Meet the Staff
Founding Artistic Director
(Click here for note from Elizabeth McKoy)
Managing Director
(Click here for note from Lauren)
Marketing & Communications Manager
Education Manager
Production Manager
Hanah Zahner-Isenberg
Education Associate
Julie Gengo
Communications and Outreach Manager
Linell Ragsdale
Office Manager
Lynda Bachman
Casting Director
Susan M. Dunn
Patron Services & Special Events Manager
Tara Vargo
Finance Manager
Celeste Lococo
Bookkeeper/Payroll Specialist
Maryanna Alderete
Lead Concessions Manager
John George
Facilities & IT Manager
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 8 years at 42nd St 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.
Michelle Dissel
Marketing Manager
With a degree in Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University, South Africa, and a Diploma in Marketing and Communications from the APA School of Advertising and Communication Michelle has worked on three different continents in creative, administration and management. Beginning her career as an award-winning copywriter with Ogilvy and Mather South Africa, she has worked and freelanced in London and San Francisco with accounts such as Volkswagen, Bally of Switzerland, TimeOut Magazine and Publisher’s Group West. While raising her children she ran a photography office, her own small design business, completed a course in fabric design, edited poetry books and served on various boards and committees. She joined Berkeley Playhouse in July 2007 where she is responsible for the marketing and communication of their programs.
Lizz Guzman
Education Manager
Lizz Guzman is excited to join the team at Berkeley Playhouse as Education Manager. Lizz studied Theatre Arts and English at SUNY New Paltz in New York. A freelance teaching artist and student of stage combat, Lizz has had experience working in public schools and with community organizations in New York and the Bay Area. Before working at Berkeley Playhouse, Lizz was the 2009-2010 Theatre Education Fellow at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. She is thrilled to be a member of the Berkeley Playhouse family!
Kat Wepler
Production/Technical 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. She is also a member of the site-specific theatre company, Highly Impractical Theatre (HIT). Kat is a Midwest transplant and is really excited to be a part of the Bay Area theatre community.
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.
