Staff


A woman with shoulder-length gray hair wearing a dark blazer over a green V-neck top standing against a black background.

Dara Bishop Photography

Cristina Alicea

Producing Artistic Director

cristina@vermontstage.org

Cristina (she/her) has been the Producing Artistic Director of Vermont Stage since 2011. Under her leadership, the company has produced bold, thought-provoking theatre, launched statewide education programs, and established a new home at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center. 

​Cristina is passionate about creating theatre that connects with community. Her directing work at Vermont Stage includes many productions over the years with a few favorites: The Pitmen Painters, Venus In FurDancing Lessons, Doublewide, Tick, Tick Boom, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Mountaintop, and The Clean House

A woman standing on a stage holding a microphone in one hand and a booklet in the other, with a black background and a chair with a cardboard box on it nearby.

Shoshannah Boray

Education Director

shoshannah@vermontstage.org

Shoshannah's plays about love, courage, and embracing complexity have been staged nationwide, including Guns&Chocolate at NewWorks@TheWorks at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis; her four-play series A Sibling Quartet at Spotlight Theatre VT, and award-winning work recognized by the Clauder Competition, B Street Theatre Festival, and the Vermont Arts Council, among others. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in Social History from Brown University, and is a member of the Dramatists' Guild. You can learn more about her work at NPX New Play Exchange.

Shoshannah (she/her) has been a VYP Teaching Artist since 2017 and Vermont Stage's Education Director since 2021, where she helped create and launch Public Square Plays and Suitcase Stage, and now leads all three of our education programs. In her spare time you can find her baking rugelach with her daughters while listening to the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack.

Gail Deuso headshot

Gail P Deuso

Box Office Mgr & Operations Coordinator

gail@vermontstage.org

Gail (she/her) discovered theatre in 1981, when a friend asked if she would join the stage crew for a production of The Music Man with Lamoille County Players at the Opera House in Hyde Park. That one favor turned into a lifelong love of theatre. Since then, Gail has worked backstage and off stage with at least half a dozen Vermont theatre troupes, including Stowe Theatre Guild and Woodchuck Theatre Company.

Gail has been with Vermont Stage since 2018, when we first opened our doors at Main Street Landing. She's often the first person patrons see and the last to say goodnight after the show.

Jamien Forrest headshot

Jamien Forrest

Production Manager

jamien@vermontstage.org

Jamien (she/her) is a theater administrator and lighting designer based in Vermont, and has been working for Vermont Stage since 2010. Before moving back to Burlington, Jamien lived in New York City where she spent several years working at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center Education as Technical Supervisor and Rental coordinator for the Clark Studio Theater and Samuel’s Teaching Studio. She also worked Off-Broadway at New World Stages as stage manager and licensed laser operator for The Gazillion Bubble Show. Prior to that, she was technical director and Youth Theater Director at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH, and spent two seasons on tour with American Theater Arts for Youth. She also spent four amazing summers at Camp Kiniya in Colchester as their Drama director. 

Close-up portrait of a woman with light skin, long brown hair, and blue eyes, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression, dark background.

Catherine Grace

Operations & Development Coordinator

catherine@vermontstage.org

Catherine (she/her) is a theatremaker from Rome, NY, now based in Vermont, she holds a B.A. in Theatre, Music, and Philosophy from Nazareth University and completed acting training at the Stella Adler Studio in New York City. Catherine’s career spans Entertainment Operations at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, producing and performing new work in Chicago, and technical and stagehand roles with Turning Stone Resort Casino in Oneida. She has appeared recently as Brigid in The Humans at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Annie in The Play That Goes Wrong at Vermont Stage, and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew at Goddard College. 

Dayton Shafer standing on a mountain with the sun setting

Dayton J Shafer

Marketing and Engagement Coordinator

dayton@vermontstage.org

Dayton's (he/him) pieces have been featured in fringe festivals, barns, abandoned factories, converted laundromats, black boxes, street sides, and with Calyx, Seven Days, Vermont Public Radio, and The Susan Calza Gallery. He's a former Writing Fellow at Vermont Studio Center, grantee from the Montpelier Public Arts Commission, author of Homeslice: Monologues of Millennialhood (Alternating Current Press, 2023), and his proposal for a letterpress publishing house, Bookplate Bindery, was a finalist for the Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant.