Naythen B. Rinehart, shown here at KMC Onstage in Kaiserslautern, Germany, on Aug. 29, 2025, has moved to Vicenza, Italy, to work at Soldiers’ Theatre. (Zade Vadnais/Stars and Stripes)
What started as a role in a school production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” has grown into a globetrotting career for Naythen B. Rinehart.
Rinehart recently moved from Kaiserslautern, Germany, to Vicenza, Italy, to take over as the new entertainment director for the Soldiers’ Theatre in Vicenza, succeeding longtime director Jerry Brees, who retired earlier this year.
Previously Rinehart worked at KMC Onstage in Kaiserslautern where he oversaw operations at U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz’s community theater, KMC Onstage. In addition to management and administrative activities, he directed many shows — including “9 to 5: The Musical” to “Newsies Jr.” to “The SpongeBob Musical” — built sets, taught workshops and classes.
“Theater is an art form that allows for self-expression, learning life skills and building a community,” Rinehart said. “I did some theater when I was younger, but it wasn’t until I asked my high school theater teacher if she needed some more boys in the ensemble for ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ that I was hooked, and eventually went to college to earn my BFA in musical theater performance.”
Before moving to Germany in 2019, Rinehart was an actor, director, stage manager and technician for various performing arts companies in North Carolina. He recently earned a master of science for performing arts leadership and management through Shenandoah University while simultaneously helping run operations at KMC Onstage on Kleber Kaserne.
Rinehart took over at Soldiers’ Theatre from Brees, who had been entertainment director at the theater since 2008 and was involved in more than 100 theater productions there.
“Bringing quality music and theater to military communities has been my passion for over 40 years,” Brees said in a March press release. “Soldiers’ Theatre has brought such joy and fulfillment to my life.”
Soldier’s Theatre is an Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation facility on Caserma Ederle that provides performing arts opportunities for the community. It is staffed by civilians with performances by local volunteers.
Marissa Blake, a volunteer and actor-choreographer for Soldiers’ Theatre since 2018, said she enjoyed working with Brees.
“I deeply appreciated his mentorship, leadership and the trust he had for me as a choreographer and the confidence he instilled in me as an actor,” she said. “He made a lasting impact for me and for many others at Soldiers’ Theatre.”
Rinehart said he has big shoes to fill and that the Vicenza community has been very welcoming after his September arrival.
“Luckily, I have an amazing colleague, Barry Robinson, who has been working at Soldiers’ Theatre since 1996 (best known for his sound design skills and founder of the Music Cafes) and knows all the ins-and-out of the facility and the USAG Italy community,” Rinehart said. “This has created such an inspiring environment and I cannot wait to implement new programming for productions and theater arts education.”
Upcoming productions
Vicenza’s Got Talent!; Oct. 17-19
“Almost, Maine” (rights pending); Dec. 5-7 and 12-14
“9 to 5: The Musical”; March 13-15 and 20-22
“Footloose: Youth Edition”; May 8-10 and 15-17
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.stripes.com ’
