production team

Whitney McAnally is delighted to return to LA Opera for her 13th season with the company, her sixth as Production Stage Manager for the department. During her time with the production staff, she has worked on over 30 productions, including Eurydice, Akhnaten, Candide, Omar, The Ghosts of Versailles, La Cenerentola, Aida, Il Trovatore and El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego.

During the summer, Whitney is a stage manager at Santa Fe Opera (eight seasons) and she enjoys stage managing theater as well, something she has done throughout her career. Other companies Whitney has worked with include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Opera (15 summer seasons), Milwaukee Repertory Theater (10 seasons), Boston Lyric Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Atlanta Opera, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, among others, across her 25 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.

LA Opera credits include: principal dancer in La Traviata (2006); Lolo in The Merry Widow (2007); principal ensemble in Candide (2018); choreographer and solo dancer in The Anonymous Lover (2020).

Danielle Brewbaker joins LA Opera's production staff for the 2025/26 season.

Kathryn Davies joins LA Opera's production staff for the 2025/26 season.

Barbara Donner has been a stage manager at LA Opera since 1990 and recently completed her 90th production for the company.

Highlights of her time with the company include Achim Freyer’s production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, Phelim McDermott’s production of Satyagraha and Francesca Zambello’s production of Candide.

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Barbara moved into the world of professional opera, working with San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Barbara has worked with the LA Philharmonic, stage managing their productions of Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte—all under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel—as well as Yuval Sharon’s productions of Young Caesar, Europeras, Das Lied von der Erde and Meredith Monk’s opera Atlas. She has also stage managed a highly acclaimed production of Bernstein’s On the Town with the San Francisco Symphony and 11 productions of the summer musicals at the Hollywood Bowl.

In 2019, Barbara was awarded the Del Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Art of Stage Management by the Stage Managers’ Association.

Arturo Fernandez, Jr., is a stage manager based in Los Angeles and South Florida with a background in opera, special events, and live televison.

Arturo made his LA Opera debut in the 2021/22 season with On Gold Mountain, an immersive production in the Huntington’s Chinese Garden. He is happy returning to LA Opera for Lucia di Lammermoor, Tosca and Pelléas and Mélisande in the 2022/23 season.

His other credits include productions of The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen, La Rondine, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Albert Herring, and Mozart and Salieri. Highlights include an immersive production of Das Rheingold for the Miami Music Festival, featuring 360-degree projections, and the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Ellen West at Opera Saratoga.

Arturo is a proud graduate of the University of Southern California, where he graduated cum laude with a BFA in stage management and a minor in cinematic arts.

To see what other projects Arturo is working on, check out his website: jrfernandezarturo.com

From: Oswego, Illinois. LA Opera: He has been an assistant director for several seasons and numerous productions, including The Dwarf (2024), Romeo and Juliet (2024) and the upcoming Ainadamar (2025).

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

A Chicago-based director, he has 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. Mr. Friedman has worked previously with Wolf Trap Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Central City Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and the Spoleto Festival USA, among others. He has also worked with companies including Steppenwolf Theatre and Actors Theatre of Louisville. He holds degrees in music and theatre from Indiana, DePaul and Butler Universities.

Samantha Greene joins the LA Opera production staff for the 2025/26 season.

Lisa Kable Blanchard has worked as a stage manager and assistant director at LA Opera since 2001 and will hit 90+ productions for the company during the 2024/25 season.

Highlights of Lisa’s work onstage include Achim Freyer’s Damnation of Faust and Der Ring des Nibelungen, Phelim McDermott’s Akhnaten, and Kaneza Schaal’s Omar. Lisa has loved working with the LAO Connects Department on projects ranging from On Gold Mountain at the Huntington Gardens, to world premieres at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels by composers Carla Lucero and Jack Perla, as well as teaching future artists at LAO Opera Camp.

Other career highlights: Lisa has directed the screen versions of La Cenerentola, Otello, Aida and Don Giovanni for streaming and simulcast at LAO. In 2023, Lisa worked as Assistant Director at Lyric Opera of Chicago on the broadcast of Yuval Sharon’s world premiere of Proximity. In 2019 Lisa directed the world premiere of Eric Whitacre’s chamber opera The Gift of the Magi at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the LA Master Chorale. Fun fact: in 2008, Lisa called the opening night of La Rondine while in labor with her second son. Nevertheless, she declined suggestions to name him Giacomo.

Lisa graduated from Williams College and holds a Master of Music from USC.

Hailed as a “visionary director” by The Stranger, Dan Wallace Miller’s stage direction is “riveting… well executed, and relevant” (CityArts). As founder and artistic director of Vespertine Opera Theater, Mr. Miller dedicates his career to presenting operas in unique spaces that are dramatically engaging and cleverly innovative. His unique concepts and perceptive direction have proven that he is a force to be reckoned with.

In 2022, Miller became the artistic director for Inland Northwest Opera, having previously directed a filmed version of a new production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice which was met with rave reviews, and was currently available to stream. He created a new production of Susannah for the University of Oklahoma, returned to Central City Opera to direct Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, served as assistant director for San Francisco Opera’s La Traviata, as well as directed the same opera for Inland Northwest Opera, and headed the direction for Seattle Opera’s 2023 gala. He recently returned to San Francisco Opera as the assistant director for Lohengrin, joined Opera San Jose to direct Rigoletto, and directed The Merry Widow for Portland State University.

DanWallaceMiller.com

Frances Rabalais joins the LA Opera production staff for the 2025/26 season.

Johanna Sophia Romo joins the LA Opera production staff for the 2025/26 season.

Miranda Wilson is excited to be back for her third season with LA Opera! She hails from Fargo, North Dakota, but spends her time traveling around the U.S. to a variety of opera companies, working on their stage management teams. In the 2024/25 season, in addition to her work at LA Opera, Miranda will be working at the Dallas Opera. For the last 19 seasons, she has been the Head Props Run Crew Chief at the Santa Fe Opera, working on all the incredible productions and helping to train the next generation of stage managers and theater technicians.