The Free Theatre’s Advisory Board is comprised of adult professionals with expertise in a variety of fields, and student alumni who have committed to supporting the company in an advisory capacity.
Marci Shegogue, Board President & Acting Treasurer
Marci has served as music director for hundreds of professional, community and educational program productions in the D.C. area over the past 40 years. In addition to working with The Free Theater (Fame, Mamma Mia, In the Heights, Sweeney Todd, Pippin, Chicago, Urinetown, Footloose, 9 to 5, Mean Girls, The Prom), she is the resident Music Director for Free Range Humans, a professional immersive theater company, and serves on the Board for Free Range Kids. Marci has worked extensively with educational musical theater programs in the DMV, including American University, University of Maryland College Park, Montgomery College, and Montgomery County Public Schools. Favorite productions include The Prom (Univ of MD), Once (American Univ), Little Women (Univ of MD, and MC Summer Dinner Theatre productions) Jekyll and Hyde, Murder Ballad, Always Patsy Cline, Striking 12, 35mm (Free Range Humans), Double Trouble (Imagination Stage), Infinite Future: A Celebration of Leonard Bernstein (Monumental Theater), Catch Me If You Can (Act Two at Levine), Tommy (Kensington Arts Theater), Newsies and Anastasia (Quince Orchard HS Drama), Aida and In the Heights (Northwest HS Drama), Spamalot and Forever Plaid (Rockville Musical Theater), and Beauty and the Beast (Damascus Theatre Company). She is a University of Maryland theater and music department alumnus and has trained professionally with DC and NYC artists. Marci is also a collaborative accompanist, mentor and audition coach and freelance musician.
Hope Villanueva, Vice President
Most recently, Hope was the Production Stage Manager for Rock of Ages Hollywood, a new immersive production from the original Broadway director. Before becoming an Equity Stage Manager, Hope was a credentialed teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she started a high school theatre program, as well as being the Artistic Director for a youth musical theatre program in the Pacific Palisades. DC stage manager credits include BLKS, Lights Rise on Grace (Woolly Mammoth, workshop), Hand to God, Choir Boy, and The Big Meal (Studio Theatre), Marie and Rosetta, The Vagrant Trilogy, Paper Dolls, Queens Girl in Africa, Milk Like Sugar, and The Gospel of Lovingkindness (Mosaic), A House of Glass (Arena Stage), Awake and Sing and Our Town (Olney Theatre Center), Endgame (Baltimore CenterStage), as well as PSM on the National Tours of Rock of Ages (National and International), My Fair Lady and Young Frankenstein. NYC credits include Who’s Your Baghdaddy (Off-Broadway) and Once Upon a Pastime (WPPAC). She was previously Resident and Touring Stage Manager for Honolulu Theatre for Youth and Associate Production Manager on Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey’s Bellobration. She is also a sound designer and produced playwright, whose work can be found on The New Play Exchange.
Seoyoung Kim, Secretary
Seoyoung has worked professionally around the DMV area as a production manager, designer, and all around tech since 2017. They started working with The Free Theatre as the Production Manager for “Fame” tech week and performance in 2019.
Rikki Howie Lacewell, Advisor and Mentor
OPEN, Advisor, Development
Lisa Young, Advisor
Lisa Young is an actor-vist, director, singer, teaching artist and founder of IDEA Stages, a grassroots movement for theatre that uses the philosophy we are all accountable for inclusion, diversity, equity and access in the arts. She has served on the Colorado Theatre Guild Board since 2013 and 30+ years in community and professional theatre. She brings a wealth of knowledge to the Free Theatre’s Advisory Board.
Megan Holden, Advisor and Mentor
Megan Holden is a scenic designer, scenic painter, and theatre artist. She graduated from James Madison University in 2017 and has been freelancing in the DMV area since 2019. Her first production scenic designing with the Free Theatre was Fame in 2019.
Hailey LaRoe, Advisor and Mentor
Hailey is a Lighting and Projection Designer, who has been working in the DC area since 2018, and has worked with The Free Theatre since December 2018. She grew up in Bethesda Maryland and returned to the area after attending Ohio Wesleyan university studying History and Theatre. Theatre has been a central part of Hailey’s life ever since she started doing tech work in middle school. She believes that student leadership and technical/ design knowledge is so important for any young artist and she is so thrill to have the opportunity with The Free Theatre to pass down some theatre know-how. You can find some of her recent work at Haileylaroedesigns.com
Gillian Gravatt, Alumni Advisor and Prior Company Manager
Gillian Gravatt is an alumna of the Free Theatre who became involved with the company during their very first production, Mamma Mia. As a junior, she directed the Free’s production of Fame, and went on to be Company Manager her senior year. Gillian is very passionate about the Free Theatre’s mission to make educational theatre accessible and student-driven, and hopes to continue to forward this mission as a member of the Advisory Board. Gillian graduated from Walt Whitman High School in 2021 and is currently a student at Rice University majoring in Political Science.
Claire Gelillo, Alumni Advisor and Prior Marketing Director
Claire Gelillo is an alumna of The Free Theatre who joined during the company’s inaugural season. In addition to performing in the company’s productions of In The Heights, Fame, Sweeney Todd, and Pippin, she served as the Marketing Director from 2019-2021. Claire hopes to forward The Free’s mission by providing guidance on best practices in marketing, student leadership, and more. She is currently training at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting at NYU Tisch. Ari Rubenstein, Alumni Advisor and Prior Creative Team Member
Grace Awono, Alumni Advisor and Prior Marketing Director
Jen Jeon, Alumni Advisor and Prior Costume Designer
Chase Pasekoff, Alumni Advisor and Prior Company Manager