Executive Committee
Ginger Poole, President
Ginger Poole has served SETC as the Vice Chair of SETC Professional Theatre Division and as a member of the SETC Finance Committee. She is currently the producing Artistic Director of Mill Mountain Theatre and a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association and an Associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union.
She has studied, taught, choreographed, and performed throughout the U.S. Originally from Atlanta, she has worked with the N.F.L. and The Atlanta Falcons as their director and choreographer. She has shared the stage with Smokey Robinson, Charlie Daniels, Travis Tritt, Randy Travis and the B-52’s.
Prior to coming to Mill Mountain Theatre, she was based out of North Carolina where she has worked with Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theatre of North Carolina, in over 25 productions. She was a part of the education program at Flat Rock Playhouse for 5 years where she taught for their Apprentice Companies and their Conservatory Program in Acting, Dance, and Musical Theatre.
Ginger has taught at The University of Southern Mississippi, Western Carolina University, William Carey College, Mississippi University for Women, and currently teaches at Hollins University. Ginger holds her M.F.A. in Acting Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi and continues to teach acting and dance.
Neno Russell, Vice President of Services
Neno Russell teaches draping and patternmaking classes, Introduction to Public Speaking and Fundamentals of Design. Broadway Credits include: Flying over Sunset, Amazing Grace, Finian’s Rainbow, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Footloose, Bring in da’ Noise Bring in da’ Funk, and The Rose Tattoo. National and International Tours: Footloose, 4 companies of Come From Away. Film, TV, and Commercials: Emperor, Loving, Good Lord Bird, 2 seasons of Mercy Street, 4 seasons of Turn: Washington’s Spies, more than 70 national commercials for brands such as MTV, VH1, Journeys, Thomasville, Petsmart, NFL Films, The History Channel and Old Navy, and designed 7 documentaries for the History Channel. Recent regional work includes: Ford’s Theatre- Guys and Dolls, Christmas Carol, and Into the Woods. Cleveland Playhouse- The Royale.
He received an MFA in costume technology from Florida State University, and a BS in speech and theatre from Middle Tennessee State University.
Lynn Nelson, Vice President of Divisions
Lynn Nelson has been active in theater since she played the part of a spoon in her third grade play about manners. The bug bit really hard and she remained active in theatre throughout high school and college. Her theatre career continued when her high school drama teacher cast her in a role at Tupelo Community Theatre in 1984, where she has been active since. At TCT she serves as a board member, directs, works backstage, and serves as publicity chair. Lynn is also active with Mississippi Theatre Association and AACT.
She currently serves as Region IV Rep on the Board of AACT and was recently inducted into AACT Fellows. She travels across the country serving as an adjudicator for theatre festivals. At SETC she has served as Community Theatre chair, Divisions Chair, Secretary on the Executive Committee, and member of the Personnel Committee. She works as a Human Resources professional and lends her HR knowledge to both SETC and AACT.
Ricky Ramón, Vice President of Equity and Inclusion
Professor Ricky Ramón has directed and stage managed over 60 plays and musicals at Adventure Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company (NYC), Arena Stage, Signature Theatre (DC), Theater Alliance, Rorschach Theatre, Imagination Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and Teatro Vivo (Austin). Ricky earned a Master of Education in Arts in Education from Harvard University, a Master of Fine Arts in Acting and Directing from Texas Tech University, and a Master of Arts in Performance Studies from NYU-Tisch School of the Arts.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and English from the University of Notre Dame. Ricky currently teaches theatre in the Department of Theatre Arts in the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association. Ricky is originally from Pearsall, Texas.
Mia Self, Vice President of States
Mia Self has served as the Assistant Director of Performance and Academics at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina for the past eight years. She has an MFA from the University of Mississippi and a BA from Catawba College with an emphasis in performance and directing. Mia works as a director, actor, voice and text coach in addition to her periodic jaunts into writing and devising.
She is obsessed with the many ways theatre practitioners can creatively apply theatre skills to modern problems, explore and reframe the past, affirm identity and meaning, and holistically educate people.
