Starting a conversation one play at a time....
Co-Producing Artistic Director
Cheri Wicks a founding member and Managing Director from 2012 to 2017 joined forces with Erin as Co-Producing Artistic Directors in February 2017. Growing up in central Montana where productions were scarce, she learned to round up everyone she could, put some of them on stage, the rest in seats, and then put on a show. After high school, Cheri studied dance in New York and returned to Montana where she was a choreographer and dancer with the Montana State University Dance Company. Cheri continued honing her production skills as an assistant on the ASMSU (Associated Students of Montana State University) Campus Entertainment-Lively Arts and Lectures. Transferring to the University of Oregon, she continued to perform, worked as the Performing Arts Coordinator for the Cultural Forum, and finished her B.A. in English Literature. In New York, Cheri works in theater, film, and television - her love of performing and producing continues to grow. www.cheriwicks.com
Co-Producing Artistic Director
Erin Gilbreth was the founding Managing Director of American Bard Theater Company, producing King Lear and also producing/acting in Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and Four by Tenn. She took a brief break from the company to start a family, but is very excited to be back! Erin has lived in New York City for over twenty years. The first ten brought lots of travel as she worked in regional theaters, across the country on a national tour and internationally as an entertainer on a cruise ship. The next ten years brought studies classical acting with John Basil at American Globe Theatre and workshops of The Merchant of Venice and The Winter’s Tale with Patsy Rodenburg, and her involvement with American Bard Theater Company. Now in her third decade of professional work, she has added teaching to her evolution. Erin has a BA in Musical Theater for California State University, Fullerton and an MA in Liberal Studies from SUNY Stony Brook. She specializes in heightened language and drama play with young artists.
Founding Member
Ross Hewitt is a playwright, director, actor, singer and arts administrator -- all in his spare time. Ross is an associate member of the American Dramatists Guild and an active member of the Village Playwrights, a group that gives LGBTQ playwrights and screenwriters a voice. He also served as a volunteer reviewer of new plays written in English for Repertorio Espanol. His full-length play, When October Goes, was produced by the Ujima Theatre Company in Buffalo, NY. When October Goes received an ArtVoice Artie Award nomination for Best New Play. His one-act plays produced by the Village Playwrights include Quicksand, Mother Knows Best, The Middle, Crossover and Witches Brew. His one-act play Booties was a part of the 13th Fresh Fruit Festival in New York. His jukebox musical and cabaret show Rainbows & Ribbons premiered at Don’t Tell Mama in 2017. Ross directed the world premiere of Shawn Nacol's The Trophy Wife for the Buffalo Ensemble Theatre and Love Alters Not...A Collection of Shakespeare's Sonnets for the American Bard Theater Company, of which he was a founding member, in addition to directing some of his own works. Favorite roles include Himself in Rainbows & Ribbons, Soundman in The Lady Was a Disc Jockey (Dolly Ellen Friedman), Albany in
in King Lear, Mistress Overdone/Friar in Measure For Measure, Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing (American Bard), Sir Hugh Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare in Delaware Park), Coach/Nurse in Daisy in Disguise (Vital Theatre, Original Cast Recording), Peck in The Rimers of Eldritch (Theatre Unplugged), Dr. Hubert Bonney in It Runs in the Family (Cortland Repertory Theatre), and Angus in Tuck Everlasting (Lexington Children's Theatre). Ross was a member of the Ujima Theater Company in Buffalo NY and served as both its Business Manager and Board President. He is also the former Board President of the Arts Council of Buffalo and Erie County.
The American Bard Theater Company was founded in 2009. The founding members were: Dennis Baker, Bryan L. Cohen, Natalie Doyle , Andrew Eisenman, Erin Gilbreth, Tara Henderson, Jack Herholdt, Ross Hewitt, Betina Joly, Damin Kinard, Mary M. Riley, Jacob Troy and Cheri Wicks
American Bard Theater Company | Phone: 347-422-7309 | Email: info@americanbard.org