production team

In her eighth season as Production Stage Manager, Whitney is proud to once again to lead this excellent team of stage managers, assistant stage managers and assistant directors at LA Opera. Beyond her administrative duties, Whitney also stage manages shows for LA Opera, including Candide, Nabucco and Turandot throughout the 2026/27 season. During her 15-year tenure at LA Opera, she has worked on over 40 productions, including Akhnaten, Ainadamar, West Side Story, Eurydice, Omar, The Ghosts of Versailles, Aida, and El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego.  

Whitney currently spends her summers stage managing at Santa Fe Opera (10 seasons). Other companies Whitney has worked with across her theater and opera career include Los Angeles Philharmonic (Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl), Cincinnati Opera (15 summer seasons), Milwaukee Repertory Theater (10 seasons), Washington National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Dallas Opera, Atlanta Opera, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, among others across her 26 years as a professional stage manager. 
 
A proud graduate of Texas Tech University, Whitney and her husband Raymond are happy to call Los Angeles their home. 

Eboni Adams is a Los Angeles-based director, choreographer, performer, and filmmaker. During the 2026/27 season, she returns to LA Opera as assistant director for Candide, having previously performed with the company as a dancer in five productions, including Candide in 2018. Elsewhere during the 2026/27 season, she serves as co-choreographer for Show Boat at Houston Grand Opera, where she made her company debut as revival choreographer for Porgy and Bess (2025), and directs and choreographs The Snowy Day for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

During the 2025/26 season, Adams directed the world premiere of My Name is Florence with Minnesota Opera and La Bohème with Austin Opera, and choreographed Treemonisha with Washington National Opera. During the 2024/25 season, Adams served as assistant director for Righteous (Santa Fe Opera), assistant director for The Manchurian Candidate (Austin Opera), and stage director and choreographer of The Snowy Day (Minnesota Opera).

Prior to transitioning into directing and choreography, she performed with Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil,  LA Opera, and Lula Washington Dance Theater. Her short film Grace was selected as one of the "Best of PFF" shorts at the Pan African Film Festival. She also lent her voice to the Academy Award-winning animated short film The Windshield Wiper.
 

Dani is excited to join the LA Opera for her second season with the company as an Assistant Stage Manager. Last year she worked on Akhnaten, Falstaff and The Magic Flute. For several years she has been traveling across the U.S. working with many companies including the Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera San Antonio, Annapolis Opera, Opera Toledo, Opera Santa Barbara, Austin Opera and Tulsa Opera. 

When she is not traveling for work, she returns to St. Johns, Michigan, to spend time with her family. Dani is a graduate of Western Michigan University where she earned her BFA in Stage Management.

Arturo is a stage manager based in Los Angeles whose experience spans traditional opera repertory, new works, immersive opera, and concert presentations. Since joining LA Opera in 2022, he has worked on stage management teams for productions across the company's mainstage season and immersive programming. In 2027, he celebrates his fifth season with the company.

Recent companies Arturo has worked with include the LA Philharmonic, Wolf Trap Opera in collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra, Florentine Opera, and Opera Saratoga. At LA Opera, career highlights include Kasper Holten's Don Giovanni, Simon Stone's Lucia di Lammermoor, and the immersive production of On Gold Mountain in the Huntington's Chinese Garden. He also served on the stage management team for the world premiere of Ellen West, produced by Opera Saratoga in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects.

Arturo holds a BFA in Stage Management with a minor in Cinematic Arts from the University of Southern California.

Holden is a Southern California based stage manager hailing originally from central Texas. He is excited to return to LA Opera this year after making his company debut last season with The Magic Flute! 

Though relatively new to professional opera, he has enjoyed working at companies such as San Diego Opera, Central City Opera, and with the UP UNTIL NOW Collective's 10th Anniversary tour of Gregory Spears' Fellow Travelers. This is in addition to regional companies that include Tulsa Opera and Opera Neo. His primary background has been in theater where he has stage and company managed for summer stock companies, some smaller San Diego venues, and while earning his BFA in stage management from Texas State University. 
 

From:  Oswego, Illinois.  LA Opera:  revival director for The Magic Flute (2026).  He has been an assistant director for 24 productions over the past 12 seasons at LA Opera, including The Ghosts of Versailles (2015), Roberto Devereux (2020), and Tosca (2024).

He has staged the Suzanne Andrade / Barrie Kosky production of The Magic Flute for multiple companies including Seattle Opera, the Royal Danish Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and the Israeli Opera.

Erik has been an Assistant Director with LA Opera since the 2014/2015 season. He has also worked with Lyric Opera of Chicago as a member of the directing staff and an instructor with Lyric's Ryan Opera Center Young Artist Program. He has also taught for the Apprentice Program for Singers at Santa Fe Opera. Since making his directing debut with The Seafarer at the Phoenix Theatre in 2009, Mr. Friedman has directed projects for Boston Lyric Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Central City Opera, among others. He has also worked with companies including Steppenwolf Theatre and Actors Theatre of Louisville.  A former violinist and singer, he holds graduate degrees in theater and music from Indiana and DePaul Universities.

