Presenter Profile

Aaron Burns is a Denver-area commercial actor. He studied filmmaking at Chapman University where he earned an MFA. He went on to work in Los Angeles for the director Morgan Neville, as an assistant on THE COOL SCHOOL (PBS documentary) and on Todd Snider music videos. He is currently on the faculty of the Colorado Film School in Denver where he teaches acting and film production.

Aaron Galligan-Stierle is an accomplished actor, director and producer with critically acclaimed work that ranges from Broadway musicals to Shakespeare. He is also a highly sought-after audition coach providing exclusive workshops and one-on-one training for professionals in the Broadway community and at top universities across the country.

Galligan-Stierle debuted on Broadway as Papa Who in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas followed by a wide range of performances including Henry Ford in the Tony-nominated revival of Ragtime and Mike Nulty in the National Tour of White Christmas. Galligan-Stierle was selected by Hal Prince to replace the longest-running actor in a Broadway show, taking over the role of Monsieur Andre in The Phantom of the Opera. Additionally, Galligan-Stierle won the prestigious Best Actor SALT award for his performance of Leo Frank in Parade at Finger Lakes Musical Theater.

Galligan-Stierle is well-known across the country in premiere regional theaters that develop new works and top Shakespeare companies including 7 seasons for the Tony award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. He was Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Late Night Cabaret at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and his commitment to new works development includes serving on the selection committee for the New American Playwright’s Project and the York Theater Developmental Reading Series. He also works regularly as a director for the NYU Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program.

Some of Galligan-Stierle’s highlights as an actor include Dromio in The Comedy of Errors, Feste in Twelfth Night, Smee in the regional Premiere of Peter and the Starcatcher, Clown #1 in The 39 Steps, Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, Leo Davis in Room Service, Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew, Mordred in Camelot, Evelyn Oakleigh in Anything Goes, Lt. Billis in South Pacific, Frankie in Forever Plaid, Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Motel in Fiddler on the Roof (Maine State Music Theater), Daryl Grady in Curtains (Papermill Playhouse and TUTS), Hortensio in The Taming of the Shrew (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival), and Ted in the World Premiere of Island Song (Adirondack Theater Company).

Aaron was an Executive Producer and Casting Director for feature film Ruin Me (currently featured as a AMC’s SHUDDER exclusive) and served as Associate Director for Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas at The Grand Old Opry and Madison Square Garden, as well as Twelve Angry Men and Charlie’s Aunt at The Utah Shakespeare Festival. Aaron directed The Tempest at Sacramento Theater Company and the world premiere of new musical Under the Bodhi Tree at The Royal Family Theater a block from Times Square in NYC.

Galligan-Stierle is the East Coast Director for MaxTheatrix, NYC’s premiere audition coaching company. Described by clients as “a dedicated heart-healer and champion of the creative spirit,” he has also taught at U. of Northern Colorado, Penn State, Shenandoah and William Jessup University. He holds a BFA in Musical Theater from Shenandoah University and an MFA in Acting from Penn State. He currently lives in New York City with his wife and two children. Unions & Affiliations: AEA, SAG-AFTRA

Abby Stuckrath attend Denver School of the Arts, is a State Thespian Officer and is one of the six International Thespian Officers. The ITO’s represent all 36,000 student thespians all across the world. The fundamental part of the ITO program is to recognize,honor, and develop leadership abilities through teaching leadership and art advocacy workshops to thespians at state thespian conferences.

I’m Adam Michael Rose, a Los Angeles-based dialect coach and teaching artist.

HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE
I’ve been teaching accent workshops and accent coaching productions in high schools across the country for almost a decade. I’ve coached more shows that will fit here, but a few of my all-time favorites include Mary Poppins, Shrek, Steel Magnolias, Noises Off, Peter and the Starcatcher, Guys & Dolls, Arsenic and Old Lace and many more. I’ve been teaching accent workshops at high schools for almost 10 years. I’ve also coached school productions throughout the country including Mary Poppins, Shrek, Steel Magnolias, Noises Off, Peter and the Starcatcher, Guys & Dolls, Arsenic and Old Lace and many more.

FESTIVALS
I present accent workshops at conferences and festivals throughout the country including EdTA’s International Thespian Festival, EdTA’s National Conference, CA State Thespian Festival, GA State Thespian Festival, TX State Thespian Festival, NV State Thespian Festival, MD State Thespian Festival, OR Thespian Festival, and CETA High School Theatre Festival.

FILM/TV
I coach on set in film and TV. I’ve worked with actors that have appeared in Orange Is the New Black, The Americans, The Blacklist, Grey’s Anatomy, La La Land, and HBO’s Big Little Lies. I was also the production dialect coach for ABC’s American Crime season 3, where I worked with Felicity Huffman, Timothy Hutton, Regina King, Lili Taylor, Janel Moloney, and Cherry Jones.

TRAINING
I am a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and I’ve trained at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, Playwrights Horizons, The Theatre Lab of Washington DC, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, and with Knight-Thompson Speechwork. I’ve also studied voice and speech with members of England’s RSC (British American Drama Academy/BADA).

AFFILIATIONS
I’m a member of VASTA, EdTA, CETA.

Originally from Boston, MA, Addy began performing on stage at the age of eight in musicals including The Sound of Music, Grease and Oliver. She continued to build repertoire appearing in main stage productions of Robin Hood, The Crucible and Blood Wedding. Upon graduation, Addy found her niche in film and television and has booked multiple feature films, episodics, commercials, and music videos, including work with The Black Keys, American Poltergeist and Sophie Gold: The Diary Of A Golddigger.

Addy’s passion for travel and assisting young talent makes her an ideal candidate for nurturing Relativity School applicants and allowing them to find their holistic trajectory in the entertainment + media industry.

Education Doctoral Degree, Walden University (In Progress)
Master of Fine Arts, Film Production,
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Theatre + Performing Arts, The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

SAG/AFTRA affiliated

addygreen.com

Originally from Boston, MA, Addy began performing on stage at the age of eight in musicals including The Sound of Music, Grease and Oliver. She continued to build repertoire appearing in main stage productions of Robin Hood, The Crucible and Blood Wedding. Upon graduation, Addy found her niche in film and television and has booked multiple feature films, episodics, commercials, and music videos, including work with The Black Keys, American Poltergeist and Sophie Gold: The Diary Of A Golddigger. Addy’s passion for travel and assisting young talent makes her an ideal candidate for nurturing Studio School applicants and allowing them to find their holistic trajectory in the entertainment + media industry. Education Doctoral Degree, Walden University (In Progress) Master of Fine Arts, Film Production, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Theatre + Performing Arts, The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts SAG/AFTRA affiliated .

ADRIANE LEIGH ROBINSON
Before migrating to Colorado, Adriane performed internationally with a number of Air Force troupes, and with James Madison University’s Children’s Playshop in Harrisburg, Virginia. Since graduating from The University of Northern Colorado, Adriane has appeared on the stages of The Denver Center, The Arvada Center, Little Theatre of the Rockies, Miner’s Alley Playhouse, Curious Theatre, and The Blackhawk Ameristar Casino. Recent credits include: Casey in First Date The Musical (DCPA Theatre Company); Olivia in Miss You Like Hell (Aurora Fox); Sally in Cabaret (Miner’s Alley Playhouse); Alicia in The Thanksgiving Play (Curious Theatre) and Morticia in The Addams Family Musical, (Little Theatre of the Rockies).

Alan Ostrander has been a professional theatrical artist since 1988, working on stage/film/live productions around the world.  He has been a consultant/artist/representative for Mehron, Inc makeup for many years, and is the owner of AEO Studios, a makeup/fx, production facility based out of Orlando FL.  He is well known as an expert guest lecture/teacher in the Theatrical and Haunted Attraction Industries.  Past clients include WDE, Universal Studios-Orland, Ocean Park-Hong Kong, Toshimaen Park-Tokyo, Six Flag Amusement and more. 

Alexander Evert is a Denver-based theatre director, writer, producer and actor. He co-founded Fearless theatre, and served as Artistic Director from 2014-2019. His Fearless directing credits include Bent and Mosque, as well as bold re-imaginings of Titus Andronicus and High School Musical. Fearless Theatre was formed in the summer of 2014 with the mission of producing a wide variety of shows designed to stimulate modern theatre audiences, and to forward social change. Alexander continues to work as a theatre artist for companies such as Pandemic Collective and Arts in the Open.

Alexis Black is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Adams State University, where she teaches acting, directing, theatrical movement and stage combat.  As a professional actor, she has worked with regional theaters, international tours, and in numerous shows in NYC.  On the small screen you can find her on AMC and The Discovery Channel.  

As a fight director she has choreographed in Europe, South Korea, regionally in the US, for the NY Fringe, Off-Off Broadway, Off Broadway, and served as Assistant Choreographer for Fool for Love on Broadway, starring Sam Rockwell and Nina Arianda.  

Alexis received her MFA in Performance Pedagogy with an emphasis in movement from Virginia Commonwealth University.  She is a certified teacher in the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique, an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and a member of Actor's Equity Association. 

Alisa is has been the Artistic Director for Performance Now Theratre Company since May 2010. Born and raised in San Diego, CA, Alisa has been performing, costuming, directing, and producing in theater in California and Colorado for more than 30 years. She has been the recipient of an Aubrey Award in San Diego for Best Lead Actress in a Musical and was a nominee for a Denver Post Ovation Award for her role leading role in Evita. Alisa acted as the Artistic Director, hiring artistic teams and overseeing auditions and productions for more than 50 musicals at Performance Now Theatre Company.

ALLISON WATROUS is the Director of Education and has celebrated the DCPA as her artistic home for the past 20 years as an educator, actor and director. Allison is a collaborative leader of artists, teaching artists, actors, and educators and an innovative teacher who is passionate about working with students of all ages. She is currently on the faculty of Denver School of the Arts and the University of Colorado Denver. Acting work includes Kelly Young in Just Like Us, A Christmas Carol, John Brown’s Body and Scapin (DCPA Theatre Company); Girls Only – The Secret Comedy of Women (DCPA Cabaret); Astronomical Sunset (Curious Theatre Company), and Savage in Limbo, Crimes of the Heart, American Notes, Talley’s Folly and Gidion’s Knot (Sis Tryst Productions) Directing work includes Bus Stop (Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities), The Revolutionists (BETC), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Miners Alley Playhouse), Big Love (University of Denver), and Failure: A Love Story, The Laramie Project, Eurydice, Wintertime, Arcadia and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Denver School of the Arts) Allison earned a Masters Degree in Fine Arts in Acting from the National Theatre Conservatory.

Alyssa Ridder is a costume designer based out of Denver, CO. She received her MFA in costume design from The Pennsylvania State University and proudly serves as the Lecturer of Costume Design & Technology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Alyssa has previously worked as a designer in Portland, OR and as a costume shop manager, guest designer, and adjunct faculty at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. Alyssa’s passion for design is in reviving older works in dramaturgically exciting ways and she enjoys writing about the design process. Her latest research involves integrating costume design with 3D technology for a more sustainable theatrical workflow. www.alyssaridder.com

Dr. Amy Osatinski, Assistant Professor of Theatre History for OCU’s School of Theatre, is a director, intimacy choreographer, author, scholar, teacher, and performer. She holds a PhD in Theatre from the University of Colorado, Boulder, an MA in Education from the University of Colorado Denver, and a BA in Theatre from the University of Denver. Amy is a graduate of Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, CO where she was an officer in Thespian Troupe 1730 (a very long time ago…). Amy is a proud Associate Member of the Stage Director's and Choreographer's Society and has directed dozens of production in professional, community, and educational theatres. Some of her favorites include the Colorado regional premiere of Spring Awakening with Ignite Theatre, Cabaret and Legacy of Light at The University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Newsies at Theatre Cedar Rapids in Cedar Rapids, IA, and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds at CU Boulder. From 2008-2013 Amy ran the theatre program at Heritage High School in Littleton, CO (Troupe 3759). Amy also serves as an Artistic Consultant for Forgelight Theatre Works in Denver, CO, and recently served as the Intimacy Choreographer for their production of Lizzie the Musical. 

Amy is also a prolific scholar and her interests include: Disney Theatrical Productions, contemporary theatre, musical theatre, popular culture, and the intersection of digital media and contemporary theatre. Her first book, Disney Theatrical Productions: Producing Broadway Musicals the Disney Way, which is the first scholarly book to examine the production practices of the theatre division of the Walt Disney Corporation, is available on Amazon. Visit www.amyosatinski.com to learn more about Dr. Amy and her work.

Andrea is a local Equity musical theatre actress, vocal coach, and theatre teacher.  Acting work includes Evita (Lone Tree Arts Center), Tarzan (Arvada Center), Ragtime (Pioneer Theatre Company, UT), Jekyll and Hyde (Westchester Broadway Theater, NY), Ariel in Disney Dreams (Disney Cruise Line), The Blonde Muse in Hercules (Disney Cruise Line).  Andrea has been a vocal coach for 20 years and currently owns her own studio in Centennial, CO.  Andrea taught theatre in Douglas County School District for several years. She earned a Bachelor's in Theatre Education at Brigham Young University. 

Andrea Kehler is the Producing Artistic Director of Broadway Training Intensive in Denver, Colorado, and the Marketing Director of Broadway Bound Kids in New York City. She has been honored to perform with and/or work alongside entertainers including Ben Vereen, Ann Reinking, Katharine McPhee, Paige Davis, Sam Harris, Terrence Mann, Alix Korey, and Charlotte d’Amboise. Her favorite credits include assisting the creative team with the launch of Miss Saigon (2018 national tour), performing with the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1995 & 1996), in The Gregory Hines Tribute at Ann Reinking’s Broadway Theatre Project, and in Drama Desk Award nominated Cut to the Chase (Little Angela). Andrea trains professional voice teachers to coach acting for singers, is a college audition coach with students in all of the top musical theatre schools,  and has taught in training programs,  universities,  dance studios, and schools across the country. She has directed and choreographed many shows, founded the acting program at The School of Blessed Sacrament (NYC) where she also directed the dance program, created and directed the Summer Theatre Project (CO), and has been on faculty at the Theatre Academy at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). Andrea runs on almond milk lattes with honey, can’t pass by a macaron shop without making a purchase, and is a Fosse and Shakespeare nerd.

Andrea is an actor, director and teacher in San Diego, California and Oxford, England. She is a qualified teacher of speech and drama examinations for The London Academy of Dramatic Art preparing young actors for speech and drama examinations around the UK including Sibford School, Our Lady’s Abingdon School and Oratory Prep School. Andrea is the Artistic Director of Berridge Programs, an acting conservatory in Normandy, France for American high school students. There she teaches Acting Techniques, College Audition Prep and heads the meditation and mindfulness program. Born and educated in Canada, Andrea received her degree in Costume Design before moving to California where she was the Managing Director of The Fritz Theatre. Recent acting credits include Rhinoceros, Turn of the Screw and Kindertransport for The Unicorn Theatre in the UK.

Andrea Moon is an Associate Professor of Theatre and the head of Theatre Studies at the University of Northern Colorado where she teaches movement and dramatic literature. Andrea is a playwright, performer, poet and teacher. Her theatrical work has been produced at small theatres and universities across the country as well as in Italy and China. Most recently her work has been seen at Maryland Ensemble Theatre, The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Apprentice Company, Imagination Stage in Maryland and The Drilling Company in New York. Andrea’s written work has been published by Dramatic Publishing, Salvage Vanguard Press, eclectica online literary journal, Applause Books, The Cleveland Playhouse and New York Theatrical Experience. She has presented on movement, playwriting and aerial work at various national and international academic conferences.

Andrea Rabold has been active using theatre as a catalyst to create awareness and identify solutions to social issues for over 8 years. She joined Mirror Image Arts in 2009 as an actress, continued to grow with the organization and accepted the role of Executive Director in 2014. Under her leadership, the mission and vision of the organization was elevated and led to the development of Mirror Image Arts’ latest programming. Andrea most recently came from Starbucks Corporation where she served 13.5 years in a variety of roles in retail sales, organization and program development, people management, operational leadership, project management and event planning. Andrea graduated with a B.F.A. in Theatre from Sam Houston State University. Andrea also works as an actress in commercial, film and theatre

An aspiring actor looking to make a difference and a change in the world.

Dr. ANNE M TOEWE is a Professor of Theatre Arts with her specialty in Costume Design. Dr. Toewe joined the faculty in the School of Theatre Arts and Dance in 2003 where she serves as the Resident Costume Designer and the Head of Design and Technology, as well as the Production Manager for UNC’s Little Theatre of the Rockies in the summers.  Since her arrival at UNC Dr. Toewe has enjoyed the opportunity to design costumes for a broad variety of productions, including Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Jekyll and Hyde, Titanic, My Fair Lady, and The Elephant Man, to name a few.  In 2009, Dr. Toewe made her directorial debut at UNC with STAD’s production of Eclipsed.  Prior to her arrival in Colorado, Dr. Toewe designed and taught in a variety of venues on the east coast, including theatre, opera, film, print, and television.  While designing in Miami, FL, Dr. Toewe received a Carbonelle award for Best Costume Design for GableStage’s production of The Dead. Prior to her residence in Florida Dr. Toewe worked as a project manager at the notable Broadway costume build house Parsons-Mears.  Dr. Toewe holds her bachelor’s degree in Biology from The College of William and Mary in Virginia, her MFA in Costume Design from Tulane University in New Orleans, and her PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Additionally, in 2014, she published her first book, “Flowers in the Desert”: Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas 1998-2012. She is also a member of United Scenic Artist local #829.

Annie joined Phamaly Theatre Company as Technical Production Manager in December of 2019. She moved to Denver from Connecticut where she had been the Director of Production at ACT of Connecticut. Prior to that, she had spent over a decade production managing in New York theatres, including APAC, Queens Theatre, and Prospect Theatre Company. Her time in New York also included working at Showman Fabricators. While there, her projects included Broadway’s Sweeney Todd, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Disney World’s American Idol Experience and NBC’s The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. Annie is an alumnus from the Theatre School at DePaul University and the School of Drama at Yale University.

Annika is a graduate of UNC's Acting Program and of the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. While living in New York City, she earned her SAG card and sang with some of broadways finest in the Stars of Broadway Chorus for the Drama League. Her return to Denver resulted in her being cast in the Denver Premiere of the musical 'Bonnie and Clyde' as Bonnie Parker herself. She has since been cast in the Regional Premiere  of 'The Toxic Avenger' and has fronted cover bands performing at weddings, festivals and corporate events around Colorado. She has also adjudicated for the Bobby G program for the last three years. She has a passion for coaching high school musical theatre and is thrilled to be back with the Thespians!

Ann Marie Pollard is a voice, text, and dialect coach based in Lincoln, Nebraska. She works with actors, singers, and voice professionals to explore the fullest potential of their vocal expression. She teaches at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and serves as the Resident Voice, Text, and Dialects Coach at the Nebraska Repertory Theatre.

We know that deciding how and where to pursue your professional acting career is one of life’s biggest decisions. The New York Conservatory offers small class size and a collaborative learning experience to transform you from a student into an actor who works. We believe the sooner you can start your career, the better. In the conservatory environment, you will work all day, every day strictly on your craft. Our highly disciplined training programs give you the tools for a successful career as an actor in film, television and musical theater. Students graduate with the tools in hand to get work—including a resume and network of industry contacts. Film & TV graduates will have a professional reel, and Musical Theater graduates will have personalized repertoire book.

The mission of Motus Theater is to create original theater to facilitate dialogue on critical issues of our time. We aim to use the power of art to build alliances across diverse segments of our community and country.

Storytelling is at the heart of what makes us human. We focus on bringing marginalized voices or silenced histories to the stage. We support inclusion by expanding our audiences’ experiences of the variety of stories that make up our country. By using theater to learn and listen across the gaps of difference we weave tighter, stronger, and more connected communities. We hope you will gather around the fire with us: share your stories and learn new ones.

* We recently presented at the Colorado Thespians Teacher Conference. It seemed like a lot of teachers were impacted by our monologue. We would like to present at the conference to be able to reach students too. Would it be possible to do one presentation to the whole group? We have plenty of experience being the keynote speaker at many conferences.*

Autumn grew up in Orlando, FL where she performed with Orlando Ballet's The Nutcracker on tour at the young age of 12 and danced at Walt Disney World. She then performed with the Radio City Rockettes for 7 years, negotiated contracts as their union representative and was one of the main Rockettes chosen to give interviews for radio, newspapers and television. Autumn has also danced for Tokyo Disneyland in Japan, Holland America Cruise Lines, Perichoresis Dance Company in NYC, the Olympic Game Opening Ceremony and internationally in Kenya and Romania. Her other appearances include: musical group Outkast, The Today Show, CNN, Waterboy, Rosewood, The Division, America's Health Network, Dance Studio Life, Dance Teacher and First Women Magazines. Along with her dance career, Autumn graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in Telecommunications and a Minor in Theatre. She then continued her education in NYC at The Kane School for Pilates, Stella Adler Studio of Acting and The School for Film and Television. She is also a commercial voice over artist for radio. Autumn has 23 years of experience teaching ages 4 through adult and has taught at The Joffery School of Ballet, The Orlando Ballet, The Rockette Dance Intensive, Project Dance NYC, Dance Masters of America, Fox Theatre’s Rising Stars, The Atlanta Ballet, New York Backstage, Boulder Jazz Workshop and at the Texas Dance Educators Association. Some of her students’ credits include: Broadway: Anastasia, Tootsie & Prom the Musical, Mamma Mia on Tour, Industry Dance Awards, Alvin Ailey’s Pre-Professional Program, Young Arts National Arts Finalist, Joffrey & Juilliard Summer Intensives, So You Think You Can Dance, The Juilliard School, AMDA, The Royal Central School in London and Point Park University. Autumn has also enjoyed being a convention teacher with Celebration Talent and Beyond the Stars, high school dance team coach, adjunct professor at Brenau University and the producer of Project Dance Atlanta for 4 years. Her favorite musical is The Drowsy Chaperone. Autumn was thrilled to choreograph this production in Georgia where she won numerous choreography awards, including receiving first place at the Shuler Awards. Around the country Autumn currently guest teaches and choreographs, judges competitions and is a director with Project Dance. In Colorado she adjudicates for the Bobby G Awards, teaches at Broadway Training Intensive and dance studios around the state. AutumnMorgenstern.com

Generally Good at some things.

Becca is a Programming Specialist with Arapahoe Libraries where she leads monthly theater workshops.  During her time in the Denver area, she has guest taught with Curious Theatre Company, Englewood Summer Drama Program, Rocky Mountain Theatre for Kids, and the Actors Academy for the Performing Arts in both Denver and Boulder.  After graduating from CU Boulder with degrees in English, Theatre Performance, and Secondary Education, she taught Drama at Abraham Lincoln High School for several years.  During that time, she was a founding member of the Colorado Alliance of Technical Theatre Educators (CATTE). She holds a Masters in Arts Leadership and Cultural Management from Colorado State University. 

Benjamin Reigel is a professional actor, director, and fight choreographer, as well as a member of the performance faculty at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. Originally from Wisconsin, Ben has lived and worked all over the country, and has scores of credits at theatres from coast to coast including Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Players Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, DE’s Resident Ensemble Players, Mill Mountain Theatre, Maine Shakespeare Festival/Penobscot Theatre Company, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, and many others. This past summer, Ben retured for his second season at Colorado Shakespeare Festival, choreographing the fights, and playing Cornwall in King Lear, and Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing.

Ben earned his B.A. from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and his M.F.A. from the University of Delaware’s Professional Theatre Training Program. Ben is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. 

Ben (he/him) is the Artistic Director at Phamaly Theatre Company. Ben is a disabled director whose work focuses on producing artistically rigorous theatre with, for, and about the disabled community. His favorite directing credits include: Mockingbird (Falcon Theatre), Antigone: born against, The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love Suicide, Crumble: Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake, Love & Information (Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati), Falling (DePaul).

Beth Osnes PhD, is an Associate Professor of Theatre and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado. She recently toured an original musical Shine to select cities throughout the world to engage youth voices in resilience planning (see trailer for show). She has developed a method towards vocal empowerment for young women that she is researching in Guatemala, Tanzania and the USA. Her most recent book is Theatre for Women’s Participation in Sustainable Development. She is featured in the award-winning documentary Mother: Caring for 7 Billion (www.motherthefilm.com). 

Bill Stierle is a dynamic and innovative thought leader who has developed a full integration of Emotional Intelligence and Thinking Styles Technology. With over 33 years of consulting expertise, Bill Stierle’s impact is being felt daily inside top business schools, Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations and countless government institutions throughout the world. Bill has a unique and extensive knowledge for developing and implementing successful programs that encourage people nationwide. His business clients profit from an increase in professional productivity, organizational performance and individual effectiveness. His individual clients benefit from his range of services including: personal, behavioral, relational and family support. His expertise in conflict resolution provides support for people going through separation, divorce or family conflicts. Bill finds joy in supporting his clients with personal growth as well as assisting them through challenging times to create peace beyond the upset.

Blake is a graduate of Denver School of the Arts and the University of Northern Colorado's Acting programs. Blake is currently the Associate Director of Recruitment for the New York Film Academy. Additionally, Blake is the founder of 383 Productions, an independent film production company headquartered in New York, NY. Recent projects include an award winning a feature length documentary I Heart Jenny and award winning short film Sunday 1287. Blake also directs plays. In his New York directorial debut Blake won a 'best play' award for his direction of emerging playwright Josh Billig’s Benefit of Friends at the American Globe Theatre. Blake's Off-Broadway acting credits include Baylis in Blackbird, Berowne from Love’s Labors Lost in the 45th Street Theatre’s annual Shakespeare Festival, and Joe/Syrup in the premiere Dan Savage’s of Seeking Savage Love at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.  Blake has also worked closely with Oscar and Tony Award Nominee Murray Schisgal (Tootsie) on a reading of his new play Wallstreet Fandango.  Other past theatre credits include roles in Flags, A Servant of Two Masters, Suburbia, Lover’s and Other Strangers, and The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare.  TV and Film credits include Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX), Mr. Wiskers (web series), Bottom Feeders (web series), and Passed Over (web series).

Blake Babbitt is Director of Outreach for AMDA. Additionally, Blake is the founder of 383 Productions, an independent film production company headquartered in New York City. Recent film projects include directing and producing an award-winning feature length documentary I Heart Jenny, acclaimed indie short Sunday 1287. Blake is currently in production on a new Docuseries, Order Up: New York’s Restaurant Revolution. In Blake’s New York theatrical directing debut he won ‘best play’ award for his direction of Josh Billig’s Benefit of Friends at the American Globe Theatre. Blake’s Off-Broadway acting credits include Baylis in Blackbird, Berowne from Love’s Labors Lost in the 45th Street Theatre’s annual Shakespeare Festival, and Joe in the premiere Dan Savage’s of Seeking Savage Love at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Other past theatre credits include roles in Flags, A Servant of Two Masters, Suburbia, Lover’s and Other Strangers, and The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare. TV and Film credits include Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX), Mr. Wiskers (web series), Bottom Feeders (web series), and Passed Over (web series).

Brian Curl is a NYC based actor/choreographer.  He has performed in 49 of the 50 states and across Canada.  As a performer he has worked off-broadway, off-off-broadway, national tours, regional, theme park, and summer stock.  He's been a choreographer and workshop presenter at the International Thespian Festival and across the US. Brian is currently the Educational Director of the pre-Broadway hit "Austen's Pride: a new musical of Pride & Prejudice". In 2019, Brian launched DAILY8COUNT.COM an online streamable choreography education tool! A big kid at heart, Brian enjoys working with the future of the theatre industry.  briancurl.com

Brian Hapcic is a Professor of lighting and sound design at the University of Northern Colorado.  He has worked in the entertainment industry for over thirty years, with nearly 350 design credits in multiple performance genres.  Brian has a BA in English from Ohio University, and an MFA in Design and Technology from the University of Montana. He is a member of USITT and I.A.T.S.E. local #339.  In 2004 he was awarded the KCACTF faculty fellowship for meritorious achievement as a professor of lighting design, and in 2015, his scenography for the UNCO production of Medea was selected for presentation at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Space and Design.  His current research interests focus on the use of projected media as light source in performance, as well as the use of projection and sound in performance installations. 

rian received a BFA in Theater Performance from the University of Colorado. He has studied and performed the art of improvisation for more than 20 years, including five years spent in New York with the Upright Citizens Brigade, The People’s Improv Theater, the renowned Armando Diaz and more. He performed locally with Impulse Theater for five years, and as a cast member for several seasons of the Denver Center’s Off-Center show Cult Following. He is currently a founding cast member of the new Comedy Sportz Denver at the Avenue Theater. Brian teaches improv classes for teens and adults at the Denver Center Academy, presents workshops annually at the Colorado High School Thespian Conference and Jeffco Improv Festival and acts as a guest teacher at many schools in the region including Lakewood High School, Smoky Hill High School, Mountain Ridge Middle School, Castle Pines/American Academy, Discovery Canyon, and more. Brian is the recipient of the Colorado Thespian’s 2017 Distinguished Service to Educational Theater Award.

