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Personnel Changes at the Washington Revels

For more information, contact: 202-723-7528; info@revelsdc.org

Executive Director Cindy Speas Moves On

The Washington Revels has with great regret accepted the resignation of Cindy Speas as Executive Director and Producer. Cindy is leaving to become the Director of Community Affairs for the Washington Regional Transplant
Consortium, the organ and tissue recovery organization for the Washington region, where she had previously worked for eight years before joining the Revels office staff in 2001.

Cindy has been a wonderful leader over the past three years. Among many other achievements, she produced the Victorian and Romani (Gypsy) Christmas productions, Spring Revels celebrations at the National Cathedral,
as well as year-round educational presentations in partnership with the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution’s Discovery Theater and area schools. Audience size is increasing, the Washington Revels is more widely known, and the quality of our seasonal celebrations is at an all-time high.

All of us join in wishing Cindy the very best in her new position, and we look forward to her continued involvement with Revels, since she has played many roles over the years with the Washington Revels, including those of backstage volunteer, stage mother, and chorus member.

The Revels Board of Directors will be taking the next few months to consider how best to fill Cindy’s (metaphorically) very large shoes, as well as reviewing possible ways to restructure the Revels staff.

Interim Excutive Director, John Clewett, Appointed

In the meanwhile, the Board is delighted to announce the appointment of another long-time Reveler, John Clewett, as Interim Executive Director through the end of the fiscal year in June. John first joined the Revels Chorus in 1987, and over the years he has helped write and present various mummer’s plays, portrayed “the Green Man” in the Spring Revels, helped organize Revels Pub Sings, and produced last fall’s tribute to WETA-FM’s Mary Cliff. He has previously served as Artistic Administrator of the Choral Arts Society of Washington and Executive Director of the Washington Men’s Camerata. John can be reached at jclewett@revelsdc.org.

The next four months will be a busy time for Revels, not only with ongoing preparation for the 2004 Christmas Revels (“The King and the Fool”), but also with presentation of the Spring Revels and a Revels Pub Sing, Revels outreach performances at the Library of Congress, the Spring issue of the Revelations newsletter, and chorus auditions in June. If John faces any insurmountable questions about any of these activities, he may seek the counsel of Cindy, who, conveniently, is his wife.

New Music Director Appointed -- Betsy Miller

In other personnel news, the Washington Revels is pleased to announce the appointment of Betsy Miller as Music Director. She will prepare the Revels Chorus for outreach performances, the Spring Revels and the Christmas
Revels. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Betsy has sung with the Revels Chorus since 1993, and has directed groups of Revels singers at the National Cathedral Flower Mart, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. She also sings with the Master Chorale of Washington and their chamber ensemble, and is alto section leader at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in McLean, Virginia. A website designer for the Library of Congress, Betsy also designed and maintains the Washington Revels website, www.revelsdc.org. She is already hard at work researching new music for the Christmas show, and we are delighted to welcome her to this new facet of her involvement with Revels.

About the Washington Revels

An established non-profit cultural institution in D.C. for over 20 years, the Washington Revels is dedicated to reviving and promoting communal, seasonal celebrations. Featuring the music, dance, drama and folk tales of a particular place and time, each Revels production enables audiences of all ages to experience age-old cultural traditions that affirm and support our shared community. The Washington Revels is one of twelve affiliated organizations across the country whose parent organization, Revels, Inc. in Watertown, Massachusetts, was formed by John Langstaff, concert baritone, music educator and prize-winning author.

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