Board biographies                                   

Nadine Charlsen - Member at large (2008)

I was a baby boomer born as Nadine Wilson in Bird City, Kansas. I lived in western Kansas all my childhood years. My "hood" was a group of 11 boys and no girls. My father was an industrial arts teachers and my mother was an oil painter. I grew up with a hammer in one hand, a paint brush in the other and a tough kid attitude. I attended Emporia State University (aka KSTC) then began teaching high school in Topeka, Kansas. I was married for 10 years to a graphic designer and we spent most of our years together in Wichita, Kansas. I taught high school outside of Wichita for several years. Eventually I got involved in a large regional musical theatre-Music Theatre of Wichita. I worked there every summer for five years and met many designers, actors and technicians from New York .

Not long after that, I moved to Brooklyn, New York and received an MFA in theatre design from Brooklyn College. I’ve been here ever since. I now teach at Kean University in New Jersey and freelance in NYC as a stage manager and designer.

I am an avid bicyclist, swimmer and painter. I do long distance bike trips and paint as I go. I love working in the theatre because every day is a different experience and every show is a new world to live in for the moment.

My greatest hobby is the study of the American Illustrator and his art 1883-1925. I have helped create the information for www.heraldsquarehotel.com/. Go to "The History of the Herald Square Hotel".
 

David L. Coffman - Member at large (2006)

David L. Coffman is a member of Actors' Equity, IATSE, Local 690, and a proud member of the SMA. He has worked as a Stage Manager, Production Manager and Director of Production in theater, opera, concert and special event production and touring for more than twenty-five years. He is now the Clinical Assistant Professor of Stage Management and Production Manager for Arizona State University's Department of Theatre.
 

Robert I. Cohen - Member at large (2010)

Robert I. Cohen, Assistant Professor of Stage Management/Production Manager, Brooklyn College has been production stage manager for numerous Broadway and regional productions, as well as New York City Opera. His diverse career in live performance presentations includes: Entertainment Operations Manager for the Tropicana, Production Coordinator for Lincoln Center Festivals, and Associate Producer/Writer for Westinghouse TV. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the Stage Managers' Association, of which he was a founding member and former Chairperson. Prof. Cohen holds a B.S. in mathematics from Northeastern University and an MFA in directing from Boston University. He has previously taught at both Emerson College and Stockton State College, and has delivered guest lectures at Yale University, SUNY Purchase, and West Chester University. Prof. Cohen has served as a stage manager mentor for three USITT conferences. He has also participated on numerous panels at professional trade conferences, including USITT and Advanstar East Coast conferences. Included in his publications are recent articles on "Living in a Techno World: modern communication technologies for stage managers" published in Stage Directions, "Theatre in Cuba" and "Stage Management use of Computers in Rehearsal," published in issues of Focus (published by the British Association of Lighting Designers), and Cueline (published by the British Association of Stage Managers), respectively.

Richard Costable - Member at large (2010)

The Bronx was where he was born and grew up.  His parents were also native New Yorkers – Dad (d. 1985) from E. 120^th in Harlem, Mom (now 86!) from Valentine’s Avenue in the Fordham section of the Bronx.   He graduated from St. Ann’s on Bainbridge Ave. at Gun Hill Road; Regis High School on 84^th between Park and Madison; and from Fordham University at Rose Hill (The Bronx) with a BA in Mathematics.  He thought he wanted to be an Electrical Engineer, but realized very quickly that his interests lay elsewhere – but exactly where, he wasn’t sure.   His guitar lessons and great interest in singing, music and literature (and fun) were hints of what was to come. 

After almost a year of teaching math for a traveling high school, he was hired by IBM in Westchester and trained as a computer programmer.  That’s where he met his wife, Carol (d. 2005), and became involved with theater for the first time.  With Carol’s support and encouragement, Rich “retired very early” from IBM and spent 2 years training as an actor at Sanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater.  He trod the boards (and many audition rooms) for several years before a director friend, Kent Paul, encouraged him to try stage managing.  He bought Bert Gruver’s book, The Stage Manager’s Handbook (this was LONG before Tom Kelly wrote his fabulous tome), and he learned as he went. 

Many triumphs and mistakes later, Rich counts himself very lucky to have a career that has taken him to lots of wonderful places, geographically and artistically.  One of those places was Cleveland, Ohio, where he spent 11 seasons at Great Lakes Theater Festival (following in the footsteps of former long-time Board member Andy Feigin).   There he met three people who have had a great and lasting influence on his personal and professional lives – Gerald Freedman, the Artistic Director for all those 11 years; Hal Holbrook, with whose Mark Twain Tonight! he has now toured for over 8 years; and Randy Wilcox, who’s been his partner in life since early 1992.  Rich and Randy share a beautiful home on the Palisades cliffs in Weehawken, NJ, and a beach house on the Jersey shore that helps them maintain their sanity.  They love to take camping trips, the most fabulous of which was their 18-day honeymoon to Hawaii in 2004 – 4 islands in a tent.  Paradise!! 

Rich is very proud of, and grateful for, his association with the SMA, for through it he has made many, many friends across the country.
 

