Mission & Vision
Best Medicine Rep is a 501c3, nonprofit, professional theater company that specializes in new comedies. We are dedicated to the artistic, educational, and cultural development of the greater Gaithersburg area, and we strive to reflect and celebrate the diversity of that community through our inclusive programming, staff, and executive board.
Why are we here?
To entertain. To bring joy. To foster community and learning through shared laughter. To lighten our shared burden of existence for a short while.
Why comedy?
Broadly defined and properly presented, comedy encompasses all of human experience. It can make us laugh and make us cry. It can bring joy and it can bring anger. It makes us think and makes us forget. It exalts and ridicules. It can divert, and it can focus. Comedy levels life’s playing field.
Why theater?
Story is that which gives comedy context. It is what allows empathy and purpose. Performed stories (theater) provide for the communal experience, the shared joy of laughter that we seek to achieve. Theater brings a community together, eliciting pride and engagement, a sense of ownership and cooperation. We believe that the comic theater is the cure for what ails us.
Board & Staff
President & Artistic Director
John Morogiello
is a Playwright in Residence at the Maryland State Arts Council. His plays have been produced off-Broadway and in Los Angeles, Europe, and across the country. His comedies Engaging Shaw and Blame It On Beckett have both been published by Samuel French. His other plays include The Consul, The Tramp, and America’s Sweetheart, Play Date, Stonewall’s Bust, Irish Authors Held Hostage, Men & Parts, Gianni Schicchi, In the Gutter, Stories I May Not Tell, Die, Mr. Darcy, Die!, Jack the Ticket Ripper, Variant Strains, and The Matchmaker’s Guide to Controlling the Elements. He co-wrote The Crater Sisters' Christmas Special with Lori Boyd and the web series I Know Jack with Stan Levin. Happy Hour, a film adaptation of Men and Parts, was named Best Short Comedy at the 2003 New York Independent Film and Video Festival and was distributed in Europe by Britshorts.
Awards include: Winner 2015 Dayton Playhouse Futurefest, 2015 Julie Harris Playwright Award, 2015 Boomerang Fund for Artists Grant, The Kennedy Center Fellowship of the Americas, Holland New Voices Playwright Award (Great Plains Theatre Conference), Mountain Playhouse International Comedy Playwriting Award, and Baltimore Magazine’s “Best Up and Coming Playwright.”
John chairs the Gaithersburg Cultural Arts Advisory Committee and serves on the board of Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic. He is a frequent contributor to Flagpole Radio Cafe, and his articles have been published in The Washington Independent Review of Books, American Theatre, Dramatics, and in programs and study guides for Long Wharf Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre, and Belmont Playhouse.
Awards include: Winner 2015 Dayton Playhouse Futurefest, 2015 Julie Harris Playwright Award, 2015 Boomerang Fund for Artists Grant, The Kennedy Center Fellowship of the Americas, Holland New Voices Playwright Award (Great Plains Theatre Conference), Mountain Playhouse International Comedy Playwriting Award, and Baltimore Magazine’s “Best Up and Coming Playwright.”
John chairs the Gaithersburg Cultural Arts Advisory Committee and serves on the board of Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic. He is a frequent contributor to Flagpole Radio Cafe, and his articles have been published in The Washington Independent Review of Books, American Theatre, Dramatics, and in programs and study guides for Long Wharf Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre, and Belmont Playhouse.
Vice-President
Rebecca A. Herron
holds a BFA in Theatre performance from the University of Miami. She has performed professionally in New York, Florida, Texas, Utah and Nevada and has been performing in DC-area theatre, TV and film for over 21 years. Rebecca is a Helen Hayes Award nominee and been awarded several acting awards for short & feature film roles. For Best Medicine Rep, Rebecca appeared in Derek Jeter Makes the Play, Philosophus, Engaging Shaw, The Crater Sisters' Christmas Special, Variant Strains, and all three seasons of I Know Jack. She has been with Kaiser Permanente for 20+ years and currently works on a national configuration team, holding several Epic software certifications and has been part of software implementations for the Mid-Atlantic region. As Vice President of Best Medicine Rep, Ms. Herron is actively recruiting new board members, other theatre artists and helping this company grow and flourish.
