LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Public Relations
Becky joined the La Jolla Playhouse staff in 2009. During her tenure, she has garnered major national coverage in such publications as The New York Times, Time Magazine, American Theatre, LA Times, USA Today for the Playhouse's world-premiere productions of Hands on a Hardbody, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, The Who & The What and the 2013 Without Walls Festival, among others. Prior to working at the Playhouse, she served as Associate Director of Alumni Communications at UC San Diego and as Director of Public Relations at The Old Globe. She has also held communications positions at Boston's Citi Performing Arts Center and WNCN-FM classical radio station. Alongside her career in arts administration, Becky has performed professionally, with credits ranging from a European tour of Jesus Christ Superstar to regional productions of Into the Woods, Once Upon a Mattress and The Gift of the Magi, among others. She is a graduate of Carleton College and the American Musical & Dramatic Academy.
Job Titles:
- Production Manager
- Senior Production Manager
Ben Seibert (he/him/his) joined the Production Management team at La Jolla Playhouse in 2014. During his time with the Playhouse, he has overseen production activities for dozens of Playhouse-born plays and musicals including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Darrel Hammond Project, Come From Away, JUNK, The Last Tiger in Haiti, Blueprints to Freedom, Escape to Margaritaville, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Diana and Fly. He began his career as a technician in the Chicago area after graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Theatre Arts from Barat College in Lake Forest, IL. Ben has toured nationally as a technical director and technician and worked in theaters across the country of all sizes. He has worked prominently in the past with The Colorado Shakespeare Festival (Production Manager) and the University of San Diego (Production Manager/Technical Director).
Job Titles:
- Patron Services Assistant Manager / Group Sales Specialist
Bridget has been with La Jolla Playhouse since 2017, first as a Teaching Artist, and now as the Director of Learning. She is a San Diego based educator, improviser, and facilitator and has been performing and teaching improv theater and communication strategies to adults and children since 2005. She has been a Master Teaching Artist with Arts for Learning, San Diego, La Jolla Playhouse, and San Diego Junior Theatre and is a performer and teacher with Finest City Improv. She is the former Education Director for the Baltimore Improv Group as well as a former Teaching Artist for Young Audiences of Maryland. She was a Baltimore County Public Schools High School (MD) English and theater teacher for seven years. Bridget is a graduate of the Young Audience of Maryland Teaching Artist Institute and has extensive training in inclusion, professional development, and arts integration. She holds a masters degree in Communicating in Contemporary Cultures and teaches adjunct at the college level. She has performed improv in Baltimore, DC, New York, Chicago, Austin, Philadelphia, London, and San Diego.
Job Titles:
- Production Office Manager
Tony Award-winner Christopher Ashley has served as La Jolla Playhouse's Artistic Director since 2007. During his tenure, he directed the world premieres of Come From Away, Diana: The Musical, Memphis, Escape to Margaritaville, The Squirrels, A Dram of Drummhicit, Restoration and Chasing the Song, as well as His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Freaky Friday and Xanadu. He also spearheaded the Playhouse's Without Walls (WOW) initiative, the DNA New Work Series and the Resident Theatre program.
Mr. Ashley recently directed Come From Away for AppleTV+ and Diana: The Musical for Netflix. Other screen credits include the feature films Jeffrey and Lucky Stiff, and the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS.
Mr. Ashley's Broadway credits include Come From Away (Tony and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Diana: The Musical, Escape to Margaritaville, Memphis (Tony Award nomination), Xanadu, Leap of Faith (Drama Desk Award nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations). He also helmed productions of Come From Away in London (Olivier Award nomination), Toronto, Australia and on national tour. Other national tours include Escape to Margaritaville, Memphis, Xanadu, All Shook Up and Seussical: The Musical. Additional New York stage credits include Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla (Lucille Lortel Award nomination), Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Communicating Doors, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others.
Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Production Manger
Job Titles:
- Marketing Database Analyst
Job Titles:
- Network Systems Specialist
was appointed La Jolla Playhouse's new Managing Director in 2018 and has served as General Manager of the Playhouse since 2002. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT). In 2009, she received a San Diego Women Who Mean Business Award from San Diego Business Journal. Previously she served as Counsel to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. She was a faculty member of the Smithsonian Institution's program on Legal Problems of Museum Administration. Prior to the Kennedy Center, she served as a corporate attorney in New York City and Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of UC San Diego and Harvard Law School. Ms. Buchholz and her husband, noted author and White House economic policy advisor Todd Buchholz, live in Solana Beach and are the proud parents of Victoria, Katherine and Alexia.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Lead Patron Services Representative
Job Titles:
- Patron Services Representative
Eric Keen-Louie (he/him/his) joined the Playhouse in September, 2018, after seven years at The Old Globe, where he started as Associate Producer and later became Associate Artistic Director. At the Globe, he helped guide nearly fifty productions, including the pre-Broadway productions of Bright Star, Allegiance and the Tony Award-winning A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. He co-created the theater's new play development initiative The Powers New Voices Festival and helped launch the arts engagement programs Community Voices and Globe for All. Keen-Louie spent three years at The Public Theater as the Assistant to the Associate Producer and then Director of Special Projects, working on world premieres by Richard Nelson, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Stephen Sondheim, as well as the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Hair and the creation of The Mobile Unit. Independently, he produced Kingdom and the GLAAD Media Award-winning when last we flew. He also assisted Broadway producer Margo Lion on Hairspray and Caroline, or Change. He is a recipient of The Edward & Sally Van Lier Arts Fellowship for Producing and an alumnus of American Express' Leadership Academy. He serves as Secretary for the National Alliance of Musical Theatre's Board of Directors and chairs the organization's Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Committee and New Works Committee. He graduated with a B.A. in Dramatic Literature from New York University and an M.F.A. in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University, where he received a Dean's fellowship. He shares his commute to La Jolla with his husband Anthony Keen-Louie, an administrator in student affairs at UC San Diego. He is a proud third-generation Chinese-American.
