Kathryn Noser, President
Kathryn Noser is a lifelong patron of The Company OnStage, having attended her first show at the age of four at The Company OnStage’s original home at St. John’s Presbyterian Church. She began performing with COS in Laura William’s Cinderella in 2006. Since that time, she has performed in and/or directed more than a dozen productions including Godspell, Snoopy!!! The Musical, Doubt, Snow White and Rudolph Rides Again. She joined the Board of Directors in 2008, established the Actors in Wonderland Summer Drama Program in 2010, and has served as President of the Board since 2014. Kathryn has also had the pleasure to work with other theater groups including, Main Street Theater for Youth, Country Playhouse, HITS Theater, ACE Theater and Upstage Theater. Kathryn is a 1996 graduate of Texas A&M University with a BA in Speech Communications. She works in Business Development for Vintage Underwriters and is a volunteer with VICTORY, a branch of the American Cancer Society, a member of the Bellaire Business Association, and a member of the board of the Westbury Area Improvement Corporation.
Jennifer Brown, Vice President
Jennifer Brown has been active at the Company OnStage since 2010. She was originally introduced to the theater by a close family member, who convinced her young son to audition, where he was cast as Christopher Robin in “Winnie The Pooh”. Since then, she has gone on to stage manage several other shows including “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, “Lonestar”, “Laundry and Bourbon”, and “Charlotte’s Web”. She also expanded her experience and ran tech for several different shows including “{adjective}[noun] A Theatrical Symphony in Eighteen Movements” and “Treasure Island”. She currently holds a BS in Criminal Justice from University of Houston: Downtown and is employed at Vintage Underwriters. She joined the board of directors in 2016 and continues to enjoy and cherish her time with COS.
Stephanie Kelso, Treasurer
Stephanie has been active with COS since 2010, starting out as an actor and quickly becoming a jack-of-most-trades, having stage-managed, worked light and sound and serving as both a general board member and an executive board member. She holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and a M.A. in Teaching from Simmons College in Boston, MA. She works as an after-school math tutor for middle and high school students. She enjoys baking and needlepoint crafts.
D. Lee Lozano, Secretary
I am humbled to be a part of a group which initially introduced me to theatre performances, nearly 45 years ago; thus nourishing my passion for creative expression. The Fine Arts, including theatre, sparked increased wonderment for me with storytelling. As a school social worker, acknowledging/advocating various healthy expressions, alongside students/families encompasses a well-grounded cornerstone of this chosen vocation. Cultivating learning and growth of both self and others, displays a transformative process, by which the Fine Arts has remained integral.
Although my interest doesn’t entail performance myself, I am satisfied with simply supporting actresses and actors with their uniquely talented craft(s). Theatre, along with Community, bear the transformative power of indelible moments among multifaceted citizenries. Powerfully, these vehicles of change, contemporaneously enhance our shared existence and our humanity – accentuating the essentialness for the Common Good.
Mak Secrest, Artistic Director
Makaylee “Mak” Secrest (she/her) is a theatre director and arts administrator originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Louisiana State University and brings a passion for storytelling, community-building, and access to the arts to every role she takes on. Mak has supported artistic and administrative teams at Le Petit Theatre, Swine Palace, Theatre Baton Rouge, and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, where she served as a directing intern. Her previous arts administration experience includes serving as Marketing Assistant to the Artistic Director of Swine Palace and the LSU School of Theatre, President of LSU’s University Theatre Alliance, and a committee member on Theatre Baton Rouge’s Play Selection and DEI Committees. Most recently, she completed a literary internship at the Alley Theatre and currently works in their development department as an Individual Giving Associate. Now based in Houston, Mak is excited to grow her artistic practice in the city’s vibrant theatre community and to further Company OnStage’s mission of making excellent theatre accessible to all. (artisticdirector@companyonstage.org)
Andrew Trott, Technical Director
Andrew Trott joined the Company OnStage as Technical Director in 2025, after serving as set designer for the 2024-2025 Season and making an appearance on stage in “A Nice Family Christmas” (2024) as Michael. His previous theatrical experience includes roles behind the curtain and on stage, appearing as some iconic characters such as Romeo (as reimagined by Dr. Seuss), Ugly in “Honk!”, Ebenezer Scrooge, Jeff Moss in “Bells are Ringing”, and Rolf in “The Sound of Music”. Outside of the theatre, Andrew spends his days working as the Lead Automation Developer at Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP’s Houston office.
In his role as Technical Director, Andrew strives to expand COS’s technical capabilities, to prioritize more creativity in set designs, and to empower all volunteers to engage in the behind-the-scenes aspects of the theatre.
Thomas Berkes, Member at Large
Thomas Berkes is an accomplished finance professional with over two decades of experience in corporate finance, debt advisory, and international trade across the Americas and Europe. He holds an M.Sc. in Finance from London Business School and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of São Paulo.
Currently, Thomas serves as Managing Partner at Wealth Alchemists, a corporate finance boutique. Prior to this role, he spent nearly 20 years at Banco Santander, where he held several leadership positions. His career at Santander included establishing and leading Brazil’s #1 structured trade finance franchise, managing debt capital markets, and leading large corporate banking teams in the UK and Spain. This experience resulted in a tenfold increase in business revenue, highlighting his ability to drive growth and build high-performing teams.
