Company Members
Arts on the Horizon recognizes these individuals as members of our artistic and educational community; their commitment to our mission is beyond anything we could ask of them, but one they generously choose to make.
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Matt Bassett - Company Member since 2014
Matt is a proud Arts on the Horizon Company member since 2014, creating Nutt and Bolt (2018 Helen Hayes Award nomination – Outstanding Production for Young Audiences), Under the Canopy, Out of the Box (both with Tia Shearer) and directing Drumming with Dishes in 2017 (HHA 2018 nomination – Outstanding TYA)! He also serves as Artistic Director of The Hub Theatre, an award-winning professional theatre company in Northern Virginia. Bassett’s directing work includes area and world premieres for The Hub, Arts on the Horizon, and Flying V Theatre, as well as regional directing in Colorado and educational direction for several universities and companies in the greater Washington, DC area. Bassett’s work as a playwright/creator has been seen at Columbus Children’s Theatre, and Flying V Theatre. Bassett serves as Theatre Chair for Metropolitan School of the Arts and on the faculties of Montgomery College, the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts and Imagination Stage. Training: MFA in Acting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Matt lives in Takoma Park, MD, with his family. |
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Natalie Cutcher - Company Member since 2016
Natalie is a local theatre maker and teaching artist in the DMV. She recently earned her MFA through The Academy for Classical Acting with the Shakespeare Theatre Company's program at The George Washington University. In undergrad at Muhlenberg College, she double concentrated in Acting and Directing and studied Commedia del'Arte and Clowning abroad in Arezzo, Italy. While pursuing local acting opportunities, Natalie has taught with Creative Kids, The Smithsonian Institutes, and The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. You may have caught her onstage in Arts on the Horizon's productions and remounts of Snow Day or Point A to Point B. This season, she is thrilled to premier Squeakers & Mr. Gumdrop, a holiday show co-created and co-directed with Amanda Forstrom. |
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Kate Debelack - Company Member since 2015
Kate is a DC-area director and actor and a proud company member of Arts on the Horizon. Kate created and directed By the Seashore and directed Sunny and Licorice and Sailing on String with Arts on the Horizon. Other directing credits include the One Minute Play Festival, Capital Fringe, and Cherry Red Productions. D.C. acting credits include: Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences (American Scrapbook), The Shakespeare Theatre (Ion), The Studio Theatre (Fat Pig, Long Christmas Ride Home, Ivanov, Blue Heart), Studio Theatre 2ndstage (Bat Boy the Musical, Love’s Fire, The Wild Party), Taffety Punk (Measure for Measure), Forum (The Memorandum), Longacre Lea (Dogg’s Hamlet/Cahoot’s Macbeth), MetroStage (Electra), and Cherry Red Productions (Cinema Verité, Anger Box, Worm Girl, Spamlet, and Zombie Attack!). Regional: New York International Fringe Festival, Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre. She is the Associate Artistic Director of The Klunch and teaches at the Studio Acting Conservatory. |
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Amanda Forstrom - Company Member since 2015
Amanda fell in love with storytelling at an early age. She is an actor, voiceover artist, and choreographer/director. She was last seen in The Adventures of Mr. Bear, when her stuffed bear came to life, and in Snow Day as Skip, the little girl learning how to make snow balls and snow angels with her friend Jane. Along with camps and classes at Arts on the Horizon, Amanda has taught students of all ages, including improvisation and sketch comedy for adults, young adults, and elementary students at the Irondale Ensemble in NYC. She also taught Introduction to Acting and the Fundamentals of Acting at the University of South Carolina to undergraduates. She specializes in the Suzuki Method, assisting workshops with the Pacific Performance Project. She has also taught at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, Catholic University, and Georgetown University. She has performed locally with Arena Stage, Round House Theatre, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Co., 1st Stage, Keegan Theatre, Constellation Theatre Co., Taffety Punk Theatre Co., WSC Avant Bard, and SCENA Theatre. She received her MFA from the University of South Carolina. |
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David Kilpatrick - Company Member since 2014
David is a DC-area arts administrator and playwright, and proud company member of Arts on the Horizon. His playwriting career began in second grade with a show called Father Fox Tries to Get Some Chickens. Written on his parents' typewriter and starring his classmates, the piece proved to be so popular it then toured all the way down the hall to the first grade. Now, all of these years later, he's not only delighted to have made a career in theatre, but is also honored to be writing plays for children under 6. His other plays with Arts on the Horizon include: The Young Spectaculars and the Front Yard Adventure, Point A to Point B, and the Holiday Edition of Drumming with Dishes. His adaptation of Lindsay Ward’s picture book Please Bring Balloons was produced by New York City Children’s Theater. For the past two years, David has served as the Director of Education Programs and Productions at the Kennedy Center. Before that, he served as Manager of Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences for nearly ten years.