Annette Dees Grevious, Vice President of Finance
Annette Dees Grevious is an Associate Professor of Speech and Drama and Theatre Program Coordinator at Claflin University in Orangeburg, SC where she has been employed for nearly 22 years. She received her Master of Fine Arts in theatre performance from the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky; a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia; and an Associate of Arts in speech and drama from Gainesville College (nka University of North Georgia) in Gainesville, Georgia. While her passion is acting, she has taught a variety of theatre courses as well as introductory level speech communications courses to students ranging from age five to eighty-five.
Her research interests include Black Theatre as well as the similarities and differences among students at HBCUs and PWIs as it relates to perception and study of Acting techniques. She has been a candidate for South Carolina Governor's Professor of the Year award and received an Excellence in Teaching Award from South Carolina Independent Colleges and University in 2016. Currently, she has served as a member as well as Board Chair of the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center; President and At-Large member of the SC Speech and Theatre Association; the first African American female President of the SC Theatre Association; and is completing her second term as Vice President of Finance with the Southeastern Theatre Conference, where she has chaired the Cultural Diversity Committee, previously.
Steven Butler, Vice President of Administration
Steven H. Butler has had the opportunity to serve SETC through the Equity Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, the BIPOC Global Committee and the Steve Bayless Scholarship Committee. Prior to becoming the Artistic Director for the Sarasota Players (Sarasota, FL), Steven served as the Executive Director for the Florida Theatre Conference. He is the Founder of Actors’ Warehouse (Gainesville, FL) which was honored to represent the United States at Mondial Du Théâtre International Amateur Theatre Festival (Monte Carlo, Monaco).
On a national level, he serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Community Theatre and its respective committees: Play Selection, Nominations, Finance, and International Festival.
Tiza Garland, Elected Past President
Tiza Garland is an Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Florida where she is the Coordinator of the Performance Area in the School of Theatre and Dance. Tiza teaches Movement for the Actor, Stage Combat, Period Styles Movement and Dialects.
She is a classically trained actor and has trained with the Dah Theatre in Belgrade; Serbia in Grotowski-based work; studied Meyerhold's Biomechanics with Gennadi Bogdanov; and trained with the United Stuntmen's Association in Seattle, WA. Tiza is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) of Laban Movement Analysis (LMA). She is also a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), a Certified Teacher with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat (BASSC), and a Senior Teacher with Dueling Arts International.
She served as Chair of the Movement Committee of the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) for five years and Chair of the Leighton Ballew Scholarship Committee for two years. Other past service to SETC includes serving on the Long Range Planning Committee and the Strategic Planning Focus Group. Her experience as a member of SETC's Executive committee includes two terms as the SETC Vice President of Programming and two terms in the office of Secretary for SETC. Tiza received her MFA in theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Fine Arts at Texas Tech University.
Kyla Kazuschyk, Secretary
Associate Professor of Costume Technology at Louisiana State University, Kyla holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Central Florida and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Costume Technology from Ohio University. She has created costumes for the Santa Fe Opera, the Washington National Opera, the Florida Grand Opera, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and the Texas Shakespeare Festival.
Her professional costume design credits include Operating Systems, Airline Highway, and The Mountaintop, at Louisiana’s Swine Palace Theatre. Kyla enjoys creating costumes for competitive dance troupes and uniforms for the dance teams of professional basketball teams the Orlando Magic and the Detroit Pistons. Passionate about the possibilities of devised work and creating community, she designed and created costumes for Savage/Love, a work of physical theatre performed at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, and Love and Information, a semi-devised piece performed at Louisiana State University.
Her research on the rewarding chaos of devising was first published in the 2017 Theatre Symposium and is now available from Routledge Press in the book, Creating Costumes for Devised Theatre. In her work with SETC, she has served as chair of the Cultural Diversity committee, chair of the Students and Emerging Artists Interest Group, and co-chair of the Task Force for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Access.
Division Chairs
- College/University Division: Bill Adams
- Professional Division: Mark Catlett
- Secondary Division: Harry Culpepper
- Theatre for Youth Division: Octavia Biggs
- Community Theatre Division: Lynn Nelson
State Representatives
- Alabama: Kristy Meanor
- Florida: Marci Duncan
- Georgia: Ian Andersen
- Kentucky: Christine Connelly
- Mississippi: Tim Matheny
- North Carolina: Mia Self
- South Carolina: Elizabeth Watkins
- Tennessee: Anne K. Swedberg
- Virginia: David Becker
- West Virginia: Leah Turley