About Us
We want to create a community where everyone can come together and grow. A community where everyone can be uplifted, creatively fulfilled, and be a part of the story.
Our Mission
The Protagonist Project is a performance and production nonprofit dedicated to community inclusivity and education, uplifting each artist’s unique talents with intentionality and integrity.
We believe powerful performances emerge when the full spectrum of human experience is welcomed and celebrated. By bringing together people of diverse identities, backgrounds, and lived experiences, we create art rooted in community by centering harmony, compassion, acceptance, and love.
We intentionally seek community members who have not historically had easy access to arts opportunities, creating pathways into creative spaces where individuals can grow, belong, and share their stories. Through education and artistic development in music, theatre, and dance, along with stage productions, concerts, and community performances, we foster connection through shared artistic experiences.
At The Protagonist Project, we strive to create performance spaces filled with authenticity, bravery, creativity, diversity, energy, and joy—where every person has the opportunity to shine. We envision an inclusive arts community where people from all backgrounds create work that inspires empathy, bridges differences, and reminds us that we are each the protagonists of our own stories.
Board of Directors
Michael Popovsky Artistic Director
Michael Popovsky blends his backgrounds in performance, pedagogy, and business to create community‑centered artistic spaces and guide meaningful creative work. A trained singer‑actor, he has appeared in productions including La Bohème, Pagliacci, Into the Woods, and Les Misérables. He founded Popovsky Performing Arts Studio (PPAS) in Lancaster, PA, expanding it from a private voice studio into a full performing‑arts center offering voice, acting, dance, early‑childhood music, and theatrical productions.
Michael also brings more than fifteen years of investment experience and six years as a licensed NYC real estate agent, shaping his strategic, people‑focused approach to leadership. He holds a B.A. in Business and Music from Franklin & Marshall College and is passionate about elevating voices, fostering artistic growth, and building spaces where individuals can explore and express their stories. Outside his professional work, he is a theatre lover, golfer, New York Giants and U.S. Women’s National Team fan, and cocktail‑bar enthusiast.
Christyn Rutter Managing Director
Christyn Rutter is a multi‑instrumentalist, performer, and educator with more than twenty years of teaching experience. Her work spans directing, music direction, costuming, props, sound engineering, pit performance, and onstage roles in productions ranging from intimate cabarets to fully staged musicals.
After studying Music Education (French horn) at Eastern University, Christyn taught in Wayne, PA, before moving to Los Angeles and later settling in Lancaster in 2010. She joined Popovsky Performing Arts Studio (PPAS) in 2014 as a Music Together® teacher and became co‑owner and director in 2016, helping expand the studio’s educational and performance offerings for students and adults.
Beyond the performing arts, Christyn is a certified yoga instructor with more than 700 hours of training and a passion for movement, exploration, and trying new things. She is a proud member of the Leadership Lancaster 2026 Core Class, and she and her husband welcomed their third child in January of 2026.
Shaun Ressler Treasurer
Shaun Ressler is a software engineer, sound designer, singer, and performer whose work bridges both technical and artistic disciplines. He holds a BS in Computer Science and a BA in Music Business/Technology (Voice) from Millersville University and works as a Software Engineer at Cargas Systems. His professional background blends analytical problem‑solving with a deep commitment to creative expression.
Shaun has collaborated both onstage and behind the sound board with regional theaters including Servant Stage, Franklin & Marshall, Popovsky Performing Arts Studio, Prima, and EPAC. He enjoys contributing to productions through audio design as well as performing in musicals, concerts, and shows across Lancaster County.
In addition to theatre, Shaun is an active barbershop singer. He performs with the award‑winning chorus Parkside Harmony and enjoys quartet singing, bringing close harmony and vocal blend to stages to the area and across the country.
He is grateful for the creative communities he’s part of and sends all his love to Kayla and Nolan.
Elaina Mayer Secretary
Irma Ilustre Member at Large
Irma Ilustre has been passionate about musical theatre since childhood, beginning with early performances in school productions and continuing through her years at Stuyvesant High School and Carnegie Mellon University. She appeared in numerous musicals and cabarets before shifting her focus to directing, producing, and stage management during graduate school at the Smith College School for Social Work.
Throughout her career as a social worker, therapist, mother, and community volunteer, Irma has remained a strong advocate for the transformative power of the arts. She has encouraged others to explore music and theatre as pathways to self‑expression, empathy, and personal growth, drawing on the lessons she learned both onstage and behind the scenes.
After moving to Lancaster in 2016, Irma connected with Popovsky Performing Arts through Music Together classes for her children, where she rediscovered her own love of theatre. Her work with Protagonist reflects her belief that the arts expand minds, challenge assumptions, and help create a better world.