David Ellenstein, Artistic Director, Born into a theatrical family, David Ellenstein has worked in theatres across the country. In May 2023, David was named Artistic Director of Laguna Playhouse, after filling the role in an interim capacity since September 2023. In addition David has been the Artistic Director of North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach, CA since 2003. He is the former Artistic Director of Los Angeles Repertory Company and Arizona Jewish Theatre. A veteran of over 300 theatrical productions, he has worked at theatres across the country for nearly five decades, including Coconut Grove Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Alabama, Great Lakes, and California Shakespeare Festivals, Portland Stage, 59E59, The Meadowbrook Theatre, and Colony Theatre. 

Among the more than 60 productions that David has directed at North Coast Rep, favorites include The Remarkable Mister Holmes, which he co-authored, An Iliad, Dr. Glas (Streaming), Becoming Cuba (World Premiere), The Father (West Coast Premiere), Travels with My Aunt, Words by Ira Gershwin (World Premiere), Freud’s Last Session, Becoming Dr. Ruth and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  

At other venues memorable productions include The Glass Menagerie (Alabama Shakespeare), A Shayna Maidel (Gaslamp Quarter Theatre), The Chosen (Papermill Playhouse, The Coconut Grove Playhouse), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Renaissance Theatre), Conversations with My Father (Portland Repertory Theatre), Cyrano de Bergerac (Southwest Theatre Company), Chapatti, and Alexandros (Laguna Playhouse).  

Favorite roles as an actor include Andrey Botvinnck in A Walk in the Woods, Max Prince in Laughter on the 23rd Floor and Matt in Talley’s Folly at North Coast Rep, title roles in Hamlet at Los Angeles Theatre Center and Los Angeles Repertory Company; Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at Moonlight Stage, Richard III at California Shakespeare Festival; Einstein in Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Laguna Playhouse; Calisto in The Illusion and Harker in Dracula at the Arizona Theatre Company; Jonathan in Sight Unseen at North Coast Rep and Portland Repertory Theatre. David has appeared in more than two dozen roles in film and television, and has been guest faculty for several universities including California State Northridge and Cal Arts.

Bill Kerlin, Managing Director, Originally from Valparaiso, Indiana, Mr. Kerlin brings over 30 years of finance, marketing, and sales experience to the Laguna Playhouse, including 12 years as Managing Director for North Coast Repertory Theatre and 16 seasons as the Director of Administration at the legendary Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami. During the time that Bill served at Coconut Grove, it was the largest professional not-for-profit producing theatre in the State of Florida. Mr. Kerlin graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from the University of Miami in 1984. While he completed his Master of Science from Florida International University, he concurrently taught classes at Miami-Dade College. He was also the Chief Financial Officer for Professionals’ Retirement Strategy, a national insurance and retirement planning service firm in Irvine, CA. He has also served as a Board Member for Camposition, a performing arts company whose mission was to push the boundary between contemporary performance and activism through live performance, interactive outreach programs, and professional development trainings. 

Denys Baker, General Manager, joined the Playhouse in 2017 following a six-year stint as the Administrative Project Manager at the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) where she is proud to have worked on the $34M conversion of the Strand Theater. Prior to her work at A.C.T., Denys spent 25 years in NYC managing Broadway productions including the Tony Award-winning production of CABARET at Studio 54. She holds an MFA in Performing Arts Management and first came to Southern California in 2010 as General Manager for threesixty Entertainment’s production of PETER PAN performed in a circus tent. Denys is thrilled to be in Laguna where she can pursue her love of hiking and backpacking and continue training to reach her goal of climbing to Everest Base Camp.

Veltria Roman, CFO/CTO, joined the Laguna Playhouse team in fall 2014 as Box Office Manager, bringing with her almost 20 years experience working in performing arts and live events in every aspect of including stage management, artistic planning, theater management, human resources, event production, and ticketing operations. Prior to coming to Laguna Playhouse, Veltria spent 3 years working in New York at the Kaufman Music Center restructuring their venue rental and ticketing operations to increase sales in both areas. During this time she also expanded her event production experience working with DeVoe Signature events, the leader in Plus Size Fashion Events. She is responsible for all Finance and Ticketing Operations at the Laguna Playhouse and lends her 15+ years experience in the Tessitura ticketing software to assist in improved patron interaction and Customer Service.  Veltria holds a Bachelor's degree in English with a Theater Emphasis and was named as one of Orange Coast Magazine's Kick Ass Women in the arts in 2023.

Michael G. Murphy, Director of Advancement, was most recently President of Shea’s Performing Arts Center in his hometown area of Buffalo, NY. He previously served as Managing Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Prior to the Globe, he was the Managing Director of Austin Lyric Opera in Austin, Texas; Director of Administration of San Diego Opera; and General Manager of San Diego Repertory Theatre. Before relocating to San Diego from New York City, he held similar positions at Theatre for a New Audience and the Joyce Theater Foundation’s American Theater Exchange. He also served as negotiating assistant for the League of Resident Theatres and sales representative for Columbia Artists Theatricals Corporation. Mr. Murphy is the immediate past president of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. He has served on various boards including the National Corporate Theatre Fund and Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, and as a Management Trustee for San Diego County Theatrical Trusts, the pension and welfare trust for IATSE stagehands in the San Diego region. He was also an adjunct faculty member of the Music Department at the University of San Diego. Mr. Murphy earned his B.F.A. degree in Stage Management from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, and his M.F.A. in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

