Professional Connections

Marti Gobel, Director - The Light (2022), Crumbs from the Table of Joy (2019), Wine In The Wilderness (2016) and In The Red And Brown Water (2014)

Marti Gobel serves as the Resident Teacher Artist and Education Program Designer for Renaissance Theatreworks in Milwaukee.  A local actor, director and arts educator, Marti was also the Artistic Director of UPROOTED Theatre.  In August 2015, Marti completed Kennedy Center Training focusing on Effective Residency and Lesson Planning.  As an actor and director, Marti has worked with Next Act Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theatreworks, and Forward Theatre. Marti actively engages in public speaking and advocacy campaigns to promote diversity in the arts.

Matt Daniels, Director – California Suite (2021)

Matt is an actor, director and teaching artist based in Milwaukee. His directing work has been seen at Door Shakespeare, First Stage, Milwaukee Chamber Theater, goats & monkeys, and several independent stages in New York. As an actor he has appeared at Milwaukee Rep, Forward Theater, Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Milwaukee Shakespeare, and the Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame, and North Carolina Shakespeare Festivals. He serves as an Artistic Associate at First Stage, where he is also the Director of the award-winning Young Company. Matt trained at the Juilliard School. www.mattydee.xyz

Lenny Banovez, Director - Little Women (2018)

Lenny is the Artistic Director of Titan Theatre Company in New York City and Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Holland, MI. His MFA is from the Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) at Ohio University.  As an actor, director and educator Lenny has worked with: The Kennedy Center, Cherry Lane Theatre NYC, Theatre Row NYC, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, PCPA Theaterfest, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Hyperion Theater Project NYC, Texas Shakespeare Festival, and Virginia Shakespeare Festival.

Erin Slattery-Black, Costume Design - A Year With Frog & Toad (2018)

Erin Slattery Black has earned three Emmy Awards for her work as a costume designer for Sesame Street. She teaches at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts as well as working as a freelance illustrator, sculptor and designer for television, film and live theatre in New York City. Erin is also a proud Marquette University alumnus.

Ray Jivoff, Director - Anything Goes (2017) and Little Shop Of Horrors (2011)

Ray Jivoff is a Milwaukee-based actor/director/teacher and is the Artistic Director of Skylight Music Theatre. He oversees Enlighten, Skylight’s Education Program. Roles at Skylight include narrator/mysterious man in Into the Woods, Mr. Zero in Adding Machine, Roger Debris in The Producers, Koko in The Mikado and the Major General in The Pirates of Penzance.

Directing projects include Hair at Skylight; The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged, Revised at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors at Marquette University, West Side Story at UW Milwaukee, Ragtime at Milwaukee High School of the Arts and Sweet Charity at Sunset Playhouse.

Bill Watson, Director - Two Rooms (2017) and Boys Next Door (2013)

Bill Watson is a professional actor and director and has taught movement, acting and directing at Universities of Texas, Idaho and Montana now heads the BFA acting program at UW-Milwaukee. Professional credits include: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Empty Space, The State Theatre of Austin, The Montana Repertory Theatre, Montana Shakespeare In The Parks, and A Contemporary Theatre. He has collaborated and studied with such international physical performers as Bob Berky and Avner Eisenberg.

Leda Hoffmann Director - Censored On Final Approach (2016) and Student Body (2018)     

Leda has directed at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Renaissance Theatreworks, Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Door Shakespeare, Riverside Theater (Iowa City), The Alchemist Theatre, and self-produces work in non-traditional spaces with her company, Luminous Theatre. Beginning as an intern at the Milwaukee Rep she became their Director of Community Engagement for many years. She is a member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab 2012 and Chicago Directors Lab 2013. Having grown up in Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, and Canada, as the daughter of a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, Leda is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.