BOARD LISTING
Kevin Bailey is a Los Angeles based actor, producer and general manager. His company MB Artists produced the play Ann at Lincoln Center, earning its author and star, Holland Taylor, a Tony nomination for Best Actress. He also produced the four play Greater Tuna cycle, and represents TUNA playwright, Jaston Williams. As an actor, he starred in the original Broadway and LA productions of The Lion King and the revival of Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters. Bailey has also starred in national touring and regional productions of Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, 42nd Street, Elf, Amadeus, The Fantasticks, among others.
C. Jay Cox is a writer and director. His first screenplay, The Thing in Bob’s Garage, was optioned by Norman Lear. He has since written projects for Bette Midler, Antonio Banderas, Walt Disney, Columbia, New Line and Paramount Pictures. His first produced feature script, Sweet Home Alabama, starred Reese Witherspoon and held the record for the best September opening for over 10 years. His directorial debut, Latter Days, won the HBO Award for Best First Narrative Feature at Los Angeles’ Outfest, in addition to numerous other awards at festivals from Fresno to Brazil. C. Jay also writes for television, including original scripts The Makeover for Hallmark Hall of Fame.
Michael Donovan, President, is one the of the top casting directors in Los Angeles, having won 8 Artios Awards, presented by the Casting Society of America for Outstanding Achievement in Casting. Michael has cast shows produced at the Hollywood Bowl, the Ahmanson, Pasadena Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse, ICT, and many more. In addition, he has numerous film, television and commercial credits. Michael also teaches at UCLA, and serves on the Board of Camp Bravo.
Noelle L. Hicks, Vice President, has had a life-long passion for the arts. As a board member with the Foundation since its initial incarnation as the Festival of New American Musicals, Noelle is delighted to support the next generation of musical theatre creators. Most recently she has been a Broadway angel for Dangerous Liaisons and Dear Evan Hansen. Noelle is proud to serve on the advisory board of the USC School of Dramatic Arts Musical Theatre BFA.
Marty Iker, Treasurer, is an innovative marketing, branding, and post-production executive. He is President/Creative Director of MI Creative Group after nine years as Vice President/Marketing & Advertising at Warner Bros. and twelve years as a broadcast station executive. At Warner his unit developed breakthrough brand identities and produced all on-air promotion, video presentations, electronic graphics, and radio and television commercials, and now he provides those services to the industry at large. Marty has a B.A. in Theatre from Grinnell College, and an M.S. in Telecommunications from Indiana University. He is particularly interested in encouraging the use of new technology, new forms and new media in the creation of the next generation of musicals.
Richard Israel is an award-winning theatre director and the recipient of the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Career Achievement Award for Directing. Most recently, he received the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his production of Violet. Recent LA directing credits include: The World Goes Round for Reprise 2.0!; West Side Story and Rent for McCoy/Rigby Entertainment, where he also directed the multiple Ovation award winning Floyd Collins. He currently has multiple original musicals in development, including the upcoming tour of A Very Brady Musical. In addition to his theatre work, he served as the theatrical coordinator for the multiple Emmy-award winning HBO series BIG LITTLE LIES, directing all of the on-screen Avenue Q sequences. He is currently on the musical theatre faculty at AMDA.
Bob Klein, Co-Founder is a musical theatre aficionado with exceptional experience in entertainment marketing. He founded KLEIN &, contributing significantly to the marketing of film, TV, cable and the Internet, as well as guiding arts organizations like the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His marketing campaigns range from the movies Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Planet of the Apes to the launch of cable networks NICKELODEON, SHOWTIME and FX. In 1996 he cofounded Reprise! with Marcia Seligson to revive major musicals for the Los Angeles audience. In 2006 they began planning the Festival of New American Musicals to showcase new works, creators and performers. In 2011 in response to the growing musical theatre Renaissance and the reduction of funding for the arts, Bob founded the Foundation for New American Musicals with a mission to educate, mentor and showcase the next generations of creators of musicals for stage, screen, TV and social media.
Deirdre Marlowe, Secretary, devotes much of her FNAM time to The Pathway as a Teaching Artist, program administrator, and grant writer. Marlowe was a 10-year member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. While she has written lyrics and music, her expertise is book writing. She has collaborated on six musicals, three of which have been produced.
Marcia Seligson, Co-Founder, has theatre in her blood. In 1996 she co-founded REPRISE! Broadway’s Best, and served as the Producing Artistic Director presenting more than forty events. In 2008 she was a co-executive producer of the Festival of New American Musicals presenting more than 150 events from Santa Barbara to San Diego to over 1,000,000 people. Marcia has co-produced shows which have been both off and on Broadway. Her Broadway show, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, became a film starring Gena Rowlands. She is Producing Artistic Director of REPRISE 2.0!
Christopher Sepulveda (Producer) is a film and theatre producer based in Southern California. His most recent work includes a new production of Bekah Brunstetter’s Be A Good Little Widow at The Odyssey Theatre and the world premiere musical Mutt House at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles. Previously he worked on the Tony award-winning Broadway production, First National Tour and West End premiere of An American in Paris with Apples and Oranges Studios and the hit Broadway revival of Spring Awakening with Deaf West Theatre (which he’d produced in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.) THEATRE: 2013 Ovation Award-winning production of The Color Purple (Best Musical), 2011 Ovation nominated production of Take Me Out (Best Production), Los Angeles resident premieres of Altar Boyz and Haram Iran (GLAAD Media Award Nom) among others. FILM: “Followed,” “Manson Family Vacation,” “GBF,” “He’s Way More Famous Than You,” “Somewhere Slow,” “Exquisite Corpse,” and others (all with Logolite Entertainment).
Linda Shusett has had previous experience in developing and producing for motion pictures, but her heart has always been with musical theatre. She serves as Co-Executive Producer for FNAM including co-producing past joint workshops with ASCAP. Linda currently produces the bimonthly MUSI-CAL showcase at Rockwell Table & Stage. Linda co-produced Ovation Award nominated Hoboken to Hollywood as well as other live musical events/concerts. Her love for all styles of music is evident: she has performed in musical theatre, cabaret, and as a member of the Canaligators, a Venice rock n’ roll band.
Tegan Summer has worked in Los Angeles, New York, and London. He received Ovation and NAACP nominations for Theatre 68’s The Knights of Mary Phagan, and an NAACP award for Robey Theatre Company’s For the Love of Freedom. Tegan wrote/directed Loretta Young’s Centennial Tribute TV series and The Nicholas Brothers Tribute with Dick van Dyke and Debbie Allen. He produced/wrote/directed ‘In Person’ – a screen project featuring Malcolm McDowell, Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman, and others. Tegan is the CEO of Prospect House Entertainment. He wrote book and lyrics for Marilyn! A New Musical, and is currently at work on Betty Page: Queen of Pin-ups and James Dean: Rebel. A graduate of AADA, NYC, he is on the Board of Glendale Arts and the Executive Committee of Reprise 2.0!
