ABOUT
Transformation Theatre, Inc. (TT, Inc.) was incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) company in April 2019 with the long-term goal of providing a venue for collaboration with up-and-coming and established theatre artists at various stages of development of their work. While TT, Inc will focus on original works of social relevance and/or adaptations, we encourage all playwrights to submit their work for consideration. TT, Inc. shall endeavor to promote/commission works from playwrights in the DC/MD/VA region, however, consideration will also be given to writers outside of that area, including those outside of the US.
MISSION: Transformation Theatre (TT) provides a collaboration venue with ‘up-and-coming’ and established theatre artists to focus on social relevant original, unpublished plays and adaptations celebrating underrepresented groups. TT typically promotes the works of playwrights in the DC/MD/VA region, however, playwrights throughout the country, as well as those outside the US may submit work for consideration. Through the live productions of these playwrights’ work, TT strives to enhance and stimulate an understanding of ourselves and others.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DAVID M. SMITH
president David M. Smith (He/Him) is President of the Board of Directors with Transformation Theatre. Gross School of the Art at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. David M. Smith has worked as a Set Designer, Lighting Designer and Technical Director in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC. Recently his work in lighting design has been seen in the Conservatory at MGM National Harbor and for both TedX MidAtlantic and TedX Bethesda. 
A. Lorraine Robinson
secretary A. Lorraine Robinson is an award-winning theatre director, dramaturg, producer, nonprofit arts administrator, and community-based arts educator. For seven years, she served as Artistic Producing Director of MuseFire Productions, a (501c3) not-for-profit theatre and film production company dedicated to multimedia and stylistically challenging work (especially the voices of women and individuals of color) which she co-founded with (Joint) Artistic Producing Director, Michelle T. Hall. She received the Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle Award: Best Director and Best Production for The Laramie Project (Contemporary American Theatre Company in Columbus, Ohio.) In 2017, 2018 and 2019 she received Tony Award: Excellence in Theatre Education Honorable Mention Awards. Lorraine also creates as Artistic Producing Partner for Voices Festival Productions. 
Carmen Arregocés de Radke
Emeritus Carmen Arregocés de Radke (She/Her) Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Carmen Arregocés de Radke has been working in the non fiction television and film industry for over 10 years. She has worked on award-winning long form documentaries like Into Okavango and The Last Ice for National Geographic Society, as well as television documentary films like Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real for Discovery Channel. Carmen has extensive experience in non-fiction television’s series that have aired on Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel, and short-form films that have been distributed through National Geographic Society's digital platforms. Carmen has recently been working on the launch of the digital streaming service for Discovery Networks, Discovery +, which hosts television's popular non-fiction brands such as HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, and Animal Planet. Her passion for science and exploration took her to work on the non-profit side of National Geographic, as the Production Manager for the Pristine Seas team as well as the Impact Media team, working on The Last Wild Places initiative, a decade-long initiative to help protect the places that sustain life on Earth. Besides being the Production Manager, Carmen was in charge of the application of the team’s short films in the film festival circuit, submitting films in festivals like the Environmental Film Festival, at the nation’s capital, and Jackson Wild Media Awards “the nature equivalent to the Oscars.” Carmen is very passionate about social justice and believes in the equal access to opportunities and privileges within a society. She can usually be found spending the weekends exploring and hiking with her husband, daughter, and dog in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains around Knoxville, Tennessee, her current home state. |
Michelle A. Klein
TREASURER Michelle A. Klein is Treasurer of the Board of Directors with Transformation Theatre. She graduated from the Capital University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Columbus, Ohio. Michelle is passionate about the arts and grew up playing piano, clarinet, and bass clarinet. She was a member of the Southeast Ohio Youth Symphony in Athens, OH, Marietta College Community Orchestra in Marietta, OH, Phoenix Youth Symphony Guild as well as La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church chamber orchestra in Scottsdale, AZ. Michelle obtained her Master of Business Administration with a major in Finance from Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA where she won the esteemed AT&T MBA Case competition in El Segundo, CA. She is currently a Senior Manager, FP&A at Swedish Match, a Scandinavian Tobacco company with North American HQ located in Richmond, VA. She serves as the North American liaison to the Global HQ in Stockholm, Sweden. Aside from solving complex business problems, she has helped to lay the groundwork for Diversity & Inclusion programming at Swedish Match set to launch in 2022. She is member of the Junior League of Richmond and has served as a mentor for Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization. Michelle is passionate about the organizational development, solving complex business problems, spending time with family, building new connections, domestic and international travel, the outdoors, yoga, running and strength training. 
Sonya Hall Turner
Emeritus Sonya Hall Turner (She/Her) holds a B.A. in English from University of North Carolina at Greensboro, an MBA and M.S. in Contract Management and Procurement from University of Maryland, University College, as well as a Paralegal Certificate in Business Finance/Corporate Law. She has over 25 years of legal experience and has worked both for and with in-house corporations and at a law firm. Sonya is currently the Vice President, Contracts for a company in Rockville, Maryland, where she manages inception to close-out of the company’s commercial, Federal and State government contracts. She serves as a board member for the Bernie Scholarship Awards Program and is a certified Interior Decorator, avid art collector, has performed in several productions through her church’s Theater Arts Ministry, and was previously the volunteer Drive Outreach Coordinator for Swab a Cheek, Save a Life, formerly a Gift of Life campaign. 