Bud Coleman is the Roe Green Professor of Theatre at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A professional actor, director, teacher, and choreographer, he has worked in the U.S., Canada, Holland, Japan, Thailand, and Russia. Recent publications include Back Stage Pass: A Survey of American Musical Theatre (Kendall/Hunt), The Oxford Handbook to Sondheim Studies, Women in American Musical Theatre (McFarland and Company, Inc.), and The Cambridge Companion to the Musical.

Bud Coleman is the Roe Green Professor of Theatre at the University of Colorado Boulder and former Chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance.  Having danced with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Fort Worth Ballet, Kinesis, and Ballet Austin, he has directed and choreographed many musicals.  In 2008, he directed and choreographed the musical Company in Vladivostok, Russia, was selected to be a 2009-10 Fulbright Lecturer in Japan, and directed the Thai premiere of Fiddler on the Roof at Mahidol University. 

With co-editor Judith Sebesta, they published Women in American Musical Theatre:  Essays on Lyricists, Writers, Arrangers, Choreographers, Designers, Producers, and Performance Artists in 2008.  Coleman and Pamyla Stiehl co-wrote Backstage Pass, A Survey of American Musical Theatre (2013).  

Caden Pazo is a Theatre B.A. and Dance minor at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) and will graduate in Fall 2022. His interests are in stage management, dance, acting and arts advocacy. He has been involved in multiple MSU Denver productions such as “Identity: An Origin Story” (SM), “The Servant of Two Masters” (Servant), and “Odyssey” (SM) as well as several upcoming shows. He has received training in Best Practices for staging theatrical intimacy from Theatrical Intimacy Education and seeks to make theatre a safer and more inclusive space for all. He actively learns and practices diversity, equity, and inclusion in all that he does. He is currently participating in the Undergraduate Research program at MSU Denver and is exploring the relationship between intimacy choreography and stage management and is exploring how stage managers can keep performers safe throughout the production process by utilizing the “Boundary Practice.”

Cara Lipford is a Bachelor level Social Work student at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She is currently interning at Rainbow Alley working to provide an inclusive space for LGBTQ+ youth of Colorado.

Carmel has been active in the Theatre industry for over 40 years. She specializes in working with School Theatres and students. 

She is a Sales and Service person for Oasis stage Werks. she works as a lighting designer. She holds various certifications and awards.

Caroline Kerswill is the Theatre Arts and Film teacher at the Denver Center for International Studies Baker Campus. She has completed work for the Colorado Department of Education and the state’s Arts Standards, as well as curriculum design for Theatre Arts for kindergarten through 12th grade as a Regional Team Specialist for DPS. She holds a Master’s degree in Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado and through the Colorado-based theatre company, The New Commedia, writes a theatre education blog and leads and facilitates workshops for teachers and students on arts advocacy and devised theatre.

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Caroline Younger won the 2019 Bobby G award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on the Valor High School Production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Ms. Younger is the Director of WABI theatre and dance, a training ground in Denver for teenagers 12-18 that are pursuing Musical Theatre. The students, primarily singer/actors gain proper dance training in the disciplines of Ballet, Modern, Tap, Hip Hop, Theatre Dance and Jazz. WABI also produces Musical Theatre Workshops and Intensives in both Denver and NYC with classes in Dance, Voice, Acting and College Prep. She currently has students at PACE, Shenandoah Conservatory and the Hartt School. Caroline spent 20 years in NYC performing, teaching dance, producing theatre and choreographing for Concert Dance and Musical Theatre. Credits include six National and International Tours, Papermill Playhouse, North Shore Music Theatre, La Mama Etc, several TV commercials and the NY International Fringe Festival where her play Roller Skates and Mary Jane premiered. She has taught dance for Marymount College, Wagner College, Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Manhattan Movement and Arts Center as well as many studios throughout NY, NJ, CT and Denver. Her dance classes combine a combination of technique, style, musicality, discipline, fun and a deep reverence for the arts and this craft. www.wabitheatre-dance.rocks

Caroline B. Younger is the creator and director of WABI theatre and dance which she launched in 2015 in Denver, CO after moving west from NYC where she spent 20 years working as a performer, teacher, and choreographer. The program filled a specific niche; serious dance training for young singer/actors ages 12-18 as well as College Prep and Intensives to prepare students for a career in Musical Theatre. She has performed in six National Tours, one European Tour, a slew of Regional Theatre, TV Commercials and was cast on Broadway in Little Me in 1998. She is a member of AEA and SAG and is currently represented by Productions Plus as a Voice Over Artist. She has taught at Wagner College, Marymount College, Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway and many studios throughout NY, NJ, CT and CO. ​ Caroline has choreographed for Musical Theatre and Concert Dance. In 2019 she won the Bobby G award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on Thoroughly Modern Millie at Valor Conservatory in CO. As a teacher, Caroline believes in being a positive mentor for her students and inspires young artists to grow fully into their potential as well as instilling confidence, individual self expression, discipline and a reverence for the arts. 

Carrie Colton (she/they) is an actor, director, and choreographer based out of Denver, Colorado. Carrie holds a BFA in Classical Acting from Southern Utah University and an MFA in directing from Florida State University. Carrie has performed in the international tours of My Fair Lady (Eliza) and Annie (Miss Hannigan), as well as several regional theatres around the country. Some of her favorite directing/dance/fight credits include Hairspray (Fusion Academy of Hong Kong), Romeo and Juliet (North Dakota Shakespeare Festival), Julius Caesar (The Shakespeare Project), Peter Pan (Jacksonville Opera), Scarlet Pimpernel (Candlelight Dinner Playhouse), Pippin (Actors Academy) and The Tempest (Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival). She is currently an Associate Professor of Movement and Directing at Metropolitan State University of Denver where she also runs the BFA in musical theatre program. In addition, she is the Artistic Director at The Actors Academy for the Performing Arts and is on the Governing Board of Dueling Arts International as an Associate Instructor in Stage Combat. Carrie is a certified Yoga Teacher from Guru Mahi’s Ashrum in India, holds her clowning certificate from the LA School of Clowning, and is an Intimacy Coordinator through Theatrical Intimacy Education. As an accomplished devising artist, Carrie is the 2021 winner of the National American Prize for Best Directing and Best Digital Performance with her devised work Identity: An Origin Story. Find out more about Carrie at www.carriecolton.com

Chandra is a proud Denver native and holds a BFA in Applied Theatre Technology and Design from the Department of Theatre at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She’s been involved in technical theatre for 20 years, starting as a lighting tech in middle school. She attended Denver School of the Arts for High School before starting at MSU Denver. She returned to MSU after working freelance for several years, as the Scene Shop Manager where she manages the production builds, student employees and is the Lead Painter for the department. She also works in the community as a painter, stage manager and carpenter.

Ms. Koepke comes from a diverse performance background ranging from musical theater to stage plays to opera to cabaret. A full lyric soprano, she has performed such roles as Maria (The Sound of Music), both Eponine and Fantine (Les Misérables), Guinevere (Camelot), Adelaide (Guys and Dolls) and The Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods). In 2004, Ms. Koepke won the prestigious Thespian Tribute award for her performance of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. In 2007 she received critical acclaim for her performance of the role of Claudia Draper in Tom Topor’s stage play, Nuts.

Ms. Koepke attended the University of New Mexico, where she earned a double Master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Child Psychology & Behavioral Studies. Ms. Koepke also minored in theater, receiving additional training in directing and improvisation. After receiving her degrees, she continued to study theatre, becoming a Shakespearian trained actress through the Addison program, a partner program of the Royal Shakespeare Academy. She has performed such classical roles as Katherine (Taming of the Shrew), Ophelia (Hamlet), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) and Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing). Her professional operatic career began in 2001 with the Santa Fe Opera, first as a young artist and later a Resident Artist. Her operatic performance credits include Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Liu (Turandot), Musetta (La bohème), La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and Norma (Norma).

In 2006, Ms. Koepke began to focus her career in stage directing. Well-versed in multiple genres of theater, Ms. Koepke has directed productions such as The Cunning Little Vixen, Madama Butterfly, A Little Night Music, The Pirates of Penzance, Inherit the Wind, The Tempest and A Lion in Winter.

Ms. Koepke began working with Opera Colorado in 2007, where she serves as the Director of the Opera Colorado Artist in Residence Program and the Director of Education & Community Engagement. She creates the abridged scores for the company’s Touring Productions, translating the text and adapting the music as well as designing each production. She also serves as the lead dramatic coach and stage director for the program. She has directed Opera Colorado’s touring productions of Rossini’s Cinderella, Gounod’s Romeo & Juliet, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Bizet’s Carmen and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. In 2012, Koepke directed the student matinee production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. In the same year, she created the program “An Afternoon of American Song” for Opera Colorado which is now in its fourth season. In February of 2015, Koepke directed the world premiere concert reading of Lori Laitman’s The Scarlet Letter.  In the summer of 2017, she made her debut with Opera Steamboat as the stage director for Jonathan Dove’s, The Enchanted Pig.

In 2009, Ms. Koepke began studying Gaelic and singing Celtic music. She has competed in numerous national competitions, placing in the top three at the Pan Celtic Festival in 2012. She also performs with a Celtic group based in Killarney and tours throughout Ireland.

Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ms. Koepke now resides in Broomfield, Colorado.

Chip Killingsworth is The Director of Student Recruitment and Educational Outreach at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He has worked in performing arts education in New York City and Los Angeles for the past fifteen years. Credentials include Certification through 2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkley and Awareness Training Institute); BA Communication & MA in Education (PLNU); Other training includes American Academy of Dramatic Arts; T Schreiber Studios (NYC); Barrow Group (NYC); Actors Connection (NYC); Peoples Improv Theater (NYC).

Chip Persons appeared in: Švejk and Andorra with Theatre for a New Audience; Hell: Paradise Found at 59E59; Foodstable at HERE; Cold at Bank Street Theatre; Richard III at La MaMa ETC; and Godard at the Ohio Theatre.  Credits elsewhere include: the title roles in Richard II and Richard II, Angelo in Measure for Measure, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, and Bob Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival; Lee Blessing’s solo play, Chesapeake; Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency; Richard Rich in A Man for All Seasons at the Arvada Center; the Old Globe Theatre; Lamb’s Players Theatre; Stories On Stage; and Write Out Loud.  Chip was an expatriate in Prague during the 1990s and continues to perform there, where credits include: HoME Theatre; Misery Loves Co. (including the Eastern European premiere of Angels in America); Kašpar Theatre; and Theatre on the Balustrade.  His screen credits include Law & Order and network commercials.  Chip’s on the Advisory Board of Culture Current in Helsinki, the Artistic Ensemble of Boulder Ensemble Theatre Co., and the faculty of the University of Colorado.  He holds an MFA from Columbia University and BFA from UC Santa Barbara.  

Chloe McLeod is a professional actor, teaching artist, and cast member of the Shakespeare in the Parking Lot Education tour. She has performed with the Denver Center Theatre Company in Anna Karenina and A Christmas Carol and with DCPA Off-Center in This is Modern Art. Other credits include You Can’t Take it With You, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Odyssey (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); A Christmas Carol (Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company), Queen of Conspiracy, Fun Home (Miners Alley Playhouse), Bad Jews (Edge Theater), Little Women (Aurora Fox) and many more. As a teaching artist, she is passionate about creating an encouraging and professional environment for students to connect creativity and dedication. Chloe is a proud graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

I have been in the video business since 2000. Much of my experience has come from working daily in television news and in school districts as a Photojournalist – telling people's stories through video every day.

I spent 2000 – 2008 working as a Photojournalist in Colorado Springs and then Denver. Every day was a new story. My job was to make it interesting. I took a break from the news business for four years to learn the production side of things. I produced commercials and promotional videos. 

My love of storytelling eventually drew me back into the news business at KUSA in Denver. I worked alongside some of the most talented people in the industry. I have won three Emmys, three Edward R. Murrow awards, Colorado Broadcaster's Association awards, and several Nation Press Photographer Association (nationally and regionally) awards through the years.

These days I am telling the stories of the amazing students in the Douglas County School District. It's a perfect fit having three boys with my wife that are or will be in the district.

Chris T. Parr, is the Executive Director of the St Vrain Theatre Company and owner of Shadow Man Marketing. He has performed with the Longmont Theatre Company, LTC's Standing Room Only & the Wing & Prayer Theatre Company. While working with the Longmont Youth Theatre he directed several teen productions including the Colorado premiere of 4 AM the Musical. He also began taking the company to the Colorado Community Theatre Collation festival where the company has won several awards including the Techtinublation Award. With the St Vrain Theatre Company he has expanded the mission of helping youth programs as well as pushing the idea of theatre in Strange Places. As well as continuing to participate in the Colorado Community Theatre Collation Festival. He has worked with dance companies, community theatres, production companies, and high school theatres all over the state. Helping them with everything from set design and stage management to ticket sales and social media promotion. He was the Road Manager for Frederick High School's 2018 Thescon Mainstage production of Newsies. He has worked with high across Notthern Colorado, in helping them market shows as well as problem solve issues both on and off stage.

He has a BA in Digital Marketing. Which has helped him work with marketing companies all over the country as well as non-profits. He has helped them create grass roots campaigns to help promote new products and programs. To even create new social media campaigns and accounts for various companies.

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Christopher Smith is a writer, editor, musician, and educator with a rich history of performance and production. Dr. Smith is a faculty member at Trinidad State College overseeing the growth of a new Technical Theatre program. Prior to moving to Colorado in 2018, Dr. Smith lived in Vermont for two decades, working with institutions and performance venues as well as with local arts and performing arts organizations. Today, he serves as a faculty member as well as part of the team supervising the restoration of the Fox West Theatre of Trinidad, Colorado, a historic Vaudeville-era venue. He is an active contributor to Trinidad’s local music scene.

Chuck Roy is professional comedian and professor of Comedy at the Community College of Denver. He’s appeared on sitcoms including Will & Grace and 3rd Rock from the Sun. And he charmed audiences as the warm-up act for the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Upon moving to Denver, Chuck hosted movies and concerts at the world famous Red Rocks Amphitheater. Recently, Chuck won a Kennedy Center ATHE Award for Innovative Teaching.

CJ Greer is thrilled to have joined the Music and Music Theatre faculty at UNR to build a Musical Theatre degree program!  She carries an MFA and MM in Musical Theatre and Classical Performance & Pedagogy from Penn State University. CJ has performed around the world from theme park to Broadway. She is a singer, actor, teacher, and conductor with an undying love for storytelling, and inspiring others to find their unique voice in the music. CJ frequently presents at conferences, including ‘Bel Canto Can Belto’ – an experiential weekend workshop introducing voice teachers to musical theatre vocal pedagogy. She also teaches high school and collegiate workshops, and is the vocal instructor for The Broadway Artist Intensive – a summer MT training program. Broadway/National Tour credits: Sister Act, Les Misérables, The Producers, Ragtime, I Love A Piano, The Buddy Holly Story; Regional Credits: Mamma Mia (Casa Mañana), Annie* (Olney), Chess (NC Raleigh), The Happy Time* (Signature Theatre), She Loves Me, The Addams Family, Into the Woods, Secret Garden, and more. 

Claudia Carson has been at the DCPA for 20 years in a variety of roles: Stage Manager at the Galleria Theater, Production Manager for Girls Only, and Executive Assistant to President Randy Weeks. Claudia took over the reins of the Bobby G program in 2014. She has Directed, Choreographed and Stage Managed the Bobby G Ceremony since the program started.  In 2016, Claudia began coordinating the High School One Act Playwriting Workshops and Competition. She loves working with Colorado’s High School educators and students on both of these programs and is in awe of the talent she sees daily in her work.  Claudia was the K-9 Theatre teacher at Graland County Day School and directed and choreographed the 4^th and 9^th grade musicals as well as performances in all grades throughout the year. She has choreographed and acted at the Arvada Center, The Aurora Fox, and The DCPA.  She has been a teaching artist at The Arvada Center, The Mizel Center and the Aurora Fox Summer Theatre. Claudia retired from the DCPA in July of 2023 and is now working as an independent contractor throughout Denver.

Clearwing Productions is one of the nation’s premier providers of pro audio, lighting, and video equipment,and production services. For over 40 years, Clearwing has provided creative services and innovative equipment for musicians, venues, sporting events, corporate gatherings, performing arts centers, and houses of worship. Clearwing has physical offices strategically located in Milwaukee, Phoenix and Denver, and have deployed gear and crew across the U.S. and all over the world. Each Clearwing location features a fully equipped service department, a fully stocked Pro Shop, and an online store. They are a full-service, one-stop-shop supplying exemplary audio, lighting, video, & staging systems, as well as backline and transportation services. Some of the biggest names have counted on Clearwing, from the Foo Fighters, Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, and Summerfest to the NFL, the Blue Man Group, Best Buy, Target, GoDaddy, and The White House. Clearwing Systems Integration designs, engineers, and installs permanent audio, video, lighting, rigging, and control systems in a variety of venues, including houses of worship, schools, and performing arts centers. Whether servicing or upgrading an existing system or developing an original system for a new construction build or renovation, we customize our services to fit your project needs and budget. Each of our designers, engineers, project managers, and installation technicians are skilled in the latest technologies and job-site safety standards used in our industry. You can rest assured that your project is being conducted by a highly qualified team of experts. Whatever your requirements may be, Clearwing Systems Integration will turn your vision into a reality.

Dr. Cody Clayton Gardner is a Denver-based Actor and Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in the treatment of performing artists. This is neither Dr. Cody’s first, nor even fourth Colorado Thespian Convention–Dr. Cody was an annual participant when he attended Mountain Range High School in Westminster, Colorado. Dr. Cody began his arts education in middle and high school, where he cultivated skillsets in musical theatre acting, jazz alto saxophone, singing, and dancing hip-hop and musical theatre jazz.

Dr. Cody continued his studies at Texas Christian University (B.S. Movement Science, Minor in Child Development), where he participated in multiple university vocal ensembles, held officer positions in the Delta Mu Chapter of national social music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and continued instruction in hip-hop, country swing, and Latin dance. He then completed his Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, where he performed in and directed multiple productions at the WashU Med School Musical Company.

Following graduation, Dr. Cody traveled North America for a year and a half with the National Tour of Disney’s The Lion King as the company health provider, providing prevention, wellness education, first response, and rehabilitation to cast, crew, orchestra, and management.

Currently, Dr. Cody owns his own performing arts wellness company, SYZYGY Movement Solutions, where he allies and collaborates with venues, theatre companies, schools, studios, and individuals to educate, treat, empower, and prevent injury in performing artists, including actors, dancers, instrumentalists, vocalists, and aerialists. Moreover, Dr. Cody is a Guest Artist and Instructor at Denver School of the Arts teaching both acting technique and wellness; he actively pursues his craft in local theatre, film, television, and voice-over projects; and he writes scripts as in addition to wellness books, several of which are cresting the horizon!

Colorado State Thespian Board is excited to offer workshops that advance the students knowledge about the Individual Events Process, and the University Scholarship process. Students will hear from the adjudicators and organizers of these events, and be provided with useful advice to support their participation in the conference experience.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Courtney has been part of the New York theatre scene for the past decade. In addition to local and regional acting, she has worked in marketing and development roles at several Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters, including Circle in the Square and Atlantic Theater Company. Joining the Samuel French team in 2013, Courtney serves as the Marketing Manager for Social Media and Community, managing social media engagement (@SamuelFrenchNYC), editing Breaking Character Magazine (breakingcharactermagazine.com), and producing community events. Proud alum of Carnegie Mellon University. Twitter and Instagram:  @courtkochuba.

MORE ABOUT SAMUEL FRENCH
Samuel French is the world’s leading publisher and licensor of plays and musicals. The company’s catalog features some of the most acclaimed work ever written for the stage and titles by writers at the forefront of contemporary drama. Samuel French is proud to have served as a leader in theatrical publishing and licensing for over 180 years and is committed to the future by championing for playwrights, innovating the industry, and celebrating all those who make theatre around the world.

Dakota has been with many theater programs for a few years now, and she is always looking to expand her knowledge in theater as an artform. She has been in many productions since covid, and looks forward to doing more in the future.

Dallas James Pritt is an entertainment professional who is based in "Music City", Nashville, TN.Most recently, Dallas starred in the acclaimed short film, 'A Heart's Calling' that has premiered across the country at renowned film festivals. Currently, he is recognized for starring in the national Toyota Tacoma Mall Terrain commercial, the online Curology Pimple commercial, and co-starring as Chet alongside Billy Ray Cyrus in season two of 'Still The King' on CMT. Theatre: York Theatre Company (off-Broadway), Fiddler On the Roof touring company, Sorg Opera Company, Theatre West Virginia, and Huron Playhouse. Theme Parks: Cedar Point, Six Flags Over Georgia, Valleyfair, Kings Island, and Coney Island. Dallas holds a BFA in Musical Theatre after studying at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts and Lipscomb University's College of Entertainment and the Arts. www.DallasJamesPritt.com

Dan P. Hays is an educator, actor, director, music director, choreographer and highly sought-after clinician. He is currently serving as the Director of Theatre Activities at Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska. 

Mr. Hays serves as an Associate Director for The Young Americans, a professional performing group that comes from California and performs all over the world. He has served as a clinician for many theatre and music festivals, including a Regional All-State Chorus in Pennsylvania.  Dan also serves as the director of the All State Musical for the Nebraska Choral Directors.

Before his career in education, Dan spent many years in the professional world of performing as an actor/dancer/director/singer/choreographer. Dan is a proud member of Actor's Equity Association, the professional actor's union.  

Dan has received many awards including: Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Nebraska Kearney, Show Choir Camps of America Teacher Of The Year, Nebraska Choral Director Outstanding Director Of The Year, Nebraska Music Educator Of The Year, Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Education and the Sertoma Club Man Of The Year Award.

Dan Hiester is a professional theatre artist and educator who has been working in Colorado theatre for the past four decades. He worked as a director and casting director at the Denver Center Theatre Company, founded and was the Artistic Director of CityStage Ensemble, is the chief resident director for Shakespeare-in-the-Sangres and L'Alliance & Co, and has worked as a director, actor, writer, producer, and designer at venues all over Colorado and on the East Coast. He has presented and directed over 300 theatre workshops in over 50 venues, is a working teaching artist, and regularly teaches at UCD. 

Recently moved to Colorado, and am looking for opportunities within the Colorado Thespian Festival.

I had been involved with Florida State Thespians for the last 15 years as both a judge of IE's, Scholarships and presented workshops.

I was actively involved with the Vero Beach Theatre Guild of Vero Beach Florida from 1989 – 2014.  During that time I played many lead roles in musicals and plays.  Most noted performances were: Curly in Oklahoma!, The King in The King and I, Marco in Carnival, Billy Bigelow in Carousel.  My directorial endeavor of Mame during the 1999 – 2000 Season, garnered 10 Genie Awards (a local acting award), including Best Show.

I know it is late in the game, but if you have need of a judge, or a presenter, even perhaps on an on call emergency basis, I would love to be of service.

I have presented the following workshops:

It's a Musical – Keep Singing, Keep Smiling –  Ever found yourself as a member of the chorus in a musical, or playing swing roles?  What you can do to stand out to your director and audiences, without blatantly stealing the show.

Audition Tips – Professional Audition tips – What's the director looking for, deciding what role you are suited for (not one that just  suits you) – picking the right music,  Preparation for auditions.

Character Development – A tool for you to develop full characters that are not just one dimensional.  Interactive workshop, using printed materials, improv, and show resources.

Darion (she/her) is Phamaly’s Company Production Manager and has been with Phamaly for six years in various capacities. Her previous stage management credits at Phamaly include: James and the Giant Peach, Tiny Tim, Pygmalion, Romeo & Juliet, Harvey, Morph Masters, Phamaly’s 30th Anniversary Concert, Chicago, HONK!, and Alice in Wonderland. She has also worked at Colorado Shakespeare Festival and The Lake Dillon Theatre Company as an assistant stage manager.

Darrell is the costume designer and makeup instructor at Casper College in Wyoming. He has a B.A. in Costume Design with a minor in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and an M.F.A. in Technical Theater from the University of Idaho.  His work in professional theater has taken him on 20 national tours to 49 states and 6 countries on two continents as Wardrobe Supervisor for the tours of ANNIE, Cats, West Side Story, Rent, The Sound of Music, and Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life.  He was the Star Dresser for the First National Tour of Jersey Boys (completing 648 performances).  Darrell toured as a hair and make-up assistant on the second First National Tour of The Producers for two-and-a-half years.  Darrell has been lucky enough to work with Chita Rivera and Ann-Margaret.

Darrell has designed costumes for the University of Wyoming, UNC at Greely, and St Norbert College (De Pere, WI). He designed the costumes for Jim Olm’s The Magdalene, which ran Off Broadway.  Darrell was commissioned to design the costumes at Casper College for the world premiere of Arthur Giron’s St. Francis in Egypt.  His work as a costume designer includes Music Man, West Side Story, Godspell, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

In his “off time,” he climbed Mt Fuji and learned to scuba dive off the coast of Hong Kong.  He is blessed with a very patient and understanding family and several special friends that have allowed him to “run away and join the circus” as each opportunity presents itself

David is in his 20th year as a DCPA Education teaching artist. Before moving to Denver, he interned in education departments at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and The Coterie Theatre. He was last seen on the stage as Polonius in Nirvamlet for the Band of Toughs. This summer, he directed The wizard of Oz for the Middle School Performance Program. David received his BA at The Colorado College and his MFA in Theatre for Youth at Arizona State University.

David Weber is a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers and has an MFA in Acting and Theatre Pedagogy from California State University Long Beach where he studied acting pedagogy under the direction of Alexandra Billings, Hugh O’Gorman, Ezra LeBank, Dr. Shanti Pillai, and Andrea Caban. He has worked as an education artist since 2002 with many equity playhouses, but his longest relationships are with the Atlanta Shakespeare Company and Lookingglass Theater Company. He has been recognized by Bert Osborn, critic at AJC as one of the Top Ten Actors in Atlanta, for his work in Terrence McNally’sA Perfect Ganesh. David recently played Mark Rothko in John Logan’s Red with Moondog Theatre Company in Rockford Illinois and played Capulet in R & J at Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival this September. Next up he is performing his one-man Christmas Carol, “An Actor’s Carol: One clown’s Dickensian marathon towards redemption” on tour to Atlanta, Chicago, Rockford, Seattle, Dallas, and Los Angeles this December. David is currently pursuing MICHA's certificate of completion in the Michael Chekhov technique and his research is in non-trauma based acting pedagogy, playing actions, and event/active analysis. He is currently at Oklahoma State University as Assistant Professor of Performance.

Dee Covington is a founder of Curious Theatre Company, now celebrating its 21st Season.  As an artist at Curious, Dee serves as an actress, director and the Education Director of the innovative high school/college playwriting program, Curious New Voices.  Curious Theatre Company produces regional and world premieres with social and political relevance, illuminating community concerns and providing avenues to insight and deeper discussion.  As an artist, Dee brings this goal of mission-driven theatre-making into all aspects of the creative process.  Other theatre work includes Artistic Director of Break the Cycle; a touring teen theatre company creating devised work to address community concerns and Artistic Director of Synergy's On The Ball Players; a touring teen theatre company housed in a homeless and runaway youth shelter in Kansas City, MO.  Now at Curious Theatre Company Dee is committed to making Curious an artistic home for young artists as they expand their knowledge of the field and develop their own creative voices.

George graduated with his BFA in Theatre Studies from Southern Methodist University in 2015 and has been a high school theatre teacher and director until this past year in Texas when they moved to Colorado to continue working with student theatre programs. They have presented for several years with Texas Thespians and is a proud Thespian member.

