Meet the Thalian Center Staff

In the Administrative Office...

Tony Rivenbark, Executive Director

Tony is a native of Duplin County, NC. He received a B.A. in History and Theatre from UNCW in 1970 and was listed in Who's Who of American Colleges. He did his graduate work at Chapel Hill and his thesis was on the James Adams Floating Theatre.

He made his theatrical debut in Thalian Hall in 1966 in the Wilmington College/Thalian Association production of Good News and since then has appeared in over 150 productions.

For the past 28 years Tony has served as Executive Director of the Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. Rivenbark was instrumental in the development of the 1990 expansion and renovation of Thalian Hall/City Hall. For his work with Thalian Hall he as received many awards including the Lower Cape fear Historical Society Cup, the Wilmington Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts and the National League of Historic American Theatres Award.

He frequently lectures throughout the country on the history of Thalian Hall. His history of theatre in Wilmington was published in Time, Talent , and Tradition by the Cape Fear Museum in 1990.

Click here to read some of Tony’s research articles.

June Cradick, Director of Development and Resources

June spent more than thirty years working in natural resource management for the federal government in Washington, DC and the Florida Keys, before moving to Wilmington in 2004.  June started a new career in January 2009 when Executive Director Tony Rivenbark hired her to join the team at Thalian Hall.

When not at Thalian Hall, June and her husband Alan work on their 100 year old home in Wilmington's historic district, travel and enjoy the company of their wonderful friends and neighbors.  We dare anyone to ask June about her son, daughter-in-law and two year old grandson - Ezra Manalew Gregorie-Cradick...

Stephen Barefoot, Programming Executive

Mr. Barefoot is contracted as booking & programming consultant for Thalian Hall Main Attractions.

A journalism graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, he was a US Peace Corps volunteer in East Africa for three years and director of public relations for the national office of the The Experiment in International Living.

He owned the jazz supperclub “Stephen’s, After All” in Chapel Hill, NC before becoming director of the historic Carolina Theatre in Durham.

He has steered his company, goingbarefoot•inc. since 1994, specializing in commemorative event production, arts/entertainment management & booking.

Stephen currently serves as director of the NC Presenters Consortium and launched goingbarefoot as an official artist representation agency in 2007.

www.goingbarefoot.com

Steve Coley, Graphics & Communications

Steve is a native Wilmingtonian, who made his first appearance on the Thalian Hall Stage in a 1963 Production of “Teahouse of the August Moon.” He was five months old.

Fifteen years later he returned as an actor and technician, and has since worked in every capacity imaginable in the theatre.

While continuing to act, direct and produce theatre in Thalian Hall, Steve began work in the emerging field of computer-based graphic design. His avocation brought him full circle when he joined the administrative staff of Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. in 2001.

Steve functions as the organization’s in-house graphic designer, as well as overseeing network administration, software development and deployment, and web and communications technologies. He also feels fortunate to be able to assist Mr. Rivenbark in archival and research work.

In his free time, Steve enjoys listening to music of every description, and riding his beloved 10-speed bicycle, “Tempus Fugit.” Sometimes he does both things at once.

Suzanne Nine Swanson, Finance Director

Suzanne grew up in Saudi Arabia and graduated high school from The American School in Switzerland.

After high school she took bookkeeping and typing at Sussex Co. Vo-Tech. She was employed part-time by both an Accountant and a Land Surveyor and has been keeping books ever since.

Suzanne moved to Wilmington with her family in 1987 thinking life would be slower, but soon therafter, she taught drama at the Montessori school for a semester and began keeping the books for Tidal Creek Co-op.

In 1991 she made her Wilmington stage debut in the Studio Theatre playing Edna in Come Back To the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.

Most recently Suzanne was the business manager for Wilmington Orthotics & Prosthetics, Inc. as well as being a part-time radio announcer at WHQR.

She now feels fortunate to be employed by Thalian Hall which will be a new challenge to utilize her diverse skills.

She is also mother to 3 fine sons, no small acheivement!

In the Production Department...

Cole Marquis, Production Manager

Cole spent four years as a Theater Arts major at California State University Chico before switching gears and diving head first into a 20 year career as an “indie rock” musician, touring the US six times and releasing over 15 records with various groups and solo.

