Harriton Theater coaches are drawn from Philadelphia’s theater community and provide coaching for performance, technical, and business aspects of theater.
Jeff Smith: Music Director
Jeff is very excited to work with HTC’s cast and production teams on their musicals! He has music directed and/or performed in the pit orchestra for theatre companies all around the Delaware Valley, including PCS Theater, Media Theater, Footlighters Theatre, Penn Players (University of Pennsylvania), and the Lower Merion and Lower Moreland school districts. Favorite past productions include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (HTC), Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof, Newsies, Legally Blonde, Once on this Island, RENT, Godspell, and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. In August 2024, PCS Theater presented A Midsummer Night’s Dream set at Woodstock with Jeff’s original music, and in January 2025, PCS Theater will present Network with Jeff’s original incidental music. He has served as a Staff Accompanist for the musical theatre program at Rider University and has played close to 300 gigs with his jazz combo (www.jazz180.com). Jeff serves on the Board of Directors and Finance Committee for Theatre Horizon, a professional not-for-profit theatre company in Norristown.
Mary Fishburne: Costumes Coach
Mary Fishburne is thrilled to return to HTC this year! She recently moved to Narberth with her family. Before that, she was in Charleston, SC where she founded the educational branch of the Village Repertory Playhouse and directed/musically directed/choreographed three shows a year for their teenage/advanced group. As an actor, Fishburne has worked throughout the country performing in musicals and plays. Administratively, Mary worked at the York Theatre in New York, an off-Broadway company, as well as Footlight Players in Charleston, SC. As a composer/lyricist/playwright, Fishburne has written a musical, Boundless, that is being performed at high schools throughout the country this fall with an upcoming spring workshop in NYC. Mary holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University with a
double major in Vocal Performance and Human Organizational Development and a Masters (M.A.) from Temple University in Musical Theatre Studies.