Pradnya G. Haldipur
Emeritus Pradnya Haldipur (she/her) is a philanthropic strategist and fundraiser in the non-profit space. Pradnya has a critical role in providing strategic leadership, direction, and management for organizations of all sizes in both executive and board roles. . Pradnya has more than 24 years of development and management experience in myriad national and international settings. Throughout her career, she has focused on uniting philanthropists, corporations, and foundations with strategic projects and priorities. She is an experienced and creative development professional who excels at building big ideas and strong relationships. She comes to Transformation Theatre with experience from prestigious academic medical institutions such as Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC, Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, and Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as think tanks, global development organizations, and the arts. Over the course of her career, she has raised more than $145M to support medical research, capital projects, endowment, operations, and programmatic projects. Pradnya was born in Mumbai, India but grew up in Bloomfield, New Jersey. She resides Silver Spring, MD, with her husband Joe Clemons, their children, Mirza Cate (age 7) and Xavier Anant (age 5) and their two rascally dogs, Hawkeye and Natasha Romanoff. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pradnya-haldipur/ |
STAFF
CARL RANDOLPH, Founder/Artistic Director
Carl Randolph (He/Him) is the Founding Producing Artistic Director of Transformation Theatre. He is also a Director and an Actor. Carl has worked in many aspects of theatre and film including producing, directing, choreographing, acting, and FX Make-Up for over 35 years. Theatre performances include roles at the Kennedy Center (Shear Madness), Bobby in the 2nd National Tour of A Chorus Line, the Fulton Opera House, Fort Salem, Signature, MetroStage, Henlopen Theatre Project, Wayside, Round House (Helen Hayes Award, A Prayer for Owen Meany), Ford's, Washington Stage Guild, Imagination Stage and Olney Theatre (Helen Hayes Award, A Chorus Line). As a director/choreographer, his credits include the world premiere of Greg Jones Ellis' All Save One at the Washington Stage Guild and Audrey Cefaly's Consider the Ficus for the DC Queer theatre Festival, the US premiere of Futureproof by Irish playwright Lynda Radley, A Chorus Line, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls and Terra Nova (winner best director, Burlington Footlighter’s in NJ). Carl was choreographer and lead dancer with Illusionist John Bundy and Morgan in their Halloween special Spooktacular on Tour for over 6 years. Film credits include leading roles such as Gabriel Utterson in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Satan in Fall of the Morningstar, Devlin the Destroyer in Sorcerers of Stonehenge School, and Gordon in Nocturne. TV credits include lead roles in episodes of The Prosecutors on the Discovery Channel, Civil War Combat on the History Channel and Special Forces; GSG-9 on the Learning Channel. As owner of Dragon Fire FX (formerly Morphiage), he is an award winning make-up and effects artist. His make-up designs have been seen in productions of The Jungle Book (winner best make-up in NJ), The Wizard of Oz, Into The Woods, Spooktacular, national commercials including Chevy Trucks with Cal Ripkin, Jr. and numerous independent feature films , such as Never Dream the Beginning, Nocturne, The Suffering and Dark Therapy as well as the first season of AMC's The Walking Dead. He has served as the Producing Artistic Director for Footlighter’s Theatre in NJ (1997-99) and as Assistant Artistic Director for the Washington Stage Guild (2018) where he is now an artistic associate. Carl earned his MFA in Directing at Catholic University of America and his MA in Producing Film at American University. He is a proud member of SDC, AEA and SAG-AFTRA and served as the Balto/Washington AEA Liaison for six years. |
HEIDI CASTLE-SMITH, Co-Founder/Associate Artistic Director
Heidi Castle-Smith (She/Her) is a Founding Member and Associate Artistic Director with Transformation Theatre. She holds a Ph.D. in Theatre History and Criticism from University of Maryland, College Park and an MFA in Set Design and Scenic Art from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Heidi is currently an Adjunct Professor at Howard Community College in the Theatre department teaching both history and Intro to Design. She has presented papers on the construction of actresses identity through the use of portraiture in the Restoration period. Heidi has worked as both a set designer and scenic artist in and around the Washington DC area. Design credits include These Shining Lives for The Arts Collective @ HCC (made the "Best Of" list for DC Metro Theatre Arts in the category of Set Designer), Spring Awakening, A year with Frog and Toad, Peter Pan, and Dogfight (Red Branch Theatre Company), Assassins, Mother Courage and Lear’s daughters (Black Box Student theatre at University of MD), and multiple summer seasons for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. |
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joe Grimshaw, Graphic Designer
Joe Grimshaw is a graphic designer, illustrator and cartoonist with over 25 years of experience in both print and virtual media. As a designer, he has worked with gifted musicians such as Tiffany, Expose, Stacey Q and Drake Jensen, to name a few, designing everything from posters to CD packaging to social media banners and more. His work with Tiffany resulted in the design of six CD singles and two full-length releases, "Rose Tattoo" in 2011 and "A Million Miles" in 2016. His work with Drake Jensen dates back to 2016, and includes the design of full-length releases such as "Retro" from 2016 and "Sideshow" in 2018, as well as the design of many posters and banners for his social media. His work in branding is extensive, and includes logos for companies such as Dermatology of Philadelphia, Content Launch, SubOut Bar & Grill, and WTSB 105.5 FM, among many others. As an illustrator and cartoonist, his work has included caricatures for a number of people from all walks of life. He also created a panel cartoon, "Satellite Snickers", which was seen monthly in the trade publication "Satellite Retailer". His creations have been used by organizations such as Wise Monkeys Abroad, Rainbow Banquet Hall and Jenergy. He currently resides and works in upstate New York. |
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