John Hedges

Executive Director

John joined Weathervane Playhouse in August 2007 after completing his tenth season as a resident actor at the historic Barter Theatre in Virginia. Prior to that, John was Managing Director of First Stage Children's Theater in Milwaukee, where he led the expansion and growth of the theatre while doubling its annual operating budget to $1.3 million. John has been Associate Producer of North Shore Music Theatre, Business Director of Gloucester Stage Company, Managing Director of the Maine Stage Company and General Manager of New York’s award-winning Pearl Theatre Company. He’s an alumnus of Indiana State University, the Professional Theatre Training Program at the University of Delaware and holds an honorary MFA in theatre from Stafford University in England.

Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement

Janis holds an M.A. in Arts Administration from the University of Akron and B.S. in Music Education from Kent State University, and has been a Weathervane staff member since 1993. She serves as the Artistic Director of the Ravenna Community Choir and Director of the St. Paul Lutheran Church Choir (also in Ravenna). Jan was honored with the Weathervane Board of Trustees Award in 2003 and 2007.

Melanie Y.C. Pepe
Director of Education

Melanie has been affilliated with Weathervane's education program since 1998. For the Playhouse, she has taught Saturday classes as well as "theater-badge" classes for Brownie and Girl Scout troops. She has supervised Weathervane's City of Akron-sponsored Neighborhood Playhouse program, which offers theater-education programs for Akron children right in their own neighborhoods. She has also designed make-up for a couple of Weathervane productions. She earned a bachelor's of fine arts in theater from Kent State University, with an emphasis on management. She is married with three children and resides in Akron.

Alan Scott Ferrall
Scenic Designer

and Technical Director

Scott, as everyone calls him, began his association with Weathervane as a backstage volunteer under the tutelage of the late John R. Thomas. This is Scott's tenth season as a Weathervane staff member. Before Weathervane, he worked at Cuyahoga Falls High School. He has designed sets for many local high schools as well as for the Players Guild of Canton, Cleveland Signstage Theatre and PBS-TV Channels 45/49. At Weathervane, Scott has earned four Chanticleer Awards -- one as stage manager for Fences, and the others for his lighting design for The Laramie Project and A Lesson before Dying and co-lighting design for A Man for All Seasons. Scott also takes great pleasure in writing the end-of-the-season revue for the Not-Ready-for-Mainstage Players, who appear at Weathervane's annual Chanticleer Awards banquet.

Keith Campbell
Director of Audience Development

Keith, a native of Canton, Ohio, graduated in 1992 from the University of Akron with a bachelor's degree in English. At UA, he served as editor of The Buchtelite and sang with the Akron Symphony Chorus. During the summers of 1995 and 1996, he interned in the box office at Porthouse Theatre Company. Keith joined the Weathervane staff in November 1996, and he was honored with the 2005 Weathervane Playhouse Trustees Award. He lives in Akron.

Lisa Mansfield

Patron Services Manager

Lisa holds a B.A. in Secondary Education with a concentration in English and History from the University of Akron. A stay-at-home mom since 1994, Lisa continues to be active in the community serving breastfeeding mothers through La Leche League and volunteering at Children’s Hospital. The Akron Beacon Journal named Lisa a “Woman of Excellence” in 2005 for her service to military families. A stage actress in high school, Lisa is excited to return to one of her first loves, the theater. She lives in West Akron with her high school sweetheart, and now local TV anchor, Eric Mansfield, and their three sons, Joshua, Jacob, and Teddy.

Barbara Trotter
Volunteer Coordinator

Barbara holds an M.A. in Communications from the New York Institute of Technology. She teaches speech and communication courses at Stark State College of Technology in North Canton. Barb began volunteering with Weathervane Community Playhouse in 2000, working backstage on props crews. She designed costumes for the productions of Arsenic and Old Lace and Proof, both in 2003. She served as the costume coordinator for Weathervane's May 2006 production of Angels in America: Perestroika and was lighting designer of the May 2007 production of String of Pearls. In December 2007, she sang the role of Dorothy, a shepherdess in Amahl and the Night Visitors, for which she also designed the costumes.

Benjamin Rexroad

Public Relations

and Outreach Assistant

Benjamin is frantically trying to finish his degree in Theater, Marketing and Public Relations at the University of Akron. He continually works in arts venues across Northeast Ohio, including Cleveland Public Theater, Carousel Dinner Theatre and, of course, Weathervane Playhouse. Weathervane is always finding a new use for Ben, first as a behind-the-scenes volunteer, then as a House Manager and, most recently, as an instructor in the Education Program. In any spare moments when he isn’t working, Ben volunteers as Technical Director at his alma mater, Coventry High School.

Kathy Kohl

Assistant Technical Director

Kathy holds a degree in elementary education from Bowling Green State University and a master's in business management from Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois. She began her theater career as a volunteer on many lighting, set construction and props crews. At Weathervane, she won a Chanticleer for her properties co-design for The Philadelphia Story (2001). Kathy also serves as Resident Master Carpenter and Master Painter for the theater department at Firestone High School in Akron. She lives in West Akron with her husband, Doug, and their three children: Stephanie, Zachary and Katie.