Board of Directors
Debra Fortier, President
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Debra has a long history of community service in Anne Arundel County. She served on the Anne Arundel County Commission for Women for six years, three of those as Board President. She also served on the county Commission on Teen Pregnancy. In 2012, Debra co-founded the Annapolis Film Festival and served as Executive Director until 2015. The film festival is now an established and thriving arts organization in our area. She is pleased to serve the Compass Rose Theater Board as it continues providing excellent, high-quality theater to the Annapolis area and beyond.
Susan Flynn, Secretary
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Susan enjoyed her career, first in business management and then as an educator. She retired and found herself with the time to support her passions for volunteerism and the arts. Susan was a regular volunteer at Maryland Hall when she noticed the sign on the door for Compass Rose Theater. She introduced herself and soon found herself working on The Wizard of Oz production as an usher and front of house. That evolved into costuming and finding props and set pieces for the 2023-2024 season productions. As a board member, Susan looks forward to helping Compass Rose continue to expand its vital role in the Annapolis community. Susan has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild since 2018 and has been in shows on Hulu, Showtime, FX, Apple TV, and Netflix.
Members at Large
Scott Benedict
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Scott Benedict has diverse experience as a producer, actor, singer, and information technology specialist. In New York, he co-developed and produced the Off-Broadway play Maybe Baby, It’s You and co-founded Sundog Theatre in Staten Island, NY. He has many amateur and professional theater credits, and worked in the ensemble and as a soloist with The Washington National Opera and Washington Concert Opera. While working with IBM, he led an interactive media project for the first Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts Summer Festival. On Broadway, he worked for over seven years with Walt Disney Studios’ Disney Theatrical Group. He presently works in cybersecurity as a contractor to the Department of Defense.
Anne Marie Drew
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As children, Anne Marie and her sister produced neighborhood shows in their family’s garage. In those clumsy and goofy performances, her lifelong love of theatre took hold. That love continues with Compass Rose Theater.
While an English professor at the United States Naval Academy (USNA), Anne Marie directed Masqueraders, the Academy’s theatre group. Working with the midshipmen, Anne Marie directed everything from Othello to Arsenic and Old Lace.
Throughout her undergraduate and graduate education, she studied theatre. During her USNA summers, she studied Directing and Acting at the Yale School of Drama.
She wrote and produced Legends and Letters, a radio program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Among her other writing credits are The Piano Bed, a middle-grade novel; Letters from Annapolis: The Midshipmen Write Home; The Windmills at Guantanamo Bay: a dramatic monologue.
A member of St. Mary’s Prison Ministry, Anne Marie teaches Creative Writing at Jennifer Road Detention Center. She’s Nona to three magnificent granddaughters. In addition, she’s trying to become the Alpha for one mischievous puppy, with scant success.
To borrow Shakespeare’s words, for Anne Marie -- serving on the Compass Rose Board of Directors is “wonderful, wonderful. . . and yet again wonderful.”
Chris Haley
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Chris Haley is an actor, writer, filmmaker, and Director of Research, Education, and Outreach and the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland at the MD State Archives and The Utopia Film Festival. He is thrilled to link the two main pursuits of his life together, history and the arts. He is co-director of the Capital Region Emmy Nominated documentary, “Unmarked,” on the state of often unknown and under-supported burial sites of free and enslaved African Americans. He was named the 2021 Anne Arundel Arts Council Literary Arts Award Recipient for his many writings, including the poetry collections, “Until the Right One Comes Along,” “Obsessions,” “Fists and Rainbows,” and “Your Buddy.” He is currently the narrator and host of the podcast “The People’s Recorder,” on the 1930s Federal Writers Project produced by Spark Media. He is also a board member of Annapolis Pride, the Jake Savage Foundation, and the Annapolis Film Festival. He is the 2024 Society of American Archivists (SAA) Diversity Award Recipient and the 2023 National Park Service Network to Freedom Robert G. Stanton and Wilbur H. Seibert Award Recipient. He is also the 2024 Society of American Archivists (SAA) Diversity Award Recipient for his work promoting and presenting historical research on the Underground Railroad and African American history. He founded the Underground Railroad Legacy of Slavery research program at the Maryland State Archives in 2001. The project has produced online access to over 400,000 entries related to the lives of free and enslaved African Americans who lived before, during, and after the Civil War.
Tania Hindert
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Tania has extensive experience in for-profit, non-profit, and government organizations. Prior to her retirement, Tania was Senior Director of Programs at Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Health Care in Washington, DC. She provided day-to-day oversight for the social services, domestic violence, senior wellness centers, teen programs, and post-release services to children coming through the board. Her work included developing budgets and grant proposals, as well as working closely with grantors and measuring outcomes for the programs she oversaw
Before joining Mary’s Center, Tania was Director of Community of Public Affairs for Cox Communications in Herndon, Virginia, serving Fairfax County, VA, where she was responsible for developing community outreach, public relations, and media programs. During her career, Tania has served on many non-profit boards and cultivated and nurtured strategic private/private partnerships. Tania has had a lifelong love for the theater and the arts and looks forward to bringing her collaborative spirit to the Compass Rose Theater.
Estelle Miller
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Estelle Miller has a long history of participating in local theatre. Though she holds a degree in Business Management and worked for Prince George's County Public Schools for thirty years, her first love has always been working in theatre. She served as President for several theatre companies in Virginia and locally, including Bowie Community Theatre. She has been an active Theatre Director for 55 years, winning three Ruby Griffith Awards for her productions. She is an advocate for children's theatre and participated in summer workshops, encouraging young people to be creative and let themselves be free to experience all kinds of characterizations. Originally, she was exposed to the great Broadway theatre district in New York City and Brooklyn at a very young age. She is very energized and excited to have been elected to the Compass Rose Board of Directors and anxious to see their continued success and growth.
Jennifer Kiefer Thomas
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Jennifer is a seasoned non-profit professional with over 25 years of experience in fundraising and special events.
After graduating from Middlebury College, Jennifer moved to Washington, DC to pursue a career in arts administration. She is now proudly serving as the Manager of Advancement Operations at Olney Theatre Center. Prior to this, Jennifer held the position of Associate Director of Development, Special Events at Ford's Theatre, where she made significant contributions to the strategic development, planning, and execution of a wide array of events supporting the organization's mission and fundraising efforts.
Driven by her lifelong dedication to theater and her desire to provide similar opportunities for all, Jennifer remains a steadfast advocate for the arts and is honored to serve on the Board of Directors for Compass Rose Theater.
In her personal life, Jennifer also enjoys traveling, cooking, attending baseball games, and kayaking. She treasures quality time shared with her husband, Jason, and their rescue dog, Ginger.