Devon Glover is a teacher, rapper, poet, playwright and actor from Brooklyn New York. He performs Shakespeare's Sonnets in a dynamic way through Hip-Hop in schools, universities, and theaters to young audiences nationally and abroad.  As The Sonnet Man, Devon has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, BBC, and Educational Conferences and Shakespeare Festivals throughout the world, including Oregon, Stratford, Ontario, and Stratford-upon-Avon.  The release of his debut video “Hip-Hop Hamlet” was selected for the Shakespeare Short Film Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon.  In April 2016,  Devon went on a #SonnetMarathon tour through the US, UK, and Morocco—where he rapped all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets in succession on April 24th. Some of the notable roles Devon has played is Touchstone in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” (Southern Shakespeare Company), Flute/Thisbe in ”A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Yosemite Shakes), Lyons in “Fences” (Canopy Roads), and Clarence/Tyrell in “Richard III” (Salty Shakespeare). In the Fall 2017, Devon co-wrote “A Town Divided”, an adaption of “Romeo and Juliet” that was based on the racial divide in Tallahassee, FL.  In the Spring 2019, Devon was commissioned by the University of Warwick and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to write a hip-hop adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” for high schools.  In the Summer 2022, Glover made his directorial debut for Flagstaff Shakespeare Company, directing Shakespeare’s “Othello.” for the company’s summer season.  For more information, visit www.SonnetMan.com

Donna Mejia is an international touring artist and Assistant Professor of dance at CU-Boulder specializing in transnational fusion and traditions of the Arab/African Diaspora, ethnic studies, gender studies, pedagogy and ethics. Donna served as Artist in Residence for fifteen universities, and completed her graduate studies on full fellowship. She has headlined over 50 international festivals since 2012, received the Fulbright Association’s 2011 Selma Jeanne Cohen honor for International Dance Scholarship, and performed her solos at the Kennedy Center, The Apollo Theatre, and the venerable La MaMa Theatre in NYC. For more information please visit her at donnainthedance.com

Ed Reggi coaches Viola Spolin Theater Games internationally. He got his start studying at Second City and with its founder Paul Sills. Today, Reggi performs with Paper Slip Theater, his professional improv company and is an acting coach for the Oprah Winfrey Television Network.

ELAINE BROMKA – Film, TV, Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater –Much Ado's Beatrice to Shirley Valentine. The Blacklist, Friends from College, Maniac, Girls, The Sopranos, Sex & the City, E.R., Dharma & Greg, all Law and Orders, Providence, Playing for Time with Vanessa Redgrave and Catch a Rainbow, for which Ms. Bromka won an Emmy. Uncle Buck mom Cindy and Days of our Lives’s crazed Stella. Her Off-Broadway solo show, “TEA FOR THREE: Lady Bird, Pat & Betty,” tours nationwide. Smith College phi beta kappa, guest artist at over 160 colleges, high schools, and PDs. Virtual and live workshops. https://www.elainebromka.com/ https://www.teaforthree.com/

Elise Kulovany serves as the resident costume shop manager in the CSU costume shop as well as teaching and designing productions for the School of Theatre, Music and Dance. Elise is a Fort Collins native. After graduating from Rocky Mountain High School, Elise went on to get her B.S. in Theatre Education from the University of Evansville where she participated in many productions as well as taught theatre classes at various high schools and middle schools in the Evansville Area. She then earned her M.F.A in Costume Design from Southern Illinois University. While at SIU Elise worked as a draper, stitcher and craftsperson in the costume shop. She also designed Ragtime, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Radio Golf and RENT in addition to teaching Introduction to Costume Construction and Makeup for the Theatre. After earning her MFA, Elise served as a costume shop apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera for two seasons. She then worked as the draper and costume shop manager at The Arkansas Repertory Theater before joining the faculty and staff at Los Rios Community College where she taught scenic construction and designed sets for Raisin in the Sun and The Velveteen Rabbit. Selected credits include: The Little Mermaid, Macbeth, Bridges of Madison County (Regional Premiere), Mary Poppins, Elf the Musical, and Memphis the Musical. Her passion lies in creating art and working with students. Elise thoroughly enjoys working at CSU and sharing her knowledge of pattern making, dyeing, tailoring and more with anyone wanting to learn. You can view Elise’s work at www.elisekulovany.com

While pursuing a BA in Musical Theatre at American University, Elizabeth discovered that her true passion was for the work behind the scenes. Building on her background as a seamstress and a visual artist, she pursued a career in costuming. She has worked professionally as a dresser, a stitcher, a costume shop manager, and as a designer. She now holds an MFA in Costume Design from Temple University and is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Beth Rand is a high school theatre Operations and Safety Coach and a Lighting Designer.  She recently moved to the area from Seattle and is now based in Westminster. Beth began her technical theatre career at her own high school theatre and has worked in educational and professional technical theatre for over 30 years.  Most recently Beth served as a High School Theatre Manager for the past 7 years, and has been designing lights for school plays and musicals for over 20 years. She has also consulted on the construction and/or equipment upgrades of several school theatres. Beth now teaches an online course for Drama teachers on High School Theatre Management, and offers other services to high school theatres through her company PRESETT.  Beth’s bachelor’s degree is in Stage Lighting and her master’s degree is in Entertainment Business.  She has teaching certification in Theatre Arts and also is available to sub for area Drama teachers.  Beth can be contacted through www.PRESETT.org.

Emily Doherty is a Teaching Artist with an emphasis in music and early childhood education. She has worked with Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Education Department in that capacity since the summer of 2018. She has also worked with Denver Center Theatre Company as a Production Assistant for Corduroy, and as a Young Performer’s Supervisor for Anna Karenina. Prior to living in Denver, Emily was a teacher and administrative assistant at the Michigan State University Community Music School while earning her Bachelors degree and Teaching Credential in Music Education at Michigan State University. She has worked as a Residential Technician supporting young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Emily was previously the Activities Coordinator for the Mark T. Starr Center facilitating engagement for adult clients with developmental disabilities. She is dedicated to building inclusive and accessible experiences in and out of the classroom and is excited to continue this work with DCPA Education as their Teaching Artist and Theatre for Young Audiences Program Manager.

Emma Dehner is a lover of all things beautiful. She tells stories through her art and brings life to the stage through small details. She is an accomplished stage make up artist with over a decade of experience under her belt. She has worked with several companies across the state of Colorado but works primarily with the Longmont Theatre Company and the St Vrain Theatre Company. By day Emma is a 3rd grade teacher in the St Vrain Valley School District and a mother to two spirited daughters. Emma knows her way around a theatre production having held positions from onstage to backstage, concessions to board of directors secretary and she loves it all! 

Eric is a passionate filmmaker with an intrinsic desire to have a positive impact on the world around him. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Eric found his love for cinema when he was nine years old and has since enjoyed exploring the cinematic world both from the director’s chair, and behind the camera.

In addition to operating his production company, Infinitus Pictures, Eric works as a Associate Producer with Nickelodeon (Noggin) as a member of their live action learning team.

Prior to working with Nickelodeon, Eric worked as a Series Producer, Director, and Director of Photography for Rocky Mountain PBS as part of their premier documentary series, Colorado Experience. 

Eric's work has received 13 Emmy Nominations, 3 Colorado Broadcaster's Association Awards of Excellence, and even commendation from M. Night Shyamalan.

Eric is passionate about telling stories that provoke thought, inspire, and entertain.

Dr. Eric Prince, Professor of Theatre, Colorado State University, Director of CSU’s Center for Studies in Beckett and Performance, is a writer and scholar who specializes in the theatre of Samuel Beckett as well as teaching acting, directing, and playwriting. Prince has directed his own highly experimental plays in venues as diverse as London, Edinburgh, Leeds, York, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Berlin, San Diego, and Enniskillen, Northern Ireland as well as directing six of his own plays for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe including Kafka's Last Request and Wildsea Wildsea for the British National Student Theatre Company. Both these plays were awarded the prestigious London Sunday Times Playwriting Award. Prince worked for many years in association with the distinguished playwright and director Sir Alan Ayckbourn. Two plays by Prince Red Roses and Love Is In The Air were commissioned by Ayckbourn and produced professionally by the acclaimed Stephen Joseph Theatre. Prince has now directed more than thirty productions for Colorado State University and the Bas Bleu Theatre of Fort Collins including such works as The Importance of Being Earnest, Oh What A Lovely War, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Mother Courage, Private Lives, The Birthday Party, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, Waiting For Godot, Endgame, Noises Off

Comic Potential and is currently at work on Charles Mee’s postmodern ancient Greek craziness called Big Love.

Erin is a Denver-based theatrical artist always searching for the next creative opportunity. By day she navigates the creation of stigma abolishing theatre with Phamaly Theatre Company, on staff since 2019, proudly working as the Operations Manager. By night she is trying to find time for everything else: performance, podcasting, costuming, design, directing, and learning to cook better than your mama can.

Erin is a versatile costume designer who has worked in regional theatre, opera, dance, music

videos, and print in roles ranging from costume designer, stylist, textile artist, to crafts artisan.

She has been a part of over 130 professional productions with several theatre companies, most

notably Old Globe Theatre, Los Angeles Opera, La Jolla Playhouse, and Pioneer Theatre.

Her research centers around her most passionate subjects: costume design, textile surface

modification, and pushing the boundaries of design and technology using digital mediums and

interfaces. She is most interested where these subjects intersect in theatrical artistry and technical

application. This research ties in with her own book The Dye Book: Dyeing and Painting for the

Entertainment Industry (on contract with Focal press 2022). She is an Assistant Professor of

Costume Design and the Vice Chair of the Design Technology Management Branch of KCACTF Region 7.

She is an active member of USITT, Costume Society of America, KCACTF, and USA 829.

Erin Reed Carter (she/her) is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance specializing in costume design and technology. She received her MFA in Costume Design from the University of Tennessee, and her BFA in Costume Design and Costume Technology from the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University. Her theatrical and themed entertainment work has been seen in venues across the country, including the Clarence Brown Theatre (Knoxville, TN), Texas Shakespeare Festival (Kilgore, TX), Silver Dollar City (Branson, MO) and Triad Stage (Greensboro, NC). Erin’s pedagogical practice focuses on the integration of costume design and technology to promote well-rounded, multifaceted designers and technicians. For more of Erin’s work, please see her website: www.ereedcostumedesign.com

Estee Dechtman is a former International Thespian Officer and Colorado State Thespian Officer. She is currently studying at Barnard College of Columbia University, double majoring in theatre and human rights. She is former member of Troupe #5869 and could not be more excited to be here, in her home town, with the incredible Colorado Thespians! Come find Estee during festival if you have any questions about thespians, leadership, arts advocacy, or Barbra Streisand- she will be happy to talk about all three! 

Felicia was born in raised in Los Angeles,  where she worked as a television actress and directed her award-winning short film Desert Snow; she was a documentary field producer for NBC and Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation, and Director of Development for FilmRoos, where she produced the series In Search of History.  She has been teaching and directing at Fort Lewis College, in Durango, Colorado for 15 years.  Some of her favorite FLC directing credits include Enrique’s Journey, A Doll’s House, You Can’t Take it with You, and Two Rooms.   She earned her BFA in Theatre at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied Viewpoints with Anne Bogart and performed in many of Bogart’s productions.  She received her MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute.  Felicia is the Artistic Director and Producer of Durango PlayFest, an annual summer festival of new play development.

Francesca Mintowt-Czyz is the current Theatre Instructor at Western Nebraska Community College and is trained in musical theatre, dance, and physical theatre performance. She has studied in the United States and the United Kingdom. She has toured internationally and is an award-winning voice over artist. She graduated from the MA Theatre Lab program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2016. She has both performed and directed in the US, UK, and across Europe and, prior to starting her position at WNCC in the fall, she produced an original physical theatre piece entitled ‘On This Eve’ and was featured in the 2019 season at the Utah Festival for Opera and Musical Theatre. She has taught at Salt Lake Community College, City Academy, and with the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, and led workshops in devising and physical theatre for students attending some of the most prestigious performing arts programs in the United Kingdom. Students from RADA, Rambert School of Contemporary Dance, Bristol Old Vic, National Centre for Circus Arts, Central School of Ballet and more.

Gail has been in the Denver area for 32 years as a Lighting Designer.  Gail have won while being Denver area five Best Lighting Design awards including two Henry Awards.  Gail is currently Lighting Design Instructor and Technical Director for The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at Red Rocks Community College.

Garrett Ayers has worked for over a decade as a professional director, acting coach, and memory expert, and has trained or collaborated with some of the world’s foremost theatre companies, including The Wooster Group, The Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski & Thomas Richards, SITI, and others. He is the founder of New York-based Project: Theatre, where from 2004-2006 he directed The Great American Desert, Language of Angels, Something I’ll Tell You Tuesday, and The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year. In addition to his work as a freelance director, Garrett is also a special assistant professor of Acting and Directing at Colorado State University. University directing credits include: Spring Awakening, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), The Glass Menagerie, and, in spring 2016, Reefer Madness (The Musical). He is the founder of The Actor’s Dream, an online memory training program for actors and theatre educators. His essays related to memory training have been featured in Howlround, American Theatre, and TCG Circle, and he has taught workshops at theatres across the country, including Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab, Denver Center Theatre Company, and the Utah Theatre Festival. Garrett also hosts a weekly podcast called Stage Directions, composed of interviews with theatre artists, educators, and thinkers. Currently, Garrett is developing a mobile app aimed at helping theatre directors take rehearsal notes more efficiently. He is an alumnus of the 2009 Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and was the Charles Evans Fellow (Directing) at the Tony Award-winning McCarter Theatre in Princeton, N.J. for their 2010-2011 Season. He lives in Fort Collins with his wife and three children. His degrees include a B.A. from Western Michigan University, and an M.F.A. from Naropa University.

Gavin Juckette is a teacher of the arts including singing, dancing, acting, play writing and musical improv. A recent transplant to Denver, CO, they use their BFA in Musical Theatre from Missouri State University and Master of Music in Voice and Production from Berklee College of Music (Valencia, Spain) to bring specialized curriculum to the classes they teach. On the performing side, Gavin has bounced around regional theatres playing roles like Peter Pan (Peter Pan), Will Bloom (Big Fish), Harold Bride (Titanic) and Jack (Into the Woods) as well as performing as Lead Vocalist for AIDA Cruise Lines based in Germany. Finally, Gavin spends the rest of their time writing and recording their own music and playing with their new corgi puppy Wall-E. .”Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Originally from Colorado, Gavin Mayer is an award winning professional theatre director and veteran teacher. Gavin is a resident director at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, a regional LORT B theatre, where he has directed the world premiere and regional premieres of numerous musicals.  Some of his directing credits include: I’ll be Home for Christmas(Henry Nomination for Best New Musical) The Mountaintop(Henry Nomination for Best Director of a Play), White Christmas(Henry Nomination for Best Director of a Musical), Disney’s Tarzan, She Loves Me, The Great Gatsby, A Christmas Carol the Musical, Curtains(Henry Nomination for Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical),Miracle on 34th Street andLegally Blonde(True West Award winner for Best Musical and nomination for Best Director of a Musical.)  Other professional credits include Baby Dance, 4000 Miles, Over the River and Through the Woods(Cherry Creek Theatre), Guys and Dolls: in Concert (Lone Tree Arts Center) and Forever Plaid (Post Playhouse). Other favorite directing experiences include Company, Pippin, Jesus Christ Superstar, Bus Stop, Sweeney Todd, Les Miserables, Urinetown, Run for Your Wife, West Side Storyand the high school world premiere of The Laramie Project. Gavin also served as the Founding Co-Artistic Director for the Historic Elitch Theatre New Works Festival at the 125-year-old Elitch Theatre.  Gavin currently serves as the Director of Musical Theatre at the University of Nevada in Reno.

Gene Flaharty, Makeup Artist/Instructor, has been doing professional makeup for TV, film, print and theater for over 35 years.  He enjoys teaching at a local college and doing makeup on celebrities like Martin Short, Dee Wallace Stone and David Ogden Stiers.  He has designed over 200 different theater productions.  He enjoys makeup education as he does lecture/demonstrations across the country in his full time position as Sales Manager/Makeup artist for Mehron Inc in New York.  He has been published with articles “Stretching Your Makeup”, “How Safe is Your Makeup” and has contributed to several articles relating to makeup application and safety.  He is hired to do makeup, wigs and costumes on regional and national tours

GeneFlaharty, Makeup Artist/Instructor, has been doing professional makeup for TV, Film, print, and theatre for over 40 years. He enjoys teaching at a local college and doing makeup on celebrities like Martin Short, Dee Wallace Stone and David Ogden Stiers. He has designed over 200 different theater productions. He enjoys makeup education as he does lecture/demonstrations across the country in his full time position as Education, Theatrical Retail Specialist/Makeup Artist for Mehron Inc in New York. He has designed haunted houses characters for theme parks across the country. Worked on nation and regional tours of Cats, Addams Family, Spamalot, Kinky Boots, Shrek. He has been published with articles “Stretching Your Makeup”, “How Safe is Your Makeup”< "How to Start Your First Makeup Kit".

Gillian McNally serves as Professor of Theatre Education at the University of Northern Colorado, where she teaches current and future theatre teachers. She serves as the producer for the yearly Theatre for Young Audiences production at UNC. Additionally, she serves as the Vice President of Professional Development for Theatre for Young Audiences/USA. Gillian is the recipient of the Alliance for Colorado Theatre’s 2011 Higher Education Theatre Educator of the Year Award.

Gillian currently serves as Professor of Theatre Education at the University of Northern Colorado where she teaches K-12 pre-service teachers, graduate level students, and produces TYA plays for the local community. She is the recipient of the Alliance for Colorado Theatre’s 2011 Higher Education Theatre Educator of the Year Award. Her writing has been published in Youth Theatre Journal, Stage of the Art, Incite/Insight, and Theatre for Young Audiences Today. She served on the executive committee for Theatre for Young Audiences/USA. 

GINA TOGNONI-CHIARELLO
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Since landing her first professional role in New York in 1995, Gina Tognoni has spent nearly three decades working as an actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
As a professional actress, Gina has been blessed to work in theater, film, and television, where she is best known for her roles on One Life to Live, Guiding Light, and The Young & the Restless. Gina’s performances have garnered five Daytime Emmy nominations and three wins, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series in 2017.
For the next decade, Gina traveled between Los Angeles and her home in Hoboken, New Jersey, splitting time between her professional career and her charitable interests. Along with her work on the Soaps, Gina earned television credits that include The Sopranos, Law & Order SVU, Fast Lane, This Time Around, and Phenomenon. In 2012, shooting wrapped on her second film, an Independent Spirit Award Nominee for Best First Feature titled In the Family.
In 2013, between her second stint on One Life to Live and her debut on The Young and the Restless, Gina undertook her most ambitious philanthropic endeavor to date – Sole9 Shoes. Growing up in a Catholic family, Gina was taught the power of faith, the joy of giving, and the value of a great pair of flats – her father having worked for forty years in the shoe business. With a bit of inspiration from her dad, Gina spent 2012 designing a line of shoes “as vibrant as the women who wear them.” In 2013, she launched her brand and christened it Sole9, a moniker meant to inspire confidence and echo the innate beauty that God pours into every woman.
In 2019, after six seasons on The Young and the Restless, Gina returned to Hoboken, where she immersed herself fully in working with young people as an assistant teacher to CCD students at St. Ann’s Parish. Before year’s end, Gina was organizing and facilitating advanced discussion groups for the parents of her CCD classes. Since then, she has worked alongside church leaders in teaching parents how to communicate on complex subjects such as anxiety, bullying, and the role of faith in the community.
When Covid hit in early 2020, and social distancing put a pause on person-to-person interactions, Gina opted to go digital for a mentoring project that would draw on her experience as an actress, Miss Teen USA contestant, advisor, and public speaker.
To test the virtual waters as a Public Engagement Advisor, Gina first trained her niece for a Declamation Contest on SpeechWire, for which she won second place. Expanding to a classroom setting was the next step, so Gina hosted a virtual actor’s workshop for her friend Kennedy Pugh and twenty advanced acting students at The Arts Academy at Pueblo County High School in Pueblo, Colorado.
Now that Covid restrictions are easing, Gina’s goal is to resume in-person work as a mentor and private instructor to groups or individuals preparing to engage in any public-facing forum where confidence and composure are critical to success.
“Acting and Philanthropy will always be a part of who I am and a means for me to share what I’ve been given. My goal moving forward is to assist and instruct not only young talent in the Performing Arts Community but anyone hoping to make an impact in situations where you are asked to communicate and shine without the veil of social media or digital profiles.”

Gordon Hensley is a professor at Appalachian State University and a Makeup Artist/Instructor for Mehron. He holds a BS in Teaching Theatre K-12, a MFA in Theatre, and has completed Dick Smith’s Makeup Course. He has been a makeup artist since the early 90s which includes teaching stage makeup at the university level and working as the head makeup/hair artist at a theme park for five years. Gordon has worked backstage on national Broadway tours of Hairspray, Spamalot, The Color Purple, Shrek The Musical, The Addams Family, Mamma Mia, Young Frankenstein, A Chorus Line, and more. He continues makeup consultant work, face painting, and regular hair/makeup collaboration with Broadway touring companies.

I have been actively involved in the industry of dance education for the past eight years. During this time, I have created recognized choreography for a variety of productions, recitals and competitions. I have also worked with many dancers and performers of different backgrounds and technicality levels, providing them with inspiration and guidance to help them reach their full potential.
My experience also includes teaching a variety of dance styles including ballet, beginner tap, acro, and musical theatre dance. My classes are both fun and educational and I strive to provide each student with a positive learning experience. I have also developed a reputation for developing innovative and creative choreography that has been well-received by my audiences.
In addition to my professional experience, I bring an enthusiasm for the art of dance and a commitment to excellence.

Heather Beasley is a playwright, director, and dramaturg. As Director of Education at Miners Alley Playhouse, she oversees the company’s education programs and writes and directs for the theatre-for-young-audiences production seasons. At Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado (BETC), she runs the BETC Writers Group, a collaborative of Colorado playwrights developing ten-minute, full-length, and TYA plays. She teaches in the Professional Creative Writing and Arts and Culture Management graduate programs at the University of Denver.

Her play THE GENTLE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF BURNING IT ALL DOWN TO THE GROUND has received readings at Benchmark Theatre in Denver (2022) and Valley Players in Napa Valley (2023). It is scheduled for a Salon Series reading at Angels Theatre Company in early 2024. Her play BONE RECORDS received a 2022 production at Relative Theatrics. Her TYA musical AMELIA’S BIG IDEA (co-writers: Richie Cannaday, Edie Carey) was produced on BETC’s Touring Theatre Truck in 2022. She has worked with Naropa University, CU’s Eklund Opera Program, Imagination Makers Theatre Company, Seattle Public Theatre, and the Nebraska and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals.

Heather earned her Master's of Education in Curriculum and Instruction and has taught students of all ages for 20+ years. As an improviser, she trained in Denver as well as The Groundlings Theater (LA) and has performed with multiple teams on various stages in Colorado and beyond. She loves to perform, teach, and coach improv and focuses on the joy of intention and creative discovery within the art form. 

She is a teaching artist with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a facilitator with the Global Play Brigade, a guest teaching artist at local schools, and an instructional coach for new teachers. Heather is a former Board Chair and member of the GroupMind Foundation, a nonprofit that produces the Denver Improv Festival.
 

Heidi Larson holds an M.F.A. in Scenic Design from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, a B.A. from Alma College (Mich.) in art & design and theatre, and is currently pursuing her M.B.A. at Colorado State University, to round out her education. Before joining the staff at CSU as their Charge Scenic Artist, Heidi served as the charge artist for the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Theatreworks Colorado Springs, Kalamazoo Civic Theater, SIUC (while completing her MFA), and Central Piedmont Community College. Heidi has also toured internationally with Feld Entertainment in the props department, as well as spending multiple summers with Glimmerglass Opera. In addition to running the paint shop at CSU, Heidi is also an instructor of theatre teaching classes in Scenic Painting, Intro to Theatre, and Drawing for Theatre.

Heidi is also an illustrator and graphic designer and continues to design freelance around the country for various theatres. Recent design credits include: Pinkalicious, Tilly the Trickster (Colo.), Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Vintage Vegas (Mich.), Waiting to be Invited (Tenn.), The Glass Menagerie, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Alchemy of Desire…, & Marriage of Figaro (Ill.).

Holly Haverkorn, Executive Director for Consent Center Stage, received her B.A. in Theatre with an emphasis in Directing from Lindenwood University before heading the theatre program at Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs for 16 years, where she was honored as a 2021 Colorado Teacher of the Year Finalist and the Colorado Thespian 2020 High School Educator of the Year. She is currently a Theatre Mentor for the Colorado Springs Conservatory, Educational Outreach Coordinator for Front Range Theatre and a member of the Advisory Board for Theatreworks of Colorado Springs. She is also a devoted wife and parent of two wonderful children; both blossoming performing artists themselves.

Broadway–The Prom, Newsies, Memphis
Film–The Prom, Newsies

Broadway – The Prom
Film – Disney’s Newsies, The Prom
National Tours- Newsies, Memphis

Broadway’s The Prom, Film The Prom, Newsies, National Tours- Newsies, Memphis
Dance caption of the Broadway Production and a Creative Team Member of the film version.

Jake Mendes Jake is a Lakewood native, and has spent time in New York as an actor, choreographer, and director. Since moving back to Colorado full-time, he has worked as Assistant Director and choreographer at Green Mountain High School and The Arvada Center, and has been an invited teaching artist for DCPA, The Arvada Center, and numerous high schools. Alongside his teaching, Jake is an award-winning actor. He was last seen at The Arvada Center in Bright Star. Other shows at The Arvada Center include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Chorus Line and I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Jake will also be a member of the Arvada Center’s 2019-2020 Black Box Repertory Company, with roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, and Small Mouth Sounds. DCPA: Corduroy, This Is Modern Art, The Aurora Fox: Hedwig and The Angry Inch (Henry Award Winner for Best Leading Actor), Off-Broadway: Bunnicula, Pinkalicious: The Musical. NY Theatre: Xanadu, A Man Of No Importance, The Little Dog Laughed, The Normal Heart, The Drowsy Chaperone. Regional Theatre/ Workshops: Flame Broiled, or The Ugly Play, The Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors, Spring Awakening, Assassins, RENT.

James Arthur Ray is considered one of the world’s foremost leadership and performance advisors, coaches and consultants.  

He began his career consulting with C-Level Executives at the AT&T School of Business.  It was here that he realized his purpose for helping others find their unique gifts, and then leveraging them to take their life and business to new levels.  

His extensive study of behavioral sciences, experience as an entrepreneur, and tireless quest for spiritual knowledge gives him a unique and powerful ability to address issues in both life and business from an integrated level; much deeper and more fulfilling than most can accomplish.

His company hit The Inc. 500 in 2009 as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States. James was featured in the film documentary “The Secret,” a ground-breaking feature-length film, and New York Times bestseller.  

James has been interviewed in numerous national media outlets including a full-feature article in Fortune Magazine, People Magazine, Larry King Live, Piers Morgan, the Today Show, CNN and Oprah.  

He is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Harmonic Wealth:  The Secret to Attracting the Life You Want which focuses on his principle of Going Three For Three: how to effectively bring your thoughts, feelings and actions into harmony with bold application. James states vision without bold action is a total waste of time.

James’ new book Redemption: The Price of Leadership in Both Life and Business is scheduled to be released in 2018.

In 2009, after rising to the top of the industry, James was involved in a terrible incident that claimed the lives of three of his clients who he cared about deeply.

True to his own teachings, James maintained an attitude of Absolute Responsibility coupled with resilience, mental toughness, and emotional strength to get back up and climb back up. 

James has been exposed to extensive studies of great philosophers, psychology, physics, spirituality, physiology and business, coupled with a never-ending in-depth self-analysis and self-awareness.   

As a result, he has defined a new approach to radically disrupt traditional thinking and present a fresh and dynamic approach to being successful in both life and business. 

In 2016 a CNN documentary film Enlighten Us a story on his life, debuted at Tribeca Film Festival as well as Mountain Films in Telluride, Colorado. The film is now being shown worldwide on Netflix.

He describes himself as a Catalyst to help you create action both at work and in life. Through James’ instruction, his clients learn how to powerfully lead both their life and business.

James has coached and consulted hundreds of thousands of people and companies, from 145 different countries around the world to master a more successful series of strategies and results in both their life and work.  

James’ personal and business experiences have caused him to be considered an expert in leadership, entrepreneurship, mental toughness, resilience and emotional strength. 

His experience proves time and time again…that it’s the challenges, adversity, and often crisis, that present the ultimate opportunity for growth and greatness if we’re only willing to utilize and leverage them in that way.

James Olm is Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, and the coordinator of the Musical Theatre program at Casper College in Casper, Wyoming. He has directed over seventy dramas and musicals, from professional theatre to high school. He is also a composer/playwright, having written four musicals, with one, The Magdalene, that opened Off-Broadway, with Richard Maltby, Jr. as overseeing director in 2011.

