Meet the 2023- 2024 ACT Cincinnati Executive Board
Fred Hunt, President
Fred is an IT Project Manager by day and a busy theater performer/director/producer/fan by night. He began serving as an ACT Cincinnati adjudicator in 2014 and has served on the Long Range Judging Committee and as the ACT 2nd Vice President. He is currently the ACT President. Fred has been involved with several community theaters in the Cincinnati area since 2003. Fred currently serves as treasurer and board member for CenterStage Players. His love of theater began in middle school 40+ years ago and was rekindled as his children developed their desires to perform.
Amanda Emmons Shumate, 1st VP
(She|Her) With over 20 years of experience in Cincinnati theatre, Amanda is thrilled to continue to serve her ACT Cincinnati family. Amanda lives in Northern Kentucky with her amazing partner, Kyle, and their two sons, Jojo and Nico, and cutest black lab around, Dexter. Amanda taught for 17 years where she also mentored as a teacher leader since receiving her master’s degree in Instructional Leadership in 2012. Currently, she freelances digital design work and runs her bakery, Shu’s Sweets! Amanda currently serves on the ACT Cincinnati board of directors as the 1st VP and has held various other roles within that organization, including being a member of the long range judging committee, secretary, awards committee and also currently serves as a judging assistant. Amanda continues to work with several other organizations in our area including Footlighters and Cincinnati Music Theatre, where she is currently serving as the secretary on their board of directors. Throughout the years, she has worked at the regional, collegiate, community and professional levels as a director, producer, set designer, stage manager, choreographer, and performer. She has served on many local boards, including being one of the founding members of Union Community Theatre, and has recently taken time to participate in JEDI training to learn how to use her platforms to better support the diverse theatre community we have here in Cincinnati. Amanda strongly believes that the arts strengthen our community and build lasting relationships and is grateful to be a part of the thriving and vibrant Cincinnati theatre community!
Mark Culp, 2nd VP
Mark returned to theatre in 2015 after a long hiatus. Since then, he’s been active both onstage and behind the scenes and is currently the VP-Production for CenterStage Players and Development Director for Cincinnati Music Theatre. Mark is also a frequent judge and consultant for the marching arts and has judged state championship events for marching bands throughout the country. He works as a Senior Occupancy Planner for Jones Lang LaSalle on the Procter & Gamble account in Cincinnati. His wife Jane is also involved with community theatre and his son Parker is currently studying theatre at Xavier University.
Betsy Obermeyer, Secretary, Long Range Judging Committee Chair
Betsy is pleased to lend her talents to the ACT Board and has been active in local theater since 2006. She is grateful for the chance to use her MFA training in a variety of scenic, producing, and leadership roles for Mariemont Players, The Drama Workshop, Footlighters Inc., Village Players, and Milford Theater Guilde. She began serving as an ACT Cincinnati adjudicator in 2016. A graduate of The Ohio State University, she appreciates symbolism and meaning on stage after attending a masterclass and symposium with famed Czech scenographer Jaroslav Malina.
By day she is a Senior Account Manager at Integrity Express Logistics and enjoys kayaking with her husband and daughter.
Jon Scheiding, Treasurer
Jon has been active in Cincinnati area community theatre for nearly 15 years, serving in numerous roles - including sound designer, music director, orchestra member, and performer - for numerous groups - including Mason Community Players, Center Stage Players, Beechmont Players, Village Players of Ft. Thomas, Footlighters, and Cincinnati Music Theatre. Highlights include performing as Mendel in Falsettos at CMT and Jamie in The Last Five Years at Village Players of Ft. Thomas, and music directing Next To Normal at Footlighters. He has served for four years as the chair of Mason Community Players' Finance Committee, and previously served on the Board for Beechmont Players.
In his "other life," Jon is a software engineer and engineering manager for Instructure, the provider of Canvas LMS and other cloud education technology software. Additional interests include flying as a private pilot, and performing with his bands. Jon lives in Sharonville with his extremely talented wife, Kaleigh-Brooke Scheiding, their ornery cat Katniss, and their temperamental retired stage dog Bruiser.
