Arts on the Horizon

Michelle Kozlak (Producing Artistic Director and Founder)
Michelle has been involved in theater for as long as she can remember.  Whether it was putting on plays in her living room or tap dancing around the house (much to her mother’s chagrin!), her love of the arts started at an early age.  Her arts management career in the Washington, DC area started at the Kennedy Center, where she was the National Touring Manager for the Theater for Young Audiences program and then the Manager of Theater Programming, where she served as General Manager for the Tennessee Williams Explored festival, Mister Roberts and Mame with Christine Baranski.   After almost ten years at the Kennedy Center, Michelle left full-time employment in order to spend more time with her son, Gavin, after he was born.  Since that time, she has served as the Casting Director for the Kennedy Center’s Theater for Young Audiences program, the VSA Playwrights Discovery Program productions (2008-2011), and Coming Home, the production that commemorated the grand opening of the Atlas Performing Arts Center.  Michelle served as a member of the Alexandria Commission for the Arts from February 2014-January 2017 and was a member of the City of Alexandria’s Arts and Culture Plan Steering Committee.  She is currently serving as Vice President on the board of the Alexandria Arts Alliance and is a mentor with the theatreWashington Mentoring Program, where she is working with an emerging arts administrator. In December 2017, Michelle was awarded the newly created UT Austin TYA Artistic Exchange Fellowship by TYA/USA.  As part of this national fellowship, Michelle spent two years attending conferences with Lauren Jost of NYC’s Spellbound Theatre; travelling to see each other’s creative processes in action and work in production; exchanging ideas and best practice in the creation of theatre for the very young (0-5-years); and mentor a UT Austin graduate student throughout the process.  Additionally, Michelle has served on the Board of Directors for Jane Franklin Dance, has been a grant panelist for the DC Commission on the Arts, and a member of the TYA/USA One Theatre World planning committee. She has a BA in English with a minor in Theatre from the University of Oregon and an MA in Arts Management from American University. Thank you to Gavin for being my inspiration for this company.



Laura Loy (Director of Education) 

Laura Loy is a proud theatre for the very young enthusiast. Having been brought into Arts on the Horizon as an education intern many years ago, her love and commitment to Arts on the Horizon never falters! She holds a BA in Theatre and Education from DePauw University, and a Master of Arts degree in Theatre Education from Emerson College. Teaching and making an impact on students is her passion and it flows into every aspect of her career- from her classroom position as a Fairfax County Public School drama teacher, to leading and educating our incredible teaching artist staff, to taking the lead in Arts on the Horizon educational programming and development. You can often find her laughing and singing with our youngest audience members and showing her passion for this art form.


For more information on staff and faculty, please visit:
https://www.artsonthehorizon.org/staff-faculty.html