Dayton, Ohio — Dayton residents Fran Pesch and John Rensel have been chosen as the 2010 Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame Inductees, recognized as individuals who have dedicated themselves to theatre arts in Dayton. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with the annual DayTony Awards on August 7, 2010 at the Sinclair Community College Ponitz Center. The event is open to the public. Early bird reservations are $35.00 each if received by July 24th. Reservations after July 24th are $40.00 each. Reservations can be mailed to DayTonys, PO Box 2706, Dayton, Ohio 45401-2706 or contact Fran Pesch at 937-654-0400 for more information.

Fran Pesch has been involved with performing/directing on the professional, educational, and community level for over 20 years.  She has worked with many local theatres (Sinclair Community College, Beavercreek, Brookville, Dayton Playhouse (20 years), Dayton Theatre Guild (18 years), Playhouse South, Town Hall, Trotwood, & TUTS).  Additional past experiences have included: conducting children’s theatre workshops & camps; providing speech and dialect coaching; serving as Interim Theatre (and box office) Manager at the Dayton Playhouse; and ushering at the Victoria and the Loft.  Fran is the Acting Coach for UD’s School of Law, Founder/Director of Young at Heart Players, and serves as the Program Director for FutureFest.  She is a Lifetime Member of the Dayton Playhouse, and serves on the Boards of the Dayton Theatre Guild and DayTonys.

John Rensel is the long term resident lighting designer for The Human Race Theater Company, The Muse Machine and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Pops series and has provided lighting design services for numerous Dayton Opera Association productions. He is also in his 19th year as the Technical Director for the Fraze Pavilion and has provided technical advance production coordination, lighting designs, automation programming and performance operation services for many artists and productions that have visited that venue.  He also has a diverse dance lighting background, having provided lighting designs and technical production services for many years to The Dayton Ballet and Dayton Contemporary Dance Co.  Mr.Rensel’s most recent national credits included a lighting design package for a National Touring Production of the Elton John/Tim Rice collaboration “AIDA”.  His most recent local credits include all the designs for the 2009-2010 Human Race Theater Company season at the Loft Theater, Moonlight and Magnolias at the Victoria Theater. The 2009-2010 home season concerts of The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and the Dayton Opera Association’s production Faust at the Schuster Center.

Established in 2002, the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame was created to honor local theatre artists and patrons of the arts. It is designed to acknowledge people whose life-long participation, innovation and creativity have influenced the Dayton arts culture. The Hall of Fame recognizes their contributions to the arts by perpetuating their legacies. The Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame is operated and governed by the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame Executive Committee, consisting of three members, one each from community, professional and educational theatres in the Dayton area. For more information visit the website: http://www.daytonys.org