Board of Directors

Sue Ellen Gerrells – Executive Director

Sue Ellen Gerrells brings decades of experience to her position as ACT Executive Director. After serving as Business Manager for Theatre USA (USA-Mobile) and Executive Assistant to senior administrators at UCSD (CA), she traveled to Yokosuka, Japan working as PREVENT Program Manager and instructor for University of Maryland University College. For over thirty years, Sue Ellen has been actively involved as an actor/director in community, secondary, and college/university theater programs in Asia, Europe and the U.S. She serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Community Theatres (AACT) and directs for the South City Theatre and Montevallo Main Street Players. Sue Ellen lives in Alabaster, Alabama.

T. Gary Weatherly – President

Gary Weatherly is currently a Teacher, Designer, Technical Director, and Manager of Mountain Brook High School’s Fine Arts Center. Before discovering the challenges of teaching in secondary school, Gary designed professionally over 300 productions in almost every state in the southeast for over 25 years. He worked as the resident designer for Birmingham Children’s Theatre, The State of Alabama Ballet and the Miss Alabama Pageant and worked for most of the Birmingham community and university theatres as a guest designer. He has a B.A. degree from University of North Carolina at Greensboro with emphasis in design and technology. Gary is finishing up his thesis to earn a M.S. in Theatre Education from Southern Oregon University. Since beginning his teaching career, Gary has been very involved with ACT, judging at Walter J. Trumbauer Festival and many of his students have won multiple awards in acting and technical events at the district and state competition. Gary also chairs the Polly Holliday Scholarship Award for the Southeastern Theatre Conference and serves on the Board of Directors for the DPTheatre Series in Birmingham.

Tammy Killian – Vice President

TAMMY KILLIAN is a native of Alabama and received her BA in Theatre/Art from Birmingham-Southern College and her MFA in Acting from Florida Atlantic University.

Tammy has been on faculty for six years at the University of Montevallo. At UM Tammy directed THE HEIDI CHRONICLES, HEARTBREAK HOUSE, THE BACCHAE, DEAD CITY, FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS and ON THE VERGE. Tammy is the faculty sponsor for The White Cardigan Club (WCC) and in January 2009 – 2011 produced WCC’s Winter Play Festivals. WCC encourages students to write, direct, act in and design new, cutting edge work.

In the summer of 2011 Tammy was the Assistant Director/Stage Manager for City Equity Theatre’s production of RACE and in 2010 she played Nancy in CET’s production of THE SECRETS OF A SOCCER MOM. Also in the summer of 2010 Tammy had the fantastic opportunity to be a member of a company comprised of Alat Etc and Auburn University at Montgomery theatre department which developed a new play under the guidance of Neil David Seibel entitled THE DAUGHTERS OF ABRAHAM.

Tammy is the Vice President of The Alabama Conference of Theatres. Tammy is a member of The International Centre for Women Playwrights, Dramatist Guild, the Southeastern Theatre Conference and Actors’ Equity Association.

She lives in Pelham with her brilliant and beautiful daughter, Kate.

Tom Salter – Immediate Past President

Senior Communication Officer for the Montgomery County Public School System, Tom also serves as the Vice Chair of the Marketing Committee for the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT). He’s an award-winning director for the Wetumpka Depot Players where he appears in productions and has served on their Board of Directors. Tom’s production of “Second Samuel” won top honors at both state and regional levels of AACTFest ’11, earning his company the privilege of representing his state and region at the national level in Rochester, N.Y.

Michele Eller – Secretary

Michele Eller currently teaches 11th grade English, Theater, and Reading at Elmore County High School. She is a member of the Elmore County Reading Council and serves as Secretary on the Alabama Conference of Theater Executive Board. Michele has embraced the arts since childhood, and this love of the arts has carried over into her teaching career. Since arriving at Elmore County High School in 2003, Michele has piloted the first ECHS Dance Team as well as the first Thespian Troupe. Students involved in these programs have competed and won numerous awards as well as college scholarships. Not only does Michele promote the arts at the high school, but she has also taught after-school acting classes at Eclectic Middle School as well.

Amy Hockinson – Treasurer

Amy has been the Treasurer of the Alabama Conference of Theatre since 2007 and has enjoyed working with the Walter F. Trumbauer State High School Theatre Festival. She has a B.A. in Musical Theatre from Samford University and a M.A. of Ed. in English/Language Arts Education from U.A.B. She has taught theatre to children of all ages, from toddlers to college students. In addition to teaching, Amy has worked as a professional actress with Birmingham Children’s Theatre and has participated in a number of productions with local theatre companies around Birmingham.

