SINCE 1979

Our Staff . . .

Louis Lopardi

Artistic Director. Louis Lopardi came to the world of theatre through music. An accomplished composer, he has been a guest conductor with the Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, and several opera companies. As a stage director he has worked with opera and theatre companies on three continents. Louis pioneered the use of Schenkerian analysis - hitherto used for analyzing linear dynamics in music - to the spoken word, and adapted it to some of Michael Chekhov's and Uta Hagen's theories on virtual actors' space. He also originated the application of the classical "Golden Section" of Greek architecture to all the creative arts - music, poetry, and theatre inclusively.

Also a published poet and playwright, Louis recently premiered part 2 of his ongoing and critically acclaimed Purgatory Project.  42nd Street saw recent readings of his new full length play: BOLT - The Frankenstein Journals. Louis has received multiple awards in myriad disciplines: Lighting Design, Sound Design, Photography, Original Music, Playwrighting, and Direction. Associate, Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers.

Louis Lopardi

Ken Bachtold

Teresa Fischer

Frank Calo

Steven Thornburg

Founding Director Ken Bachtold began A Company Of Players in 1979 in Greenwich Village. He produced and directed W. Somerset Maughm’s The Breadwinner; G.B. Shaw’s You Never Can Tell; J.B. Priestley’s Goodnight Children; Booth Tarkington’s Clarence; Jean Girardeau’s ‘Ring Around The Moon; J.B. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner; and J.M. Barrie’s Dear Brutus in the years following.  More recently he has been associated with Frank Calo’s Spotlight On Festivals, winning two best director awards for Jean Anouilh’s Antigone and Edgar Lee Master’s Spoor River Anthology.  He holds a Master Degree in Theatre from San Francisco State University and favorite acting roles in include Salieri in Amadeus, Gary Essendine in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, and Weller Martin in The Gin Game.  A  highlight was playing Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady and directing Anything Goes in the winter music festival at the Ahwahni Hotel in Yosemite National Park .  He is excited about this new incarnation of his company.

Teresa earned a Master's Degree in Theater Directing from the University of South Carolina. She studied for 10 years at HB Studio with Elizabeth Dillon, Edith Meeks and Jim Boerlin.

Teresa's New York directing credits include: Mystery School at Raw Space, Forty Whacks for Playwrights and Actors Contemporary Theatre, Marie at the American Theatre of Actors, Juliet and The Mall at the Irish Arts Center, Bedtime Story and The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year at Center Stage, The Old Beginning and The Midlife Crisis of Dionysis for All Souls Players as well as several showcase productions. Regional directing credits include: Avow, The Speed of Darkness, The Lobster Reef, The Boys Next Door, The Fantasticks, The Music Man, Graceland and The Lion In Winter. Teresa was a special guest voice numerous times on Marie & Friends, a syndicated national radio show hosted by the Marie Osmond.

Teresa has been focused recently on the cabaret world with her shows Lightening My Load and So Many Tangents … So Little Time at Don't Tell Mama. Other notable cabaret performances include: Touch Your Soul, Tooth & Nail: A Cabaret Vaudeville , Three Broads Singing to Beat the Blues, Three Broads Singing Naughty…Singing Nice! and Best of the Broads: A Sentimental Journey at The Duplex and various Spotlight On Productions venues. Most recently Teresa was featured as Andy Warhol's Secret Girlfriend at the Theatre de Nesle in Paris.

Frank Calo is the Executive Producer of Spotlight On Festivals. Spotlight has produced numerous theatre festivals in Manhattan at a wide variety of venues. Frank has directed many comedies including The Proctologist's Daughter, 3 Guys In Drag Selling Their Stuff and Andy Warhol's Secret Girlfriend which just completed a 2 week run in Paris.