Festival Staff

Catherine Atack

Executive Director

Catherine originates from Shakespeare's homeland of England - although from Yorkshire not Stratford! Her first stop west was to New York City, to work in the commercial editing business in Manhattan. After the end of her contract in New York, Catherine returned to England to work as a Public Relations Executive for Sinclair Mason, northern England's leading public relations firm. However, the desire to return to the Americas was always strong and in April of 1999, she returned to New York again, and to America for good. In 2000, Catherine was hired by the Rose-Glenn Group in Reno to work in their public relations department, and it was during the next three years that Catherine became grounded in the Reno/Lake Tahoe community. After learning about the regional tourism economy, working on accounts for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitor's Authority and the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau, Catherine decided she wanted to work for an organization that allowed her to manage events, while benefiting growth in tourism for the Reno/Lake Tahoe region. Catherine is also the Past Chair of the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Visitor's Bureau Board of Directors.

John Anderson

Director of Finance

Prior to joining the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in February of 2006, John spent his entire career working in and around the San Jose, California area. He has worked primarily with entrepreneurial companies, and for the last 16 years has operated a consulting practice. In addition to his role as Director of Finance for the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, he also serves as part time CFO and director of General Lasertronics Inc., senior financial advisor and acting CFO to Novelx Inc., financial advisor to Microtech Systems Corporation, Onde Technology, Inc., Evans FWA, Inc, and to two guitar manufacturers, Santa Cruz Guitar Company and Hill Guitar. John also teaches graduate and undergraduate accounting classes online for the University of Phoenix. John holds an MBA from Santa Clara University. John and his wife recently relocated to Reno.

Billie Danforth

Senior Operations Manager

Billie joined the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in the spring of 2002. Since graduating college in Amherst N.Y., Billie has worked in the travel and hospitality industry, from the ski and hotel industry to restaurant management and wholesale travel. As Senior Operations Manager for the Festival, she is directly involved in the day to day details that bring the Festival to life and keeps it going without a hitch. Since moving to "The Lake" in 1998, Billie has lived on the North Shore and enjoys all the beauty that Lake Tahoe has to offer, including hiking, boating, skiing and spending quality time with her family and friends.

Alexis Roman Hill

Sales Supervisor

Alexis has been with the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival since March of 2008. Alexis began her career as a city planner for the City of Sparks after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Texas A&M in 2005.  As Executive Director and Alto II with the Reno Baroque Ensemble, Alexis is an active participant in the Reno-Tahoe arts community.  She strives to improve the Festival’s group sales accommodations and manages the Festival’s IT systems which include ticketing, database management and the Box Office.

Carol Frenney

Educational Outreach Associate

After an absence of some two years, Carol has returned to the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.  She has been with the Festival since 1994.  Among her duties during these years, she has acted as Volunteer Coordinator, Program Coordinator, and Educational Outreach and Young Shakespeare Coordinator.  Carol received an undergraduate degree from Boston University and a graduate degree from the University of Nevada, Reno.  She spent some thirty years in the classroom primarily in the District of Columbia area along with four years in Europe.  In addition to her duties at the Festival, she has served as Director of Volunteers for the Lake Tahoe Jazz Festival, works with youngsters in her church including Camp St. Francis, is on the working committee of the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Historical Society and also volunteers for a local non-profit entity.   

Gary LokenDahle

Senior Accountant

A graduate from the University of Iowa with a degree in Financial Economics, Gary relocated to the Lake Tahoe area from Eugene, Oregon, where he worked as the Controller and Accountant for a variety of small businesses ranging from helicopter operations, to manufacturing and construction. He was also active in the Eugene community as the Treasurer for the Eugene Celebration Parade. Gary has a rather diverse background; he was a swimmer and a diver as well as physical education teacher and coach and participated in shaping the careers of swimmers, divers, water polo players and trampolinists. He also rides a unicycle - a byproduct of his time in Circus School.