Gayle Stahlhuth: Performer

Gayle Stahlhuth has performed Off-Broadway, in regional theater and in film and tv.  She is also a produced playwright who received commissions from The Smithsonian, Pennsylvania Stage Company and other theaters, and funding through the NJ, IL, and MO Humanities Councils. As a teacher of acting and playwrighting, she has worked in public schools, universities, on Ute reservations, and for theater companies. 

She began performing for East Lynne Theater Company in 1981, when it was only located in Central Jersey, but learned about Cape May when the company began performing in this seaside resort in 1987.  While still holding on to the apartment in NYC, she and her husband, Lee O’Connor, bought a home in West Cape May in 1993.  From 1999 through 2022, Gayle was the producing artistic director of ETLC and Lee was the technical director from 1999 through 2020.  In the spring of 2023, she founded a new nonprofit theater, Classic American Tales (CAT), dedicated to telling America’s stories “one tale at a time.” 

“I can’t remember a time I didn’t love storytelling.  Whether it’s by reading a book, listening to someone’s personal story, watching a live performance, a film, or a well-produced television series, I eagerly await the outcome, while still, many times, not wanting the story to end. With Classic American Tales, I intend to continue the ever-evolving process of helping to bring old and new works to public attention by giving actors and playwrights nurturing platforms in which to work.” – Gayle Stahlhuth

Here, Gayle is presenting a piece of this “An Anti-Suffrage Monologue” at Madison Avenue Baptist Church (American Baptist) on March 3, 2024 to kick off Women’s History Month.