White Heron Student Company
Nina Hellman (left), Jeremy Shamos (center) and Celia Keenan-Bolger (right)
White Heron
Theatre Company
What started as a dream to take a classical play to the world’s largest performing arts festival in the world, has turned into Nantucket’s first professional Equity theatre in the heart of historic Downtown Nantucket.
White Heron produces transformative, professional productions of classical and contemporary plays while developing new work for the American stage and creating innovative educational experiences based on that work.
Through our unique process of collaboration and building a tight ensemble of professional actors, we explore the text and create deeply specific and beautifully drawn characters and a very vivid, enveloping world of the play that allows the audience to live through the characters on the stage. The audience becomes more than just a witness to the action of the play but rather an emotional participant in the drama, fully engaged in the journey of the theatrical story.
The essence of our work explores basic human truths in classical and contemporary text. The experience is universal. It crosses all divides – social, economic and cultural. Our educational outreach programs provide a foundation for developing life skills discovered through this theatrical process.
We at White Heron Value :
…creating compelling transformational theatre
…incubating new plays on Nantucket for export to the world stage
…engaging audiences in meaningful experiences
…educating young people and the community through creative
curriculum based on our work, as a model of the creative process.
2018 White Heron Student Company Mixtape Volume 2
White Heron
Student Company
As the founder and artistic director of the White Heron Theatre Company (WHTC), Lynne Bolton and executive director, Michael Kopko always knew that they wanted to find a way for their work to give back to the community. This idea became as central to White Heron's mission as the dramatics.
In 2012, Lynne and Michael established the Nantucket Theatre Institute with the intention of one day providing a place for local and nationally recognized artists to develop their new works, while simultaneously offering the community access to the wealth of talent and training on the White Heron stage.
With the grand opening of the theater in the summer of 2016, the company was finally poised to pursue the expansion of it's educational mission. In December of 2016, Tiffany Gallo joined the team as managing director of the Institute, now known as the Student Company, and focused on launching the inaugural summer season with Practical Intensives for students that, true to White Heron's mission, related directly back to the work being produced on the WHTC main stage.
Tiffany broadened the educational opportunities for dedicated student and adult members of the community, through NTI's A.I.R. (Artists In Residence) initiatives and Practical Intensives. These programs offer applicants the opportunity to expand their theatrical knowledge and proficiency, under the tutorage of accomplished artists and theatre educators.
By providing educational Intensives in the various disciplines of the performing arts, White Heron and the Student Company seek to enrich the creative and cultural life of our island community.
White Heron's Student Company is thrilled to engage students and the community in the study of theatrical disciplines by providing access to local and nationally recognized professional artists and arts institutions.
In addition to providing theatre education intensives, White Heron and the Student Company are committed to bringing distinctive and diverse new plays to Nantucket; providing a space where artists are free to create, experiment, receive feedback from live audiences, and fine tune their work. This is the final phase in a new play's development as it gains a foothold on the national stage.
White Heron Theatre Company and the Student Company are proud to play a role in the education and creation of new plays for the American Stage.
 Lynne BoltonWhite Heron Theatre Company, Founder and Artistic Director |  Michael KopkoWhite Heron Theatre Company, Executive Director |  Tiffany GalloStudent Company, Founder & Consultant |
|---|---|---|
 Jimmy CalitriStudent Company, Creative Director |  Joe ShortStudent Company, Associate Creative Director |  Jenna TremblayStudent Company, General Manager |
 Emily TurtleStudent Company, Music Director |  Caprial HarrisStudent Company, Assistant Director & Choreographer |  Tim BrownStudent Company, Stage Manager |
 Karen WheelerStudent Company, Costume Designer |
White Heron's Student Company relies on the generosity of friends, neighbors and patrons of the arts, like you, to help underwrite the cost of creating and producing unique theatrical Experiences for the community (including UnScripted talk-backs, Free tickets for Teachers & Students, and our Artist in Residence (A.I.R.) programs) along with our advanced level training for dedicated students who are interested in taking their skill-set to the next level.
White Heron Theatre Company / Student Company is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization