EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Sam Vargo has a BS in Entertainment and Arts Management, Theatre concentration, from Drexel University (2015) and an MA in Catholic Studies from the University of St. Thomas (2022). She has over a decade of experience at professional theaters, including Swim Pony Performing Arts and Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia and Theater Latté Da and Artistry Theater & Visual Arts here in the Twin Cities. She has worked over the years as a director, stage manager, production manager, actor, dramaturg / co-creator, grant-writer, marketer, and more. She discovered Missed the Boat Theatre within a week of moving to the Twin Cities in fall 2019 and immediately discovered an artistic kinship and faith integration that has only grown as she has been part of the theater’s leadership ever since. In fall 2024, she transitioned into a full-time role as Executive Director, bringing her years of experience and formation to the helm of the theater as we pursue its next chapter.

CO-FOUNDER, DIRECTOR OF MISSION

Fr. Kyle Kowalczyk is one of the co-founders of Missed the Boat Theatre and its Director of Mission. He fell in love with theatre his sophomore year of high school and wrote his first play his senior year. He would call theatre the “cause” of his first conversion, as it gave him an outlet for all his creative energy. He went on to major in Television Production with a minor in Theatre, and after graduating college received a certificate in writing from Act One, an intensive, Hollywood-based screenwriting program for Christians artists. This really formed his craft and ascetic taste for telling stories that are good, true and beautiful. While he was in seminary, he got a master’s in Catholic Studies and founded the St. Paul Seminary Theatre, producing, writing, directing, and acting in plays until he was ordained in 2016. He considers Missed the Boat his apostolate, and has been truly blessed to see how many devoutly Catholic artists have been impacted by this ministry. “When we do theatre, we are many parts but one body, giving a beautiful gift to our brothers and sisters, all for the greater glory of God!”

CO-FOUNDER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Mary Shaffer is co-founder and Artistic Director of Missed the Boat Theatre. After graduating from St. Olaf College with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts with an Emphasis in Theatre, she went on to perform her senior capstone project, Departure: A One-Woman Play, at several venues including NET Lifeline. Having performed with local theatres such as the Zephyr Theatre (Witness for the Prosecution, The Secret Garden) and The Phipps Center for the Arts (A Shayna Maidel), Shaffer directed Missed the Boat's first three productions: Catholic Young Adults: The Musical (2019), Moonshine Abbey (2021), and Sense & Sensibility (2022). A Masters in Theology deepened her understanding of the connection between theatre and the mystery of the human person made in the image of God. Only at Missed the Boat has she found a place where she can freely encourage fellow theatre artists to live this mystery to the full.

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

Erika Zabinski has been with MTBT since the very beginning in 2019. Her title has evolved as the theater has grown, but she’s still handling bookkeeping, contracts, and all things administrative. In a previous life, she collaborated with Fr. Kyle on the Saint Paul Seminary Theatre shows and worked in administrative roles for several local Catholic organizations, including the Archdiocese and the Saint Paul Seminary. She loves MTBT not just because theater is thrilling, but because MTBT is where nearly all of her most treasured personal friendships have started, bonded, and continue to deepen. There’s nothing quite like the camaraderie and vulnerability of theater for incubating serious friendship fast. When not at MTBT, Erika runs a book indexing business and loves naval history, cats and owls, and making you dinner.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Ellie Wagner serves as Marketing and Communications Director for Missed the Boat Theatre. When she was thirteen, her parents took her to her first play, The Taming of the Shrew, which opened up a whole new world of storytelling that she has loved ever since. In college, she acted and stage managed for productions, took acting and playwriting classes, and after college had the chance to teach theatre, art, and music at a classical school in Edina. She hopped ‘on board’ with Missed the Boat as costume designer for Sense and Sensibility, where she was humbled by the love and support the whole community gave her during and after the show, as she experienced an unexpectedly complicated pregnancy and recovery. She is passionate about introducing others to the beauty of this faith-nourishing community. Her background in English and publications makes her passionate about how God uses our words to invite us into deeper contemplation, both on and offstage.