Janine earned her Communications and Theatre degree from CU Boulder and taught a total of 28 years at Wray High School and Boulder High School, respectively.  With 96 productions under her belt, she also managed to fit in time to extend her love of theatre education. Janine was an original board member for Colorado Thespians and served as State Director for six of the 18 years on the board.  She also expanded her leadership duties by serving as a Territorial Director for EdTa for three years and a Leadership Coach for six years.  She is an inductee of both the Colorado State Thespian Hall of Fame and th EdTA Hall of Fame.

Jared Januschka graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 2011, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance and in early 2012 began to produce and direct internet commercials. Within his first year of work, he'd helmed over 30 different ads and won international competitions. Some of his clients included Chevrolet, Coca Cola, Campbell's Soup and Caeser's Palace in Las Vegas. Over the next 2 years he created five short films (The Men of Santa Muerte, See How They Run, Cleveland's Cookie, The Sure Shot and Gostando Dela), while continuing to make commercials. He recently completed his first feature film, Shooting in Vain, that won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film at the Dances with Films festival located in Hollywood, California.

Jason is an assistant lecturer at the University of Wyoming specializing in Lighting, Sound, and Digital Media Design. Many projects in recent years have craved the use of digital media and projections for live presentations as well as camera based performance. Jason’s experience in the field of digital media and projections allowed for an expansion of creative work into the needed areas and gave him an additional platform to explore his art. Professional credits include designing for Smashmouth, BoysIIMen, and Candlebox as lighting director as well as a number of designer credits for theatre, opera, dance, and concert design.

Jason Jamerson is the Scenic Design Professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Professional credits include Assistant Designer for numerous Broadway productions and the national tours of Phantom, Bright Star, and Love Never Dies. He has worked as the Scenic Designer for dozens of Off-Broadway and Regional productions across the country, including Playwrights Horizons, The Atlantic, The Public, Cherry Lane Theatre, Texas Shakespeare Festival, The Papermill Theatre, Hartford Stage, 6th Street Playhouse, The Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre, Live Theatre Workshop, and Arizona Repertory Theatre, among others. You can view his work or contact him at www.jasonjamerson.com.

As an educator, Jason Lemire was recognized by the Colorado Thespian’s Association as a 2019 Drama Teacher of the year for his passionate, student-driven approach to the creative process.  As a playwright for school audiences, Jason has collaborated with his students to write and direct 30+ original productions, from vignettes and one-acts to full-length musicals.  He also specializes in writing plays for unified theatre programs and troupes exploring mental health and neurodiversity. As an educator, Jason runs workshops on playwriting, storytelling and acting across Colorado and across the country.  TIFE playscripts and workshops are designed to inspire laughter, gasps, sobs and cheers; equal parts challenging and accessible.  Most importantly, they are designed to inspire a love for theatre by encouraging student ownership of the characters themselves.  Jason is also proud to have served as a writer-in-residence with The Rutgers Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience under guidance of the late Dr. Clement Price, and mentorship of Dr. Julia Miller, former director of the Black Studies Center at Seton Hall University.  Their wisdom and example inspire him to craft inclusive works that frequently grapple with the subjects of justice, equity and belonging.

Jason runs the theatre program at LCCC in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He’s an actor and director, having earned his BFA at the University of Wyoming and his MFA at The University of Idaho.

Jason Watkins has been teaching Technical Theatre and Fine Arts courses at Niwot High School since 1997.  During this time, he has earned a Master’s Degree in Education, licensure in Administration and a CTE Stagecraft certification.  Jason is married to the best of wife’s and the best of women, Kim. Jason and Kim are the proud parents of their beautiful son, Daniel.

Jay Duckworth – Properties Master from The Public Theatre in New York City, will appear at Humboldt State University as a guest of the Department of Theatre, Film, & Dance. Jay will host a workshop at 1pm in Gist Hall Theatre on October 13, 2018 entitled “Blood, Guts & Props…a Tale as Old as Time” – warning: you may get a little messy! Seating is limited and preferential seating goes to current HSU students with a valid ID, followed by students from local area high schools and College of the Redwoods, then followed by interested community members. This is a unique treat for a master class by a master “proptologist” working on Broadway coming to our little corner of the world. Jay boasts over 20 years’ experience in LORT & Off-Broadways theatre, independent films, TV, music videos and over 65 off Broadway shows credit his name as a Props Master and Props Designer. The roll call of shows for which he has created original work, starts in Classic Greek Theater, re-imagined Shakespeare plays as well as being part of the artistic team that created musicals including Hamilton, Fun Home, Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson and the highly controversial Julius Caesar at Shakespeare in the Park 2017, at his decade residency at The Public Theater. As well as being a writer for Stage Directions Magazine, he teaches Properties and the Philosophy of Aesthetics at Pace University. He has been the Keynote Speaker for The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and the United States Institute of Theater Technology, curating USITT's very first Prop Lab in 2018.

Jeffrey Parker is a Certified Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork® and a Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®.  An actor, director, vocal coach, and educator of national renown, Jeffrey currently serves as a Professor of Theatre at MSU Denver, and a Teaching Artist at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.  He is the co-author of "Experiencing Speech". MFA – University of California, Irvine  BA – UCLA.

Jenna Moll Reyes is an Equity Actor, Teaching Artist, and An Aspiring Director, based in Denver.  Jenna was last seen performing the Denver Center Performing Arts’ production of Wild Party at the Stanley Hanger. You may also recognize her as Elma in Bus Stop (Arvada Center).  

Other Credits include: Jessica/ Jolene – Hand to God, Orangutan – Water by the Spoonful (Curious Theatre Company), Grandma in Sweet and Lucky (Denver Center of Performing Arts), Shakespeare in the Parking Lot (DCPA; Education), Serena – Legally Blonde the Musical, Dee Lee – Smokey Joe’s Café (Town Hall Arts Center), Amanda/Lily – 4000 Miles (Miners Alley Playhouse, *Westword’s “Best of Denver” for Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy), Elizabeth Cursa/Connie – Saturday Night Fever (Arvada Center), Tilly Evans – She Kills Monsters (Aurora Fox Theatre), Mimi Marquez – Rent (Ignite Theatre) and Nina Rosario – In The Heights (Vintage Theatre). She is also a proud former Colorado Thespian Student State Officer (2006-2008). Jenna Moll Reyes graduated high school from Denver School of the Arts, received her B.A. in Musical Theater from the University of Northern Colorado, and is currently being represented by Radical Artists Agency. Feel Free to go to jennamollreyes.com for more info on her and upcoming projects.

Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance from Barat College and the Barat Conservatory of Dance in Lake Forrest, IL. She has danced and taught throughout the Denver Metro area and has contributed to the Denver Arts community for over 18 years. Jennifer is a former Denver Broncos Cheerleader and her passion for the promotion of dance is demonstrated by her commitment to share her talent with youth. Jennifer also serves on the Board of Directors of Dance Arts Studio. She has choreographed over 15 shows for different colorado high schools, and currently instructs a movement class for people afflicted with parkinson disease. 

Jennifer McCray Rincón received her BA in Theatre Studies from Yale University and an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama. She was recipient of an NEA Directing Fellowship at Playwright’s Horizons in NYC and a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in Bogota, Colombia. After many years in New York, Ms. Rincón came to Denver as the Head of Acting at the National Theatre Conservatory, where she remained from 1991 through 2008. At the DCPA Ms. Rincón taught acting in the 3-year MFA Acting program and directed over 100 productions including Equus, Othello, The Laramie Project, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The 365 Project, Monte Carlo, and Expedition 6 by Bill Pullman. Locally, Ms. Rincon has directed for El Centro Su Teatro, Shadow Theatre, The Historic Old Elitches Theatre, and was Founding Artistic Director of the Lizard Head Theatre Company in Telluride.

Since founding Visionbox Studio in 2010 Jennifer McCray Rincon has taught acting to Denver student and professional actors in five week sequences culminating in  performances at The University Club of Denver. She has also developed and directed a number of workshops and productions for Visionbox including: The Wild Hunt by Bill Pullman, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley, Lydie Breeze by John Guare, After the Fall by Arthur Miller, 2xTENN by Tennessee Williams, A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas with William Youmans, The Othello Project, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello and My Two Sisters, an adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters.

Jennifer McCray Rincón (Co-Artistic Director & Master Acting Teacher) received her BA in Theatre Studies from Yale University and an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama. She was recipient of an NEA Directing Fellowship at Playwright’s Horizons in NYC and a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in Bogota, Colombia. After many years in New York, Ms. Rincón came to Denver as the Head of Acting at the National Theatre Conservatory, where she remained from 1991 through 2008. At the DCPA Ms. Rincón taught acting in the 3-year MFA Acting program and directed over 100 productions including Equus, Othello, The Laramie Project, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The 365 Project, Monte Carlo, and Expedition 6 by Bill Pullman. Locally, Ms. Rincon has directed for El Centro Su Teatro, Shadow Theatre, The Historic Old Elitches Theatre, and was Founding Artistic Director of the Lizard Head Theatre Company in Telluride. Since founding Visionbox Studio in 2010 Jennifer McCray Rincon has taught acting to Denver student and professional actors in five week sequences culminating in performances. She has also developed and directed a number of workshops and productions for Visionbox including: The Wild Hunt by Bill Pullman, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley, Lydie Breeze by John Guare, After the Fall by Arthur Miller, 2xTENN by Tennessee Williams, A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas with William Youmans, The Othello Project, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello and My Two Sisters, an adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters.

Jenny Stafford is a bookwriter, lyricist, and playwright.  Her lyrics have been heard on Broadway (Cirque du Soliel’s Paramour, Original Broadway Cast Album available), and she holds an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.  Her works include The Artist and the Scientist (with Brandon Anderson, produced Off-Off-Broadway at CAP21), Prodigy (workshop productions through Collaborative Development Project, Two Rivers Theatre Company, and Indiana University), To Have and to Hold (produced by Prospect Theatre Company and Barrington Stage), Cinderella (commissioned and produced by the Spotlight Youth Theatre), Two Bugs are Better Than One (commissioned and produced Off-Broadway by the New York City Children’s Theatre, all with Willem Oosthuysen), The Star Child (with Sarah Underwood and Josh Freilich, produced at French Woods), Awakening (with Joel B. New and J. Oconer Navarro) and Beating a Dead Horse (winner of the 2017 Reva Shiner Comedy Award, produced at the Bloomington Playwrights Project).  Her work has been featured at the Lincoln Center Songbook Series (The Lyrics of Jennifer Stafford), Prospect Theatre Company, The National Alliance for Musical Theatre Songwriter Salon, the New York Musical Theatre Festival, 54 Below, Ars Nova, Joe’s Pub, and numerous other NYC venues, including multiple inclusions in William Finn’s Ridiculously Talented concert series. Awards include the Reva Shiner Comedy Award, finalist status for the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill Musical Theatre Conference, and the Ronald M. Ruble New Play Competition, as well as second prize in the McLean Drama Company Playwriting Competition, and the Paulette Goddard Award.  She’s been an Artist in Residence at Goodspeed Musicals, CAP 21, the Village Theatre, the Ross Ragland Theatre and the Berkshire Playwrights Theatre.  Dramatists Guild member.

Jenny is also a prolific teaching artist, teaching with the Metropolitan Opera Guild (where she was awarded the title of “Master Teaching Artist”), the New York City Children’s Theatre, Trinity Music NYC, and Colorado Christian University.  She has been a guest lecturer at New York University, Baruch College, Indiana University, and Santa Clara University.

Jeremy Kent Jackson, originally from Colorado, graduated with a BFA in Acting from the University of Oklahoma School of Drama and completed a six level improvisation program at Minneapolis’ Dudley Riggs’ Brave New Workshop where he then performed as an improviser in over one hundred shows. He has also performed professionally in over sixty plays in six states and has Guest Starred and Recurred on Network Television Shows including ER, CSI, Las Vegas, CSI:Miami, American Dreams, Happy Family,Drake and Josh, Without a Trace, and Friends With Benefits. For three seasons he regularly recurred as Douglas Davenport on Disney XD’s Lab Rats and continued the character for another year in the spinoff series, Lab Rats: Elite Force. In addition to his stage and television credits, Jackson has been seen in nearly fifty national commercials including major campaigns for Pizza Hutand Burger King, served a two year term as Best Buy’s in-house spokesperson, performed in several feature films including one with master-director, David Lynch, and lent his voice to dozens of video games, most notably as the lead character, Joker, in the motion capture project Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Alongside his career as a professional actor, Mr. Jackson has made a consistent commitment to the classroom. He has taught acting, improvisation, voice & speech, stage-combat, stage-movement, playwriting, audition technique, and acting for the camera for arts organizations in Oklahoma, Ohio, Minnesota, and California. Additionally, Mr. Jackson has helped to develop theatre education curriculum for Silva’s Fine Arts, The Columbus Junior Theatre, Homeward Bound Theatre, Stages Theatre, and The Glendale Center Theatre. In 2006 Mr. Jackson co-founded DiscoveryOnstage, an arts education consulting company now in long-term residency at Providence High School in Burbank. He continues to serve as DiscoveryOnstage’s Co-Creator/Creative Director helping to create, develop, promote, and maintain unique arts education programming on behalf of schools, business, and communities area wide.

JEREMY KENT JACKSON • PROGRAM CHAIR, ACTING FOR FILM + TELEVISION | STUDIO SCHOOL LOS ANGELES
Jeremy Kent Jackson is an accomplished actor, educator, and entrepreneur. He has acted in over sixty plays, dozens of commercials, voiceovers, and films and numerous television shows including YOU, CSI, Without a Trace, and Drake and Josh. Most notably, he recurred for four years as Douglas Davenport on the Disney XD live action series, Lab Rats and played a lead role in the motion capture project, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. In 2006 he founded the theatre education company DiscoveryOnstage where he continues to serve as Co-Creator/Creative Director. He completed a six-level improvisation program at Minneapolis’ Brave New Workshop and holds his BFA in Acting from The University of Oklahoma. Jackson has been teaching and coaching actors of all ages for more than 25 years.

Teacher, IT.

Jesse Manno is Music Director of the University of Colorado, Boulder Dance Program, He began his association there playing live music for Dance Classes at age 17. He is also a frequent accompanist/composer in residence with The Bates Dance Festival, ACDA conferences, and the Florida Dance Festival. He has composed over 200 dance/theatre scores from Off-Broadway to abroad for Lazer Vaudeville, David Dorfman, David Taylor, Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, Turning The Wheel, Inc. and many others.

Jessica Austgen is a Denver-based actor, playwright and improviser, and is currently serving as the Artistic Director of the Denver Improv Festival. As an actor, she was recently seen as Fanny Dashwood/Lucy Steele in Sense and Sensiblity at the Arvada Center (Henry Award nominee, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play), where she’s appeared in Tartuffe, All My Sons, The Crucible, and The Women. Other favorite roles include Hannah in Arcadia, Elbow in Measure for Measure, Frank Goodman/Mr. Asa in the Catamount’s production of Men on Boats, Julie in Miss Julie, Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest. Jessica has been seen at the Aurora Fox in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, I Hate Hamlet, The Last Train to Nibroc and as Jaycee Triplethree in Comic Potential (Westword’s Best of Denver Award) and in the upcoming Second City’s Twist Your Dickens. Jessica performs with ComedySportz Denver and co-hosts the comedy/literature podcast Required Readcast. Her duo, BAUS, has been featured at the Denver, Detroit and Omaha Improv Festivals. Jessica teaches currently improv at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and at Voodoo Comedy, and has been a guest instructor at the University of Denver, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the GroupMind Foundation and Camp Improv Utopia. BFA: University of Colorado at Boulder; MA: University of Denver.

Jodi Youmans-Jones is the Coordinator of the Dance Program and Resident Choreographer for Casper College Department of Theatre and Dance. She graduated from the University of Wyoming with her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Dance, and from the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana with her Master in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Performance and  Choreography. She has performed, choreographed and taught Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Musical Theatre and African. She was a member of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and did many freelance performances with additional companies. Her choreographic credits include theatre productions such as The Tempest, and musical theatre productions such as Oklahoma, Chicago, Peter Pan, West Side Story, Singin' in the Rain, Footloose, Legally Blonde, How To Succeed, Mary Poppins, Mama Mia and most recently The Drowsy Chaperone. She has also directed, choreographed and written many original contemporary ballets such as Social Motion, Grapes of Wrath, Charlotte's Web, Carmina Burana, African Sanctus, and A Merry Mixed Up Christmas and circlesWEshare involving ZFX and silks. Jodi has been awarded the Judith Bailey Scully Award for Teaching Excellence, Who's Who in Collegiate Teaching, and has been awarded for the Rosenthal Teaching Excellence Award 2018 at Casper College. Jodi also serves as the institutional coordinator for the National Association of Schools of Dance, which granted national accreditation to Casper College in Dance in 2013 under her guidance.

B.A. Theater Colorado College
Colorado College London Institute: Theater & Art History
M.F.A. California College of the Arts Film/Video/Performance

Theater Director and Acting Teacher for the past 16 years at Trinidad State College

JONATHAN SPENCER (Lighting Designer) Lighting and Scenic designer working principally for Broadway, Touring, Regional, and Off-Broadway productions. Having collaborated on over 130 productions and counting, lighting designs include the recent world premier Mr. Hollands Opus at Ogunquit Playhouse. And RENT 20th – 25th Anniversary National Tours which ran for over 1200 performances, The Priscilla Queen of the Desert First National Tour, Off-Broadway: Who’s Holiday (West Side Theatre), Carrie Mae Weems Grace Notes: Reflections for Now (John F Kennedy Center, Yale Repertory, and Spoleto Festival USA) and You Are Mine Own Directed by Atom Egoyan (Spoleto Festival USA). Jonathan teaches lighting design at the University of Colorado Boulder and for the Southern Oregon University Masters of Theater Studies program. Member USA 829. www.JSpencerDesign.com

Jon Young is a Full Professor of Scenic Design at the University of Oklahoma and a member of USA 829. Mr. Young was a recipient of the 2016 Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts from the University of Oklahoma and 2015 recipient of the Gold Medallion from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. He has designed professionally for A.D. Players, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Stages Repertory Theatre, Creede Repertory Theatre, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Black Hills Playhouse, Unicorn Theatre Late Night Theatre and Coterie Theatre. Mr. Young has designed over 35 productions at the University of Oklahoma for Dance, Drama, Opera and Musical Theatre. His design for Stupid F##king Bird at Stages Repertory Theatre was published in the Summer 2016 issue TD & T. Designs for Sunday in the Park with George and The Odyssey were published in the Summer 2012 issue TD & T. His scenic design for After Juliet was invited to be a part of the World Stage Design 2009 exhibit in Seoul Korea. You can follow his work on his work on the following social media sites: https://www.youngscenicstudio.com and @youngscenicstudio.

Shauna Marble and Joe DeMers are champion Swing Dance instructors from Denver, CO. They’ve toured the world teaching, performing, and choreographing dance, including the International Thespian Festival, Colorado ThesCon, Indian ThesCon, and more. Their classes are some of the most popular workshops around! They’ve choreographed for and performed in many theater productions, including SWING! the Musical, In the Heights, and Hairspray. Shauna is the Artistic Director of Prairie Playhouse in Brighton, CO. Joe is the 2015 National Dance Teacher of the Year. They’re known for their professionalism, humor, playfulness, approachability, and ability to teach all levels of dancers.

Reach them at http://www.ShaunaAndJoe.com, ShaunaJoeDance@gmail.com, or (303) 931-1246.

Josh is a member of the acting faculty at the University of Northern Colorado. An Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®,  Josh is also a certified instructor of the Michael Chekhov Technique, and earned recent certification with the Tectonic Theatre Project in their unique approach to devising and theatre-making: Moments Work. As an actor and director, Josh has worked in a variety of educational, professional, and regional venues including with theater luminaries such as Olympia Dukakis and Mark Medoff, and with such notables as New York Times Best Selling Author, Rebecca Goldstein and International film actress and author Emmanuelle Chaulet, who directed Josh in the World Premiere of "Rest Stop" in Portland, Maine. Recent Directing credits include critically acclaimed productions of the musical "Mr. Popper’s Penguins" for Virginia Rep’, Eugene O'Neill's American classic "Desire Under the Elms" at the Firehouse Theater (Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Best Director Nomination), the Chicago Premiere of "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers" at the Athenaeum Theater, the Virginia Premiere of "Lord of the Flies" for the Henley Street Theatre Company. Josh is a member of the Stage Director and Choreographers Society, The Michael Chekhov Association, and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab where he led an experimental staging of the Costa Rican folk tale "La Segua."

Julie is a Professor of Theatre Arts at Nebraska Wesleyan University, where she teaches Musical Theatre, Acting for the Camera, Voice Over, Voice and Movement, and Film Studies courses.  She received her MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and has been a working actor for more than 20 years, in musicals, voice overs, commercials and film. 

JUSTIN WALVOORD is a Teaching Artist & Education Program Coordinator, Teacher Professional Development with the Denver Center for The Performing Arts Education Team. He has worked as a professional actor coast to coast in theatre, television, film, commercials, voice over work and as atmosphere talent. Over the last 35 years Justin has performed with various companies including: DCPA Theatre Company, Curious Theatre, Boulder Ensemble Theatre, Aurora Fox, TheatreWorks (Colorado Springs), Frequent Flyers, Queens Theatre in the Park, Algonquin Theatre, Magic Theatre, Kennedy Center, Baltimore Theater Project, Vermont Stage Company, South Coast Repertory, Smithsonian Institute- Discovery Theatre, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, and Disneyland Resort-CA and more. Television/Film credits: “Law and Order: CI” and Looking for Sunday. Recent directing credits include: Technical Difficulties (HS Playwriting Finalist DCPA Education) Judevine, The Man of Mode (Denver School of the Arts) He has taught acting, improvisation, movement and physical comedy at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Education Department, the Professional Performing Arts School (NYC) as well as Denver School of the Arts. He received his BA from California State University, Fullerton and his MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory.

Kaghen Miller has worked in regional equity theatres in stage management and as an actor. He also has a speech and theatre education background and has been an Assistant Speech Coach of the Year for Michigan. Kaghen is currently the Product Specialist for Ludus.

I am a professional photographer in Highlands Ranch CO, originally from the Philadelphia area. I have my undergraduate degree in Theatre from Temple University and my masters from the University of Missouri – Kansas City, in Theatre Performance and Directing. I am a mentor to high school and middle school students as well. I have been a photographer since 2001, but officially opened my own business, Kate Schwindt Photography (KSP) in 2012.

A good bit of my time is spent donating my photography services for the high schools, and through my interactions with the teachers and students, I began writing this class in order to provide information, tools and resources and hope to the high school students who want to continue performing after high school. I can’t wait to help you Be Seen & Market You!

Kathy Morath is a Broadway actor, director and educator, specializing in Musical Theatre Performance and Musical Theatre History.  She is currently a faculty member at AMDA in New York City.  A 25-year veteran of Broadway, off-Broadway and Regional Theatre, Ms. Morath has also directed for the stage and served as Dialogue Coach for PBS-TV’s Peaboy Award winning series, WISHBONE.  Ms. Morath also teaches American Musical Theatre abroad, through her company Sing Smart Act Smart, most recently in Los Cabos, Mexico and Buenos Aires, Argentina.  A former Peer Reviewer for The National Endowment for the Arts and member of the ASCAP/BMI Workshop and The Dramatist’s Guild, Ms. Morath is a Colorado native and Brown University Graduate

Katie Drinkard (she/her) is an actor and poet calling Denver home again after a mountain-less decade attending college and living in New York City. Her regional theatre credits have taken her to stages across the country, but she has always been apt to return home to Colorado for tenures at the Denver Center, where she first became a member of the Actor’s Equity Association in 2014. Her time in New York City led to her involvement and collaboration in the development of several new works, including the musical Far From Canterbury and the world premiere production of Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz. Denver highlights include appearing in the immersive staging of John Michael LaChiusa’s The Wild Party, a 360-degree theatre experience held at Stanley Marketplace. Katie holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Ithaca College. As a seasoned interpreter of the creative works of others, she pilots her experience as a truth teller on the stage to her own page as a poet and generative artist. Katie recently developed her first book of poems as a member of the Poetry Collective cohort at Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop. An alum of ThunderRidge High School, Katie’s superior scores in her Individual Events led to performing in the closing ceremonies of the Colorado State Thespian Convention on three different occasions. She was named one of two College Scholarship Award recipients at the 2009 Convention.

At the age of 28 years old, Kayleigh Schadwinkel is a successful multi-branch dance entrepreneur and award-winning professional traveling choreographer with over 25 years of dance training and 13 years of choreography experience. Kayleigh is the founder and owner of POYDS Dance Company also known as Put On Your Dancing Shoes, and a professional traveling choreography business, Kayleigh Schadwinkel Dance & Choreography also known as KASH Dance & Choreography.

In just five years of establishing her own businesses, Kayleigh has choreographed over 325+ dances and 25+ musicals across the Midwest portion of the US including her choreographed work being featured in the:
– Harlem Globetrotters World Tour Event – Halftime Performance in Lincoln, NE
– A music video in Chicago, IL
– Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) Invited Scene Showcase – “Mermaid Outta Of Me” of “Peter & The Starcatcher” performed by Doane University in Des Moines, Iowa

As a young innovative dance entrepreneur at the age of 27 years old, her studio, POYDS Dance Company, was the first studio in the state of Nebraska to have a LIVE virtual dance program established prior to COVID-19 in 2019. During the height of COVID, Kayleigh connected more than 23,000 individuals of all ages and dance backgrounds in 17 states in the US and 44 countries worldwide to put on their dancing shoes in her weekly online community dance classes. During the pandemic, Kayleigh has successfully expanded her business to now currently own our branches of her dance company located in two states of Nebraska and Colorado along with her full-service Online Dance Studio. She is excited to begin franchising her dance company within the new two years!

However, Kayleigh is most proud and humbled to have the opportunity each and every day to put on her dancing shoes with individuals of all ages, dance backgrounds, and skill levels to enjoy the wonderful art of dance. Kayleigh’s enthusiasm for life and dance radiants through her work and she is excited to share some of her secrets to success on how you can maximize your talents and potential to take charge of your life and health to live the life you have always imagined! Kayleigh currently resides in Highlands Ranch, Colorado with her husband, Zach Hickman, and their cat, Kitty Poppins. In her free time, Kayleigh loves to watch Disney movies and historical documentaries with her husband, travel, explore nature and relax on her deck by reading a devotional or business book.

By the age of 29, Kayleigh Schadwinkel-Hickman also known as KASH, is a successful multi-branch dance entrepreneur and award-winning professional traveling choreographer and dancer with over 26 years of dance training and 14 years of choreography experience. Kayleigh is the founder and owner of POYDS Dance Company and KASH Dance & Choreography. 

Some of Kayleigh’s past dance and fitness training opportunities include working virtually with some of the world's most elite choreographers, dancers and dance instructions in the CLI Studio Dancer in Professional Virtual Mentorship Program based in Los Angeles, California including training from Mandy Moore, tWitch, Teddy Forance, Marquette Derricks, Allison Holker and more! Kayleigh was trained by a NYC Radio City Rockette, Tiffany Tabor-Mackrill growing up in her hometown studio in Scottsbluff, Nebraska! 

Kayleigh made her choreographic Broadway debut in the NYC Believe / Arts For Autism Broadway Benefit Concert in June 2022 and returned her choreographic work to the Broadway stage in the 2023 Arts for Autism Benefit Concert with the first ever dual state Colorado and Nebraska triple threat performance troupes. The NYC Executive Producers have already invited her back to rejoin the Broadway concert and experience again in June 2024. 

Kayleigh’s POYDS Dance Company was the first studio in the state of Nebraska to have a LIVE virtual dance program established in 2019 prior to COVID-19. During the height of COVID, Kayleigh connected more than 23,000 individuals of all ages and dance backgrounds in 17 states in the US and 44 countries worldwide to put on their dancing shoes in her weekly online community dance classes.

In just seven years of establishing her own businesses, Kayleigh is proud to share that her company went national in 2022. Within this timeframe, Kayleigh has choreographed over 550+ dances, 15+ show choir sets and 60+ musicals with over 65+ schools, theaters and organizations across the US. 