Secretary
Stan Levin
has a degree in Film and Theater from New York University. He studied directing at the Circle in the Square Playhouse in New York as well as a graduate program at the Catholic University of America. He worked off-Broadway in technical theater, and directed his first off-off-Broadway show in 1970. He has directed theater locally for various companies including original plays for New Playwrights Theater of Washington. Among his accomplishments was directing the American premiere of Howard Goodall’s British musical Girlfriends, about the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in World War II. His original one-act play, The Adjudicators, won nationally for the American Association of Community Theaters, and a production that he directed was performed in New York. In addition, Stan was a documentary filmmaker for the government, and an award-winning writer/producer of radio and television commercials. He teaches film history classes for Johns Hopkins’ Osher Program. For Best Medicine Rep, he directed the productions of On the Farce Day of Christmas, Blue Over You, Philosophus, Stories I May Not Tell, Comedy of Venice, Engaging Shaw, and The Consul, The Tramp, and America’s Sweetheart. Stan directed and co-wrote all three seasons of I Know Jack. He is a retired Rabbi.
Treasurer
Mary Roberds
is a retired pharmacist, former business owner and perpetual volunteer. She has served as a board member and leader for various non-profit organizations over the past 30 years, primarily relating to education and the arts. Her commitments have included management of fundraisers, organizing volunteers, and event coordination for parent-teacher organizations, booster groups, Boy Scouts, and quilt guilds. Most recently, she has volunteered extensively with the TSC Alliance, a non-profit that supports a rare genetic disorder, including co-chairing the 2018 and 2022 World TSC Conferences. She is privileged and excited to share her experience with this organization.
Directors
SALLY COBERLY , PhD, served as Deputy Director of the National Health Policy Forum at The George Washington University from 2000 until its closure in 2016. Immediately prior to joining the Forum she was Director of Public Policy for the Washington Business Group on Health, now the National Business Group on Health, a membership organization of Fortune 500 firms. She joined WGBH in 1990. Dr. Coberly began her professional career in 1979 as Research Assistant Professor and Senior Research Associate at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California’s Andrus Gerontology Center. Dr. Coberly received her PhD from the University of Southern California’s Center for Public Affairs. She holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning, also from USC, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kansas State University.
SALLY B. FRENCH has been serving the Montgomery Village and Gaithersburg areas as a realtor for over 15 years. She holds an M.B.A. from George Washington University and a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics from Penn State University. Sally has been an avid supporter of Best Medicine Rep since its inception.
NAYAB HUSSAIN is an actress/pharmacist working in the DMV area. After completing her Doctorate of Pharmacy, she took a leap of faith and went to New York to resume her career as an actress, while working as a full time pharmacist. She moved back into the DMV area in 2015 and had the pleasure of appearing in Best Medicine Rep’s first New Plays/New Voices Festival in 2017. She has also performed at various theater around the DMV. Nayab has worked on several TV shows and films, such as Law & Order: SVU, Veep, and God Friended Me. Most recently, Nayab worked on the Lifetime TV Movie Death Saved My Life and the new Queen Latifah show, The Equalizer. She looks forward to working with everyone at Best Medicine Rep.
CARLA MAGDAMO worked at Epworth Preschool and Kindergarten in Gaithersburg for 11 years, and was a very involved parent volunteer at Stedwick Elementary, Neelsville Middle and Watkins Mill High schools for 20 years. She has a BA in Political Science from Penn State and is currently working on an MS in Early Childhood Education from Towson University. Carla and her family have been supporters of Best Medicine Rep for several years and she is very excited and honored to be a part of the Board.
ALEXANDRA PARKER has been an administrative professional for healthcare, health research, and health policy companies for several years. She has MHA and MBA degrees from the University of Maryland University College, with an eye towards patient advocacy. A committed volunteer with Holy Cross Hospital, Rebuilding Together Montgomery County, and over thirteen years with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance repairing homes impacted by natural disasters. Her life-long interest in creative arts, love of theater, and laughter make her eager to be part of the growth of Best Medicine Rep.
SETH POLANSKY, esq. is an audio engineer, producer, attorney, and unabashed gamer. He began working with Cavegirl Productions in 2007, and his career is split between his law practice and his independent film work. Seth’s location and post-production work can be heard in many independent projects, including 2016’s Of Dice and Men and, most recently Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons and Dragons. Seth regularly works with illustrator’s rights organizations, and teaches courses about intellectual property and contract law. In addition to his law degree, in undergrad he triple-majored in philosophy, political science, and religious studies – those subjects one should avoid during polite conversation. He currently lives in Maryland with his wife Kelley and their psychopathic cat.
