Catherine Kinsman - Co-Director

Catherine was first touched by the magic of musicals at age 5, when her Grandma took her to see “The Sound of Music” and “Mary Poppins”. Enchanted by the music, imagery, the characters and stories, little “Cath” walked out of the theatre singing many of the songs, the first steps toward her destiny path as performer, composer, lyricist and writer.

In high school and college, she played leading ingénue roles in operettas and musicals including Pirates of Penzance, Tom Jones, The Boyfriend and Good News. After graduating from the Sheridan College, Music Theater program in Oakville, Canada, her early professional career included Laurie (Oklahoma), Cinderella, Broadway-style reviews and touring with her show band.

As a singer-songwriter, Catherine wrote, recorded, and released several singles and first album on her own indie label, topping adult contemporary charts in Canada with her songs, In the Movies and Play Me Carl.

Later, as a devoted advocate for animals and the environment, she wrote and produced her second CD, The Promise. The title song and music video were dedicated to the freedom of dolphins and used in campaigns by organizations world-wide. This led Catherine in 1998, to create the non-profit Whale Stewardship Project, where she became the first in the world to officially study and protect young orphan beluga whales. 

Committing several years to this pioneering work, she became the “go-to” expert in her field and published author of both scientific and popular articles all the while co-producing documentary shorts, writing and story editing for TV (Dreamwrecks, Racing The Wind) and composing theme songs.

She wrote and performed the song Your Friend, in tribute to Luna, star of the 2012 award winning documentary feature film, The Whale, narrated by Ryan Reynolds. The music video is a special feature on the movie’s 2013 DVD release.

Catherine’s diversity of experience coupled with her lifelong interest in spiritual wisdom, sparked her quest to understand the deeper and evolving nature of consciousness and she began studying the work of many of the world’s Conscious Evolutionary leaders. By 2010, when she had returned to music full time, it was with a commitment to create music, lyrics and story that might just effect the way humanity see’s itself, other life on Earth, spirit and what is possible for our future. Catherine herself, was most surprised by how this passion would begin to manifest...as a musical, called Spiral.

Jeff's recent role in The Prom marks his 30th year being involved at Pentacle. Jeff has done it all at Pentacle, from usher to director and everything in between. Some of his favorite roles at Pentacle include Valjean in Les Misérables, Archie in The Secret Garden, Igor in Young Frankenstein, Gomez in The Addams Family, Angel in Rent, William Barfeé in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Seymour in The Little Shop of Horrors, and Norbert in The Great American Trailer Park Musical. When Jeff is not on stage, he spends his time with friends and family – including the PNC and Supper Club and singing and performing around the Willamette Valley with the Salem Symphonic Winds. In his real life, Jeff is an insurance agent representing American National Insurance in the Monmouth/ Independence area.

Liz was in her first Pentacle Theatre production in 1982 (Carousel) and was hooked. She went on to a career with entertainers Steve Lawrence and Eddie Gorme and then as a systems manager and sound department recordist for Warner Bros. She turned her sights to documentary filmmaking, producing three award winning films before moving back to Salem and jumping back into the Pentacle family. Liz has been part of twenty-five productions at Pentacle and was a member of the Governing Board from 2018 - 2022.

She is currently concentrating her efforts on committee work and projection and sound design, helping to facilitate the production of Spiral: the Musical and will be helping design the projections and sound for Clue, which opens in August.