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SENIOR EDITOR

Elliot Lanes has been working in theatre for over 30 years as a PSM, Sound Designer, Board Op....you get the idea. He has had the pleasure of working with some of DC's finest artists at venues such as Theater J, Studio Theatre, and Round House Theatre. Other DC area credits include many productions at Capital Fringe, and "Two Trains Running" and "Circle Mirror Transformation" at Prince Georges Community College. He also has been the lighting designer for the past 13 for Momentum Dance Company. Prior to moving to DC, he was the Resident PSM for Negro Ensemble Company and White Horse Theatre Company in NYC for five years each. He also had the pleasure of working with Liza Minnelli, Betty Buckley and Marilyn Maye at the Backstage Bistro Awards as PSM for that event. Elliot previously covered the DC Metro Area theatre scene for Maryland Theatre Guide, and wrote the successful "A Quick 5" column. 

Dara is a writer and advocate with a background in leadership development and education. She graduated with honors from Columbia University, completing a degree in English and Comparative Literature focused on contemporary drama. While at Columbia, she was selected for the Oxbridge Scholars Program and a theatre education internship with The 52nd Street Project. Teach for America brought her to Oklahoma, where she was a founding member of the inclusion council at CAP Tulsa and co-founded the Gay-Straight Alliance at the high school where she taught English. She also worked in operations at a nonprofit organization that identifies and connects leaders in the greater Tulsa community. Dara currently works at the Good Food Institute, where she plans and writes donor communications to inspire GFI's global community of supporters. She is a member of the Sentient Media Writers' Collective and has mentored with Magnify Mentoring and the Odyssey Mentoring Program. Dara serves on the board of DC Veg Week, an organization working to increase compassion toward animals in Washington DC.

David has always had a passionate interest in the arts from acting in professional dinner theatre and community theatre to reviewing film and local theatre in college.  He is thrilled to be working with Broadway World as a reviewer.   

An enthusiastic interest in writing has shown itself in a BA in English/Education and an MA with honors in English Literature. He also studied Theology at the Catholic University of America and taught English in elementary and middle schools for several years.

David has recently retired from a very challenging thirty-year career at the National Science Foundation as a Technical Information Specialist in the Office of the Polar Programs.  Duties included the opportunity to go to Antarctica twice and Greenland once in support of the research community.   

David lives in Bethesda, MD and has taken courses at the Writer’s Center of Bethesda.  He has served on committees at his condominium community. 

David enjoys swimming, traveling and reading. David’s primary interest, however, is the arts and all it encompasses including opera, symphony, dance, cabaret, concerts, plays and musicals.  He counts meeting Lillian Gish, Glenda Jackson, Liv Ullmann, Liza Minnelli, Lily Tomlin, Sophia Loren, Maureen Stapleton, Alan Cumming, Geraldine Page and Sandy Dennis as some of the more exciting encounters of his life. 

Emily Berger is based in Washington, D.C. and is thrilled to return to reviewing dance after many years away. She graduated from Northwestern with a double major in History and Dance, where her honors thesis evaluated the impact of performance arts service organizations in major US cities on the financial security and artistic output of local companies. She worked in arts fundraising for many years, including for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, before getting her MBA from Yale. While at Yale she co-authored a case study on the historic merger of the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company and Dance Theater Workshop. As a result of her early training under the Royal Academy of Dance ballet syllabus, Emily is passionate about classical ballet, especially work by contemporary choreographers, as well as dance ranging from post-modern to kathak to flamenco and more. 

Hannah Wing has an extensive background in editing and publishing. She has held positions ranging from literary magazine editor to web content manager. She has always had a soft spot for theatre and is thrilled to be writing for BroadwayWorld.com as a Contributing Editor.

Jackson grew up around the performing arts in the Washington, DC area. Over the past two decades, he has been able to witness the region’s theatre grow and evolve, particularly children’s theatre, local productions, and premieres. He is a graduate of American University.

Jake Bridges first stepped on a stage in the summer of 1995, where he broke hearts and thrilled audiences with his rendition of “Duke of Earl” at the ripe age of 8. He has never been able to leave a life in the performing arts since. Years after his storied performance of the famous doo-wop tune, Jake spent nearly a decade in New York City as an actor, teaching artist, and director. As an actor, he had the pleasure of touring the country with Beauty and the Beast and South Pacific and spent a year aboard Disney Cruise Lines’ Fantasy ship as well. Regional credits included stops at Ogunquit Playhouse, North Shore Music Theatre, Theatre By The Sea, Weathervane, Barnstormers Theatre, Westchester Broadway Theatre, Red Mountain Theatre Company and several others. Jake relocated to DC in 2019 to pursue a graduate degree in Arts Management from American University, and he has called the DMV home since. His favorite thing about the DC theatre scene is that companies are willing to take bold artistic risks - arguably more so than any other American city outside of New York! 

An award-winning writer and editor, Lora’s work has appeared in The Atlantic, Washington City Paper, the PBS NewsHour, Marquette Magazine, BroadwayWorld.com, PoliticsPA.com, Philadelphia Neighborhoods, Army News Service, BizTech Magazine and more. 

Dedicated to intellectual life and the world of ideas, Lora's greatest strength is her passion for the people, places and things that change our lives.

Michela Dwyer is a dancer and writer based in Washington, DC. She holds a BA in Dance and Philosophy from American University, and currently works as an event coordinator in institutions of higher education. She is inspired by those who make meaning in movement, and forever in awe of the joy of dancing together.

Pam came to Washington for the politics but instead found a home in its cultural community. For more than 20 years, Pam worked behind the scenes in DC’s non-profit theatres as a grant writer and fundraiser. She has been writing for BroadwayWorld since 2014. Pam earned a graduate certificate in arts management from American University and is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and The George Washington University.

Peter Rouleau is an indie author, college professor, and theater artist who lives in Montgomery County Maryland. His favorite theatrical memories include getting to recite "To Be or Not to Be" on the Globe Stage and writing and directing his own stage play in college.

Rachael is a native New Yorker and life-long theatre devotee. She saw her first Broadway show, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” at age five, and has been hooked ever since. The summer she was supposed to work on her master’s thesis, she saw roughly ten shows in three months, including two camp-outs for standing room tickets for “Book of Mormon.” Sadly, her acting skills are severely lacking (just ask anyone who had to suffer through her performance as Marty in “Grease”), so she leaves the acting to the professionals and sticks to another type of drama: politics.

Roger Catlin, a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, is a Washington D.C.-based arts writer whose work appears regularly in SmithsonianMagazine.com. and AARP the Magazine. He has also written for The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide and Salon and was a staff writer for The Hartford Courant in Connecticut for 25 years. 

Shelby Tyler is an arts administrator with a passion for theatre and writing. In 2021, she received degrees in Theatre and Communication Studies from East Tennessee State University. Now located in southern Maryland, she is the Assistant Manger for the Dodge Performing Arts Center on the St. Mary's College of Maryland campus. She also spends her time volunteering at her local community theatre where she has begun to build a children's summer program. She is looking forward to contributing to BroadwayWorld, hoping her articles are a call to action for locals to go out to the theater.

Tavish Young is a writer and creative living and working in Maryland. After a childhood in the theatre, Tavish has explored acting, playwriting, set design, and costuming, and has studied the art at Goucher College, where he received his bachelor's degree in both Theatre, and Creative Writing. He recieved his Master's in screenwriting from The University of West London in 2023.