Our Story

Our MEmbers

Broadway Inspirational Voices is an ensemble made of actors and musicians from Broadway and Off‐Broadway Shows. 

Our members have been in (or are currently performing in) the following shows: 

OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Allen René Louis is a Haitian-American arranger, composer, and creative director. His artistry is deeply rooted in his cultural background and church upbringing.

Louis attended Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY, where he studied vocal performance. While in attendance, he continued to hone his musical skills by directing the male Acapella group, as well as leading the collegiate Gospel Choir. 

He has performed extensively with award-winning artist Ben Platt, appearing together on Jimmy Kimmel Live, in Ben’s Netflix special Sing to Me Instead at Radio City Music Hall, and throughout the International Tour of the same title. Allen’s solo performances include a sold-out engagement of Allen Louis in Concert at the historical Palace Theatre in Stamford, CT (2018), his composer/debut concert at The Greenroom 42 in 2019, and a virtual concert entitled The Music of Allen René Louis aired worldwide in 2020.

Louis served as Music Director for the 2020 Musical Theatre Songwriting Challenge presented by The American Theatre Wing in partnership with The National Endowment for the Arts. In 2021, Louis’ vocal arrangements were featured on The Tony Awards’ “Broadway’s Back” Live telecast on CBS, the Australian Premiere production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “Choir Boy” at Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta in Spring of 2023, after serving in the same capacities for Yale Repertory Theatre’s Spring 2022 production of this lauded play. Louis is currently the Vocal Arranger and co-Music Arranger of the revival of The Wiz, coming to Broadway Spring of 2024. 

In 2018, Allen was invited to be a member of the Broadway Inspirational Voices. Soon after, he was appointed to BIV’s music team, where he worked closely with BIV’s founder and director, Michael McElroy. In January of 2021, in response to his immense skills and talents, Allen was chosen by McElroy to become BIV’s Associate Artistic Director, and officially stepped in as Artistic Director in July of 2021. 

Louis has numerous projects in development, and hopes that his work will continue to inspire, uplift, and bring about positive change.

Our Executive Director

Angela Grovey, has lit up the stage, been praised for her scene-stealing roles in film and TV, and is now gearing up for her next season as a TV series regular in the Onyx Collective/Hulu series “Reasonable Doubt.” 

A native of Sugarland, Texas, Grovey knew she wanted to be a performer since she was a child, but was bitten by the “bug” when she played a Lost Boy in a production of Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby.  She went on to study musical theatre in Chicago at Roosevelt University’s Theatre Conservatory (CCPA) before being cast in Tumpie’s Dance at the Stages 2002 festival with her idol, Lillias White. She performed in regional theaters all over the United States, and some of her favorite New York credits include Merry Wives at Shakespeare in the Park, Wig Out at the Vineyard, and The Wiz  at City Center with Ashanti. 

Grovey made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway cast of Leap of Faith and then was featured in the original Broadway cast of Escape to Margaritaville.  She also appeared in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for two years before doing the national tours of The Play That Goes Wrong and Newsies.

 Grovey made her way towards “screen” acting when she landed the role of “Earla," the exuberant choir member in the musical movie Joyful Noise with Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton.

On TV, Grovey has appeared guest starring on such notable shows as Amazon’s “Modern Love” (season 2), NBC’s “The Blacklist,” HBO’s “High Maintenance,” Showtime’s “Ray Donovan,” Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Iron Fist” as well as recurred on the hit NBC series “30 Rock.”

Angela joined Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV) in 2009 and the Arts and Education Team in 2016 and in 2022 accepted the role of Executive Director of the organization. 

“I have always searched for a balance in life that allows me to be an artist and to serve others, and I have found that with BIV. I found my people and defined my life’s purpose with BIV! I am honored that our founder Michael McElroy shaped me to continue his vision and help lead BIV into the next chapters.” - Angela

OUR DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Anna R. Kaltenbach is a native of New Mexico who has spent most of her career on the road stage managing ten touring Broadway musicals. She has worked with Broadway Inspirational Voices since 2016, first as a project manager and now as the Director of Operations. She is proud to play a part in carrying forward Founder Michael McElroy’s vision of providing inspiration and hope to our communities.

OUR CHAIR of the board

Rob Acton, J.D. is Principal and Founder of Cause Strategy Partners, BoardLead and BoardLearn.  To date, his firm has placed, trained and supported more than 2,300 professionals across the country for nonprofit board service through corporate partnerships with JPMorgan Chase, PwC, Google, LinkedIn, BlackRock, Credit Suisse, Adobe, Burt’s Bees, United Airlines, and others. The firm’s client list includes a number of private foundations, as well, including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, The New York Community Trust, The Greater Houston Community Foundation, The Heckscher Foundation for Children, and The Joyce Foundation, to name a few.

Rob has nearly three decades of experience founding, leading and scaling social good organizations as both a nonprofit chief executive and board leader. He served for 11 years as Executive Director of two nonprofit organizations: Taproot Foundation in New York City and Cabrini Green Legal Aid in Chicago. Under Rob’s leadership, CGLA received the prestigious Alford-Axelson Award for Nonprofit Managerial Excellence.

Rob is a recognized expert on nonprofit governance and presents regularly at Fortune 500 companies and professional services firms, as well at national and international nonprofit and philanthropic convenings. He has served on numerous Boards of Directors, Advisory Boards and Governmental Commissions over the years.  Rob currently serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of Broadway Inspirational Voices, and as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Nonprofit New York.  Rob is also a member of the Advisory Boards of Cabrini Green Legal Aid and Parkes Philanthropy. 

