Cityfolk Welcomes New Staff

Cityfolk is proud to announce three new staff members who have joined our ranks. Please join us in welcoming them.

Chicago native Shannon Blair is our new Office Manager. One of her primary responsibilities is the box office, so you will have many opportunities to speak with her. Shannon has a Bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts, focusing on Lighting Design. She moved to Dayton 9 years ago and is happy to be working in the arts again. Asian and African rhythms are favorites, so she loved Huun-Huur-Tu and is looking forward to Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba next month.

Accountant Syliva Stein was born and raised here in Dayton. She has done the books for the Human Race Theatre Company for the last three years, and is sharing her time with us now as well. Syvlia enjoys taking a break from the numbers by hiking and spending time with her family, and is looking forward to seeing Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in the spring.

Just this week, Jean Howat Berry stepped into Kelsa Rieger’s shoes as Education and Outreach Manager, and head of the Culture Builds Community program (CBC). Originally from Springfield, Jean taught and directed in Columbus during graduate school, moving to Dayton several years ago to become Youth Theatre Director at Dayton Playhouse, designing a multi-cultural summer program, leaving in 1996 to stay home with her young children. In the last decade, Jean has ben a residency artist for Ohio Arts Council, led teen fellowship for St. Paul's Episcopal Church, taught in education programs for Victoria Theatre, Muse Machine, The Human Race, Linden Education & Arts Program, and East End Community Services, where she became involved with CBC.