Our Staff
Taro Alexander, founder and artistic director, camp our time director, is an accomplished performer, teacher, and director who has stuttered since the age of five. His artistic impulses were encouraged by his parents at an early age and his interest in contributing to social change was influenced greatly by the work of his father, the late Bobby Alexander, who founded the legendary Living Stage Theatre Company in Washington, DC. Taro graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and went on to be cast in his first professional role at the age of nineteen in the National Tour of Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers. After years of building a successful performing career, including four years in the cast of the Off-Broadway smash STOMP and appearances on NBC's Law & Order, Taro decided that it was time to realize his lifelong dream of utilizing art to transform the lives of people who stutter. He founded Our Time in the Fall of 2001. Mr. Alexander has been widely recognized for his work with people who stutter and has led workshops, master classes, and performances around the world from Dublin to Montreal to Glasgow to Chicago to San Francisco to New Orleans. In March 2002, he was honored by the National Council on Communicative Disorders at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, where he received the Charles Van Riper Award. In July 2005, he gave the keynote address at the National Association of Young People Who Stutter (Friends) Conference in Cleveland. Taro and Our Time have been featured on NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams, NPR's All Things Considered, The Today Show, WNBC, as well as in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Post. He would like to thank the young people of Our Time for their courage and trust. He is honored to be married to the amazing Leigh Pennebaker. They are the proud parents of two sons.
Everett Bradley, musical director, is a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, producer, actor, dancer and has shared his multi-flavored art with New York City and the States, for over 16 years. He has done everything from touring and performing, in and out of the studio, with musical giants like Bobby McFerrin, Jon Bon Jovi, Quincy Jones, Carly Simon, and recently Hall and Oates, to being the first American to lead the British percussive sensation STOMP. Mr. Bradley topped the charts in Europe with his dance classic "I Luv U Baby." He is the co-writer, co-arranger, and star of the hit musical "SWING," which won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical and also received a Grammy nomination for best Broadway Cast Recording. Everett's first full-length CD, "AS IT EVER IS," received rave reviews from both Billboard and People magazines. His latest completion, an original holiday CD entitled "TOY," is a joyous, funky collection of new Christmas tunes. This self-produced album features duets with Richie Sambora (guitarist with the Jon Bon Jovi Band), song siren Ann Hampton Callaway, and trumpet great Chris Botti. Mr. Bradley is currently working on his one man musical, "EV/OLUTION", a theatrical piece that is scored and multi-tracked with his voice and body.
Carl Danielsen, associate musical director, has worked as an actor in NYC doing The Big Voice: God or Merman? at the Actor's Temple; Trolls at the Actors Playhouse; Picon Pie at DR2; and Edgar in King Lear at the Hudson Guild Theatre. Regionally Carl has done A Marvellous Party at Northlight Theatre near Chicago, for which he won a Jeff Award; Cole! for San Jose Rep, Marines Memorial and as part of the LACLO season, winning two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle awards (one for acting, the other for musical directing) and a Dramalogue award; 2 Pianos, 4 Hands at Arizona Theatre Co, Coconut Grove, Seattle Rep and 13 other regional theatres. Other favorite roles include Homer in Morning's At Seven for the Caldwell Theatre; World Goes 'Round at TheatreWorks in California where he won his second BATCC award as supporting actor; Taming of the Shrew and Oh, Kay! for the SF Shakespeare Festival, winning a third BATTC award for supporting actor; Oedipus Rex at the Denver Theatre Center (where he met Taro Alexander in 1996); A Dream Play at Cleveland Playhouse; Room Service at Barrington Stage; John Adams in 1776, Barnum in Barnum and Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast for Woodminster Amphitheatre in CA; Don in Singing in the Rain and Bobby in Crazy for You at Shenandoah University; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at Florida Studio Theatre, and last but not least, a flying Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol for North Shore Music Theatre near Boston. Carl trained for 2 years at the Webber Douglas Academy of Drama, in London after receiving a BA in music from the University of California, Berkeley. Carl studied composition with Edwin Dugger and Larry Delinger and is currently a member of the advanced Music Theatre workshop at BMI for which he was honored with the Jerry Harrington Award.
Chelsea Lacatena, associate artistic director, was the Managing Director for Our Time Theatre Company for two years. Currently, she works in the office of Student Affairs at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, where she previously held a position in the Department of Drama. Ms. Lacatena also worked for the music production company BigFoote Music and was an assistant nursery school teacher/after-school arts teacher for The Children's Aid Society of New York City. She has toured with the children's theatre company, Mohonk Mountain Stage Company and has performed locally with various theatre organizations, including Our Time. Currently, Ms. Lacatena sings in New York City with the bands, "Short Attention" and "The Sweet Clementines." Devoted to working with and educating young people Ms. Lacatena strives daily to find ways in which she can use her passion for the arts to help make people's lives better. She holds a degree in Musical Theatre from SUNY New Paltz. This is Chelsea's 7th year with Our Time, and she is continuously amazed and awed by these wonderful kids! Being in their company has truly been a life changing experience for which she is eternally grateful.
Michelle Summers, camp our time associate director, has been familiar to the camping life for many years. As a child, Ms. Summers spent her summers at sleep away camp in the Poconos in PA. As a counselor, she worked at Camp Matoaka for Girls in Smithfield, ME. There she spent 8 summers in various rolee as the Theatre Arts Director, Day Trips Coordinator, and Transportation Director. In addition to her camping experience, Ms. Summers has been affiliated with The Northeast Theatre, a professional qquity theatre company in Scranton, PA. She served as Technical Director for 2 seasons. Ms. Summers earner her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from Marywood University, Scranton, PA in 2000. She later returned to Marywood to earn her teaching certification in Communications in 2005. Ms. Summers is currently employed by the Dunmore School District in PA as a communications, public speaking, and English teacher.
Lauren Todd, general manager, assistant camp director, graduated Cum Laude from Scripps College in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Minor in Theatre. Before obtaining a position as General Manager with Our Time, Ms. Todd lived in Boston, MA, where she labored in the world of corporate lower management. Now flourishing in New York City, Ms. Todd is excited to be starting what she hopes to be a long career in the Arts. She considers herself quite lucky to be working alongside such a talented and passionate group of people. As a wearer of many hats at Our Time, she tips them one by one to the talented members of this company. Bravo!
Justin Wynn, development manager, joined the Our Time administrative staff in May of 2008 after working for two years in New York City as a corporate legal assistant, specializing in environmental law research. Prior to his work experience in New York, Mr. Wynn worked as a drama and English teacher for two years in Tokyo, Japan, where he also directed and performed in original plays. Mr. Wynn graduated Magna Cum Laude / Phi Beta Kappa from Colgate University in 2004 with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in International Relations and Japanese. He is thrilled to work with Our Time where he can witness the power of art truly changing lives. He thanks all of Our Time's supporters for their love, dedication, and generosity, and looks forward to seeing this wonderful organization grow and prosper.
