CONTACT BROADWAYWORLD CLEVELAND

Julie Zatko is a Northwest Ohio based theatre director and educator. She is passionate about presenting new and bold works, juxtaposed with educating and creating theatrical opportunities for young thespians. For 13 years she held the position of theatre advisor for Rossford High school (Rossford, OH). While advisor, she directed a total of 38 productions ranging from classics (Harvey, You Can’t Take It With You) to family musicals (Beauty & The Beast, The Little Mermaid). Three of her productions (Moon Over Buffalo, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, and The Boys Next Door) were chosen as full length features for the Ohio EDTA Theatre Conference.

She is currently involved with The Toledo Repertoire Theatre, where she has directed main stage (Fun Home, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) and Young Rep (West Side Story, Pirates!) productions. She holds a seats on their Education Committee, is a member of Toledo Voices, and frequently teaches Young Rep acting/directing classes. She has also created and presented numerous workshops at the Northwest Ohio and Ohio Education Theater Conference.

She holds a BA in the arts (The University of Toledo, 2000).

Kerry Trautman lives in Northwest Ohio, where she is involved in local community theater, and she travels to NYC several times each year to see shows. She has served annually as judge for the NW region of Ohio’s “Poetry Out Loud” competition since 2016. In 2025 her one-act play “Mass” received a staged reading as a winner of The Toledo Repertoire Theater’s “Toledo Voices” competition. Her books are Things That Come in Boxes (King Craft Press 2012,) To Have Hoped (Finishing Line Press 2015,) Artifacts (NightBallet Press 2017,) To be Nonchalantly Alive (Kelsay Books 2020,) Marilyn: Self-Portrait, Oil on Canvas (Gutter Snob Books 2022,) Unknowable Things (Roadside Press 2022,) Irregulars (Stanchion Books 2023,) Things to Say When You Have Nothing to Say (Roadside Press 2026,) and Days of Bees (Dancing Girl Press 2026.)

A former dancer turned arts writer and critic living in Cleveland, Ohio, Steve performed classical and modern works during his dance career, sharing the stage with noted dancers Robert LaFosse, Antonia Franceschi, Stacy Caddell, Joseph Duell, Robert Wallace, Sandra Brown, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Steve has a degree in Communications from The Pennsylvania State University and is Chairman Emeritus of the Dance Critics Association, an international association of dance journalists.

His writing credits include articles and reviews on dance and the arts for over twenty regional, national, and international publications, including The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), Dance Magazine (New York), Pointe Magazine (New York), Dance International (Vancouver), Fjord Review (Toronto), DanceTabs (London), and CriticalDance (Seattle).

Steve was also an Associate Editor at ExploreDance.com and is the creator of the arts website artsair.art and the Facebook groups Arts Air NE Ohio - Dance Community Hub and Arts Air Dance Ohio.