August Scarpelli (Artistic Director) is a graduate of Hiram College (‘16 B.A. Theatre Arts, magna cum laude) and has been working in NEO theatre since 2012. He has been: Carpenter, House Manager/Volunteer Coordinator, Assistant Operations Manager at Cain Park; Technical Director/Set Designer, Artistic Associate, Actor at Ensemble Theatre; Set Designer, Actor at Convergence Continuum; Production/Stage Manager for the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival; Technical Director/Set Designer, Adjunct Professor of Theatre History at Hiram College; Co-founder of the Shahrazad Theatre Company based in Cleveland Heights; and now serves as the Artistic Director at Western Reserve Playhouse. At WRP, he has: acted in Lost in Yonkers as Uncle Louie, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play as George Bailey, WIT as Jason Posner, and The Spitfire Grill as Eli; directed Tartuffe, Blithe Spirit, The Underpants, The Weir, Cyrano de Bergerac, and The Winter’s Tale for the WRP stage and King Lear, The Seagull, The Witch of Edmonton, and three of Chekhov’s early short plays for the WRP Connect virtual platform; and served as a proud member of the board of trustees and the Education Director. August is honored to be able to communicate his experience and passion for this, the most human of arts, to storytellers of all ages, creatives working behind the scenes, and the WRP community. August misses John Prine very much and admits his love of Pina Coladas and gettin’ caught in the rain.