Noel Allain

Co-Founder / Artistic Director

Noel co-founded the Starr and has programmed artists including Jeremy O. Harris, Heather Christian, Dave Malloy, Daniel Fish and Clare Barron. An actor himself, he chaired MacDowell’s interdisciplinary performance admissions panel (2021–25) and trained at Skidmore College and Juilliard’s Drama Division.

Sue Kessler

Co-Founder / Creative Director

Sue helped turn the Starr from a rehearsal space into a full black-box theater in 2007, after a decade performing, directing and composing with the experimental company Fovea Floods. She also directs the Theater Management program at Skidmore College and chairs the Saratoga Springs Arts Commission.

Lucy Jackson

Producing Director

A London-born, Brooklyn-based producer, Lucy develops and tours new work with partners from NYTW Next Door and BAM Fisher to UMS Ann Arbor and the Edinburgh Fringe. She was a WP Lab Fellow and co-teaches Creative Producing at The New School.

Dondrie Burnham

Director of Development & Strategic Communications

An actor, writer and capacity builder from Shreveport, Louisiana, Dondrie co-founded StoneSoup Theatre Arts while at Marymount Manhattan College. She has raised funds for New York Women in Film & Television and All Star Code, and ran film programming for the H2O Hip-Hop Odyssey International Film Festival.

Karla Prieto

Community Director

A Peruvian arts administrator and creative producer, Karla builds cross-cultural programs across live performance, education and community engagement, including work at Lincoln Center. She holds an M.A. in Arts Management & Entrepreneurship from The New School and is an Alsop Foundation Award recipient.

Cassandra Brown

Education Director

Cassandra creates spaces where young people, especially girls, can explore identity across race, class and gender, and previously coordinated performing arts for more than 100 New York schools. She holds a BA in Theatre from Spelman College and two master’s degrees from NYU, in Performance Studies and Educational Theatre.

Devin Fletcher

Production Manager

A production manager, stage manager and producer from Midcoast Maine, Devin has worked with Lincoln Center, The Public, Ars Nova and Jazz at Lincoln Center. She co-led Bluelaces Theater Company, ran programs at Maine Media Workshops + College, and studied at Emerson College.

Jay Maury

Technical & Design Director

A Brooklyn sound, lighting, video and scenery designer, Jay designed the Starr’s infrastructure and equipment, including its ultra-efficient LED worklight system. Recent credits include Saratoga Opera and Big Green Theater.

Jehan Young

Company & Cultural Manager

A classically trained actor from Atlanta by way of California, Jehan was a charter Arts Management Fellow with The Field Leadership Fund and coordinates the corps of Kotchegna Dance Company. Jehan holds a BA from Spelman College and an MFA in Acting from Columbia.

Colleen Combs

Assistant Technical Director & Facilities Manager

An interdisciplinary artist and skateboarder from Ohio who paints, writes, sculpts and makes clothing, Colleen has worked with the Starr since 2022. Credits include demons., United States v. Gupta and Presencia.

Anna Item

Marketing Assistant

A Brooklyn-based director, intimacy director and graphic designer from Massachusetts, Anna is also Communications Associate at Waterwell. She graduated summa cum laude from Muhlenberg College with a BA in Theatre.

Morgan Lindsey Tacho

Institutional Development Consultant

Morgan Lindsey Tacho is a creative consultant and performer who has supported the work of thousands of artists in their career as creative producer, grant maker, fundraiser, and advocate. 

Morgan oversaw the allocation of over $2mil in public cultural funds in their eight-year tenure at Brooklyn Arts Council, and has worked as a freelance performance-maker and creative consultant since 2017. She works both independently and as a Consultant with AD Hamingson & Associates.