Stephanie Wilson

Stephanie Lin Wilson (née Wooley, formerly Angelini, born May 25, 1957), is an American theatre director, arts advocate, and non-profit fundraiser. She serves as a commissioner for the City of Thousand Oaks Cultural Affairs Commission and is the artistic director of Gold Coast Performing Arts Association. She is also the Deputy Director of the New West Symphony.

As a Los Angeles based theatre producer, Wilson has been active for over 40 years, earning several awards for her Equity theater productions and her work in the non-profit community. She has been nominated for two Ovation Awards.

Early life

Born in Los Angeles to Hollywood production designer Peter Wooley and singer Linda Wooley, Wilson attended Taft High School where she was a member of the drama department and the lead in several plays. Because of her father’s career as a successful production designer, she traveled often and switched schools regularly. Wilson claims that she first learned the entertainment business by “stowing away in the back of her father’s car.” Because of this, she was able to gain employment on several film productions, notably as the stunt double for a sheep dog on the Katharine Hepburn film Olly Olly Oxen Free which her father also worked on. Wilson studied film theory at Sonoma State University in Northern California.

Career

After a period acting in local plays and theater productions , Wilson directed several plays leading up to the 1984 Summer Olympics as part of the Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival and gained notoriety as a talented director as well as performer.

After the Olympic Arts Festival, Wilson became the founding artistic director of the Encino Playhouse in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, producing numerous Equity plays as well as gaining experience in children’s theatre, which she would later utilize as the artistic director of Gold Coast Theatre Conservatory. Wilson would remain at the Encino playhouse until 1994, eventually moving to Thousand Oaks with her three children and starting Gold Coast Performing Arts Association.

In the period before becoming Director of Development at the New West Symphony, Wilson was involved in capital campaigns for numerous non-profit organizations including the Ventura County Community Foundation. She also served as the Vice President of the Partners in Care foundation.

Wilson eventually moved to Thousand Oaks, California where she became artistic director of Gold Coast Performing Arts Association. She also served as one of the founding members of the Thousand Oaks Cultural Affairs Commission and on the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Board of Governors from 1999 to 2007.Wilson has also chaired the board of directors for the California Alliance for Arts Education, Ventura County Arts Council and Social Justice Fund for Ventura County. She is currently the deputy director and director of development for The New West Symphony, based in Thousand Oaks.