Theatre Gap Initiative (TGI) Board Members
TGI Board of Directors
Sharon Washington
TGI Board President
Actor (Scottsboro Boys, While I Yet Live, Joker, Die Hard); Playwright and Author (Feeding the Dragon)
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Celebrating over 30 years as a working actress and her new journey as a writer, Sharon was nominated for a 2023 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical as co-writer of New York, New York. She made her debut as playwright at City Theatre with the world-premiere of her solo play Feeding The Dragon which subsequently played at Hartford Stage and made its Off-Broadway debut at Primary Stages where she was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Lucille Lortel Award and won an Audelco Award. Sharon was the Primary Stages 2017-18 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence.
Feeding the Dragon is available as a best-selling Audible Original audio play and has been selected as an Audible Essentials Top 100 pick.
Sharon is currently working on a picture book adaptation of her story: The Little Girl Who Lived in the Library for Scholastic.
Her creative journey is chronicled in the award-winning documentary film When My Sleeping Dragon Woke directed by Chuck Schultz and Judah Lev-Dickstein.
Sharon is proud to have been selected as a 2024 MacDowell Fellow and was also awarded a 2024 Princeton University Library Research Grant for her new play A Colored Mirror.
Sharon continues to perform on stage where she was seen as Queen Margaret in the Public Theater/Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III starring Dania Gurira, which was broadcast on PBS Great Performances.
On Broadway Sharon appeared in The Scottsboro Boys musical. Off-Broadway credits include Dot (Vineyard Theater); Wild with Happy (Public Theater/NYSF) for which she received a Lucille Lortel nomination and an Audelco Award; Richard III (2022 and 1990), Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Caucasian Chalk Circle (Public Theatre/NYSF) and While I Yet Live and String of Pearls (Primary Stages) among many others.
She has performed at award-winning regional theaters around the country including: City Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Guthrie Theater, Denver Center, Yale Rep and Arena Stage and workshopped numerous new plays at The O’Neill, Sundance, Powerhouse at Vassar and New York Theater Workshop.
As a sought after voiceover artist you may also recognize her voice as the narrator of several documentary series for Discovery, NOVA and PBS.
Sharon holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and a BA from Dartmouth College. She currently sits on the boards of The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth, Girl Be Heard and the Theatre Gap Initiative.
Will Teichman
TGI Vice President
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Will Teichman is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations at Kimco Realty, a public real estate investment trust (REIT) and leading owner and operator of over 560 open-air, grocery-anchored shopping centers and mixed-use properties across the United States.
In his role, Will leads business transformation efforts aimed at enhancing Kimco’s operating platform in the areas of M&A, Leasing & Retailer Engagement, Ancillary Revenue, Expense Efficiencies, Sustainability and Digital Transformation. Prior to Kimco, Will worked for Target Corporation and advised large real estate portfolio owners as a management consultant.
Will is a graduate of UVA’s Darden School of Business and Washington and Lee University. He serves on the board of several Charlotte-based nonprofits focused on expanding access to arts and education.
Ann Todd
TGI Board Member
College Advisor; Title IX/Clery Consultant; and Attorney, D Stafford & Associates, LLC
Robin Simmons Blackwell
TGI Board Member
Community Advocate and Compliance Officer, Wells Fargo
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Robin Blackwell is a 500 hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) who leads Slow Flow Vinyasa, Deep Stretch yoga and meditation classes, workshops and teacher trainings in the Charlotte Area. She’s been leading classes for over 10 years and has been a yoga student for more than 15 years.
An eternal learner, Robin has obtained a certification in Yoga for Grief and as a Grief Educator. She is certified as a Peer Support Guide for the Yoga of 12 Step Recovery. She is also a certified Sound Practitioner who incorporates the healing power of sound into every yoga offering.
Her classes are focused on the combination of breath, movement and stillness infused with sound, music and silence. She believes that laughter is medicine, love is an action word and joy is a birthright. Robin endeavors to reflect these beliefs in each class she offers.
On Monday evenings, you can find Robin leading a regular weekly yoga and sound offering at Solace Yoga in Concord, NC.
Elizabeth Nucci
TGI Board Member
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Experienced Executive Assistant with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Skilled in Microsoft Word, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Management, Calendars, and Executive Administrative Assistance. Strong administrative professional with a Bachelor of Fine Arts – BFA focused in Filmmaking from University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Rick Edinger
TGI Board Member
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Rick Edinger (he/they) is a proud queer AAPI music director, vocal coach, pianist, educator, and recovering actor based in New York & Pittsburgh. Edinger most currently serves as music supervisor/ vocal arranger/ conductor/ Keys 1 for The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical by Joe Iconis (Christopher Ashley, director), which had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in Summer/ Fall 2023. The production will continue development in it’s East Coast premiere at Signature Theatre Arlington in Spring 2025. Edinger will reprise his role as Music Supervisor/ Conductor of Trading Places by Thomas Patrick Lennon, Alan Zachary, and Michael Weiner (Kenny Leon, director; Fatima Robinson, choreographer) in a Pre-Broadway Workshop in Fall 2023. Additionally, he will serve as music director of The Brass Teapot by Chaz Cardigan, Erik Kaiko, Tim Macy, and Ramaa Mosley (Catie Davis, director) at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals at New World Stages in October 2024.
