Heather Kitchen, Production Consultant, is Executive Director of the award wining American Conservatory Theater. Kitchen has overseen the company's expansion and been instrumental in fortifying the organization's infrastructure and increasing support for A.C.T.'s artists and employees. After earning her B.A. in drama and theater arts at the University of Waterloo in 1975, Kitchen began her career in stage management at the prestigious Stratford Festival. Other career highlights include four seasons as production manager of Theatre New Brunswick, a regional touring company located in Eastern Canada, and as general manager of The Citadel Theatre, then Canada's largest regional theater.

Following 15 years of stage and production management, Kitchen received her M.B.A. from the internationally renowned Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario. She is an active member of the larger San Francisco community, currently serving on the board of the Commonwealth Club of California, and is a past member of the San Francisco Leadership Board of the American Red Cross and of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, San Francisco and the Peninsula. Kitchen is serving her third term on the executive committee of the League of Resident Theatres. She has also participated on peer review panels for Theatre Communications Group, the Canada Council of the Arts, and Forbes magazine's Business and the Arts Awards.