Agendas and Minutes
The board of directors meets every second Tuesday of the month and meetings are open to all. To attend a board meeting, email the Secretary for the location (may be virtual).
To view CPT Board agendas and minutes, click here.
Rick Steinberg — Executive Director
Professional Experience: Rick studied at NSU, now called UNLV, in Las Vegas. During this time, he worked for Food Fair Markets as third man. When Food Fair was sold to Smith’s Food King, Rick was given the opportunity to become second man with Mayfair Markets in Oregon. While there, he was able to attend Lane College and the University of Oregon. At this point he was offered his own store in Washington State where he worked until he moved to California in 1977 to pursue a career with Albertson’s. He stayed at Albertson’s in different capacities, including Store Director, until his retirement.
Theatrical Experience: Rick had his first brush with theater in his kindergarten class when he was 5 years old. It was such a disaster that he didn’t try again until Pipe Dream in 1981. Since that time, he has worked nonstop at the theatre in just about every capacity. He has run lights, sound, been a stage manager, backstage crew, actor, Producer (which he will never do again), Set Designer and spent 9 years on the Board as Executive Director. He has won awards for both Directing and Set Design. While having directed in other places, both in LA and Ventura Counties, he considers Conejo Players his home and family.
Beth Eslick — Executive Producer
Professional Experience: Beth has three degrees: one in Elementary Education, one in Reading Specialty, and one in Fashion Design. She’s worked as an educator and an office manager, and is now a professional costume designer and owns her own business, Beth Dressed. She designs for several different theatres in and around Southern California.
Theatrical Experience: Beth has been active at Conejo Players since 2005, and has served as its Costume Custodian since 2007. She is a proud Honorary Life Member of CPT, and a winner of the Golden Sweatshirt Award. Beth has been the Executive Producer since 2016 — in addition, she costume designs; stage-manages; produces; has run lights and sound; has worked as the House Manager Coordinator; and often teaches workshops.
Joey Hennings — Executive Technical Director
Jeremy Richter — President
Professional Experience: By day, Jeremy is a seasoned content strategist with a specialized focus on the Medical Legal Regulatory (MLR) landscape of regulated-industry marketing. His career is built at the intersection of strategic communication and rigorous compliance, where he navigates the complexities of high-stakes messaging for global regulated brands. This background in managing intricate workflows, balancing stakeholder needs, and maintaining analytical precision provides a steady and disciplined foundation for his leadership of the Conejo Players.
Theatrical Experience A “recovering actor” who found his true calling behind the scenes and at the keys, Jeremy is an accomplished playwright, composer, and director. His creative works have been published and performed internationally, and he is currently under contract developing a new musical project in collaboration with a celebrated children’s author. Whether he is crafting a score, directing a production, or steering the long-term vision of the theatre, Jeremy is a tireless advocate for the transformative power of the performing arts. He is honored to serve the CPT community and remains committed to the spirit of “Onward & Upward!”
Elena Mills — Vice President
Professional & Theatrical Experience: Elena was born and raised in Russia. She started to perform at the age of 6 and continued through school and university. Elena studied Russian Language and World Literature and became a High School teacher at the age of 21. She was a Manager of High School Theater and directed numerous plays through her teaching career. She directed plays by Shakespeare, Golgoni, Chekhov, Ostrovsky, Schwarts and other Russian playwrights. Over 20 years ago Elena moved to America and started her new life here. She was volunteering in different places: Civic Arts Plaza as an usher, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks elementary schools as an art teacher, and in 2007 she started to paint sets at Conejo Players. All these years Elena worked as a set designer and painter, costume designer, producer, director assistant, actress, box office member and House Managers Coordinator, trying to help her favorite place to thrive and prosper. She is honored to continue her work at Conejo Players as Vice President, dedicating her time and energy for a place she calls home.
Eve Kiefer — Secretary
Professional Experience: Eve has a lot of administrative experience, having worked in procurement at a college for more than 10 years, as an administrative assistant for an insurance agency, and holding a myriad of retail sales jobs. She has served on the PTA for her kid’s elementary school, including handling the newsletter, and was also on the board of the Band Boosters at Newbury Park High School.