TERI POOL is a paralegal with the Department of Justice. She has been a resident of Montgomery Village for more than 20 years, and is excited to be on the Board at Best Medicine Rep after seeing many hilarious productions. Her family is full of theater and music people, but those genes jumped past her to her son. She has been a theater and music parent volunteer for most of his life, and dabbles in watercolor painting and writing poetry.
DR. SHEILA SAMADDAR was named 2021 Top Dentist by Washingtonian Magazine. She is the President and National Spokesperson for the DC chapter of The Academy of General Dentistry. She opened South Capitol Smile Center in 2008 and is internationally recognized by Invisalign for top case results. She is proud to have developed a bi-annual service program in Haiti, where she volunteers with the humanitarian special operations group, ArchAngel Airborne. As a dancer, she has performed with Up With People and the Washington Wizards. Sheila also choreographed the New York premiere of John Morogiello’s Irish Authors Held Hostage.
SALLY B. FRENCH has been serving the Montgomery Village and Gaithersburg areas as a realtor for over 15 years. She holds an M.B.A. from George Washington University and a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics from Penn State University. Sally has been an avid supporter of Best Medicine Rep since its inception.
NAYAB HUSSAIN is an actress/pharmacist working in the DMV area. After completing her Doctorate of Pharmacy, she took a leap of faith and went to New York to resume her career as an actress, while working as a full time pharmacist. She moved back into the DMV area in 2015 and had the pleasure of appearing in Best Medicine Rep’s first New Plays/New Voices Festival in 2017. She has also performed at various theater around the DMV. Nayab has worked on several TV shows and films, such as Law & Order: SVU, Veep, and God Friended Me. Most recently, Nayab worked on the Lifetime TV Movie Death Saved My Life and the new Queen Latifah show, The Equalizer. She looks forward to working with everyone at Best Medicine Rep.
CARLA MAGDAMO worked at Epworth Preschool and Kindergarten in Gaithersburg for 11 years, and was a very involved parent volunteer at Stedwick Elementary, Neelsville Middle and Watkins Mill High schools for 20 years. She has a BA in Political Science from Penn State and is currently working on an MS in Early Childhood Education from Towson University. Carla and her family have been supporters of Best Medicine Rep for several years and she is very excited and honored to be a part of the Board.
ALEXANDRA PARKER has been an administrative professional for healthcare, health research, and health policy companies for several years. She has MHA and MBA degrees from the University of Maryland University College, with an eye towards patient advocacy. A committed volunteer with Holy Cross Hospital, Rebuilding Together Montgomery County, and over thirteen years with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance repairing homes impacted by natural disasters. Her life-long interest in creative arts, love of theater, and laughter make her eager to be part of the growth of Best Medicine Rep.
SETH POLANSKY, esq. is an audio engineer, producer, attorney, and unabashed gamer. He began working with Cavegirl Productions in 2007, and his career is split between his law practice and his independent film work. Seth’s location and post-production work can be heard in many independent projects, including 2016’s Of Dice and Men and, most recently Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons and Dragons. Seth regularly works with illustrator’s rights organizations, and teaches courses about intellectual property and contract law. In addition to his law degree, in undergrad he triple-majored in philosophy, political science, and religious studies – those subjects one should avoid during polite conversation. He currently lives in Maryland with his wife Kelley and their psychopathic cat.
TERI POOL is a paralegal with the Department of Justice. She has been a resident of Montgomery Village for more than 20 years, and is excited to be on the Board at Best Medicine Rep after seeing many hilarious productions. Her family is full of theater and music people, but those genes jumped past her to her son. She has been a theater and music parent volunteer for most of his life, and dabbles in watercolor painting and writing poetry.
DR. SHEILA SAMADDAR was named 2021 Top Dentist by Washingtonian Magazine. She is the President and National Spokesperson for the DC chapter of The Academy of General Dentistry. She opened South Capitol Smile Center in 2008 and is internationally recognized by Invisalign for top case results. She is proud to have developed a bi-annual service program in Haiti, where she volunteers with the humanitarian special operations group, ArchAngel Airborne. As a dancer, she has performed with Up With People and the Washington Wizards. Sheila also choreographed the New York premiere of John Morogiello’s Irish Authors Held Hostage.
