2025-2026 Beverly Theatre Guild Board of Directors

From left:
Sheilah O’Grady, Vice President; Morgan Ayres, Business Manager; Sharon Mason, President; Emil Zbella, Secretary; Tony Zawila, Treasurer; Jennifer Lenihan, Social Chair; Rose Murphy, Publicity Chair

Sharon Mason, President: Sharon Mason holds dual Master’s Degrees in Music Education and Educational Administration. With a career spanning both the arts and educational leadership, she has served as music director or director for more than 30 high school and community theater productions. Beyond the stage, Sharon has facilitated professional development workshops for adult learners nationwide, sharing her expertise in both education and the arts.
She is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, the National Association of Principals, the Illinois Principals’ Association, the Illinois Music Educators Association, and the National Association for Music Education.
Most recently, Sharon retired from Mays Academy, Chicago Public Schools, where she served as Arts Liaison, music teacher, leadership team member, and Local School Council representative.

Sheilah O’Grady, Vice President: Sheilah is Beverly born and raised, and proud to call BTG her theater home. She previously served on the Board as Social Chair. She has been involved in numerous productions with a variety of Chicagoland organizations in both onstage and offstage capacities. Her favorite roles include assistant director, lightboard operator, and Daniel’s mom. She currently lives in Orland Park and works full-time as a supervising attorney for the Westside Justice Center, a non-profit focusing on holistic justice for marginalized communities.

Tony Zawila, Treasurer: (bio coming)

Emil Zbella, Secretary: Emil is retired from a career in marketing as Senior Vice President and Director of Advertising and Promotions for LaSalle Bank, NA. In this capacity, he supervised several marketing areas including the bank’s outside advertising agencies and design firms. He was also responsible for managing the bank’s many sponsorship activities. Emil joined the Beverly Theatre Guild in 1975 and over the years has served in several Board positions including 13 years as President. He currently serves as Board Member and Past President of The International Music Foundation (now Classical Music Chicago), a producing organization of free classical concerts,.and is past Parish Council President of St. Simon the Apostle Church. He serves as resident Set Designer for the Beverly Theatre Guild and for St. Sebastian Players, a community theatre organization. In the past he has served on the Boards of The League of Chicago Theatres; Theatre II, a professional, non-equity theatre company; Chicago Financial Advertisers, and Contact Chicago, a crisis hotline.

Morgan Ayres, Business Manager: Morgan has been a member of BTG for only two years, but has had such a wonderful time on and off stage with other members that she decided to take a more active role with the group and join the board of directors. When not performing, Morgan works as a veterinarian in the Chicago suburbs.

Rose Murphy, Publicity Director: Rose (She/They) has been a member of BTG since birth. Her parents (Dan and MaryBeth Murphy) met during BTG’s 1988 production of the musical “Lil’l Abner.” Her late Aunt Alane was the choreographer for the production and her Grandma Agnes Stoffregen worked the box office. Growing up with community theatre, she has enjoyed seeing many fabulous productions across the chicagoland area and started regularly performing on stage with BTG in 2022. Rose grew up in DuPage county and received her BA and MA in Women’s and Gender Studies from DePaul University. Since college, Rose has worked at domestic violence nonprofits around the chicagoland area to spread awareness on resources for survivors, provide prevention education for the community, and facilitate trainings for social service professionals. Rose is an Illinois Certified Domestic Violence Professional.

Jennifer Lenihan, Social Chair: Jen has been active in community theatre since 1995. While most often found onstage, she has also worked behind the scenes as an Assistant Director, Choreographer, Stage Manager, and worked in the booth as a spotlight, light board, projector, and sound board operator. Additionally, she also directed several shows for St. Bede and St. Linus grammar schools. She first came to BTG in 2003, performing in Can Can, and has been a part of over a dozen productions with BTG. In recent years, Jen has worked with her mom (Barb Lenihan), making fundraising baskets that can be found at every one of our productions. In addition to BTG, she has performed with Oak Lawn Park District, BHUC, ONAG, CCCT and as a young performer, shared the stage with Donny Osmond in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. By day, Jen is a case assistant with a law firm in the Loop. This is her first time on the Board with BTG, however, she has held the Secretary and Vice President positions with the now-defunct Beverly Hills University Club and Opening Night Arts Groups respectively. Jen is excited to be the Social Chair on this board and is looking forward to the things to come.