BOARD MEETINGS
STAFF
Executive Director John Faas (Photo credit, Scout Wampler)
John Faas is the Executive Director for Richmond Civic Theatre, and most previously was the Director of Development for Columbus Children’s Theatre (CCT). Prior to CCT, John served as Vice President – Development for The Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio (Dayton/s Premier Professional Regional Theatre Company). While at HRTC he successfully raised nearly $1M in contributed revenue each season and securing the largest annual operating gift in the organization’s history – $1M. Prior to The Human Race, John served as Director of Development for Muse Machine, and Development Manager for Victoria Theatre Association and Dayton Opera where he also served as an assistant stage manager for Dayton Opera for three seasons.
John holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Wright State University. During his time at WSU, John acted in multiple productions including, Inherit the Wind, Parade (Coached by Jason Robert Brown himself), Pirates of Penzance, Carousel, The Philadelphia Story, Merrily We Roll Along, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, States of Independence (Directed by Tina Landau – director of Broadway’s SpongeBob SquarePants, and music directed/composed by Ricky Ian Gordon, resident composer of New York Lyric Opera), and The White Rose.
Having played piano for over 25 years, John frequently takes up the baton as a local musical theatre music director and pit conductor/musician. To date, John’s artistic career highlights include directing Zoot Theatre Company’s first-ever musical-The Rocky Horror Puppet Show; playing keyboards for Avenue Q produced by The Human Race Theatre Company; conducting The Human Race’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone at Victoria Theatre on the Broadway Series – starring Broadway’s Jana Robbins; assistant-conducting the regional premiere of Band Geeks! – with Mykal Kilgore; music directing the Dayton Premiere of Spring Awakening produced by Encore Theatre Company; conducting and music directing The Human Race Theatre Company’s production of the Broadway Classic – Mame (one of his all-time favorites); Conducting his husband, Mike Embree (as Quasimodo) in Fairfield Summer Theatre’s production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2018).
In May 2018, John founded Act Two Costumes & John Faas Designs, LLC (www.act2costumes.com), having most recently costumed “Hello, Dolly!” for Indian Hill High School in Cincinnati, OH (2021). John has costumed Harvey and CLUE: On Stage! (Stivers School for the Performing Arts, Dayton, OH), Annie (Dare 2 Defy Productions, Dayton, OH), and The Pajama Game and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Stebbins High School, Dayton, OH)
Two “favorite” moments of John’s entire career was having the opportunity to meet his long-time idol and Broadway legend, Jerry Herman (composer of Hello, Dolly, Mame, La Cage Aux Folles, Mack and Mabel, and many others) and, the original Dolly Gallagher Levi – Carol Channing.
Office Manager Bonnie Miller (Photo credit, Scout Wampler)
Bonnie Miller, Office Manager for Richmond Civic Theatre, has worked in an Administrative Professional capacity for multiple organizations over the past 30 years, including Main Street Christian Church, WNDY-TV in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. During her nearly 10 years at MSCC, she started their first food pantry. At WNDY-TV, she helped write ad copy, appeared as a recurring character on a late-night movie program, and worked as Stage Manager for former Vice-President Mike Pence’s talk show. At the IMS Marketing Department, she managed the scheduling and payroll of the IMS Radio Network, as well as hospitality for multiple IndyCar drivers and sponsors.
Bonnie grew up in Rushville, Indiana, and studied at Purdue University, majoring in Communications, and the University of Cincinnati, majoring in Business Office Management. While at UC, she was President of the Alpha Eta chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity.
Always interested in performing, Bonnie began by storming the church choir as a 3-year-old. Since then, she performed in A Cappella Choir in high school, as well as multiple high school theatrical productions, high school speech and debate, a university-based television program at Purdue, and spent nearly 30 years with Rush County Players Community Theatre group. Bonnie served as Secretary and President of the Board with Rush County Players, as well as either performing in, or working on the production team of, over 30 productions. Favorite performances include Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker, Peter Pan in Peter Pan, and The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Theatre has played an important role in Bonnie’s family life as well. All 3 of her children performed in multiple Rush County Players and high school productions, and she even met her husband in a Rush County Players musicale!
In 2008, Bonnie was honored to be chosen as one of 5 grassroots donors to meet with then-candidate Barack Obama. She and her husband currently live in New Castle, Indiana.
Stage One Managing Director Ryan Shaw (Photo credit, Scout Wampler)
Ryan Shaw is the Managing Director of our Stage One Youth Theatre program. For the last 6 years, he has worked alongside the Stage One committee to grow and develop the program to bring powerful experiences in the arts to the students of our community. He began volunteering with RCT over 20 years ago and has been involved in countless productions. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from IU, has a professional background in banking as well as having been involved with many of the youth organizations throughout our community.
In his spare time, Ryan enjoys cooking, traveling, spending time with family and nights by a bonfire with friends.
John Faas, Exec.Dir. Aaron Clarke, Tech. Dir. Ryan Shaw, Stage One Managing Dir. Bonnie Miller, Office Manager