Buckeye Community Theatre
Board of Directors
Board Member Emeritus
Susan Becks
Susan has been a resident of Medina for 25 years and is the Founder of Buckeye Community Theatre. She was active in the Medina County Arts Council and the Buckeye Schools Foundation and proposed they help her fund and create a local theatre to bring the arts to the rural community. Along with the support of many local volunteers, she helped the theatre to grow into a popular youth theatre that served children all over
Northeast Ohio area. She was President and producer of the shows for 15 years and retired to start her own Travel business called Footsteps World Travel.
Susan has 3 grown children who were all involved in the theater in some way and a Granddaughter who was in many of the productions until she aged out of them. Her husband Paul was a huge support to the theatre and spent many a long night doing whatever was needed to get ready for a show. It really was a family team effort.
The Becks family has hosted 8 Exchange students that all attended Buckeye Schools and her daughter Lindsay was an exchange student in Belgium. Through her love of people from all over the world, Susan has grown her travel business and helps her clients travel the globe. Travel is now her passion but her heart will always be with Buckeye Community Theatre!
Her greatest joy has always been seeing youth on stage gaining confidence and using their creativity in a way they do not have in school or their daily lives. They have always amazed her with their ability to overcome their fears and shine on the stage.. Whether the kids went on to college for theatre or not, they took the lessons of what they learned with them
President
Susan Dacek
Susan Dacek is the President of Buckeye Community Theatre. She has been with BCT since 2018. Susan was born in North Carolina and moved to Virginia where she attended Marymount University in pursuit of a Degree in Psychology. She has enjoyed numerous careers including being a bank manager and a successful new home sales manager. Susan is currently the Vice President of the Buckeye Music Boosters at Buckeye High School.
Susan has a strong love for theatre and musicals and was introduced to BCT in 2018 when her daughter was cast in The Little Mermaid Jr. Susan became heavily involved with BCT and was later asked to become a board Member. Susan has two children, her son Doran who graduated last year, and Lexi who has been in several local musicals and several Buckeye High School musicals. She has fought to keep BCT afloat through members moving on when their kids graduated and the horror of covid. Susan is ABSOLUTELY thrilled to get things going again. She promises to create a fun and exciting environment. We will strive to educate the local youth about theatre and what happens on and off stage. It is important to her that theatre is available to local youth, as many would otherwise not have opportunities until Jr. High or High School.
Susan is so incredibly thankful to so many people that have reached out to help her save this incredible organization and she can’t wait to get the kids back on stage in several wonderful upcoming performances.
Vice President
Laura Hind-Crosher
Laura has supported theater for years both in Ohio and Honolulu and regularly attends productions in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles when traveling. Community theater in Northeast Ohio became a focus recently when her daughter Amelia asked to audition for plays and musicals in 2021. Amelia’s love of acting and performing as well as the friendships she has made with the theater kids inspired Laura to take a more active role in growing the theater locally near her home in Brunswick.
Laura is a native Hawaiian (kanaka maoli) and was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii where most of her large family resides. She was transplanted to Ohio from Hawaii after losing a bet to enjoy the seasons of Ohio, winter and summer. She is an avid beginner golfer, enjoys any type of water sport, and learning to play Pickleball with her husband Mike, daughter, and occasionally out-of-state adult sons.
Laura currently serves as the Vice President of Program Management and Technology at School Specialty. She joined School Specialty after a long tenure at MTD products, now Stanley Black and Decker located in Valley City Ohio. She is active in her local community and school system volunteering at events, fundraising, and serving on the board to help drive change.
Treasurer
Howard (Howie) Hall
Howie is a long-time resident of York Township. He has three children, Jonny, Elizabeth, and Emily who grew up in the Buckeye school system. He has been involved with the Buckeye Community Theatre since its beginnings. Although having no previous theater experience he volunteered to help with set building in those early days. Since then, he has participated in set design and building (with plenty of help from others) of most of the sets for BCT productions.
Howie lives on a hobby farm and enjoys growing all kinds of plants, doing woodworking, making music, and helping his grown children with an assortment of construction projects centered around energy efficiency and natural building
Secretary
Kristen Raulie
Kristen Raulie has lived in Medina county for 19 years with her husband, Andrew, and three children, Ben, Zach, and Emma. She has been involved in many of her children’s activities including coaching sports, volunteering with 4H, and helping out backstage with musicals.
Kristen owns and operates Kristen’s Kreations of Medina, which specializes in personalized gifts and spirit wear.
In her free time, she loves taking care of, breeding, and showing her rabbits from Raulie’s Rabbitry
Artistic Director
Kimberly States
Kimberly was born and raised in Medina, Ohio. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio. While at Heidelberg, she had the opportunity to study opera in Italy and Germany during her summers. After graduating from Heidelberg, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and received her Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. Kimberly remained on the East Coast for several years. She worked in non-profit fundraising and management during the day and sang opera by night.
After several successful performance seasons, Kimberly decided to return home to good old Medina to share her knowledge and love of music with the next generation. Kimberly has had the pleasure of serving on the faculty of Ashland University and the College of Wooster. She now devotes her time to her own business and serves as music director for several local youth theatres.
Kimberly opened KS Vocal Studio in 2017 and now teaches over 50 private students at her Medina Square location.
Music has always been the center of her life. She is honored to have the privilege of sharing this passion for music with future generation
Board Member
Amber Vorell
Amber is brand new to BCT, and theater in general. She joined for her daughter to be involved in her sports off-season.
Amber works in home health and also in the office at her company. She finds her work very rewarding and loves what she does.
She has lived in Medina since 2009 with her husband Dan and daughter Nicki. In her free time, she’s at volleyball tournaments and games cheering Nicki on or taking care of her chickens and goat, Pineapple. She is very much looking forward to working with BCT!
