INTRODUCING OUR STAFF . . .

The Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre has five staff positions. This team is responsible for providing the organizational infrastructure required to run the theatre and to support all program initiatives. It also supports the Board of Trustees and manages the cadre of actors and program volunteers whose contributions make the center what it is today.

Steven J. Arnold Executive Director
Email: sarnold@garfieldcenter.org
Steven J. Arnold is a professional Arts Administrator. Theatre Stage Director, Designer, Playwright and Actor who has worked professionally throughout the Midwest and the East Coast, with over 75 production credits and more than 15 years of administrative posts spanning over more than 30 years of associated work. He holds a B.A. in Theatre from The Ohio State University where he received national recognition as one of only two undergraduates in the nation to present theatre research at the Mid America Theatre Conference in 2003. His directing credits include productions for The Ohio State University, The Players Guild Theatre, The Mansfield Playhouse, The North Canton Playhouse, Church Hill Theatre and Woodford Theatre, among others. As the Artistic Director of The Mansfield Playhouse for three seasons, from 1997 to 2000, he staged 6 productions per season on the Main Stage, developed new works for their downstairs “Second Stage,” and was a founding member of the comedy Improv group Under the Influence, which began in 1998 and is still performing and successful. He founded a second comedy Improv group, ScrewLoose, in Canton, Ohio in 2004. As a playwright, three of his full-length scripts have been produced and he has had multiple produced short plays, including several for The Garfield Center for the Arts’ Short Attention Span Theatre short play festivals. He also penned his own musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, in which he wrote the Book, Music, Lyrics and Orchestrations, which premiered at The Mansfield Playhouse in 1999. As a professional actor, he originated the role of Matthew Elliot in The White Savage at the professional outdoor drama Trumpet in the Land. Other notable professional experience includes roles in tours and resident productions of Oklahoma, Assassins, Carousel, The Succession and Trumpet in the Land. Favorite directing credits include The Rocky Horror Show, 1776, Cotton Patch Gospel, Amadeus, The Will Rogers Follies, Lucky Stiff, Man of La Mancha and The Music Man, among others. Steven currently resides in Chestertown, Maryland, where he is thrilled to be the newly-appointed Executive Director for The Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre.

Nic Carter Theatre Manager
Email: ncarter@garfieldcenter.org
Nic has been involved with the GCA since his first show here being Sweeney Todd back in 2018, where he appeared as Beadle Bamford. Nic began working as the Theatre Manager later that year. Nic grew up just down 213 in Centreville, is an Eagle Scout, and got his start in theatre as a student at Queen Anne’s County High School after appearing as Fred the cowboy, and working on the light crew in a 2004 production of Oklahoma! directed by Shelagh Grasso. That summer, Nic operated the light board for Sylvia Maloney’s production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Church Hill Theatre. After an illustrious (his words) high school career both on stage and on light crew, with an award-winning (QACHS International Thespian Society award for best supporting actor) appearance as Selsdon in Noises Off!, Nic attended Frostburg State University where he majored in History. The following year he would change his major to Theatre with a focus in Lighting Design and technology. During his tenure at FSU Nic spent several summers working on the Performing Arts Center Crew, and received a Kennedy Center certificate of merit for his lighting design in a 2011 production of Ruined. Since returning to the shore Nic has designed lights for a number of shows around the area. Then in 2014, for the first time since high school, Nic returned to the stage in Is He Dead? at CHT. Since then, he has worked at The Avalon Theater as a Lighting Designer and Bartender. Nic lives locally with his beautiful wife Shannon and their cat/demon-muffin Wirt.

Butch Clark Technical Director
Email: bclark@garfieldcenter.org
Butch is the man behind the curtain at every production.  In addition to designing and running sound and lights, he builds most of the sets used in the theatre. And he does all of this while holding down a full time job with the US postal service and volunteering for many other productions, concerts and public events held across his home county.   Honored as the Chestertown Tea Party Grand Marshall in 2011, Butch also made his stage debut to a delighted audience at the 2011 Women Helping Women fundraiser.  Here’s a secret not many people know – approximately 95% of the lighting and equipment used in the theatre is on loan from Butch Clark!