Her choreographic work has been featured in the following ways: 

• Harlem Globetrotters World Tour Event – Halftime Performance – Lincoln, NE

• Original Music Video – Chicago, IL 

• Virtual Kids POMS Dance Team Program – San Diego, California

• Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival – Invited Scene Showcase – Des Moines, Iowa

  • Original Choreographic work of “Mermaid Outta Of Me” from Peter & The Starcatcher performed by Doane University Theater Department

• Two Time Award Winner of “Top 10 Best Musicals in the State of Nebraska AND Top Ensemble in the State” for Choreographic Work with Lincoln Southeast High School Selected By Nebraska High School Theater Academy and Omaha Performing Arts High School Awards – Omaha, Nebraska 

• Two Time Invited Scene Showcase at Nebraska High School Theater Academy Awards at Nebraska Orpheum Theater – Omaha, Nebraska 

• “Must See Community Theater Production In Local Area” – 2019 Be More Chill Lincoln Community Playhouse Production – Lincoln, Nebraska  

• Two Time Award Winner of the Doane College Omicron Delta Kappa Creative and Performing Arts Outstanding & Emerging Leader Award in the Arts

• Annual Musical Theater Dance Workshop Instructor for Colorado Thespian Festival – Denver, Colorado 

• Three Time Guest Featured Choreographer for STEAM! Children’s Theater Project – Aurora, Colorado 

• Tenure Guest Dance Educator for Doane University’s Future Educators & Health Care Professionals Rhythmic Dance Class – Crete, Nebraska 

• Two Time Top Choreographic Awards & Honors with Crete High School Show Choir

  • Best Closer AND Best Overall Choreography CBOBC Spooktacular Show Choir Festival – Council Bluffs, Iowa 

  • Top Swing Choir Choreography Award – Peru State Annual Show Choir Festival – Peru, Nebraska

• Two Time Top Gold Honors for Choreographic Work with Gering High School Harmony Show Choir 

  • Two Time Winner of 4A Best of the Fest – Scottsbluff Show Choir – Scottsbluff, Nebraska 

  • Two Time Nebraska Choral Directors Association (NCDA) Show Choir Competition Champions – Imperial, Nebraska

• 2017 Doane University Theater Department – Mentor of the Year

• Creation of the 1st Hybrid After School Dance Program & Choreography Program in the state of Nebraska 

Kayleigh currently operates three branches located in two states, Nebraska and Colorado, along with her full-service Online Dance Studio. Kayleigh is most proud and humbled to have the opportunity every day to put on her dancing shoes alongside individuals of all ages, dance backgrounds, and skill levels to enjoy the wonderful art of dance.

A native of Fort Worth – TX, Keith has worked as a professional actor, singer, and dancer with many regional theaters. He has had the pleasure of working several veterans of Broadway and the West End. Keith is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and is honored to go back to his roots with Thespians! Keith has worked regionally all over the USA and can be heard on the full cast recording of The Golden Apple as Ajax – PS Classics, available on Spotify & iTunes.

Kerri-Noelle currently serves as the Director of Programming for the Alabama Dance Council. She also works as a Teaching Artist for the Greater Birmingham and North Alabama Arts Education Collaboratives. She is a 2022 Arts Educator Fellowship Recipient from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and was voted 2019-2020 Academy for Academics and Arts Middle School Teacher of the Year. She is the founder of Dance Your Voice and Dance Africa festivals, free community outreach dance workshops that celebrate diversity through dance. Her current research, Dancing the Diaspora: Discovering the Influence of Traditional and Tribal African Dance in the History of African-American Social and Concert Dance in the Caribbean and the United States was featured on Dancemagazine.com and DanceTeacher.com. She has been a guest artist at the Alabama Educational Theatre Association Jr. Festival and a presenter at the National Dance Education Organization’s annual conference. She holds an Alabama Professional Educator Certificate in Dance (P-12). Her academic achievements include a BS, Mathematics from Howard University, an MBA from Barry University, and an MA, Dance Education from the University of Northern Colorado.

Kerry Cripe is currently a faculty Technical Director and Lighting Designer at the University of Colorado Boulder. His professional credits extend over twenty years and include Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, The New Harmony Theatre, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company and The Central City Opera.

Kevin Inouye teaches acting, movement, and stage combat at the University of Wyoming. He is a Certified Teacher with the National Michael Chekhov Association, Certified Teacher/Theatrical Firearms Instructor/Rocky Mountain Regional Rep for the Society of American Fight Directors, and a CO Local SAG-AFTRA member and elected delegate. He hosts the UWYO Stage Combat Workshop every year, has published journal articles, a chapter, and a full book, and is a freelance Actor, Fight Choreographer, Armorer, and more.

Kevin Rich is Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Kevin’s focus as a professional actor and director is on the intersection of Shakespeare and new work. He was Artistic Director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival for five years, where he recently commissioned and directed the world premiere of I Heart Juliet, a Hip Hop adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by the Q Brothers Collective. He is a member of Actors Equity & SAG-AFTRA and holds an MFA in Acting from Yale School of Drama.

Kevin Wolfgang is a professional Lighting and Costume Designer. He is currently the Master Electrician and guest Lighting Designer for the University of Northern Colorado. Previously, Kevin managed the TechStyleLAB, a digital fabrication maker space, for Kent State University. His research includes maker communities, entrepreneurship and digital reproduction methods for historical textiles. He has produced the Fashion/Tech Hackathon, the Stage Technology Hackathon and the Kent State Maker Faire.

Kiera Sweeney is a choreographer, director, and theatre educator. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Education with a minor in Dance from the University of Northern Colorado. Kiera has choreographed productions for high schools in the Denver Metro Area and is also been the resident artistic choreographer for Front Range Theatre Company for the last ten years. Kiera loves nothing more than sharing her love and passion for the performing arts with others and it has been her absolute pleasure to help countless young people do the same.

Kris Johnson has spent the major portion of her life recreating historical costume with an anachronistic twist as well the comic book characters that captivated her. She has been a part of the cosplay community for nearly 20 years, and currently spends her holidays as a member of a small story telling troupe sharing the adventures of the Nordic gods and heroes. 

Kristina attended and graduated from Emily Griffith Technical College for Professional Sewing and Fashion Design before moving on Red Rocks Community College where she received her AAS is Theatre Technologies before joining their staff as an instructor. 

As the Resident Costume Designer and Instructor for Red Rocks Community College she shares her passion for textiles, sewing, millinery, and design with her students.

Kyle Thomas is the Assistant Director of Performing Arts at Midland University in Fremont, NE. Before moving to Nebraska, Kyle worked as a professional director, music director, and choreographer in Minneapolis for organizations such as Tyrol Hills Music, Young Artists Initiative, Artistry MN, and Freshwater Theatre. A Kansas City native, Kyle has also worked with MTKC, Starlight Theatre, and Chesnut Fine Arts. He holds an M.Ed in Secondary Education and a B.F.A. in Theatre Direction.

Lance Marsh, Head of Performance & Professor of Acting in OCU’s School of Theatre, is an accomplished director and member of Actor’s Equity Association. He holds an MFA in Acting from UW-Madison and teaches many acting courses, including Chekhov, Shakespeare, Greek Tragedy and Audition Workshop. Acting credits include work at: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Festival, Next Act Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Arizona Repertory Theatre, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, and more. He was a founding company member of Central Works Theatre Ensemble and the founding Artistic Director of Summerset Theatre in Wisconsin. Currently he serves as Associate Artistic Director for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. He directed a finalist production nominated to go to the Kennedy Center in the American College Theatre Festival and has directed and adapted shows for OCU and co-productions with Oklahoma City Rep and OK Shakespeare.

This is Ardella Hawks, Landans mom.
Landan is 15 years old and is a nineth grader at PHS. There was no theater or drama offered in the middle school he was in. He has tried nearly every sport but since starting High school and being involved in the after school Theater Club, he has never been so passionate in anything as much as theater. He is currently in PHS theater club and is the school only Mascot, which already makes everyone laugh with his actions. He is new at theater and he so desires anything theater related.
He really needs this experience of being part of this theater association.
Hope you consider him.
Thank you SO much!
Ardella Hawks

Landin Melendez is a performer, director, playwright, historian, and activist from the Denver Metro area. She received BA in Theatre, Film, and Television from the University of Colorado Denver concurrent with a BA in History. Landin holds an MFA in Theatre: Contemporary Performance from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Her original play Protectors was presented at the Molly Mook New Plays Festival in Silverton, Colorado in 2018 and Protectors was presented on Auraria campus in the spring of 2019. Landin had taught Acting, Theatre Appreciation, and Production at the Community College of Denver since Fall 2019. She directed the two casts of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical by Rob Rokicki and Joe Tracz at Factory Five Five in spring of 2022 as well as the CCD Performing Arts Departments’ production of Twelve Ophelias by Caridad Svich.

I do things. Stuff happens. Sometimes the things I do make the stuff occur. 

Lara Maerz has been a professional stage and production manager for over 20 years. Lara serves as the current production coordinator and is an associate professor in the department of theatre and dance at CU Boulder. In Colorado, Lara has worked with The Catamounts, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Curious Theatre, The Edge Theatre and many more. Regionally, Ms. Maerz has worked at Steppenwolf in Chicago as well as several regional theatres around the country. Lara was the stage manager for the Off Broadway musical Sessions for over 800 performances in NYC.

Lauren (she/her) hails from Clarksville, TN and earned an MFA in Arts Administration from Texas Tech University. She is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Phamaly Theatre Company, the foremost disability-affirmative nonprofit theatre in the country. She has had a passion for accessibility in the arts for many years, spending the past three years volunteering in-person and virtually for A.B.L.E. Ensemble, a Chicago-based theatre for, with, and by individuals with developmental disabilities. Lauren is also an Adjunct Professor in Arts and Culture Management at The University of Denver, and a newly published playwright. Previously, she had the privilege of working at Wonderbound Ballet, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center among others.

Lauren Sagendorph is a performer, educator, and yoga instructor in Boulder, CO. Lauren received her BA in Theatre and Drama from Indiana University in 2016, and is currently an MFA Candidate in Contemporary Performance at Naropa University. She is passionate about movement and believes that movement and presence are the key to a good performance. In her many years of theatre training, Lauren noticed that the yoga and theatre communities seemed to run parallel to one another but hardly merged in either circle. She received her yoga teaching training (RYT 200Hr) in 2017 from Breathe for Change to help bridge this gap. Since then, she has done extensive research on this field, developing her MFA Thesis on Yoga and Theatre integration, and has taught yoga combined with theatre techniques which encourages creative youth to be successful, aware, curious, and grounded.

Laurilea McDaniel is the new Visual and Performing Arts Facilitator for District 11. This is her 16th year in education and she has taught all levels from kindergarten to college. She holds undergraduate degrees in Theatre, Journalism and Education, and a master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction for Secondary Theatre Education from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. She is also a Freddie G. Fellow, Class of 2017.

She passionately believes in the power of the arts and how transformative they can be. Everyone has a story worthy of being heard. Arts programs encourage confidence and give students a voice to tell their story!

Originally from Denver Colorado, Leah started acting, moving, and creating as soon as she could walk. In the last decade she has had the opportunity to cultivate her artistic craft at Denver School of the Arts, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, The School at Steppenwolf, Denver Center of Performing Arts, and The University of Colorado.

7 years ago she began to investigate aerial arts, first with pole and most recently with low dance and static trapeze. While living in Los Angeles she had the great pleasure of training, teaching, and performing various apparatus at The Choreography House under the instruction of Kelly Yvonne. Her current passion is integrating the worlds of movement, theatre, and aerial arts.

Her favorite author is J.K Rowling, her favorite food is sushi, and her primary passion is storytelling.

Leslie K. Williams is the President of Colorado Dance Education Organization and the Director of Dance at Liberty High School in Colorado Springs. Leslie’s involvement in performing arts education includes public school instructor; private studio teacher; musical theater, show choir and color guard choreographer; stage manager and technical director. In 2010 she was awarded the Distinguished Service within the Profession award from the Alliance for Colorado Theatre for her work in public education musical theatre; in 2017 she was part of the Thomas S. Crawford Team of the Year for Academy District 20. Leslie has presented at the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) Conference and has twice been a member of the Standards Review Committee for Dance in Colorado. In 2023 she was recognized as the Outstanding Dance Educator (PK-12 Established) by NDEO. She has a BA in Theater and Dance Performance from Lindenwood University and an MA in Dance Education from the University of Northern Colorado.

Linda is on the faculty of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, (Voice and Speech Department Chair), South Coast Repertory, and Theatricum Botanicum, where she teaches voice, speech and dialects. At The Academy, production coaching includes Anna K, Arcadia, Dancing at Lughnasa, Kentucky Cycle, Major Barbara, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and numerous others.  Film and TV credits include American Pie, The Scorpion King, Sonny, That’s Life (CBS), The Hughleys (UPN), For the People (Lifetime). Besides extensive individual coaching, Linda has coached Streetcar Named Desire (South Coast Rep), The Crimson Thread (Pasadena Playhouse), Arms and the Man (A Noise Within), Old Times (El Portal Center for the Arts) and The Nibroc Trilogy (Actor’s Co-Op).  Directing credits include Bus Stop, Picnic, Getting Out, and The Philadelphia Story. Linda has an MFA in Acting from Brandeis University, an MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and a PhD from Pacifica Graduate Institute.  She has presented at ATHE (The American Theatre in Higher Education) on various topics, including Take the Valley Out of the Girl! and is a voice and speech consultant for Braintracks Audio in Los Angeles.  Linda is a member of VASTA (Voice and Speech Trainer’s Association). Her article, T’s and Sympathy: Adventures in the Hollywood Dialect’s Trade appears in the VASTA Journal, “Essays on Voice and Speech”. 

Lyndsay Dru Corbett is a teaching artist, dancer, actor, choreographer, and filmmaker. After 15 years of experience throughout NYC, she is thrilled to be making her homecoming back to the Denver area where her love of all things dance and theater began. She has her MFA in Acting from The New School for Drama, a BA in Theater/Film from the University of Denver, and received a scholarship from Performance Now! Theater Company. Lyndsay is a multidisciplinary teacher who has worked with many programs including the Wingspan Arts, Notes in Motion, CinemaKidz, Brooklyn College Prep Center, and more. She gained a passion for immersive theater work while studying abroad in London and working with NY companies including Punchdrunk (Sleep No More) and Third Rail Projects. Lyndsay has been a member of Queens-based Gotham Dance Theater company for over 8 years, always striving to create art that celebrates diverse voices and innovative forms of expression. After choreographing for the DCTA summer programming since 2008, Lyndsay is honored to be back in a more full-time role working with students of all ages.

Maile Speetjens serves as Costume Shop Manager and Costume Designer for the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at Colorado State. She teaches courses in Costume Design, Costume Construction and Makeup Design, and acts as advisor to student Costume and Hair/Makeup Designers.

Originally hailing from Kauai, HI, Maile Speetjens attended Emerson College in Boston, MA where she received a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre and worked as a stitcher in the Emerson Costume Shop. After College, Maile worked as Wardrobe Manager/ Costume Designer for Boston’s Actors Shakespeare Project (The Tempest, Coriolanus, Much Ado About Nothing), and continued as a cutter/draper at Emerson College, working on theatre, dance, and films such as Disney’s The Game Plan.

Maile received her MFA in Costume Design and Technology from the University of Georgia, Athens, where she taught courses in Costume Design and worked as lead draper. While at UGA, Maile’s Design work included The Dance of Hands (UGA), The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild and Hidden Man (7 Stages, Atlanta). While studying at UGA, Maile had the opportunity to explore skills such as Patternmaking, Draping, Millinery, Corsetry, Tailoring, various fabric modification techniques, wig styling and life drawing.

Maile has also worked as Costume Designer and educator for Hawaii Children’s Theatre (The Little Mermaid, Once On This Island, Mulan Jr, Rent, 25^th Annual…Spelling Bee, Avenue Q).

Maile continues to design locally, including productions at OpenStage Theatre (August Osage County, La Bete, True West) and Bas Bleu (Elephant’s Graveyard). During the summers, Maile serves as the director of KDIA, a Children’s Theatre Camp at CSU that focuses on devised, original pieces of Musical Theatre created 1 week at a time.

Maile is honored to work with such creative, kind, and enthusiastic staff members and students.

You can view Maile’s work at: www.mailespeetjens.com

Mallory's love for theatre began in Seattle, but very quickly moved her across the U.S. After graduating with her Bachelor's in Theatre from Arizona State University, she moved to Los Angeles and focused on acting for the screen. Although she's been featured in many projects, her favorite role so far has been making magic for children at Disneyland. Who knew she could get paid wearing a crown and pretending to sleep! She now finds herself in Colorado, supporting the arts in any way she can.

Mandy Kay Heath is a Lighting designer new to Colorado from Memphis, TN. She earned an MFA from the University of Memphis. She has designed and worked for several theatres throughout the Colorado and the Mid South including Creede Repertory Theatre, Lake Dillon Theatre Company, Thingamajig, Theatre Memphis, Hattiloo Theatre, Opera Memphis, and Tennessee Shakespeare Company. Mandy has a passion for hands-on learning in educational settings or community theatre as well as interests in arts and non-profit administration. She is the current Lighting Designer and Lighting and Technology Manager for MSU Denver. Recent awards include Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship, AACT "Best of the Decade" National Design Competition – Honorable Mention Lighting Design, Memphis Ostrander Excellence in Lighting Design for a Musical, and Memphis Ostrander Excellence in Lighting Design for a play.

A NYC-based Filipino immigrant artist and graduate from the University of Northern Colorado, with a B.A. in Theatre. Mark is a SAG-AFTRA member, an EdTA professional member, proud Thespian alum from Thespian troupe 6513 and Junior Thespian troupe 88331. He was also an ITO representative in 2005-2006, served as an ETF Board of Trustee from 2019-2021 and established the Mark Drum Endowment Scholarship through ETF. He served as an EdTA Board Member 2020 – 2023 as well as serving as the Board Secretary for two years. Mark has been featured on MTV, ABC, NBC/Peacock, CBS, Amazon, AppleTV+, Netflix and HBO MAX. Follow him on social media @whoismarkdrum and check out his website www.whoismarkdrum.com

Mark D. Kaufmann is the author of the plays that have been produced around the world. “The Labors of Hercules Fitch” and “The End Of Civilization As We Know It”, and “Betsy’s Inconvenient Garden” were originally published in Dramatics magazine.  His play “Evil Little Thoughts” won the Denver Drama Critics Circle award for Best New Play.  His novel, “Sour Notes”, is being adapted into a play.  Most recently, he co-authored and directed a new musical, “Painting The Clouds With Sunshine”, with the 42nd St. Moon company in San Francisco; an award-winning production.  Other directing assignments include the York Theatre in New York. Mark has taught at USC, AMDA, and is the co-owner of Los Angeles Musical Theater Studio, (www.lamts.com), instructing professionals and students in performance technique. He has worked with the International Thespian Society for the last 16 years.  @MarkDKaufmann   www.MarkDKaufmann.com

Martha Louden is chapter director for West Virginia Thespians and a professional member of EdTA. With a B.F.A. in theatrical design and an M.A. in theatre education, as well as many years as an educator and work in community theatre, she has extensive experience in costuming and sewing. Martha has been teaching workshops nationally for state and international thespian festivals.

Mary Ann Kehler is a best-selling author whose work on training performing artists — both musical theatre and contemporary music — was featured in Success Mastery with Jack Canfield. She is a musical theatre director with 65 shows to her credit, Executive Producer of Broadway Training Intensive, a college audition coach whose students are in top colleges and conservatories all over the country, and is co-author of a book on auditioning for college programs.  Mary Ann is serving a six-year term as President of International Voice Teachers of Mix and is a mentor for other teachers in that organization.  She successfully trains singers ranging from working professionals to those other teachers have labeled “tone deaf.”  Her students include musical theatre professionals, pop recording artists, lead singers for rock and R&B bands, classical choral soloists, music educators, voice teachers, worship leaders, and singer/songwriters. Mary Ann’s studio is in the Denver Technological Center; she teaches worldwide via internet and has presented at multiple voice conferences in Italy, Austria, Poland and the U.S.  She is happy to be traveling the world, training teachers and singers.

Matthew Greenberg has appeared alongside Tony, Oscar, and Emmy award-winners in film, TV, musicals, and plays. He has performed across the country and abroad as an actor and director. He is a Fitzmaurice Voicework teacher and a professor at the University of Wyoming. He has previously taught at Ohio State, West Virginia University and Middle Tennessee State University. His students have appeared on Broadway, in films and on regional theater stages across the country.

Matt Grevan is an Actors Equity Association (AEA) stage manager and is the Production Stage Manager at Colorado State University, Matt has worked regionally with Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Encores!, at New York City Center, Casa Mañana, Dallas Theater Center, Kansas City Repertory Theater, and many more. A few of his favorite regional credits include Catch Me If You Can, The Boy From Oz, La Cage Aux Follies (Uptown Players), Fly By Night, Fly (Dallas Theater Center), A Charlie Brown Christmas, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show (Dallas Children’s Theater). Matt holds a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from the University of Texas-Arlington and an M.F.A. in Stage Management from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Matthew Polis, recently returned to Boulder after 20 years in New York City.  He is the founder of boutique sound house, SoundSpace with the newest location in Bouder CO, and has been sound designing and mixing films for nearly 20 years.  His combined story driven approach to sound design and technical mastery in the mix room has earned him respect amongst his peers in the indie film world with over 150 credits.  Matthew's works include Appropriate Behavior (Sundance, BAM), Growing Up Coy (ITVS, Denver Film Festival), I Believe in Unicorns (SXSW), Peter and Vandy (Sundance) David Blaine: Beautiful Struggle & What is Magic, Evolution of a Criminal (SXSW, Full Frame, ITVS), Liyana (LA Film Festival), ACORN (TriBeCa) Food Chains (Berlin), Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon, Seymour: An Introduction (Telluride, Toronto, NYFF). And he is the head of post audio for TED Conferences.
Matthew also served as an adjunct professor at his alma mater, NYU Tisch School Of The Arts for post audio and mixing.
 

Matthew A. Schlief

www.schliefdesign.com
mschlief@coloradomesa.edu

Matthew Schlief is an Assistant Professor of Scenic & Lighting Design at Colorado Mesa University. He has designed scenery, lighting, and/or projections for TUTS Underground, Horsehead Theatre Co., Creede Repertory Theatre, Main Street Theatre, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Flatlands Dance Theatre, West Virginia Public Theatre, Virginia Musical Theatre, and Lubbock Moonlight Musicals, as well as the COCO Dance Festival in Trinidad. In 2012 Matt received the Houston Press Theatre Award for Best Lighting Design for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and in 2013 received the Broadway World Best of Houston Award for his Lighting Design of Sweeney Todd. He has also received four KCACTF Meritorious Achievement in Design awards in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Most recently he conceived and directed a site specific production called Morning, Noon, Evening, Night at the Prague Quadrennial in June of 2019. He has designed, lectured, and provided master classes at The University of Houston, Rice University, and Oklahoma City University, as well as numerous USITT Conventions. Over the past 15 years Matt has designed more than 120 different productions, from a variety of theaters both nationally and internationally.

Max has been a professional stage hand for over 18 years. Working fulltime and freelancing in a variety of venues throughout the Denver Metro Area. He has also toured North America with Broadway Tours, including "Blue Man Group", and "Phantom of the Opera". He has also toured internationally with "Disney's Beauty and the Beast". Along with his vast experience in live production and theatre, he has also served in a variety of positions within the Stagehand Union in Denver, IATSE #7. He has served as house steward at the Buell Theatre, as well as Dispatcher for IATSE #7. More recently he served as Stage Vice President, before assuming his current role as President. Max is passionate about ensuring all workers have dignity, respect, and decent conditions while at work, especially Entertainment workers. Educating young and emerging theatre artists about the role of Unions, and the strength found in Collective Bargaining is vital to healthy and sustainable careers in the Entertainment Industry. We all must continually work ensure skilled, effective, and healthy technicians for generations to come!

Maya began her work as an applied theatre practitioner over a decade ago. Upon receiving her BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Colorado, Maya was the Assistant Director for the Interactive Theatre Project housed at the University of Colorado – Boulder (utilizing Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to address social justice issues on campus). She then created the ACTivism Theatre Ensemble, a company of high school and college students performing an educational outreach/prevention play for The SAVA (Sexual Assault Victim Advocacy) Center throughout Colorado. Maya created and toured a one woman show, For Sale – addressing sex trafficking in America. While living in North Carolina, she wrote plays for the Interactive Theatre Carolina at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, exploring race and identity. She founded Restorative Theatre in 2014 at the Dillon Youth Detention Center. She has also spent time in the education system as a paraprofessional and  K-5 Theatre & Dance teacher. Maya joined the MIA team in 2015.

https://theatre.colostate.edu/people/drmlewis/ Dr. Megan Lewis is a South African-American theatre historian and performance scholar. She is the author of Performing Whitely in the Postcolony (2016, University of Iowa Press) and Magnet Theatre: Three Decades of Making Space (2016, Intellect Books and UNISA Press), which won the Hiddingh-Currie National Book Award in 2018. She is currently working on her third book project: a study of safari as performance. Lewis has published on African political theatre, film and performance in Theatre Journal, Performing Arts Journal, Theatre History Studies, Text & Performance, Theatre Topics, and The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism. Prof. Lewis is a multidisciplinary educator with a passion for inspiring intellectual curiosity and advocating for the performing arts as a powerful force for social activation and change. Her teaching passions include African theatre and film, the politics of performance, non-Western performance traditions, theatre of dissent, the performance of gender (masculinity) and race (whiteness) in South Africa, and white allyship. Prior to joining the faculty at Colorado State University, she taught at the University of Minnesota and UMass Amherst. Lewis’ accolades include a 2015 Distinguished Teacher Award from UMass Amherst; a national book award; an intensive summer study abroad program – Arts & Culture in South Africa – focused around the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown/Makhanda; and two global teaching voyages for Semester at Sea. She served as Graduate Program Director and Multicultural Theater Certificate Director before taking on the exciting new leadership challenge as Director of Theatre at CSU. Lewis balances her scholarly life with a professional career as a documentary filmmaker and editor and voiceover talent.

Melanie Aksamit is a special fx makeup artist in Los Angeles, California. She grew up in Colorado and attended many thespian conferences herself. After graduating High School from Horizon in Thornton, CO, Melanie pursued a degree in broadcasting and worked as a Production Assistant and Videographer for many years before her passion for makeup and horror led her to California. She attended the Makeup Designory in Burbank where she received a certificate in their Masters Program.  Since graduating she has worked on such television productions as Stranger Things, American Horror Story and WestWorld.  She has also worked on films such as The Conjuring: 2 and The Last Witch Hunter.  Besides film and television fx makeup, Melanie is also a beauty makeup artist and hair stylist for commercial and print as well as a Halloween prop maker.  In her spare time she enjoys working on personal art projects and screenplay writing.  

Professional Choreographic and Directorial Credits include: Colorado – Henry Award Nomination for “Matilda” (FAC – Choreographer), “The Addams Family,”(RMRT -Choreographer) and “All Shook Up,”(RMRT-Choreographer ); Off-Broadway – (Choreographer – “Attack of the Elvis Impersonators”), Chicago – (“How to Succeed…;” “Sister Act,” “La Cage Aux Folles” *Choreographer), Atlanta – Suzi Bass Award Nomination for “Smokey Joe’s Café”(Director/Choreographer), “A Taffeta Christmas” (Director/Choreographer); “Pippin” (Director/Choreographer NRT) and Collegiate productions of “Mary Poppins” (ACU) and “A Funny Thing Happened…” (Northwestern). She served as Assistant Director on “Showboat” with The Dallas Opera. As a performer Melissa has performed in and/or Dance Captained dozens of productions across the country. Highlights include 8 years as a Radio City Rockette, touring the country as Lorraine Flemming on the 1st National Tour of “42nd Street,” and performing as a Principal Dancer with Washington National Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. A few of her other favorite credits include: “Cabaret,” “Sweet Charity,” “Mary Poppins,” “On The Town,” “Cats,” “9 to 5,” “My One and Only,” and originating the role of Vitoria Lee in “For The Boys.” She has taught at Columbia College and Roosevelt University in Chicago, for the Rockette Summer Intensives (as seen on MTV), as a Guest Artist with Abilene Christian University and is currently on faculty at Colorado Academy (Denver). She holds a BPA from Oklahoma City University and an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University, and is a proud member of AEA and SDC. www.melissazaremba.com

Before joining Pixera as a trainer and Technical Solutions Specialist, Bateman was an Assistant Lighting Supervisor at The Public Theater where he worked on numerous large scale LED practical projects and shows as Production Electrician. He has also spent time in architectural lighting design, on tour with Marvel Universe Live as a video technician, and was a freelance lighting and video designer in Arizona. He has a passion for teaching, learning, and playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Michael Bowerman is the Music Director for Up with People, the international education program that has a focus on performing arts.  He traveled as a participant in the program right after high school and now has the honor to be one of the primary songwriters, producers and music instructors for the program.  Up with People tours internationally with a diverse cast of young adults from all over the world.  Up with People has performed at a record 4 Super Bowl halftimes, at multiple Olympic Games, and this past summer, they performed alongside Andrea Bocelli in Italy.  Later this year, Up with People will again perform for the Pope at the Vatican.

