2023-24 Board of Directors
Douglas Baldwin is currently Deputy Chief Information Security Officer for AutoZone. He is also on the Advisory Board for Christian Brothers University, Dept. of Computer Science & Mathematics. Mr. Baldwin is a veteran who served in the 75th Ranger Regiment, U.S. Army. As part of the Three Rangers Foundation, he mentors veterans transitioning out of the military on an as-needed basis.
E. Frank Bluestein (Ex-officio) is the Executive Producer of the Tennessee Arts Academy, Founder and Chairman of Germantown High School’s Fine Arts Department, and Executive Producer of the Emmy Award-winning Germantown Community Television. He is the 1996-1997 Disney National Performing Arts Teacher of the Year and the 1994 Tennessee Teacher of the Year. In 1998, USA Today named Mr. Bluestein one of the top 40 teachers in the United States. He has served on arts advisory panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, College Board Arts Advisory Committee, Council of Chief State School Officers, and Tennessee Arts Commission. A frequent speaker and writer on arts-related issues, Mr. Bluestein is a former president both of the Tennessee Alliance for Arts Education and the Germantown Arts Alliance.
Rhea Clift (Secretary) has served as a prosecuting attorney in Memphis since 1991. She is currently the facilitator of The Shakespeare Readers, a group of Shakespeare lovers who have met weekly for four years to read Shakespeare together. She is a life-long member of St. George’s Episcopal Church and is serving her third term on the Vestry. She has supported Tennessee Shakespeare Company since its inception by selling concessions at the first performance, taking tickets, preparing the post-performance receptions, and working as the “kitchen wench” at the cast parties. Ms. Clift graduated from The Hutchison School and Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt, she earned degrees in English and Art History. During her Junior year, she studied at Leeds University. She graduated from the University of Memphis with a Juris Doctorate.
Nancy Copp has served on the Board of Directors of the Crippled Children’s Hospital, Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis Academy of Arts, and St. George’s Episcopal Day School. Mrs. Copp also founded and served on the Board of Memphis House, a drug-rehabilitation facility. In Maine, she was associated with the Prouts Association, the Prouts Neck Run Centennial Celebration, and the Winslow Homer Studio.
Kyle Tabor Furr grew up in Memphis, where she graduated from The Hutchison School. During those years, she dedicated her time to the arts through piano and harp studies, choral groups, and theater productions. She graduated from The University of Virginia with an English degree, and followed up with a Masters in Elementary Education from the College of William and Mary. She is married to William M. Furr ( Billy) and lives with him in Norfolk, VA, where they raised their three children. Ms. Furr has taught fourth and fifth grades in the Chesapeake Public Schools and preschool at the First Presbyterian Pre School of Norfolk. She is active in the Christian Science Church, where she has served in many capacities including second reader and is presently on The Academy of Music board in Norfolk. She has always felt close to Tennessee Shakespeare because of her parents’ (Margaret and Owen Tabor) love and commitment to the company over the years. Two of her children have volunteered in the office over summer breaks, and one was among the first to participate in a TSC summer camp.
Kathryn K. Gilliland grew up in Charlotte, NC, where she developed her first love of theatre, performing in the local community college summer productions of Annie Get Your Gun and Carousel. She went to college in Raleigh, NC, and received a B.A. in English, taking as many literature and Shakespeare classes as she could from a favorite professor, Dr. Gary Walton. After college, she lived in the Pacific Northwest and New York City before settling in Memphis in 2006. She currently works part-time in Events Planning for the Brooks Museum of Art. She and her husband Jim have three children.
J. Fraser Humphreys, III is General Counsel of Bryce Corporation in Memphis. He is a soon-to-be-published novelist.
Elise L. Jordan is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer with FedEx Express.
Anne Orgill Keeney, Memphis area philanthropist.
Ernest G. Kelly, Jr. (President) maintains a general civil practice, including civil rights matters, personnel matters and trial experience in all local civil courts. He has represented the Memphis Board of Education as general counsel and lead trial counsel since 1973. Mr. Kelly has been with Evans/Petree PC since his graduation from law school.
Pat Casserly Kelly, native of New Jersey, came to Memphis in October of 1967. After a brief career doing medical research for Dr. L. W. Diggs, she began teaching History at Hutchison School. After completing her Master of Arts in English, she taught at Lausanne Collegiate School, the University of Memphis, and State Technical Institute. In 1979 she returned to Hutchison where she taught English in the Upper School until her retirement in 2012. At Hutchison she was the chair of the English and Humanities departments and the recipient of the Margaret Wellford Tabor chair for Excellence in Teaching English. In her teaching career, Pat emphasized the great writers and thinkers of the Western tradition—Shakespeare, Dante, Milton, Austen, Dickens, Hardy—as she encouraged her students to become lovers of literature and independent and creative thinkers. Pat was a president of the Shelby-Memphis Council of Teachers of English and was recognized as a Teacher of Excellence by the National Council Teachers of English. She was a recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities study grants—one of which sent her to Italy to study Dante for 6 weeks— and was chosen by the U.S. Department of State for a teacher exchange program in Eurasia. Pat served two terms on the vestry of St. Elisabeth’s Church in Raleigh and was the Director of Religious Education there for 15 years. Currently a communicant at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, she serves as a lector, a Lay Eucharistic Minister, a member of the hospitality committee, and is serving her first year of her term on the Chapter of the Cathedral. Pat and Ernest have 5 daughters, one son, and one grandson between them, and enjoy traveling and spending time with their family.
