Festival Staff

Catherine Atack

Executive Director

Catherine originates from Shakespeare's homeland of England - although from Yorkshire not Stratford! Her first stop west was to New York City, to work in the commercial editing business in Manhattan. After the end of her contract in New York, Catherine returned to England to work as a Public Relations Executive for Sinclair Mason, northern England's leading public relations firm. However, the desire to return to the Americas was always strong and in April of 1999, she returned to New York again, and to America for good. In 2000, Catherine was hired by the Rose-Glenn Group in Reno to work in their public relations department, and it was during the next three years that Catherine became grounded in the Reno/Lake Tahoe community. After learning about the regional tourism economy, working on accounts for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitor's Authority and the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau, Catherine decided she wanted to work for an organization that allowed her to manage events, while benefiting growth in tourism for the Reno/Lake Tahoe region. Catherine is also the Past Chair of the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Visitor's Bureau Board of Directors.

jan powell

Artistic Director

Jan Powell is the new Artistic Director for the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, and as such is responsible for all onstage and backstage aspects of our productions. In preparing for the 2008 season, she has brought in a new team of designers, directors, and technical staff, and traveled the U.S. to cast our company of actors, each of whom will make their debut LTSF performance this summer. Jan has relocated to Lake Tahoe from Portland, Oregon, with over 25 years of professional experience and a primary focus on directing Shakespeare. Jan was the founding Artistic Director for Portland's Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company, and has directed a great many Shakespeare plays, including the entire canon of histories. In addition, she has directed numerous other theatrical productions across the U.S., ranging from original works to opera. She has served as president of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, and remains active in the STAA's international conversation on producing Shakespeare. Her goals for the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival include bringing in new national and international talent, fostering local talent, developing new resources and building strong regional collaborations.

John Anderson

Director of Finance

Prior to joining the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in February of 2006, John spent his entire career working in and around the San Jose, California area. He has worked primarily with entrepreneurial companies, and for the last 16 years has operated a consulting practice. In addition to his role as Director of Finance for the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, he also serves as part time CFO and director of General Lasertronics Inc., senior financial advisor and acting CFO to Novelx Inc., financial advisor to Microtech Systems Corporation, Onde Technology, Inc., Evans FWA, Inc, and to two guitar manufacturers, Santa Cruz Guitar Company and Hill Guitar. John also teaches graduate and undergraduate accounting classes online for the University of Phoenix. John holds an MBA from Santa Clara University. John and his wife recently relocated to Reno.

Billie Danforth

Senior Operations Manager

Billie joined the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in the spring of 2002. Since graduating college in Amherst N.Y., Billie has worked in the travel and hospitality industry, from the ski and hotel industry to restaurant management and wholesale travel. As Senior Operations Manager for the Festival, she is directly involved in the day to day details that bring the Festival to life and keeps it going without a hitch. Since moving to "The Lake" in 1998, Billie has lived on the North Shore and enjoys all the beauty that Lake Tahoe has to offer, including hiking, boating, skiing and spending quality time with her family and friends.

Jennie Pitts

Community Outreach Manager

Jennie has always lived her life centered upon the arts and is therefore quite excited to have joined the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in the summer of 2006. She studied Dance and English Literature at the University of Oregon, and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Jennie is extremely passionate about arts education and has spent over ten years teaching dance to students of all ages throughout the western states and in the Czech Republic. Jennie oversees the festival's educational outreach programs including the InterACT workshop series and the D.G. Menchetti Young Shakespeare free performances. She serves as the Festival Volunteer Coordinator and oversees ticket-taking and audience admittance throughout the summer season. In addition to her love of the arts, Jennie is devoted yoga practitioner and enjoys teaching Hatha yoga classes at O2 Wellness Studio in Gardnerville.

allie bruni

Fund Development Manager

Allie is a native to Northern California though comes to the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival from Summit County, Colorado. Allie is the festivals new Fund Development Manger and she is excited and eager to be part of the future economic growth of the LTSF. Prior to working for the LTSF, Allie spent many years involved and working in the action sports industry as well as the television and movie production world. Allie’s personal goal as the festivals new Development Manager is to focus on increase funding for the D.G. Menchetti Young Shakespeare program. Allie now resides in Tahoe Vista and plans to root herself in the area permantly. When Allie is not working at the festival she can be found hiking, snowmobiling, snowboarding and playing with her beloved dog and best friend Grace.

alexis roman hill

Sales Supervisor

Bio to follow

Jill Cooper

Administration Manager

Jill Cooper, Festival Administration Manager, has lived and worked in the community of Incline Village since 1963; graduating from Incline High School. After working as a ski instructor at Diamond Peak for 17 years, Jill returned to her former profession in accounting. Jill has been with the Festival since 2001.

whitney thornton wall

Sales and Marketing Assistant

Whitney joined the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival family in April of 2008.  She recently graduated from the University of Nevada, and is so excited to be doing marketing for the Festival.  Whitney is originally from Massachusetts and moved "Out West" first to Park City to ski race and then to Boulder City where she attended high school.  Ever since Whitney moved to the Reno-Tahoe area about five years ago; she has been able to enjoy all of her favorite things: skiing, mountain biking, hiking, hanging out with friends and family and going to the beach.  Whitney loves living on the North Shore and never plans on leaving!