 

Christopher Hamlen, Finance Manager
Email: chamlen@garfieldcenter.org

The daily financial operations of the Garfield Theatre are handled by Chris. He has spent the majority of his accounting career working for a local real estate investment company specializing in hospitality management and development. Chris has lived in Chestertown with his wife and three children for the last twenty years, and enjoys spending time outdoors hiking and biking with his family and their two dogs. Chris’s entire family share an appreciation for the arts and are excited about him joining the Garfield Center Foundation.

Ben Price Production Assistant
Email: bprice@garfieldcenter.org
Ben Price is a musician, songwriter, and audio engineer. He grew up in Chestertown in a musical family, and was involved with the GCA (formerly Prince Theatre) early on as a ‘Playmaker’ in 2008. Ben attended multiple summers of Playmakers camp as a kid and started playing music at Ford’s open mic nights at The Garfield. Throughout middle and high school he also embraced the theater and band programs, performing in numerous shows such as Tom Sawyer, Legally Blonde and High School Musical. During that time Ben began to focus more on music; writing, practicing, recording and performing around town. This led to the formation of his first band, Cliff’s City with whom he released his first album ‘21620’ in 2018. Unfortunately, they were only able to enjoy two local shows as a band before they moved away after high school.

Ben moved to Orlando and received his B.S. in Music Production at Full Sail University. After working for a short time with a staging company, his audio engineering career began when he started working for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and New City Orlando PCA. Ben was designing and mixing multiple events each week, spanning from musical performances and theater, to comedy acts and corporate gigs. He was also working various freelance production gigs such as foley/sound design for short films, music production, mixing, dialogue editing, and trying hard but struggling to keep up with writing his own music. He moved back to Chestertown at the end of 2022 and has been enjoying this more human sized town and being around family again. Since being back he has enjoyed mixing some local concerts, is continuing his remote freelance work, and has found some much needed time to dig back into his own music. Ben is also excited to now be working at the GCA where he hopes to help support this town’s education for the arts.

Chrissy Sinatra Director of Development
Email: csinatra@garfieldcenter.org

Chrissy Sinatra is a seasoned development professional and non-profit administrator who believes art and culture are an essential part of community life and a creative economy.  Her love of theater began when she was a Jet in a summer stock performance of West Side Story in northern New Hampshire.  There, she met performers and designers from NYC and continued her journey to become a production designer and scenic artist for theater, television, films, art installations, events, and museum displays in New York City, Boston, Los Angles, London, and Tokyo. She has recently moved to Chestertown and is thrilled to garner support for the exceptional programming at The Garfield Theater.

Adrienne Wrona Development Director
Email: awrona@garfieldcenter.org
Adrienne received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania where she studied Theatre and Psychology. She is a Stage Manager, Director, and Actor who also dabbles in make-up design. Adrienne is a proud fourth-generation Stanislavsky student, trained by the apprentice of Sonia Moore. She received a Kennedy Center American Collegiate Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Award of Merit for Carapace (Stage Manager) and The School for Scandal (Ensemble & Production Stage Manager) and was a finalist in the KCACTF Stage Management competition for her work on Crimes of the Heart. Adrienne also received a nomination for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship for her role as Mrs. Smith in The Bald Soprano. Adrienne was the President of the Rho Upsilon Cast of Alpha Psi Omega, the National Honors Fraternity for Theatre as well as President of the Sunshine Players, a touring children’s production team, bringing the art of performance to local elementary and middle schools. After college, Adrienne was a Cheerleading Coach and Substitute Teacher before finding herself on the Eastern Shore working for Echo Hill Outdoor School. Adrienne spent 2013-2020 working as a professional for the Boy Scouts of America in both Pennsylvania and the Del-Mar-Va area. She is a certified Challenge Course and Climbing Program Manager, as well as Camp Director. Her two greatest passions are outdoor education/camp and the performing arts. Adrienne is eager to dive into the Kent County arts community and to share in your stories and love of live theatre.

Board of Directors:

Mark Sullivan, President
Mel Rapelyea, Vice President
Natalie Lane, Secretary
Karen Ferguson, Treasurer

Samantha Branham
Matt Garfield, Honorary Chairman
Jennifer Kafka Smith
Melissa McGlynn
Rebecca Murphy
Roseann Squire

In loving memory of Judy Kohl