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Board of Directors

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Larry Reitzer

President

Larry has directed many box office hits like Avenue Q & Beauty and the Beast since arriving on the Big Island in 2017.  Right out of High School, Larry served as directory, Arthur Laurents’ production assistant on the original Broadway production of La Cage Aux Folles.  Larry went on to assist such Broadway directors as Tommy Tune, Michael Blakemore and Herb Ross.  After attending NYU, Larry switched his sights from directing to arts administration/producing and went on to become a company manager on the Broadway, First National and Los Angeles companies of Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera.  While in Los Angeles, Larry switched careers again, to television writing and production, working on such shows as Spin City, Just Shoot Me, Melissa and Joey, and Ugly Betty.  Larry has developed pilots for Disney Channel, ABC, NBC, Universal, Warner Brothers, YouTube Originals and ABC Family.  Larry is founder of HEART and lives in Hilo with his husband of twenty five years, Matthew.

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Nicholas Souza

Interim Vice-President

Nicholas Souza was born in Hilo, Hawaii and is a graduate of Kamehameha. He is a local freelance filmmaker and photographer who proudly serves as the Interim Vice President on the HEART Board of Directors. Nick started working in community theater as the documentarian for HEART’S 2021 production of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and has since Co-Produced such HEART shows as CABARET, LION KING, THE PROM and GREASE. Nick is currently pursuing a career as a director, screenwriter and producer.

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Aleah Kay

Secratary

Aleah Kay was born in Hilo, Hawaii and is a graduate of Kamehameha. Currently, the Secretary of the HEART Board, Aleah has choreographed AVENUE Q, CABARET and GREASE. In addition she has starred in the following HEART productions AVENUE Q (Lucy), THE LION KING (Nala), GREASE (Jan), BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Ensemble), HILODAYS (Ensemble) and CABARET (Ensemble). She is currently a double major in English and Performing arts at UH Hilo. She’s an inspiring theater director/choreographer/writer and producer.

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Jason Aiwohi-Tomlin

Treasure 

Jason Aiwohi- Tomlin was born in Hilo, Hawaii and is a graduate of Kamehameha. He is proud to be the Treasurer of the Heart Board after appearing in such shows as CABARET (Bobby), LION KING (Scar), THE PROM (Kevin), GREASE (Kenickie) and most recently the Palace production of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND (Daniel). Thanks to the support from his HEART family- Jason recently began choreographing - his most recent choreography credits include THE PROM and GREASE as well as providing “additional choreography” for CABARET.  He has been dancing since the age of nine focusing on Hula and recently started training in ballet, jazz and other styles of dance. He currently works at Pineapples Restaurant as a manager. He looks forward to continuing acting, dancing and choreographing (as well as producing) for stage, film and television in the future. 

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Heather Bottom

Director

Heather grew up dancing and singing in Phoenix, Arizona. In high school, she started performing professionally, and for college, moved to New York City to attend Columbia University. While getting her BA in Astrophysics, she took time off to perform as a Radio City Rockette and in the Broadway National Tour of A Chorus Line (Judy). Heather also has a Master's degree in Space Engineering. She now lives in Hilo with her husband and daughter and works remotely for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She's worked on the Perseverance Mars rover, NISAR Earth-observation mission, and SPHEREx astrophysics observatory. Heather has performed in Biloxi Blues (Rowena) here in Hilo and still loves taking dance class and singing at home with family. Heather is thrilled to be a part of HEART with such an amazing team.

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