Leadership and Advisory Board

Leadership

Lenny Banovez

Artistic Director

banovez@hope.edu

Lenny Banovez (he/him) is an award-winning actor and director who holds an MFA from the Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) at Ohio University and a BA in Theater Arts from the University of Wisconsin – Parkside. As an actor, director and educator Lenny has worked with: The Kennedy Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, PCPA Theaterfest, Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Hyperion Theater Project NYC, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Huron Playhouse, The Secret Theatre NYC, Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre NYC, Monomoy Theatre on Cape Cod, and as a guest artist at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Elon University, University of Houston, Ohio University and was on staff at Lehman College in the Bronx. Lenny is the Artistic Director of both TITAN Theatre Company and Hope Summer Repertory Theatre.

Marcus Johnson

Associate Artistic Director

HSRTartistic@hope.edu

Marcus Denard Johnson (he/him) is an actor, director and theater educator from Atlanta, Georgia. Marcus holds a BA in theatre from Morehouse College and an MFA from Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, after which he moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting. Marcus found an artistic home with Titan Theatre Company, where he is currently a resident company member and Artistic Director of Titan's New Classics Festival. While working on stages across New York City, Marcus discovered a passion for Theatre for Young Audiences and Theatre Education, prompting him to pursue an interest in teaching. Marcus was accepted into an inaugural, specialized cohort of the New York City Teaching Fellowship, earning a Master of Science in Adolescent Special Education from Hunter College. He would go on to teach in the New York City Department of Education for 3 years before transitioning to a 7 year career in Non-Profit Arts Education and Administration. During his time working with non-profits, Marcus was guided by his passion for social justice to engage educators and artists in conversations regarding equity and anti-oppressive practices through the lens of theatre. This skill set eventually guided Marcus back to his home state of Georgia, where he now holds the position of Assistant Professor of Theatre at Columbus State University. This is Marcus' fourth summer at HSRT and he is thrilled to be back in Holland with his wife and 1 year old daughter.

Erik Alberg

General Manager

alberg@hope.edu

Erik Alberg (he/him) is working as the director of design and production for the performing arts at Hope College and is serving as the general manager for HSRT. He received his B.A in theatre at Hope College and his M.F.A. in technical production from the Professional Theatre Training Program at the University of Delaware. Erik’s design work has been seen or heard with H2 Dance, StrikeTime Dance, dANCEpROjECt Dance Company, IDT Dance Company, Lehrerdance, The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Hope College, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, University of Delaware, Boarshead Theatre Company, Heritage Theatre Company and The Miniature Theatre of Chester. Erik is also an award-winning photographer, whose works have been featured in galleries and publications.

Katy Atwell

Production Manager

hsrtpm@hope.edu

Katy Atwell (she/her) is a lighting designer and technical theater consultant based out of New York City. She has spent the last 6 years on staff with New York City Ballet as the assistant lighting director and is the assistant lighting designer for Moulin Rouge! on Broadway (and the National Tour). Her earlier summers in the industry were spent with HSRT and include lighting design for The Foreigner, The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged, I Do! I Do and Taking Steps. BFA: Millikin University, MFA: Boston University. To learn more, visit KatwellDesign.com.

Ayesu Lartey

Artist in Residence

ayesu.lartey@gmail.com

Ayesu Lartey (he/him) is thrilled to be this year’s Artist in Residence at Hope Rep, as well as the being the writer/composer/lyricist for Lulu and the Long Walk. Last year, Ayesu received the honor of being a 2021 Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist. His musical documentary about the Aids Quilt titled Voices of the Quilt was produced by Custom Made Theatre. He also wrote the music and lyrics for Tommy Christ, produced in New York City by CDP Summer Workshop; and Hansel & Gretel at the Majestic Theater (2014). His one-act musical, I (Music, Book & Lyrics by Sam Salmond) was produced at Barrington Stage. Ayesu lives in New York City, where he currently teaches choir, band, musical theater, songwriting and film. Ayesu holds an MFA from NYU TISCH School of the Arts and BA in Theatre Arts from University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Amy Toruño

Director of Education

hsrteducation@hope.edu

Amy Toruño (she/her) is a Nicaraguan native raised in Miami, Florida. She holds a B.A. in voice from The University of Iowa and an MFA in theater from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a teacher, she has taught a variety of ages starting from 4 years old to college, previously serving as an educator at The Miami Children’s Museum, Ramapo Summer Camp, TREAT Theatre, and most recently at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is also the author of a biographical collection of poems, as well as the winner of the 2021 Kennedy Center's Latinx Playwright Award. Amy currently resides in the greater Chicago area and is passionate about building opportunities for students of color in The American Theatre.

 

Amy E Mills

Marketing Director

hsrtpr@hope.edu

Amy Mills (she/they) is excited to be joining the HSRT team for the 50th Anniversary season. In addition to growing up backstage, Amy spent almost 20 years working for theatres such as Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, American Players Theatre and Milwaukee Rep.

