinners to annual business conferences, or chic luncheons to charity galas, Jody creates unforgettable and bespoke experiences to suit any occasion.

Her vision, unique approach and philosophy on team building and customer service has served her well in her career. This approach has been adopted by USITT who has been able to distinguish itself from existing competitors by adopting a unique and customized approach for event sales and operations. “Listening to our clients and guests has been the secret to our success.” This boutique approach has been widely received by clients and patrons alike. Jody is passionate about trying new concepts, staying relevant with current trends and helping clients stand out in the crowd. She views every event as a true partnership, understanding what is at stake, and delivering meticulously on the details to make the right impression on guests.

Jody has emerged as a true leader of the special event and catering industry. Jody has spent a career creating events throughout Alberta (Canada), Columbus (Ohio), and Syracuse, featuring creative and well executed menus, dramatic presentations, outstanding services and extreme attention to detail.

Her career began as an event planner for UNICEF in Canada where she sought out venues and worked with caterers, florists, AV providers to name a few. She realized early on the importance of these relationships and how the menu and all the event details were a direct reflection on her. Jody created the first corporate concierge business in Calgary, Alberta. She then spent 10 years in Columbus as Director of Special Events for a private catering company planning and executing more than 500 events including the corporate hospitality and concessions for the annual Memorial Golf Tournament.

Jody embodies the anticipatory service, attentiveness to detail and unflagging professionalism that the hospitality industry is known for. She resides in Cazenovia, New York with her high school sweetheart and 3 recent college graduates.

Andrea Ball (she/they) is a scenic designer United Scenic Artist Local 829- IATSE, a trained scenic artist for theatre, a former college educator, and now the USITT Education & Training Coordinator. She has been an active member of USITT for so many years it will require math to figure out and has been a presenter in both hands-on labs and regular sessions at several Conferences. If you want to look at some of Andrea's design or paint work, you could always visit www.basecoatstudios.com. They are happy to be part of the USITT Education & Training team and would almost always love to chat about nearly anything.

Data Management

Providing Assistance to Members

Conference Awards and Programs Support

ALEXA DEMBIEC (she/her) joined the USITT National Office in October 2023. Working directly under the Associate Director of Engagement for Member Experience, Alexa's day-to-day consists of supporting USITT's member base in everything from renewing or upgrading memberships to event and conference registration. She also helps collect, maintain, and analyze USITT's data.

Alexa hails from the Lakes Region of New Hampshire where she began her love for theatre at a young age, performing in plays and musicals with the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, the Streetcar Company, and Gilford High School, including performances in the New Hampshire Theatre Festival. Alexa also danced with and taught at Stages Dance Academy and performed at the Plymouth State University Dance Premier Gala.

Although her relationship with theatre began as a passion for performing, Alexa quickly found a love for the administrative side as well. This led her to Ithaca College where she graduated in May of 2020 with a B.S. in Theatre Arts Management, after completing her studies in three short years in the beautiful city of Ithaca. Since then, she has held positions in Box Office and Development roles with the Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Meredith, NH; The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH; and the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY. After spending nearly three years traveling to the Central New York region to visit her long-distance partner, Alexa is thrilled to have settled in such gorgeous area of the country with her partner (no longer long-distance!) and their Maine Coon mix, Ophelia.

BACKstage Exam | On-Demand Learning

Education & Training Department Communications

Support of Programming Team at Annual Conference

KAREN GREENFIELD joined the National Office staff in November 2017. She supports all-year educational programming and manages speaker communications for the Annual Conference & Stage Expo. In addition, she is the operational side of the development of the BACKstage CTE High School Exam and oversees the content for eSet and INNOVA on-demand and online course work. A scenic artist, Karen also paints sets for regional and local productions in Syracuse and attended the summer scenic painting workshop at USITT member, Cobalt Studios, in 2017.

Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable Processing

Financial Report Data Management

Reconciliation of Bank Statements

TYLER LAVONAS is the Accounting Administrator for USITT. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting in 2016 and his first job in this field was a billing specialist managing multiple client accounts.  At USITT, his primary areas of responsibility include daily reconciliation of accounts receivables and accounts payable.  Tyler effectively manages financial and tax data for USITT’s vendors and contractors, and reports 1099 income to the IRS annually.