Edinger serves as the Area Chair for the Acting/ Musical Theater department & Associate Professor of Musical Theater at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. For the School of Drama, they have served as Music Director or Music Supervisor on A Little Night Music (Ethan Heard, director), Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens (Gary Kline, director), Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 (Tomé. Cousin, director) Godspell (Tomé Cousin, director), Cabaret (Tomé Cousin, director), Into the Woods (Matthew Gardiner, director), and HAIR (Jason A. Sparks, director), as well as Vocal Coach/ Music Advisor for A/B Machines (Phillip Gates, director). Additionally, he serves as vocal coach for the music theater program, teaches the Musical Theatre Auditions course, and annually music directs the actor industry showcase in New York and Los Angeles.
Edinger gives masterclasses in musical theatre throughout the United States and serves on faculty for ArtsBridge and The Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute. In the 2016-2017 season, they served as vocal director for Hunter Opera Theatre’s performance of Kristin Chenoweth’s My Love Letter to Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. He has been a guest music director at New York University Tisch School of the Performing Arts and served on faculty at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University, The County College of Morris, and The College of Saint Elizabeth. Other institutions and projects include The Public Theatre (NY), La Jolla Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Signature Theatre Arlington, George Street Playhouse, New City Music Theatre, Bronx Opera, Coópera: Project Opera of Manhattan, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse (The Rev), Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre, Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute, ArtsBridge, The City University of New York- Hunter College & Brooklyn College, and many more.
Edinger frequently works as a collaborative pianist with Broadway performers and singers from the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, and more. As a vocal coach in New York for nearly 20 years, Edinger’s former and current clients have performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on national/ international tours, and in regional houses across the globe. He maintains a private studio as vocal coach in New York & Pittsburgh with his partner, Giovanna Reyes-Mir. As a strong advocate for the development of new works, he plays a large role in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s (NAMT) annual endeavors and has served on the NAMT Board of Directors since May 2021. For the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s annual Festival of New Musicals, Rick has served as consultant on Wonder Boy by Jaime Jarrett (directed by Bo Frazer), MAYA by Cheeyang Ng & Eric Sorrels, Hart Island by Danny Larsen and Michelle Elliott (directed by Raja Feather Kelly), The River Is Me by Troy Anthony and Sukari Jones (directed by Schele Williams) and Interstate by Melissa Li and Kit Yan (directed by Jesca Prudencio). Edinger has also served as a consultant on the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (PCLO) New Works Literary Team.
Their children’s musical, Alice, written in collaboration with Joe Barros (Artistic Director, New York Theatre Barn) and based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, recently debuted at Weathervane Playhouse (VT) in summer 2018 and played a sold-out run in New York with Out of the Box Theatrics. The Out of the Box Theatrics production of Alice was recognized by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society was recognized as a “Standout Moment” of the 2018-2019 theatre season for its immersive environment that featured a cast of actors with disabilities.
Edinger began his career as an actor, appearing in the 2004 Tony nominated Broadway revival of Pacific Overtures (dir. Amon Miyamoto) and the Broadway benefit concert production of Children and Art: A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim on the Eve of his 75th Birthday (dir. Richard Maltby, Jr.). Regionally, they have performed in Symphony Space’s Wall to Wall Sondheim, Roundabout Theatre Company’s 40th Anniversary Gala at Chelsea Piers, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company, and many houses across the United States and Europe. His television appearances include As the World Turns, Love Monkey, and Starved. They were featured on the 2004 Broadway revival recording of Pacific Overtures with PS CLASSICS and Wall to Wall Sondheim with XM SATELLITE RADIO.
Edinger trained at Manhattan School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Brooklyn College, and Hunter College. He has studied piano with Gerardo Teissonniere and Geoffrey Burleson and studied voice with Mignon Dunn, Joan Caplan, and Maitland Peters. They are proud member of the American Federation of Musicians (Local 802), Actors’ Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, and Musicians United for Social Equity (https://museonline.org/profile/rick-edinger/).
