Volunteer Spotlight
Every month SLOC likes to recognize a volunteer in their community who has gone above and beyond the call of duty. These volunteers can be anyone from actors to set construction volunteers to ushers! We value every person that sets foot in SLOC and offers their time and talent to making the theater a great place to be.
May 2024
Amy Marlette has been part of our SLOC family for many years. This year, she has taken on the incredibly important role of Chair of our Incident Response Committee. This position involves completing and managing all of our background checks for production team members, as well as attending each production’s first rehearsal to educate each new group on SLOC’s policies and procedures. She also provides training to the Board and Leadership, and attends meetings when her advice is needed. She is always available to deal with any sensitive issues as they arise, to provide counsel and to help update SLOC policies. Her ongoing work helps to ensure that SLOC remains a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all who volunteer here.
April 2024
Cheryl Zatt is currently costuming her fourth SLOC production since we reopened following the pandemic shutdown, an impressive 25% of the shows we have done since our return. Her SLOC credits include Joseph…Dreamcoat, Spring Awakening, A Little Night Music, and The Glorious Ones, in addition to her work on countless shows prior to the pandemic. She is helpful, kind, hardworking, and so talented. She has designed some of our most costume-intensive shows, on some of our smallest budgets, and made them look beautiful. Designers never get to take a bow at the end of a production, with the faces behind the work you see onstage often going unseen, but our shows would not look the way they do without Cheryl. If you see her around the theater, please give her a thank you. We look forward to seeing what she does in future seasons.
March 2024
Sara Fredericks has done so much in a short time at SLOC! While she was technically the stage manager for our special 2011 production of RENT, she returned after her 12-year hiatus to make her official SLOC debut last year. Sara worked on the
production team of First Date last season as their co-producer, stage manager, and props designer where she kept the team organized, enthusiastic, and energized. This season, she was one of our backstage guardians that helped out wherever she
was needed with Matilda. She also assisted with our SLOC Sings fundraiser in December and recently joined our PR and Marketing committee. Sara is currently the stage manager of Fun Home. She is always willing to jump in and lend a hand or be a show of support. We are grateful for her tireless energy, her creativity, organization, and dedication to this show and to our theater.
February 2024
Diana Chabai-Booker may be fairly new to the Capital District, but she’s hit the ground running during her brief time at SLOC! In the past 9 months, she’s honored us with her super stage management skills for 2 productions (so far). She started with our summer production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) where she controlled the chaos of a small company of actors and an endless barrage of props and costume changes. In January, she stage managed our critically acclaimed production of Spring Awakening where she partnered with our topnotch creative team to bring a beautiful story
to the stage while also mentoring and training a brand new assistant stage manager. Everyone who has had the privilege
of working with Diana would say she’s hard-working, reliable, dependable, creative, confident, and a complete asset to any production she’s involved in. She’s the definition of grace under pressure and we’re excited to see what show she’ll lend her talents to next.
January 2024
Heather-Liz Copps has been a part of SLOC since she made her on stage debut in Jekyll and Hyde in 2004. Heather has been seen as a cast member in multiple shows and main stage fundraisers. She stepped into the role of director with
SLOC’s 2019 production of 1776. She has also served as an usher, house manager, opening night party volunteer, and is
currently a member of the Board of Directors. Recently, Heather used her extensive event planning and fundraising expertise to help execute our “SLOC Sings Billy Joel” fundraiser. She coordinated and organized the event’s silent auction (which raised over $5000), and served as the evening’s emcee, securing over $1000 in donations in just a few minutes. Her efforts helped SLOC to raise over $10,000 in much-needed funds. This was just the beginning for her, as she is chairing SLOC’s Centennial Committee, a multi-year job that will lead us to our 100th season beginning in the
fall of 2026. She is working with SLOC newcomers and veterans alike to make this landmark year-long celebration a success. Heather has been a volunteer at SLOC for over half her life, and we are grateful to have her as a part of our SLOC family.
December 2023
SLOC’s very own “Piano Man,” Dan Galliher has been an integral part of our theater community over the years, volunteering his time as a Music Director, pit musician, piano accompanist, and Co-Director of Fundraising. A school music teacher by day, Dan has always been happy to offer help to SLOC, despite how busy his schedule gets. Making his debut as the Music Director of Seussical in 2008, he has since gone on to provide music direction to multiple SLOC productions. During the COVID lockdown, Dan kept everyone’s spirits up by providing virtual “Tuesday Night Tunes” on piano each week. This led to a small fundraiser he created to provide some financial relief for SLOC during the pandemic. Once our doors were open again, Dan was quick to assemble a group of talented musicians for “An Evening With Dan & Friends,” a benefit concert for SLOC. This has evolved into a signature fundraising event. “SLOC Sings Elton John” and “SLOC Sings Billy Joel” were hugely successful, raising thousands of dollars for SLOC. If it weren’t for Dan and his ability to curate an unforgettable concert featuring incredible talent, this success would not have been possible. Whether it’s conducting, providing accompaniment for auditions, transcribing music, or simply telling an awful Dad joke to brighten someone’s day, Dan is always eager to help others and bring people together. We are beyond lucky to count him as a friend and we can not thank him enough for sharing his immense talent and kindness with our theater community.
November 2023
Dr. Sonya Sidhu-Izzo (or, as we like to refer to her, the SLOCtor) has been part of the company since 1994. After a 22-year hiatus, she returned for our 2018 production of In the Heights, playing the role of Camilla, and then spending three years as a member of our Board of Directors. At the start of the COVID pandemic, Sonya took on the role of our COVID Coordinator. She led our COVID Committee and was instrumental in making sure that we had policies in place to keep our volunteers and patrons safe. With our combination of masking during rehearsals and testing when it came time to unmask, we were able to successfully perform full runs of every production since our reopening in the fall of 2021. After navigating us through the initial crisis, she has remained on staff as our Health & Wellness Coordinator. She has also served as a Board liaison, and will be filling the Producer role for the first time for our upcoming production of Fun Home. We are grateful for her wisdom, kindness, and dedication to SLOC.
October 2023
Jared Ovitt is a recent addition to our SLOC family, joining us as the Assistant Lighting Designer for last season’s production of The Wedding Singer. He has since served as a consultant and advisor, willing to stop into the theater anytime we need his help. Our technical equipment has many moving pieces and we would not be able to keep them all operating without his help. If something breaks, Jared is there to help us fix it at a moment’s notice and is always available to help us problem-solve. He recently assisted with lighting as we rented our theater to the Electric City Chorus and helped them with the technical elements of their performance. He also designed the lights for the current production of Tarzan. Working behind the scenes in the tech department can often be a thankless job, but we would not be able to bring our shows to life on stage without people like Jared, and we are so glad he joined the company.
September 2023
You may recognize Stephen Foust’s name as the director of our upcoming production of Tarzan, or as the director of last season’s hit The Wedding Singer and our 2020 production of 9 to 5. You may have also seen him as an actor on stage. But what you may not know is that Stephen is also SLOC’s Facilities Director, in charge of our 3-building downtown campus, as well as our Taurus Road set storage facility. Keeping these buildings maintained is an enormous task, one that requires many hours of tireless work and gets little recognition. We are so grateful that Stephen has been willing to fill this role for us, without complaint, since our 2021-2022 season. He works with the directors and set designers of each show in our season to ensure our sets are safe for cast use, and attends each show’s strike to facilitate their cleanup and the next show’s load-in to the theater. He also helps oversee and coordinate many of the larger projects on campus, including the clean-out of our set facility and the recent replacement of our sidewalks. Along with Gary Hoffmann, who helps oversee our Education Building, and Mike Deyo, who helps with daily maintenance, Stephen’s work keeps our campus safe and our buildings operating.