Danielle Howard (Artistic Director, Director of Spitfire Grill) is pleased to be returning to the barn this summer in the role of Artistic Director and to direct the season closer, The Spitfire Grill.   She spent her past three summers at Hackmatack, directing the musicals,  She Loves Me and The Bridges of Madison County, and last season’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.  Danielle has worked at theaters around the country as an actor and director, including Indiana Repertory Theatre, Greenbrier Valley Theatre, American Family Theatre, and Shadowland Theatre.  She holds a BA in Music from the University of New Hampshire, and earned her MFA in Directing at Indiana University.  After spending more than a decade in the Midwest, she was pleased to return home to her New England roots.  Local directing credits include: Jane Eyre: A Musical Drama, Driving Miss Daisy,  Little Women, Titanic, and South Pacific (Seacoast Repertory Theatre); Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice and Goblin Market (New Hampshire Theatre Project),  A Christmas Carol (Prescott Park Arts Festival); Enchanted April, Lettice and Lovage, and I Ought to Be in Pictures (ACT ONE), and Shrek the Musical and The Glass Menagerie (Firehouse Center for the Arts , Newburyport).  Danielle has taught theatre courses at UNH, Great Bay Community College, Franklin College, and Northern Essex Community College. When she’s not directing or teaching, she can be found coordinating the volunteer program at Pope Memorial Humane Society where she has been a dedicated volunteer herself for more than six years. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.