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.

Tom Salter – 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.

T. Gary Weatherly – Vice 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.

Neil David Seibel – Immediate Past President & 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.

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.

Stacy Alley – College and University Division Chair

Stacy Alley teaches musical theatre/dance at the University of Alabama after seven years on faculty at Arkansas State University where she taught acting, dance, and voice & movement. She is a professional director and choreographer whose recent credits include A Chorus Line at Forestburgh Playhouse in NY. She has been performing professionally for twenty-five years, including five years in Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular. Stacy is a member of Screen Actors Guild, the Association of Theatre Movement Educators, the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance, and The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in NYC where she was recently awarded the title/degree of Certified Movement Analyst. She is also Co-Chair of the Musical Theatre Committee for the Southeastern Theatre Conference. Stacy holds a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from the University of Southern California.

Fulton Burns – College and University Division Vice-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).

Eric St. John – Secondary Division Chair

After serving as head of the theatre program at Chelsea High School for the past two years, Eric has recently taken over the same position at Spain Park High School. He has been the District 6 Chair for the Trumbauer Festival since 2009.

Lonny Harrison – Secondary Division Vice 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.

John Chain – Community Theatre Chair

John began acting while attending high school in Baldwin Park, Ca. He has performed in numerous productions during high school, college and has been very active in community productions. Has also been an extra in several movies. Graduated from Texas Tech University in 1971 with a degree in accounting. John is the founder of the Millbrook Community Players in Millbrook, AL.

Clifton Keen, Jr. – Community Division Vice 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.

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