Alumni Spotlights

"Lake Region set me on my path in theatre over 50 years ago under the tutelage of Bill Holo. Without his guidance and the College's support of that department, I have no idea where I would have ended up nor what I would be doing with my life right now. I'll always be eternally grateful for the education I received there and for all the professors that had such a profound impact on my journey."

Steven Lantz-Gefroh is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and one of the founding members of the Asylum Theatre, created in 2001 to give Equity actors who teach at local universities a place to hone their skills. As a professional actor, he has played over 200 roles in theatres from London to New York and across the US, 50 of which hail from Shakespeare. He has worked on original plays with such writers as Romulus Linney, Maria Irene Fornes, Richard Greenberg and Israel Horowitz, and has appeared on the daytime dramas One Life to Live and Another World.  Steven is a Professor of Theatre at Suffolk County Community College where he has directed Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Lost in Yonkers, The Glass Menagerie, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Children’s Hour, Secret Garden, American Buffalo, Bent, Heathen Valley, St. Crispin’s Day, The Boys of Winter, The Rocky Horror Show, Proof, An Order of Durang with a Side of Ives, Cyrano de Bergerac, Down the Road, As You Like It, The Foreigner, Hair, Pvt. Wars, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, Mill Fire, A Fighting Light, Circle Mirror Transformation, Crimes of the Heart, Learning to Stay, Brutality of Fact, The Language Archive, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Henry V, Noises Off, Tape, Antigone Now, and The Thanksgiving Play. For the Long Island Shakespeare Festival his directing credits include Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Macbeth, Henry IV, Part I, As You Like It and The Three Musketeers.

Mr. Lantz-Gefroh has received numerous Kennedy Center Citations for Excellence in Direction, Fight Choreography and Ensemble Acting, and has had nine scenes and eight full productions invited to the Kennedy Center--American College Theatre Festival regional competition: Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me in 1999, Heathen Valley in 2004, The Boys of Winter in 2006, The Foreigner in 2013, both Pvt. Wars and The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 in 2016, Circle Mirror Transformation in 2017, and Antigone Now in 2023. Suffolk’s production of The Foreigner earned him a National Distinguished Directing Award from the Kennedy Center in the spring of 2013.

In the summer of 2017, Suffolk was honored to participate in the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Romania. In preparation, Mr. Lantz-Gefroh and fight choreographer Lou Felicciardi conceived and wrote a Stage Combat play about protecting Democracy throughout the world in challenging times. Rehearsals lasted throughout the spring semester, with Steven directing and Lou choreographing the fights. Upon arrival in Sibiu in June, fourteen Suffolk student actors and technicians then combined that play with a dance/movement piece featuring ten actors from the University of Lucien Blaga in Sibiu, under the direction of Adriana Barza. Steven’s collaboration with Adriana resulted in the creation of a new play that we entitled: Performing Across Borders: A Fighting Light. It was Suffolk’s first appearance on the international stage, and it took place at the most prestigious theatre festival in the world. Our students acquitted themselves brilliantly and made the college and the theatre arts department very proud!

Steven has been honored with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He served in the Army from 1975-1978, is a member of Actor’s Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, and the proud father of Alex and Hope.