Elizabeth McKoy

Founding Artistic Director
(Click here for note from Elizabeth McKoy)

Lauren Hewitt 

Managing Director
(Click here for note from Lauren)

Ken Levin

Communications Director

Lisa Appleyard

Associate Education Director

Kat Wepler

Production Manager

Linell Ragsdale

Operations Manager

Kendra Johnson

Manager Patron Services

Tara Vargo 

Finance Manager

Katie Pool

Education Manager

Maryanna Alderete

Lead Concessions Manager

Judith McKoy

Volunteer Coordinator

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Elizabeth McKoy

Founding Artistic Director

Elizabeth McKoy is the Artistic Director & Founder of Berkeley Playhouse, where she most recently directed Peter Pan the Musical for the 2008-2009 professional season. The show set a record of 33 consecutive sold-out performances. Elizabeth has directed many shows for Berkeley Playhouse’s acclaimed Youth Company including: Bravado, Once on This Island, The Music Man, Into The Woods, Quonk, Once Upon a Pea, and many others. In addition to performing professionally as an actress, Elizabeth has always felt inspired and passionate about teaching all ages about the joy and power of live theatre. Before coming to Berkeley, Elizabeth taught theatre for many years in New York and Seattle, including over five years for the renowned Seattle Children’s Theatre. After performing and teaching in Seattle she moved to Berkeley and became the Education Director for an affiliate of New York’s Lincoln Center Institute which brought arts education to thousands of school children and teachers in the Bay Area. In addition to directing and teaching for the Playhouse, she is currently working to develop and sustain the Playhouse’s unique vision for music theatre and theatre education.

Lauren Hewitt 

Managing Director

Lauren comes to Berkeley Playhouse via 9 years at 42nd Street Moon where she was instrumental in the company’s organizational development and financial growth, and the fire behind the development of the Salon Evenings series and the implementation of MoonSchool, the company’s educational program. As Director of Development of Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre, she initiated the capital campaign with the company’s board of directors to fund the Aurora Theatre’s new home. While serving as Executive Director of EARPLAY, she presented works by emerging Bay Area composers as well as established composers such as Andrew Imbrie and Lou Harrison. As the former Director of the Jon Sims Center for the Arts, she founded  AIRspace, a new works residency program for performing artists. Under the fiscal sponsorship of the Jon Sims Center, she produced the new opera, Wuornos, on the main stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2001). San Franciscans remember Hewitt as the owner and operator of the Clementina’s Baybrick Inn, a favorite nightspot where she gave emerging artists the opportunity to break into performance and seasoned artists the challenge of presenting new work. Among the memorable Baybrick performers include Marga Gomez, Ellen DeGeneres, Paula Poundstone, Bonnie Hayes, and Linda Tillery. The Baybrick was awarded a San Francisco Cable Car Award for Hewitt’s curatorship of local artists’ work. A fourth-generation Californian, Hewitt graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Directing Theatre, and she holds a Master’s Degree in Arts Administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco.

Ken Levin

Communications Director

Ken is honored to have been asked to help build The Berkeley Playhouse community as Communications Director.  He comes to BPH after three and a half years at 42nd Street Moon, where he headed the Development and Marketing Departments, and acted as Interim Managing Director for a year.  Prior to his work with Moon he taught for a year in South Korea and before that worked with At-Risk youth as the Youth Director at the Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County. He has worked with Smuin Ballet in their Development Department and was involved with Bay Area Cabaret for 5 years, where he worked with Broadway and Jazz greats Marin Mazzie, Jason Danielle, Ann Hampton Callaway, Amanda McBroom, Maureen McGovern, and many others.

Levin holds dual Bachelor Degrees’ in Psychology and Political Science from University of California, Los Angeles, where he graduated with honors.  While at UCLA, he worked for Fynsworth Alley Records where he helped record albums by Liz Callaway, Brent Barrett, Jason Graae, Christiane Noll, as well as the first ever Sherman Brothers Songbook, and a recording of Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy starring Catharine O’Hara, David Hyde Pierce, Ed Begley, Jr, Richard Kind, and Christopher Durang.

Kat Wepler

Production Manager

Kat Wepler manages all production elements for Berkeley Playhouse and the Julia Morgan Center.  Before joining the Berkeley Playhouse team in 2010, Kat was the Production Management Fellow at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She received her B.F.A. in International Theatre Production from Ohio Northern University.  While studying there, she also worked as Master Electrician at the university’s performing arts center, the Freed Center.  Kat has completed internships with the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts.  Kat is a Midwest transplant and is really excited to be a part of the Bay Area theatre community.

Katie Pool

Education Manager

Katie Pool comes to Berkeley Playhouse with degrees in theater arts and psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.  Before spending the last year as Berkeley Playhouse’s education associate and registrar, Katie supported classrooms around the Bay Area as a mental health counselor for Seneca Center. She also spent five years as house manager for Shakespeare Santa Cruz and UCSC’s Arts Division. Having developed a passion for theater through her own participation in youth education programs at Sierra Repertory Theatre, Katie is delighted to be able to provide similar support to the fabulous young performers of Berkeley Playhouse.

Judith McKoy

Volunteer Coordinator

Judith McKoy, PhD. is an educator and administrator with 40 + years experience working in colleges, hospitals, and profit and nonprofit organizations. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Education, Training and Counseling for Planned Parenthood of Western Washington. Of her myriad positions through the years, Judith most enjoyed developing and leading training events. She wrote a number of curricula and several texts for English as a Second Language learners. She currently coordinates outreach projects for the Berkeley Playhouse.