TheatreZone Founder Receives Alumni Achievement Award

Mark Danni, founding artistic director of TheatreZone, recently was honored with the 2018 Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory of Music Alumni Achievement Award.

Danni was in residence at the Conservatory on Nov. 8 and 9, interacting with students and faculty, visiting classes and participating in an all-Conservatory Convocation. He was presented with the award on Nov. 9.

Danni in 1988 earned a Bachelor of Music Education with a major in percussion. He focused heavily on conducting and studied with Maestros Dwight Oltman and Stuart Raleigh.

Oltman writes, "When Mark arrived on campus as a freshman, it was clear that he was a talented percussionist. He was musical, intelligent, eager to learn, and enthusiastic. Therefore, his achievement in building a flourishing theater company was not a surprise."

After his time at Baldwin Wallace, Danni connected with Broadway musical director and conductor Jack Lee, class of 1951, who helped to fuel his first gigs playing in musical pits.

Danni was a percussionist on Broadway for "Les Misérables," "Miss Saigon," "Grand Hotel," "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Nunsense" and "Chicago." He served as conductor for the national tours of "Les Misérables" and "Barnum," and also played for eight national tours, including "Phantom of the Opera," "Hair," "Evita," "42nd Street" and "Fame."

In 2005, Danni and his wife, Karen Molnar Danni, who graduated from Baldwin Wallace in 1987, moved from New York City to Florida, where he launched a theatre program at the Community School of Naples. He still serves as director of theatre at the PreK-12 college preparatory day school.

Subsequently, the couple established TheatreZone, a professional equity theatre. As TheatreZone's artistic director, Danni produces and directs four to six musicals a year and collaborates widely with Florida Gulf Coast University and regional opera companies. Karen Molnar Danni is associate artistic director, managing director and resident choreographer, in addition to being in actress in TheatreZone productions.

In 2015, Mark Danni received a Baldwin Wallace Outstanding Educator award, honoring him for the significant contributions he has made to the lives of others as teachers, mentors and role models, both in and out of the classroom.