YOUR INPUT IS WELCOME!

 Paulina Staab   

Paulina Staab is a lifer here in Newport. She is a graduate of Newport High School and went on to study theatre at University of Idaho. She is a proud mom of three girls and is married to her best friend Nathan, who is also a graduate of Newport. Theatre is her passion and advocating for the arts is her hobby. You may have seen her as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde or as a drunken ancestor in Addams Family: The Musical, among various other shows spanning the course of 20+ years. Paulina is so happy to be leading the Pend Oreille Players organization and feels so lucky to be a part of this amazing community. 

 Kris Fry

Kris moved to Newport in August, 2013 with her daughter and their dog. She has been volunteering at POPA since 2014. As concessions manager, Kris has been working to feature local products, Kris is responsible for creating unique drink recipes and hand crafted liquers. She has been a board member since 2017 and is currently serving as Vice President.

 Kristi Bell

I spent my career in Financial Management, as a Congressional Aide, Office Management as

well as a number of part time positions while raising my two daughters. My community

involvement includes coaching for Special Olympics where I met my husband, Jeff; creating,

producing and hosting a children’s television reading program entitled “Let’s Read”, and serving

in a variety of volunteer capacities in PTA and in my church. Becoming an empty nester allowed

me to pursue my love of community theater first as ‘Clairee’ in “Steel Magnolias”, in the musical

“Annie”, “The Dixie Swim Club”, and as a Director in “The Importance of Being Earnest”, a

number of One Act Plays for the Festival and New Play Workshop productions as the

Director/Facilitator. I currently serve on the POPA Board of Directors as the Treasurer/Secretary

and volunteer in a number of other areas at the playhouse including Grant Writing. Seeing the

Community come together to bring live theater to the stage and all that it takes to make a

production happen is a beautiful thing! I am grateful to be a part of POPA.

Janine Goodrich

Janine’s family moved to Newport in 2005 and they have all been involved with the Pend Oreille Players in various capacities over the last 10 years.  Janine’s first appearance at the playhouse was in “Next to Normal’, followed by “Legally Blonde”, “Coming to America” and “Something's Afoot”.   She also directed a youth production and was the music director for our recent “All Together Now” Broadway concert.  Janine is grateful for POPA and all  the opportunities and joy it has provided her and her family. 

 Amy Dawson

  Amy Schoedel grew up in Chattaroy and has always loved performing with various community theatre groups in the Spokane area. Her first appearance at the Playhouse was in “The Addams Family Musical” as Alice Beineke. While most of her theatre experience is performing on stage, she is excited to be involved with behind the scenes planning here at the Playhouse. She is also the theater’s Costume Shop Manager.

 Lori Soleibe-Lianglais 

I am retired from a 40 year career in Architecture/Engineering and Construction Management. I am a board member with the theater. I have drawn the “as-built” drawings for the theater and have helped with the new look of the exterior of the theater and painting the interior. In the future, I will be supporting the theater with continuing upgrades and fundraisers as needed. 

Brian  Lianglais  

  I am retired and have about 30 years’ experience in Facility Management. I have been involved with Capital projects and Project Management. I plan to be the Project Manager for the upcoming building renewal project. I have acted in a few productions and directed a ONE ACT play. I believe my background will help the Pend Oreille Player as I have worked with people to achieve results most of my working career, and I look forward to working with everyone at POPA.

   Danny litowitz

Danny, a retired Moses Lake farmer, first performed with  Pend Oreille Players in 2006 and has served in different capacities since.  His favorite character role was Gerry Evans, an erstwhile, ne'er-do-well father and husband in 'Dancing with Lughnasa'.  Danny is in charge of the POPA One Act Play Festival. which is now in its 12th year of performance.  Performing Arts is the Technicolor in a black and white world.

Norm Smith

Norm Smith is “mostly retired” after a career in project management, accounting, and finance; mostly in the construction industry. He is an adjunct professor at Gonzaga University, teaching in the Engineering Department.

Norm Smith has been on POPA’s Board of Directors for more than seven years. Norm serves on the Finance Committee.  He has appeared in several productions, his favorite being as Juror Nine in “Twelve Angry Jurors.” Most recently, he has tried his hand at prop making.

Norm and his wife Sue have a home on Diamond Lake. His other interests include fishing, kayaking and bicycling.

Racine Balow

 I am the Technical Director for the Pend Oreille Playhouse. Seven years ago I got started there as the lighting operator and just never left. Since then I have had the ability to try my hand at assistant directing, directing, lighting and sound operator, and if you look close I am in one of the one acts as an actor. Outside of making sure the actors can be seen and heard, I work at Aerocet in the hardware department. This job is allowing me  to save some money to go back to college in Hawaii when the world goes back to “normal”.  

Darlene Mossman, Ph.D.

I relocated to Diamond Lake from CA after retiring in 2018 from a career in education and just love this area! In addition to taking on the duties of Executive Director for POPA, I am also the group leader for Welcome Home Veterans Quilts of Valor and 1st VP (Programs) at Washington State Quilters. I have been in bands (singing and playing bass guitar) for over 30 years and my first toe dip into acting was in Coming to America in 2019 at the playhouse. I was very impressed with the kindness, patience, and willingness to help a newbie, displayed by the other actors, and knew that I wanted to be more involved. I have been part of a grant writing team that has secured multiple successful grants for POPA, which has been very rewarding. As a person with a Ph.D. in psychology, I find theater people most interesting!