Thomas’s commitment to professional development and community is evident through his visiting professorship at an MBA program for Public-Private Partnerships and his volunteer work as the financial director for the Carajás Scouts Group. He is fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and holds key financial certifications including CPA-20 and CFA (Level 1).
Having recently relocated to Houston, Texas, he is actively seeking new opportunities to apply his profound financial acumen, strategic insights, and leadership skills to new ventures and established organizations.
Nicholas Garelick, Member at Large
Nicholas has been a part of the COS family since 2010, working running tech for The Hollow and The Little Mermaid. Performance credits with COS include The Lion In Winter, The Young Man From Atlanta, A Christmas Carol in 60 Minutes or Less, The Pied Piper of Hamlintown, and The Adventures of Robin Hood. He directed the very first Local Authors Series (Bryan Maynard’s “Write Here, Write Now”) and, in 2019, had his own plays featured in {Adjective} [Noun].
Outside of COS, Nicholas is a former President and Artistic Director of Scriptwriters/Houston and board member for Theatre Suburbia, volunteered with the Red Cross for over 10 years, and is currently Communications Specialist at Insperity. His wife, Lauren Hainley, also has a very close connection with Company Onstage.
Randall Kelso, Member at Large
Professor R. Randall Kelso is the Spurgeon E. Bell Distinguished Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law. He teaches and writes primarily in the area of Constitutional Law. He also teaches Contracts, and has taught Professional Responsibility and Jurisprudence. With his wife, Stephanie Fisherman Kelso, he has been involved with Company on Stage (COS) for seven years, attending events, helping prepare or strike sets, supporting fundraising activities, such as the silent auctions or art/craft market, and other such matters.
Crystal LaShan, Member at Large
Crystal LaShan Toussant was born in Houston, TX. While attending Jesse H. Jones High School Crystal received a Sammy Davis Jr. Award for her original dramatic interpretation of the Jewish Community Center’s People Workshop. Crystal graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from Spelman College. While at Spelman College, she was privileged to be a part of the Maya Angelou Transformation Ensemble, where she took master classes from professional choreographers such as Debbie Allen, Otis Sallid (School Daze), and Charles Auggins (Choreographs for Mick Jagger). During Crystal’s career in the Performing Arts, she has been blessed to work on such events as TLC’s Creep Video, OutKast’s Video Git Up, Git Out, 1996 Centennial Olympic Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies, N.A.A.C.P. Image Awards, AFI Salute to Martin Scorsese, The Academy Awards, Nickelodeon, and numerous T.V. & Film projects.
Crystal’s most beloved and treasured work is her 15+ year career as an Arts Educator in Public and Private schools throughout Houston. Crystal is presently teaching Theater Arts at Killough Middle School in Alief ISD. Crystal truly believes that “It is the responsibility of the Extraordinary to help the Ordinary to become Extraordinary!” – Crystal Washington – Toussant 2000. Crystal has created her own Not – For Profit Organization, Heal the World NOW, where they develop programming to address Socio-Economic, Health, and Non-Partisan Political Issues through the Performing, Visual, and Media Arts.
Emily Living, Member at Large
Emily Living is a former educator who is currently working as a freelance social media manager. She fell in love with the performing arts at an early age and feels privileged to continue to pursue her passion at the Company OnStage. Emily began volunteering with COS in 2018 as the Stage Manager for Babe, the Sheep Pig. After joining the board in 2019, she has continued to work on multiple shows per season while co-chairing the Marketing Committee. Emily believes that the Arts have the power to connect and transform communities.
Allison Rozell, Member at Large
Allison Rozell joined the Company OnStage community in their 2024 production of “Charlotte’s Web”, and since growing eight legs and spinning words in a web, she has continued to act, production coordinate, scenic paint, and direct. Allison received her BA in Psychology and Drama from University of St. Thomas, and is a teacher for The Spotlight Project, an inclusive musical theater program for ages K-5. She’s presently a business administrator and teacher for UHCL’s Art School for Children, and is pursuing a further career in Theatre Education and Fine Arts Administration. Allison has a passion for non-profit education and believes in empowering students by adapting curriculum to meet their developmental stage along with emphasizing a focus in the process of growth over the final product. She is so grateful to serve on the COS Board and is excited to use her background in theater and teaching to further support this inspiring and heartwarming community.
Rency Shah, Member at Large
Rency Shah is a project management professional with over 15 years of experience leading large-scale engineering and capital projects across the energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure sectors. In her current role as a Senior Project Engineer, she drives cross-functional collaboration, and operational excellence on complex, multimillion-dollar projects.
She holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business and was recognized with the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence. During her MBA, Rency served as a strategy consultant to several mission-driven organizations, helping shape growth strategies, develop financial models, and build actionable plans to expand community impact.
Rency is passionate about organizations that foster creativity, inclusion, and civic engagement. She is excited to join the board of The Company OnStage, where she looks forward to contributing her expertise in strategy, governance, and operational planning to support the organization’s mission and growth.
Ashley Shaunte, Member at Large
Ashley Shaunte is a multifaceted creative. The actress, writer, (author, contributing writer for digital magazines, and ASCAP licensed songwriter & publisher) director, fashion stylist, podcaster, and more, is always on the move looking for the next adventure of a transcending storytelling opportunity.