 Rob is a member of the Bar of the State of New York. He attended Michigan public schools, Spring Arbor University & Brooklyn Law School.  Rob’s causes: second chances for ex-offenders, nonprofit capacity building and the performing arts.

Our Chair of the BIV Advisory Council

Schele Williams is a director committed to cultivating new musicals and devised work with authentic representation on stage and off. She is currently directing the upcoming Broadway revival of The Wiz as well as co-directing the Broadway-bound production of The Notebook. She will also be helming Hidden Figures with Disney Theatrical Group which is currently in development. Schele recently directed Mandela the Musical which premiered at The Young Vic Theatre in London in 2022.  She has directed at regional theaters and festivals across the country and has a long history of work on Broadway in Rent, Aida, and Motown: The Musical. Passionate about pairing social justice with the arts, Schele is a founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization committed to dismantling systemic racism on our streets and stages. She has been a member of Broadway Inspirational Voices for over two decades and serves as Chairperson of the Board, and also serves on the board of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Schele is the author of the children’s book Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History, which was a recipient of a 2022 Boston Globe-Horn Book honor.

Our Chair Emeritus

Mrs. Phylicia Rashad is the Chair Emeritus of the Broadway Inspirational Voices Board.

 Phylicia Rashad has brought laughter to millions of television viewers around the world, moved theatre-goers to tears, thrilled movie fans, offered new insights to students by teaching master classes at renowned learning institutions that include Howard University, Julliard, and Carnegie Mellon, served on boards of prestigious organizations, and broken new ground as a director. She is one of the entertainment world's most extraordinary performing artists. She became a household name when she portrayed Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show, earning numerous honors and awards for over two decades. She teamed up with Bill Cosby in later years on television as Ruth Lucas on Cosby.

She portrayed the role of Dr. Vanessa Young in the NBC series, Do No Harm. She has also been a force on the stage, appearing both on and off-Broadway, often in projects that showcase her musical talent such as "Jelly's Last Jam, "Into The Woods, "Dreamgirls" and "The Wiz" as well as dramatic roles in August Osage County (Violet Weston), in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Big Mama -- a role that she reprised on the London Stage), in August Wilson’s Gem Of The Ocean, (Aunt Ester --Tony Award nomination), and in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline (Queen Britannia) at Lincoln Center.

She received both the Drama Desk and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, as Lena Younger in the Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun. She appeared in Tyler Perry's Good Deeds and starred in his highly acclaimed film version of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf. She received Critics rave reviews for her directorial debut at the Seattle Repertory Theatre with August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean, and for The Ebony Repertory Theatre’s production of A Raisin in the Sun in the spring of 2011. She recently directed August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

She is the first recipient of the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre at Fordham University, and has received Honorary Doctorates from Spelman College, Fordham University, Carnegie Mellon University, Howard University, Providence College, Morris Brown College, Clark Atlanta University, Barber Scotia College, St. Augustine College, and Brown University. She serves on the Advisory Board of the PRASAD Project and the Board of Directors of True Colors Theatre, the Broadway Inspirational Voices, The Actors Center, the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University, and the ADEPT Center, which is steering the restoration of the historic Brainerd Institute. A native of Houston, Texas, she graduated magna cum laude from Howard University.

Our BOARD 

Artistic Director: Allen René Louis

Executive Director: Angela Grovey

Chair of the Board: Robert B. Acton

Chair of Advisory Council: Schele Williams

Vice Chair: Leslie Barrett

Treasurer: Joseph Cerrone

Secretary: Dina Sarno Slawson

Directors:

Dan'l  Mackey Almy, Sylvie Armand, Bruce Cohen, John Eric Parker, Di Ana Pisarri*, Kevin Ryan, Dr. Danielle Taylor, M.D., Allyson Tucker

Founder: Michael McElroy

Chair Emeritus: Phylicia Rashad

*In Memoriam

Our FOUNDER

Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV) was founded in 1994 by TONY nominee, actor, singer and director, Michael McElroy.

After first being under the banner of Broadway Gospel Choir, it took on the current name in 1999. The choir quickly became the place where Mr. McElroy could express his unique arrangements of known and unknown songs (in and out of the American gospel and theatre songbooks), which soon became a sound that would be clamored for around the world.

In 2005, Michael along with writing partners, Joseph Joubert and Buryl Red, garnered a nomination for a Grammy Award for their work on Broadway Inspirational Voices’ holiday CD Great Joy: A Gospel Christmas.

Michael’s arrangements have been performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Constitution Hall in Washington D.C., The Crystal Cathedral in Anaheim, California as well as churches around the country.

Michael graduated with honors and a BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon. From 2011-2021 he held the position of Associate Arts Professor and Head of Vocal Performance in the New Studio on Broadway at Tisch/NYU, and for 3 years served as Director of Diversity Initiatives for Tisch Undergraduate Drama. In the fall of 2021 Michael began his tenure as Chair of the Department of Musical Theatre at University of Michigan.

As a performer, Michael’s credits include: Broadway: Sunday in the Park with George (2017 Revival with Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford), Next to Normal, Rent, The Wild Party, Big River (TONY nomination 2004, Drama Desk nomination), The Who’s Tommy, Miss Saigon, Patti LuPone on Broadway, High Roller Social Pleasure Club, Hair (Encores). New York Philharmonic: Candide. National Tour: Rent, Big River (LA Ovation nomination), Sarafina. Off‐Broadway: Some Men (Second Stage Theater), BLUE (Roundabout), Violet (Playwrights Horizons, Drama Desk Nomination), Thunder Knocking on the Door (Minetta Lane), and Richard III (NYSF).