Michael is also involved in local Denver theatre.  He is a Henry Award nominee for Musical Direction and has directed, music directed and performed for many different companies throughout the Denver metro area.  

Michael Di Bianco is the Education and Outreach Coordinator at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, one of the nation's leading industry-based HIV/AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. We fund the social service work of The Actors Fund and award grants to AIDS service organizations nationwide. With your help, what we do together makes a difference.

Michael Ehrecke is an actor, writer, mover, shaker, and educator from Davenport, IA. After graduating from Luther College in 2015, he moved to the Twin Cities and toured with CLIMB Theatre as part of their Teaching Company, where he developed and facilitated immersive plays for K-12 students regarding social justice issues. Michael then spent a summer in New York as a playwriting apprentice with Powerhouse Theater Training Program. The past few years, Michael has traveled between Minneapolis and New York performing, teaching, and writing in various capacities. He is also a proud AmeriCorps alum, having completed a term of service with College Possible Minnesota. He is now an Admissions Counselor at Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, and the go-to arts recruiter.

Michael Gilboe is a playwright, director, musician, composer, teacher, producer, and audiobook narrator. He is Director of Performing Arts and Assistant Professor for the Theatre and Business Arts major and program he created at the University of Providence. A Great Falls, MT native, he spent 12 years in New York City where he ran his own recording studio and production company in Times Square, producing albums for independent musicians and Tony, Emmy and Oscar winning clients. He also founded and hosted the Broadway Bullet theatre podcast where he meets and conducts in-depth interviews with many of the top theatre innovators of our time. As a composer/playwright, he has written and produced several full-length musicals and over 20 children's musicals. Lost Legend of Camelot, for which he wrote music and lyrics has been presented in five locations, including the Player’s Theatre in NYC. His musical, The Dead Legend was presented at the New York Musical Theater Festival in July, 2013. A Tribulation in Goats Corner, a play with music was presented at UGF in the fall of 2014. He has directed everything from intimate plays to large musicals and has also narrated over 200 audiobook titles. Michael Gilboe holds his BA in Theatre from the University of Montana and MFA in Playwriting with an emphasis in Plays with Music from the Playwright's Lab at Hollins University in Roanoke, VA.  

Michael Gunst

Michael is an actor, director, creator of theatre, and mask-maker He tours his award winning show Four Wishes adapted from Gluskabe and the Four Wishes by, Joseph Bruchac both locally and nationally.  Locally Michael has performed at the Germinal Stage, Nomad Theater, Denver Civic Theater, with Band of Toughs an (Associate Member), Theatre 13, DragonFly Productions, Now or Never Theatre and with Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s “Living Shakespeare” art in education program, and through Think 360 Arts. Michael has been a member of Faustwork Mask Theatre, touring “The Mask Messenger” throughout North America. He has performed with the International Pantomime Company of New England in Mexico and toured with the Pocket Mime Theater Company. For 8 years Michael co-created 6 new movement theater shows with the collective Studebaker Movement Theatre of Boston. They toured, taught and performed both internationally and nationally across North America and in Scotland, England, Switzerland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Michael has a MFA in Acting from Brandeis University’s Professional Actor Training Program, and has performed in New York City in Off & Off Off Broadway, regionally at the Asolo Theatre, FL, Castle Hill Festival, MA, and with Circus Flora, MO. For booking of Workshops, Residencies or Four Wishes please visit: www.gunstwork.com

I grew up an artist; drawing, painting, sculpting, and anything I could get my hands on. Being the youngest of three, I was extremely shy and found solace in art. I was introduced to video as an art medium when Video 8 camcorders hit the market. From there I was completely consumed by everything filmmaking. Lighting, shooting, directing and writing. I’ve now been in the film/video field for over 20 years. I have of course upgraded my camera and gear since then. Most of my experience and knowledge is hands on. I’ve worked on features, shorts, docs, commercials, by way of freelance, corporate, and startup companies. I have held many positions in the film world, but my current position is “Video Specialist” in the creative department at Sphero. That means anything and everything film/video related. Shooting, editing, commercials, tutorials, social media, etc. It’s a great big world out there and I crave to record it!

Michael J. Duran came back to BDT after a 23-year stint in NYC. He got his start as Joseph in BDT’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1977. He was awarded a Top of the Rocky honor for Best Director in 2005 and the 2007 Best Director Henry Award and Ovation Award for Ragtime. His many Broadway credits include The Music Man, Crazy for You,Me and My Girl and Into the Light. He has toured nationally and in London with Jerry Lewis in Damn Yankees, Petula Clark in Sunset Blvd., Tommy Tune and Anne Reinking in Bye Bye Birdie, Carol Channing in Hello! Dolly and On Your Toes directed by the legendary George Abbott. He has made television guest appearances on Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Irving Berlin’s 100th Birthday Celebration at Carnegie Hall on CBS and An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner for PBS Great Performances. Michael has received the DDCC awards for Best Director for Damn Yankees, Best Choreographer for Bye Bye Birdie, Top of the Rocky honor for Best Director 2005 and the 2007 Best Director Henry Award and Ovation Award for RAGTIME. Michael was a recipient of the 2015 Dairy Center Honors for his contribution to Boulder culture through the arts.

Michael is an Alumni of Grand Canyon University and holds an M.F.A. from the University of San Diego Old Globe Professional Actor Training Program. His acting credits include: Fame on 42nd Street (Original New York Cast); Hay Fever (New Jersey Shakespeare); Trojan Women, Pericles, Taming of the Shrew, Smash!, and Twelfth Night (The Old Globe Theatres); Bandido! (San Diego Repertory Theatre); Ivona, Princess of Burgundia (Sacred Fools); My Name is Asher Lev, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Broadway Bound, and Brighton Beach Memoirs (AJTC); and Smoke on the Mountain (Lamb’s Players Theatre). He is also a regular performer and host for the Phoenix Symphony. As a playwright, his works include: The Servant and the Fool, Dial P for Peanuts (with David Hayes), Make Believe, Deal with It (Television Pilot with Stephen Muterspaugh), Little League (Television Pilot with Stephen Muterspaugh) and a one man show currently titled, God Knows What. He is also the author of Acting in Faith: A Christian’s Guide to the Acting World.

Michael McKelvey has been teaching and coaching singers for more than 30 years. Originally from Los Angeles, he has successfully run vocal studios in L.A., Dallas, Austin, Pittsburgh and New Orleans. Specializing in musical theatre and contemporary commercial music, Michael's students can be heard and seen on Broadway, regional theatres and theme parks across the U.S., and international cruises. He has presented vocal workshops and adjudicated for the Louisiana Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Musical Theatre Educators Alliance, Classical Singer Competition, Texas Music Educators Association, University Interscholastic League, Orange Theory Fitness Summit, Texas Educational Theatre Association, Texas Arts Project, Zach Scott Theatre Performing Arts School, and numerous others. Michael is also an award-winning director, producer and educator. He has recently moved to Durango, CO to start a musical theatre program at Fort Lewis College. Prior to moving to Colorado, Dr. McKelvey was a Professor of Practice in Musical Theatre at Tulane University and the Artistic Director of Summer Lyric Theatre, the preeminent professional summer theatre in the Gulf South. He has also served as the Head of Voice and Associate Professor at the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA and Director of Musical Theatre, Coordinator of Music, and Associate Professor at St. Edward's University in Austin, TX. Aside from his university work, Michael is an active freelance producer and arts outreach educator. In Austin, he founded his award-winning production company, Doctuh Mistuh Productions, which specializes in bringing off-Broadway shows to communities who do not have the opportunity to see them. He is also co-founder of Summer Stock Austin, and its outreach program, Theatre for All. SSA is the only tuition-free program of its kind in the U.S., teaming high school and college students together under the guidance of professional theatre makers to produce a summer stock repertory theatre company. He also founded The Story Road Project for Summer Lyric Theatre. Story Road brought live theatre experiences at no cost to the underserved young people of the Greater New Orleans area. www.michael-mckelvey.com www.doctuhmistuh.org

Michael E. McKelvey is the director of Fort Lewis College’s new Musical Theatre program and producing artistic director of Durango Theatreworks at The Fort. He has also served on the musical theatre and voice faculties of Tulane University, Point Park University, and St. Edward’s University. He is an award-winning director and producer. Some of his recent credits include Cabaret, Sweeney Todd (FLC), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Heathers (Durango Theatreworks), Jesus Christ Superstar, Ragtime, Matilda, She Loves Me (Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane), Something Rotten, The Last Five Years (Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre), Hunchback of Notre Dame, White Christmas (Jefferson Performing Arts), Hand to God, Reefer Madness, and The Laramie Project (Doctuh Mistuh Productions). He is also producing artistic director for Doctuh Mistuh Productions, and served as the artistic director of Summer Lyric Theatre in New Orleans and is co-founder of Summer Stock Austin. His coming directing engagements include A Christmas Carol Radio Play (Durango Theatreworks), Songs for a New World (FLC), Reefer Madness (DMP & DAC), and Matilda (Zilker Theatre in Austin, TX). Dr. McKelvey is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, and a proud member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Musical Theatre Educators Alliance, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. michael-mckelvey.com

Dr. Michael Pearl (Presenter). Doc recently retired from the Cherry Creek School District, having taught theatre and directed plays at Smoky Hill High School and Grandview High School. He is a recipient of Cherry Creek Teacher of the Year, Colorado Theatre Educator of the Year, and Colorado Thespian Hall of Fame Honors. Now “Doc” practices what he taught! Acting credits include “Mort” What’s Wrong with This Picture?, “Norman,” On Golden Pond, Vintage Theatre; “Hugo,” God’s Man in Texas, Aurora Fox; “Scrooge,” A Christmas Twist, Firehouse Theater; and “Rev. Hooker,” Dearly Departed, Spotlight Theatre. He has also performed with Littleton Town Hall Arts Center, and Miner’s Alley Playhouse. Doc performs audio books for Brook Forest Voices. He is represented by Maximum Talent. Look for him on the Polar Express at the Colorado Railroad Museum this holiday season.

Michelle has been sewing garments for most of her life. Her first official costume design credit was as a senior in High School with Aristophanes’ “The Birds” and she has been making/designing costumes ever since. She worked in the Costume Construction Shop at Nebraska Wesleyan University under the tutelage of Phyllis Blanke during her college years and built or altered hundreds of costumes and garments. Her professional credits include productions in Lincoln, NE, Chicago, IL, and New York City with Gad’s Hill Theatre Company, artwork reproduction costumes for The Art Institute of Chicago, and various other local and regional productions. She has happily been serving her parent volunteer hours finding and making costumes for Two Roads Charter School in Arvada for the past 6 years.

Michelle is the owner of MJE Acting Studio where she offers her services as a private acting, audition, and college audition coach to students both in the US and abroad through online lessons. Michelle has been working professionally since 2004, both on and off the stage, as an actress, director and teaching artist. She has won several awards for her directorial work both on regional and national levels. As a private acting coach, Michelle’s students have had success finding entrance into top universities as well as professionally on Broadway, National Tours, Regional Theatre and TV/Film. Michelle is a frequent guest artist and IE Judge for Thespian festivals around the US, local high schools and theatre companies. In addition, Michelle has served as an adjudicator and committee member for the Shuler Awards in Atlanta (2012-2018), Kansas City’s Blue Star Awards (2019-present), as well as One Act, Speech & Debate, and Literary competitions around the nation. Always in pursuit of sharing her knowledge with others, in 2017, Michelle began her writing adventures. You can find her articles and columns on www.performerstuff.com and www.theatreartlife.com. Michelle is also Co-Owner of College Audition Project (CAP), which houses a website that has online tools, scheduling system and a college database that helps navigate seniors and GAP students through the college audition process. CAP also host their own private Unified auditions called CAP United Auditions in Atlanta, GA each year. Michelle just recently co-authored a book titled “College Audition Workbook” that can be purchased on amazon.com. You can find out more about Michelle at www.mjeactingstudio.com or CAP at www.collegeauditionproject.com.

Biography
Mike Rock is an actor & improviser based in Los Angeles. TV credits include Black-ish, The Goldbergs, Modern Family, After Lately, The Mentalist, Monk, Conan O'Brien & many commercials. Voice of NFL Replay and Chelsea Lately on E!   He improvises full-length plays on stage with Impro L.A: Shakespeare, Chekhov, Jane Austen, Dorothy Parker, Nancy Drew, George S. Kauffman & TV's The Twilight Zone. He served as president of the national ComedySportz improv chain. Co-created, produced & performed sketch comedy in NYC, L.A. Montreal, Edinburgh, Aspen, Austin and on MTV, VH-1 & Comedy Central. He has been performing & teaching improv at ITS / EdTA & high school theater festivals since before your parents met. Find him online @itsmikerock 

Mr. Black carries with him an array of choreographic and directing credits ranging from the musical theatre stage to the concert dance arena. While at UNC, he has choreographed 42nd Street, West Side Story, Brigadoon and Carousel for the Musical Theatre Department and directed and choreographed Footloose: The Musical. He has also choreographed The Music Man, Chicago, Joseph…Dreamcoat, Fiddler on the Roof, Damn Yankees, Annie, and AIDA for the Little Theatre of the Rockies; as well as Directed and Choreographed The Full Monty and SWING! for their summer season. Mr. Black also is the director/choreographer of an annual fall dance/theatre production based on the holidays of Dia de los Muertos and Halloween entitled Miranda's Nightmare. He has also choreographed numerous pieces for the annual CPVA Gala and for main stage dance concerts. His latest works include a full-length modern ballet entitled Dierdre of the Sorrows, based off of Irish mythology, and a one act Dance Theatre project set to the music of the Airborne Toxic Event entitled Punks: A Love Story. His interests in jazz, modern, dance technology, collaborations with other artists and his vast performance history make him a vital and inspiring artist and teacher.

Syah Taylor serves as the Manager of Rainbow Alley, at The Center on Colfax.  Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, Syah's introduction to social justice advocacy began with attending Little Rock Central High School, the first high school to be racially integrated in the South.  Syah earned their B.A. in psychology at the University of Memphis where they served as president of the Stonewall Tigers Gender and Sexuality Alliance for 3 years while also creating Campus United, which focused on teaching students about systemic oppression. During this time, Syah also worked with a team of 5 LGBTQ+ high school youth, to make positive social change in the Memphis Area for LGBTQ+ youth.  Syah, recently graduated with his M.A. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Denver where he also worked providing social justice related trainings to various departments of the University.

Natalie is a Programming Specialist with Arapahoe Libraries where she leads monthly theater workshops. Natalie graduated from the University of Nebraska Kearney with her degree in Theater with an emphasis in performance. She has performed in several productions, some of her favorite roles include Becca in Rabbit Hole, Janet in Rocky Horror, and Gloria in Boeing Boeing. She also has a love of improvisational comedy and has performed in various improv shows throughout the Denver area.

I’m Natalie Oliver-Atherton, and I’m the creative force behind The Namaste Works Arts Alliance. Let me tell you a little story. Close your eyes, and picture Julie Andrews, twirling and singing on the mountaintop. You remember… you’ve seen the movie… who hasn’t? The hills are alive! I was four years old when I saw that movie, and it filled me with inspiration and passion. How can I grow up to be a singer, and to see the whole big world while I’m at it? Well, I’m blessed to be able to say I’ve done it. This American girl did grow up to be a professional singer/actress, instructor and coach, and from small-town street performances to big-time feature film appearances, I’m happy to say I’ve seen the arts, I’ve seen the world, and I’ve seen the power of cross-cultural arts experience. It changes your life.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Natalie Oliver-Atherton, Mrs.Centennial 2023, spent 20 years as Music Director & Conductor of the internationally known vocal ensemble S.T.A.R.S. (Singers Taking Action Reaching Souls)and has spent many years touring the world.

It’s been said that she could sing before she could speak in cogent sentences.  And by the time she was thirteen she’d already tucked choral directing and conducting under her belt as her childhood church music director.  Professionally it began at age 17 as a soloist at Carnegie Hall and culminated years later in the French Riviera for the late Prince Rainier of Monaco.

As a singer/actress her performance credits include the roles of the Gypsy Acid Queen in two international tours of the Who’s Tommy (Germany/Canada); Constance in David Merrick’s Oh, Kay!; Andrea Devereaux in Once on This Island; A Brief History of White Music. She can be seen in the feature films: Mississippi Masala (opposite Oscar winner Denzel Washington) and Amazing Grace & Chuck (with Jamie Lee Curtis and Gregory Peck).  Regionally, she was Mary Magdalene  in Jesus Christ Superstar; Ronnette in Little Shop of Horrors, Annie in Porgy & Bess and Mayme in Intimate Apparel, for which she received a Denver Post Ovation Award nomination for best supporting actress in a musical. Most recently, after a 14 year hiatus, she starred in the new musical Trav’lin with Broadway veteran, Milton Craig Nealy.  She has also performed as the soprano soloist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert & Too Hot to Handel); and the Florida Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, and Sinfonia Gulfcoast.

She has headlined at the former Stardust Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in their original production “Enter the Night”.  Another highlight in her career was the honor of opening for poet laureate, Dr. Maya Angelou.  She has appeared as Mother Wisdom in a new opera about the life of Mary Magdalene (Woman of Light) and received a second Denver Post Ovation Award nomination as best supporting actress in a musical.

Natalie currently resides just outside Denver, CO with her husband Jeffrey of 25 years and is the proud mother of three beautiful children (Justin 28, Rachael 23, and Serea 19).  She and her husband are instructor/coaches of their own private vocal and acting studio, the Namasté Works Vocal & Acting Studio. And she is the proud Executive Director of a new non-profit, The Namaste Works Foundation d/b/a The Namasté Works Arts Alliance whose mission is to identify and assist talented young adult performing artists to the next stage of their development and guiding them to become Ambassador’s for Humanity while paying forward those gifts talents and abilities.

Nate Jones is a Community Relations Specialist for the Douglas County School District. Before arriving in Douglas County in 2015, he spent nine years as a public affairs specialist and combat documentarian for the U.S. Army, covering the story of soldiers in Germany, Iraq, and the Pentagon through television and radio. He is the proud father of 3 amazing kids, 3 crazy dogs, and 2 mischievous cats.

Nathaniel is a New York City and Los Angeles-based performer and teacher. A ThunderRidge High School alum, he graduated from Yale in 2015 with a BA in Theatre Studies after a year abroad with the Yale Whiffenpoofs, for whom he was a lead soloist and arranger. 

Nathaniel has pounded the NYC/LA pavement since 2015. He's seen it all: final callbacks for national tours and Broadway shows, the crowds of people in line at 5 am praying for an audition slot for well-known dinner theaters, dance calls where he's the only auditioner, standing next to celebrities in the elevator (please ask. He loves those stories). He has successfully moved from Colorado to New York to LA, found a day job that pays the bills, worked with master teachers, built a bicoastal resume, been stuck on a cruise ship for two months during COVID, found an agent and manager, joined the circus (literally), gotten his Equity card, created viral videos on social media, and managed to maintain a social life. If you don't get a chance to ask him your question in a workshop, feel free to DM or email nathaniel@groveprep.com and he'll answer if he can.

Kingfisher Prep, Nathaniel's tutoring company, helps students from all over the world with homework, standardized tests (SAT/ACT), college admissions essays, and college courses. 

Films: Pam, Steel Tango, Livefeed, Remember(Ed), Sour Ground, STEADFAST

Off-Broadway: Felicité in WONDERLAND (Atlantic Theater), First Sailor in Dido and Aeneas with Kelli O’Hara and Victoria Clark (City Center), and choreographer/performer for the Broadway and Ballet HERO Awards. Regional: Tarzan in Disney's Tarzan the Musical (Moonlight Stage), The Emcee in Cabaret (BCCPA), Sky in MAMMA MIA! (UCPAC) Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret (Mac-Haydn), Glen Guglia in The Wedding Singer (Mac-Haydn), Orsino in Twelfth Night (Yale), Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show (Yale), and Bobby in A Chorus Line (Yale).

International: AIDA Cruise Lines, Yale Whiffenpoofs, Yale Spizzwinks(?). Performed in over 55 countries.

@dolquist

nathanieldolquist.com

groveprep.com

Neil Truglio is a Denver-based film and theatre artist and educator who has served as the Education Director for SeriesFest, Denver Film Society, and Denver Film Festival. Before coming to SeriesFest, Neil was a public school educator for six years. Additionally, he has served as adjunct faculty at the Colorado Film School, a teaching artist for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, director for Curious Theatre’s New Voices, and founder of both Modest Arts and the Emerging Filmmakers Workshops. As a filmmaker, Neil’s work has been seen across this country, and around the world, including screenings at AFI Dallas, Tribeca, Rotterdam, Austin Film Festival and the American Film Festival in Poland. Neil is currently the Artistic Director for Benchmark Theatre in Lakewood.

Neil Truglio is a professional filmmaker and theatre-maker based in Denver. His theatre work has been seen on stages across Colorado and his film work has been seen at festivals across the world, including Rotterdam, American Film Festival in Poland, Dallas International, Austin, Denver and more. A teaching artist with the DCPA, Curious New Voices, Emerging Filmmakers Workshop and Colorado Film School, Neil currently serves as the Education Director of SeriesFest—the nation’s premiere episodic festival, and the Artistic Director of Benchmark Theatre.

Nichole earned a BA in Theatre from the University of Montevallo near Birmingham, Alabama (PV!) and an MFA in Acting from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL (Go Gators!). Post graduate school, she taught adjunct at the University of Florida for classes in Voice, Acting I-III, Audition Workshop, and Theatre Appreciation. Nichole has also taught online Theatre Appreciation for UF and an online Theatre Aesthetics course for incarcerated students through Ashland University in Ohio. At New Mexico State University, Nichole teaches Vocal Production, Acting for Film & TV, Acting for Non-Majors, Beginning Acting, and Directing I. (Go Aggies!) Nichole is a proud member of Actor’s Equity, a company member at the Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville Florida, and a certified teacher through the National Michael Chekhov Association. She has worked professionally as an actor, director and sometimes stage manager with companies in NYC, MA, FL, GA, TN, NC and CA. Since 2016, Nichole has performed her devised solo performance entitled Dame daDA & the Meta Show in Nevada, Minnesota, Florida, and New York. For more info: www.nichole-hamilton.com.

Nick received his B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. After which he toured and did assistant lighting design for a major theme park company. He attended The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and was awarded his M.F.A. in Lighting Design and Technology in 2017. He is celebrating over 4 years as Field Project Coordinator with ETC. Previous to his current role, he programmed, designed, and drafted for over 300 concerts, conventions, and festivals across the lighting industry. He enjoys taking his love of lighting design and marrying that with the technical knowledge of working for a manufacturer. In his spare time you can find him on the golf course or in the mountains camping.

Nick received his B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. After which he toured and did assistant lighting design in theme parks. He attended The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and was awarded his M.F.A. in Lighting Design and Technology in 2017. He is enjoying his new time at Elation Lighting and meeting new people at events like this. Previous to his current role, he programmed, designed, and drafted for over 300 concerts, conventions, and festivals across the lighting industry. He enjoys taking his love of lighting design and marrying that with the technical knowledge of working for a manufacturer. In his spare time you can find him on the golf course or in the mountains camping.

Dr. Nick Taylor serves as Chair of Performing Arts and Professor of Theatre at The Community College of Denver. He is an enthusiastic collaborator, a confirmed rabble-rouser, solo performance artist, and resistant pedagog. This is his fourteenth year at CCD. Prior, he taught at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and at MacMurray College in Illinois. He has taught, guest lectured, or served as a guest artist-in-residence throughout the Berkshire & Appalachian Mountains, the Orphan Girl Theatre (Butte, MT), Theatre in the Park & MacMurray College, (Illinois), Colorado State University, Denver’s Dangerous Theatre, and the University of Colorado Denver. He served as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region VII from 2016-2020.  He is scheduled to direct All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten this spring at CCD.

NKOSI ROMA is a Colorado-based filmmaker specializing in shooting 16mm film. With five years of experience as a full-time cinematographer, Nkosi is a self-taught artist who values trial and error and approaching each project as his first. Collaborating with directors and his partner, Ryan Stephen Holly, Nkosi has contributed to narrative short films and creative music videos. Nkosi’s grounded and immersive visual style emphasizes close-ups to convey emotions, always serving the story. Having gained much from the platform, Nkosi shares his knowledge and experiences through his YouTube channel and aspires to connect with and mentor the next generation. Recent achievements include screening the music video BY THE DAWN at the DeadCenter Film Festival and acceptance of the short film HONORABLE into the St. Louis International Film Festival. With humility and professionalism, Nkosi is dedicated to preserving the film medium and inspiring others through his art.

Beyond cinematography, Nkosi is passionate about storytelling, and has commanded various positions from pre-production to post to see projects through to completion. The catalyst of his journey was his first film, Return to Sender, which served as equal parts experimentation and a blueprint for future work. Fulfilling the roles of writer, director, producer, editor, sound designer, and distributor, Nkosi gained a full-bodied experience as a filmmaker, with RETURN TO SENDER garnering 10 official festival selections along with an award for Best First Time Director. These experiences continue to empower flourishing collaborations across over 15 music videos and narrative short films from the past few years. Possessing a strong fundamental knowledge of all key positions, Nkosi leads with empathy and authority. His creative intuition and skill elevates every project he participates in.

NOAH RACEY is the new head of Musical Theatre at Colorado State University. He has been a part of the National and New York City theatre scene for the past 30 years, originating roles in Broadway shows like Curtains, Thoroughly Modern Millie (for which he was associate choreographer, helping Rob Ashford win the Tony Award for Best Choreography), Never Gonna Dance and the first revival of Follies. Noah has given master classes, workshops and lectures all around the world. He’s the founding Artistic Director of The New York Song & Dance Company completing multiple international tours working in tandem with the US State Department. Their latest show, Noah Racey’s: PULSE won raves at its premier at the Asolo Repertory Theatre, where he also starred last December as Harold Hill, in Jeff Calhoun’s new version of The Music Man. Noah is a published lyricist, writing lyrics for the 1st National Tour of Swing! MOUNTAIN GROVE, Noah's latest collaboration with acclaimed writer/director Dick Scanlan was selected for Theatre Aspen's acclaimed SOLO FLIGHTS developmental series, and is currently securing a home for its next stage of development. Noah can be seen in numerous television shows including The Black List, Person of Interest, Are We There Yet? and Boardwalk Empire. He is a Boston Conservatory graduate and a product of – and a strong proponent for – arts funding in Public Schools.

NOAH RACEY is an award winning actor, director, choreographer and educator. On Broadway He appeared in CURTAINS, NEVER GONNA DANCE, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE and FOLLIES. He choreographed Michael Moore’s one man show THE TERMS OF MY SURRENDER and was the Associate Choreographer for THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE which won Tony Award for Best Choreography. In addition to performing in – and directing and choreographing – plays and musicals around the country and the world, Noah is the head of Colorado State University’s Musical Theatre program and the Founding Artistic Director of the NEW YORK SONG & DANCE COMPANY, touring overseas in collaboration with the US Embassy, and conducting workshops with local artists and dance studios in such cities as Amman, Jordan and Jerusalem. Noah’s highly acclaimed solo performance THE NOAH RACEY PROJECT was featured in the Solo Flights Festival this summer at Theatre Aspen. He is a proud product of—and strong proponent for—arts funding in public schools.

I am the master electrician for Troupe 1096

Mr. Elkins-Zeglarski’s theatre teaching credits include Central Washington University, University of Northern Iowa, University of Queensland, and community colleges in California, Arizona, Maryland and Iowa. Directing credits include theatre company and university productions. Acting credits include performance and training with diverse theatre practitioners. Patrick currently works nationally as a freelance dramaturg and is on the DCPA Education staff as Curriculum Manager. Patrick bridges his interests in theatre and education as national faculty for Lesley University’s School of Education.

Patrick Elkins-Zeglarski

Denver Center for the Performing Arts 

Associate Director of Education and Curriculum Management

Patrick’s work in theatre and education has long been informed by his interest in the duality of arts integrated curriculum and cognitive/creative response. The power of inquiry and curiosity are central to his work in developing tools and strategies for educators and Teaching Artists that bridge the relationships between effective curriculum design, empowered critical pedagogy, and engaged student-centered learning environments. A frequent provider of professional development within the university/educational and non-profit sectors, Patrick’s work also serves law enforcement, medical, and customer service professionals. Patrick maintains his theatre work within the practices of teaching, directing, and dramaturgy.

