BEKKI JO SCHNEIDER
Pioneers – who passed through Shakespeare
In Central Park, Derby Dinner Playhouse or the
classrooms of every local university, where she
taught at various times, who moved on to their own
careers as theatre-makers and theatre-educators.
To list the names would be to create a Who’s Who
of today’s Kentuckiana theatre landscape. And
beyond Kentuckiana, her protégés have made
successful careers in the performing arts across
the world.
And that was the fourth pillar on which she
based her success: The need to pass it on. Bekki
Jo was a fierce believer in the nobility of the artist’s
place in the story of human culture. She took her
greatest professional pride in knowing that her
spirit inhabited even a small sub-chapter in that
story, and that because of the joy she brought to
her work and the passion she inspired in those
who learned from her, that story – the artist’s
story – would grow on, would grow beyond her
and would continue to flourish in this region she
loved so much.
Bekki Jo Schneider is missed, she is mourned,
she is thanked.
And by many of us, she will always be celebrated.
Jon Huffman is an actor, writer and director
living in Louisville. He is co-artistic director of
Fleur De Lis Theatricals.
From Derby Dinner Playhouse
It is with profound sadness that we share the
passing of our matriarch, Bekki Jo Schneider.
For the past 33 years, Bekki has been the co-
owner and producer of Derby Dinner Playhouse,
but she has