Dean Hiatt (Artistic Director) was born in Mt. Airy, NC and raised in Memphis, TN. He graduated from the
University of Memphis with a BFA in Theater Performance, and also studied for a year at the Dance Theater Workshop in
Chattanooga, TN. He performed with various regional theater companies, off-Broadway, Resorts International in Atlantic
City, was part of a traveling musical show, and lead singer in a club band. He gave up performing in the early 1980’s to
pursue ministry at the Rhema Bible School in Tulsa, OK. During and after Bible school, Dean was involved as leadership in
ex-gay ministry (he has since renounced those ministries and his work in them), and moved back to NYC where he became
Creative Arts Director at Christian Cultural Center in Queens, and worked as an executive/personal assistant for a number
of corporations (his favorite - a music entertainment law firm with clients including N’Sync, Salt-n-Pepa, INXS, Sanctuary
Records, Radio City Music Hall, etc.). He returned to performing as a resident actor in an Off-Broadway theater company,
as well as a member of its artistic board, from 1992-94. Some of his favorite roles include Lewis Brady in BUNKERS, Benny
Southstreet in GUYS AND DOLLS, Frederick in PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Hysterium in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, Oliver Webb in ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, James Anderson in SHENANDOAH, Thurio in TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, and Mortimer Brewster in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. In July 2003, Dean contracted full-blown AIDS was admitted into a hospital with PCP pneumonia where he was put on life support and not expected to live (both lungs being inoperable). After a week and a half in a coma, he was taken off life support but experienced a miracle and pulled through. He was then expected to be in a rehabilitation hospital for 3-5 years, but through another miracle was out 10 months later. A year later he met his partner, Robby. They eventually purchased a house and moved to the Poconos where they currently reside with three Jack Russells (George, Geezer & Trixie) and a cat, Flash. He credits his second chance at life (“The first time around was a real bitch!”) to the grace of God from whom ALL of his blessings flow, and is also grateful for a second chance at “what I think I was born to do - perform”.
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DJ Landis (Company Stage Manager) has been a gay activist for over 30 years and has served
every key GLBT organization in the Lehigh Valley Community. She served actively on the Pride Board in the 1990s for 5 years
and was one of the first Board members of PA-GALA. She was a key worker against the referendum on Primary Day. And in the
last 8 years she has been an essential member of the Metropolitan Community Church – as a member of the MCCLV Board,
helping to found Tejas, the women’s group, running significant efforts, ever present at the Freedom the Marry efforts, and
doing real volunteer work at the church every day she can. DJ is exactly the kind of volunteer we all really want - she
completes every task she says she will do, and she does a lot of them, but she never volunteers for something she can’t
finish. DJ’s term on the MCCLV board is over at the end of the year and she decided to not run again, as she just wanted
to be a part of the theater company and the MCCLV choir. We are proud to have her as part of our company.
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Erica Hoelscher (Costume Designer) received her MFA in stage design
with an emphasis in costume from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She joined the faculty of Lehigh University in
1995. Erica’s costume designs have been seen on the stage of Shadowland Theatre, Ellenville, NY, the Neighborhood
Playhouse, Arden Theatre Company, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Outlet and Touchstone Theatre. Recent costume
design credits include MY WAY, A FRANK SINATRA REVIEW, Shadowland Theatre, LES BELLES SOUERS with Cedar Crest College’s
department of performing arts, Cedar Crest College’s Winter Solstice dance concert and THE CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS at
the Theatre Outlet, Allentown. Erica is particularly interested in the social and behavioral function of costume from a
historical perspective. She has published a paper on clothing and behavior in seventeenth century France entitled "Splendor
and Wit; Costume and Society in the Age of Louis XIV, The Sun King (1654 - 1715)" which may be found at Clothesline, the
Online Journal of Costume and Dress. http://www.clotheslinejournal.com/splendor.htm Erica teaches courses in theatrical
design, fashion history, stage makeup, and costume technology. She currently lives in South Bethlehem with her two sons.
Erica saw an announcement about our company in the local newspaper and felt that she was supposed to be a part of this new
endeavor – at which point, she contacted Dean and was enthusiastically welcomed to join our new theater family.
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John Schaff (Lighting) was born and raised in Jersey City, New
Jersey and moved to Allentown in 2006. He received a BA from Rutgers University, as well as studying TV production at
Montclair State University and earning a Certificate in Digital Film Making from New York University. John was lighting
designer for our premiere fundraiser in May, “MCCLV Presents…” He was director of lighting and scenic design for stage
productions of WIZARD OF OZ, CINDERELLA and BABE IN ARMS. John has also worked in independent and contract film productions
on NJ Public Television, the Odessey Network, the US State Department Web Site, and on the 2006 feature documentary, “Life
is a Dream in Cinema: Pola Negri”. He resides in Allentown with his wife, Normana, and their cat, Taz. They both attend
MCCLV, and they have two grown children, Deborah and Christiaan.
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