Theatre is often celebrated for its actors, the faces in the stage lights and the voices that deliver the playwright’s words. Yet behind every powerful production stands a guiding force that shapes everything from what you see the actors doing on stage, to the visual magic from designers, and seamless execution of technicians. It’s the director.
The vision of a director transforms a script into an experience. Whether interpreting a glorious caper in the French countryside and a backstage romp during the making of Gone with the Wind or staging a cold war espionage comedy, developing precedent for a world premiere production, or breathing life into a favorite holiday classic, it’s the director who determines how the story will unfold. They unify performances, design elements, and technical components into a single artistic vision.
In an art form built on collaboration, the director is the compass. Without direction, theatre can become fragmented, with strong direction, it becomes transformative, helping Third Avenue PlayWorks deliver theatre worth talking about in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
We are pleased to announce our directors for the 2026 season at TAP!
Heroes
April 22 – May 10
Co-Directed by: Jacob Janssen & Dan Klarer
Selected Production Credits – Directing: A Gift of the Magi, Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, I Carry Your Heart With Me, Birds of North America, Slow Food, Third Avenue PlayWorks; Carrie: The Musical, 10,000 Grey, Studio Theatre; Fuga Mundi, Baltimore Center Stage; A Bright New Boise, The Maids, Richard III, Trouble in Mind, Contractions, The Theatre School; Supplication, Strangers on a Train, Source Festival; Camp Rock, Adventure Theatre; The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Plimoth Players; Associate Directing: Dishwasher Dreams, Merrimack Rep & The Old Globe; Jarman, Force/Collision; Assistant Directing: Gun & Powder, Signature Theatre; Nightwatch, A View From The Bridge, The Goodman; Red Speedo, Studio Theatre; The Totalitarians, Woolly Mammoth; Prospero’s Storm, Chicago Playworks. He has produced work for The COOP, Studio Theatre, Mosaic Theater, American Theater Company, Woolly Mammoth, Baltimore Center Stage. Jacob holds an MFA in directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University and a BFA in acting from UW-Stevens Point.
Selected Production Credits – The 39 Steps, Jeeves Saves the Day, Stones In His Pockets, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, Every Brilliant Thing, Isaac’s Eye, Greater Tuna, Santaland Diaries, (Third Avenue PlayWorks); Guys and Does, Victory Farm (Northern Sky Theatre); Miss Holmes, The Drowsy Chaperone, Peter and the Starcatcher (Peninsula Players); The Three Musketeers, Henry V, Merry Wives of Windsor (Door Shakespeare); Guys On Ice (Milwaukee Rep); How I Became A Pirate (Children’s Theater Madison); Jeeves Saves The Day (*Jeff Nom), (First Folio); Whistling In The Dark (Artists’ Ensemble); Commercial credits: “Fight The Clean Fight” CLR Spot. Dan holds a BA from UW-Stevens Point and an MA from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. As the Education Coordinator at TAP, Dan teaches workshops and classes for youth and adults. Endless love to Sara
Moonlight and Magnolias
June 3 – 21
Directed by: Nicole Ricciardi
Select Directing Credits: The Book Club Play, Third Avenue PlayWorks; Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune (summer 2026), The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Time Stands Still, Creditors, 4000 Miles, The Taming, The How and The Why, Cassandra Speaks, Shakespeare and Company; Time Stands Still, New Century Theatre; Above Water, Berkshire Playwrights Lab; Cassandra Speaks, The Nora at Central Square Theater; Happy Anniversary, Samuel French OOB; The Bird and the Two-Ton Weight, Ars Nova Out Loud/Bushwick Arts; Several new plays for Youngblood/Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Bats/Flea Theater. Associate/Assistant Director: The Belle of Belfast, Irish Repertory Theatre; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard II, Shakespeare and Company;, Melissa Arctic, Two River Theatre; The Cenci, The Government Inspector, Red Bull; Faculty, The Theatre School at DePaul. MFA, Carnegie Mellon University. Member, SDC. www.nicole-ricciardi.com
Red Herring
July 15 – August 9
Directed by: Karen Estrada
Selected Production Credits-Acting: The 39 Steps,The Mystery of Irma Vep, I Carry Your Heart With Me, 5th of July-reading, Murder Girl-reading, Third Avenue Playhouse; Frozen, Finding Nemo, The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors, The Amazing Lemonade Girl, First Stage Milwaukee; Spring Awakening, The Full Monty, Into the Woods, Skylight Music Theater; Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, Great Expectations, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, Crimes of the Heart, Jeeves in Bloom, Chamber Theater; Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven, Honour, Enfrascada, Smell of the Kill, Renaissance Theaterworks; Silent Sky, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Next Act Theater; Ruddigore, 1776, Milwaukee Opera Theater; Disney on Classic Directing: Amadeus, Skylight Music Theater;Jeeves Saves the Day, Third Avenue PlayWorks; On the Wings of a Mariposa, Little Women, First Stage Milwaukee; Bright Star, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Songs of Note, Marquette University Theater; Almost, Maine, Next Act Theater; Karen received her BFA in Acting from UW-Stevens Point.
The Call List
September 23 – October 11
Directed by: Jacob Janssen
Selected Production Credits – Directing: A Gift of the Magi, Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, I Carry Your Heart With Me, Birds of North America, Slow Food, Third Avenue PlayWorks; Carrie: The Musical, 10,000 Grey, Studio Theatre; Fuga Mundi, Baltimore Center Stage; A Bright New Boise, The Maids, Richard III, Trouble in Mind, Contractions, The Theatre School; Supplication, Strangers on a Train, Source Festival; Camp Rock, Adventure Theatre; The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Plimoth Players; Associate Directing: Dishwasher Dreams, Merrimack Rep & The Old Globe; Jarman, Force/Collision; Assistant Directing: Gun & Powder, Signature Theatre; Nightwatch, A View From The Bridge, The Goodman; Red Speedo, Studio Theatre; The Totalitarians, Woolly Mammoth; Prospero’s Storm, Chicago Playworks. He has produced work for The COOP, Studio Theatre, Mosaic Theater, American Theater Company, Woolly Mammoth, Baltimore Center Stage. Jacob holds an MFA in directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University and a BFA in acting from UW-Stevens Point.
It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Door County
December 2 – 27
Directed by: Samantha Martinson
Select production credits – Directing: Dinner with the Duchess, Next Act; Sandra, Two Crows Theatre Company; Great Expectations, Door Shakespeare; Gloria, University of MN, BFA; She Kills Monsters, First Stage; fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life, Carthage College; The Wolves, Marquette University; ‘Neath the Hills of Bastogne, Sunstone Studios MKE; The Tempest, Mad Rogues; Twelfth Night, Milwaukee Youth Theater. Assistant Directing: Ring Round the Moon, American Players Theatre; A Year with Frog and Toad, Children’s Theater Company; Artemisia, Forward Theater. Samantha is the festival producer for World Premiere Wisconsin, a yearlong statewide festival celebrating new plays and musicals. She has worked on administrative and artistic staff with Playwrights’ Center, American Players Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Door Shakespeare, and First Stage. She is a Kennedy Center Directing Intensive alum. samanthamartinson.com