Elena Kostakis, Executive Director
Elena Kostakis has a graduate degree in Arts Administration from Goucher College. She previously served as Executive Director of the Baltimore Theatre Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting theater in Maryland. Elena is an actor who has been involved in a number of local productions, appearing at Spotlighters Theatre (Elegies, Eat the Runt, Raven's Quest), Vagabond Players (Suddenly Last Summer), Laurel Mill Playhouse (Actor's Nightmare, Check Please), and, most recently, Fells Point Corner Theatre (Coastal Disturbances), among others. She brings her experience as arts administrator, as well as her passion for theater and acting, to her position as the Executive Director of the Strand Theater Company. 
Erin Riley, Associate Artistic Director
Erin Riley holds her BFA in Theatre Studies with concentrations in Classical Performance and Directing jointly from Notre Dame of Maryland University and the Nuffield Studio at Lancaster University, United Kingdom. No stranger to the Baltimore theater community, she has been directing, acting, and designing in the area since 1997. Some of Erin’s directorial credits include: Vinegar Tom (May 2019), Detroit ’67, Origin of the Species, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Best Direction, 2016, Baltimore United Local Stage & Hidden Independent Theatre Awards), Cabaret, Closer, Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry (American Premiere), Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Steel Magnolias, Peter Pan, Little Women, Silence, It’s Only a Play, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has worked with Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theater, The Mobtown Players, The Baltimore Playwrights Festival, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and has recently been chosen to direct an all-woman cast of Julius Caesar at the Maryland Renaissance Festival for the inaugural production of their Company of Women. Favorite acting roles include: Helen in Fat Pig (BroadwayWorld Best Actress 2007), Mrs. Swickert in A Bucket of Blood, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Mrs. Peachum in Threepenny Opera, Lady Macduff in Macbeth, Mistress Overdone in Measure for Measure, and Ana in Real Women Have Curves. Erin particularly enjoys directing plays written by women and stories told from strong woman-identifying perspectives. She believes in forging creative relationships with theatrical practitioners of all races, gender identifiers, body types, and creeds and feels strongly that art must reflect the community in which it lives. It is Erin’s mission to help Strand continue to produce meaningful, well-crafted and socially conscious theater – and have fun doing it! Visit Erin’s website at www.erineriley.com to learn more! |
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