Courtney A. Reed
Director

Courtney Reed is an experienced arts and education program director with an extensive background in media relations, theatre production and performance and television production. Courtney joined the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in January as the Director of Education and Community Outreach, where she leads the ARTSBRIDGE education program and the Shuler Hensley Awards. Courtney performs, directs and choreographs educational, community and professional theatre. Theatre credits include: Guys & Dolls, The Secret Garden, Mame, The Who’s Tommy, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, A Christmas Carol, Oliver!, Bye, Bye, Birdie and Fiddler on the Roof. Television credits include: NBC TODAY, Later TODAY, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Saturday Night Live, Late Night, Dateline NBC, Nightly News and various NBC Specials, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Christmas at Rockefeller Center, and Sydney Summer Olympics. Courtney earned her MAE in Secondary Education, English Language Arts and MA in Communication Management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham; completed New York University’s musical theatre conservatory, Collaborative Arts Project 21; and received her BA in Telecommunication & Film and Theatre from The University of Alabama. Courtney is a professional voice over artist. Her voice can be heard on national and local commercials.

Heidi Bevill
Production Manger

Heidi Bevill returns for her fourth year as the Production Manager for the Shuler Hensley Awards.  With a number of years in professional theatre management and arts education, the Shuler Awards is a natural fit for her. Acquiring a degree in Theatre and Communications from Mississippi State University, Heidi was on a performance track and detoured through technical theatre as a theatre sceneshop foreman.  Her professional career has kept her on that side of the stage with her credits including several titles held at The Atlanta Opera, such as Company Manager and Production Manager, as well as the Assistant Technical Director for Houston Grand Opera. Her experience as a theatre educator consists of a number of years working as a technical theatre instructor and theatre director in south New Jersey at Appel Farm Arts and Music Center, the theatre and film studies teacher and director at Landmark Christian School in Fairburn, and most currently as the stagecraft teacher at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee. Straying from her normal vocation, Heidi has also worked for many years in hockey community relations and game operations for the Birmingham Bulls and Atlanta Thrashers, respectively.   And she still finds time to quench her performance thirst with her ten-plus years experience as a National Anthem singer for many professional sports teams, such as the Atlanta Thrashers, Hawks and Braves, Portland Trailblazers, ECHL teams and various other groups.

Craig McMahon
Producer

After beginning his career as a Stage Manager and Designer with the Kings Productions entertainment company in Cincinnati, Craig made the transition to television where he won the first of his Emmy® Awards for Lighting and Design while also earning his degree at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Craig arrived to national network television via TURNER BROADCASTING as a Director for TBS, CNN and Turner Sports and Turner South. His off-network projects included publication of the 2010 book, Atlanta’s Miracle Mile: On Atlanta’s Iconic Peachtree Street. His recent theatrical projects have included developing The Best of Television and Broadway in Concert series.  As a founding partner of Trailblazing Productions with TV Celebrity Chef Marvin Woods, Craig has expanded his work in the internet video production arena, as well as food, lifestyle and theatrical entertainment projects.

Michael Fauss
Music Director/Conductor

Credits include: BROADWAY:  Quilters, Peter Pan, & Heartstrings; EUROPE:  Casper, Spiderman, The Mask, The Dream Machine (4 original musicals in England), Die Schone und das Biest (Germany, Austria & Switzerland), & concert tour of Italy with Capitol City Opera Company; TOURS: Peter Pan (Cathy Rigby National Tour), Heartstrings (1st National Tour), Pacific Overtures, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, & Promises, Promises; ALLIANCE THEATRE: Jacques Brel (Suzi Bass Award for Best Musical Direction 2008), A Christmas Carol, Tick, Tick . . . Boom!, Pacific Overtures, Leap, Chess, The Grapes of Wrath, Little Me, The Robber Bridegroom, Oliver, Music Man, Guys and Dolls, The King and I, Brigadoon, Cotton Patch Gospel, Falsettos, A Little Night Music, Candide, Peter Pan, Annie Get Your Gun, Forever Plaid, Once On This Island, Woodie Guthrie: An American Song, The Boys From Syracuse, Hot Mikado, Up on the Roof, Carnival, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Cabaret, A History of the American Film, I Do! I Do!, She Loves Me, & Three Penny Opera; REGIONAL: Pacific Overtures (Independent Reviewers of New England Award for Best Musical Direction 2004), Little Me, Cotton Patch Gospel, Oh, Coward!, Sweet ‘n’ Hot in Harlem, Quilters, Trumpets and Drums, Falsettos, Reefer Madness, Urinetown, Naked Boys Singing, Musical of Musicals, The Full Monty, Little Shop of Horrors, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Promises Promises, Heartstrings, Peter Pan, Grease, & Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; LYRIC THEATRE: The Music Man, A Funny Thing Happened . . . Forum, Smokey Joe’s Café, Jerry Herman’s Girls, Man of La Mancha, Secret Garden, Jeckyll and Hyde, Evita, & Summer Cabaret Series. EDUCATION: B.A. in Music and Theater, Denison University, Granville, OH; M.M. in Music Composition, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.