Dorothy O. Kirsch, Philanthropist.
Michael R. Marshall (Vice President) is legal counsel at Evans Petree in Memphis. He is the co-leader of the Labor and Employment section and uses his experience in other arenas to reach solutions and resolutions to his clients’ disputes. He has extensive experience in litigating and resolving employment matters and other business-related disputes. He is a frequent speaker on employment-related topics. Mr. Marshall was the lead attorney in a case brought by the Memphis City Schools against the City of Memphis and obtained a $57 million verdict for education funding. Mr. Marshall graduated from the University of California and Southern Methodist University School of Law. He is a member of the American Bar Association Member, Tennessee Bar Association Member, and Memphis Bar Association member. He is admitted to practice law in Tennessee and Texas. Mr. Marshall has also served as the General Counsel for the Memphis City Schools, and is the general counsel for the Shelby County Emergency Communications District and for Lausanne Collegiate School.
Dan McCleary (Ex-officio) is the founder and Nancy R. Copp Producing Artistic Director of Tennessee Shakespeare Company. He also is its Director of Development, Marketing, and Communications. He currently is overseeing the construction renovation of TSC’s new home. He has acted in over 150 professional plays, mostly Shakespeare’s, and he has directed nearly 30 productions in the last 15 years at TSC and throughout the United States. He is a playwright, published poet, theatre teacher, guest lecturer, and fight choreographer. Dan graduated from Temple University with B.A. in Marketing and Journalism.
Melanie Stovall Murry, General Counsel at the University of Memphis.
Pete Pranica is the television voice of the Memphis Grizzlies on Fox Sports Southeast. A native of Wisconsin and graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he has been an NBA play-by-play announcer for 27 years, including stints with the Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, and NBA-TV. In addition to his work with the Grizzlies, Pete has been a presence on Memphis airwaves calling Memphis 901 FC soccer, Memphis Redbirds baseball, and Memphis Tigers football and basketball. He has been behind the microphone for two Olympic Games for NBC and was named the 2017 Tennessee Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. His long-standing support of TSC and its mission encompasses a performance as “Mark Twain at Twilight” in one of TSC’s inaugural Literary Salons.
Milton T. Schaeffer serves on the Board of Directors of both the Germantown Performing Arts Center and IRIS. Mr. Schaeffer is a partner of Oak Ridge Investments, Dallas, Texas, and he is the retired owner of Bluff City Buick in Memphis.
J. Walker Sims (Treasurer), attorney.
Deborah Dunklin Tipton, Philanthropist.
Emeritus Founders
Barbara B. Apperson (Founding Member), the generous host of TSC’s inaugural outdoor performance component and mother of three, is a long-time resident of Shelby County and an active member of St. George’s Episcopal Church. Mrs. Apperson served on the Board of Directors of the Samaritan Counseling Center and the Junior League of Memphis. She is the namesake of TSC’s “Barbara B. Apperson Angel Fund,” whose mission is to bring as many Mid-South children to Shakespeare as possible.
Louise Collier Calandruccio (Founding Member) is an active member of the Memphis Garden Club. She recently illustrated a brochure on Riverwoods, a Tennessee State Natural Area, in Germantown. Mrs. Calandruccio is a volunteer for the Emmanuel Center, including the Art Camp, as well as the Episcopal Church Women scholarship committee. She has served for many years on the Board of Advisors for Bridges USA. She is the wife of Dr. Jim Calandruccio, and the mother of two.
Blanche Deaderick (Founding Member), a Memphis and Shelby County teacher for 39 years, was named Teacher of the Year for Germantown High School, Shelby County Schools, and the Germantown Community. She was twice named Tennessee Council for Social Studies Outstanding Teacher, and in 2007 was named to the Tennessee Teacher Hall of Fame. A graduate of Leadership Memphis, she is a trained mediator for civil and commercial disputes, has been a member of the Facing History and Ourselves National Teacher Leadership Team, has served on the boards of Bridge Builders, the Memphis Junior League, and Planned Parenthood, and is currently a member of the Foster Care Review Board at Juvenile Court and the Tennessee Women’s Forum. She holds a B.A. from Rhodes College and an M.A. in History from The University of Memphis. Mrs. Deaderick is Associate Director of the Tennessee Governor’s School for International Studies.
