Joseph Bernardo
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Bernardo has been an avid audience member since his pre-school years. He is most proud of having seen all 4 Dysarts in the original run of Equus. Nowadays he can be found at his concierge service City Lights Entertainment, or puttering around Hope & Anchor Diner, his restaurant in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Anne DeAcetis
DeAcetis is Division 13 Productions’ Development Director. Full bio…

Michael E. Downs
A career scenic designer of over four hundred productions in thirty-two countries, spanning four continents, thirty-four of the United States and twenty-two of his forty years... and ranging from corporate theatre to mobile marketing to live performance to exhibitry to film, television, and video.

Downs is a senior design director for the Emmy Award winning design firm of Production Design Group and most recently served as the creative director for Production Plus Technologies, Inc. in Burr Ridge, Il. Prior to that he served as senior designer for NYC-based Hotopp Associates.

He has created scenery for multi-international tours of several musical productions, including My Fair Lady (starring Richard Chamberlain), the acclaimed South American tour of the musical Grease, directed by Joanna Settle and Wild Women Blues (starring Linda Hopkins). Michael's designs have won him two Mary Jane Teall Awards and three Sarah Awards.

In addition to his theatrical event solutions, he has created the illustrated visual imagery of several books for children and has served as in-house designer/educater for the Boston Conservatory, Hampshire College and the Wichita, Kansas Public School System.

Katherine Hood, Co-Chair
Hood has been with The Juilliard School Drama Division since 1988 and is currently the administrative director of that program. Her previous professional background includes work as a producer, production stage manager, production manager and company manager including several years of work on the Grammy and MTV awards. She received a BFA in directing and stage management from Wright State University.

William Loesch
Loesch is a principal in the Chicago law firm of Goldberg, Kohn, Bell, Black, Rosenbloom & Moritz, Ltd. Loesch specializes in corporate law, and advises businesses in a variety of matters including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic alliances, and financing transactions. He also has specialized expertise in education law, including mergers and acquisitions of post-secondary schools. Loesch has provided advice and counsel to D13 since its founding in Chicago in 1995. Despite numerous requests that he relocate to New York, Loesch continues to reside in Chicago.

Joanna Settle, Co-Chair
Settle is Division 13 Productions’ Artistic Director. Full bio…

Katie Taber
Taber is Division 13 Productions’ Managing Director. Full bio…