Mark Wade
TGI Board Member
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Mark Wade is a graduate of The Yale School of Drama in Acting, and The Neighborhood Playhouse. Acting and directing credits include work for The Westport Country Playhouse, The Long Wharf Theater, and Trinity Repertory Theater. He spent five years as a creative consultant for Joanne Woodward, and produced with her two television movies for the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Mark assisted, director Lloyd Richards on the Hallmark Hall of Fame’s television adaptation of The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. He directed the New York premiere of The Sirens by Darrah Cloud. At Arcadia, Mark has directed The Laramie Project, Keely and Du, Hearsay (a world premiere written by Kathryn Petersen), The Love of the Nightingale, The Wind in the Willows, Home (a regional finalist and recipient of multiple awards including Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Ensemble Acting by the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival), and an all-female version of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Meshuggah-Nuns, The House of Bernarda Alba, Swing of the Sea, a new play written by Molly Hagen, Swing of the Sea was a regional finalist for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and winner of the Mimi and Harold Steinberg Student Playwriting Award. Swing of the Sea is soon to be published by Samuel French.
Mark has taught classes at The Wilma Theater Studio, and The University of the Arts. He directed Home and The Pillars of Society at The University of the Arts. He taught acting for 10 years at Wesleyan University in Middletown Connecticut.
Mekhai Lee
TGI Board Member
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An experienced performer, writer, creator, artist. Obtained a BFA in Drama from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. I spent time while diligently studying there as an assistant to the Faculty and Admin of my program. Since graduating in 2018 I have worked as an actor in numerous stage productions, including The Color Purple revival starring Cynthia Erivo on its first National Tour. Co-created, wrote, directed and produced the original series “Fortheboys” to much acclaim, getting signed to the Gersh Agency and Insight Talent Management as a fully repped client as a result. Furthermore, “Fortheboys” was signed to Colman Domingo’s Edith Productions and Sarah Jessica Parker’s Pretty Matches Productions and is currently in a Development Deal with Showtime. Gained experience in multiple professional film sets as Production Assistant, Locations Assistant and Director’s Apprentice on networks like HBO, Netflix and AppleTV+.
Desirae Thomas
TGI Board Member
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Desirae Thomas is an attorney at Moore and Van Allen, PLLC in Charlotte. She represents clients in all aspects of labor and employment law, including advising on everyday employment needs and offering in-depth analysis and strategic guidance for litigation, as well as representing clients in legal matters. Desirae is a proud graduate of Michigan State University College of Law, where she served as a member of the Michigan State Law Review and the Geoffrey Fieger Trial Practice Institute.
TGI Advisory Board
Chris Boneau
Publicist and Media Trainer, Boneau/Bryan Brown; and Adjunct Professor, Columbia University’s Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies
Adam Burke
Artistic Director, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte
Tomé Cousin
Professor, Carnegie-Mellon University; Choreographer; and Actor
Colman Domingo
Actor (Fear the Walking Dead, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom); Writer; Director; and Mixologist
Aunjanue Ellis
Actress (Lovecraft Country, When They See Us, 61st Street) and Activist
Lisa Gray
Nonprofit Strategist and Trainer
Joshua Henry
Actor and Singer (Carousel, Shuffle Along, Scottsboro Boys, Hamilton)
Joanne Hock
Storyteller; Viewfinder; and Artist in Motion (Discarded Things, When We Last Spoke, Purple Dreams)
Phillip Johnson-Richardson
Actor; Singer; Writer; Lyricist; Musician; and Dancer
James Kennedy
Writer; Composer; and Director
Grasan Kingsberry
Actor (The Color Purple, Motown: The Musical, Once on This Island) and Teacher
Forrest McClendon
Actor (Scottsboro Boys, Cabin in the Sky); Singer; and Professor
Monica White Ndounou
Associate Professor, Dartmouth and Founding Executive Director, The Craft Institute
Estella Afi Owoimaha-Church
Theatre Arts Educator; Activist; and Educational Consultant
Adam Podowitz-Thomas, Esq.
Senior Legal Strategist, Electoral Innovation Lab and Princeton University, and LGBTQIA+/Voting Rights/ Civil Rights Activist
Billy Porter
Emmy Award and Tony Award-Winning Actor (Pose, Kinky Boots); Singer; Activist; and Fashion Icon
Charles Randolph-Wright
Director and Producer (Motown: The Musical, Delilah on OWN)
Renee Rapp
Actress and Singer (Mean Girls, The Secret Sex Lives of College Girls)
Seth Rudetsky
Writer; Arranger; Producer; Activist; and Host (Sirius/XM On Broadway, Stars in the House)
Eduardo Sanchez
Actor and Activist, Elon University
Allyson Siegel
President and CEO, Tru-Pak Moving; Therapist; Activist; and Philanthropist
Maya Sistruck
Actor and Writer, University of Michigan’s BFA Musical Theatre
Holly Stanfield
Theatre Educator, Educational Theatre Association Hall of Fame
Jerry Tsai
Operations Director, Acceptd
Lillias White
TGI Inaugural Trailblazer Recipient
Tony Award-Winning Actress and Singer Extraordinaire (Search Party, Fela!, The Life, Dinah Was)
Contact Us for More Information
If you have any questions about our TGI board members, please do not hesitate to reach out to us today. We would be more than happy to answer your questions.