About Tantrum Theater
Tantrum was founded in the fall of 2015 by Ohio University’s College of Fine Arts. The theater is a professional company and serves as a training ground providing apprenticeships for students in the School of Theater. The name Tantrum Theater comes from a group of Ohio University graduate students who discovered that one of the collective names for a group of bobcats is a Tantrum. The mascot of Ohio University is the bobcat. Tantrum’s mission is to create and propel forward a resident professional theater company and training conservatory in a partnership with the Ohio University College of Fine Arts.
Mission
We seek:
- To connect and impact the Athens community through educational outreach and culturally diverse innovative programming that encompasses multiple theatrical disciplines
- To develop new work and offer new points of view on classic stories that have contemporary relevance, and
- To offer opportunities for intercultural exchange.
WE HOPE YOU’LL JOIN US.
Meet the Staff
Michael Lincoln
Artistic Director
Michael was instrumental in the creation of Tantrum Theater and became Artistic Director in 2018. He began teaching at Ohio University in 2003, served as Director of the School of Theater from 2012 to 2020, and is now Professor Emeritus of Theater. Previously Michael taught for New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the University of Southern California. His professional lighting design career numbers over 300 productions in theatre, opera and dance and includes Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional, and international venues. Highlights: Copenhagen on Broadway, The Bubbly Black Girl… at Playwrights Horizons in NYC, A Streetcar Named Desire for the Cleveland Play House and Tantrum Theater’s Next to Normal, Caroline, Or Change and Little Shop of Horrors. Michael’s regional credits include long relationships with Indiana Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre in Houston, and the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC as well as multi-year associations with Los Angeles Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and Santa Fe Opera. His multiple Broadway credits as an Associate Designer include hit revivals of Guys and Dolls and Anything Goes and original productions of City of Angels, Six Degrees of Separation, and Lend Me a Tenor. www.michaellincoln.net
Joshua Coy
Producing Director
Josh is an arts administrator, arts advocate, and performer whose most recent administrative roles prior to joining Tantrum include Executive Director of the Wayne Center for the Arts, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Presenters Network, and Director of Artists Programs at the Ohio Arts Council. For the past decade, his primary performance outlet has been as a banjo player across the Ohio valley region, and previous favorite theatrical roles include Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors), Feste (Twelfth Night), Uncle Jack (Dancing at Lughnasa), and Edmund (Long Day’s Journey into Night). He holds an MA in Arts Policy and Administration from The Ohio State University, an MA in Theater at Ohio University, and a BA in Theatre from Westminster College (PA).
Ally Poole
Associate Artistic Director, Tantrum Theater
A multidisciplinary artist working between the US and the UK, Ally Poole's solo work is a blend of live art, theatre and installation while covering issues of race, politics, and pop culture through her perspective as a Black woman. Ally is a Texas native who received an MFA in Advance Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Ally is also a co-collaborator of the female-led, experimental theatre collective, Hot Cousin. Ally received a BFA in Acting from Stephens College and enjoys her career as an actor across theatre, film, musical theatre, and opera.
Rebecca VerNooy
Director of Education
Rebecca is an Assistant Professor at Ohio University and specializes in movement for the actor and physical theater. She spent twenty years in New York City as a movement theater artist—choreographing, acting, writing and teaching.
As the Artistic Director of VerNooy Dance Theater (1995 – 2006), she developed and performed original work at Ensemble Studio Theater, Dance Theater workshop, Joyce Soho, and many other NY venues.
She ran the Intern Program at Ensemble Studio Theater from 1994-2000, is the founder of the Movement Educator’s Research Group (MERGE), and a founding member of Brick Monkey Theater Ensemble in Southeastern Ohio. She has created over a dozen original full-length works, including her most recently devised piece with undergraduates from Ohio University, Elbows Off the Table. Her original one-woman show, Across Time, received the award for Best Movement at The United Solo Festival in NYC.
Contact Rebecca by email at vernooy@tantrumtheater.org
Roberto Di Donato
Production Manager
Roberto is a Venezuelan-American artist from the colonized territories originally known as home for the Tawakoni and Wichita nations of Texas. His translation of the Nobel Prize Laureate, Luigi Pirandello, has been seen in NYC and are projected for an Off-Broadway Revival in 2022. At Ohio University, Roberto’s work includes Everybody, The Women of Lockerbie, Effective Magic, and AD on Tantrum Theater’s Rhinoceros. He is working on his debut novel that reflects the complexities of Latin identity in the world of capitalist art making. Roberto is also co-Executive Producer for Vibrancy Theater as well as Associate Artistic Director of Frank Wo/Men Collective, the award winning Austin-Based performance collective. Frank Wo/Men was named “The Best of Austin” for their work and listed as “Top Arts Related Thing to Do” by the Austin Chronicle. www.robertodidonato.net
Jaxon Meadows
Assistant Technical Director
Jaxon is a production design technologist from Southeastern Ohio. He holds a BA in Production Design & Technology and an MA in Theater Management from Ohio University. He began his career at Ohio University as a transfer student from The Ohio State University. He initially began his work as a student from 2017-2021, then joined the Tantrum staff in 2021. His mission is to bring diversity and engagement to Southeastern Ohio Theater companies by promoting community arts in the Appalachian Region. He has collaborated with River City Players, Ohio Valley Summer Theater, and Stuart’s Opera House. His recent productions include: Men on Boats (Assistant Technical Director), Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812(Assistant Technical Director), Julius Caesar (Technical Director), Shrek the Musical (Technical Director), and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Assistant Technical Director).
Drew Surovjak
Administrative Associate
Drew joined the Theater Division in July of 2015 as the Administrative Associate and thoroughly enjoys his supportive role in assisting administrators, faculty, staff, and students navigate through academia. He was born and raised on the shores of Lake Erie and came to the region in 2008 to attend Hocking College. Something about the hills resonated with him and while he misses seeing the lake every day, he feels very at home in the hills of Southeast Ohio.
Drew has had quite the meandering path up to this point and it looks to meander further. He has earned two associate’s degrees, one in business with a focus in banking and finance and another in ecotourism and adventure travel. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Specialized Studies focusing on outdoor recreation, sustainability, and anthropology and aspires to continue through grad school and eventually teach outdoor recreation at the collegiate level, sharing his passion for the environment and the responsible enjoyment of it.
Prior to joining the Theater Division, Drew walked in many different shoes and wore many different hats. He has spent time as a cook, a banker, an account representative for a large advertising firm, a custom woodworker, an adventure guide, and even a field station manager in the remote rainforest of southern Belize. In his personal life, he enjoys camping, reading, hiking, woodworking, gardening, throwing darts, working on his house, spending time with family and friends, and is happiest in a canoe with a paddle in his hands.
Luis Silva
Student Liaison
MFA, Technical Direction, Second Year. Ohio University: Hotel Berry, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Absentia (Technical Director). Julius Caesar (Dramaturg). Spring 2023: Yerma (Technical Director). Other: Healthy Humor Inc, Florida International University, Milam’s Circus, Miami Dade College. Abroad: PPPPTK Seni dan Budaya, Akeké Circo Teatro, Asociación Cultural Skena.