Leadership & Staff

PLAYERS CIRCLE THEATER STAFF | Co-Founder - Robert Cacioppo

Robert Cacioppo

PLAYERS CIRCLE Theater STAFF

Players Circle Artistic Director and Co-Founder

The Florida Professional Theaters Association honored Robert Cacioppo, Players Circle Producing Artistic Director, and Co-Founder with the Richard G. Fallon Award for Excellence in Professional Theater for his tenacity, vision, passion, and leadership for his work of creating professional theater in the state of Florida.

Other honors: Gulfshore Business Magazine as one of the Top 40 Influential Leaders; The News-Press’s 125 Influential Local Leaders in the past 125 years” and the recent “130 People of Influence” in Fort Myers; Angel of the Arts Award for Arts Organization Leader of the Year; Men and Women of the Year by Gulfshore Life Magazine. Founder of Florida Repertory Theater under his leadership, it received nine glowing reviews from The Wall Street Journal, being called “one of America’s top Repertory Theaters” multiple times.

Selected Florida Rep directing credits include over 85 productions since founding the company in 1998: Fascinatin’ Gershwin (which he also wrote, conceived, and directed. Performed in Florida Rep’s inaugural season and in January through March of 2015), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Murder at the Howard Johnson’s, Clybourne Park, Social Security, Miracle on South Division Street, Camping with Henry and Tom (which inaugurated the ArtStage Studio Theater in 2012), Red, August: Osage County, 2010’s nationally-acclaimed production of You Can’t Take It with You, Boeing–Boeing, The Last Romance, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Rainmaker, Greetings!, Tuesdays with Morrie, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Soldier’s Tale (with Southwest Florida Symphony in 2003), Proof, Company, Over the Tavern, Over the River and Through the Woods, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Breaking Legs, Inherit the Wind, and Noises Off (1998 inaugural production and in 2010). Selected New York credits include: Hamlet at the Judith Anderson Theater on Theater Row, Our Town and Hair at Queens Theater in the Park, and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest at Town Hall. He is a proud member of SDCS (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society)

Robert’s favorite direction is home, where he happily lives in Fort Myers with his wife, actress/producer (and co-founder of Players Circle), Carrie Lund. They are the proud parents of Matthew and Julia, who appear to be happy, healthy, and wise.

PLAYERS CIRCLE THEATER STAFF | Co-Founder - Carrie Lund Cacioppo

Carrie Lund Cacioppo

PLAYERS CIRCLE Theater STAFF

Co-Founder, Producing Director, and Actor of Players Circle Theater

Co-Founder, Managing Director and Actor of Players Circle Theater, Co-Founder, Associate Producer of Florida Rep Theater in Ft Myers, FL 1998 to 2018 and founded the Pirate Playhouse professional theater on Sanibel Island, in 1984 until her move to Ft Myers in 1998.

After Carrie received a BFA of Acting and Directing from Ithaca College, she initiated services for the visually and hearing impaired that received international attention as Resident Artist at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. She served as Company Manager and acting member at the American Ibsen Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA, and Managing Director for the Player’s Circle at LaGuardia College in NYC. Regionally she’s performed in theaters in New York, Vermont, North Carolina, Pennsylvania at Three River Shakespeare Festival, was Narrator for Ellis Island with the Naples Philharmonic and several PBS Untold Stories in Florida.

Her dedication to theatre for young audiences is realized through the many programs she developed and performed over the years: touring children’s theatre throughout New England with the Green Mountain Guild 1978, 1982 and1983 and the tri-state area from her hometown of Erie, PA with The Company she created in 1977, the 1996-98 Pirate Playhouse Shakespeare Initiative, Co-Chair of the 2000 Lee County Arts for a Complete Education Coalition.
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In the past 35 years, Carrie produced and starred in over 100 productions. In Florida Rep’s 20th season, she acted opposite Paxton Whitehead in How The Other Half Loves, and 19th season in the one-woman show Erma Bombeck, At Wit’s End. She worked in all the Wall Street Journal reviewed shows at Florida Rep: House of Blue Leaves, Cocktail Hour, One Slight Hitch, Arsenic and Old Lace, Little Foxes, God Of Carnage, Sylvia, You Can’t Take It With You, and Dancing at Lughnasa, the world premieres George Washington’s Teeth, Doublewide, second productions of Heartsong, Last Romance, and other selected credits include Becky’s New Car, Tribes, Clybourne Park, August Osage County, Other Desert Cities, Enchanted April, Rabbit Hole, To Kill a Mockingbird, Noises Off, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Rumors, All My Sons, I’m Not Rappaport, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Same Time Next Year, and Private Lives.
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She is married 32 years to Robert Cacioppo. She has been Producing Artistic Director of theaters in Florida and New York City and mother for 30 years to son and daughter, Matthew and Julia.

