ADMINISTRATION

FRANCINE THOMAS REYNOLDS (Artistic Director) has worked as a professional actress and director for over 19 years. She recently directed A Raisin in the Sun at New Stage, which was awarded Best Play of 2007 by the Jackson Free Press readers. Last season she directed I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, The Crucible and The Trip to Bountiful. Her favorite acting roles at New Stage include Laura in The Glass Menagerie, June in Smoke on the Mountain and Chris in Rumors. During the 2005-2006 season she acted in Noises Off and The Skin of our Teeth. Reynolds directed The Spitfire Grill during the 2004-2005 season and directed I Do! I Do! in 2003. Other favorite directing projects at New Stage include A Christmas Carol and The Miracle Worker. Reynolds also has directed plays for theatres in Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia and Florida. She is an advocate for arts education and served as the President of the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education, 1995-1997. She has been listed on the Mississippi Arts Commission Artist Demonstrator Roster and recently developed a one person show about Georgia O’Keefe which she performed at the Mississippi Museum of Art. She was the Drama Director at Jackson Preparatory School from 1996-2005 and was awarded the Best Director Award at the North Mississippi High School Drama Festival in 1998 and 2000. Reynolds has worked as a locations casting director on several films and commercials shot in Mississippi from 1996-2006. Originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, she enjoys living in Jackson with her husband Chuck.

DAWN BUCK (Managing Director) began her career at New Stage in the fall of 1981 as a box office assistant. Since that time she has worked as box office manager, audience services director, house manager, bookkeeper, and most recently, business manager and marketing director. This previous experience serves her well in her new position. Her door, she says, is always open to comments and concerns about the theatre. Buck’s other professional credits include The International Ballet Competition, Thalia Mara Arts International presenting the World Performance Series and Imageworks films for business. She and her husband David live in the Fondren neighborhood and have two sons, Ben and Blake.

BILL MCCARTY III (General Manager) is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and has extensive background in wholesale and retail sales and real estate property management with the Jitney Jungle stores. McCarty has volunteered with New Stage for more than 35 years in all areas including production, running crews, lighting and sound design and New Stage fundraising events. He is involved in the day-to-day management, maintenance and production for the theatre.  His favorite design credits are Greater Tuna, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Gin Game and A Christmas Carol 1984 production.

SHANNON FROST (Marketing Director) received her B.A. in communication/theatre from Malone College in Canton, Oh. and her M.A. in theatre from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. She has served as theatre manager for Regent University’s theatre department, marketing director for Red Clay Theatre in Cleveland, Tenn and as an adjunct professor of theatre management at Belhaven College. She resides in Jackson with her husband Joe and two children, Nina and Darby.

CHRIS ROEBUCK (Education Director) graduated from Mississippi College with a B.A. in history. He taught for two years at Madison Central High School, where among other responsibilities he assisted with the Drama Club. Roebuck was an acting intern at New Stage Theatre, working with four other interns to take three touring shows across the state. He also worked for the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, serving as Performance Coordinator/Co-director of the extremely popular and successful R.A.T. (Reject All Tobacco) Pack performances for the past eight years. Among his numerous professional acting credits, Roebuck has appeared in Treasure Island, A Christmas Carol, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Princess and the Pea, Idols of the King, Forever Plaid, The Wind in the Willows and A Raisin in the Sun.

PRODUCTION STAFF

JERRY FARLEY (Production Manager) This is Farley’s first season with New Stage.  He has spent the last three years as a manager at the Steamroom Grille here in Jackson and he is very excited to be back in theatre.  Farley received his BFA in theatre technology from Northern Kentucky University and has been building shows for the past 14 years.  Some of his most memorable shows are Ride Down Mount Morgan, Conquest of My Brother, Assasins and Noises Off.

JAMES PETTIS (Technical Director) is in his sixth season at New Stage. Prior to that he was the scene and lighting designer and technical director at Actors Guild of Parkersburg, W.Va. He has worked in all areas of technical theatre for more than 17 years and is an excellent scene painter. He holds an MFA from University of Southern Mississippi.

MARYANISE (Costume Designer) stage managed Blessed Assurance. A graduate of St. Joe, she attended Ole Miss as a theatre major and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (the oldest school of acting in the English speaking world) in New York City. Maryanise has worked professionally in film, television and theatre in New York for more than 20 years. Some of her New Stage credits include Crowns, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Drawer Boy, Broadway Bound and Marvin’s Room. This will be Maryanise’s seventh season at New Stage.