Dr. Patrick Newell is the Director of Choral Activities at Western Nebraska Community College, the Choral Director at First United Methodist Church of Scottsbluff, the Director of Riversong Chancel Singers, and the Artistic Director of Theatre West Nebraska. With 25 years of academic teaching experience, Dr. Newell has a diverse teaching portfolio in the areas of Opera, Musical Theatre, and Art Song as a teacher of singing, conductor, and stage director. His students have worked for Disney, Off-Broadway, National Tours, military bands, cruise lines, regional theatres, amusement parks, and web series. Nationally and Internationally recognized as a teacher of the Sweetland Belt Technique, he has presented and taught at multiple conferences and music festivals. His newest project is to open a bi-yearly School of Belting in Italy to teach teachers the Sweetland Belt Technique.

As a professional singer and actress, Patty was last seen on Broadway as Miss Jones in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Laroquette. She has been a member of six original Broadway companies that include the critically acclaimed Ragtime with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald, Curtains starring David Hyde Pierce, The Woman in White, Bye, Bye Birdie with John Stamos and the Tony Award winning musical revivals of La Cage aux Folles and Kiss Me, Kate.

Throughout her career, she has joined the companies of Toronto, Broadway and The Music Box Tour of The Phantom of the Opera having performed the roles of both Christine and Carlotta. She has toured the United States and Canada in the productions of Kiss Me, Kate, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Music of the Night and Cats (Jellylorum/Griddlebone). Carnegie Hall appearances have included South Pacific (PBS), Show Boat, The Sound of Music and the N.Y. premiere of the controversial hit opera Jerry Springer, the Opera. She performed with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in the PBS production of Candide.

Regional credits have earned her rave reviews as Anna in The King and I, Meg in Damn Yankees, Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music and Mrs. Sneed Hill in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Original cast recordings include Kiss Me, Kate, Ragtime, Curtains and South Pacific (at Carnegie Hall). She had the distinct pleasure of recording Songs of Love and Life, for voice and wind ensemble by Frank Ticheli with the University of North Texas Wind Ensemble with Eugene Migliaro-Corporon conducting.

She holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory, a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Northern Colorado and is a distinguished alum from Casper College in Casper, Wyoming.

“Mr. Paul” currently performs his show for the little ones called Story PlayTime.  Mime, puppetry, magic, juggling, songs, stories, bubbles, and amazing balloon critters.  "My best gig ever! Well, that and Thescon. This will be my 12th year of FUN!" 

Paul has performed professionally for children since 1978. Beginning with the Storytellers resident company of the Denver Children's Museum, he went on with his Children's Theater/Elementary Education degree to become one of the founders and owners of KIDSKITS, Inc. This renowned local theatrical company included a performing troupe of 6-16 year olds, a conservatory, talent agency, and summer camp in the Rocky Mountains.  

Mr. Bernstein is pleased to be a return guest artist at the Colorado State Thespian Conference. Mr. Bernstein is a graduate of the National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and was a member of the Society of American Fight Directors. Some of his favorite roles include Morris in Blood Knot. He holds a BFA in theatre from Webster University and an MFA from The National Theatre conservatory. He continues to work as a guest artist and fight choreographer with high schools in the metro area.

Peter Davison was raised in Santa Monica, California. His boyhood idols were Alexander Calder and Batman. He began his professional career at age 16, as a juggling street performer in Los Angeles. Peter is the 1982 National Juggling Champion, and a founder of the trio Airjazz which toured the world during the 1980’s with a unique mix of juggling, dance and theater. As a member of the trio Airjazz, he appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and at prestigious live venues such as the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. Since the 1990’s, Peter has performed primarily solo, performing on stages throughout the United States and Europe, and on TV shows on the CBS, BBC and Fox networks, including the variety special Harry Anderson – The Tricks of His Trade. Peter has been presented by the Carmel/California Performing Arts Festival, Utah State Arts Tour, Cincinnati Playhouse, Seattle’s Moisture Festival, 5-3-1 Festival of New Juggling and Object Theatre in Helsinki, Finland, Boulder International Fringe Festival, and the Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival, among others. Peter’s multi-disciplinary movement art has earned him numerous awards including the 1997 Arts Innovation Award from the Colorado Federation of the Arts, 1997 Colorado Arts Council Fellowship, and his ballet-with-objects Cirque D’Amour won the 2009 Ballet Builders Award from New Choreographers on Pointe in New York City. For further information visit www.poetofmotion.com.

Phillip M. Church Associate Professor of Theater / Artistic Director of What if Works Inc.Trained at the London of Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, worked in repertory theater, for BBC and Yorkshire television and as an Assistant Director at Glyndbourne Opera. He received an MFA in Directing at UC Irvine. A member of Actors Equity Association Church has been with the Department of Theater at Florida International University for thirty-eight years, during which time he directed numerous classical and contemporary plays, major musicals and community engaged docudramas. He established the widely popular “Introduction to Acting & Directing for TV & Film” for both theater majors and non-majors. The course explores the complementary techniques that exist between stage and screen. In 1997 Church established the FIU Shakespeare in Stratford & London Study Abroad program, an annual six-week course focused on text and performance of productions the productions of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Globe Theater in London. In 2010 he inaugurated What if Works Inc. a 501c community-engaged, post-graduate company dedicated to bringing about social change through theater, music and film. What if Works’ most current production is “The R+J Effect: Denver” an updated version of Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet” exploring gun violence in our communities and on school campuses. The production is presented in collaboration with Denver Public Schools, the Denver Police Department, the Metropolitan State University, Denver and the Denver Center for International Studies High School. The Miami Capulets face off the Denver Montagues on stage! This Miami-Denver joint partnership encourages audience involvement during the play’s action, bringing the voices of students, parents, law enforcement, educators and civic leaders together into one conversation. “The R+J Effect: Denver” will be staged as part of the Colorado Thespians Conference at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

What if Works proposes to offer a workshop in "Theater for Social Change & High Schools" 

Price Johnston – Lighting and Projection Designer. Over 300 productions include: World Premiere of Lavender Lizards Lilac Landmines: Layla’s Dream by Ntozake Shange (14th Street Playhouse – Atlanta, GA),Two Rooms (Trilogy Theatre – Off-Broadway – New York, NY), Arena Theatre Productions Guys & Dolls (UK Tour – 2000), Shapiro and Smith’s Never Enough (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – Washington DC), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Moscow Cosmos Theatre/St. Petersburg Music Hall – Russia), Janis Brenner’s Dance Company’s Lost/Found/Lost (Isadora Duncan International Dance Festival – Kransnoyarsk, Russia), Chicago Jeff Award Winning Production of 1776 (Chopin Theatre – Chicago), Passiones (Athenaeum Theatre – Chicago, IL),  2015 Drama Desk Award Nominee: Best Projections – Donogoo (The Mint Theatre – Off-Broadway – New York, NY) and The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway (Stephen Sondheim Theatre – Broadway – New York, NY).

Price Johnston’s career in design has spanned theatre, dance, opera, entertainment design and corporate events in both the U.S. and abroad. With work in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Moscow, Athens (Greece), London, Atlanta, St. Petersburg (Russia), and Denver, he has designed over 270 productions. His credits include: the world premiere of Jomandi Productions’ Lavender Lizards Lilac Landmines: Layla’s Dream by Tony nominated playwright Ntozake Shange (14th Street Playhouse, Atlanta, Ga. and the National Black Theatre Festival – Winston Salem, NC), the Off-Broadway production of Two Rooms (Trilogy Theatre, New York), Guys and Dolls (2000 British Tour), and the world premieres of Huckleberry Finn: The Musical, and A Southern Christmas Carol (Cotton Hall Theatre – Colquitt, GA), written by award-winning playwright/director Rob Lauer.

Other design credits include American Buffalo, Oh What a Lovely War, Assassins, The World Goes Round, and Never Enough, choreographed by Shapiro and Smith (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.), Company, Art, The Complete History of America Abridged (Greenshoe Theatre Company), Swamp Gravy: Down at the Depot “Georgia’s Official Folk Life Play” (Cotton Hall Theatre), Colquitt, GA ), Clue: The Musical, The Miracle Worker, Lighting Director for Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston, Maine), Sabrina Fair, Hamlet (1990 American College Theatre Festival Nominee), Janis Brenner’s Lost/Found/Lost (Isadora Duncan International Dance Festival – Kransnoyarsk, Russia), The 2008 Jeff Award-Winning Production of 1776 (Chopin Theatre – Chicago), Passiones (Athenaeum Theatre – Chicago), Lighting/Sound/Video supervisor for the international touring dance company David Dorfman Dance: Underground, The Pee-Wee Herman Show (Club Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Moscow Cosmos Theatre/St. Petersburg Music Hall, Russia), and the Chicago premiere of I Sing! (Chicago Playwright Theatre). Price has also served as Production Manager for Live Design International (LDI), the LDI Conference – LDInstitute and Live Design Broadway Training and Masters Classes (Lighting, Concert Sound and Projection Design).

His recent work includes the 2015 Drama Desk Award Nominated – Best Projection Design – Donogoo (The Mint Theatre, Off-Broadway – New York), Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Union Colony Civic Center Theatre – Greeley, CO), the World Premieres of Eh Joe and Beckett’s Women (Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival – Enniskillen, Ireland) and The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway (Stephen Sondheim Theatre – New York).

Price holds a M.F.A in Lighting/Media Design from the University of Florida, and a Bachelors Degree in Theatrical Design from Colorado Mesa University. He is a member of USITT and the iDMAA.

Ms. Taylor is a Teaching Artist and the Program Manager for Literacy Engagement and Resiliency Programming for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. As a professional actor Rachel has performed in New York, Los Angeles, Ohio and in many productions with the Denver Center Theatre Company.  She has taught everything from Shakespeare to sequins and toured with the education program for many years. She has also had the privilege of being an Artist in Residence in many Colorado schools. She holds Bachelor of Art degrees in both theater and fine arts with a sculpture emphasis from the University of Colorado and a Masters of Fine Arts in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory.

Rachel M Carothers is an actor, teacher, and director with 20 years experience working with all ages. Rachel has a BFA in acting, an MEd in Educational Administration, and is EC-12 Theatre and EC-12 Principal certified in the state of Texas. In her career in the classroom, her students routinely won “Best Actor/Actress” at one-act competitions and were selected for scores of college theatre programs. She also pioneered a travelling STEAM show and created ground up improv and community outreach with her students. In addition, she works as an actor, stunt performer, and intimacy professional. Rachel draws on her professional and educational backgrounds to create rich, forward-thinking experiences for students and educators.

Dr. Rand Harmon, Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Northern Colorado, is a theatre director, producer, educator, and a creative entrepreneur.  At the University of Northern Colorado, Dr. Harmon has directed The Crucible, These Shining Lives and Macbeth. Dr. Harmon is the Co-Founder of the Northern Colorado Center for Arts Entrepreneurship, and founded and has produced all of UNC’s StART Student Arts Salons since 2016. Other professional directing credits: James and the Giant Peach (Phamaly Theatre Company, Denver), The Tempest (Colorado Shakespeare Festival Anti-bullying Initiative Tour 2013), Noises Off! (CU Boulder), Elevator Plays, Elevator Plays 2: Beyond the Norm!, Elevator Plays3, Macbeth, The Most Beautiful Lullaby You’ve Ever Heard, Marco Polo and InterLifeChangeCycle  (all site-specific productions for Specific Gravity Ensemble, Louisville, KY), The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Noises Off! and Sweet Bird of Youth (Indiana University Southeast), Twelfth Night (Public Theatre of Kentucky, Bowling Green, KY), Ham Macbeth and The Ding Dongs; Or What is the Penalty in Portugal? (Square Product Theatre, Boulder), and I Am My Own Wife (Pandora Productions, Louisville, KY). Dr. Harmon holds a PhD in Theatre Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Directing from The University of Texas at Austin.  Dr. Harmon’s doctoral dissertation, entitled “Site-based Theatre of 21^st Century Great Britain: Conceptualizing Audience Experience,” identifies and investigates conceptual methods employed by seven leading creators of noted site-based theatre works in England, Scotland and Wales.  His article “Hamlet on Alcatraz:  A Journey Into the Power of Sacred Space” was featured in the Winter 2013 issue of Ecumenica Journal.  Dr. Harmon’s review, “Red Earth’s CHALK:  Exploring Heritage and Myth through Ritual Performance of Place” was featured in Unstructured.5 Extra, a British on-line Art journal.  He co-authored a one-act play with his wife Barb Harmon, “InterLifeChangeCycle (a play for site-specific performance)” published in the 2010 issue of Palimpsest; A Creative Journal of the Humanities.

I have been working as a professional actress for 20+ years, and as a theatre educator and director for 14 years. I began teaching full time at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley in the Fall of 2017. Previously, I lived in Philadelphia, PA where I taught acting, musical theatre, voice and speech, and general theatre courses in a number of university theatre programs. I am engaged in antiracist work, deconstructing and decolonizing my teaching/acting pedagogy and curriculum. Uplifting and encouraging bodies and voices of color, especially those of my students, is vital and ongoing. I have a deep love for teaching. I believe students of theatre require a multiplicity of training techniques, tools and styles, broad knowledge of the humanities, acute awareness of their bodies, voices, personal experiences and behaviors from which to shape their craft. I blend compassion, empathy, creativity, and a strong sense of practicality to create a safe and productive learner-centered environment. In addition to university courses, I teach private acting workshops and coach individuals for auditions. I worked for MICHA-The Michael Chekhov Association as their Production Manager for Workshops, Memberships Coordinator and Assistant to the Managing Director from 2013-2019, and continue to study and practice with MICHA. I am a respected performer, having worked on stage and screen with leading industry professionals, including: Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Bob Balaban, Christopher Durang, Kristin Chenoweth, Mary-Mitchell Campbell and many others.

Rebecca is an Assistant Professor-Acting Specialist in the School of Theatre Arts and Dance at The University of Northern Colorado.  She moved to Colorado in 2017 from Philadelphia, PA; in Philadelphia, she taught college acting, musical theatre, voice and movement, speech and dialect performance courses for the past eight years. In addition to course teaching, Rebecca directed college level production musicals, cabarets and special performances, worked as a dialect/voice coach and in casting. She gives private Michael Chekhov Technique workshops for groups and individuals, and coaches students privately for auditions. Prior to joining academia, Rebecca called New York City home for almost 15 years and enjoyed an extensive performance career, crossing the country in a National Tour of Guys and Dolls, originating roles in Off-Broadway musicals, such as Zombie Prom (original CD cast recording), and appearing in numerous productions for LORT/regional stages all around the country. She has worked with leading industry professionals, including: Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris and Bob Balaban (on the Comedy Central-TV Show “Strangers with Candy”), with Kristen Chenoweth and Mary-Mitchell Campbell in a live concert event, the workshop of Zombie Prom, and through ASTEP.org, and with scads more phenomenal creative artists. Recently, she played The Countess De Lage in EgoPo's The Women in Philadelphia, and Mrs. Carol Strong in Little Theatre of the Rockies production of Catch Me If You Can. Rebecca is a 20+ year member of AEA, and an active member of MICHA-The Michael Chekhov Association since 2012; she specializes in teaching the Michael Chekhov Technique.

Rena Cook is a Professor Emerita currently teaching voice at Oklahoma City University. She is also a TEDx speaker and author of four books on empowering the voice including Voice and the Young Actor, used in drama classes throughout the US & UK. She teaches directing on the University od Houston's Summer MA for Theatre Educators. She has served as voice, text and dialects coach for over 100 productions. She has an MA in Voice Studies from London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, an MFA in Directing. Her guilty pleasure is voicing video games and animation. www.myvocalauthority.com

Renée Brode
Lighting Designer
Assistant Professor – Lighting Design at University of Oklahoma

Renée is a lighting designer for theater, musicals, opera, and dance in the US, Canada and internationally.
Recent Designs: The Music Man (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Betty’s Song (Charlottetown Festival); Monster (Monster Dance Collective); Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Stages); Swan Lake (Alberta Ballet); Roe (OU); The Fantasticks (Stages Repertory Theater); Prince of Players (Houston Grand Opera/Florentine Opera); Farinelli and the King (Associate, Belasco Theatre, NYC).
Upcoming Designs: Giselle (Alberta Ballet); Spamalot (Stratford Shakespeare Festival).
At OU: Assistant Professor; Interim Design & Production Area Coordinator, Lab Theatre Coordinator; Sustainability Coordinator.
Other: 2014 Houston Press Theatre Award for Best Lighting Design for The Whipping Man; BFA and MFA from York University; Member of IATSE ADC659.
Website: reneebrode.com

Richard Burk, Workshop Presenter- MFA, Casper College: Coordinator of the Theatre Performance Degree. After touring with the Old Creamery Theatre Company, performing children’s theatre, mime, comedy and drama, Richard received his M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Illinois.  His training and experience has allowed for a diverse career that includes Directing (Off Broadway– The Magdalene at the Theatre at St. Clements on 46^th Street; television (C. B.S.’s True Detectives, produced by William Shatner), Acting (Regionally in theatres in Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, and Washington State), Stage Combat (Staged the violence in the World Premiere of Mark Medoff’s STUMPS at the American Southwest Theatre Company) Playwriting (Wrote and produced LAST CROSSING, and “WHY I DO WHAT I DO, a one man show”), International Workshop presenter (Instituto Guatemalteco Americano in Guatemala City), Film,  and Radio, as well as theatre management, as Artistic Director for the Clinton Showboat Theatre.

“All of this happened because the people who believed in me never told me I couldn’t do it!  That’s the approach I take in theatre – my job is to empower the artists of the theatre!”

A member of the National Alliance of Teachers of Acting, a program of the Actors Center in New York City, Richard has directed Off-Broadway (The Magdelene) performed in regional theatre in the midwest, acted in film and television, and taught acting for a good long time! Working with Richard Maltby, jr., Arthur Lessac, Robert Cohen, J. Michael Miller, and Steven Pearson, to name a few mentors, Richard now serves as the coordinator of the Theatre Performance degree at Casper College in Casper, Wyoming. “I teach with the goal of releasing authentic, genuine characters who, through the mind, body, and voice of the actor, come to life to serve the story of the play – whether in a small intimate theatre, a giant concert hall, or through the lens of a camera transported to the screen.” The goal of my workshops is always to open wide the doors of expression, and push aside the barriers that we sometimes build within ourselves.

Richard R. Cowden is the General Manager of Arts, Culture, and Community at the Jewish Community Center of Denver and Executive Director of the Mizel Arts & Culture Center. In this role he oversees a variety of programs, including Wolf Theatre Academy, Denver Jewish Film Festival, the Neustadt JAAMM series, ReelAbilities Film Festival, and the JCC’s other arts, family, and Judaic engagement programming. He is formerly the Executive Director of Colorado Conservatory of Dance and Director of the Arts at Vermont’s Castleton University. Prior to his service at Castleton, Richard was the Associate Artistic Director of Denver’s Edge Theatre Company, where he directed the world premiere of Jonson Kuhn’s NEWARK VIOLENTA and received a Broadway World award as Best Director for his direction of the regional premiere of BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO. Other professional credits as an actor, singer, and director include sharing the Carnegie Hall stage with Stephen Sondheim as a member of Essential Voices USA, starring in Iceland’s top-rated comedy series SPAUGSTOFAN, and appearing as a featured soloist for the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The head of the Department of Theatre at Colorado Mesa University from 2006-2010, Richard holds an MFA in directing from the Ohio University School of Theater and a BA in Music Theatre from Colorado Mesa. A sought-after presenter and teacher, he has also served on the selection committee and in the acting company of the Telluride Playwrights Festival.

Please email me, and I will send a complete bio and a list of seminars I am willing/able to present.

Richard Shultz has been active in theatre for more than three decades, on stage and off. He started as a sound tech and it grew from there! He was the Technical Director for 10 years before becoming the Theatre Director at Derby High School for the next 17 years, and has just retired!. He has presented at Kansas Thespian Festival for more thena 20 years and has presented at the last 5 Texas Thespian Festivals. He has a Masters degree from Central Washington University where he discovered a love for puppets.

Rick Reeves joined the Theatre faculty in fall 2018 as the Artist-in-Residence in Digital Media & Design and added the title Interim Head of the Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Performance. He has been passionate about theatre and its ability to help people in a variety of ways since the early '90's. In joining the faculty at Oklahoma City University, he hopes to pass that enthusiasm on to the students there. He brings a variety of experience to the team there. He has designed lighting, digital media, and scenery at a number of theatres around the country. Rick most recently designed scenery for Micheal Pearman's rendition of She Loves Me at Creede Repertory Theatre. He has twice been Guest Lighting Designer at Lees-McRae College, working with Gabe Vanover on And then they Came for Me and Eurydice. His lighting work could be seen in Cabaret and Arcadia, as well as his scenic design for On the Verge, at the Maedgen theatre in at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. This is a small sampling of his resume, Rick has designed at Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park, and Tulane Shakespeare Festival. Most recently he was The Production Manager for Creede Repertory Theatre for their 2017 and 2018 seasons. CRT produces nine shows annually and plays to tens of thousands of patrons in their home theatres and on tours. Rick holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Abilene Christian University and an MFA in Theatrical Design and Production from Texas Tech University.

Robert Laconi has worked in theater, film, radio, television, and children’s theater, as actor, director, manager, adjudicator, and producer with credits ranging from Broadway to Community Theatre.  In NYC he created Theatre Arts Center NY where hundreds of talented students have learned and performed and where he collaborated with over 55 Broadway Artists.  Directing credits include 15 years of productions in NYC and many shows and plays at several theatres in Bucks County PA.  On Broadway, he was Director of Development at Circle in the Square and was Associate to the Producer on the Tony nominated play, Enchanted April.  He has recently adjudicated and/or been a Guest Teaching Artist at several state Thespian Festivals, including Florida, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and the International Festival in Nebraska  As an actor, Robert has worked at several Off-Broadway theaters, including the internationally acclaimed LaMama Theatre, Playwrights Horizon, Odyssey Theater, All Souls Players, Theatre for a New City, Circle in the Square, and others.  In Regional Theatre, he has appeared in roles musical, comedic, and dramatic at Tibbits Opera House, Porthouse Summer Theater, Pennsylvania Stage, Weathervane Playhouse, Bear Creek Dinner Theatre, and Gateway Playhouse.  While living in Italy, Robert worked with the American Theatre Company of Rome.  Screen appearances include Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfella’s, Night of the Zombies, & a singer/dancer in Annie.  He holds a BFA in Theater and Acting from Kent State University with post graduate work at Fordham University School of Education.  Robert has also trained at HB Studios, Playwrights Horizons (directing), American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the National Theatre of Great Britain, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and privately with Julie Bovasso, Rina Yerulshalmi, Jane Hoffman, and Karen Kohlhaas.  He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild / AFTRA and Actors Equity. 

Roger Del Pozo is the Director of Outreach at the New York Film Academy

Mr. Del Pozo has been with the New York Film Academy for over a decade and loves working with Performing and Visual Artists. He has the pleasure of auditioning actors from all over the world for New York Film Academy’s Prestigious Acting and Musical Theatre Programs and has taught guest lectures on five continents.

In addition to his work at NYFA, Roger was a Casting Director in New York for over a decade. In that time, he cast hundreds of television commercials, voice-overs, and other projects for many of the top Casting Companies and Advertising Agencies in New York City. Some projects Mr. Del Pozo has cast includes National Campaigns for Apple, Microsoft, Dunkin’ Donuts, Fed Ex, Sony, AT & T, Fisher Price, Nickelodeon, Cheerios, Verizon, Ikea, Nintendo, Mercedes and Heineken.

He also has extensive experience as a Director, Performer, Educator and Private Acting Coach.

Roger Hanna has designed sets for theater, opera, and dance in Japan, Israel, and across the United States, including over 150 productions in New York City. Before joining CSU, Mr. Hanna’s teaching experience included NYU, Rutgers, SUNY, and the University of Miami. He has designed for universities including University of Minnesota, The New School, NYU, Point Park, Ramapo, Temple, and Yale, and served as resident designer for the Mannes Opera since 2004. He has also served as resident designer for Playwrights Theater of New York (2000-2004), the Gilgamesh Theater Group (1994-2002), and four discrete NYU Programs (1991-2001). Projects of note include repeated collaborations with Laura Alley, Jack Allison, Jonathan Bank, Trazana Beverly, Tracy Bersley, Joseph Colaneri, Nilo Cruz, Jackson Gay, Robin Guarino, Ron Jenkins, Susan Marshall, Eleanor Reissa, Jody Sperling, and Tommy Tune, at venues including Dance Theater Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow, The Mint Theater, Provincetown Playhouse, Sarasota Opera, Tennessee Shakespeare, and Yiddishpiel (Israel). Awards include the 2009 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Scenic design, as well as three Drama Desk nominations (2006, 2012, 2015), three Henry Hewes Design Award nominations (2011, 2012, 2015), and a Denver Center for the Performing ArtsTrue West Award for Scenic Design in 2017.  Mr. Hanna is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and holds a BA in Theater from UCLA, and an MFA in Set and Lighting Design from NYU, and is an Associate Professor of Set Design at Colorado State University.

ROYCE ROESWOOD's past stage credits include Hir (Miner's Alley); The Flick, Soul in Turmoil (Curious Theatre); Buried Child, boom (Edge Theater); Indiscretions (Germinal Stage); Twelfth Night (Off Center, WY); and Barefoot in the Park (Triumvirate Theatre, AK). He is currently performing with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's touring productions of The Comedy of Errors and Julius Caesar. Producing credits include An Interactive Theatre Experience Set in a Dystopian Future and Custom-Made One Act Play. Playwriting credits include Romeo and Juliet: Werewolves vs. Vampires and God Finds Religion. Improvisational credits include ComedySportz Denver, Makeshift Shakespeare, The Heirs of Hogwarts, and Denver's Next Improv Star. He is a teaching artist for Denver Center for the Performing Arts Education, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and the Bovine Metropolis Theater. He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a B.A. in Theatre Arts. He is also an audiobook narrator and mascot performer. Follow him on Twitter at @royceroeswood and on his website at www.roeswood.com.

Ruben Van Kempen is Seattle-based freelance director and artist. Former theatre educator of over 40 years and has taught/direcred for the Public School System, College/Universities and Regional Theatre. He has also served as Artistic Director in Music and Theatre Venues. His coaching and directing has been seen in Regional Theaters in the US, in the UK, Hawaii, Paris and on Broadway.  He directed two shows for the main stage at the International Thespian Festival, one of those starring a national cast plus  Hairspray’s Shaiman and Wittman. Ruben was inducted into the EdTA Hall of Fame- 2012, the WA Thespian Hall of Fame and the Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award which honors an individual who has devoted time, energy and talent to Seattle's theatre community.  He is currently an Resident Theatre Artist for TAA.

Robyn attended the University of Northern Colorado as a piano performance major. A seasoned performer, she has appeared in multiple theatre productions including Guys and Dolls, She Loves Me, Grease, West Side Story, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Singin’ In The Rain. Robyn’s musical performances were featured in the 2014 Bobby G Award winner Joseph, and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In addition to teaching and performing at the DCPA, she is the staff pianist for the Grammy Away-winning Cherry Creek High School vocal music department. She has been an accompanist, performer, instructor and arranger for more than 20 years. Robyn is a voice, piano, music theory and composition instructor. Her vocal arrangements have been featured in many performances including the Bobby G Awards ceremony. She has been the Musical Director for numerous shows with DCPA Education’s Teen Company and has provided musical direction for DCPA Education’s Master Class Projects.

Ryan is the owner of Envision Production Group and has been working as a theatrical and corporate designer for ten years. Recent credits in design include lighting for the Off-Broadway production of Wildcards in NYC & The Last Five Years (19K Productions Boulder) as well as audio design for Spamalot the musical, and full production design for Airborne Dance. He has been awarded several awards for design at the Colorado Community Theatre Collation with the St Vrain Theatre Company. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Metropolitan State University of Denver. He also enjoys  being a wedding DJ in his spare time.