PLAYERS CIRCLE THEATER STAFF | Co-Founder - Carrie Lund Cacioppo

Ted Wioncek III

PLAYERS CIRCLE Theater STAFF

ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Ted Wioncek III is an award-winning stage director who has dedicated his career to leading creative teams in experiential playgrounds across the invigorating world of live theatre. His hands-on leadership has garnered him a reputation as “a master in storytelling” by Philly Review.

Wioncek has been hailed as an “illusioneer of stagecraft” by IEN Engineering Europe for his unique use of medium advancing technology, including custom designed stage mechanics and sensory experiences. He has been featured in numerous publications regarding arts and business, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and SJ Magazine’s “Someone to Watch,” where he was deemed a leader in the Greater Philadelphia theatre movement for his success as one of the Tri-state’s up-and-coming business builders.

As a member of Stage Director & Choreographers Society, his work has amassed a plethora of awards and nominations, including the New Jersey Theatre Alliance Award of Excellence, as well as Theatre Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards, a nationally recognized symbol of excellence for professional theatre in The Greater Philadelphia Arts Community.

Ted is the former Founding Artistic Director of Eagle Theatre, South Jersey’s only year-round professional Equity theater, as well as The Collaborative Act Studio, a process driven theater dedicated to rarely produced work. In 2021, he Co-Founded SWFL Showstoppers, an entertainment company committed to touring Broadway-style musical revues to clubs, communities, and resorts throughout Southwest Florida.

Select Regional Theatres include Walnut Street Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Cape May Stage, Act II Playhouse, Gulf Coast Symphony, & Montgomery Theatre.

Previous Players Circle Directorial credits include My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, Godspell, A Day in Hollywood/A Night on Broadway.

Previous Players Circle Performance credits include My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Butterflies Are Free, Ho! Ho! Ho! The Christmas Show, and Breaking Legs.

Playwright; A Day in Hollywood / A Night on Broadway, Season’s Greetings: A Musical Celebration of Holiday Traditions from Around the World, Jane & The Humongous Pear (A Choose Your Own Adventure Play), The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and co-author of Players Circle’s original musical revue, Ho! Ho! Ho! The Christmas Show. In 2018, Wioncek received critical acclaim for his groundbreaking original work, NOIR: The 3D/4D Semi-Cinematic Satirical Thriller, a one-man show that seamlessly blends live-action with three-dimensional cinematography, using hip-to-the-minute technology and theatrical techniques to immerse the audience.

Wioncek’s passion for the stage can be matched only by his dedication to the expansion of the cultural landscape of Southwest Florida.

Ted lives in Fort Myers, FL with his beautiful wife, Kimberly, their little sunbonnet from the Sunshine State, Lilly Evelyn Wioncek, and their adorable, retired research beagle, Professor Indiana Bones.

Administrative Staff

Julia Melvin – Director of Development

Front of House & Box Office

Thomas Marsh – Front of House Manager

Kelly Jo Madoian – Director of Volunteers

Joanna Lindsey – Box Office Manager

Russe Lindsey – Box Office

Susan Wilson – Box Office

Education & Outreach

Kimberly Suskind – Director of Education

AJ Mendini – Director of Outreach

Production

Parker Slaybaugh – Production Manager

Meaghan Daley – Production Stage Manager

Gavin White – Technical Director

Media & Marketing

Marketing – Quenzel Marketing Agency

Mike Shapiro – Staff Photographer

Alex Whitehair – Graphic Designer