Cathy Bennett
Vice Chair
 

Photo and bio coming soon!

Pam Blackburn
 

Pam grew up in Shawnee attending SM Northwest and the University of Kansas earning an education degree in Mathematics.  She is currently with Hewlett-Packard as a Software Specialist at Black & Veatch.

Pam’s involvement in TTIP began in 1997 when her son was cast in his first production.  After several years of hanging around rehearsals, she volunteered to be the costume coordinator for the show her son was cast in (after all how hard could it be??).  She volunteers at the theaters costume closet and coordinates costume rentals from the closet to schools and other theaters in the area providing low cost options.  She has been on the TTIP Advisory Council since 2008 and on the Ambassadors since longer than she can remember (10+ years).
 

Sherman Botts
 

Sherman is a partner with the Lathrop & Gage law firm and is serving his third year on the TTIP Advisory Council.  In addition, he has appeared on stage in past TTIP productions of Titanic - the Musical, The Music Man and Seussical. He is an active musician in various jazz and church groups in the community.
 

Chip Buckner
 

Chip grew up in Kansas City before earning degrees from Williams College (Williamstown, MA) and the University of Kansas School of Law.  He left the private practice of law to join the Missouri Attorney General’s office, where he ran the state’s consumer fraud unit and represented the state everywhere from traffic court to the United States Supreme Court. He is currently counsel to Bartlett and Company, a Kansas City agribusiness.

Chip describes himself as being “a singing male who is unafraid of making a fool of himself in front of large numbers of people” - a characteristic that led to church choirs, Cub and Scout leadership positions and, perhaps naturally, theater.  He enjoys the stage because actors use the same skills as, but get more applause than, lawyers.  Over the past ten years, he has tried to do a show each year, except in those years in which he does three or four.  He sometimes shares a stage with his wife, Deborah, but not with his children, who figure that if their parents do it, it can't be cool.

Chip joined the TTIP Advisory Council in 2011.
 

Jill Geller
Supt. of Recreation JCPRD
 

Jill Is the Superintendent of Recreation for the Johnson County Park and Recreation District.  Employed at JCPRD since 1980, Jill previously served as Wellness Manager and Kansas City Corporate Challenge Executive Director.  Jill has been a strong supporter of The Theatre in the Park since 2004, and has served on the Theatre Council since that time. Photo coming soon!
 

Chris Halford
Past Chair
 

Chris has been a member of the Theatre Advisory Council since 2009 and served as Chair of the Council in 2011.  Along with the Theatre Advisory Council, he has served on the Ambassadors committee since 2004.  Besides volunteering on committees, this season Chris will be performing in his 10th production out at the Park as Caldwell B. Cladwell in Urinetown the Musical.  Some of his favorite roles at TTIP are Bela Zangler in Crazy For You, Skimbleshanks in Cats, Rev. Moore in Footloose, and Jim in All Shook Up. 

His daughter Courtney, who now resides as an actress in NYC, got her start in theatre on our stage in 2003. His wife of 29 years Terry, also serves on the Ambassadors committee, and has assisted costumers in several shows out at the Park.
 
Professionally, Chris serves as the Sales Manager and Director of Business Development with Forsythe Associates in Shawnee, KS.
 

Tom O'Rourke
Chair
 

Tom is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, having received a Bachelor of Arts degree from John Carroll University in University Height, Ohio.  Prior to, and after graduating, he was the Head Basketball Coach, first at St. Ann elementary school, and later at Hawken High School in Gates Mills, Ohio.  His overall coaching record was 213 wins and 40 losses.

He then joined the Allstate Insurance Company for 10 years, receiving sever management promotions in four different state Regional offices, including that of Regional Underwriting Manager, which brought him and his family to Kansas City.

In 1979, he entered the residential real estate industry, becoming a consistent multi-million dollar producer with Summerson-Burrows Realtors, where he also served as Sales Manager, a position he held for six years.  In 1989, he joined J. D. Reece Realtors as a Vice President / Broker Manager, eventually rising to Senior Vice President, a title he continued to hold when Reece merged with J. C. Nichols, becoming Reese & Nichols Realtors.  He was the President of the Johnson County Multiple Listing Service in 1990, the President of the Johnson County Board of Realtors in 1997 and its Realtor of the Year in 1998.  He was a State Director, and served on the Design Committee for the merger of the Johnson County and K. C. Metropolitan Boards into the K.C. Regional Association of Realtors n 2001.  After 27 years in real estate, he retired in December of 2007.

