WHO WE ARE
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Frank Smith (President) was a detective with the Philadelphia Police Department before he bought a house in Cape May and turned it into The White Dove Cottage Bed and Breakfast on Hughes Street. From 1990 until he sold it in 2002, he greeted guests and even helped plan events such as family reunions and weddings. From 2003-2007, he was a travel consultant for the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce, and from 2007-2013, a host at Aleathea’s Restaurant at The Inn of Cape May. He was the assistant manager at The Henry Sawyer Inn from 2014 until 2020, when the inn was sold and converted to a private home. He also conducted Murder Mystery Weekends at the Inn, like he did when he ran The White Dove. From 1992-1997, as a volunteer for Cape May MAC, he portrayed “Dr. Physick.”
Frank joined ELTC’s board in 1993 and served off-and-on as president from 1996-2016. He also was ELTC’s storyteller on “The Ghosts of Christmas Past Trolley Rides,” co-sponsored with MAC, from 2007-2017. Off-and-on from 1996 through 2022, he worked the ELTC box office and was the Volunteer Liaison who scheduled volunteers for house managing and ushering duties at performances, interacting with visitors at ELTC's tables at local fairs, distributing posters, and helping with fundraisers.
Frank joined ELTC’s board in 1993 and served off-and-on as president from 1996-2016. He also was ELTC’s storyteller on “The Ghosts of Christmas Past Trolley Rides,” co-sponsored with MAC, from 2007-2017. Off-and-on from 1996 through 2022, he worked the ELTC box office and was the Volunteer Liaison who scheduled volunteers for house managing and ushering duties at performances, interacting with visitors at ELTC's tables at local fairs, distributing posters, and helping with fundraisers.
Barbara Morris (Secretary) is a professor at St. John’s University in Queens, NY where she teaches 20th Century American Drama, Zora Neale Hurston: Harlem Renaissance, Orientation – Hospitality Management, and Creating and Operating a B&B Inn. While visiting Cape May, NJ, Barbara and her mother, Mary, fell so in love with this seaside town, that in 1992 they purchased an 1877 Victorian home. After lengthy renovations, it became The Henry Sawyer Inn, one of the town’s most popular B&Bs. With East Lynne Theater Company and Frank Smith, Barbara ran Murder Mystery Weekends at the Inn, garnering the honor of one of four top-rated such weekends in the country by "AM Magazine" in NYC. In 2021, she sold the Inn, which is now a private home.
Kathy Mottola (Treasurer) received her degree from Wesley College. Her varied career has offered her many interesting avenues of employment - Gimbels Department Store (Advertising), Philadelphia Flyers (Marketing/Sales) Publisher, Convention Coordinator Charles B. Slack, Inc. (Conference/Events Coordinator) and KYW-TV where she spent 17 years behind the scenes in Creative Services, Public Relations and as Office Administrator to the VP/GM. From 2010-2019, she was the secretary at the Cape May Presbyterian Church and was East Lynne Theater Company's (ELTC) office assistant from 2018 through 2022. Kathy's interests include reading, bridge, mahjong, singing and attending the theater. Her son, Michael, worked box office and helped with set-ups and strikes for ELTC from 2016 through 2022.
FOUNDER and PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Gayle Stahlhuth is an actor, director, playwright, producer, storyteller, and teacher. From 1999 through 2022 she helmed 125 shows as the producing artistic director of the nonprofit Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company (ELTC) in Cape May, NJ, and currently is the founding artistic director of another nonprofit theater, Classic American Tales. She has performed off-Broadway (Manhattan Theatre Club, etc.) in national tours (Cabaret, Fiddler, etc.), regional theater (Gateway Playhouse in Long Island, etc.), television (various soaps, etc.), radio (commercials and Voice of America), and on the Chautauqua Circuit. Her plays have been performed at such places as the NYC International Fringe Festival, The Samuel French One-Act Festival, Arvada Center in Denver, Pennsylvania Stage Company, the Phoenix Theater in Indianapolis, ELTC, and at several universities. Her directing and performing have been praised in “The Philadelphia Inquirer,” “The New York Times,” and “The Wall Street Journal.”
For her writing and/or performing, she’s been awarded commissions from The Smithsonian Institution, the Missouri and Illinois Humanities Councils, Theatreworks/USA and other theaters, and grants from the NJ Humanities Council, the NYS Council on the Arts, and the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts. Solo shows she's created and toured (many bookings through Arthur Shafman International Management) include Lou: The Remarkable Miss Alcott, The Awakening adapted from Kate Chopin, Eve's Diary from Mark Twain, and A Trunk Without a Label about Catharine Beecher, and the two-person Not Above a Whisper about Dorthea Lynde Dix. From 2007 through 2022, she presented ELTC's Christmas productions, adapting and performing stories by famous writers, bringing to life thirty-plus characters in her memorized, unique storytelling style.
