|
|
|
|
The Board of Directors of The Longwood Players, Inc. consists of a President (P. K. Newby), Secretary (Michelle E. Merry), Treasurer (Vilas Sridharan), and Technical Director (Martin Kemp). Read on for more information about our Board members.
P. K. Newby, President |

|
Who knew that almost 20 years after her stage debut in a local production of The Music Man in Port Washington, New York, Kirstin would go on to found and lead a nonprofit theatre company in Boston? First introduced to musical theatre by her father, Kirstin started acting in elementary school and continued performing throughout her life, acting, singing, and dancing in more than 25 shows to date. Since founding The Longwood Players in 1999, Kirstin now spends most of her time off-stage, working as President of the company and Executive Producer of its productions. Kirstin grew up on Long Island, New York and lived in Manhattan before moving to Boston to attend Harvard University, where she earned her doctorate in nutrition in 2001. Dr. Newby is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at Boston University School of Medicine and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health She spends most of her time conducting research on the links between diet and health, and also teaches at several universities in Boston. In 2005, Kirstin married Vilas Sridharan, whom she met when they co-produced The Longwood Players' 2002 production of Pippin. |
| Michelle E. Merry, Secretary |
 |
Michelle grew up in Watertown, NY, and attended a high school that sadly had no theater arts program while she was there. During her high school years, she heard of two community theater productions that were to happen in or near her hometown in upstate New York. She auditioned and was accepted into both. However, both were ultimately cancelled due to lack of interest. While in college, Michelle was introduced to dorm community theater by her roommate. Recently, Michelle has enjoyed being involved with several theater groups in the Greater Boston Area, whether it be by performing, choreographing, stage managing, set building, or running lights and sound. Her greatest challenge and honor is now serving on the Board of Directors for The Longwood Players. She is confident her term will be a rewarding and fulfilling time and hopes that her knowledge of theater production from a well-rounded aspect can beneficially come into play. Michelle is the Senior Administrative Assistant for the Cardiovascular Research Laboratories at Children's Hospital Boston. |
| Vilas Sridharan, Treasurer |
 |
Vilas has been involved in theater for over a decade, starting in high school with various backstage roles. He then attended Princeton University, where he worked with several theater groups in several technical and administrative positions, including master carpenter, production manager, technical director, and a variety of electrician/carpenter/crew positions. He has also served as Technical Director on the board of Princeton Summer Theater (a community theater in Princeton, NJ) and was Productions Manager on the board of Theatre Intime for two years. Vilas has been involved with The Longwood Players since its third season in 2001. During the day, he works as a Computer Engineer at Northeastern University. |
| Martin Kemp, Technical Director |
 |
Martin has been a part of The Longwood Players’ productions since the group’s second season in 2000, having served as Master Electrician for seven shows and as Lighting Designer for one. He has been involved on the technical side of theatrical production for almost as long as he can remember, tracing all the way back to his elementary school days in Barrington, Rhode Island. While in college at Princeton University, Martin held technical roles in a variety of theatrical and dance productions and served as lighting designer for the Princeton University Players, Princeton Shakespeare Company, Expressions Dance Company, Theatre Intime, and the Princeton Triangle Club. After having worked as a computer hardware and software engineer at Sun Microsystems for a number of years, Martin is currently a technology litigation consultant at Elysium Digital, L.L.C. in Cambridge, where he advises lawyers on computer technology-related cases. |
|
|