Staff Bios

Geoffrey Nelson

Artistic Director

gnelson@catco.org
Geoffrey Nelson founded CATCO in 1984 and has been its Artistic Director ever since. Among the shows he has directed are The Grapes of Wrath, The Shorts Festival 2000, The Importance of Being Earnest, Of Mice and Men, Taking Sides, The Homecoming, and A Christmas Memory. Under his leadership, CATCO has developed into Central Ohio's professional resident theatre company, renowned for its acting and adventurous play choices. CATCO has also taken a leadership role in producing new works, including the bi-annual Shorts Festival, and in touring and outreach activities. In 1997 CATCO won the Governor's Award for Arts Outreach. Nelson has also been the recipient of the Ohio Theatre Alliance Encore Award, an Ohioana Citation, and received a Huntington Foundation award for arts leadership in 2002.
  

T.J. Gerckens

Managing Director

tgerckens@catco.org
T.J. Gerckens is honored to become CATCO’s Managing Director after serving for 11 years as CATCO’s Production Manager. In 2004 Columbus Business First Magazine named him one of Columbus’ “Top Forty Under Forty” for professional achievement, recognition, and community service. As a lighting designer he has designed many CATCO shows including Crowns, The Piano Lesson, Grapes of Wrath, and Below the Belt. T.J.’s New York designs include Lucia di Lammermoor and La Sonnambula for the Metropolitan Opera, Measure for Measure in Central Park, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci Off-Broadway, and Metamorphoses on Broadway. Regional theatre designs of note include Mary Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights at the Lookingglass Theatre, Anne Bogart’s Going, Going, Gone at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, and the Zimmerman/Phillip Glass opera Galileo Galilei at the Goodman Theater, as well as two seasons as Resident Lighting Designer at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. He has received numerous awards for his lighting including Chicago’s Jefferson Awards, L.A.’s Ovation and Theatre Critic’s awards, the Bay Area Critic’s Circle Award, and New York’s Drama Desk Award.
  

Jonathan Putnam

Associate Artistic Director

jputnam@catco.org
Jonathan has been an actor and director with CATCO for over twenty years. He has performed the Tuna plays many times, several encore productions of The Santaland Diaries and over fifty other roles. Some favorites have been Chris in All My Sons, Muggsy in Dealer’s Choice, Lenny in The Homecoming, Ernest in The Anger In Ernest And Ernestine and Richard Nixon in You’re My Boy. Recent directing credits include The Clean House, The Drawer Boy, Escanaba In Da Moonlight, The Big Slam and the past few Shorts Festivals. Before coming to CATCO, Jon worked in New York, Los Angeles and many places in between. He has an MFA from the Ohio State University and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity, SAG and AFTRA.
  

Keya Myers-Alkire

Master Electrician/Sound Engineer

 
Keya Myers-Alkire grew up in Athens, Ohio and earned her BFA in Theatre from Ohio University. She has worked at theaters in Maryland, Utah, and Columbus, and has been CATCO’s Master Electrician and Sound Engineer since 1997. Some of her favorite sound designs for CATCO have included The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, A Tuna Christmas, Escanaba in da Moonlight, and Almost, Maine.
  

Tatjana Longerot

Costume Studio Manager/Costume Designer M.F.A.

tlongerot@catco.org
Tatjana was raised in Germany and moved to the USA to study theatre in 1990. She received a B.A. in Theatre from Indiana University, South Bend and an M.F.A. in Costume Design from The Ohio State University. She has received four USITT Peggy Ezekiel Awards for excellent and outstanding achievement in the theatre arts. Tatjana has worked as a free-lance designer for stage (including Capital University, OSU Opera, Denison University, and IART) and film, as well as wardrobe for national concert tours such as Elton John and The Rolling Stones. Costume designs for CATCO: Sleuth, Murder in Green Meadows, The Laramie Project, The Exonerated, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, The Weir, The Piano Lesson (“Best Production of a Play”, “Best Design” COTCC), The Pillowman (“Best Production of a Play” COTCC, “Best Play” Columbus Dispatch), A Christmas Memory/The Thanksgiving Visitor and The Clean House. Tatjana very much enjoys working with so many talented actors, guest designers and fellow staff.
  

Cheryl Ruschau

Company Stage Manager

cruschau@catco.org
Cheryl grew up in Columbus and received a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Miami University. She served as CATCO’s Stage Management Fellow for the 2003-2004 season, and went on to work at Syracuse Stage in New York and Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut.  Cheryl returned to Columbus in 2007 to become CATCO’s Company Stage Manager. She is a proud member of Actors Equity and happy to be a member of the CATCO family.
  

Whitney W. Thiessen

Assistant Production Manager

wthiessen@catco.org
Whitney W. Thiessen is happy to join CATCO for its 25th year. He has worked at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago as their Production Management Apprentice and at Barrington Stage Company in Massachusetts as their Assistant Production Manager. He grew up in rural Iowa and earned a BA in Theatre and Economics/Business from Cornell College, not to be confused with the Ivy League Cornell.
  

Erika Prizzi

Stage Management Fellow

eprizzi@catco.org
Erika Prizzi is a native of Cleveland Ohio, and a recent graduate of Ohio Northern University where she received her BFA in International Theatre Production. Erika’s professional work credits include ASM/Props Assistant for Jerry Springer: The Opera at The Studio Theatre in Washington D.C., SM for SUDS, The Mikado, and Almost Maine, and Props Designer for Godspell, and Altar Boyz at The Arundel Barn Playhouse in Maine.
  

Kelly McBane

Costume Fellow

kmcbane@catco.org
Kelly McBane graduated from Slippery Rock University with a degree in Theatre Design Technology. She focused primarily on costume technology and special effects makeup, with the hopes of a future career as a makeup artist and costume shop manager. Recently she has worked on productions of Macbeth 3, Cabaret, Hedda Gabler, As You Like It, and Little Shop of Horrors as well as many more. This past year she competed and won KCACTF’s national competition in Makeup and Hair Design for her design for Macbeth. She is very excited to be working with CATCO this season.
  

Rachel Coon

Costume Intern

 
Rachel has joined the CATCO family as the first participant of CATCO’s Internship Program in the area of Costume Design and Technology. She grew up in Grandview Heights, Ohio and received her B.A in Theatre from The Ohio State University. After completing a semester program in theatre at New York University, Rachel has decided to pursue an M.F.A degree in Costume Design. By experiencing professional theatre in a hands-on fashion, Rachel has the opportunity to hone her skills and decide on the right graduate program for her. She is grateful for all the support and opportunities CATCO has offered her and looks forward to continuing her internship.