Bringing broadway to the Big Sky
Alpine Theatre Project brings professional Broadway talent to Montana's Big Sky Country. Founded in 2004 by three Broadway veterans, ATP produces professional theater and comprehensive educational programs, with artists who have performed in over 190 Broadway productions and won 4 Tony Awards, 7 Emmy Awards, 4 Golden Globe Awards, and 1 Academy Award. Through ATP Kids and ATP Teen, students work alongside these professional artists from Broadway and Los Angeles, gaining mentorship and training that inspires the next generation of performers. Since its founding, ATP has become one of the most talked-about and unique cultural institutions in the Inland Northwest, with notices in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, American Theatre Magazine, and Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine, which named ATP as one of the attractions that make Whitefish, Montana "One of the Top 10 Coolest Small Towns in America."
Leadership
In August 2024, Cynthia Benkelman and Tracy McDowell joined Alpine Theatre Project as co-leaders — Executive Director and Artistic Director — continuing ATP's tradition of professional excellence and deepening its commitment to the Flathead Valley community.
Cynthia Benkelman, Executive Director
Cynthia Benkelman brings more than three decades of organizational leadership to Alpine Theatre Project, with a career spanning nonprofit management, financial governance, and executive leadership across the Flathead Valley and beyond. She holds both a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and an MBA from the University of Colorado.
Cynthia has led and served organizations at every level — as an executive director, board president, and treasurer in the nonprofit sector, and as a senior leader in the corporate world. She taught undergraduate business courses at Flathead Valley Community College and led corporate training workshops and seminars across multiple industries. At the national level, she served five times as a deputy to the Episcopal Church's General Convention, where she worked on program, budget, and finance for an organization with a multi-million dollar budget.
A longtime Whitefish resident, Cynthia and her husband Cody raised their three children here, all of whom participated in ATP programs before going on to attend Harvard University. That journey — from Whitefish stage to Harvard Yard — is exactly the kind of story ATP exists to make possible.
Tracy McDowell, Artistic Director
Tracy McDowell is a New York-trained performer whose career began when she was cast as Maureen in RENT's 10th Anniversary Tour straight out of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She went on to join the Broadway company of RENT and appeared in the live film of the Pulitzer Prize-winning production. Her Broadway credits also include the closing company of MOTOWN, The Musical, and she has performed in the world premiere of Stephen Schwartz's SNAPSHOTS, working directly with the composer on the original production. Tracy has performed with Disney and served as a featured vocalist for United Nations International Women's Events.
As a teaching artist, Tracy has taken her work across three continents, doing creative outreach in South Africa, Korea, and Japan. She runs her own vocal studio, One Voice, and has directed productions ranging from a nearly sold-out Wizard of Oz — her first production with ATP — featuring 152 children, to collaborations with Broadway artists on new works. She has directed and produced concerts and live events throughout the Flathead Valley, including Rocky Horror and a Queen tribute alongside ATP.
Since joining ATP as Artistic Director in 2024, Tracy has brought her Broadway experience and deep commitment to arts education to every aspect of the organization's programming — from professional productions featuring nationally recognized artists to youth programs serving hundreds of students each year.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Officers
Marcus Wheeler, President
Joel Welle, Vice President
Jerry Boksich, Secretary
Kyra Ocker, Treasurer
Directors
Kortny Kellogg
Sharon Morrison
Lyndsay Schott
Matt Wetzler
To imagine without boundaries, to create vibrant professional entertainment and transformative arts education, to inspire the audience, artists, and next generation.
Founding Artists (2004-2024)
Betsi Morrison
Founder Betsi Morrison led ATP for 20 years and has been seen on the stages of Broadway as well as the nation's leading regional theatres. She has performed in the Broadway productions of The Sound of Music opposite Richard Chamberlain, South Pacific opposite Robert Goulet, and The Royal National Theatre's critically acclaimed revival of Carousel. She starred in the Manhattan Theatre Club's new production of Time and Again, based on the popular Jack Finney novel, and was seen performing with Broadway's most legendary leading ladies at Carnegie Hall in My Favorite Broadway for PBS's Great Performances with Julie Andrews. Regionally, she has been nominated for two "Philly" Awards by the Philadelphia Inquirer for her performances in Rags and A Chorus Line at the Walnut Street Theatre. She won a "Tennie" Award given by the Nashville Tennessean for her starring role in West Side Story at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre. She can currently be heard singing the role of Maria on the recording of West Side Story with the Nashville Symphony on the Naxos Classical label. Betsi founded Alpine Theatre Project in 2004 with a mission to bring the Broadway community to the Flathead Valley. In 2008, she founded ATP Kids, an educational outreach program for local students. Over 1000 students in grades 1-12 have participated in the program.
Luke Walrath
Luke Walrath moved to Whitefish, Montana from New York City in 2002. For the year and a half prior to the move, the Milwaukee native had been performing in the Tony Award-winning revival of 42nd Street on Broadway. He has performed on three continents as a singer, dancer, and actor, doing anything from playing Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream in Kiev & Odessa, Ukraine, to singing for US soldiers across Europe with the USO, to playing Rolf in the Broadway National Tour of The Sound of Music starring Richard Chamberlain. He has made numerous appearances on television and film, including the 2001 Tony Awards, Late Night with David Letterman, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He founded Alpine Theatre Project in 2004 with Broadway veterans, Betsi Morrison & David Ackroyd. He oversaw ATP's Marketing & Fund Development programs from 2004-2022.
David Ackroyd
David Ackroyd is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and was a charter member of the Yale Repertory Theatre where he played more than 25 roles in three seasons in plays ranging from those of William Shakespeare to Terence McNally. He made his Broadway debut in Phillip Roth's Unlikely Heroes, and followed with Full Circle directed by Otto Preminger, Hide and Seek opposite Elizabeth Ashley and the Tony-Award winning production of Children of a Lesser God. His many other theatre appearances include six seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, in Hamlet at the New York Shakespeare Festival, A Soldier's Play at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite Sally Kellerman and the American Repertory Theatre's Six Characters in Search of an Author, which he most recently performed at Russia's Moscow Art Theatre. He starred in the off-Broadway production of It Just Catches based on the writings of Ernest Hemingway at New York's historic Cherry Lane Theatre. He has directed off-Broadway, in regional theatre, and at Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC) and has taught acting at Yale University, the University of Nebraska, and FVCC. He is also the recipient of the William and Eva Fox Fellowship for Advanced Study in Acting.
Honorary Board
Upon its founding, ATP convened an Honorary Board of theatre luminaries to lend their support, talent, and advice.
Dawn Didawick
Olympia Dukakis
Harry Groener
Robert Goulet
Arthur Kopit
John Lithgow
Rebecca Luker
Jim Nabors
James Naughton
Henry Winkler
Louis Zorich
Founding Board President: Marshall Friedman