Meet the Staff

Lisa Chase is originally from Minneapolis, MN where she studied dance and acting for 18 years at many Twin Cities arts institutions including the Guthrie, Illusion Theatre, and Zenon Dance. After graduating from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN with BA in theatre, she has acted and taught professionally with arts organizations across the country including the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Absolute Dance Company, Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre, and the American Shakespeare Center.

Since 2008 she has produced and/or directed over 70 touring productions for the Merry-Go-Round Youth Theatre, and most recently directed and choreographed Church Basement Ladies; The last Potluck Supper for the Fingerlakes Musical Theatre Festival. She has a passion for revealing to the power of the arts to young people, and is very grateful to have met so many others in Upstate New York who share that same passion of passing the gift of theatre onto the next generation.

Originally from Olympia, WA, Erin first made her way to Central New York when she attended Syracuse University where she earned a BFA in Musical Theatre. She has has worked as an actor, stage manager, and choreographer with theatre companies across the country, such as Capital Playhouse, Black Hills Playhouse, Dayton Opera, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, Tecumseh! and TOAD Inc.

Erin first came to Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in 2013 as an actor with the Youth Theatre. After one season of touring, she moved into her current position as Educational Theatre Manager. Her primary responsibilities are acting as liaison to the schools participating in the Sequential Dramatics Program and managing the touring schedule of over 1,000 visits per year.