Co-Artistic Directors
Gerrad Alex Taylor (he/him/his)
Gerrad is an award-winning director and multidisciplinary theatre artist based out of the Greater Baltimore region and an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His current creative work and research centers around creating space that preserves history and celebrates culture of the Global Majority.
In 2021 he was named one of Baltimore’s “40 Under 40” by the Washington Business Journal. In 2020, he founded Chesapeake Shakespeare’s Black Classical Acting Ensemble (BCAE), an affinity space for black actors interested in training and exposure of the “classics” and what an expansion of the classical canon may look like today. In 2024, Gerrad joined colleague Lizzi Albert to take on the roles of Co-Artistic Directors of Perisphere Theater in Montgomery County, MD.
He holds a BA in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has worked with theatres and educational institutions across the country including the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Perisphere Theater, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Pacific Conservatory Theatre-PCPA, Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, Everyman Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Mosaic Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, and Washington Stage Guild. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and an Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors.
Lizzi Albert (she/her/hers)
Lizzi is a director, actor, and teaching artist who directed Perisphere’s 2023 production of Hazardous Materials, by Beth Kander. Other directing credits include This Historic Night (Seed Productions/Capital Fringe 2018), A Christmas Carol and The Tempest(Chesapeake Shakespeare Company), and an all-female Macbeth (Notre Dame of Maryland University). Acting credits include Avant Bards’ Julius Caesar, Constellation Theater Company’s Absolutely! Perhaps, and several productions with Chesapeake Shakespeare, where she is a company member. Lizzi is interested in creating intimate, expressive, psychologically insightful theater that allows audiences to both see their own experiences reflected on stage and be inspired to seek out new ones. She holds an M.A. in acting from the University of Essex and a BFA in theater from New York University.
Board of Directors
Kia Hunter (she/her/hers) *President
Kia has been involved in the Washington, D.C., theater scene from an early age, most memorably as the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland with Adventure Theater. After a brief period as a television producer, Kia now works in the museum field, emphasizing the convergence of history and performance. Most recently, Kia has collaborated with theaters in D.C. and Charleston, South Carolina, in many capacities, including advisory work, fundraising, reviewing and stage managing. Kia received her B.A. from Davidson College in history, with a minor in theater, and her M.A. in museum studies from George Washington University.
Jeff McDermott (he/him/his) *Secretary
Jeff has been an attorney with the federal government for 14 years, currently serving as investigative counsel to the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of State. He is also the President of the Capitol Hill Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, having previously served as its Treasurer and Secretary. He was a member of the editorial board of the monthly periodical The Federal Lawyer from 1999 to 2010. Jeff has produced, directed, and acted for several theaters in the Washington area. He has been a member of the Rockville Little Theatre Board of Directors since 2012 and currently serves as its Treasurer. Jeff received his B.A. from the College of William and Mary and his J.D. from Georgetown University.
John McCoskey (he/him/his)
John is a media & technology executive with background spanning television, film, broadcasting, and Internet technologies. He is Chief Operating Officer at SpectraRep, a Virginia-based digital technology company. Previous roles include EVP & Chief Technology Officer at the Motion Picture Association where he led global technology policy and strategy; the first-ever CTO at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS); and SVP, Technology and CTO at Discovery Networks. He is an inventor with 27 issued & 28 pending Patents. John received a Technology & Engineering Emmy® award in 2010 for pioneering work on digital television workflows. He is a Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, where he served two terms as a Governor. John has been a director on multiple non-profit and for-profit boards over the past two decades. He holds two MS degrees from Johns Hopkins University (management & computer science) and an electrical engineering degree from Bucknell University.