Kitchen Theatre Staff
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Rachel
Lampert (Artistic Director) is a playwright, director
and choreographer. Directing and theatrical choreography
credits outside Ithaca include productions at Cal Rep,
Arkansas Rep, Portland Stage Company, New York’s
Public Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre and Hawaii
Opera Theatre. Her concert dance works have been in
the repertory of numerous dance companies in the U.S.
and abroad.
She is active in the Ithaca arts community beyond the
Kitchen having directed at the Hangar Theatre (Sweeney
Todd, Falsettos, The Sisters Rosensweig, Camelot) and was the choreographer for
HAIR this past summer. Other collaborations include: Ensemble X; Music
Recreation and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. Her play, Bet You Can’t Catch It?
was commissioned by AIDSWORK of Tompkins County as part of an educational
program for teens and toured Central NY for three years. |
At the Kitchen-- Playwright: Main Stage Musicals: Comfort Food, Tony & the
Soprano, The Angle of the Sun and Precious Nonsense. Main Stage Non-musical plays:
The Trial, The Book Club, Frankenstein and The Soup Comes Last. Family Fare: The
Mozart Mystery, The Odyssey Parts 1 & 2, A December Suite, The Sisters Fitzandstarts
and A Christmas Carol among others. Director: The Glass Menagerie, The Price,
Master Class, Talley’s Folly, Stop Kiss, A Delicate Balance, Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf? among others.
Her trip to China in 1997 to stage West Side Story resulted in her writing The Soup
Comes Last produced off-Broadway at 59E59 Theatres in Fall 2004. The Angle of
the Sun (written by Lampert & Pressgrove) was selected by the New York Musical
Theatre Festival and to be presented in NYC in September 2007.
Rachel is a 4-time recipient of NEA Choreography Fellowships, and a CAP
Individual Artist Grant. She received a SALT Award for Best Actress 2004.
She attended Mount Holyoke College and has a BFA and MFA from NYU Tisch
School of the Arts. Raised in Brooklyn, she moved to Ithaca with her husband
David Squires in 1995. This is her 11th season as Artistic Director. |
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Stephen
Nunley (Managing Director) Born and raised in the Buffalo area with a B.S in Mathematics from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, Stephen sidestepped a career as a junior high math teacher to become a modern dancer. He has danced for a variety of companies and choreographers around the world and, most notably, was a member of Rachel Lampert and Dancers during the 80’s and early 90’s. He later became general manager of Eighteenth & Eighth, a popular restaurant in the Chelsea area of NYC. Over the past two seasons he has appeared in a variety of roles on and “next to” the KTC stage, including clarinetist in the chamber ensemble for The Angle of the Sun. |
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Lesley
Greene (Producer of Kitchen Counter Culture
& Family Fare) joined the staff of the Kitchen Theatre in July 2003. She has composed music for several Family Fare productions (Circus Wunderbar, The Refrigerator Caper, Fools! Schmools!, Science Fair, Winter Tales, Rebecca Returns), directed the original production of Hilby's Circus Wunderbar, assistant directed Family Fare and Main Stage productions (Pirates of Penzance, Mikado, Science Fair, Waltz), played flute in The Mozart Mystery, and performed onstage in Stop Kiss, The Trial, Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, Fools! Schmools! I & II, The Odyssey part I, Winter Tales, I Have a Song to Sing O!, and Rebecca Returns. She is pleased to be collaborating with Rachel Lampert this season on Emmett & Ella's Big Apple Escapade. |
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Jody
Vander Yacht (Development
Associate) hails from Southern Michigan and comes to the Kitchen with a BA in theatre and Communications from Albion College. A lifelong theatre aficionado, she has acted in, directed, and produced many community theatre productions. Favorite roles include Dottie Otley in Noises Off!, Susie in Wait Until Dark, Queen Aggravaine in Once Upon a Mattress. Outside of the KTC she volunteers as an IHS “Drama Mama,” and is the Vice president of the Fine Arts Booster Group. Jody’s career path included stints in nonprofit management, grant writing, and human resources. She also was the general manager of a 242-seat community theatre. |
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Megan
Pugh (Director of Marketing)
joined the Kitchen Theatre in September of 2006. Megan has a Fine Arts background and worked in the graphics industry in NYC for ten years doing graphic design, print production, sales and marketing. Megan came to Ithaca in 2002 with her family to join EcoVillage at Ithaca and to open her graphic design company, blink digital. Although she has never been on stage herself, Megan enjoys being around people who have and is thrilled to be one of the newest members of the KTC staff. |
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Stephen Wagner (Stage Manager) rejoins the Kitchen this year as State Manager. Stephen started with the Kitchen Theatre in 2002 as Summer Stage Manager. He worked on several Kitchen favorites, such as The Servant of Two Masters, Bed and Sofa, The Perfect Ganesh, and Fully Committed, just to name a few. After moving to Beverly Hills, California, Stephen was called back to Ithaca to work on The Soup Comes Last. He helped transfer Soup to off-Broadway in the Fall of 2004 were he was Assistant Stage Manager. Finally settling back in his hometown of Mystic, CT, Stephen worked as the Props Crew Chief at The Garde Theatre in New London, CT. At the Garde, Stephen worked on the national tours of Cats, Rent, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Wonderful Town, Oklahoma, Man of LaMancha, Crazy for You and many more. Stephen is excited to end his nomadic journey and return to Ithaca, his second home. |
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Jessica Carr (Administrative Intern/ Group Sales) is a recent graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC with a Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre. After joining the KTC in January 2006, she kicked off her internship on stage as Athena in The Odyssey II. A native of Horseheads, NY, she is looking forward to continuing her work with the Kitchen for the 07-08 Season. |
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Kali DiPippo (Production Intern) is a recent graduate of the Ithaca College theater department where she worked on shows including Seussical the Musical, Burn This, and Urinetown! The Musical. She has also worked at Muhlenberg College as an electrician and at the Hampstead Theatre in London as a stage manager in the education department. Her latest adventure was in a Hackettstown, New Jersey summer camp where she doubled as a camp counselor and a drama instructor. By August, however, the pull of Ithaca was strong, and Kali is inexpressibly pleased to return and join the Kitchen Theatre Company. |
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Carol Spence (Main Stage Season Artist) visual artist and collaborator, has a Masters of Art in Teaching from the Rhode Island School of Design and her drawings, prints, and mixed media works have been shown at regional galleries. She is an art teacher at Ithaca High School and the Fine Arts Dept. Chair. Interdisciplinary inspiration has played a part in her process and she has collaborated on projects with other visual artists, writers, musicians and choreographers. This is the second season that Carol has created original artwork for the Kitchen’s Main Stage Season. |
| Rep Studio (Sound Engineering & Technical Production Sponsor) has created over 80 sound scores and compositions for the Kitchen in the past 8 years. Owned by Tim Reppert, REP Studio is one of central New York’s busiest recording studios producing radio and television spots as well as scores for film and video. At the operating helm is producer/engineer/musician Nate Richardson who is REP’s new Studio Guru. REP Studio is where many of the region’s most popular musical groups choose to record their CD’s. |
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