Vineyard Playhouse Staff

The collaborative nature of live theater and the small size of the Vineyard Playhouse staff make it difficult to define our staff members by titles. So we are listing our current theater staff & co, and their contact information and including some of the jobs that they perform when they are not writing plays, acting, directing, stage managing, designing and doing “everything else”!

Vineyard Playhouse Staff:

MJ Bruder Munafo
Executive Artistic Director
508-693-6450 x 13
mj@vineyardplayhouse.org

MJ Bruder Munafo has served as the Executive Artistic Director and Producer of The Vineyard Playhouse since 1995. Previously, she worked as the Playhouse’s Managing and Producing Director for ten years. She is responsible for the  management of the Playhouse and the production of well over 200 plays during her tenure.

Her education in the theater has been in the theater itself, but in 1994, while actively running the Playhouse, she returned to school. In June of 1997, she graduated cum laude from Harvard University’s Extension School, earning her ALB with a Concentration in Drama.

Her work as a stage director spans twenty-five years and over fifty plays; including highly-acclaimed productions of The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill A Mockingbird and Our Town, as well as productions of Proof, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Laramie Project, Master Harold and the Boys, The Children’s Hour and others too numerous to mention. In addition, she has helped develop and direct many new plays including Jon Lipsky’s Walking the Volcano in 2009.

Ms. Bruder Munafo is committed to educating children and introducing them to the theater. So far at the Playhouse, she has co-founded The Fourth Grade Theater Project, TeenProv!, Summer Stars Theater Arts Camp, and The Fabulists: Theater for Children.

In addition to directing on the stage, Ms. Bruder Munafo has served as a casting consultant for film and television projects on the Vineyard. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and has worked both as an actor and as a professional stage manager. She is the recipient of the 2005 Creative Living Award from the Permanent Endowment Fund of Martha’s Vineyard. She and her husband Paul live in Vineyard Haven.

Kate Hancock
Properties & Costume Shop Manager,
Co-Director of Education
508-693-6450 x 19
kate@vineyardplayhouse.org

Kate joined the Playhouse in 2005 working on the Fourth Grade Theater Project. Since then she has stage managed and propped many Playhouse productions and co-directs the Fourth Grade Theater Project. Kate’s other credits include numerous off-Broadway, regional and opera productions. She is also a lyricist/librettist and has written book and lyrics for more than a dozen musicals for children and for a musical adaptation of Playboy of the Western World with Richard B. Evans. Kate has BA and MA degrees in education and an MA in Theater History and Criticism.

Fred J. Hancock
Resident Lighting Designer   

Fred has been designing at the Playhouse since 2006 as well as being the lighting consultant for The Fourth Grade Theatre Project. After working as a lighting designer off Broadway and in regional opera, and as a Broadway assistant, Fred has been  working as a Technical Director for Business Theatre for the past 23 years. He has a MFA in Theatre Design from NYU and a BFA in Theatre Design from Boston University.


Jim Novack
Resident Tinkerer        
508-693-6450 x14
jim@vineyardplayhouse.org

Jim recently retired as director/manager of the MVRHS Performing Arts Center. He has designed sound for many Playhouse productions over the years.

Geneva Monks Corwin
Administrative & Production Assistant
Box Office Manager
508-693-6450 x 18
geneva@vineyardplayhouse.org

Geneva graduated from Emerson College in 2007 with a BFA in Stage Management.  She interned at the Playhouse in the summer of 2006 and has yet to leave.  She performs many many duties at the Playhouse including Administrative Assistant, Production Assistant, Box Office Manager, website updater and Amphitheater Stage Manager.

Christopher Kann
Resident Carpenter

Chris has worked for two seasons as the resident Carpenter.  Chris has worked as a residental/commercial carpenter on island for over 8 years.  He has also acted in several productions at the Playhouse including A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, A CHRISTMAS STORY, THE FAR EAST, and CHILDREN’S HOUR.

Stephen M. Zablotny
Graphics & Publications
508-693-6450 x 16
steve@vineyardplayhouse.org

Playhouse Associates:

Joann Green Breuer
Associate Artistic Director

Rosemarie Haigazian
Legal Council

Linda M. Smith
Lynne Nippes
House Managers

Jihan Ponti
Brie Bingham
House & Box Office Staff

Heather Goff
Website Designer & Host