The American Society of Theatre Consultants (ASTC) announced that Keith Friedlander, Kascey Haslanger and Paul Whitaker have been approved for membership in the organization. The Board of Directors admitted the new members at the ASTC annual meeting which occurred during the 2024 USITT Conference in Seattle. In addition, new Directors of the Board have been elected and new Officers have been selected.

The three new members are experienced theatre consultants and meet the qualifications for membership. They are:

Keith Friedlander

Before joining Schuler Shook Theatre Planners in 2015, Keith Friedlander spent 15 years working as a lighting/video supervisor and master electrician at major regional theatres in addition to technical direction at the college level. As a theatre consultant, he has planned and developed theatre systems for venues ranging from significant major performing arts centers and amphitheatres to a wide variety of university and high school theatres Keith has also been responsible for renovating and upgrading numerous rigging and lighting systems during his time at Schuler Shook.

Kascey Haslanger

With experience ranging from developing lighting consoles with a major manufacturer to a field service technician to an ongoing relationship as a lighting designer with the Arizona Cardinals, Kascey Haslanger’s background prepared her for a position as Senior Consultant at Charcoal Blue. Before joining Charcoalblue, Kascey was a Senior Theatre Design Specialist and Senior Associate at DLR Group. Over the course of her 11 years as a full-time theatre consultant, she has worked on numerous types of theatres and performing arts buildings around the United States including Sacramento’s SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center.

Paul Whitaker

Recently Paul Whitaker became a partner at Schuler Shook where he has been working since 1997. Besides his theatre consulting work where he handles all aspects of the project from concept to completion, Paul also designs the architectural lighting for many of those theatres. 

He is an accomplished freelance theatre lighting designer and has designed for major regional theatres around the country and in New York. Among his many theatre consulting projects, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center at Macalester College was awarded the USITT Architecture Merit Award.

In other ASTC news, Robert Smulling and Howard Glickman were elected to the Board by the organization’s members. They join Scott Crossfield and R. Duane Wilson who were re-elected to new two-year terms.  Continuing Board members are Paul Sanow, Heather McAvoy, and Peter Scheu.

Paul Sanow was selected to be the new president of the Board succeeding Heather McAvoy.  Sanow has served on the Board for five years and been chairperson of the ASTC publications committee. He re-established and revamped the ASTC newsletter and led the effort to increase ASTC’s visibility as chair of publications.  Sanow noted, “I’m deeply humbled by the faith placed in me by the Board and by extension the membership. We’ve done a lot the last few years and I look forward to continuing our efforts to develop the organization and our outreach to the industry.” Heather McAvoy has lead ASTC for three years, and has been on the board since 2015. Paul Sanow thanked her for her service, “Heather has done an excellent job leading the board and the organization.  She has been dedicated to all our missions, and in particular, she has pushed us to find new ways to be more open and inclusive to the industry and prospective members.” 

Scott Crossfield will serve as the new vice president.  R. Duane Wilson will continue his long service to ASTC as treasurer and Peter Scheu will remain as secretary of the organization.