Theatrical Experience: Eve grew up in Long Island, NY and fell in love with live theatre at age 14. Throughout middle and high school, she dove in head first learning performance, make up design, publicity, and production. She moved to California and her theatre career continued at Caltech, including learning how to be a production coordinator. She took a break for a few years to take on the job of Mom. Her next venture into theatre was right here at CPT with 2010’s Tommy, and she hasn’t looked back since. She has run lights, sound and performed over the years. She is also the Front of House Coordinator for our ushers. A couple of Eve’s favorite times on stage at CPT include Bye, Bye, Birdie and Guys and Dolls. Highlights in tech include running sound for Wizard of Oz, and running lights for Spamalot and Tommy.
Deidre Parmenter — Treasurer
Professional Experience: Deidre spent over 25 years in the biotech industry focussing on the support of clinical trials through trial management, strategic sourcing and vendor/partner relationship management. Skills include cross functional team leadership; project management; vendor management; relationship building; metrics development and implementation; drug development/clinical trial operations experience; organization; communication; plan documentation and implementation; task, timeline, and budget management
Theatrical Experience: Deidre has been involved with Conejo Players Theatre since 2004 and is an Honorary Life Member. She learned theatre basics in high school, and then through the fire of trial and error. She has held most staff positions on many productions around the Conejo Valley, with general focus on directing or acting. She has also served on the Board of Directors as Business Advisor, President, and now Interim Treasurer. It’s an honor to serve the CPT family.
Ritchie Filippi — Media Director
Professional Experience: Ritchie is a media, commercial, and film producer/director. Ritchie has worked as the Director of Production Operations and a Senior Producer for a creative production agency for 12+ years. Before that, he worked freelance in film and television as a production manager and camera operator. Ritchie has produced videos for NBC Sports, Sony Pictures, Nintendo, Salesforce, Discovery, and Sesame Street, to name a few. He is also a member of the Producers Guild of America. In addition to producing, he directed a feature film (released in 2014) and led the social media team for the movie’s release. Ritchie considers himself fortunate to have had the opportunity to observe and learn from directors such as Steven Speilberg, Jon Favreau, and David Fincher while working on set.
Theatrical Experience: Ritchie had the pleasure of seeing The Lion King on Broadway in its first year and can still remember what it felt like when the opening music began. In the years that followed he has seen more shows than he can remember, both on Broadway and in Los Angeles. As his son, Logan, began to perform with Conejo Players in 2020, Ritchie began to volunteer in various capacities. He has helped tear down sets, usher, and work concessions. In 2023, he produced and edited a series of CPT 65th Anniversary Gala social media commercials. When CPT went virtual in 2020, Ritchie jumped in as the technical director and streaming engineer on The Last Train to Norbic, The Mountain Top, and School House Rock JR, using his professional skills to make sure that the show would continue to go on. Ritchie has also led the filming of social media commercials for other local theaters; filming video content and still images for productions of Bring It On, Mean Girls, The Addams Family, Annie JR, and High School Musical.
Hugh McManigal — Business Director
Joe Krause — Facilities Director
Professional Experience: Joe has 19 years of military experience with the U.S. Navy Seabees working as a construction mechanic on heavy construction equipment. During multiple deployments, he assisted with construction ranging from plumbing and electrical to finished carpentry. He currently holds the position of Equipment Specialist with the Department of Defense which requires assisting the mechanics in correct parts identification for procurement, contacting multiple vendors, getting quotes and following up on all purchases. He has also completed many other miscellaneous repair projects both at home and around the theatre. Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Business Management from the University of La Verne.
Theatrical Experience: Joe has lent his knowledge and abilities to help with sets for Harriet the Spy, Once Upon a Mattress, Sleeping Beauty and minor fixes on Hotbed Hotel as well as any other repairs as needed within the theatre facility. He has also worked on and/or ran the projections, lights, and sound. He is currently the Sound Maintenance Master and has helped the theater with the implementation of a new sound board.
Dick Johnson — Director Emeritus
Professional & Theatrical Experience: Following his Theater Arts studies at UCLA with a BA and MA in Direction and Design, Dick worked a season of professional winter stock theater in Arizona. Returning to California he was employed for nearly 30 years, from stage manager to Executive Producer, at KHJ-TV9, where he received seven Emmy Awards for shows under his supervision. Joining the Conejo Players Theater membership in 1968, he served on the Board of Directors for 35+ years as Executive Director. Dick designed 51 stage sets, including the 23 shows he directed. He received the first Arts Advocate Award from CPT and the Encore for Excellence in the Arts from the City of Thousand Oaks.