Rachel is one of Synchronicity’s original founders. She has directed more than 25 productions for Synchronicity, including Ripe Frenzy, Strait of Gibraltar, In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play, Exit Pursued by a Bear, Women + War, 1:23, Language of Angels, Three Sisters and Marisol, among many others. Her directing work has been seen in and around Atlanta at Actor’s Express, Aurora Theatre, Theatre Gael, Dad’s Garage and the University of Georgia. Creative Loafing named her best director of 2002 for her work on One Flea Spare and Kia Corthron’s Breath, Boom, the production that led to the creation of our Playmaking for Girls program. In June 2004 she was chosen for the highly competitive NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors and was named a Bank of America “Local Hero.” In addition to her executive role at Synchronicity, she actively teaches and leads workshops across Atlanta, and spent eight summers as director of the Ferst Center’s Drama Camp at Georgia Tech.

Celise Kalke joined Synchronicity Theatre as Managing Director in October, 2018. From 2005 to 2018, Celise led the Alliance Theatre’s New Work programs, notably the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwright Competition and the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab. She served as Dramaturg for many Alliance productions and world premieres. Before moving to Atlanta Celise served as the Director of the Literary Department for New York’s Public Theatre producing the New Work Now! reading festival while working as a Dramaturg for Shakespeare’s work. Her career began at Chicago’s Court Theatre and the Juilliard School. Her administrative skills have been displayed as a new work producer, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) conference planner, LMDA Administrator, and administrator in the Brooklyn Academy of Music Education Department. She has been an Artistic Associate at NEXT Theatre in Chicago, an Affiliated Artist with Independent Art HERE in New York, an Advisory Council Member, instructor, and Dramaturg for Working Title Playwrights, and frequent teacher at Actor’s Express. She began her career in Prague, the Czech Republic, working with Misery Loves Company, the Narodni Divadlo, and Divadlo Pod Palmovko. Celise was named a 2009 Theatre Artist of the Future by American Theatre Magazine.

Elisabeth Cooper is a Theatre Artist with a wide body of work including Lighting , Scenic and Sound design, as well as being a Props Artesian, Production Manager and Technician with many Atlanta Theatres for the past 25 plus years. Her work has been seen at Synchronicity, Dad’s Garage, and Actor’s Express to name a few. She was the recipient of the Suzi Bass Callboard award in 2015 and the two MAT Awards for Lighting Design. She has several local Directing credits. As a Teaching Artist and Educator, Elisabeth has over 20 years teaching and mentoring students of all levels. Currently she is an Education Associate and one of the Creators of the Essential Theatre’s Education Programming. She has worked as guest lecturer at various high schools and Colleges, was the Education Director for Dad’s Garage Theatre Company, was a member of the Education Advisory Committee for the Georgia Shakespeare Festival. Elisabeth was the Lead Theatre Teacher at Shiloh High School in Gwinnett County for 10 years and taught Theatre at The DeKalb Elementary School of the Arts for 2. She was on the committee who wrote the current Georgia Standards of Excellence in Theatre Arts.

For the past two years, Dawn has served as the Production Manager for the Southeast Emmy Award-winning High School Musical Theatre Awards: The Shuler Hensley Awards, produced by the ArtsBridge Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia. Previous roles include Production Manager for the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University and Director of Ticketing for Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, Illinois. With over 20 years of diverse theatre, education, and administration experience, her core competencies include Project and Event Management, Strategic Planning, Program Creation and Management, Staff and Student Development and Training, Budget Management, and Data Analysis. She received her B.S. in Theatre Education from Florida A & M University, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from Kennesaw State University. Passionate about improving opportunities for underserved youth, Dawn recently developed arts programming for the ArtsBridge Foundation in partnership with the YMCA of Metro Atlanta.

Stephanie Harvey Galer returns to a permanent position in the Atlanta theatre community after almost two decades of work is non-profit administration and leadership. Stephanie was the first employee and founding Executive Director of Giving Kitchen, taking the restaurant-industry emergency assistance fund from start-up to a million-dollar budget in 4 years. She has also worked with non-profits of all sizes and sectors in development and marketing support of all sorts, including most recently for the Center for Visually Impaired, Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School, and a brief stint as Synchronicity’s Interim Marketing Director. Previous clients include the Atlanta History Center, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Alliance Theatre, LINK Counseling Center, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, United Arts of Cobb, and many more. Her early career theatre roles included Artistic & Casting Assistant at Alliance Theatre, Associate Producer at Horizon Theatre, and freelance director of shows around town, including The Skriker, Dark Ride, and David’s Redhaired Death. She attended FSU for undergraduate theatre and participated in the Executive Program for Non-profit Leaders at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Stephanie lives in Grant Park with her husband, high schooler, and two really old cats. She has a lifetime goal to visit all US National Parks and is well on her way to success.

Lisa worked as Facility Manager for Synchronicity Theatre since September of 2014, and Production Manager for several years as well. She now serves as our Rentals Manager. Having previously worked in the music industry as a booking and tour manager, and as an assistant manager in the special event decor industry, Lisa has been in the Entertainment Industry her entire career. She has traveled the country with a band in a Volkswagon van, dropped balloons on the Queen of Norway, and spent a couple years as part of Margaret Cho's management team in Santa Monica, CA. Lisa also worked at the Woodruff Arts Center as a stage hand for the Atlanta Symphony for a couple years, before moving over to the 14th Street Playhouse in 2004, where she worked on many amazing productions, including running follow-spot for the filming of Leslie Jordan's "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet". Lisa's love of theatre is matched only by her love of her family. And riding her bike!

