.png)
Meet the Board
Hetty LaVerne
President
Hetty LaVerne is the president of Juneau Ghost Light Theatre and has been an active board member since 2013. She has directed multiple shows for Ghost Light including Bat Boy: The Musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche and Women Playing Hamlet. She acted in JGLT's productions of Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, Five Women Wearing The Same Dress, and Puffs. Hetty has been an enthusiast for theatre from a very young age. She is a big fan of Broadway musicals, vaudeville style comedy, and classic cinema. If she were to leave the ghost light on for a performer, she would choose Jack Lemmon whose catchphrase before every take was, "Magic time!"
Cate Ross
Vice President
Cate Ross has been a board member with JGLT since 2017. She was born and raised in Juneau and has been doing theatre in one form or another for her whole life. Favorite recent roles include Chorus in Not Medea at Perseverance Theatre, Dale Prist in 5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche with Juneau Ghost Light Theatre, and Gee-Tar in West Side Story with Orpheus Project. She is also a performer in the Juneau drag scene (as drag king Ryder Strong), and has been singing with the mostly acapella/mostly Folk Fest group, Queens. Her favorite thing about living in Juneau is the combination of having both a beautiful environment teeming with opportunities for outdoor exploration, and the thriving and supportive arts community. Cate leaves the ghost light on for all of the performers in JGLT’s and Juneau’s theatre history.
Grace Lee
Treasurer
Grace's theater debut was with JGLT in 2017 with Women Playing Hamlet. Since then, she has embraced her many years of piano lessons, and she music directed JGLT’s Next to Normal, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Bat Boy: The Musical. On her off-time, she works as an attorney with the state. Grace likes any facts that have to do with the human body -- the weirder the better. Grace would leave the ghost light on for Stephen Sondheim, "Titan of the American Musical."
Wendy Byrnes
Secretary
Wendy has been involved in numerous musical and theatrical productions in the Juneau community throughout her life. Musicals were her first love, and still are what fuels her connection to theater. Her first JGLT performance was in 2019's Mixcast, and she has loved being a part of several productions since then, and looks forward to many more!
Some favorite Juneau roles for Wendy include Megan in Puffs with JGLT, Rosalia in West Side Story with the Orpheus Project, and Antonia in Man of La Mancha with Juneau Lyric Opera.
In truth to her musical roots, Wendy would leave the ghost light on for Judy Garland.
Sarah Wallace
Member At-Large
Sarah originally found her way to Juneau in 2017 to work with Perseverance Theatre as the production intern. She would have never predicted she would still be calling Juneau home 8 years later. Sarah grew up acting and fell in love with Stage Management and Production Management when she was 18. She studied stage management in college and graduated with a BFA. Sarah feels so blessed to be welcomed into the Juneau Arts community. She has worked with Theatre Alaska, Perseverance Theatre, KTOO, the JAHC, and Juneau Ghost Light Theatre on numerous projects. Her favorite thing about theatre is meeting new people, collaborating on projects, and encouraging herself and others to take chances. She's a lover of music, baking bread, walking outside, and her cats. She would like to leave the ghost light on for David Bowie.
Ty Yamaoka
Member At-Large
Ty moved to Juneau in 2005 and has worked with Juneau Ghost Light Theatre on Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Tripp), Bat Boy (DaisyLorraine), Puffs (Cedric, Voldy), MixCast 2022, and Dracula (Dr. Arthur Seward - voice). Other credits include: Theatre in the Rough: Cabaret (Clifford Bradshaw), Witch (Cuddy Banks) and Much Ado About Nothing (Claudio); Blue Ticket (Richard); Perseverance Theatre: The Winter Bear Project (Wolf), Whale Song (Nukaaluk), Our Town (George), Cyrano de Bergerac (Valvert), and Oklahoma!; The Orpheus Project: Alcina (Dancer) and West Side Story (Chino). Ty has appeared with Dance Machine International and in eight productions of Juneau Dance Theatre's The Nutcracker, dancing the parts of Herr Stahlbaum, The Nutcracker and the Arabian Coffee Pas de Deux.
Ty would leave the ghost light on for the one and only, Betty White.
Nomi Saxton
Member At-Large
Nomi's first adventure with Juneau Ghost Light Theatre was playing William Morris Barfee in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He joined the board in November 2021. Nomi used to write and perform puppet shows for his stuffed animals as a child and caught the theatre bug when he played the role of First King in his church nativity production at age 9. Despite his extreme stage fright, he has been performing in community theatre since his teen years. Notable roles include: Destiny Players' production of The Little Mermaid, Faerie Home Companion, Pinocchio, Justin Sayre's adaptation of Bellini's Norma, Frederick Graham in his high school production of Kiss Me, Kate; and Romeo in BGSU's production of Romeo and Juliet. Nomi is also an accomplished drag queen (Nomi DeMilo) and performed in NYC for many years.
Nomi would leave the ghost light on for John Mahoney, but with Alan Rickman and Gilda Radner waiting in the wings.