After being a regular attendee at TTIP shows, be began his on-stage career at the Park in 1996, appearing in the role of Welch in Damn Yankees.  Since then he has appeared in 11 additional shows, including earning a Supporting Actor Demmi Award nomination for his portrayal of John Hancock in 1776.  He has also appeared in 14 productions at Center Season at the Lewis & Shirley White Theatre.  As a sidelight, he has organized charity golf events for many years, raising nearly half a million dollars for various organizations.

He has served on the TTIP Advisory Council for four years, and is serving as its Chair this year.  He sees nothing but great things in the future for TTIP and wants to stay involved!  Tom, his wife Jan, and daughters Laura and Julie, have all been active at the Park, collectively having been involved in over 50 productions.
 

John Ras
Ambassador Chair
 

John is a Senior Client Relationship Manager with TALX Corporation. This is his second year as Chair and fourth year with the Ambassadors. John and his wife Julia have attended TTIP shows for over 20 years. He has appeared on the TTIP stage in Seussical, Cinderella and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Please feel free to challenge him with Broadway trivia.
 

Marshall Rimann
 

Marshall has been a member of the Theatre Advisory Council since 2011.  He is a native Kansas Citian, having grown up in Johnson County and graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School.  His involvement with Theatre in the Park began when he was cast as a member of the ensemble in the 2005 production of Singin' in the Rain.   He has appeared 5 other TTIP productions as well as in other community theatre venues in the area.  Marshall lives in Lenexa, and together with his wife Mary, is co-owner of Rimann Liquors in Prairie Village and Lenexa.
 

Jim Royer
Sertoma Club Rep.
 

Jim is a native “Kansan”, having been born in Topeka and raised in Johnson County.  He is a graduate of Shawnee Mission North High School and a graduate of Kansas State University.  After working in Idaho for three and one-half years in the Nuclear Engineering field, he came back to Kansas to do graduate work at Kansas State University and then started  a career with IBM in Kansas City.  In 1975, I became a member of the Shawnee Mission Sertoma Club and instigated the project to build a new outdoor theater in Shawnee Mission Park.  As chairman of the Theater Fund Raising Committee and with the help of my fellow Sertomans, he spent the next five years raising money to build the new theater.  In 1979, IBM moved him to a job in St. Louis and he turned over the leadership of the theater project to a fellow Sertoman, Reuben Sell.  He completed the fundraising and worked with the Johnson County Park and Recreation District during the construction of what is now The Theatre in the Park.  During this time, Jim met and married his lovely wife, Donna Knoell and moved to Atlanta, Georgia.  Jim and Donna both missed their Kansas roots and moved back to Prairie Village in 1988.   Jim is currently retired from IBM and enjoying serving on the Theatre Advisory Council, working with his church, being involved with the Johnson County Sertoma Club and traveling.
 

George Schlagel
Commissioner, JCPRD
 

George is the senior founding member of the Schlagel Kinzer LLC law firm and has been practicing in Olathe since receiving his law degree in 1974.   George is a fourth generation resident of Johnson County and is an active member of the JCPRD Board of Commissioners.  He is the Board’s liaison to The Theatre in the Park’s Advisory Council.
Photo coming soon.
 

Diana Wille
 

Diana is an area native and, along with her husband, Fred Spears, has called Johnson County home for the past 25 years.  Diana graduated from K-State with a BA in Journalism and from KU with an MBA and is recently retired after a 30-year career with Hallmark Cards.   While her own musical and theatre experience was limited to being in glee clubs, church choirs and in the chorus in high school musicals, Diana is a long term supporter of the performing arts and believes in their importance in enhancing the quality of our community.  She has regularly attended and promoted, since its earliest days in Antioch Park, the outstanding productions offered by The Theatre in the Park.  She is also a subscriber to the Kansas City Symphony and the Kansas City Ballet.  This is Diana’s first year on the Theatre Advisory Council.
 

Adam Winsnieski
 

Adam Wisnieski has been actively involved at The Theatre in the Park since 2002 and has served as an Advisory Council member since 2011. His experience with the Theatre spans multiple disciplines, both on-stage roles and stage management positions through involvement with 12 productions. Day-to-day, Adam is a consultant with EMC Corporation in their strategic business services group and enjoys traveling. His favorite shows produced at Theatre in the Park include West Side Story and Footloose.   

Doug Allen
Lori Allen
Julianne Bell
Pam Blackburn
Scott Blackburn
Debbie Blinn
Dave Couch
Mike Forsythe
Marlis Grad
Mindy Gray
Chris Halford
Terry Halford

Melissa Hingula
Robert Hingula, Vice Chair
Becky Hulla
Mickey Levey
John Ras, Chair
Julia Ras
Jennie Stein
Robert Stillwell
Matt Walberg

Arvin Zwick
Tammy Zwick