David is a DC-area arts administrator and playwright, and proud company member of Arts on the Horizon. His playwriting career began in second grade with a show called Father Fox Tries to Get Some Chickens. Written on his parents' typewriter and starring his classmates, the piece proved to be so popular it then toured all the way down the hall to the first grade. Now, all of these years later, he's not only delighted to have made a career in theatre, but is also honored to be writing plays for children under 6. His other plays with Arts on the Horizon include: The Young Spectaculars and the Front Yard Adventure, Point A to Point B, and the Holiday Edition of Drumming with Dishes. His adaptation of Lindsay Ward’s picture book Please Bring Balloons was produced by New York City Children’s Theater. For the past two years, David has served as the Director of Education Programs and Productions at the Kennedy Center. Before that, he served as Manager of Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences for nearly ten years.
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Kylene King - Company Member since 2014
Kylene has worked as a production manager, company manager, stage manager, props designer, stagehand, production assistant, and more for shows ranging from educational presentations for children to large-scale musicals and operas. Since 2013, Kylene has been the production coordinator at the Katzen Arts Center at American University, where she handles events for the theatre, music, arts management, audio technology, studio art, and art history programs. |
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Ryan Sellers - Company Member since 2019
Ryan has been a teaching artist, actor, and director in the DC area since 2008. He has written and directed Cowardly Christopher Finds His Courage (Synetic Theater) and Adventures with Mr. Bear (Arts on the Horizon). He adapted and directed The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Synetic Theater). Directed productions for youth include Shrek Jr. (Alice Deal Middle School), Peter Pan, Oliver, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Mary Poppins (MVCCT), Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland (Creative Cauldron), Teen Midsummer, Teen Romeo and Juliet, and Lord of the Flies (Synetic Teen Company), Lion King Jr, Seussical Jr, and Honk Jr (Aquinas Montessori). He is also the resident choreographer at Yorktown High School as well as the resident dance teacher at Burgundy Farm Country Day School. He is also a teaching artist for Arts on the Horizon, MVCCT, and Synetic Theater. |
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Alicia Sells - Company Member since 2014
Mary Alicia Sells is a proud company member of Arts on the Horizon. A local freelance stage manager, she has had the privilege to work on over 30 productions with such companies as Adventure Theatre, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Olney Theatre Center, Signature Theatre, The Source Festival, Spooky Action Theater, Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a BA in English, History, and Theatre. |
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Tia Shearer Bassett - Company Member since 2014
Tia Shearer Bassett has been involved in the creation, performance and promotion of theatre for young audiences for almost 15 years, and has recently been at the forefront of a new form of audience engagement in DC area theatre. Serving as Audience Designer for 6 consecutive shows with Flying V (the area's 2015 Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company), she creates interactive lobby spaces, inviting audience members to interact with the themes of a show on a personal level, and tailors innovative approaches to culling target audiences. She is an original company member of Arts on the Horizon, and has performed in one show and created or co-created and directed four, including the company's first piece for 0-2 year olds. Her work seeks to build a community centered around the theatre, and a world around each show. She holds a B.A. from NYU's Gallatin School for Individualized Studies and also her four-year-old's hand. |
Arts on the Horizon Emerging Artists
In fall of 2018, AOTH launched an Emerging Artist Program to enhance our commitment to developing the next generation of artists, directors, creators, designers, and actors in the field of Theatre for the Very Young. Each season, we will select one individual to be our resident Emerging Artist to work on one AOTH production. Through this opportunity, the individual will receive professional experience and leadership opportunities, as well as an increase in their visibility in the theatre community. Take a look at the Emerging Artists who have worked with us so far:
Stephen Indrisano | Lighting Designer | 2019-2020
Stephen is a lighting and sound designer and will be designing lights for Squeakers & Mr. Gumdrop. He graduated with honors from the University of Vermont in 2018 with a focus in Theater and Psychological Sciences. While in Burlington, VT, he designed lights for one of the Top Ten Fall Events in Vermont. After returning to the Mid-Atlantic, he designed lights for the world premiere of Craig Houk’s Cold Rain at Capital Fringe. He completed a year-long Production Apprenticeship at Imagination Stage in 2019. His work can be found at: Indrisanodesign.weebly.com
Becca Drew Ramsey | Creator/Designer | 2018-2019
Becca Drew is a NC-based theatre maker who specializes in creative drama, theatre design, and theatre for the very young. She was the creator and designer for Sailing on String. She earned her MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from the University of Texas at Austin. In Chicago, she served as Artistic Director of Bubbles Academy, an arts-integrated enrichment center where she developed innovative programming for babies to five year olds. At Lexington Children’s Theatre, Becca Drew worked as Education Associate, teaching theatre classes to young people, designing for MainStage productions and performing for young audiences. Becca Drew’s artistry is heavily influenced by young people. She believes passionately in the power a practicing artist can have in the classroom and the powerful influence young people have on practicing artists.
