Who Are We?
Board of Directors and Principal Advisers
Michelle Owczarski
Board President Michelle is an independent video producer. She graduated from Marquette University with a majors in Broadcast and Electronic Communications and French. Michelle is also an active volunteer at St. Thomas Aquinas Academy in Milwaukee |
Michelle Young
Board Vice President Michelle is a human resources professional focused on program management and continuous improvement at Rockwell Automation, advising and coaching stakeholders to help them define problems and build a plan for action. She has a master’s degree in human resources and industrial relations from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hamline University. In addition, Michelle is Lean Six Sigma green belt certified. She actively supports the performing arts in Milwaukee, and is especially proud that Shakespeare in the Park makes theater accessible to the entire community. |
Laura Stone Barnard
Board Member Laura Stone Barnard is a retired communications and public relations professional, who has directed communications at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. She has also served on the boards of a number of local nonprofit organizations, including the Alzheimer's Association and the Mitchell Park Domes. She is a lifelong fan of film and theatre. |
Emilio De Torre
Board Member Emilio De Torre has been the Director of Youth and Programs at the ACLU of Wisconsin since 2006. He is the former Director of Education Services at Madison Square Boys & Girls Clubs where he supervised education, social development and technology programs for 12,000 young people at eight Boys & Girls Clubs in Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. He is also a former New York City public school teacher and a camp director, and has consulted on education, social media, technology, diversity and inclusion, youth outreach, and program design nationally for many groups including the U.S. Department of Education, AmeriCorps, PBS WNET-13, The American Museum of Natural History, Community Advocates, United Council, National Association of Independent Schools, the University of Wisconsin Extension and the Boys & Girls Club of America. |
Ron Scot Fry
Founding Artistic Director, Board Member Former Artistic Director for the Bristol Renaissance Faire, Ron works as a teacher, designer, director, writer and performer. His most recent directing project was A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Milwaukee's Free Shakespeare in the Park. His one-man interactive experience with the Bard, “To Be! Shakespeare Here and Now,” has played throughout the United States and in Florence, Italy. |
Susan Scot Fry
Executive Director, Board Member As the Managing Director for Optimist Theatre, Susan rarely comes out from behind a spreadsheet. She has years of outdoor theatre, festival and special event producing experience, and is the owner of a niche tour company. Susan is devoted to the pursuit of free Shakespeare in the Park for greater Milwaukee. |
Tyler J. Hull
Board Member TJ is an award-winning composer. He graduated from Ball State University in Indiana and has his graduate degree from Boston University. TJ plays viola with the Fox Valley Symphony and is the Director of the Franklin High School Orchestras. |
Azeeza Islam
Board Member Azeeza has been an active participant in the Milwaukee area for more than 40 years. She explains, "The arts have an enjoyable experience through this life of mine. I couldn't imagine my life without the arts; it has been the sanity of my insane self!" Azeeza is CEO of Vets76, Inc. |
Gregory Stanford
Board Member Greg Stanford is a Milwaukee-based writer and a co-owner of Ayzha Fine Arts Gallery & Boutique in the Grand Avenue mall downtown. For many years he was a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal, and an editorial writer and columnist for The Journal and then the merged Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He has won many journalism awards. He now writes plays. |
ML Cogar
Dramaturg, Humanities Advisor ML specializes in close reading of all kinds, from the enigmatic grandeur of ancient literatures to the baffling blandness of contemporary standardized test questions. To feed her greed for language, ML teaches analytical reading and writing at Alverno College and Shakespeare at Marquette University. However, it is ML’s work with Optimist Theatre that most excites her passion. A perpetual student of Shakespeare, ML has edited performance scripts, compiled research, and assisted literary interpretation since the first Shakespeare in the Park production of The Tempest in 2010. |
Tom Reed
Associate Artistic Director Tom is a founding member of Free Shakespeare in the Park; when not lending his support and talent to that pursuit, Tom can be "scene" as an actor on local stages, roaming the halls of Alverno College as an Assistant Professor of Theatre and, on occasion, ring announcing for locally produced boxing cards. Tom has made a career in Arts and Education -- he may not be rich, but he is happy. 
Dr. Barbara Leigh
Humanities Advisor and Mentor Barbara is the founding Artistic Director of Milwaukee Public Theatre, a professional outreach theatre that provides primarily free-to-the-public original theatreworks and educational workshops that focus on giving voice to people of all ages, cultures and abilities. She earned her Ph.D. in French Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. |
We are also our sponsors and our audience...
The enthusiastic support of corporate sponsors, foundations, and arts and community organizations, including UPAF, Milwaukee Arts Board, the Wisconsin Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Arts -- among many others -- has allowed Optimist Theatre to advance its stated goals along with those of these underwriters. Their optimism has found a champion in Optimist Theatre!
As instrumental as the backing of these sponsors has been, the hundreds of generous donors who have given $1 to $1,000 are who have made the extraordinary strides of this organization possible, particularly in the growth of Shakespeare in the Park. The shared dream of each of us, to bring new audiences to the arts, and to build an institution that is accessible to all, binds us.
Finally, the tens of thousands of people who have been entertained and educated and inspired by Optimist Theatre programs for more than 20 years -- you are Optimists as surely as those who learn lines, rig lights, drive to the gigs, mail the appeals and undertake all the other necessities of what we do!
As instrumental as the backing of these sponsors has been, the hundreds of generous donors who have given $1 to $1,000 are who have made the extraordinary strides of this organization possible, particularly in the growth of Shakespeare in the Park. The shared dream of each of us, to bring new audiences to the arts, and to build an institution that is accessible to all, binds us.
Finally, the tens of thousands of people who have been entertained and educated and inspired by Optimist Theatre programs for more than 20 years -- you are Optimists as surely as those who learn lines, rig lights, drive to the gigs, mail the appeals and undertake all the other necessities of what we do!