In 2000, Cole returned to the theatrical world when he became the Technical Director of San Francisco’s renowned avant-garde Antenna Theater, with whom he spent 6 wonderful years working in the Marin Headlands, where he also lived with his lovely family.

After moving to Wilmington in July 2006, Cole began working at Thalian Hall in February. He can’t think of a more incredible venue to work in and learns something new about theater every single day.

Cole looks forward to Thalian Hall’s expansion and renovation and can’t wait for the work to begin!

Calie Voorhis, House Technician

Calie's been involved in technical theater since age 14, which is now officially a very long time. Originally from Boulder, CO, she attended UNC-Chapel Hill, where she worked at Memorial Hall and the Dean Smith Center.

Since moving to Wilmington she has worked at, and now for, Thalian Hall since the 1990 renovation, along with various films, including the Crow.

She's also a graduate student working on her Master's in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University, and the author of seven published short stories so far.

Dallas LaFon, House Technician

Aaron Willings, House Technician & Projectionist

Tom Edwards, Housekeeping Supervisor

In the Center Box Office...

Judy Greenhut, Box Office Manager

Judy moved here from New York in 1995. After a Broadway and television dancing career, she began teaching, directing and choreographing.

Presently, she is on staff at Cape Fear Academy as well as teaching Theatre Dance & Musical Theatre for Theatre Dance Workshop.

Judy began working in the Thalian Hall Box Office in 1996 and has moved up the “pecking order” to Box Office Manager.

Not bad for a dancer that can only count to “8”!

Cheri Burk, Box Office Operator

Cheri Burk grew up in NYC where her mother and sister were both involved in theater. Her mother Betty was Orson Welles secretary during a production of King Lear. Her sister was an actress on TV and stage when TV was “live.”

Cheri was married to songwriter and jazz musician Vic Caesar. They had a nightclub in Phoenix where they hosted such acts as Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

Cheri also spent many years training thoroughbred racehorses in Arizona and California. Horses still remain a passion for her.

While visiting her beautiful actress daughter, Juliet Cesario, in Wilmington, she fell in love with the city and has been here for 13 years.

A stained glass artist for over 25 years, Cheri has been commissioned for many pieces by local Wilmingtonians.

Teri Harding, Box Office Operator

Zack Simcoe, Box Office Operator

Zack Simcoe has lived in the area since moving to Wilmington with his family in 1990. He is a Hoggard High School graduate.

Before joining the Box Office team in the summer of 2005, he frequented Thalian Hall both as an avid audience member, as well as a performer with many of Wilmington’s community theatre groups.

In his spare time he still performs as an actor, and also enjoys quiet evenings riding his bike or reading on his porch.

...and in House Management...

Bradley Evans, Facilities Manager

Mick Sherwood, House Manager

Mick grew up in Indiana but moved to North Carolina for his senior year in high school.

He spent six years in the Navy as a Nuclear Reactor Operator (think Homer Simpson in bellbottoms).He moved to Wilmington in 1993 to work for the Brunswick Nuclear Plant. After six years, he left the plant to go back to school, and he graduated from Cape Fear Community College in 2000.

He has been an owner of Lula's Pub since 2000, spent a year working for Scenic Asylum, and currently works as a carpenter's assistant. He has worked for Thalian Hall since 2008 and really enjoys it, especially working with the volunteers.

Mick is interested in photography, pottery, and robotics.  He is also interested in his wife.

Gena Winstead, House Manager

Alan Cradick, House Photographer

We are very fortunate to have Alan Cradick as our organization's official photographer through a generous in-kind sponsorship arrangement. Alan has been a photographer for more than 30 years.  He lives and work in Wilmington, North Carolina. Nature and people are his passion and it shows in his work.  His clients include:  Wilmington Star-News, Wilmington Magazine, Our State Magazine, Audubon North Carolina, The Thalian Association, Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty, and Thalian Hall for the Performing Arts. Approximately 75% of the dynamic photographs that illustrate this web site are Alan's work.

www.alancradickphotography.com

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