Carmen Crussard
Carmen Crussard is a uniquely insightful, stage savvy and immensely talented actor, director and instructor.
On the acting side, she has portrayed the Witch in Into the Woods for The Belle Theatre, Seneca Howland in Men on Boats for Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance for the Arts, Pocahontas in The Lab’s SoDis Theatre filmed theatrical production of Disenchanted, A New Musical Comedy and Conchita in The Lab’s production of Anna in the Tropics.
On the other side 
of the boards, Carmen has directed Mitch Albom’s And the Winner Is …., The Musical Comedy Murders of the 1940s, The Smell of the Kill, Play On!, Scrooge TV: A Modern Christmas Carol and The Second Book of Ruth, all for Laboratory Theater of Florida. (She was also Assistant Director for Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.)
Other directorial credits include Lauren Yee’s The Hatmaker’s Wife (Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance for the Arts), Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr., 
Wizard of Oz and The Addams Family.
As the Youth Theatre Director for the Alliance for the Arts since 2012 that she has directed such wondrously ambitious, wonderfully-staged and densely-packed musical productions as Pippin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Calvin Berger, Monty Python’s Spamalot the Musical, Heathers the Musical, Almost, Maine, Peter Pan, Jr. and Xanadu, Jr., and next directs The Addams Family September 29-October 1.
Carmen also works full-time as the Theatre Director at Cypress Lake High School Center for the Arts. While bringing out the best in adult actors may 
indeed be satisfying, what makes Carmen’s heart skip a beat is helping children develop into young actors, directors and stage hands. She genuinely enjoys working with kids of all ages and talent levels.
Carmen is also a fledgling playwright. In this capacity, she participated in the First, Second and Sixth Annual Lab Theater 24-Hour Playwriting Challenge, winning the Judge’s Choice Award in the inaugural year.
In addition to Anna in the Tropics, Carmen portrayed
July 17, 2019; revised August 29, 2023.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.