Staff and Board

The 2022-2023 season marks Kenn McLaughlin’s seventeenth season as Stages’ artistic leader, following five successful years as the theater’s Managing Director. Kenn has produced more than 100 productions, including record-breaking hits like The Marvelous Wonderettes and Late Nite Catechism series; The Great American Trailer Park Musical and revivals of the theater’s landmark original musical Always…Patsy Cline; as well as pivotal world and U.S. premieres such as De Kus, Black Pearl Sings, An American Brat, Miss Teen, nine original Pantomime productions, and The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical. He has directed over 30 shows for Stages. Highlights include: Auntie Mame, Road Show, Grey Gardens, Full Gallop, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Mack and Mabel, Speech and Debate, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Stupid Fucking Bird, The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead and the world premiere of Miss Teen. He has also written the book for two of Stages’ hit musicals: Panto Mother Goose and A Midnight Clear both with music by composer David Nehls. Beyond Houston, Kenn’s musical, I’ll Be Home for Christmas (also written with David Nehls) received its World Premiere production at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Denver and was nominated for a Henry Award for Best New Play/Musical. Outside of Houston, Kenn directed The Threepenny Opera for The Santa Fe University of Art and Design and Sexy Laundry for the renowned Peterborough Players. Prior to his arrival at Stages, Kenn spent eleven years at Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland. At Great Lakes, Kenn helped to build the largest theater-based education program for a performing arts institution in the state of Ohio. He directed the company’s award-winning School Residency Program and commissioned several new theater works including Brother Can You Spare a Dime: The Social Conscience of the American Musical, The Way You Look Tonight, Straight on ‘til Morning, and a new adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s To Be Young, Gifted and Black. Kenn also co-founded The Wallpaper Project, an annual oral history performance program in rural Ohio. Kenn has taught workshops for the Center for Literature and Medicine and has twice presented workshops at the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2018 Kenn was guest speaker to the Academic Sympoisum of the Texas Educational Theatre Association. In Houston, Kenn has taught classes in creativity at Rice University and in directing at Sam Houston State University, as well as teaching diversity awareness to cadets at the Houston Police Academy and serving as a guest lecturer for Harris County’s Department of Education CASE program. He has served as chair of the capital campaign and of the stewardship committee of First Congregational Church of Houston where he has also served on the long-range planning and education committees. Kenn completed the Executive Non-Profit Leaders program through the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and holds a BFA in acting from The Theatre School, DePaul University.

Recently named as Stages’ Managing Director following a national search, Katie began her tenure in August 2021. Prior to joining Stages, Katie served as Managing Director at Curious Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado, where she earned an industry reputation for forging rapid growth and instigating institutional change, specifically in areas of patron loyalty and community building. At Curious Theatre Company, Katie created “The Loyalty Target,” a new model for arts administration that has been adopted by arts organizations across the United States and United Kingdom. Maltais is known throughout the industry as a fierce advocate for the anti-racism and anti-oppression movement in the arts, including spearheading Denver’s first Diversity in Theater panels. Before joining Curious Theatre Company, Katie served as the Marketing Director for the Lone Tree Arts Center, where she led the organization through a period of exponential earned revenue growth. Prior to this role, she worked for the international consulting firm TRG Arts as Manager of Accounts and Services, where she oversaw the client services team. There, she personally worked with such notable organizations as Nederlander Alliances, Center Theatre Group, Alley Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Arts Club Theatre Company. She received her BA in Arts Administration and Theatre from Drury University, located in Springfield, Missouri.