Patrick Poole

Company Manager

Patrick is thrilled to be making his debut at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre. He is a graduate of the University of Houston PATP program, where he earned his MFA in 2014. He has performed with theatres around the country, and some of his favorite roles are Mr. Marks (Intimate Apparel, Cape Fear Regional Theatre), Antony (Julius Caesar, American Shakespeare Center), Kulygin (Three Sisters, UH PATP), Malvolio (Twelfth Night, Houston Shakespeare Festival), Robin the Clown (Dr. Faustus, American Shakespeare Center), and Krumpet (The Santaland Diaries, Festival 56). In addition to theatre, Patrick is a voice-over artist who has lent his voice to animes on Netflix and Toonami. He would like to dedicate this performance to his dad.

Ryan Barrett

Production Stage Manager

Ryan Barrett (he/him) has been a proud Houston resident for seven years, graduating from the University of Houston in 2017 with a BFA in Stage Management. He is also a member of Actor's Equity Association. Previous credits include: Hope Summer Repertory Theatre: Every Brilliant Thing, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Alley Theater: Sense and Sensibility, A.D. Players: The Christmas Shoes (world premiere), Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Johnny and the Devil’s Box, Miracle on 34th Street; Houston Grand Opera, Hansel & Gretel, Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers (world premiere), Conderella in Spain, Elixir of Love, Strega Nona; Stages Repertory Theatre: Luna Gale. Ryan is also the founder and show director of The Broad’s Way HTX, a resident company that specializes in weekly musical theatre performance. He would like to thank his family, chosen & biological, for their seemingly limitless love & support.

Staci Timmer

Volunteer & Community Coordinator

engageHSRT@hope.edu

Staci Timmer is thrilled to be a part of the 2022 HSRT Company. She is a Hope College graduate and spent many summers with HSRT during college, when she had onstage roles in The Nutcracker, Oliver!, Peter Pan, and The Children’s Performance Troupe. She also spent those summers working as an assistant to the producing director, costume shop technician and dresser. Other credits include work with Act One Studios, Chicago Actors Studio, Theatre of the American West and Single Action Theatre.

Alex Thompson

Resident Music Director

alexanderryanthompson@gmail.com

Alex Thompson (he/him) is so excited to return to Holland for his seventh season with HSRT. He is currently based in North Carolina. When not working in musical theatre, Alex works as a music producer, arranger and engineer working in a variety of genres including pop, hip-hop and electronic music.

Selected Credits: All Hallow’s Eve (Off Broadway); Kinky Boots (Norwegian Cruise Line); Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, My Fair Lady, She Loves Me and Ragtime (Playmakers Repertory Company, NC); Assassins (Pallas Theatre Collective, Washington D.C.); The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Connecticut Repertory Theatre); Hairspray, Working, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, The Wiz, Godspell, West Side Story (Hope Summer Repertory Theatre)

musicbyalexthompson.com

Chaz Sanders

Resident Choreographer

sanderschaz@yahoo.com

Chaz Sanders (he/him) is very thankful and grateful for Hope Summer Rep! Chaz resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a full-time dance teacher at Boost Dance Academy and a gymnastics/tumbling coach at Boost Gymnastics. Chaz has been training in Dance and Musical Theater since he was 13. He was apart of the Triple Threat Dance and Theatre Education program at The Cumberland County Playhouse for four years, and later he attended Shenandoah Conservatory. Recipient of the 2011 First Night (Nashville, TN) Rising Star Award, 2018 Winner of the West Michigan Wilde Award for Best Choreography for The Wiz (HSRT). Regional Credits: The Wiz (Hope Rep.), West Side Story (Hope Rep.), Grease (Cumberland Co. Playhouse), Hip Hop/Musical Theater dance teacher for Pacific Repertory Theaters education program “SoDa”.

“If you think you can do better, then do better, Don’t compete with anyone; just yourself.” —Bob Fosse

Alexis Black

Resident Fight and Intimacy Director

blackal6@msu.edu

Alexis Black (she/her) is thrilled to join the Hope team as resident fight/intimacy director. She has choreographed fights/intimacy for multiple productions at HSRT, including Shakespeare in Love, West Side Story and Children of a Lesser God, and directed Elephant and Piggie: We’re in a Play! for the 2019 season. Credits include United States, Europe and Asia, including choreographing for Titan Theatre Company, Brick Theatre, NYCFringe and more in NYC, and serving as assistant fight director for the Broadway productions of Fool for Love (2015) and Macbeth (2022). Regional credits include Rattlesnake Kate (Denver Center of Performing Arts), The Three Musketeers (Birmingham Children’s Theatre), Julius Caesar (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival) and multiple shows at Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC). Alexis is assistant professor of acting/movement at Michigan State University, a certified teacher in the Chekhov and Margolis physical acting techniques and a certified intimacy director and instructor with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. Member: SDC, AEA, ATME. Love to Erik and SBB.