Leigh Ann Shaw
Assistant Music Director/Arranger

Leigh Ann has an extensive background in professional, community, and educational music and theatre. Her credits include: Musical Supervisor: Oklahoma!, Chicago, Into The Woods, My Fair Lady, Anything Goes, Big River, 1940’s Radio Hour, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Wizard of Oz, Little Shop of Horrors, Nunsense, Pippin, & Annie (The Historic Holly Theater); Chorus & Drama Teacher (Crabapple Middle School); Tracking/Orchestration: Sweeney Todd (Rosewater Theater Company), Man of LaMancha (Black Bear Dinner Theater), Annie (The Holly Theater), Wizard of Oz (The Holly Theater); Musical Direction: Big River (Cumming Playhouse) Hairspray (Milton High School), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Creekview High School--Fall 2010), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Rosewater Theater), Grease (Milton High School), Beauty and the Beast, Junior (Barber Middle School); Drama Director, Producer, Assistant Music Director, and Vocalist (North Point Community Church/North Point Ministries); Guest Children’s Choir Conductor (Bartow County Honor Chorus), Guest Conductor (North Point Community Church), Children’s Choir Guest Vocal Director (The Atlanta Swing Orchestra); Vocal/Instrumental Arranger (Holly And the Heartbreakers); Vocal Arranger/Performer (Dawson County Arts Council Gala Fundraisers); Education:
BA, Music Education, Shorter College (Rome, GA); Sound Design and Engineering, Berklee School of Music (Boston, MA).

Ivan Pulinkala
Choreographer

Ivan currently serves as the Director of the Program in Dance in the Department of Theatre, Performance Studies and Dance in the College of the Arts at Kennesaw State University.  Originally from New Delhi, India, he received his M.F.A. in Dance from Mills College, Oakland, CA, and his Bachelor of Commerce (Hon.) degree from Hindu College, Delhi University. Pulinkala is currently pursuing his doctorate in Higher Education Administration at the University of Alabama. He has received a number of grants and awards in India and the U.S, including a recent National Endowment for the Arts grant, the KSU Clendenin Fellowship and the 2010 Cobb Symphony Orchestra Award for Artistic Excellence. He travels nationally and internationally, choreographing for professional dance companies, musical theatre, corporate film and collegiate dance programs. Pulinkala was named among the 25 Indian artists of the Millennium by India Today Magazine in December 1999. His recent work includes commissions for Atlanta Ballet, Shanghai Normal University in China, a performance of his work at the Kennedy Center and the publication of his master's thesis as a book titled Piper of the Soul. Past professional theatre credits include choreography for the Tony award-winning Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, and choreography for musical such as Tommy, Evita, West Side Story, The Music Man, Fame, and Grease in India. Visit www.ivanpulinkala.com for more information.

Tom Rowland
Director of Marketing, Sponsorships, and Social Media / Webmaster

Tom has spent the past 20 years marketing zoos, art museums and since 2006, the performing arts at Cobb Energy Centre. A veteran of high school musicals, both on stage and in the orchestra playing baritone, Tom enjoys all facets of the Shuler Hensley Awards.  He excels at event promotion including the arrival of the giant pandas to Atlanta, "Gogh" All Night at the High Museum and multiple concerts at the Centre. Tom is a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford with a B.A. in history.

Johannes Pickel
Technical Director

Johannes began his adventure in entertainment working for Flat Rock Playhouse as their Audio Engineer after graduating from UNC-Asheville with a degree in Technical Theatre.  After a short stay, he went on tour with "Disney On Ice" in the U.S. and also in Europe.  While on tour with Disney, Johannes worked as an Assistant Electrician, Assistant Props and Head Carpenter.  After tour ended in Europe, Johannes worked some different jobs, but was drawn back to the entertainment business when a college friend called about a position in Atlanta.  Here and now Johannes finds himself working at the fabulous Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, first as Head Carpenter/Rigger and now as Technical Director.  Johannes enjoys all facets of show business.

Bryan Huggett
Lighting Designer & Head Electrician

Bryan has 25 years experience working within the Lighting Industry. Since beginning his career as a lighting technician at his local theatre in England, Bryan has worked for various production companies on numerous pantomimes, national tours, summer seasons, cruise ships, holiday parks and corporate events. In 2001 he joined Vari-lite and was a lighting Director and Designer on many of London’s West End and touring shows, including Chicago, Mamma Mia, Lion King and Les Miserables. Bryan has directed and designed lighting for numerous high profile events and music concerts including Robbie Williams, Phil Collins, Elton John, Cher and many more. One of his career highlights was working at the 2004 Olympics in Athens as a systems engineer on the Opening and Closing ceremonies for which he and his production team were awarded a Creative Arts Emmy®. In recent years Bryan has returned to the theatre working at the Epsom Playhouse, New Wimbledon Theatre and Richmond Theatre in London, England. In 2009, Bryan joined the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre as Lighting Designer and Head Electrician.

Chris Barber
Sound Designer & Head Audio Engineer
Chris has an extensive background in production, working with many artists as a designer, engineer, producer and director of theatrical and concert performances. A Cobb County native, Chris is a graduate of Pope High School and has held a degree in the Recording Arts from Full Sail University since 1996. In 2009, soon after beginning to work at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Chris was chosen by the Cobb Arts Board to receive the “Best Techie” Ovation Award for his work for the Strand and the Shuler Hensley Awards. As a musician, Chris has also performed with his band, Acorn Ridge, at many local events including the Annual Marietta Grassroots Music Festival. Chris and his wife Margarita live in Powder Springs with their daughter Iliana Grace.

Matt Harris
Head Carpenter/Rigger