Stage Guild
Board of Directors

Laura Giannarelli

President

A founding company member, she is an actor, director and book narrator based in Washington, D.C., since graduating from Catholic University of America summa cum laude in 1978 with a degree in drama and French. A longtime employee of the Library of Congress’ “Talking Books” program, Laura has narrated over 1,000 audio books to date (with hundreds more engineered and edited). Titles narrated include the Alexander Scourby Award-winning Little House on the Prairie series. She has travelled throughout the U.S. giving workshops and lectures on recording for the L.O.C. In addition to directing and acting with the Stage Guild, Laura has worked with many other area theatres over the years – Olney Theatre, The Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences, Round House Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Studio Theatre, Theatre J, Annapolis Shakespeare Company and others.  In 2003, she was awarded a Mary Goldwater Award from the Theatre Lobby for her acting work. As former chair of the local Equity Liaison committee for Actors’ Equity Association, Laura helped local theaters and actors further their understanding of how the actors’ union operates. In her private life, Laura shares a home in Silver Spring with her husband Clay.  In their free time, they love to read the Post and watching nature cavorting on their back deck.

Lynn Steinmetz

(Ex Officio), Executive Director

Lynn Steinmetz is a founding member of the Washington Stage Guild.  She has served on the WSG Board of Directors since the company’s inception in various capacities, including Treasurer, Vice President, and her current position as Exec.  Lynn has been an active member of the Washington-Baltimore theater community for more than 40 years.

Heather Koppe Flanagan

Board Member

Heather is an audit partner in KPMG’s Federal Service Line in the Washington, DC office. As a Certified Public Accountant, she has more than 30 years of experience providing financial statement audits, performance audits, and auditability services primarily in the government sector. Heather is a proud Duke, graduating with a BBA in Accounting from James Madison University. Outside of her professional work, she is dedicated to giving back to her community through board service and various volunteer activities. Theatre has always been one of Heather’s personal passions, and she has had the joy of raising two “theatre kids” with her husband, weaving the arts into her family’s life journey.

Ann Norton

Treasurer

Ann Norton has been involved in the Theatre since she came home from playing in the park to announce that she had been cast as the Miller’s Daughter in Rumpelstiltskin – at the age of six. Her parents, also in the biz, were relieved that she had “found her own way without any influence from them.” Many years older, she received her degree from Catholic University in Drama. She has worked, in a variety of ways, at Olney Theatre, Folger Theatre Group, The Hartke Theatre, the Smithsonian Institution Division of Performing Arts and is also an AEA Stage Manager. She helped start the Stage Guild and served as its Executive Director since in founding in 1986 until 2018 – 32 years. In 1999, under her tenure as President of the League of Washington Theaters (nine years), the League received the Helen Hayes Award for Distinguished Community Service for its Stages for All Ages program. Other past work in the theatre community includes serving on the boards of Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archives and the D.C. Committee to Promote Washington. She has been a Grants Panelist for the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, along with the Montgomery, Prince Georges’ and Arlington County Art Councils. In 2001, she received the Actors’ Center Theatre Distinction Award for Service to the Arts Community. She has taught at George Washington University, (Understanding Theatre – as if that’s possible)! She was married to the Stage Guild’s founding Producing Artistic Director, John MacDonald, for over 30 years.

Elizabeth Susie Pratt

Board Member

After being active in Washington theatre as an actress for many years, Susie Pratt joined the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer and enjoyed a career that took her around the globe on various assignments.  She still works part-time for the State Department and also volunteers as a docent at the Smithsonian’s National American History Museum.  She continues her love of theater and, despite a lifetime of packing suitcases, still enjoys traveling and engaging other cultures of the world.

Bill Largess

(Ex Officio), All Committees

Bill Largess is a founding member of Washington Stage Guild and has been the Artistic Director for over 10 years. He’s also been an adjunct instructor in the GW Department of Theatre and Dance since 2008.  A graduate of Catholic University’s Department of Drama, he’s been an actor and director in the area for nearly 40 years, has been nominated five times for the Helen Hayes Award, received the Theatre Lobby/Mary Goldwater Award twice, and is a three-time recipient of Artist Fellowships from the DC Commission on The Arts and Humanities. He sponsored Midshipmen from the US Naval Academy for many years.