LAWRENCE RAYBON (Stage Manager) has been working behind the scenes at New Stage for the past three years. A Texas native, Raybon has served as the sound technician/designer for many New Stage shows, including Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Crowns, Idols of the King, The Spitfire Grill, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and A Christmas Carol. He has also stage managed practically every show at New Stage for the two seasons. Raybon also enjoys acting, with his favorite roles including Don in The Universal Language, Bottom in A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Mr. Flannery in Mr. Flannery’s Ocean.

ABIGAIL KIPP (Production Intern) is a Belhaven College graduate from Jackson. She designed the set for Belhaven’s production of Shadowlands and has also worked on Fiddler on the Roof, Twelfth Night, Calderon’s Great Theatre of the World and other productions. She stage managed 15-Minute Hamlet as well as several of Guinn Terry Davis’ original scripts.

BOX OFFICE STAFF

MELISSA DUBINSKI (Audience Services Director) is a 2005 graduate of Belhaven College where she received a B.A. in technical theatre. She has worked as a box office associate at Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada and assisted with many box office activities at Belhaven College. Dubinski has stage managed many shows in several parts of the country, including Las Vegas and Tennessee. Her stage managing credits include Oklahoma!, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Wizard of Oz, Taming of the Shrew and Love’s Labours Lost. Her most recent work includes Noye’s Fludd and La Boheme with the Mississippi Opera. Dubinski currently resides in Ridgeland and has been with New Stage for two seasons.

BARBARA MARTIN (Box Office Assistant Manager and Assistant to the Business Manager) is in her eleventh season at New Stage. First joining the staff in 1997, she has served as box office assistant manager for seven years and as box office manager for the two years before and during the Intermission Season. She also assists the Business Manager with Funds Development and Grant applications.

BETTY WONG (Box Office Assistant) Betty’s work at New Stage includes being assistant box office manager, consultant for educational tours and long time house volunteer. Other work experiences include the Mississippi International Cultural Exchange Commission, the Mississippi Department of Education and JBHM Education Group. Betty has a B.S. degree in Educational Psychology from Mississippi State University, and M.Ed. from Delta State University.

CARLA MARSH (House Manager) received her B.A. in criminal justice with an emphasis in juvenile justice from Jackson State University.  She is pleased to be returning to New Stage for her fourth season.  Marsh has been employed with the Hinds Country Sheriff’s office for ten years.

Professional Acting Intern Company

KRISTIN PATTON (Sister James) has appeared in several New Stage productions including Biloxi Blues (Rowena), The Crucible (Elizabeth Proctor), The Trip to Bountiful (Thelma) and The Wind in the Willows (Mole).  She has studied at the William Esper Studio in New York and did summer stock in Leysin, Switzerland where she was in such shows as Bye, Bye Birdie, The Patient and Thurber Carnival.  Some of Patton’s favorite shows have been Bash, The Crucible and Eleemosynary.

JONATHAN SHUEY is new to Mississippi, and proud to join New Stage this season as a part of the Professional Acting Internship program. Coming from western New York, he recently graduated from Ithaca College with a B.A. in Drama. Credits include: Biloxi Blues, A Christmas Carol, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Jungle Book, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Crucible, You Can’t Take It With You, Godspell and Guys and Dolls.

JOEI SMITH graduated with a B.S. in Dramatic Art in 2007 from Jackson State University. He hails from York, Ala. He is a member of the Mississippi Theatre Association, as well as the Southeastern Theatre Conference. He has appeared in the following productions: A Raisin in the Sun (George Murchison), A Christmas Carol (Solicitor, Londoner), Bourbon at the Border (Charlie), Amicable Parting (Bill), Much Ado About Nothing (Benedict), Dearly Departed (Clyde), Spunk and Robert Johnson Trick the Devil (Robert Johnson).

FAITH WHITACRE began her theatre career at a community theatre in Charles Town, W.Va. when she was 12. Her roles in Jackson include Garland, Grammy, Bully and Pregnant Lady in Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Anya in The Memory Trilogy (Belhaven College), Grandma Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof (Belhaven College) and Natalya Stepanovna in The Marriage Proposal (Enclave of the Arts). Whitacre is very excited to be an acting intern and is very thankful to her friends and family for their loving support that makes her life beautiful.

This website is hosted by: