MEET the BOARD of SAFE MAKERS
GRETTA DAUGHTREY, Board Chair
Gretta Daughtrey graduated from the University of Virginia in 1997 with a BA in Drama. She has been a Theatrical Systems Integrator since 2006 and currently works in the Systems division of Barbizon Capitol. She has also designed lighting for several Central Virginia theatre and dance companies, area schools, and universities.
KEARSTON DILLARD-SCOTT, Board Treasurer
Kearston Dillard-Scott is a Theatre graduate of Randolph (Macon-Woman's) College. Her 20+ years of experience in lighting include Assistant Lighting Designer at the Virginia Opera in Norfolk, VA and the Atlanta Ballet in Atlanta, GA. She also designs lighting for dance programs across the Mid-Atlantic. She is a master lighting programmer with in-depth experience on various consoles. She has even worked on several film productions, as Art Director and even Assistant Stunt Coordinator. Her deep understanding of lighting, rigging, projections, sound, and video shines through in her Barbizon role of the past 6 years as Outside Sales Associate, dedicating herself not only to helping venues enhance their lighting but also educating individuals to better utilize lighting to help tell a story. Besides being a wife and a mother, she enjoys video games, singing, and doing art with her collection of art stationery, to include over 500 Sharpie markers.
RICH DIONNE, Board Vice Chair
Rich Dionne is Associate Professor of Technical Direction with a particular interest in scenery automation and show control systems. Additionally, he mentors Multidisciplinary Engineering students concentrating in Theatre Engineering. He has a passion for both the art of theatre and the science and engineering of making theatre happen. Rich has served as the technical director for numerous productions in the Department of Theatre; prior to coming to Purdue, Richard was the production manager and resident sound designer at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, where he mounted numerous productions at various indoor and outdoor venues, including a nationally-recognized educational touring company. Additionally, he has served as the technical director for Berkshire Theatre Festival, Alpine Theatre Project, Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, and Dorset Theatre Festival, mounting critically-acclaimed productions including The Whipping Man, Barefoot in the Park, Amadeus, Night of the Iguana, Avenue Q, The Illusion, and Death of a Salesman.
Rich is the co-director of Purdue’s Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering, founded in 2020 with his colleague Dr. Mary Pilotte. The Fusion Studio connects industry leaders with scholars and practitioners, provides space for development and exploration, and inspires pedagogical innovation at the nexus of engineering and live entertainment.
Rich is the author of Project Planning for the Stage: Tools and Techniques for Managing Extraordinary Performances (available from Southern Illinois University Press) and is co-author with Michael Gillette of the ninth edition of Theatrical Design and Production (available from McGraw-Hill).
RACHEL EMMA RHOADES, Board Secretary
Rachel has worked as an applied theatre and drama in education practitioner, teacher, and researcher with young people from Grade 1 to the graduate level for 15 years. Currently, she is the Theatre Education Coordinator with the School of Theatre and Dance at James Madison University. Her research focus is on working with local refugees, asylum-seekers and other newcomers in partnership with 5 community organizations. In 2024 she co-facilitated a theatre program with refugee women to help them build confidence in preparation for the US citizenship test. She created a new couse called Community-Engaged and Activist Theatre and had the students collaborate with newcomers from Cameroon, China, El Salvador, Honduras, Kurdistan, and Nepal. For the Equity, Access and Inclusion in Education and Performance course, her students created a podcast consisting of interviews with BIPOC theatre artist-activists from areas such as Uganda, England, Singapore, Colombia, NYC, South Africa, Australia, and Taiwan.
In her previous work, Rachel has served on the faculty at Brock University in Ontario, trained teacher candidates in the Masters of Teaching program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, served as Education Programs Manager for The Boch Center (previously named Citi Performing Arts Center/The Wang Center) and as an AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow with Citizen Schools- both in Boston.
She received acting training in London from the British American Drama Academy and continued performing as a member of Playback Theatre companies and an improvisation troupe in Boston.