Andrew Feigin - Member at large (2006)

A graduate of Cornell University with a degree in design began his career at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California. He stage managed at a number of renowned regional theatres (Guthrie Theatre, Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, Roundabout, McCarter, etc) while also pursuing stage management in New York City. At Radio City Music Hall over a period of 12 years (1984-1996) he stage managed countless spectaculars, concerts and events. During that time he also stage managed extensively at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, on Broadway (Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Nick & Nora) and began stage managing live television events and corporate events. From 1996 to 1998 he served as Production Stage Manager for New York City Opera. Since 1998 and the formation of his company, ÅppleFig Productions, LLC with his wife and partner, Mimi Apfel, he continues to stage manage televised events (Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, Kennedy Center Honors, MTV Awards, VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, The Concert for New York City, etc) while concentrating on corporate event stage management through AppleFig Productions.

Marci Glotzer - 2nd Past Chair

I am rarity, a born and raised New Yorker. My parents still live in the city and see theater at least once a week, from Broadway to the Fringe. About a year after I graduated I had my first major job disappointment -- the theater I had expected to work at for the entire season unexpectedly announced they were turning non-Equity. I told my parents that I was going to leave the business, move back to NYC (I was in PA at the time,) get a full-time job and maybe do theater in my spare time. My father said, "Are you crazy? Why would you do that?"

"Maybe you didn't hear me," I replied, "I said I was leaving theater and getting a real job. You're supposed to be thrilled."

My parents smiled. "This is something you like to do and you've been training to do it for years. So many people in this world don't get the chance to pursue the career they want. You have that chance. Don't throw it away just because you hit a roadblock."

That's what keeps me going when times are tough. I hope it helps you, too.
 

Cheryl Mintz - Member at large (2007)

Cheryl Mintz is in her fourteenth season, tenth as the Resident Stage Manager and has Production Stage Managed over 90 productions and workshops for McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. Most recently, Cheryl was the Production Stage Manager for the Broadway run of Nilo Cruz's Pulitzer Prize winning play, Anna in the Tropics, directed by Emily Mann. Cheryl has enjoyed ten collaborations as Production Stage Manager/Associate Director with Maestro Gian Carlo Menotti and the Spoleto Festivals in USA and Italy. Most recently she was Maestro Menotti's Direzione di scena Teatro Caio Melisso for Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. Cheryl spent five seasons with the New York City Opera where she has Stage Managed 40 operas and musicals, three tours and three PBS telecasts. Other credits: Five Broadway productions, NJPAC, New York Theatre Workshop, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Opera Festival of New Jersey and has conducted a wide range of Theatre Master Classes for university programs, theater companies and community outreach programs.

Cheryl grew up in Oceanside, New York, attended the University of Loughborough in England and SUNY Stony Brook as an undergraduate and received her MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Cheryl has been a member of the Stage Managers' Association since 1984 and has served on the Executive Board for over ten years. Cheryl resides in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband, Harris Richter, who is a Senior Business Analyst for Citi Group in NYC and their newborn son, Jake Moses Richter.
 

Marguerite Price - Chair

Grew up in Stony Brook, New York. Undergrad studies at Stony Brook and Binghamton, NY. Headed to George Street Playhouse in 1987 and fell in love with the guitar-playing Electrics Intern, Dave Mermelstein (IATSE 534).They are the “parents” of six-year old Tycho McCoy, a Labrador Retriever. They have a pretty blue house, with four gardens in Yardville, New Jersey. She joined Actors’ Equity in 1992, stage managing a production of DRIVING MISS DAISY at Foundation Theatre in Pemberton, NJ. And on the simple recommendation of Cheryl Mintz, joined the SMA in 2000. After a three year sabbatical in production management under the tutelage of David-Michael Kenney, she returned to stage management and has been given an artistic home Act II Playhouse outside of Philadelphia (Mr. Kenney is now the Managing Director at Act II!). She is the SMA Regional Rep for the Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Liaison for Actors’ Equity Association. Special Thanks to George Loizides (Ward Melville H.S. Director), Lilian Caron (acting & vocal coach), Tom Clewell (an inspiration and excellent stage manager), and to every cast, every lighting designer, every stage manager with whom she has worked, collectively, they are her mentors.

Erin Joy Swank - Co-Secretary

If you ask me where I’m from, I tend to stutter a bit... I think I will always consider Ohio home, though I haven’t lived there full time for over 10 years. I've filed taxes for so many states over the years that I'm starting to lose track. In February of 2006 I moved to Denver, Colorado, and while still technically freelancing, I'm starting to settle in here. I've expanded my horizons here with jobs in ballet, opera and........river guiding! Ha. This non-sporty chick from the Midwest has found herself in the great outdoors and loving it. Still unsure what the future holds, but I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to spend the last 5 years with camels at Christmas, touring on the stage management staff of the Radio City Christmas spectacular... and really, how many people can say they’ve worked with 3 adorable camels?

I spent 2 years as the secretary of Nashville’s liaison committee to Equity, and am quite honored to transfer the skills I picked up there to the job of co-secretary with the SMA. And yes, one CAN be involved in the SMA and not live in NYC! If you're feeling left out, contact a board member and find out how to get more involved. We always need assistance and fresh ideas. And if you find yourself passing through Denver, give me a call...