Amy Waldfogle, Awards
Amy has been involved in Cincinnati-area theatre productions since 1992 performing, organizing, directing, designing or "whatever needs doing" for at least a half-dozen different community theatre groups. She earned a theatre arts teaching license through graduate studies at the University of Akron in 2004, and directed two local high school theatre programs for a total of 8 years, working with both the Cappies and the Educational Theatre Association ("Thespians"), including serving on the Ohio EdTA state board. She started serving ACT as a Responder in 2017 and has been a group representative and LRJC Committee member for the past several years before joining the Executive Board. To support her theatre habit, she works as an Information Security Program Manager for a cybersecurity company.
Mary Stone, Marketing/Publicity
This is Mary's third year on the ACT Board as the Marketing and Publicity chair, but she has been involved with ACT since 2013 serving as a judging assistant for Acting Up, Mason Community Players, and Tri-County Players. She has previously served as a member at large for 5 years on Exhale Dance Tribe’s Board of Directors, 2 years as President of The Drama Workshop, and is currently in her 8th year on Footlighters Inc.'s Board, serving as their VP Administration. Mary is proud to be a 2022 graduate of Artswave’s Boardway Bound program and using her training to become a more effective board leader in Cincinnati’s arts community, beginning her service with The Carnegie's board of directors in July 2022. She was humbled and honored to have won the 2022 ACT President's Award in her very first year on the ACT Board.
Arlene Balczo, Scholarships
Arlene Balczo, who has a Telecommunications Degree from Indiana University, a Secondary Education Degree in Communications from the University of Cincinnati, and a Master’s Degree in Education from Miami University, taught drama, communications, journalism and English at Mason High School for 33 years. In the Greater Cincinnati area, she’s been a director, choreographer, producer and performer since 1988. Over the last 3 decades she’s developed the theatre curriculum for Mason High School, helped found Acting Up, a children’s theater group in Mason, Ohio and Brieabi Productions, a community theatre organization that was in Anderson, Ohio. Arlene has directed over 60 plays and musicals locally, has won numerous awards for directing, choreographing, producing and performing, won the President’s Award for Association of Community Theatre of Cincinnati twice, and in 2017 received the prestigious Art Rouse Award. Arlene has been ACT Cincinnati’s 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice President, Secretary, and now Scholarship Chair. She adjudicated theatre for ACT from 1991-2021 and served on the Long Range Judging Committee as Chairperson, overseeing the organization’s judging and critiquing system. Outside of theatre, Arlene is a talent with Heyman Talent Agency and works for the University Hospital as a standardized patient. She loves long distance running and cheering on the Reds and Bengals.
Linda Roll, Historian, Librarian, & Pre- Registration
Linda Roll has been active in Community Theatre since 1994. She has done most technical jobs there are from directing, producing, stage managing, costuming, lighting and just about any other job you can name. She is also an award-winning actress, costumer, producer and director on both the local and state levels.
John Wesseling, Membership Standing Committee Chair, Bylaws Co-Chair
John has been involved with Community Theater for over 40 years, most of it with the Sunset Players, Inc. and ACT Cincinnati, Inc. He is an award-winning actor, director, technician, and producer. He has served on the board of the Sunset Players for almost 40 years and has served on the ACT board 30 out of the last 36 years.
He was the first individual to win both of the ACT Cincinnati Inc. major awards, the Mario Pitocco Award for Excellence in Technical Theater, and the Art Rouse Award for Dedication to Community Theater. John is also a four-time President’s Award honoree.
As President of the Sunset Players, John led the charge of assuming control of the Dunham Recreation Complex’s historically significant Arts building and turning it into The Arts Center at Dunham, a complete Arts center for the west side of Cincinnati.
He is also the creator of “Cincinnati Community Theater Wesseling Group”, an e-mail list that shares theater information in the Greater Cincinnati area with over 1,200 theater members.
Joy Sharp, Bylaws Co-Chair
Joy Sharp has been an ACT Judging Assistant for several years and currently schedules judges for Mariemont Players and Cincinnati Music Theatre. She has held office as ACT 2nd VP several times, and is dedicated to the wonderful program, helping tweak it to make it even better. Joy’s involvement in community theatre has spanned over 40 years in several theatres throughout our ACT locations. She is very proud to have many friends and to remember those sweet souls who have passed throughout those decades. Joy is honored to help with the judging program.