Tom Horvath, Director of Marketing, Communications, and Public Relations

Joe Alanes, Director of Education & Outreach, has had the privilege of being the Director of Education & Outreach at Laguna Playhouse since October 2021, and it has been such a joy to be able to serve the community in this way, and to be a small part of Laguna Playhouse’s monumental legacy. He especially loves to direct the students in the Youth Theatre productions, in shows such as Wanda’s World and The Lightning Thief: the Percy Jackson musical. Joe is also a teaching artist at South Coast Repertory, where he performed in his first Actors Equity contract many years ago. Aside from acting and teaching, he has also directed there as the Junior Players Director for a number of years, directing plays such as The Jungle Book, and Riding the Wind: Story Plays of Old China. Joe was also Co-Artistic Director of Modjeska Playhouse, where he had directed and acted in a number of plays, including True West, She Kills Monsters, and The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged), and many more.  He has also taught at the Orange County School of the Arts, where he directed several plays including Spoon River Anthology, a collaboration between OCSA and Modjeska Playhouse, and several other shows.  He taught many grade levels and many different subjects while there.  He was also formerly Director of Theatre at Mater Dei, having directed shows such as All Shook Up, Little Shop of Horrors, You Can’t Take it With You,  and Les Miserables, among many others. He enjoyed getting to do unique things there, like playing Lafayette from Hamilton in the Homecoming Rally and staging a surprise flash mob performance of One Day More at another rally (you can find it on YouTube, it’s hilarious). Joe has also toured the country with various productions as an actor, ASM, stage manager, and company manager, and was a director and program manager at Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre. Joe graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre and is currently completing his MA in Education and CTE Credential in Performing Arts and Media. He is a proud member of Actors Equity Association, and a new member of  The Parents-of-Kids-in-Out-of-State-College club.

Lisa Hale
Partner, Parallax Capital Partners, LLC
Chair

Justin Myers
Entrepreneur  
Vice Chair 

Harley Bassman
Managing Partner at Simplify Asset Management 
Board Treasurer

Jeff Winston
Retired, Chief Technology Officer, Allergan, Inc. 
Board Secretary

Jared K. Mathis
CEO, Moulton Company
Governance and Nominations

Heidi Miller
Owner, Tight Assets, The World Newstand
Executive Committee at Large

Heather Anne Chalmers

Torin J Cunningham
Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery

James Hale
Managing Partner, Parallax Capital Partners, LLC

Dr. Gary Jenkins
Retired Pediatrician

Barbara MacGillivray
Executive, MacGillivray Freeman Films

Xiaohong Rose
Entrepreneur

Ryan Smith
Attorney, Greenberg Traurig 

Richard Thomas

Artistic Director
David Ellenstein

Managing Director
Bill Kerlin

Emeritus Trustees

Glenn E. Gray

Otis Healy
Sr Vice President and Western Regional Director, Smith Barney & Co (retired)

Ilona Martin
Artist

Melinda Masson
CEO, Masson Strategic Advisors LLC

Jim Mellor

Artistic Director, David Ellenstein

Managing Director, Bill Kerlin

MANAGEMENT
General Manager, Denys Baker
Assistant General Manager/Company Manager, Rachel Garlington

FINANCE AND IT
Chief Financial Officer/Chief Technology Officer, Veltria Roman
Accounting, Payroll, and HR Manager, Larry Stotz
Website Consultant, Andrew Lombardi
Managed IT Services, Method Technologies

DEVELOPMENT
Director of Advancement, Michael G. Murphy
Development Manager, Mary Grant
Annual Giving Manager, Savannah Casey
Grants Writer, Annamarie Maricle

PRODUCTION
Production Manager, Jordan Muller
Wardrobe Supervisor, Stacey Nezda
Resident Sound Designer/Audio Engineer, Ian Scot
Lighting Supervisor/Light Board Operator, Jeremy Plant
Master Carpenter
Technical Director, Paul Rossi
Production Management Assistant, Cameron Wall

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Director of Marketing, Communications and PR, Tom Horvath
Marketing Manager, Mackenzee Osborne
Marketing Assistant, Alexus Lombera
Graphic Designer, Teresa English
Press Consultant, David Elzer, Demand PR
Broadcast Consultant, Nancy Pank, Nancy's Media Buys


TICKETING SERVICES
Associate Director of Ticketing and Customer Service, Chelsea Morgan
Assistant Ticketing Services Manager, Morgan Leal
Box Office Lead, Nikki Johnson
Ticket Service Representative, Robert Phipps, Marlon Gomez-Smith, Peter Knick, Olivia Mancillas
Season Ticket Sales, Theatre Direct

EDUCATION
Director of Education, Youth Theatre, Joe Alanes
Education and Outreach Coordinator, Nakisa Aschtiani
Teaching Artists, Jack Clark, Cynthia Hamidi, Sabrina Harper, Anthony Kairouz, Mary Sherg Kaye, Toni Redman, Keya Vance

FACILITIES OPERATIONS
Facilities Manager, David Bryant
Facility Maintenance Technician, Brandon Sandoval

FRONT OF HOUSE
Artistic & Audience Services Manager, Wally Ziegler
House Manager, Clara Bush
Assistant House Manager, Jane Sabarre
Parking Supervisor, Curtis Pebley
Bartender, Marlon Gomez-Smith, Leanne Nolan

CONSULTANTS
Legal Services, Stephen Berry, Paul Hastings