Marilyn Strauss
Founder
Marilyn Strauss was a former Broadway producer who co-produced five plays, earning a Tony award for the Irish drama Da, an Off-Broadway award (Obie) for Getting Out, and a Tony nomination for the musical Pump Boys and Dinettes.
While residing in NYC for ten years, she traveled through Europe and Asia, lecturing on American plays and theater producing. Ms. Strauss returned to Kansas City at the urging of a fellow producer, the legendary Joseph Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival. He gave her the mission to have her home town join the ranks of the 120 cities with Shakespeare festivals in North America. Ms. Strauss first started a support club, and refusing recompense, worked full time to create the only Shakespeare Festival in a three state area. Ms. Strauss passed away September 15, 2018. We will miss her light, but we will continue to build upon her vision and her dream.
Gabe Egli
Co-President
Chris Gramling
Co-President
Scott Ashcraft, M.D.
Vice-President of Operations
Allan S. Gray II
Vice-President of Community Engagement
Wade Kerrigan
Secretary
Chris Bannister
Treasurer
Beverly Elving
Immediate Past President
Bill Ye
Past President
TJ Lynn
Past President
Patricia Davison
Past President
Dan Bukovac
Past President
R. Crosby Kemper
Past President
Linda Word
Past President
Shirley Bush Helzberg
Past President
Directors
Bernadette Ashcraft
Barb Bloch
Deanna Diebolt
Pat Konopka
Dan McClain
Tiffany Patterson
Susan Porter, M.D.
Jonathan Staton
Jason Waldron
Advisory Board
Don Dagenais, Past President
Mary Earls
Carol Kane
John Kornitzer
Lauren Muriel-Marion LaPointe
Sherrill Mulhern
Kelly Privitera
Joe Privitera
Anita Porte Robb
Anna Marie Tutera
Paul Uhlmann III
Blake Wendelburg, M.D.
