Board of Directors
Term: August 20212 – July 2023
Jennifer Jones, President
Jennifer is absolutely thrilled to be President of the Board of Directors for their 100th Season! Some previous roles at BVP that Jen has played are: Adelaide (Guys and Dolls), Lucy (Jekyll and Hyde), Aldonza (Man of La Mancha), Marguerite (The Scarlet Pimpernel), Kate (Kiss Me Kate), Martha (1776), Christine (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), and The Witch (Into the Woods). Other favorites include: Marian (The Music Man), Anna (The King and I), Laurey (Oklahoma!), and The Narrator (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). Jennifer is a vocalist for the Gary Greenfelder Orchestra (a 19 piece big band). She is a member of the acapella renaissance group, the Twelfth Night Singers. Jen has also been known to impersonate Marilyn Monroe from time to time! Her daytime gig is playing the role of teacher to a classroom of second and third grade students. Jennifer has a masters degree in early childhood education from Saginaw Valley State University. Jennifer resides in Rochester Hills, Michigan, with her two mini schnauzers (Indy and Dodger) and an American Saddlebred horse (Axel).
Greg Ruvolo, President-Elect
Term: August 2022 – July 2024
Greg is a communications and marketing professional and is a native Michigander. He completed his undergrad and graduate studies at Eastern Michigan University and is a life member of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity. Greg has a passion for volunteering and is involved with many local nonprofit organizations; he even founded his own – The Be Kind. Project (bekindusa.org) in 2021. Greg has appeared in numerous community theater productions including Bernardo in West Side Story, Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz, Bernard in Boeing Boeing, Jim Fingal in Lifespan of a Fact, Howard in Moon Over Buffalo, Nick in Over the River and Through the Woods, and Mortimer Brewster in Arsenic & Old Lace, just to name a few favorites. Greg resides in Lathrup Village, MI, with his husband and their four-legged fur babies.
Dale Feldpausch, Secretary
Term: August 2022 – July 2024
Dale is a Past President and long time member of Birmingham Village Players. He most recently directed Lifespan of a Fact in our 99th season and is assistant directing Arsenic and Old Lace this season.
Tania Velinsky, Treasurer (non-voting)
Tania is an active VP member and is currently serving as Treasurer and Historian. You’ve seen her onstage in South Pacific (Bloody Mary), Lucky Stiff (Rita LaPorta), The Drowsy Chaperone (Mrs. Tottendale), and Nunsense (Sister Mary Amnesia). Offstage, Tania produced Godspell and Anything Goes and handled props for Hello Dolly and Sunset Boulevard. Past roles with Village include board member, editor of The Prompter (our newsletter), and web master. When not at Village Tania works as a Principal Infrastructure Architect with Siemens Digital Industries Software.
“I am happy to call Village Players my theatre home!”
Chuck Goddeeris, Member-at-Large
Term: August 2021 – July 2023
Chuck can usually be found in the booth (or if its a musical, in the center of the auditorium) behind the sound board. He has been a community theatre technician in the Metro Detroit area for the past decade, with the last few years being focused here at Birmingham Village Players. This current season he has worked alongside Greg Ruvolo to organize the lobby renovation and website redesign. Additionally, he is actively working on upgrading the network at the Playhouse so you can better post your experience to Instagram and Facebook and if necessary connect to our assistive listening system to get the audio feed piped directly into your smartphones earbuds.
Joe Vercellone, Member-at-Large
Term: August 2021 – July 2023
Joe Vercellone is an Academic Internal Medicine physician at Ascension Providence Rochester Hospital in Rochester, Michigan. Although his degree was in Film & TV Production from New York University, he spent 20 years in IT consulting before switching to a career in medicine. He dabbled in theater in high school starring as Charlie Brown in Snoopy and still is worried they are going to ask him something on Edgar Allen Poe. He did not return to the stage until 1997 as Herbie in Gypsy. He has since appeared in a number of community theater productions including Bill Sykes in Oliver!, Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and the Boatman in Sunday in the Park with George. Most recently he appeared as Lord Wessex in Shakespeare in Love and John D’Agata in Lifespan of a Fact. Village Players 100th season marks his directorial debut with Arsenic and Old Lace.
Ashley Wickett-Lane, Member-at-Large
Term: August 2021 – July 2023
Ashley Wickett Lane has been a member of Village Players since 2017. You may have seen her as Meg in Leading Ladies and Viola in Shakespeare in Love. She also worked behind the scenes as the Director of Inspecting Carol. Other favorite roles at theaters across the country include Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Hyacinth (Scapin), Henrietta Leavitt (Silent Sky), Hero (Much Ado About Nothing) and Susan Walker (Once in a Lifetime). Ashley is also a teacher and director working at Next Step Broadway in Birmingham and is an Assistant Forensics Coach at Groves High School. She also works as a private audition coach with students working toward college theatre auditions. Ashley holds her BFA in Theatre Performance from The University of Evansville and her MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theatre. She lives in Bloomfield Hills with her husband, fellow actor, Patrick Lane and their two daughters, Grace and Juliet.
Sally Savoie, Member-at-Large
Term: August 2022 – July 2024
Sally has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in performance and has been an active member since 1994. She is a past president serving for the third time on our Board of Directors. She has performed in over 30 community theater productions most of which were with the Village Players. She has served on numerous committees over the past 28 years and currently serves as chair for BVP’s Membership committee. She has also performed in Industrial & instructional film along with local and country-wide commercials. Sally has been the host of two Bloomfield community television programs. She has also produced, co-wrote, and hosted “Village Players 90 years” which was awarded the 2013 Philo Festival #1 Video for “Exellence in Cinematography” and “Best Documentary” – check out the plaque in our Chestnut Lobby! She is also the proud wife of Leo; loving mother to Will, Patrick, Leslie, and Granddaughter Isabelle!
Grace Ward, Member-at-Large
Term: August 2022 – July 2024
Jillian Fredrick, Member-at-Large
Term: August 2022 – July 2024
Jillian Frederick as been a lover and performer of theater for over 30 years. She enjoys being on the stage as well as working backstage and learning all there is to know! She is excited to bring in the 100th season of Birmingham Village Players and share the magic of performing arts with the community. She loves reading and cooking and working out. She lives with her husband, son and 2 labs in Macomb Twp.