Women to Watch Finalists – Arts Category
(left to right) Nicole Thompson, LaRaisha Burnette, Chandler Davis, Dana Brancato-Daeche, Amber Patee Adams
Amber Patee Adams, Artistic Director of Cape Fear Dance Theatre
Amber Patee Adams’ creative work combines her love of dance and film.
“To me it’s always about a visual aesthetic. I dream chorography, and I see cinematically,” says the founder and artistic director of Cape Fear Dance Theatre. “With choreography and filmmaking, there’s so many layers to both, and you can put all these storytelling devices in both.”
After majoring in ballet at Marymount Manhattan College and working with groups in New York City, including time studying with the American Ballet Theatre and Joffrey Ballet School Adams, a Winston-Salem native, moved to Wilmington “to be closer to nature.”
The local film community also piqued her interest in projects. In 2013, she started creating dance films.
In events where the two interests overlap, Adams has been a dancer and choreographer for Dance-a-Lorus, part of the annual Cucalorus Film Festival, and served as an assistant director at the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival.
Her recent work includes producing an upcoming film called Finding Home, in conjunction with National Adoption Day, and Carolina, a ballet in August during the SARUS Festival inspired by the stories of the women who originally lived in the Bellamy Mansion.
“I like the idea of connecting our Wilmingtonian history with the performing arts and putting it in the space itself,” she says about the Carolina performance, which took place throughout the Bellamy Mansion Museum.
Adams teaches at Cape Fear Academy, DREAMS of Wilmington, the Dance Cooperative, and the Wilmington School of Ballet. With her own dance company, she says she wants to fill a niche of classes for adults and other professional dancers, as well as continue her creative projects.
Dana Brancato-Daeche, HBO Associate Producer
Behind the scenes on some familiar shows to Hollywood of the East, Dana Brancato-Daeche has helped productions run smoothly, even before anyone sets foot on set.
“My job entails working with the cast, budgeting, securing equipment for the show, being a liaison between the show producers and HBO. It’s just kind of an overall whatever’s needed of me,” Brancato-Daeche says.
Now an associate producer for HBO, she started in the film industry six years ago after switching careers. The former local television news reporter says she wanted to “branch out and see what else I could do.”
She started as a personal assistant and worked her way up, logging time along the way on One Tree Hill, Eastbound and Down, Banshee, Veep, and a new show called Divorce, an HBO comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker set to air next year.
“I would like to remain in producing,” Brancato-Daeche says. “Everyday is different; you’re always bouncing around.”
Closer to home, Brancato-Daeche has plenty of goals as well, including ideas for community projects such as an outdoor movie night series.
Starting this month, she also is working to launch an online women’s network started by producer Stephanie Laing called PYPO (Put Your Pretty On), featuring weekly interactive topics, articles, commentary, and filmed comedy sketches produced by Brancato-Daeche.
“It’ll be helping other women writers,” she adds.
LaRaisha Burnette, Actress
Local stage actress LaRaisha Burnette played her first lead role this year, channeling the iconic Billie Holliday in Thalian Association’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill.
“I went to school for theater and was lucky to be in some touring productions and some galas on Broadway, but it was the first time I was able to kind of take the reigns,” she says about the performance this summer.
Active on the local theater scene, Burnette says she has done productions with almost every theater company in town.
“I’m loyal to theater and performing,” says Burnette, who moved to Wilmington from New York City in 2012. Burnette, who graduated from New York University, was cast in a touring production for Nickelodeon, performed on and off in New York and overseas, and snagged callbacks for different Broadway shows.
When her mom moved to Wilmington to manage the Whole Foods Market opening, Burnette decided to change geography.
“I’ve gotten to do shows (locally) that I got very close to do on Broadway. I think this town’s unique in that way,” she says, citing the caliber of the area’s theater offerings.
Burnette recently started as center services coordinator for the new CFCC Humanities and Fine Arts Center and also is the front woman for the band LaCi. She hasn’t ruled out a return to New York one day, but when she does, she hopes to bring the feeling of community with her.
“It’s a great network here, and it’s definitely become a home for me as an artist,” Burnette says.
Her goals here include starting her own voice studio for actors and singers, to “help young actors in the community get prepared for auditions in bigger cities and productions. I want to be an active performer in town who also gives my time to the educational benefits of theater,” she says.
Chandler Davis, Managing Director of City Stage Co.
Chandler Davis’ introduction to the theater came early.
“I started performing when I was eight. My family’s a big sports family, and I’m sort of tall, so they wanted me to do sports, and it wasn’t quite clicking,” she says.
On the stage it did.
Davis, who holds a degree in musical theatre from Emory & Henry College in Virginia is a former actor at Barter
Theatre, the state theater of Virginia, and also worked as stage manager for Roanoke Children’s Theatre in Virginia.
After moving to Wilmington in 2012, she performed in musicals – often comedies – for local groups such as Opera House Theatre and Theatre NOW. But for now, she’s taking a pause from the spotlight to focus on her new position of helping run City Stage Co.
“This is my first season as a managing director: helping choose the season, hiring technicians and actors – the business side of it,” she says.
While dealing with issues like ticket sales, taxes, and budgets might not be the same adrenalin rush as an on-stage solo, it’s a challenge Davis said she is excited about tackling.
Davis, also a musical theater teacher for kids at DREAMS of Wilmington and teacher at Thalian Association Children’s Theatre, has high hopes for the area’s theater community, which includes many who work around outside job schedules and obligations to perform.
“I would like to see a full-time, professional theater in Wilmington,” she says. “I think some people think it can’t be done, but I think it can. It’s worked in smaller theaters with less of a talent pool (than Wilmington). It’s such a good tourist attraction.”
Nicole Thompson, Singer/Marketing and Development Assistant for Wilmington Symphony Orchestra
For the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, Nicole Thompson helps with concert promotion, graphic design, and social media as well as pitching in on fundraising efforts.
Her work helps keep patrons informed about the group’s news and events, while helping draw in new fans.
But she also lends her voice, literally, to the local arts scene.
“When I moved here, my first goal was to find a church singing job,” says Thompson, who relocated from Minneapolis in 2011.
She became soprano section leader at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where she also teaches voice lessons to members of the Wilmington Boys Choir.
For Thompson, both types of work are fulfilling.
“I have sung my whole life – all the way through church and all the way through my school major. I’ve always been this kind of one foot on stage and one foot off stage person,” says Thompson, who has a bachelor’s degree in music and minor in business administration.
In her former work in Minneapolis, she did the same, working as an arts administrator for the Lundstrum Center for the Performing Arts, while also singing at its fundraisers.
In between performances around Wilmington, Thompson also is owner and operator of two businesses.
One is The Butler Did It!, an event services company. The other is Artsmith Consulting, which provides promotional services and graphic design for clients in the local arts community.
“I feel fortunate to have a career in the performing arts, and hope to continue down that path,” Thompson says.
To view more of photographer Chris Brehmer’s work, go to www.chrisbrehmerphotography.com/
To view more of photographer Erik Maasch’s work, go to websta.me/n/emaasch