Samantha Greene is excited to return to LA Opera. Previous shows with the company include The Magic Flute, Lucia di Lammermoor and A Little Night Music (nearly 20 years apart). Other LA-area shows include Yuval Sharon’s The Comet / Poppea at LA MOCA and Lileana Blain-Cruz’s Iphigenia at The Broad Stage.

Samantha spent 10 years with New York City Opera, where she stage managed more than 30 productions. Other opera highlights include productions with the San Francisco Opera, Austin Opera, Opera San Antonio, Michigan Opera Theater, Atlanta Opera, Park Avenue Armory, New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Museum of Art, On Site Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and Opera de Monte-Carlo.

Samantha made her Broadway debut at Lincoln Center Theater with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. Other theater credits include productions with La Jolla Playhouse, the Old Globe, American Conservatory Theater, Kansas City Repertory Theater, and McCarter Theater. 

Samantha is happily based in NYC (and is always grateful to have a reason to leave the city). She has done a show in a convention center in Wuzhen, China; a one actor / one audience member show inside a roadbox in Connecticut; and two shows simultaneously on the opposite sides of a turntable that never stops moving. She holds a BA in History from Cornell University.

The 2026/27 season marks Lisa’s 26th in the production department at LA Opera. She is thrilled to have worked on nearly 100 productions with some of the best in the opera world while at LAO, working as an assistant director, stage manager, and assistant stage manager. Since 2021 Lisa has directed the cameras for the annual LAO simulcast and has worked for over a decade with LAO Connects, including multiple world premieres. 

Zoe Lesser is thrilled to join LA Opera for the 2026/27 season as the assistant director on Turandot.

Zoe is a director and choreographer working across opera, theater, and immersive experiences. She holds production credits with Los Angeles Philharmonic (Walt Disney Concert Hall), Aspen Music Festival, Beth Morrison Projects, Opera Saratoga, West Edge Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, the Old Globe, Denver Center Theater Company, Atlantic Theater Company, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Her staging and new work collaboration has been presented by Santa Fe Opera’s Community Engagement program, New Mexico Actors Lab, The Elysian, Musical Theater West, and the cell. Her choreography has been seen at Outside In Theater, Chapman University, and Santa Fe Playhouse. She is an alumna of Jacob’s Pillow and has served on the Dance Faculty at the National Dance Institute - New Mexico and The
Colburn School.
 

Anderson Nunnelley is a stage and film director and Grammy-nominated producer working at the intersection of opera, classical music, and film. He serves on the directing staff at LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera, with additional production credits at Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, and Long Beach Opera.

Most recently, Anderson was associate director on the James Darrah production of Matthias Pintscher's Das kalte Herz at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, presented in a co-production with the Opéra-Comique in Paris as Nuit sans aube.

A strong advocate for new opera, he has collaborated on numerous world premieres, including associate director on Sheila Silver's A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Opera) and associate director on the James Darrah productions of Missy Mazzoli's Proving Up (Opera Omaha), Rev. 23 (Prototype Festival), and Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano's The Lord of Cries (Santa Fe Opera). He was also associate director on Tazewell Thompson's Seattle Opera production of Jeanine Tesori's Blue.

Anderson was revival director for Paul Curran's production of Carmen at Cincinnati Opera and Seattle Opera, and served as associate director on Matthew Ozawa's Madama Butterfly at Utah Opera and Pittsburgh Opera. He is scheduled to associate direct Kaneza Schaal's production of Aida at Houston Grand Opera and Opera Philadelphia this season.

A collaborating force in opera film, Anderson was associate producer for the Grammy-nominated film Soldier Songs (Opera Philadelphia) and part of the production team for Svadba (Boston Lyric Opera/Opera Philadelphia), winner of the 2023 OPERA America Digital Excellence Award in Artistic Creation. He also served as creative director and producer for the concert docuseries B. (Boston Lyric Opera) and on the directing team for desert in, the trailblazing opera miniseries created by Christopher Oscar Peña, Ellen Reid, and James Darrah.

In the concert hall, Anderson directed Seattle Opera's staged concert of Les Troyens. He has served as Associate Creative Producer/Studio Artist at Long Beach Opera, including associate directing El Relicario de los Animales.

In the 2026/27 season at LA Opera, Anderson is on the staging staff for Carmen and The Marriage of Figaro. He previously worked on Mario Gas's production of Madama Butterfly and Simon Stone's Lucia di Lammermoor, a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera.

Johanna Sophia Romo (she/her) is a stage and project manager based in Los Angeles County and Orange County. She made her LA Opera debut in the 2021/22 season on Francesca Zambello’s Aida, her first opera production ever.

Her work expands across entertainment fields such as theater, opera, company management and digital streaming shows. She has worked with South Coast Repertory, The Wayward Artist, Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre (REDCAT), Music Academy of the West, Center Theatre Group, Boston Lyric Opera, Disney+ and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Johanna holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from California State University, Fullerton with an emphasis in Stage Management, and recently earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Drama, Stage Management at the University of California, Irvine.

Ellora is an opera and theater stage manager from Los Angeles, California. She is excited to be returning to LA Opera after interning for Akhnaten in 2026. Her other recent credits include The Barber of Seville (Opera San Antonio), Aida and The Little Prince (Washington National Opera), and the past three seasons at the Santa Fe Opera. Ellora holds a BA from Pepperdine University and an MFA from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.