Currently, she’s working on a solo piece about a NJ woman during the American Revolution, and already getting bookings in 2026. Edna Ferber’s great-niece is helping her find NYC venues for her Fabulous Ferber, which she first performed 20 years ago.
Her personal monologue, Goin’ Home, about cleaning out her mother’s Indiana home, has been included in theaters’ solo festivals. Currently, she’s working on another solo piece, One Step at a Time, about caregiving. A portion of it was presented at Premiere Stages in April 2024, and Gayle is reading her current draft at Cape May Stage in October 2024.
In the early 1980s, Gayle was a pioneer in the artist-in-residence (AIR) movement to put art back into public schools, and is on the AIR rosters for NY, NJ, UT, and WY. For her work, she was selected as one of only two hundred artists from all arts disciplines to be listed in THE DIRECTORY OF COMMUNITY ARTISTS published by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Throughout the years she has directed-stage managed-designed/set lights-designed/built sets-designed/built costumes for a variety of off-off Broadway shows, NYC cabarets, festivals and touring productions; started a dinner theater in Billings, MT; produced a Medieval Festival at The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore; made and rebuilt elephant and llama blankets for Ringling Brothers Circus, and was an Emmy Awards’ judge in the field of broadcast news.
While still active as a performer, Gayle worked for the Sol Hurok Organization, setting up interviews and itineraries for artists such as Isaac Stern and members of the Bolshoi Ballet and Opera; was the accountant for Sha-Na-Na and other musicians; and worked undercover for white collar crime for a NYC detective agency.
She served on the board of ELTC from 1987-1997. From 1990-2002 she was a Council Member of The Episcopal Actors’ Guild, the first organization to help professional actors, regardless of religious affiliations, founded in 1923. Since 2010, she has served on the board of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
Gayle is a member of the Dramatists Guild, SAG-AFTRA, and Actors’ Equity Association. The National League of Professional Women honored her in 2016 for her work as a theater professional. She is listed in the newest edition of THE CAMBRIDGE GUIDE TO AMERICAN THEATRE (2008).
Gayle enjoys being in her homes in West Cape May, NJ and Manhattan.
(Photo: Katrina Ferguson)
For her writing and/or performing, she’s been awarded commissions from The Smithsonian Institution, the Missouri and Illinois Humanities Councils, Theatreworks/USA and other theaters, and grants from the NJ Humanities Council, the NYS Council on the Arts, and the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts. Solo shows she's created and toured (many bookings through Arthur Shafman International Management) include Lou: The Remarkable Miss Alcott, The Awakening adapted from Kate Chopin, Eve's Diary from Mark Twain, and A Trunk Without a Label about Catharine Beecher, and the two-person Not Above a Whisper about Dorthea Lynde Dix. From 2007 through 2022, she presented ELTC's Christmas productions, adapting and performing stories by famous writers, bringing to life thirty-plus characters in her memorized, unique storytelling style.
Currently, she’s working on a solo piece about a NJ woman during the American Revolution, and already getting bookings in 2026. Edna Ferber’s great-niece is helping her find NYC venues for her Fabulous Ferber, which she first performed 20 years ago.
Her personal monologue, Goin’ Home, about cleaning out her mother’s Indiana home, has been included in theaters’ solo festivals. Currently, she’s working on another solo piece, One Step at a Time, about caregiving. A portion of it was presented at Premiere Stages in April 2024, and Gayle is reading her current draft at Cape May Stage in October 2024.
In the early 1980s, Gayle was a pioneer in the artist-in-residence (AIR) movement to put art back into public schools, and is on the AIR rosters for NY, NJ, UT, and WY. For her work, she was selected as one of only two hundred artists from all arts disciplines to be listed in THE DIRECTORY OF COMMUNITY ARTISTS published by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Throughout the years she has directed-stage managed-designed/set lights-designed/built sets-designed/built costumes for a variety of off-off Broadway shows, NYC cabarets, festivals and touring productions; started a dinner theater in Billings, MT; produced a Medieval Festival at The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore; made and rebuilt elephant and llama blankets for Ringling Brothers Circus, and was an Emmy Awards’ judge in the field of broadcast news.
While still active as a performer, Gayle worked for the Sol Hurok Organization, setting up interviews and itineraries for artists such as Isaac Stern and members of the Bolshoi Ballet and Opera; was the accountant for Sha-Na-Na and other musicians; and worked undercover for white collar crime for a NYC detective agency.
She served on the board of ELTC from 1987-1997. From 1990-2002 she was a Council Member of The Episcopal Actors’ Guild, the first organization to help professional actors, regardless of religious affiliations, founded in 1923. Since 2010, she has served on the board of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
Gayle is a member of the Dramatists Guild, SAG-AFTRA, and Actors’ Equity Association. The National League of Professional Women honored her in 2016 for her work as a theater professional. She is listed in the newest edition of THE CAMBRIDGE GUIDE TO AMERICAN THEATRE (2008).
Gayle enjoys being in her homes in West Cape May, NJ and Manhattan.
(Photo: Katrina Ferguson)
