Theatre Community Benevolent Fund

Our address has changed- please use this updated address to send applications or donation checks. Thanks so much!!

Maurice Emmanuel Parent is an actor, singer, dancer, educator, and mentor originally from the Washington, D.C. area. He is the Co-Founder and Co-Producing Artistic Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective, ”a black theatre company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston through theater.” As an actor, he has performed Off-Broadway and regionally at theatres throughout the Greater Boston Area and across the country. He has won two Elliot Norton Awards, 3 Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) awards, and an ArtsImpulse Award, and is a resident company member of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project. . An educator for over a decade, Maurice’s one man show about his experiences as a Boston Public School teacher entitled Mr Parent (written by Melinda Lopez and conceive with Megan Sandberg-Zakian) is part of the Lyric Stage’s 2021-2022 season. Currently, Maurice is a Professor of The Practice at the Tufts University Department of Theatre Dance and Performance Studies, and is a Consulting Producer for the Huntington Theatre Co.

Joe is a local director, writer, actor and educator who concentrates on new plays. He is the founding Artistic director of Centastage which develops and produces new works by local writers. Joe is a senior affiliated faculty member at Emerson College where he teaches acting and serves as the Artistic Director of NewFest, a student new works festival. He holds an MFA from Emerson College.

Cheryl is a professional actress and arts leader with stage, screen, television and voice-over experience. Originally from Brooklyn NY, Cheryl learned her craft by working both on and off-stage. Some of her regional credits include: The American Place Theatre and The Women’s Project, Theatre Matrix and Theater for the New City, The American Repertory Theatre, Lyric Stage Company, The Huntington, Wheelock Family Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, Gloucester Stage, Zeitgeist Stage Co., Queer Soup and ImprovBoston. Most recently she was honored to perform onstage with the Boston Pops in the July 4th Spectacular and has performed in improv festivals in NYC, Toronto and Chicago. Cheryl’s first board experience was serving on the board of Theatre Matrix in NYC. Since moving to Boston, she has served on five boards, including the Nicholas Green Scholarship Fund and ImprovBoston. Currently she serves on the boards of StageSource (former VP) and TCBF, the advisory board of Beyond Classical Theatre and on the DEI Task Force for ImprovBoston.

Robert has been part of the Boston Theatre Community since 1994. He a member of AEA and has appeared on stage at most of the theatres in and around Boston. He has a BA in Theatre Michigan State University and an MBA from New Hampshire College. During the day he works at Fidelity Investments to pay the mortgage.

Sarah is a Boston-based actor/director/educator whose primary love is the stage. She is a founding company member of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, with whom she has performed close to 25 roles since their inception. She also has been seen locally at A.R.T., Boston Playwrights, the Charles Playhouse, Gloucester Stage Co., Greater Boston Stage Co., Huntington Theatre, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, and New Repertory Theatre, among others. Beyond the regional, Sarah has graced stages in New Hampshire, NYC, So Carolina, the Berkshires, Vermont, Taipei, Moscow and Belfast, Northern Ireland. She served on the StageSource board for 10 years before joining TCBF, and currently lives in Watertown, MA with her family.

Alexandra Smith is a multi-hyphenate theatre artist and educator with primary focuses in directing and producing. She joined the TCBF board in 2016 and is super passionate about making sure people in all corners of the Boston theatre community know about this resource. She is a Company Member of Open Theatre Project, a Core Collaborator of The Big Times Project, Artistic Director at Deana’s Educational Theater, and a teaching artist for many companies throughout Greater Boston. Alex likes running 5K and 10K races and wants you to be her running buddy. She has an MA in Theatre Education from Emerson College and a BA in Theatre Performance from Rhode Island College.

Brian Richard Robinson has been a soloist with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and was a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for 25 years, performing in Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, and numerous international venues. Since his professional Boston theater debut in 1999, he has worked at many Boston area companies, including SpeakEasy Stage, The Lyric Stage Company, The New Repertory Theater, and Wheelock Family Theater. While an undergraduate at Yale University, Brian Sang with The Whiffenpoofs and The Baker’s Dozen. He is also a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and currently works for a UK-based biotechnology company.

Kira Troilo is a professional writer, choreographer and performer, and is honored to also be the newest member of the TCBF board. Recent local performing credits include Little Women, In the Heights (Wheelock Family Theatre), Caroline, or Change (Moonbox Productions), Gypsy, Camelot (Lyric Stage), Sister Act (NextDoor Theater) and Hairspray (Palace Theatre). Recent choreography credits include Parade (Moonbox — Elliott Norton Nomination), TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever (SpeakEasy Stage), Make Way for Ducklings (Wheelock/BU), The Little Mermaid (IRNE Nomination), Jesus Christ Superstar, Aida (Fiddlehead Theatre Company). She also recently assistant directed Admissions at SpeakEasy Stage Company. Kira graduated with a B.F.A. from Emerson College. She lives in Framingham with her husband Jared and her son Levi. Read more about her life over at biracialmom.com.

An artist and educator for what seems like her entire life, Ilyse has been seen onstage and TV across the country. You may catch her enjoying Dunkin’ Donuts coffee or greeting you as your friendly neighborhood CVS pharmacist. Onstage, she has played roles ranging anywhere from a dancing mouse to a grief-stricken mother. Ilyse is an award-winning director and choreographer having received two Elliot Norton Awards, including one for Best Choreography for her original work on the World Premiere of Swan Lake in Blue: A Jazz Ballet. Ilyse teaches dance, drama, theater history, story adaptation, and acting for students who span the ages of 16 months to 96 years. Ilyse holds a BS in Communication/Theater from Northwestern University, certification in theater from the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, and an Ed.M. from Harvard University. She teaches public speaking, storytelling, and presentation skills for Mohr Collaborative and Ovation. Ilyse sits on the StageSource Board and is the Clerk for TCBF.