Meet our new Executive Director: Isabel Dawson
The Puppet Co. is pleased to announce that Isabel Dawson will be the company’s next Executive Director. Isabel started on September 1st, 2023, succeeding Toni Goldberg.
Isabel relocated to the area from Moline, IL where she was the Executive Director for Genesius Guild, producing free outdoor classical theatre. Isabel graduated Magna Cum Laude from Augustana College in 2020 with a double major (Business Management & Theatre) as well as a double minor (Entrepreneurship & Nonprofit Leadership). As a senior, she won first place at the Augustana Business Plan Competition.
Isabel has been involved in theatre since she was a child. While she started as an actress, she found her talent was in stage management. She stage managed for a number of Midwest theatre companies. Some of her favorite productions she has worked on include Crimes of the Heart, The Elephant’s Graveyard, and Beginner’s Luck (an original play by Emmy Award-nominated PJ Lasker). She loves being part of the process of developing and premiering new work.
Isabel is known to jump in to help however she can!
Isabel working on the Genesius Stage.
Joining Genesius Guild in 2020, she recruited, hired and managed a production team of over 20 people and over 50 volunteers. She structured policies against discrimination to formalize inclusivity, and reached out individually to people to hire a talented, diverse production team. Isabel revamped the high school internship program, and developed a college apprenticeship program. In 2023, she was able to produce Othello which drew in audiences of over 150 people a night; a local reviewer called it “the most ambitious production I’ve seen on the Lincoln Park stage!”
Isabel giving the pre-show speech for a Genesius performance of Iphegenia.
Isabel enjoys working with youth. She was a mentor with the Quad Cities Community Foundation’s youth philanthropy program for 6 years. Isabel also has extensive recruiting experience through her 3 years as Recruiting Coordinator at Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors.
Some of her most noteworthy accomplishments include performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and filing to patent an invention. She has been honored with the Girl Scout Gold Award, a Nomination for the Girl Scout Woman of Distinction Award, and the Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors Community Involvement Award.
Isabel is a Unitarian Universalist who believes that art changes people. In her free time, Isabel enjoys paddle boarding, dancing, reading, and spending time with her family.
