Meet THE VANGUARD Team
George Lorimer
Co-Founder, Executive Producer
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In 2022, George Co-Founded Vanguard Productions with Joshua Pohja. He has served as executve producer an every Vanguard production and acted in All is Calm and Hamlet.
As an actor, George has also worked with Milwaukee Rep (A Christmas Carol, Titanic, As You Like It), Skylight Music Theatre (Fortunate Sons), First Stage (SpongeBob, Anatole), Virginia Rep On Tour (Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad), The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio (Ride the Cyclone), and Summit Players Theatre (Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing). George's training includes Milwaukee Rep's Emerging Professional Residency, The Atlantic Acting School, and the College of Wooster, where he received his BA in Theatre and Music.
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Joshua Pohja
Co-Founder, Producing Artistic Director
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Josh Pohja (he/him/JP) is a theater creator and educator from Encino, California who has had a multi-faceted career working in all genres of storytelling. He is a Founding Member and Producing Artistic Director of Vanguard Productions. JP teaches and directs locally, most recently helming Antigone at the Calvary for Vanguard Productions starrring Gregory Linington and Chantae Miller; Vanguard's inaugural production of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 and Hamlet for First Stage’s Company Class, and co-producing Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s 2023 Young Playwright’s Festival. He served five years as Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Education Programs Coordinator during which he met George Lorimer and Vanguard’s creative alignment began.
Pohja has performed nationally with, most notably, The Acting Company, Old Globe, NYC Fringe Festival, The Alley, HERE Arts Center, Judson Church and Guthrie Theater. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama (BFA Acting) during the tenure of the Moscow Art Theatre, Mladen Kieslov, Don Wadsworth and Victoria Santa Cruz, and alumni of the Saratoga International Theatre Institute (SITI) at Skidmore College under the guidance of Anne Bogart and the SITI Company. Upcoming Productions: An Enemy of the People at First Stage Young Company. visit joshpohja.com
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