Our Team
MEET US
Cathy Sigman Banner
Executive Director
Cathy Sigman Banner joined The Green Room staff in 2008 as a part-time Administrative Assistant which quickly grew to a full-time position as programs were added and the move was made to the Old Post Office Playhouse. She has also served as Musical Director for at least two shows each season since then, but her association with The Green Room actually began in 1988 when she played for the theatre’s first production of Grease. She had the honor of being onstage in several shows before joining the staff (Anne of Green Gables (2003), Camelot (2003), The Sound of Music (2004), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2005), Fiddler on the Roof (2005), and The Secret Garden (2007)). She also served as instructor for a Musical Theatre class as part of the Creative Works afterschool classes. Cathy is quick to admit that her daughter’s involvement with The Green Room pulled her in as well!
Cathy is a native of Catawba County who attended Bunker Hill High School and earned her Bachelors of Music in Voice from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She served many years in church music as choir director, organist, working with children and handbell groups, and directing or playing for many Christmas programs and church plays. She has taught voice and piano lessons since she was in high school, but her most beloved career has been that of wife to Randy and “Mom” to Matthew, Christina, and Jonathan. She is thankful for the Lord’s many blessings in her life and seeks to honor Him in all that she does.
John David Brown III
Creative Director
John David Brown III is the Creative Director at The Green Room Community Theatre. With a background in Theatre Education, David started The Green Room’s Creative Works after-school drama program. He also cofounded The Green Room Summer Shakespeare Theatre Institute and is a founding member of The Green Bean Players. David has directed and co-directed many shows at The Green Room including Bye, Bye, Birdie, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Annie, and Beauty and the Beast. He is also a playwright (The Clockmaker’s Child, Isabella at the Circus, The Quirky Quest to Find the Unicorn’s Ukulele) and costume designer (MTA Award winner for Into The Woods 2012) David also designs the show posters at The Green Room and the quarterly newsletter.
Originally from Mount Olive, North Carolina, David has a degree in Theatre Education from Appalachian State University with an English endorsement and a concentration in elementary arts. He also has an associate’s degree in Graphic Design from Catawba Valley Community College. He has participated in the Shakespeare Lives program with North Carolina School of the Arts and the Keenan Institute through which he spent time studying at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.
When he is not working at the theatre, David can be found in his art studio. He is a painter and illustrator. He paints whimsical storybook style pieces of art. He has also illustrated a children’s book No, No, Miss Kitty Kat by Michele McCreary and created a companion board game to his play The Quirky Quest to Find the Unicorn’s Ukulele.
Haley Beech
Box Office and Marketing Director
Haley Edwards Beech is the Marketing Director at The Green Room Community Theatre. The Old Post Office Playhouse feels like “home” to her because she grew up spending lots of time at her grandparents’ Furniture Store, located on the square. She remembers walking the block to the old P.O. to check Box 405 and collect the mail. Sweet memories still flood her mind as she enters the building daily.
Haley is a native of Catawba County who graduated from Bandys High School in 1995. She graduated from Meredith College in 1999 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and a minor in Music (Voice). She led worship & played guitar for the college ministry, Cru, all 4 of her years at Meredith/NCSU. Haley has a big heart for Education and has volunteered at Tuttle Elementary serving several years as PTO President. She also was contracted as a Tutor there for 3 years. Currently, Haley serves on the Board of Directors for the Catawba County School Education Foundation.
Haley has been married to Jason since 1999. They met in Branson, MO on a Summer Mission Project with Campus Crusade for Christ. After graduating from college, they went on staff with “Cru” and lived in Wilmington, NC for several years. Her biggest job is being “Mama” to there 2 boys, Landon and Gabriel. It was Gabriel who introduced her to the theatre when he got involved at The Green Room in the second grade. He urged her to audition, and she made her debut performance in “The Dixie Swim Club” in 2016.
Grace Bollinger
Education Director and Production Manager
Grace loves creating theater as a writer, director, actor, and teacher. When she’s not flitting around TGR, you can find her out on a walk with her dogs, spending time with her family, or traveling.
Grace’s hope is to bring more and more students into theater through TGR’s education program, just as she was years ago!
Melissa French
Administrative Assistant
Melissa began her ballet training with Terri Hayes and Anthony Sellars in Huntington Beach, CA. She studied under scholarship with The Pennsylvania Ballet (The Rock). Teachers including Violette Verdy, Roy Kaiser, Gloria Govrin, Lupe Serrano, and David Howard. Melissa was awarded a full tuition
scholarship from the Joffrey Ballet. She attended Orange Coast College as a dance major. As a soloist and principal dancer for Ballet Pacifica, she had roles created especially for her by choreographer such as: David Allan, Anne-Marie DeAngelo, Molly Lynch, Robert Sund, Paul Vasterling, and has danced
principal roles in ballets by George Ballanchine, Lynn Taylor Corbett and Choo-San Goh. In 2001 She joined The Nashville Ballet as a principal dancer and went on to perform in Swan Lake, Giselle, The Nutcracker, Les Patineurs, Firebird, Dracula, Pas de Quatre as well as many original works. She has taught at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, Ballet Pacifica in Irvine, and The University of Cailfornia, Irvine. From 2011-2014 she was the Artistic Director of The NewArt School of Ballet in North Carolina and was awarded The Innovative Artist Grant from the United Arts Council of Catawba County. There
she created Alice and Wonderland, Cinderella & The Nutcracker. From 2015-2017 she was Artistic Director and founder of Hickory Ballet Academy where she staged and choreographed Sleeping Beauty,
The Nutcracker, Paquita, Peter and the Wolf & Giselle. Melissa received grants from The United Arts Council. Most recently Melissa worked for Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian nonprofit humanitarian organization, in donor ministries and merchandise. She comes to the Greenroom with over 30 years of
performing arts experience in nonprofit organizations.
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