Jessenia is a producer, actor, writer, and improviser from Plano, TX. She graduated from Spelman College with a B.A. in Theatre and Performance and a minor in Management and Organization. She is an alumna of the Alliance Theatre’s Spelman Leadership Fellowship, where she was a co-artistic director of the 2020-2021 Digital Season, casting associate and producer. She is passionate about artivism and continues to serve as an allyship facilitator and teaching artist. In addition to her producing work, you may have seen Jessenia on the Synchronicity stage as an actor in Heidi and Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds. 

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Taylor is a client-centric, empathic team leader, who is passionate about creating superior brand experiences. An Art History enthusiast, Taylor possesses a natural eye for design and a drive to inspire dynamic ideas that connect with all types of audiences. Driven to inspire and brainstorm fresh ideas and manage deliverables, she has always taken pride in promoting the organization she represents while building relationships of value with the people in and outside of the business.

After completing her B.A. Degree in Art History with a Minor in Marketing from The University of Arizona Eller College of Management, Taylor challenged her new skills by crafting customer-centric creatives through her brand, Taylord Marketing. Taylor possesses a solid understanding of design, copy, web practices, as well as showcasing her stellar interpersonal and communication skills. Taylor is a marketing enthusiast who is dedicated to working hard to create strategies that are measurable and solutions that can grow brands and meet the company objectives.

Taryn has over 18 years of hands-on experience and a passion for educating and inspiring students through the arts. She has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to perform, teach, and work administratively in the theatre before and since graduating with a BFA (musical theatre, 2007) and MBA (management, 2009). Since moving to Atlanta she has been blessed to have many opportunities to work in arts education and management, including as the head of the Atlanta Jewish Academy theatre department, and, most recently as the founder of 360 Arts Blvd, Inc, an organization dedicated to uplifting creative entrepreneurship by supporting both young and professional creatives. Her work with refugee and group home girls and challenging populations has inspired Taryn to become a mentor to young students well after they have left her classrooms. Through the years she has gained valuable knowledge in arts management and, more so, an unwavering appreciation for the sweat equity it takes to produce not only beautiful works of art, but strong, beautiful, well-rounded individuals as well. Taryn has been a part of the Synchro family since 2011 as an actor and teaching artist and is thrilled to take Synchronicity's Playmaking For Kids program- a program she helped develop and launch-to the next level. In 2016 she founded 360 Arts Blvd, inc, helping creatives have the confidence to live out their dreams. 360artsblvd.com

Jennifer Kimball has been involved with Synchronicity Theatre in various capacities since almost the start of her professional theatre career, in 2002, when she was assistant stage manager for the first remount of Free to Be, You and Me, and fell in love with the Atlanta theatre community and the world of stage management.

Fast forward almost two decades, and today Jennifer is a production and stage manager and general organizer-at-large throughout the Atlanta area, serving on staff at the Schwartz Center for the Arts at Emory University, as Managing Director of Essential Theatre (www.EssentialTheatre.com), Production Manager for Théâtre du Rêve, and actively collaborating with the Object Group and 7 Stages Theatre among others. Inspired by new creative work and meaningful connection, she couldn't be happier to have returned to Synchronicity in her capacity as Co-producer of the Stripped Bare Arts Incubator Program, which is just one of the Synchronicity programs that embodies these passions, and a beautiful full-circle opportunity to introduce new artists to the larger Atlanta theatre community, as Synchronicity did for her those many years ago.

Susie has been acting and teaching theatre arts for over 30 years. She was program director for 9 years for The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company in Los Angeles where she developed curriculum for helping imprisoned East LA boys to write plays and perform them. She also worked as a lead teacher for 7 years with The Imagination Workshop in Los Angeles where she helped teach theatrical arts therapy to neuro-psychiatric patients throughout the city. She is currently the Program Director for Synchronicity’s Playmaking for Girls. This position has allowed her to share empowerment through the theatrical arts with teen girls in Georgia’s DJJ Regional Youth Detention Centers, DFACS group homes and Atlanta’s Title 1 middle schools over the past 10 years. She represents Synchronicity Theatre as an Arts Now Learning presenter where she teaches Georgia’s public and private school educators how to incorporate theatrical arts curriculum into non-artistic disciplines. Susie has performed in theatre productions in Atlanta, Los Angeles, DC and on Broadway. She has appeared in commercials, movies and television projects. Susie currently resides in Decatur, GA with her husband and two children.

Vallea oversees all elements of production, including coordinating all designers, schedules and production needs, while facilitating communication between the director and design team, and managing the production budget. Vallea has managed theatre productions for several years in Chicago and Atlanta. Most recently, she produced Hands of Color at Synchronicity and the Fall Battle of the Sexes season for Impulse Repertory Company. She is also a familiar face on Atlanta stages, having performed in Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, as well as in notable productions at Actor's Express, Theatrical Outfit, Aurora Theatre, Out of Box Theatre, and the Alliance Theatre. Vallea holds an M.F.A. from the University of Georgia, is a Northwestern University graduate, and trained at the School at Steppenwolf and The Second City Chicago Improv Conservatory.