Board of Directors for the Ojai Performing Arts Theater

JOAN KEMPER (Executive Producer and Founder of Ojai Performing Arts Theater). Joan’s commitment to the performing arts in Ojai is legendary. Her shows have raised money for several local non-profits, among them the Ojai Unified School District, the Ojai Art Center Theater, The Libbey Bowl Foundation, the Ojai Valley Museum and now the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy. Past shows include Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus, the original musical Reunions, A Christmas Carol, a number of magic shows called The Stars of Magic, I Do! I Do!, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, She Loves Me, Grand Hotel, Man of La Mancha, numerous benefit concerts and Black Comedy…all to benefit Ojai’s arts scene.

BOB KEMPER (Chief Financial Officer of OPAT) was introduced to the theater at an early age of 5 with his debut in Skin of our Teeth, going on to have childhood roles in The Music Man and The Crucible before learning that his talents lay in the production side of theater. He focused on lighting, sound and set design. Needing to earn a living, Bob embarked on a successful career in energy conservation, founding and selling two national firms. Bob is also an experienced real estate investor, broker and developer of over 25 years. He is currently a Broker at LIV Sotheby's International Realty, the most successful brokerage in Ojai. Bob has a history of involvement in many local non-profit organizations, including board positions with the Ojai Chamber of Commerce, HELP of Ojai, the Ojai Valley, Valley Friends and Foundation, and of course, the Ojai Performing Arts Theater Foundation. Other significant community positions include; Teen Net, Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, Youth Foundation, Library Expansion Committee, Aquacenter Committee, and more.

JANE SEILER WEIL (Chief Operating Officer) After graduating from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, Jane stayed in Chicago and worked as an electrician at The Marriott Lincolnshire Theater, the Drury Lane Theatre and The Goodman Theatre. Upon moving to NYC, Jane began stage-managing at Playwrights Horizons and was lucky enough to be working on “Substance of Fire” (by Jon Robin Bates) when it moved to the Lincoln Center Theatre. She continued to work on various productions at the Lincoln Center until she moved to LA and started a family. She moved to Ojai in 1997 and has since been stage-managing her three sons and helping her husband run the Weil Tennis Academy. She is currently the President of the Ojai Unified School Board.

ESTHER WACHTELL (Vice President, Development). Esther was named 2011 Woman of the Year for Ventura County, and the 2012 House of Representatives Tribute Recipient. Her current leadership: Managing Director, The Wachtell Family Partnership; Manager, Oak Knoll Ranch – Lemon Orchards; Trustee, Thomas Aquinas College - Ojai, California; Director, Ojai Community Bank, Bank Holding Company; Governor, Ojai Music Festival; and, Author/Chair, The Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy - USC Price School of Public Policy. Prior experience: President, The Wachtell Group as fundraising consultant for Capital/Endowment campaigns throughout the Western United States; President and Executive Vice President, The Music Center of Los Angeles County; President, The Ojai Music Festival; Trustee-Chair, Development: Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles; Chair, Campaign to Rebuild Libbey Bowl in Ojai, California; Director of The Museum of Ventura County; Director, California Community Foundation; and, Author/Lecturer: Non-Profit Management.

STUART CROWNER (Secretary and Producer) Stuart is a veteran television producer whose non-fiction tv shows have appeared on all major commercial networks, PBS and several cable channels including series for Food Network, HGTV, TLC and DIY. Shows he’s produced include The People’s Choice Awards, Entertainment Tonight, Jenny Jones, The Mike Douglas Show, a number of Larry King specials and an Emmy for Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn. He helped Joan Kemper produce Yes, Virginia at OACT and I Do! I Do!, Twelfth Night, She Loves Me, Grand Hotel, Macbeth, Man of La Mancha, numerous musical fundraisers and Black Comedy for OPAT. Coming up, he will produce Harvey with Joan Kemper.

RICHARD CAMP (Board Member and Artistic Director, OPAT) Richard has previously been Artistic Director of the Ojai Art Center Theater, where his play "Bless Your Heart" enjoyed a critically and financially successful world premiere. His other playwriting credits include Diamonds, at NY’s Circle in the Square Theatre, directed by Harold Prince, Cuckoo Bird at NY’s Vortex Theatre, Waiting for Garbo at LA’s Colony Studio Theatre, and stagings of Credo, at LA’s Odyssey Theatre with Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland, and at L.A.’s Coronet Theatre with Bruce Davison. He’s written a host of TV shows in nearly every genre, and is a three-time Emmy nominee and Emmy winner, plus a Writers Guild Citation recipient for CBS’s Capitol. His directing credits include two madcap farces at the OACT, Black Comedy and See How They Run, plus Zero Hour, On Golden Pond (co-director with Craig Anderson), 33 Variations and Night Must Fall.

MICHAEL ADDISON (Board Member) Michael Addison, the former Artistic Director of the California Shakespeare Festival, has an extensive background as a professional director. In addition to his productions of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Macbeth in Ojai, his work has been seen at the Oregon, Utah, and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals, as well as the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the San Diego Repertory Theatre, the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, and the Bathhouse Theatre in Seattle. Internationally, Addison has directed productions in Australia, England, Scotland, and Yugoslavia. In addition to his professional career Addison has deep academic experience, having served as Dean of Theatre at CalArts, and as Chair of the Theatre programs at UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego.

MICHAL GAINDANO is from the midwest (Kansas where she left at 20 for Arizona, she met and then married Don Gaidano. Through Don’s work as a CFO, they moved to Laguna Beach Ca, Boulder, Co., then on to England, with the final move when they retired to Ojai in 2014. She is a retired sales broker that involved marketing and advertising and consultant for manufacturing companies. In Arizona, she became active in fundraising, organizing events, party planning, and catering. Don is involved in improv and plays at the Ojai Art Center. She began costuming for several plays, opening night galas, fundraising for various plays and branches and served as Member at Large for the Art Center. Mike has also done an award brunch and cocktail parties for Ojai Film Festival and worked in fundraising for OjaiCares/Breast Cancer Awareness. Her new passion is planning theme parties and galas.

KATHLEEN KAISER’s (Board member) career spans almost 50 years of involvement in the most exciting industries of her generation. She started at age 11 in the San Diego Junior Theater, worked summers at the Old Globe and then moved on to rock and roll in the 60s and 70s to the digital/internet revolution in the 80s, 90s, and 00s. She has been a marketing professional for Fortune 100 companies, small startups, conferences and tradeshows around the world. In 1993, she opened Kathleen Kaiser & Associates, which began as a digital technology makreting firm and now focuses on working with the nonprofit arts communities and marketing for authors. She was named Publicist of the Year in 2016 by the Book Publicists of Southern California for her contributions to the literary community. In Ojai, Kathleen has worked with the Ojai Shakespeare Festival, Ojai Studio Artists, Ojai Art Walk, Humane Society, Writers & Publishers Network, Ojai Film Festival, 805 Writers’ Conference, Ojai Art Center Theater, and her twice-monthly podcast Talking Book Publishing. Kathleen is a proud fourth-generation small businesswoman.

BILL WAGNER (Board member) graduated with his Masters degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and has taught music classes with the Ojai Unified School District for over 30 years. He directs all the instrumental and choral ensembles at the high school and the Advanced Band at Matilija Middle School. His groups continue to garner first place awards in national festivals throughout the country, and his tenure has included three very special performances at Carnegie Hall and a European tour to Germany and Austria with 103 students. This year he will be traveling with the Nordhoff Music Department to New Orleans in April and will be conducting Legally Blonde in his 27th year of directing the school musicals.

Ojai Performing Arts Theater

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