Mr. Lynch is so grateful for our theatre family at Ridge! In his first year at Ridge, he received the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Outstanding Educator, Outstanding Direction of a Play (“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”), and the production of Newsies received Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical from the Rising Star Awards. Recently, the fall 2024 production of Radium Girls was honored with Outstanding Overall Production of a Play from Montclair State. Prior to Ridge, Lynch was the Theatre Arts Director at Watchung Hills, where he was awarded the Best New Theatre Educator Award from the Montclair Theatre Night Awards in 2022. Prior to that, he worked in the Summit High School Theatre Department and Forensics Team for six years, coaching forensics students in competitive acting to the final round stages at national tournaments across the country, including the champions of the Princeton, Yale, and Harvard University tournaments. Most notably, coaching the national champion in Dramatic
Interpretation, scoring first place in the country in 2018. He is most proud of his work teaching in the special education department at Summit for many years. When not inside the Ridge PAC, you can find Lynch traveling to exotic countries, or taking his dog, Fritz to every dog beach that he can find in New Jersey.

Jason M. Stewart is an artist and art educator at Ridge High School where this is his 11th year leading the scenic design and stage crew. Stewart received his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and has exhibited his artwork throughout the east coast, including the Newark Museum and the Monmouth Museum. Stewart and his crew have received many awards and nominations for their outstanding work with scenic design, including the 2017 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award. Stewart has worked with local and touring theatre companies in the roles of director, actor, designer, stage manager, painter, and builder. Stewart is extremely proud of the hard work the cast and crew have put into each production of their productions. He looks forward to working with this year's incoming members of Stage Crew!

Colin Berry has experience within the Performing Arts Center industry for the past five years.  He is a 2018 graduate of Rowan University where he served as Director of Technical Services putting on weekly events and shows.  Mr. Berry worked on sold-out comedy events for Marlon Wayans, SNL cast member Michael Che and Mikey Day.  He is a lighting technician for the New Jersey Devils hockey and Seton Hall University men’s basketball games at the Prudential Center.  He has worked corporate, theatrical, and arena-size events for the past eight years as a freelance audio-visual engineer.  He is very excited to extend the joy of theatre to all students who want to learn!