Tyler processes accounts payable using an electronic bank platform, one that he was instrumental in implementing and which significantly streamlined operational processes. Tyler’s additional duties include reconciling monthly bank statements, and credit card expense reconciliation and reporting.  He uses various software platforms to perform his duties including Sage 50 and Salesforce (Nimble).  

He works closely with the Director of Finance to ensure timely and accurate month-end and year-end book close and financial reporting to the leadership and stakeholders across the organization.

Photography and Videography

Brand Stewardship

Social Media

SAMI LESNIAK is a content creator with a focus on video and a love for live entertainment. As the new Visual Content Coordinator, Sami will be producing and designing content for our social media platforms. She's had roles in the Marketing and Entertainment departments with MiLB teams (the Harrisburg Senators and the West Michigan Whitecaps) and has worked on the production crews of AHL and ECHL teams (the Hershey Bears and the Kalamazoo Wings, respectively). Sami has a B.S. in Television & Digital Media Production from Ferris State University.

Outside of work, she loves traveling with her friends and spending time with her family. She also enjoys bowling, disc golf, playing Mario Kart, and advocating for the Oxford comma. To keep herself entertained, she spends her time watching Gilmore Girls, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and is a self-proclaimed expert in movie theater popcorn. During the summer months, she grows a luffa garden and makes her own sponges.

General Administrative Support

Conference Registration Support

JobsUSITT Ad Placement and Coordination

CASSIE NELSON joined the USITT National Office team in July 2022 and recently joined the Sales & Events team in July 2024. Her daily duties include monitoring general inquiry emails, managing the fulfillment of online bookstore orders, handling the daily mail, assisting with Conference planning, managing the onsite USITT Bookstore at Conference, overseeing JobsUSITT, and invoicing for Theatre Design & Technology (TD&T) advertising. Cassie also assists with Conference housing and travel, the Stage Expo Re-Book process, USITT sponsorship deliverables, and providing support to the National Office staff.

Cassie does not have a theatre background. She graduated from Hudson Valley Community College with a degree in Mortuary Science, a field she worked in for 12 years as a New York State Licensed Funeral Director.

She has lived in Hannibal, NY her whole life and shares a house there with her husband, John, and two children, Paisley and Tucker. In her spare time, she enjoys being with her family and friends and exploring the Adirondacks in the summer.

Primary liaison to the membership

Manage Awards

Annual Conference Registrar

LIZZ NYANZI (she/her) has participated in theatre since childhood, beginning as a dancer and eventually shifting focus to working behind the scenes as a stage manager. She received her BA in Theatre Arts and English at Le Moyne College and an MA in Museum Studies from Syracuse University. She is also an alumna of AmeriCorps VISTA.

Prior to USITT, Lizz worked at CNY Arts (the regional arts council for Central New York), managing their Community Programs and Marketing. She also worked as a freelance stage manager, marketing coordinator, and board member for local community theatres from 2014-2021.

Lizz began at USITT in August 2018 as the Member Services Assistant and is now the Associate Director of Engagement for Member Experience. At USITT, she works directly with members to optimize their experience with the Institute. On a day-to-day basis Lizz enjoys fielding general inquiries from members looking to join or renew their membership, navigate the web portal, and access USITT’s services. She also is the administrator of Nimble/Salesforce, the Institute’s association management system.

Lizz administers USITT’s 11 award programs, two scholarship programs, four mentorship programs, and six grant programs. Annually, these programs recognize up to 40 exceptional individuals and organizations working in the industry, give mentorship opportunities to 200 students and early career professionals, provide scholarship funding of $20,000 to undergraduate students, and grant up to $40,000 in research, development, and educational funds.

Lizz also oversees the registration system for USITT’s Annual Conference, providing technical support to staff and about 5,000 attendees each year as well as collecting registration data and statistics.

Lizz works in partnership with Southeastern Theatre Conference to plan and execute the annual LiNK event which connects graduate candidates with master’s programs in acting, directing, design, and technology. Annually, the event hosts 200 recruiters from 60 graduate programs and 100 graduate candidates.

