Ryan B. Gibbs - Producing Artistic Director

rbgibbs@totempoleplayhouse.org

RYAN B. GIBBS is a Director, Producer, and Stage Manager who has a 20 plus year theatrical career, from being in School Plays to working on Broadway Shows and almost every step in between.   He is honored to be among such wonderful company at Totem Pole Playhouse.   Ryan became the Producing Artistic...
Director at the beginning of the 2024 season.  Broadway and National Tour credits include: RENT, Wicked, Avenue Q, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Drowsy Chaperone, School of Rock, Chicago: The Musical, and Mary Poppins (to name a few), as well as Production Supervising the Austrian and Japanese Companies of Mary Poppins.  He was Assistant Director on the 20th Anniversary Tour of RENT.  Ryan has worked directly “in the room” for such creatives and producers as The Disney Theatrical Group, Jason Moore, Casey Nicholaw, John Tiffany, Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Locally Ryan has worked for the Fulton Theatre, The Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre, Franklin and Marshall College, Sight and Sound Theatres, Totem Pole Playhouse, and many others.  Outside of theater Ryan has worked on the Rock Lititz Campus as a Program Manager for Atomic Design.   Ryan served as the Artistic Director of the Allenberry Playhouse for three seasons and was a founding member of the Lancaster based theatre company The Reverie Acting Company. For 4 years Ryan was a Producer for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS where he produced work for such Broadway Legends as Jerry Mitchell, Chita Rivera and Bernadette Peters. Ryan is a graduate of Kennard Dale High-School (Go Rams!) and Marywood University (Go Pacers!) Along with his wife, Ryan runs a nostalgia retail experience called Retrosplat! and a Theatre coaching and consulting company called Gibbsology. Ryan is currently working with Atomic Design on the Rock Lititz Campus and lives in Lancaster with his wife (Amy) his sons (Anderson and Benjamin), and his cat (Gumbo). Learn more about Ryan from his website: gibbsology.com

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Fern-Marie Aames - Managing Director

fmaames@totempoleplayhouse.org

Fern-Marie is honored to support the next successful chapter in the long legacy of Totem Pole Playhouse. In the past she has trod the boards and worked in costuming both at the playhouse and with A Christmas Carol during the era of the esteemed Schurr-Love team. She is delighted to be working a...

longside Artistic Director Ryan B. Gibbs and our dedicated production and administrative staffs. FM grew up in Carlisle, PA, and started her professional career in non-profit theatre while in school at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music, working in Arts Marketing & Development for The Huntington Theatre Company and the Sorkin-Cowhey Group. She returned to Pennsylvania joining The Allenberry Players as an Actor, Costume Designer, Production Coordinator, and Technician. She has worked as a Properties Artisan for Washington DC’s Shakespeare Theatre, and as a Production Stage Manager at Princeton Rep Shakespeare Festival, The Passage Theatre, and Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey. FM joined the Virginia-based “Dream Team” and The Baker Street Theatre Company as a Performer, and as Company Manager and Costume Designer for the Atlantic City production of Dream, Dream, Dream. While residing in the Las Vegas Valley, she redesigned the Margaritaville Mermaid at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel. Fern-Marie’s pet project has been working with the Allenberry Murder Mystery Weekend Company’s thirty-year legacy of three-day interactive shows. Her twenty-two years of affiliation culminated in becoming the General Manager for Allenberry Playhouse. FM has enjoyed working in Costuming with Dickinson College, Messiah University, and Gretna Theatre. She served as Publicist for many school shows, teaching K-12 general and special education and Arts Enrichment, and teaching private Voice, Instrumental Music, and Theatre in Vox Studio. She was pleased to be a Co-Founder, Publicist, and Co-Chair for the David E. Baker Scholarship Trust, an organization awarding music scholarships for over twenty-five years. Fern-Marie is a proud Member of both SAI and Actors Equity Association, thankful for her supportive husband, and most proud of her greatest production, their son.


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Renee Rankin - Front of House Manager / Director of Ticketing & Patron Services

rrankin@totempoleplayhouse.org

Renee is a native of Chambersburg. She received her MFA in Creative Writing in 2011 from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. She wrote the INSPIRATION column for JLTNews, the e-newsletter for Juneteenth Legacy Theatre. She’s had ten-minute plays produced by The Queens Players Act 5 New Play Festival in Queens,...

NY and the InGenius Fesitval and Testogenius Festival at Manhattan Theatre Source. In September 2011, her one-act play, Zap Belly, enjoyed a successful public reading at Manhattan Theatre Source as part of the Writers’ Forum New Play Reading Series.


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CoCo Sansoni - Media Consultant

CoCo Sansoni first trod the boards at the Totem Pole Playhouse back in the 90’s in Smoke on the Mountain and Sander’s Family Christmas, directed by the one and only David Caldwell  Since then she has happily returned to Caledonia to play Anna Held in Tintypes, Patsy in Always, Patsy Cline and for her one woman show: ...

ong>The First Ladies of Country Music.  She considers herself blessed to continue to work with Mr. Caldwell at one of her favorite theaters in an off-stage position.

CoCo lives in New Jersey with her four beautiful children.


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Kia Armstrong - Production Manager

Kia is thrilled to step into the role of Production Manager at the historic Totem Pole Playhouse! With 30 years of extensive theatre experience, she has passionately embraced nearly every aspect of the stage—from acting and choreography to lighting design, assistant directing, and stage management. Recently, Kia has specialized as a Production Stage Manager and Automation Specialist, refining her ...

expertise in crafting seamless, high-quality productions. Some of her favorite credits include 9 to 5 and Unqle Play at The Fulton Theatre, as well as Forever Plaid, Matilda, Tuck Everlasting, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and A Christmas Carol at Hale Centre Theatre. Kia’s deep love for storytelling and dedication to the creative process drive her work, and she looks forward to collaborating with the talented team at Totem Pole Playhouse to bring unforgettable productions to life.


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Angel Snowberger - Company Manager

Angel is looking forward to her first season as Company Manager at Totem Pole Playhouse. Angel was the Youth Supervisor for two previous Totem Pole Playhouse productions, Annie and A Christmas Carol. She previously served on the Board of Directors and as Volunteer Coordinator for Chambersburg Community Theatre. For the past 12 years she has been homeschooling her two ...

daughters while incorporating a love of live theater into their home.  Recent onstage credits include Tell (originating the role of “Dare” in a local production) and Fun Home (Helen Bechdel).


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Drew J. Patti - Social Media/Marketing Manager

Born and raised in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, Drew received his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Speech with a Concentration in Performance from Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. Recent production credits include She Has Risen: The Golden Girls Easter Musical (Orchestrator), In The Works, In The Woods (Score PA), The Forestburgh Academy (Senior Teaching Artist), and Theatre [...

Untitled] (Associate Artistic Director).


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