Van den Berg Returns to Theatre on the Hill

Written By Cori Simpson

Each June in Alumni Hall at McDaniel College, the curtain goes up on a three-month run of plays and musicals under the auspices of the Theatre on the Hill.

This year marked the beginning of a new era for the Theatre: The triumphant return of Elizabeth van den Berg and a successful season that featured crowd-pleasers such as “Oliver,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “The Jungle Book” and a post show revue series that included “Heard Any Good Books Lately?” and “Singing the Bard.”

Van den Berg, a petite, vibrant woman who seems to embody the very definition of “redhead,” is an experienced producer, actress, musician and teacher who has worked often with the Theatre since 1992.

She has worked (and still works) as a full time Associate Professor of Theater Arts at the college and has also appeared in such professional productions as “Blood Brothers,” “House of Blue Leaves” and “Gypsy,” just to name a few.

The creativity she brings to the troupe under her newest title of Producing Artistic Director (whose responsibilities she describes as “problem solver, bill payer, mediator, and mother”) are a distillation of her many years of theater-related experience as well as a reflection of her eclectic childhood.

Her interest in performing arts begin with her father’s love for singing. Naturally, she loved musicals, she said, and dreamed of a life like Joni Mitchell’s or Julie Andrews’s.

Van den Berg’s family moved often because of the nature of her father’s work as a diesel engineer. She was born in San Francisco. When she was four, her family moved to Morocco for six years, then to the Philippines, and finally to a small island in Greece. The island did not have an American high school, so van den Berg went to boarding school for three of the four years, spending the first at an Episcopal school. After years of moving, she decided to return to California for her undergraduate degree.

At San Francisco State University, van den Berg began as a music major, but quickly realized that the solitary life of a performer or composer was not for her.

“I really like people,” she said. “I didn’t like working alone. Theater is collaborative. It takes a team to create.”
At 22, after van den Berg finished her undergraduate degree in Theater Arts in California, she moved to Manhattan to attend graduate school. She obtained her Master’s in Fine Arts and Acting from New York University.

After graduation, the newly minted actress landed a job with the Music Theatre Group touring out of Massachusetts for more than eight months. She played the role of Nancy in “Oliver.” Knowing that she didn’t want to make New York her permanent residence, the tour gave van den Berg the chance to explore the country and find a new city to call home; she chose Washington, DC, from which she commutes to Westminster for practices, performances, and more.

“I also met a cute guy who owned a rehearsal studio called Rehearsal Spaces,” van den Berg said . That guy is Michael Toperzer, who has been her husband for 23 years. They have two children, a daughter, Jensen, 20, and son, Mike, 17.

Between her first job and Theatre on the Hill, van den Berg worked at a dinner theater in Rockville, MD, as well as downtown theaters in Washington, DC. Her passion to teach, which she acquired from her mother, led her to instructional positions at a variety of theaters, including the Kennedy Center for performing arts. She is now considered a “go-to person” in D.C. for dialect coaching.

Her opportunity to work as Producing Artistic Director at Theatre on the Hill offered her the chance to combine all of her talents at a well established theater that focuses on teaching as well as entertaining.

“The involvement not only offers students experience,” van den Berg said as she gestured around the room to the many photos of previous performances, “but almost more importantly, the students can form bonds that will last a lifetime.”

Founded in 1982 by Ira Domser, Dell Palmer and Tim Weinfeld, Theatre on the Hill’s unique organization has provided annual Broadway-style entertainment for local audiences during June, July and August. The productions during these months offer opportunities for high school and college students that include the new High School Apprentice Program, paid internships, post-matinee performance workshops, as well as pre-show birthday party performances.

Dell Palmer, who once worked as producer and head of the Theatre, and Tim Weinfeld, former Theatre faculty member, are long retired from Theatre on the Hill. Domser however, officially retired as Producing Artistic Director in 2006, but was pleased that the Theatre had grounded itself so firmly in the community and hopes that its presence becomes even more prominent. He is confident that the Theatre will continue its success under van den Berg’s direction.

“What Theatre on the Hill needs now is what it has always needed: support,” Domser said. And he believes that van den Berg’s new focus on becoming more family oriented, her technique of involving younger actors, and her goals of making Theatre on the Hill not just a theater, but an educational experience, will only continue to provoke community patronage.

Next year, van den Berg hopes to present a summer of fairy tales including “Into the Woods,” which combines the stories of “Jack and the Bean Stalk,” “Cinderella,” and “Rapunzel” into an original fairy tale about a baker and his wife.

Van den Berg’s enthusiastic personality is reflected in her personal review of Theatre on the Hill.
“I’m very pleased with the continued success of Theatre on the Hill,” said van den Berg, “we managed to attract high quality talent this past year, and I’m confident that as we continue to grow our shows will get better and better.”