Management of USITT National Office

Human Resources

Invoicing and Collections for Stage Expo, Advertising, Sponsorship, JobsUSITT

LEA ANN QUIMBY joined the USITT National Office team in March 2018.

Before USITT, Lea Ann worked for a locally owned and operated funeral home as their Office Manager and NYS Licensed Funeral Director for several years. Although she does not come from a theatre background, she has enjoyed learning about the organization and technical theatre as well as growing her knowledge with the assistance of USITT’s staff, board, and members.

As the Office Administrator, Lea Ann provides daily support to the Executive Director and staff. Her duties also include, Accounts Receivable; Human Resources for USITT staff; travel and housing logistics for Conference as well as other meetings and events; oversight of USITT Store both online and at the Annual Conference; assistance with Stage Expo sales and sponsorships and oversight of the exhibitor rebook process onsite; assisting the Secretary with both the annual Board nomination and election processes; organization of the USITT Student Chapter process; oversight of the quarterly TD&T subscription process.

Lea Ann lives in a suburb of Syracuse with her husband, Jon, and two daughters, Hannah and Alexis. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, downhill skiing, and hiking.

The Current Oversight and Editorial Management

TECHnically Speaking Podcast

Website Content

JENN SHURON is USITT’s Engagement Marketing Manager, newsletter curator, podcast producer, and overall marketing guru. Jenn has been with USITT since 2016 and attended her first Conference in St. Louis in 2017.

Jenn creates and oversees USITT’s website and podcast content; its The Current newsletter; Conference website; digital deliverables for exhibitors and advertisers; and all other content needs.

In 2019, Jenn created what is now USITT’s official podcast, TECHnically Speaking, which has more than 12,000 downloads on our hosting site alone with thousands more on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Listen to TECHnically Speaking.

When the global COVID pandemic turned the world upside down, Jenn and the engagement team knew they had to create a new way to get USITT news and information to members so, very early in the pandemic period, Weekly News was born. Curated, written, and edited by Jenn and garnering an average 40 percent open rate each week, Weekly News is a one stop shop for all USITT news, member stories, Conference information, and more.

Onsite at Conference, Jenn can be found at the TECHnically Speaking booth doing onsite interviews, at the registration booth handing out badges, and traversing the Expo floor doing “woman-on-the street” interviews with our many exhibitors.

Jenn has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from SUNY Oswego and has worked on theatrical productions both on and off stage since the age of four. When Jenn is not curating the latest content for USITT or recording a podcast, she delights in baking, hiking, scoping out new photography spots, searching Pinterest for her next dinner recipe, and chipping away at her yearly GoodReads goal.

Content Creation

The Current

Website Content

Email Marketing

Social Media

Liz Bilbo is extremely excited to join the engagement team at USITT as the Content Creation Coordinator! Liz grew up with two older sisters who enjoyed taking her to New York to see shows thus instilling a lifelong love of theatre in her.

Liz obtained her Bachelor's degree in Arts Management from SUNY Purchase College where she discovered her love for marketing for the arts. In her senior year of college, she had the great pleasure of working at Calleri Casting in New York City where she got to assist on many Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional projects including Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Visit, and more.

For over six years, Liz was the Social Media Coordinator at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York where she planned many successful digital media campaigns for exhibitions, classes, events, and fundraising opportunities. Some of her favorite campaigns she has worked on are for an exhibition by artist Yoko Ono, a public site specific performance by the performing arts group BANDALOOP, the 50th anniversary of the I.M. Pei designed building the Everson gets to call home, and Festival of Trees & Light, the Everson's largest annual fundraiser.

More recently, Liz was the Social and Paid Media Specialist at Wayside Publishing, a world language publishing and EdTech company, where she got to work alongside a larger marketing team and develop a paid media strategy for their annual conference, Fluency Matters as well as help develop a roll-out strategy for their recently acquired brand, Nualang.

In her spare time, Liz loves to take walks with her Golden Retriever, spend time with her nephews and niece, read, rewatch Gilmore Girls, and plan trips for her and her friends to take.