Becky & Michael Skinner · 2014 Honorees

Becky and Michael Skinner met at the University of Delaware when they worked together on a production of “Dial M for Murder.” He was acting, she was the technical director. They didn’t know it then but creative, high energy collaboration was to become the blueprint for their lives. They married in 1998 and moved to Capitol Hill later that year and since then, together, they have been making an enormous impact in our neighborhood.

Becky and Michael both went to high school in Montgomery County, she at Wootton in Rockville, he at Good Counsel in Olney and they both pursued academics, theater and sports. He played baseball, she lettered in softball and football (as the team statistician). At college Michael continued acting, pursued chemical engineering and biochemistry and finally, after what he calls the “great unwinding,” graduated with a BA in Liberal Studies and a renewed focus on theater. Becky did a double degree, a BA in history and a BS in economics, followed by a master’s in economics and a doctorate in education policy. Each of them came to Washington where Michael has appeared on many of the local professional stages (at one time he carpooled regularly with Arena stage star Robert Prosky) and Becky is an analyst of education policy at the Congressional Research Service, housed at the Library of Congress.

Her expertise served Becky well when, as a mother of two young sons and a member of the Moms on the Hill education committee, she and Michael and several others became founders of Two Rivers Public Charter School which opened in 2004. They helped with everything from writing the proposal for its charter, to hiring principal Jessica Wodatch, to washing the floors of the D.C.
public school with which Two Rivers initially shared space. Becky served as president of the board for nine years during which it thrived, expanding into modern new space and adding a middle school. With a waiting list of over one thousand students, Two Rivers will open a second campus in Northeast in fall 2015. 

Like their parents, the two Skinner boys, Dakota and Logan, are athletes so Becky and Michael have become coaches – T-ball, baseball, soccer, tennis. They both do it all because the demand for youth sports on Capitol Hill is growing and, besides, “it’s so much fun.” They have worked with Sports on the Hill and helped with the founding of Capitol Hill Little League and Tennis on the Hill.

Michael now alternates live theater work with running Pendragwn Productions, a boutique film and video company producing documentaries and PSAs. Becky and Michael formed the Pendragwn Film Foundation in 2006 and have created documentaries to support local non-profits and created educational opportunities for young artists. Now in its fourth year, the Pendragwn Youth Film Festival provides an opportunity for young filmmakers, aged 11 – 18, to show their short films at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. There is no charge to submit a film and each young participant gets a personal rubric from an industry professional judge with comments on his or her work and suggestions for improvement for the future.

Both Skinners spent part of their childhood overseas, Michael in Italy and Germany where his father was a civilian working on military bases, and Becky in the Philippines, where her dad was an accountant with Westinghouse. They credit their early exposure to places that were different from the U.S. and to, as children, seeing extreme poverty up close, with giving them an expanded sense of commitment to change and a sense of urgency about encouraging a variety of voices to be heard. Whether it be in offering more choices of schools for local children to attend, encouraging participation in sports, or opening up the big screen at the Atlas to young filmmakers, Becky and Michael Skinner see themselves as lucky to be able to help.