Our Team
Benton Whitley, CSA
Founder/Creative Producer/Head of Casting
Benton Whitley is the founder of Whitley Theatrical, a New York City based casting and producing office.
With more than two decades of experience in the New York City entertainment industry, Whitley currently oversees casting for the Broadway and national touring companies of Hadestown, the 2019 Tony Award winner for Best Musical and 2020 Grammy Award winner for Best Musical Theater Album. For his original casting of the production, he received the 2020 Artios Award for Excellence in Broadway Casting.
Recent Broadway and New York casting projects include the star casting for Moulin Rouge!, as well as casting for Blood/Love, Goddess, How to Dance in Ohio, Three Houses, Life of Pi, Paradise Square, The Lightning Thief, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, On the Town, Pippin, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, La Cage Aux Folles, and Chicago the Musical.
Whitley Theatrical is casting numerous projects in development for the stage, including The Turning, Particle Fever, Grim, Eugene Onegin, Life on Mars, Deathless, Humbug!, and Cowboy Bob.
Beyond casting, Whitley is producing and developing new works for the stage. Current projects include The Turning, with book/music/lyrics by Zack Zadek and direction by Sammi Cannold, currently in development with Center Theatre Group and scheduled to premiere in Los Angeles in the late summer of 2027. You Brought Me the Ocean, a new musical adaptation of the DC Comics graphic novel is being developed with director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and producer Tom Kirdahy. This season’s off-Broadway premiere of The Exhibitionist, a new one man play starring Jeff Hiller, produced in association with Occasional Drawl. Additional recent producing projects include Tectonic Theater Project’s Velour at La Jolla Playhouse, starring Sasha Velour, and the new one woman comedy Infanticide by Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse, directed by Christian Borle.
Benton is a frequent guest lecturer and teacher at schools and universities around the country. He is a graduate of the high school drama program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and University of Michigan’s Musical Theatre Department. He is the recipient of two Artios Awards and a proud member of the Casting Society of America.
Whitley Theatrical is committed to building inclusive creative rooms and expanding whose stories, voices, and artists are represented onstage.
Follow @whitleytheatrical and visit whitleytheatrical.com.
Peter Dunn
Casting Director/Associate Producer
Peter William Dunn is a former child actor, turned producer, writer, director, educator, and casting professional in NYC. He has been in show business since he was six months old, and yes - he's still tired, and finally values nap time.
With a career spanning many entertainment mediums, it is never lost on him how lucky he is to get to be a part of this industry. From performing across stages and screens around the world, to producing live events since he was a teenager, at the end of the day, he values the collaboration of the art and the heart more than anything.
A casting director whose credits includes Broadway, Off-Broadway, National tours, workshops and exciting new works, and a human who thinks everyone just needs to breathe more, he has been described as "a casting director actors love auditioning for". Selected credits: the casting brain behind the sold-out RENT In Concert series with Symphony Orchestras across the country, the 2025 National Queer Theater Festival, Co-Founders, Girls:Chance:Music, The King's Wife, Unlock'd, Drag: The Musical, Mystic Pizza, Freestyle Love Supreme, the 1st National tour of TINA, Titanique, various shows at The Muny, and the 3 National tours and Broadway production of world phenomenon, HAMILTON. A multi-hyphenated artist with a passion for advocacy, Peter strives to create and hold the safest and most joyful spaces for artists, and stresses the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in not only the entertainment industry, but in our everyday world.
Peter also serves as the Co-Director of Engagement and Opportunity for the non-profit arts educational organization, Broadway Dreams. Through Broadway Dreams as well as his teaching work with schools throughout the country, Peter is lucky enough to work with hundreds of students every year. As the son of an educator who is one of the most compassionate and greatest humans on earth, he feels truly honored to work with the artists of tomorrow.
When not working, you'll probably find him still working, swimming in the horror genre, planning his next Irish exit, or trying to pet every dog he passes on the street.
He's also a very private person and blames Benton for this bio, but hugely thanks Benton for welcoming him to Whitley Theatrical.
Endless gratitude to my mother. Lead life with kindness. The world is already hard enough, let's not make it harder for one another and for ourselves.
Jordan Manekin
Acquisitions/Legal Counsel
Jordan Manekin is a seasoned entertainment and media lawyer. Formerly a partner at the boutique entertainment law firm, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, in New York, Jordan was listed in Up Next in Variety’s Legal Impact Report and served as a secondee at Meta, working exclusively on its Facebook Watch platform, and at iHeartMedia + Entertainment, Inc. His practice spans film, television, fashion, new technologies and theatre.
Karen Morales/Armanino LLP
Business Management
Armanino is an independent accounting and business consulting firm serving privately-held companies, as well as non-profit organizations and public entities with assurance/audit, tax, consulting and business management services. As a top 25 accounting and consulting firm in the nation, Armanino delivers a depth of knowledge, a range of services, and a consistent and responsive team. We also help support global operations with sophisticated financial capabilities and solutions wherever you’re located.