Staff

2023 - 2024 Season

Theater By Women For Everyone!

Our Staff

Suzan Fete
Artistic Director

A graduate of University of Illinois, Suzan co-founded Renaissance Theaterworks in 1993. Favorite Renaissance Theaterworks projects include: directing Topdog/Underdog, The Shape Of Things, Blackbird, Neat, Top Girls, The Road To Mecca and most recently The How and the Why, touring Neat to South Africa in 2013 and finishing as a finalist twice with Lucky Numbers and All Of The Everything in the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, 2015 and 2019. She is especially honored to have received Milwaukee Magazine’s 2022 BETTY Award in the Groundbreaker category. Suzan lives happily in Wauwatosa with her husband, Jeff.

Lisa Rasmussen
Managing Director

This season kicks off Lisa's fifteenth season at RTW which means she's been here for half of its life! Lisa started as RTW’s’ development director in 2008. In December 2017, Lisa was promoted to the position of Managing Director. Since then, she has overseen 13 full productions, four BRINK New Play Festivals and the move to this beautiful performance space (the most accessible theatre in town.)  Lisa received her BA in Theater and Psychology from Cardinal Stritch University in 2003. Lisa loves living in Bay View with husband Jake, daughter Anna and puppy Bjorn. Happy 30th anniversary to you, dear reader, and the whole RTW community. Thank you for making this magic possible.

Jayne Regan Pink
Artistic Associate

Born in London, Jayne studied at the Royal Ballet School. Hailed as one of the finest dramatic dancers of her generation, she serves on the faculty of the Milwaukee Ballet where her partner, Michael Pink, is the artistic director. Jayne has traveled internationally as a ballet coach and worked as a dialect coach, choreographer, and movement director. Her local credits include Happy Days and Neat (RTW); Matilda, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Elephant and Piggie, and Urinetown (First Stage Children’s Theater); and Happy Now, The Norman Conquests, and A Christmas Carol (Milwaukee Rep). When her son, Max Pink, was cast in Russian Transport (RTW 2018), she became more involved with the theater and served on the board of directors.

Sarah Kriger Hwang
Marketing Director

Sarah Kriger Hwang returns to Renaissance Theaterworks after a 10-year hiatus. Sarah first served as RTW’s Marketing Director from 2003-2012. She is a Milwaukee native and a Graduate of Nicolet High School. She then went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications from Indiana University-Bloomington and a Master of Arts - Business from the Bolz Center for Arts Administration from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Sarah has spent her career in theater marketing and marketing research having worked at Skylight Opera Theatre (now Skylight Music Theatre), Court Theatre at the University of Chicago, C&R Research (Chicago) and, of course, Renaissance Theaterworks.  

Sarah is a board trustee of the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and also serves on the Society’s CEO Advisory Committee for Diversity Equity and Inclusion. Sarah is also the lead vocalist for a local band “Squirrel!”, a laid-back and somewhat ridiculous group of musicians who play a variety of rock genres.

Dana Dossett
Development Director

Dana holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from Drake University and a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. She joined RTW in 2018 and is proud to serve this mission alongside such a dedicated team. She loves exploring Milwaukee with her family.

Maria Pretzl
Marketing Manager

Maria Pretzl is an Emmy nominated writer, director and producer. She earned a BFA in Film Production and a BA in Theater Studies from UW-Milwaukee in 2014 and co-founded Traveling Lemur Productions LLC in 2015.Theatre credits include Juniper Flies (Playwright, Renaissance Theaterworks) Holiday Cards (Director, Renaissance Theaterworks), Coriolana (Director, Cooperative Performance), Roommates (Playwright, Cooperative Performance), She Kills Monsters (Director, Village Playhouse). She also published the short play Fancy People Like Fondue as part of Rogue's Gallery with Stage Partners in 2022. 

Her short film, SUPER DAD!, played in 15 festivals around the world and won three awards; it is currently available to stream on Vimeo. She earned her regional Emmy nomination with a collaboration with First Stage on the film CHRISTMASTOWN COMES TO FIRST STAGE in 2021.

Maria also served as Interim Network Director and First Draft Coordinator for Chicago Dramatists in 2021. She lives with her partner, Nate Schardin, and their opinionated Maine Coon mix, T’Challa.

Bailey Wegner
Production Manager

Bailey joined Renaissance Theaterworks in the summer of 2017. Her production and stage manager credits with RTW include The Cake, Belonging, Actually, The Roommate, Annie Jump And The Library Of Heaven, and Photograph 51, as well as four BRINK New Play Festivals. Assistant stage manager credits include Happy Days, Top Girls, and Russian Transport. Bailey has also worked with Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Wild Space Dance, and Kohl's Wild Theater.

 

Ryan Rehak
Community Engagement Manager

Ryan is a graduate of Carroll University with a Bachelor of Science in Theatre & Arts Management, While on staff at the playbill publisher Footlights he founded the Footlights People's Choice Awards. For RTW, Ryan works with the Fran Bauers Young Critics Project, community partners, and local organizations to develop special events. He has a variety of performance and directing credits, and served as the associate managing director of Waukesha Civic Theatre. In 2014, he founded Outskirts Theatre and is the artistic director. Currently, he hosts a weekly sobriety and mental health podcast called better-ish, and lives with his husband, Brayden, and their cat, Burt Reynolds.

Dog, The Bunny
Chief Therapy Officer

Dog Peter Hunsdorfer joined the Renaissance Theaterworks' team in 2014, after his theatrical debut in THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN-IN-THE-MOON MARIGOLDS with Splinter Group. Dog prides himself in being an expert stress reliever and professional fur-shedder. His hobbies include chewing cords, licking salt off of shoes, hiding in tiny spaces, and eating carrots. When not hopping about the office, Dog can be found in his "office" laying inside his purple tube.