Ruth Dunning (1938-2023), a teacher for over 40 years, has taught in Stuttgart, Germany, Evansville, Indiana, and Shelby County. She currently teaches at the Tennessee Governor’s School for International Studies. Mrs. Dunning is the past president of the Brooks Museum League, and Chair of the Designers and Artists Showcase. She has been Teacher of the Year at Germantown High School, Shelby County Schools, and the 1986 TEA State Teacher of the Year. In addition, she was the Germantown News Teacher on the Move, and the city of Germantown Teacher of the Year. In 2001, Mrs. Dunning was named a Germantown Hometown Hero.
John Paul (Jack) Jones (1920-2020), after graduating from Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia Law School in 1948, joined the Memphis law firm of Wrap and Hernly, with offices in Washington, DC. He later went into private practice where he specialized in interstate commerce transportation, and labor law. In 1960, Mr. Jones became publisher of Memphis Daily News, a family-owned business and legal newspaper, that has published since 1886. Mr. Jones retired from the practice of law in 1992. A lifelong resident of Memphis, he was a past president of the Tennessee Press Association, the American Court and Commercial Newspapers, Inc., and also a past member of the Memphis Literacy Council. Mr. Jones was a board member of the Benjamin C. Hooks Library, the Rock n, Soul Museum, located in the FedEx Forum, and a founder of the Memphis Economic Club. Mr. Jones was a lifelong devotee of Thomas Jefferson and William Shakespeare.
Robert C. “Bobby” Lanier (Founding Member), a Shelby County native, was the executive assistant to three mayors of Shelby County, serving as their chief aide and advisor. Mr. Lanier was a founder and a Vice-Chairman of the Board of The Bank of Germantown and a former director of Neshoba Bank. Currently, he serves as Advisor-Director of Trustmark National Bank. He is the past President and Director of the GermantownCharity Horse Show, and is its Executive Director. Mr. Lanier is a member of the four-person advisory Board of the Germantown Festival Association, and was the 1998-99 President of the Mid-South Fair. He was also voted Germantown Man of the Year in 1963, 1976, 2005, and 2007.
Hon. Sheryl Lipman (Past President) is the University Counsel and Adjunct Professor at the University of Memphis. Ms. Lipman is a Board member of the Memphis and Shelby County Sports Development Corporation, and Past Chair and current Board member of Memphis Regional Planned Parenthood. Additionally, Ms. Lipman is on the Board of Advisors of Facing History and Ourselves and on the Board of Directors of the Memphis Jewish Federation. The Memphis Business Journal selected Ms. Lipman as one of the Top 40 under 40 in 1998, and in 1995 she was a member of the Merit Selection Panel to Choose Federal Public defender for Western District of Tennessee. She studied at the University of Michigan and New York University School of Law.
W. Reid Sanders (Founding Member) Affiliations: Chickasaw Partners, Hugo Dixon Foundation, Rhodes College, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, The Pioneer Group, Inc., Harbor Global Company, Ltd., TV A Entertainment Corporation, Independent Bank, Mid-America Apartment Communities.
Margaret Wellford Tabor graduated from The Hutchison School, received her BA from Connecticut College and her MA from the University of Memphis. In addition, Mrs. Tabor attended the graduated schools of English at Duke University, the University of Memphis, and Exeter College at Oxford University in England. She has been a full- and part-time teacher at The Hutchison School and MUS and an instructor at the Meeman Center at Rhodes College. Mrs. Tabor is an active supporter of the arts and education in Memphis. She and her husband, Dr. Owen Tabor, support Teach for America and often plan vacations where excellent Shakespeare productions may be found. She is a full-time mother and grandmother.
Owen Britt Tabor, MD (Past President) was born in Germantown (Philadelphia), PA, the only Yankee by birth at that time in a very large Southern family. He was schooled by Quakers at the William Penn Charter School, then by Methodists at Wesleyan University (CT), and finally by tobacco at Duke University School of Medicine. His wife of nearly 48 years, Margaret Wellford Tabor, has introduced him to the finer things in life, including Tennessee Shakespeare Company. Dr. Tabor has worked as a Navy Flight Surgeon (1965-68) and as an Orthopedic Surgeon since then; but now partially retired, he says, “I am excited about serving with a group of truly exceptional and dedicated people as this organization progresses. Henry V was right when he rallied to those who would recall their own service on St. Crispin’s day at Agincourt – so it is with this remarkable TSC Board…it WILL be remembered!”
Audrey L. Taylor (1917-2012) was a long-time resident of Shelby County. Her family is now the owner of Wildwood Farms in Germantown. She was a member and President of the Board of Directors of the Crippled Children’s Hospital, and a member of the Junior League of Memphis and the Little Garden Club. Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s fifth season is dedicated to Audrey for her great friendship, unswerving loyalty, and heart-felt generosity.
George Walters (1930-2019); Founding Board President) was a long-time and influential community volunteer in Germantown and Shelby County. He was a past Chairman of the Germantown Performing Arts Center and past President of the Germantown Community Theatre. In addition to serving on numerous Boards and commissions, Mr. Walters was a Co-Founder and the President of Germantown Community Television Foundation, and the President of the popular Germantown Festival.