LEADERSHIP TEAM
Founder, Executive Director & Producer
She/Her • kelly@anoperatheatre.org
It isn’t every day that newspapers mention arts administrators, but AOT Founder/Producer Kelly M Turpin was praised by the Star Tribune for having “thrown a gauntlet down to those inclined to think opera consists mainly of prima donnas, pretty tunes and preening.”
Kelly’s career in artistic development and administration began as Company Director for Mill City Summer Opera. Since then, she has worked with The Southern Theater, Cantus, GTCYS (Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies), The Jungle Theater, and is currently the Director of Development & Communications at Women’s Advocates on top of her responsibilities at AOT.
Originally planning on a career in opera performance, (Ithaca College BM, Arizona State MM) she quickly tired of the stale and pompous US opera culture and invested in creating a space for greater transparency and honesty in the art form. AOT was founded on this vision of social action and community inspired through opera.
When not dreaming up new artistic ventures in Minneapolis, Kelly enjoys cooking, swimming, running, road trips, and reading all in the company of her cat kids Percy and Motley.
Kelly Turpin
Design & Web Manager
He/Him • jerraldspencerjr.design
You are not the work you do, you are the person you are.
Jerrald has been designing for over a decade. His specialties include illustration, branding, typography, conceptual design, and social media strategy. Pro wrestling, comic books, and cartoons were just some of his inspirations growing up. As a lifelong cinephile and comic book lover, he draws inspiration from the likes of Jack Kirby and Jim Lee. His father was also a major source of inspiration in his life. He was once featured alongside Thomas Edison in a book of young inventors. His goal is to leave behind a meaningful legacy his kids, Mari and Zuri, can be proud of. When not doodling/designing, you can catch him writing his novel or playing Street Fighter 2.
Grant Manager
He/Him
Justin Spenner is a Minneapolis-based Baritone who realized the best way to make art is to let people pay for it. He started his grant writing career in 2015, securing himself a MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. Since then, he has secured funding on local, state, and national levels for various artists and arts non-profits. He works with national philanthropy research consulting firm Access Philanthropy. His local clients include Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, Ka Joog, Anne Labovitz, Opera Reading Project, STRONGmovement, and St. Paul Ballet.
Justin Spenner
Jerrald Spencer Jr.
Social Communications Manager
he/him
Dante is a local artist of many mediums that all center back to storytelling. He is thrilled to be a member of the AOT Team not just as a social media coordinator, but as an educator and lighting designer as well. When he isn't behind a keyboard, clicking away in photoshop, or hiding behind a camera, you can catch him in a full face of clown makeup in drag onstage across the twin cities as Salty Fears!
Dante Lawrence
Tour Production Manager
She/Her
Ruti “BC” Mejia is from the Nawat Pipil and Maya Lenca Nations in the Usulutan territory located in Kuskatan now known as El Salvador. Currently, member of the Kalpulli Yaocenoxtli, a traditional Mexican-Nahuatl danza group, and a former core member of International Indigenous Youth Council – Twins Cities Chapter. She holds a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and American Indian Studies from Augsburg University. Former Youth Music and Technology Specialist at Indigenous Peoples Task Force. Worked as a Cultural Architect at Indigenous Roots Cultural Art Center located in the ancestral lands of the Dakota and Anishinaabe People.
KrisAnne Weiss
Voice Lab Host & Facilitator
She/Her • krisanneweiss.com
KrisAnne Weiss (she/her), mezzo-soprano, performs an eclectic array of music-theater and concert works, appearing with Skylark Opera Theatre, An Opera Theatre, Lyric Opera of the North, Opera on the Lake, Journey North Opera, Mixed Precipitation’s Pickup Truck Opera, and Nautilus Music-Theater, among many others. She is on the voice faculty at St. Olaf College. She is interested in genre-bending collaborations, mutual aid, cutting her own hair, and physical revelry of all kinds.
Ruti Mejia
Business & Production Manager
they/she
Isa is an actor, director, educator, and arts administrator based in Minneapolis. She earned her MFA in Acting & Directing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City/KC Rep Theatre’s program and has performed with the Guthrie Theatre, The Jungle Theatre, Ten Thousand Things Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and many others.
In addition to her stage work, Marisa brings more than a decade of experience in arts education and arts nonprofit work. She has designed programs for underserved communities in schools, regional theaters, and correctional facilities. When she’s not coordinating productions, Isa teaches film and theater at local colleges, bikes around the lakes, and experiments with new creative projects with her friends.
Isa Tejeda
Zach (Z) Staads
Front of House Manager
she/they
Zach (Z) Staads is a writer, director, producer, filmmaker, occasional performer, and arts administrator who has found herself in the lovely position of working with AOT since 2024. While their degree is in Comprehensive Theatre Arts, a nod to the many disciplines Z has worked in and on throughout their career, these days she is mainly a creative producer/director/writer for New Neighbor Films, a freelance lyric/libretto writer, and during the day works as a candlemaker. Her art is centered around themes of mental health as well as queer and trans stories, and loves all the wonderful artists and crews that they work with to make those stories come to life.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Andrew Eggum
Board ChairMarketing Manager, Ecolab
Brittany Powell
Board MemberMFIP Counselor, Project for Pride in Living
Chris Park*
Board MemberCorporate Philanthropic Consultant, Retired President of New York Life Foundation
Hurshini Lee
Board MemberDirector of Creative Strategy, Target
Janette Davis*
Board Memberowner, FlightDeck One Group
Jonathan Wharton
Board MemberYouth Advocates, Women’s Advocates
Kelley Lindquist*
Director EmeritusPresident, Artspace
Lorelei Cooper
TreasurerDealer Lending Portfolio Analyst, Toyota
Thomas Forsythe*
TreasurerRetired CCO, General Mills; Founder & Director of CCO Communications LLC
William Gamble*
Board MemberFinancial Consultant & Advisor
Yunyue Liu
Board MemberExecutive Director, Bach Society of MN
*denotes former / founding member