Fulton Burns – College and University Division Chair

Fulton Burns is the Director of Acting & Performance at the University of South Alabama’s (USA) Department of Dramatic Arts. Prior to his arrival at USA he instructed at The University of Montana and Illinois College. He has performed as a guest artist/instructor at The University of Nevada Las Vegas, Columbia College, the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts along with other schools across the United States. He attended Winthrop University where he earned his BA in Theatre and completed his graduate work (MFA) at Western Illinois University (WIU) specializing in Directing for the Stage. Fulton received the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s Certificate of Merit for his work as a director on Amadeus at WIU and Anything Goes at USA. Burns is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), in addition to being an award winning Advanced Actor Combatant recognized in all eight weapons that the organization has to offer. He is also an Instructor with the Dueling Arts International (DAI) making USA one of only 10 schools in the United States to offer Certificate Tests in both organizations (SAFD & DAI).

Emily Gill – College and University Division Vice-Chair

Emily Gill, MFA, is entering her 5th year on the UM Theatre faculty where she teaches costume design, costume construction, costume history and makeup design. She came to Montevallo after receiving her MFA in Drama from the University of Georgia and her BA in English and Theatre Arts from Rollins College.An active member of USITT, she currently serves on the Board of Directors and in the International Activities and Publications committees. Prof. Gill is a frequent participant at the USITT National Conference, most recently presenting “Theatre, Meet Cosplay. Cosplay, Meet Theatre.” As a part of the Southeast Region Section of USITT, she has exhibited and won the W. Joseph Stell Design Award as a student and faculty/professional and will begin service on the Executive Committee as Treasurer this year.

Lonny Harrison – Secondary Division Chair

Lonny Harrison received a BFA in theatre from the University of South Alabama then attended the University of Florida and the University of Alabama where he earned his MFA in theatre with a concentration in scenic design. Lonny has worked in many professional, community and school theatres across the United States. He has been involved with many theatrical organizations including ACT, SETC, USITT and educational arts based organizations including AIEA and NETWORK. He is the Director of the Theatre Institute for the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts (AIEA) and is an active member and past officer for Alabama Conference of Theatre (ACT). For the past 15 years, Lonny has taught theatre at Saint James School in Montgomery., He directs at least three main stage shows a year and has produced and been the executive director for the Volunteer Information Center’s (VIC) star studded follies. Mr. Harrison has worked extensively with AlaSOHN’s (Alabama Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgeon)’s sponsored “World Voice Day” which focuses on vocal health and the performing artist. This program has received national recognition due to its great success in the education of young people. He is also on the Advisory Board of the newly forming Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery, Alabama.

Pat Putman – Secondary Division Vice-Chair

Patricia is currently the Music Director for Corner Theatre Academy at Corner High School. She taught music in the Jefferson County School System for 34 years. She has a BS (1978) & MS (1987) in Music Education from Jacksonville State University. She is the current District 2 Secondary Chair, a position she has held since 2007. Patricia was the 2011 ACT Secondary Teacher of the Year. She is a huge supporter of the blending of all the arts and Arts Education on all age levels.

Clifton Keen, Jr. – Community Division Chair

Cliff Keen is currently the resident director for the Leeds Theatre and Arts Center. He has been involved with the Leeds Theatre for the past six years, where he has directed and starred in many shows and run the Children’s Workshop for three years. He has directed for many other local theatres in the Birmingham area. Cliff is also an actor and has been involved with over 75 productions since high school. He has been on virtually every stage in Birmingham. He had the honor to be directed by the legendary Charles Strouse and his wife, Barbara Siman, in Savannah, Georgia at the Historic Savannah Theatre, in their production of “Once In Palm Beach” and worked as a Stage Manager on “A Lot of Living.” Cliff is the Director of Operations for a franchise of Pizza Hut during the day.

Kristy Meanor – Community Division Vice-Chair

Kristy Meanor is the Executive Director of the Wetumpka Depot Players, central Alabama’s most established community theatre. Kristy manages the day-to-day operations at the Depot in addition to directing, acting, designing sets, coordinating volunteer program as well as promoting educational opportunities. In addition to her leadership roles with the Alabama Conference on Theatre she is the Community Chair for Southeastern Theatre Conference. A published playwright, award winning actor and set designer, she was the 2011 recipient of Alabama Conference on Theatre’s “Marian Gallaway Award” for her contributions to theatre in Alabama.

Michael P. Howley – Professional Division Chair

Bio Coming Soon.

Kelley Brookebrown – Theatre for Youth Division Chair

Bio Coming Soon.

Karen Black – Theatre for Youth Division Vice-Chair

Bio Coming Soon.

Neil David Seibel – SETC Representative

Neil David Seibel teaches the performance curriculum at Auburn University Montgomery. A proud member of Actors Equity, he spent six seasons with Theatre Aspen, appeared Off-Broadway in Jonathon Larson’s JP Morgan Saves the Nation, originated the role of Lewis for the TV musical Passages: Lewis and Clark, and enjoyed regional contracts with the Denver Center, Arvada Center, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Alley Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre Under The Stars and most recently the Montgomery Ballet. He has directed and choreographed for numerous theatre companies across the US and served three years as the associate artistic director of ALAT-etc (A Laboratory for Actor Training – experimental theatre company). As a playwright, he has developed several solo and ensemble works that have been performed throughout the United States and Europe.

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