Advisory Board

Hope College Representatives

Dr. Gerald Griffin

Provost

Gerald Griffin is a neuroscientist and virologist who began his faculty appointment at Hope in the departments of psychology and biology in fall 2015. Previously, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Tuskegee University.

Gerald has several peer-reviewed publications that represent his dedication to neuroscience research and education. He has mentored and published with over 30 undergraduate and graduate students and has been active in numerous science education outreach opportunities, including the national Brain Bee and Kids Judge! Neuroscience programs.

Dr. Sandra Visser

Dean for the Arts and Humanities

As dean for the arts and humanities, Sandra Visser supports faculty and staff development, facilities and other elements of nine of Hope College’s 24 academic departments: art and art history, dance, music, theatre, English, history, world languages and cultures, philosophy and religion. She has the same responsibilities for a number of Hope College institutions and programs including the Kruizenga Art Museum, Van Raalte Institute, Center for Ministry Studies, Mellon Scholars, and interdisciplinary programs in Women’s and Gender Studies and in Asian Studies. She helps to lead and manage people and facilities related to these departments and programs, and she interacts with their students.

Dr. Visser collaborates with the other members of the Dean’s Council to provide support and staffing to ensure the quality of programs that serve Hope College students and help them grow intellectually and spiritually.

Dr. Sonja Trent-Brown

Chief Officer for Culture and Inclusion

As Hope College’s chief officer for culture and inclusion, Dr. Trent-Brown provides leadership for the development of an institutional vision and effective implementation strategies for inclusive excellence that champion the value and importance of a diverse and inclusive college environment. In this role, she serves on Hope College’s Administrative Council. She was appointed in 2015 as special assistant to the president for culture and inclusion, a position that was expanded and renamed in 2018.

Dr. Trent-Brown teaches courses including Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Phonetics, Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics. Hope’s 2012 graduating class honored her with the Hope Outstanding Professor Educator Award, and in 2016 the Acoustical Society of America presented her with two awards for excellence in student mentoring.

She served in a number of administrative roles since joining the Hope College faculty in 2005: as the social sciences faculty representative to the college’s Strategic Planning Steering Committee, as a member of the Presidential Search Committee, and as chair of the Residential Life Committee and Campus Life Board. She previously was the adviser for Hope’s Black Student Union, and currently advises the Theta Gamma Pi Sorority.

Dr. Trent-Brown is a member of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and serves on the research committee of the Natural Start Alliance of the North American Association for Environmental Education.

Industry Representatives

David Lee Huynh

David is an actor and activist based in New York City. Off-Broadway credits include the National Asian American Theatre Company’s Henry VI (Drama Desk nomination, Outstanding Revival), Transport Group’s The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Pan Asian Repertory’s No-No Boy, Classic Stage Company’s Play On! Festival, and Gingold Theatrical Group's Mrs. Warren's Profession. Regional credits include the Kennedy Center, Alley Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, TheatreSquared, and others. International credits include Prague Shakespeare Company and the Moscow Art Theatre. TEDx Speaker: “Asian Enough?” Founding member and a producing artistic leader of The Sống Collective, a Vietnamese-American Theatre collective set to produce it's first Off-Broadway project in Summer 2022. Cast member on the award-winning high-fantasy episodic podcast Encounter Party! TV/Film: Blue Bloods, FBI, Solitary, What's Missing?, Roll With It, Children of the Dust. MFA: University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program

Psacoya Guinn

Psacoya Guinn (she/her) is a New York City based actor and arts educator. Psacoya holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Education from Troy University, and has spent several years as an arts educator teaching in New York City and regionally. She has brought theatre education programming to a variety of students: students living in transitional housing shelters, multi language learners and adults with various developmental disabilities. Psacoya truly believes she will have a life long career dedicated to inspiring and educating through theatre. 

Richard Costes

Richard Costes is a Chicago-based actor, director and accessibility consultant. Selected roles include Snout in Midsummer Night's Dream at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Bosun in Mosquitoes at Steep Theatre Company, Arjun in Opportunities of Extinction (World Premiere) at Broken Nose Theatre, and Rev D./Baby in In the Blood at Red Tape Theatre. Richard was one of 10 recipients of a 3Arts Award in 2019 and is also a 2020 ADA 25 Advancing Leadership Member. A 2006 graduate of Kent State University (B.A., theatre) he has presented at Gallaudet University’s symposium on Visual Shakespeare and was a panelist and member of the 2019 Deaf Theatre Action Planning Session hosted by HowlRound at Emerson College and now sits on the board of the National Theatre of the Deaf.

Community Members

• Al Ver Shure
• Alfredo Gonzalez
• Jeff Padnos

Bios and info coming soon

We are currently still searching for one industry and one community member to join our Advisory Board. If you are interested please email hsrt@hope.edu.