Job Titles:
- Assistant General Manager
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Finance
Job Titles:
- Director of Artistic Development
Gabriel Greene joined La Jolla Playhouse's artistic staff in 2007. In addition to curating and producing the annual DNA New Work Series, he has dramaturged over two dozen new plays and musicals for the Playhouse, including The Squirrels, Wild Goose Dreams, At the Old Place, Escape to Margaritaville, Miss You Like Hell, JUNK, The Last Tiger in Haiti, Blueprints to Freedom, Up Here, The Darrell Hammond Project, The Who & The What, Milk Like Sugar (also off-Broadway) and Memphis (also Broadway and London; four Tony Awards). With Alex Levy, he wrote Safe at Home, a site-specific show which was developed through the DNA Series and received its world premiere at Mixed Blood Theatre in 2017 (Ivey Award). Goosebumps Alive, his immersive adaptation of R.L. Stine's best-selling novels (co-written and directed by Tom Salamon) received its world premiere at The Vaults (London) in 2016. He is a graduate of University of Michigan and Trinity College, Dublin.
Job Titles:
- Integrated Digital Marketing and Partnerships Manager
Job Titles:
- Director of Arts Engagement / in - House Casting
- Director of Arts Engagement and in - House Casting
Jacole Kitchen is the Director of Arts Engagement and In-House Casting at La Jolla Playhouse, spearheading numerous community-based programs. In addition, she teaches acting, improv and professional development for actors through UCSD Extension. Directing credits include the Playhouse's Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour production of Light Years Away, Cardboard Piano (Diversionary Theatre), An Iliad (New Village Arts), among others. She was recently named Executive Director of the San Diego Performing Arts League.
Job Titles:
- Corporate Relations Manager
Job Titles:
- Patron Services Representative
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Trustee
- Honorary Trustee
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Technical Director
A native New Yorker, Julia B. Foster has dedicated the majority of her career to the non-profit arts, in both performance and administration. After earning a B.A. in dance at Washington University in St. Louis, she pursued a professional career in modern dance, musical theater, singing and acting, including six years as a soloist with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. Later transitioning to arts administration, Foster most recently worked at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California, as Vice President of Development, overseeing their successful annual fund campaign that raised a record $10.5 million goal in FY18, and leading the Center's annual Candlelight Concert gala to its highest net profit finish in its 44 year history. While at the Center, she previously served as the Director of the Capital Campaign, where she oversaw the Center's $73 million Next Act Capital Campaign, and planned and implemented successful campaign events, including the groundbreaking and opening celebrations for the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza. Past positions at Segerstrom Center include Director of Major Gifts and Director of the Annual Fund. She also co-chaired the Orange County Association of Fundraising Professionals' National Philanthropy Day fundraiser luncheon. Prior to the Segerstrom Center, Foster held the post of Chief Development Officer at both Project Access and at Irvine Barclay Theatre and served as the Cultural Development Manager for the Vail Valley Foundation in Colorado.
Job Titles:
- Special Events Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Philanthropy
Job Titles:
- Interim Electrics Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Learning and Engagement Assistant
Job Titles:
- Institutional Giving Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Individual Giving Manager
Job Titles:
- Production Management Assistant
Job Titles:
- Director of Experiences and Activations
Mia Fiorella joined the marketing team at Jolla Playhouse in 2011 and has worked on many hit shows like Come From Away, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Blueprints to Freedom, Junk and Miss You Like Hell - and all Without Walls projects. Her passion is bringing audiences and artists together to share stories, culture and experiences. Mia previously worked as the Audience Development Manager at The Old Globe, and in Chicago as a Publicist with John Iltis & Cheryl Lewin Associates (a film and theatre PR firm) and as the Marketing & Publicity Director for The Noble Fool Theatre and Trinity Irish Dance Company. She is a proud graduate of the Theatre Management program at DePaul University in Chicago. Mia spent the last twenty years playing women's ice hockey until recently, when she discovered rowing on Mission Bay. Before all of these many journeys, she danced for the Delia Stewart Dance company in Houston, TX (now the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center) and studied modern and jazz dance in New York City.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Second Vice - Chair
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Technical Director
Job Titles:
- Senior Multimedia Designer
Job Titles:
- Company Management Assistant
Job Titles:
- Patron Services Sales Specialist
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Ticketing Services
Job Titles:
- Patron Services Representative
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Philanthropy, Institutional Giving
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to Christopher Ashley
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- First Vice - Chair
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Sales & Marketing
Job Titles:
- Philanthropy Operations Manager
Job Titles:
- Senior Patron Services Manager