The people behind
the performers.
Onstage is more than a roster. It's a team that treats every booking like our reputation depends on it, because it does.
It started with one question.
Why doesn't anyone manage event entertainment the way the best agencies manage talent? That was the question Joe Costello kept asking in 2011. The question was how to build something that treats entertainment like the high-stakes decision it actually is for the venues and event professionals writing the checks.
A seven-year-old catches the bug
Sitting in on drums with the bands at his father's restaurant, the Capri 400, in Port Ewen, NY. Too young to know it yet, but the hospitality business and the music business are about to shape everything that follows.
The fire that forged everything
House fire destroys the family home. Thirteen years old, living in motel rooms for months. Learns the lesson that stays forever: the things that actually matter can't burn.
SUNY Fredonia
Auditions as a vocal major because he's unprepared for percussion. Creates his own degree: B.S. in Special Studies. Jazz Ensemble wins at Notre Dame. Chamber Singers tour Europe. Four years of figuring it out on the fly.
New York City
Moves to Queens with nothing. Survives on hot dogs and ramen. Sits in at the Blue Note, 55 Bar, Sweet Basil, Village Vanguard. Ted Curson becomes a mentor. Plays CBGB's. The jazz circuit becomes the real education.
The road years
Twelve years with Paul Mark & The Van Dorens. Recording at legendary studios with Stevie Ray Vaughan's producer. Blues festivals alongside James Cotton and Kim Wilson. A decade of preparation disguised as a music career.
The pivot to Arizona
Leaves New York behind. Starts an ACT! consultancy, then HomeLogics in Scottsdale. The music never stops, but the business instincts are sharpening. Everything is converging toward something he can't see yet.
The moment everything changed
An audition in LA that doesn't go as planned. A residency at the Montelucia Resort that does. JC Productions is born. Not as a booking agency. As a different answer to a question nobody else was asking.
Onstage is born
JC Productions becomes Onstage Entertainment Group. The DMC market opens up. The insight lands: become the one-stop solution nobody else is offering. The platform starts to take shape.
126 meetings in 42 days
Colorado expansion roadshow. Six months later, a global pandemic makes it all disappear. The test of whether a business built on relationships can survive when every event in the world gets cancelled.
1,200+ performers. 50 states. One standard.
Thirty years of preparation built something nobody planned for. A nationwide entertainment agency run by a team that understands both sides of the stage, because the founder spent decades on both.
"We don't just book entertainment. We curate experiences."
Why doesn't anyone manage event entertainment the way the best agencies manage talent? That was the question in 2011. The answer was Onstage. An entertainment partner that operates more like a private concierge than a talent marketplace. No public roster. No open directory. Every performer vetted, every booking managed, every detail handled by a team that understands the difference between filling a time slot and creating a moment.
2011
Founded
1,200+
Performers
50
States Covered
2,500+
Events Per Year
The team
Small team. Big reach. Every client gets our full attention.
Joe Costello
Founder & CEO
Joe built Onstage from a single question into a nationwide entertainment agency representing 1,200+ performers. He leads client relationships, business development, and sets the standard that defines every Onstage booking. When a resort or DMC needs to know their entertainment is handled, Joe is the person they call.
Jo Ellen Verna
Event Coordinator
Jo Ellen is the client's point of contact on event day. She manages the logistics that turn a confirmed booking into a flawless performance: load-in schedules, venue coordination, technical requirements, and everything that happens between "confirmed" and "encore." When an event goes perfectly, it's usually because Jo Ellen made sure it would.
Michele Morabito
Artist Relations & Logistics Director
Michele manages relationships with every performer on the Onstage roster, over 1,200 of them. She handles booking logistics, artist communications, and the operational machinery that keeps the whole system running. If a performer is on our roster, Michele is the reason they're booked, briefed, and ready.
Ashley Manoff
VP of Sales
Ashley is the first voice most new clients hear. She translates event visions into entertainment recommendations, manages the inquiry-to-booking pipeline, and makes sure every prospect feels the Onstage difference from the first conversation. She builds the relationships that become long-term partnerships.
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