Ryan Driscoll joined the UNC faculty in 2019 as Associate Professor and Head of Musical Theatre after previously serving as the Assistant Director of Music Theatre for the Program in Vocal Performance at New York University. Driscoll began his performing career when he was cast as the lead role of Hermie in "Summer of ‘42" which was developed at the Goodspeed Opera House and subsequently mounted in Ohio, California and Stamford, CT before opening off-Broadway at the Variety Arts Theatre. For his performance, Ryan won the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical and was nominated for Best Debut Performance by the Connecticut Critics Circle. He can be heard on the New York cast recording with Rachel York on JAY Records and is also featured with TV and film star Kristen Bell on the Fynsworth Alley recording of "Believe: The Songs of the Sherman Brothers." In addition to years as a professional actor, Driscoll has written orchestrations that have accompanied performers such as Laura Benanti, Stephen Pasquale and Patti LuPone. Ryan currently works as a Broadway music copyist, having prepared the orchestra music for such shows as "Come From Away", "Bright Star", "Gigi", "First Date", "Fun Home", "Tuck Everlasting", "Allegiance", "The Scottsboro Boys" and "Big Fish" among many others and has worked with composers and orchestrators such as Marvin Hamlisch, Stephen Flaherty, Andrew Lippa, Ricky Ian Gordon, Larry Hochman, August Eriksmoen and Bruce Coughlin to name a few. For his teaching experience, Driscoll co-developed a music theatre program at Columbia Secondary School in Harlem with no previous arts program that is now represented by over a quarter of the school's student population. Professor Driscoll is also a Visiting Guest Lecturer at Listaháskóli Íslands (Iceland University of the Arts) in Reykjavík, Iceland. Driscoll is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, The American Federation of Musicians and the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance. He holds a Bachelor and Master of Music in Vocal Performance and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Vocal Pedagogy all from New York University.

Currently an assistant professor of Acting/Directing at Nebraska Wesleyan University and an actor, director, educator, playwright, fight choreographer and dialect coach who has worked in multiple states around the Midwest and Midsouth. Information about his one-man version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, titled One-Ham Manlet can be found here: onehammanlet.com. Besides directing at NWU, other favorite projects include adapting and directing nine different Shakespeare plays for various companies; producing/directing works for the Minnesota Fringe Festival, including an original Canterbury Tales adaptation called Toward Canterbury and a solo show called Blue Collar Diaries; performing on stages like the Nebraska Repertory Theatre (Humble Boy), BLUEBARN Theater (Macbeth) Minnesota’s Jungle Theater (The Rivals), Playwright’s Center (The Sea Wolf), and Illusion Theater (Kung Fu Hamlet), as well as Memphis’ Playhouse on the Square (Spamalot) and Theatre Memphis (Doubt), in addition to roles in short and feature-length films and various commercials. Member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society and an Advanced Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Ryan Unangst comes from Romeo Music as an Educational Music Technology Specialist. Having taught elementary general music, middle school modern bands and digital music production, high school musical theater, and marching band percussion and technology, in addition to having years of experience with educational and performance technologies has given him a unique lens into the application of technology in classroom and ensemble settings, and how it can best serve the development of students and educators alike.

Saffron Henke is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Colorado State University, and a member of the Performance faculty at the the Hollins Playwright's Lab. A longtime member of the Actor’s Equity Association, she has performed at many regional theatres, including Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Idaho Rep, Seattle Children’s Theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (two seasons) , Riverside Theatre, and the Furious Theatre Company. She was also an Associate Artist and acting company member for four seasons at the Sacramento Theatre Company, and served as Director of STC-2, a 10- month young professionals training conservatory. She has taught at Miami University, the University of Southern California, the Center Theatre Group, and at A Noise Within Theatre, St. Ambrose University, the University of Iowa, and directed at a variety of professional and academic venues, and is the Artistic Director of The Brink Theatre Company, a company focused on doing site specific new work. www.saffronhenke.com

Saffron is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. Previously, Saffron was at Miami University in Oxford, OH where she has established The Brink Theatre Company, and serves as its Artistic Director. She has worked as a professional actor, director, and educator for many years. She received her M.F.A. from the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Washington, during which she also performed with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Idaho Rep, Seattle Children’s Theatre and the Recklinghausen Ruhrfestspiele in Germany. She then joined the acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (two seasons) where she also devised and directed The Pale Fire Project. From there she became an Associate Artist and resident acting company member for four seasons at the Sacramento Theatre Company, where she was also the Director of STC-2, a 10 month young professionals training conservatory. ​

With STC-2, she developed and directed The Tale, a rock musical about Greek mythology that toured Greece and headlined the Mioulia Festival. Her last West Coast stop was in Los Angeles, where she taught (University of Southern California, Center Theatre Group, A Noise Within Theatre), assistant directed The Heretic Mysteries with David Bridel, and expanded her on-camera resume, including a web series for HBO’s True Blood, and played Fiona in the online series for Web Therapy.

​A Midwest native, she has worked with Working Group Theatre and Riverside Theatre as an actor and voice/text coach. She has directed at Coe and Augustana Colleges (Women in the Shadow, Metamorphoses, The Bock-Eye), and taught and directed at St. Ambrose University (Les Liaisons Dangereuses), Cornell College (In the Next Room/Vibrator Play), ChiARTS, and the Englert School of Performing Arts (Bugsy Malone). Most recently, she assistant directed George De La Pena in Music IC’s production of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat. Recent highlights include playing Arkadina in a film version of The Seagull, and playing a meditation guru in the recent feature, Being. Her full length digital theatre/ directorial film debut of Jordan Tannahill’s Concord Floral was also released in 2020.

A longtime member of the Actor’s Equity Association, Saffron is also the recipient of the 2005 Princess Grace Foundation Honorarium for Emerging Artists, an SAFD certified actor/combatant and yoga teacher (200hr RYT).

Samuel Wood received his MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory. After graduation, he lived in South Carolina where he was co-chair for the Charleston County School of the Arts’ Theatre Department. Additionally, he was a faculty member for Trident Technical College’s Speech Department. While in Charleston, Mr. Wood directed and taught for The Charleston Stage Company. He also was privileged to be both a director and an actor in productions for the Spoleto Festival USA. For the last twelve years he has worked in the world of Applied Theatre using theatre as the vehicle to address social injustice and health equity across the state of Colorado for Kaiser Permanente.

Santana Trujillo is a graduate of AMDA College of the Performing Arts with her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance Theatre. She has performed and choreographed for Royal Caribbean cruise ships, Denver Nuggets Halftimes, and for the Harlem Globetrotters.  Santana is the co owner and director of Gayton Dance Studio in Northglenn, CO. She has choreographed for several high school dance teams and musical theatre programs across the world. Santana recently returned from South Africa, where she was teaching and recruiting at the International Talent Arts Showcase! Denver born and raised, Santana loves returning to Colorado to share all the knowledge she has acquired throughout her journey.

Sarah Jane began working for Playbill, Inc. in 2011 and is currently the Director of Education. Sarah Jane oversees the day to day operations for Playbill’s main educational websites PLAYBILLder and all special educational initiatives for the company. Playbill's educational initiatives include: BroadwayCon, Junior Theatre Festival, International Thespian Festival, Broadway Teachers Workshop and partnerships with the NYC DOE, iTheatrics, Educational Theatre Association and NEA. Sarah Jane is a former opera singer and received her M.M. from NYU, B.A. from Marymount Manhattan College and is a member of the Educational Theatre Association’s Alumni Counsel. 

Sasha Fisher trained at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in her native London and is an Associate and Licentiate of LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art). She has twice earned London's Time Out Critics's Choice award for her work in classical theatre. In addition to her work on stage and screen, she has taught and directed theatre for over 30 years.

Sean Samuels, Alum of AMDA has had success on Broadway performing in Tarzan the musical, Curtains, and Spiderman Turn off the dark.  He now resides in Los Angeles and has recently been seen in episodes of The Goldbergs, Jane the Virgin and Bosch.  He can also be seen as a series regular on Issa Rae’s Youtube hit scripted  series “Giants”.

Sierra is an avid dancer and choreographer origionally from Los Angeles , California, although she now teaches and studies in Fort Collins. She is a CA Thespian Alumni and Honor Thespian, and has choreographed and performed in musicals such as The Little Mermaid, Singin’ in the Rain, and the West Coast Premiere of Freaky Friday the Musical. Sierra is known by her students and colleagues for her positivity and determination- she believes everyone can dance!

Sierra La Rue has choreographed a variety of musicals and has an extensive musical theatre background, starting out her passion as an Honor Thespian in Claremont High School's Troupe 2129. During her time in Southern California, Sierra assisted and choreographed a number of musicals including Honk Jr, Lion King Kids, Aladdin Kids, and 101 Dalmatians Kids. Since moving to Northern Colorado in 2019, she has choreographed for high school and middle school musical theatre programs and has been proud to present Meet Me in St. Louis, Matilda, The Little Mermaid, Mean Girls, Little Shop of Horrors! and many others.

Sierra recently graduated from Colorado State University with her BFA in Dance. She is now continuing to expand her resume with very exciting works up and coming, while also teaching and coaching dance.

Please I just wanna see the schedule

I have been working in casting for a little over 3 years now at offices such as Telsey+ Co, April Webster, CBS Network (under Peter Golden), 20th Century FOX (under Sharon Klein), Francine Maisler, and now I am currently at Rich Delia casting! Over the years I have worked on projects such as: THIS IS US, GOOD BOYS, BRIGHTBURN, DIETLAND, COLONY, and many other projects that I have either been apart of or helped with. At my year at 20th Century FOX I helped oversee the casting process of all our current airing shows.. ranging at around 55. Casting is my passion and I can’t wait for the many projects to come in my future.
I am looking to widen my skills, vocabulary and knowledge of actors to become the best casting professional I can be and would love to have the opportunity to work together.

After years in the room, I am particular with my notes and I pride myself on getting an actor to their best audition with quick ability to comprehend material and tend to an actors strengths. I am great at coaching and making the actor feel comfortable and confident by the end of their session! I also have a great deal of experience working with children actors working at summer camps are performance academies over the years.

https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm8136680/?ref_=instant_nm_1&q=skyler%20zurn

Sondra Blanchard is artistic director of the award-winning Public Works Theatre Company, based in Lafayette, CO. She has been performing, teaching, and making new theatre for 30 years. She is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz,  the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and holds an MFA in Theatre: Contemporary Performance from Naropa University. Sondra has worked in regional theatre, toured nationally and worked internationally as a choreographer and acting coach. Locally, Sondra has performed with Band of Toughs, the Catamounts, Zen Cabaret, Theatre V, and at the Civic Theatre. She has taught at CU Boulder, the Arvada Center, Rocky Mountain Theatre for Kids, The Art Underground, Arts Hub, Mountain Vista High School, Community College of Aurora, and was adjunct faculty at Naropa University and UNC Greeley. Sondra was a Fulbright Fellow – Greece in 2014, teaching collaborative playwriting at Aristotle University. Please visit her Website at www.publicworkstheatre.com.

Stacey D’Angelo currently serves as director of theatre at the Community College of Aurora and has been with the college since 2008.  She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Ithaca College and an MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University where she studied the unique techniques of Moment Work with Moises Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski and Tectonic Theatre Project; Viewpoints; Roy Hart Vocal Technique and Grotowski Physical Acting.  She is active in the Denver theatre community and works in original ensemble theatre creation. Stacey is passionate about leading the CCA Theatre program in creating exciting and relevant new theatre. “All my classes and productions are geared towards exploring possibilities on stage through utilizing the student’s voice and perspective on the issues they face in our society today. Each production pushes the envelope and explores a post modern approach to theatre – always asking –  how can we tell story in ways it hasn’t been done before and how can we make theatre relevant to who we are as a community?

Stephen Gregg’s play, This is a Test, helped define a genre of large-cast one-acts when it appeared in 1988.  Since then, he’s published over twenty plays for schools to perform, including Small Actors, One Lane Bridge, The New Margo, S.P.A.R., Twitch, Wake-Up Call, Sex Lives of Superheroes and Crush, which was produced on the mainstage of the International Thespian Festival in 2016. His new one-act is called Why We Like Love Stories.

He’s been the recipient of a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright’s Center of Minneapolis; the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award for best ten-minute play (A Private Moment) and the International Thespian Society’s Founders’ Award for Service to youth and theatre. Crush was developed during a residency at the William Inge Center for the Arts.

Gregg teaches himself to write plays, one tweet at a time, at @playwrightnow. 

Steven is an Associate Professor at the University of Denver, where he is the Chair & Technical Director for the Department of Theatre. At DU, he teaches Stage Management, Sound Design, Properties, Lighting and Stage Technology. Steven's current area of focus is DU's Tech Theatre Intern Project, which provides DU students with paid opportunities to work with professional companies and designers in a supportive setting that prepares them for work in the entertainment industry. Recent TTIP projects include American Son and Heroes of the Fourth Turning for Curious Theatre Company, BETC's Touring Theatre Truck, and Footloose for Parker Arts.  Previously, Steven has worked with Athena Project, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, Parker Arts/Sasquatch, Little Theatre of the Rockies, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Phamaly, and the Great River Shakespeare Festival.

New York City-based Steven J. West is an actor, college audition coach, theatremaker, and performance consultant. He has been seen on stages in NYC and across the country in everything from Shel Silverstein to Shakespeare!

His private students have appeared on Broadway and national touring productions of Mean Girls, Gypsy, Matilda, Billy Elliot, A Christmas Story, and The Music Man. They have been accepted to some of our country’s most prestigious training programs including, the University of Michigan, Baldwin Wallace University, Penn State, Ithaca College The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Nazareth College, and more.

Steven has been privileged to share his passion for theatre with students of all ages, from Pre-K to graduate level, in various educational settings across the US, including private, parochial, and public schools in NYC, the tri-state area, and nationwide. In 2019, he received recognition for his work with students on the autism spectrum at Arts for Autism, an annual Broadway benefit concert held at the Gershwin Theater (home of Wicked) and hosted by Kelli O’Hara.

Steven Workman holds an M.F.A. from Indiana University in Theatre Technology, and a B.F.A. from the University of South Dakota in Theatre Design and Technology. Before coming to CSU, Steven worked as technical eirector for the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Brown County Playhouse, and The University of South Dakota Playhouse. Other positions include shop foreman for The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, as well as multiple summers with the Black Hills Playhouse.

Steve Stevens has worked in Musical Direction and Sound Sculpture for theatres in Colorado and New York. Some of his notable works include Arvada’s Les Misérables, The Crucible, Miss Saigon, Sunset Boulevard, and Ragtime; Albany Capital Repertory’s To Kill A Mockingbird and The Taming Of The Shrew; and CSF's Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream. His work has garnered numerous award nominations. His musical, Little Women, The Musical, was awarded Best New Play in 1998, and he was awarded the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 Henry Award for Outstanding Sound Design.

Stuart is the Technical Director for DCPA Education. He was the Technical Director and Associate Producer for the Littleton Town Hall Arts Center from 1999 through 2007. He has been involved in the entertainment world since 1985 with a career that has spanned technical directing, producing, set design, lighting design, acting, directing, stage managing, and radio broadcasting. Colorado theatres where Stuart has designed or built sets include: Town Hall Arts Center, The Arvada Center, Country Dinner Playhouse, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre, PHAMALY, The Aurora Fox, Imagination Makers, and Colorado Stage Company. Stuart has taught set construction at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and Arapahoe Community College. He has directed for Coal Creek Community Theatre and Lafayette Community Theatre. Stuart has also performed for television, film, outdoor drama, theme parks, regional and community theatres and is a member of Actor’s Equity. His broadcasting credits include radio stations WSIF and WKBC. He has done pre-show announcements for Horn in the West Outdoor Drama, Town Hall Arts Center, and the Conservatory Theatre.

Stuart Stone has been casting for over 20 years and has cast Hundreds of commercials and cast thousands of actors for domestic and worldwide television media. He has built a reputation on drive, creativity, passion and innovation in supplying the Commercial, Television, Film & new media.  Stuart is a Clio and Emmy award winning casting director and is best known for many of his unique, high profile campaigns for Apple, Purina, Kellogg's, Pizza Hut, Jeep, Home Depot, Sony, and Subway, to name a few. Stuart has cast Union, Non-Union and real people around the country and his steadfast commitment to finding what the client is looking for has enabled him to work with many established production companies, directors and advertising agencies. While casting Stuart has created workshops and classes utilizing his knowledge from behind the camera to teach actors what works in front of the camera to give memorable auditions and book the job. Stuart is also the author of the top selling book "The Keys to Commercial Acting". He is often invited to guest speak and teach around the country His passion in casting and teaching is why he is a go to casting director and acting coach.

Susan Pilar has performed in New York with Lincoln Center (Broadway), Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public Theatre (NYSF), Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Raw Space (Actor's Studio). Her regional credits include; the Guthrie Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco, The Shakespeare Theatre (The Folger), Passage Theatre and the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Her TV and Film credits include: Law & Order, The Cosby Show, One Life to Live, Guiding Light and the independent movie, The Waiting Room. Susan moved to New York where she continues to work and live. When not performing, Susan is busy teaching, directing and coaching privately. She is also proud to be a core faculty instructor at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she has been teaching and directing for the past 14 years. Susan also teaches acting and audition technique at the T. Schreiber studio. Currently she co-created The FUSE with casting director Scott Wojcik, which is in its 7th successful year.

Degrees and Studies
MFA, American Conservatory Theatre; BFA, University of Southern California; Fellowship, The Shakespeare Theatre–The Folger: Performance credits include Lincoln Center–Broadway, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public–NYSF, The Guthrie, Ensemble Studio Theatre; Founder of Reel Intentions, a production company that creates actor demo reels

Tamara Meneghini is a professional actor, voice/movement coach, and teaching artist.; She belongs to the Actor’s Equity Association (AEA), the Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME), and the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Colorado Boulder where she teaches courses in acting, movement, voice, Shakespeare, Period Styles, and Musical Theatre. Most recently she completed the international training program, Arscomica Scuola Internazionale dell’Attore Comico with Antonio Fava in Italy in the style of Commedia Dell’Arte with artists from all over the globe.  Most recently she has been touring two productions, THE TESTAMENT OF MARY (as Mary) and ELIZABETH I – In Her Own Words (as Elizabeth), with her own theatre company, Goddess Here Productions and is currently developing a new work with collaborator, Ami Dayan to be part of the upcoming Theatre – Made in Boulder festival in early 2018.  As an actor, director, and teaching artist she has received many awards and grants to continue to develop and share her passion for the fusion of body, voice and the actor poet.  www.goddesshere.com

Tamara Meneghini is an actor, voice, stage movement & intimacy coach, director, and teaching artist. She teaches courses in acting, voice, movement, musical theatre, and leads the annual Senior Showcase to NY/LA. She is one of the co-founders and lead facilitators of the Rocky Mountain Artists’ Safety Alliance (RMASA) having developed the Colorado Theatre Standards with regionally-based artists and theatres, is a voice coach at Articulate Real & Clear (Denver), and a guest teaching artist at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Previous teaching positions include the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film – University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Creighton University, University of the Arts-Philadelphia, and the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts in New York. Degrees/certifications/membership: MFA/Acting (Northern Illinois University), BA in Theatre/Music Performance (University of St. Mary), a Fitzmaurice Voicework Associate, Williamson Movement Technique master teacher, Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME), and the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA), Kennedy Center Partners in Education (teaching artist), IDEAs (member). Additional training: Antonio Fava – ArscomicA (Italy), Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (NY), Theatre Intimacy Education, Giovanni Fusetti (Helikos – International School of Theatre Creation).

Tami is the director of Colorado Thespians. She is a 19 year veteran high school theatre teacher and the director at Lakewood High School.

Tandy Versyp is a Seattle-based screenwriter, who has written pilots for IFC Channel and co-produced Sudden Owl, the web-adaptation of NPR's The Moth Storytelling Hour. In addition to recruiting for New York Film Academy, he has been known to perform comedy and help children overcome illiteracy. 

Tara Wolfe is the President and Producing Artistic Director of Human, Kind Theater Project. A seasoned improviser, director, producer, and educator, Tara earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with Dual Honors in Directing, Playwriting, and Production from the University of the Arts, and her Master of Arts in Professional Creative Writing from the University of Denver. Dedicated to supporting her community with kindness and artistic excellence, Tara co-founded Human, Kind in 2016. Her work has also been seen at theaters around Colorado such as Curious Theatre Company, Voodoo Comedy Playhouse, and Evergreen Players. www.hktheaterproject.com

Ted Stark began working in theatrical costume construction in 1987 with The Virginia Shakespeare Festival and The Juilliard School. Over the years he has made costumes for numerous organizations and productions including 17 seasons at The Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Chicago Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Washington Opera, Alley Theatre, Huntington Theatre and a number of Broadway productions including The Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, The Sound of Music and, most recently, A Christmas Story, The Musical. Ted is an Assistant Teaching Professor, Costume Production Manager, and heads the BFA Design/Tech/Management program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Ted also runs tascocouture in Denver, building costumes for professional performance.

Thomas Schultheis (Teaching Artist Thomas) created the Creativity & Inspiration Workshop, Let Me Try That Again, Musical Theatre Exploration Clinic, Signs & Synchronicity, and TikTok Musicals: Exploration & Activation. He received his MA in Strategic Communications from National University and BS in Psychology from James Madison University. He is on the Musical Theatre Competitions of America Creative Team and is The Spark File Select Group Creativity Coaching Team Captain. Additionally, Thomas worked for 15 years at the Disneyland® Resort with the Disney Performing Arts program. He has performed on Broadway in the revival of Grease! and tours of Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Chicago, and South Pacific. Thomas founded The Educators Collective, bringing together exceptional leaders in education, and created The Educators Collective Virtual Summit in 2021.

Tim Evanicki is a celebrated Juilliard-educated voice teacher and singer, who has traveled extensively, singing on some of the world’s most prestigious stages.

As a celebrated voice teacher, Mr. Evanicki has prepared his students go on to follow in his footsteps, attending some of the nation’s leading music schools and musical theater programs. His students have been seen on the stages of Broadway, Regional Theatre, National Tours, London’s West End, and in Feature Films.

Tim has been preparing students for their college auditions for 18 years. As a sought-after master class clinician in the areas of voice and college audition preparation, Tim tours the country each year working with thousands of students.  He is author of the book “The College Audition: A Guide for High School Students Pursuing a Degree in Theatre” and the host of The College Audition Podcast, available on all major podcast networks.

“The College Audition” is available on Amazon.com in paperback and as an e-book on Kindle.

Tim Evanicki is a celebrated Juilliard-educated voice teacher and singer, who has traveled extensively, singing on some of the world’s most prestigious stages. With 14 years’ experience as a vocal coach, Mr. Evanicki has prepared his students go on to follow in his footsteps, attending some of the nation’s leading music schools and musical theater programs. His students have been seen on the stages of Broadway, Regional Theatre, National Tours, London’s West End, and in Feature Films. Tim has been preparing students for their college auditions for 14 years. His clients have been admitted to NYU Tisch, NYU Steinhardt, Carnegie Mellon, Point Park, Baldwin Wallace, CCM, Boston Conservatory, Syracuse, Pace, and other top musical theatre programs across the country. He is author of the book “The College Audition: A Guide for High School Students Pursuing a Degree in Theatre.” He has worked extensively as a master class clinician and adjudicator, working with soloists and choirs for the Florida State Thespian Conference, The Florida Vocal Association, The Miss America Organization, The Cinderella International Scholarship Pageant, The Florida Theatre Conference, Edgewater High School’s “Flying High” ensemble, and the Lake Highland Preparatory School Choirs. As a musical director, Tim has worked with Oviedo High School, Winter Springs High School, Winter Park High School, The Winter Park Playhouse, The Master Class Academy, In the Limelight, The Downstairs Cabaret Theatre in Rochester, NY, and Buck’s Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp in New Milford, CT.

“The College Audition” is available on Amazon.com in paperback and as an e-book on Kindle. For more information, please visit www.timevanicki.com, and his studio website www.thevocaltechnician.com. Tim is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, The Florida Association for Theatre Education, The National Association for Teachers of Singing, and The Educational Theatre Association (Thespian Society).

A native of the D.C. Metro area, and graduate of Catawba College North Carolina, Tim has called Denver, Colorado home for 14 years.   He has been in the Theatre Industry over 30 years. When he isn’t presenting workshops across the country, he works at The Denver Center Theatre Academy, Denver School of the Arts, and The Wolf Theatre Academy.  Some of Tim’s directing credits include A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Scapino!, Bridge to Terabithia, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing,  Comedy of Errors, The Moon is Down, Blythe Spirit, The Good Doctor, On the Verge, The Dining Room, and House and Garden.  He has appeared in Oleana (John), The Glass Menagerie (Jim), Amadeus (Mozart & Emperor Joseph), True West (Austin), Measure for Measure (Lucio & Duke), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Demetrius), Macbeth (Malcolm), and Henry IV / Richard III (King Edward).  Along with his work on the stage, Tim can be seen in film and TV productions of Three Pages, Chasing the Dragon, Shift, The Closest Thing to Heaven, and Dawson's Creek.  You can find his article "Sharper Contrast" in the January 2013 issue of Dramatic's Magazine.

Mr. McCracken is the Head of Acting for the Adult Program at the DCPA – Education Department. He is a professional actor, director, teacher and playwright, having performed in theatre, television and film for over 25 years. He has appeared in numerous theatre productions in New York City, including with the New York Shakespeare Festival and New York Theatre Workshop, and in regional theatres around the country. He has performed locally in numerous productions with the DCPA Theatre Company including the upcoming production of Anna Karenina, Curious Theatre Co., the Arvada Center, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, BETC, Local Theatre Co., and Stories on Stage. He has appeared in film, television, and numerous national commercials over the years. Timothy has taught at many universities nationally. He has an MFA in Theatre from the DCPA’s National Theatre Conservatory, and a BA in Theatre from Whitman College.

Tom McNally is a Professor Emeritus from the University of Northern Colorado and a teaching artist for DCPA and DSA. His textbook, Acting: The Active Process (Kendall Hunt) has been used in high schools and colleges throughout the United States. Prior to UNC, Tom was head of acting and coordinator of undergraduate studies at Penn State University. In addition, during his 43 years of teaching, Tom has directed 130 productions, done over 300 workshops, and many keynote speeches at national theatre conferences. He has been given the National EDTA Founders and Hall of Fame awards. Tom was also recognized by the Colorado "Henry" Organization with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Colorado Theatre.

TRAVIS KENT is a proud Colorado native. Broadway: Disaster! (Workman/Chef, understudy for Adam Pascal; Nederlander Theater). Other New York: Paris Through the Window (Marc Chagall; Abingdon Theater Co.), The Last Word (Neil; The Duke Theater), Pyre Cantata (Polyneices; HERE Arts Center), Travis Kent: My First Time (54 Below), From Rodgers to Heart directed by Sutton Foster (Joe’s Pub). Regional: Hair (Claude; Lake Dillon Theatre Co.), Next to Normal (Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine; Tantrum Theater). Film: The One (Bearded Man; independent short). Proud graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, where he had the honor of playing Jean Paul Marat in the Liz Swados directed Marat/Sade. Travis is currently developing his original television series Plain Jane starring Jane Willingham.

Additionally, Travis is a graduate of Chatfield High School in Littleton and won the Critic’s Choice Award at the Colorado State Thespian Conference. He is a champion formerly competitive Irish dancer as well as a studio artist. He recently taught the workshops “It’s a Disaster!: Choreography from the Broadway Show” and “So You Think You Can Riverdance?” at the Florida State Thespian Conference.

For more information, please visit traviskent.co.

Trevor Strahan is an actor, director, designer, producer, and teaching artist originally from Houston, Texas. After graduating with a Bachelor's in Fine Arts in Acting from the Oklahoma City University School of Theatre he moved to Chicago to officially begin his artistic career in the Midwest. Trevor is also a proud and active member of The Academy of Fight Director's Canada where he is an Intermediate Actor Combatant. On top of his role as an actor combatant and violence designer Trevor is also the Executive Director of Chicago's newest  Theatre Company: Theatre Evolve. Trevor has worked as an artistic professional in Houston and Dallas, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Birmingham, Alabama and most notably Chicago, Illinois. Favorite projects include most recently providing a staff development class centered around building safe violence choreography for the third largest public school district in the state of Texas and working as the Associate Fight Choreographer for The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's most successful and wifely attended production of Macbeth. 

tristan regini.

Tyrick Wiltez Jones has appeared in the Broadway productions of Finian’s Rainbow (Howard) and Hairspray. National Tours: Seussical, Fosse, Show Boat. NY/Regional credits: A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, Chicago, Soup Soap & Salvation, and the New York City Center ‘ENCORES!’ production of Finian’s Rainbow (Henry). Concert credits: PHISH 2011 New Year’s Eve concert at Madison Square Garden (featured singer/dancer), Mary Wilson of the Supremes Motown/Rock and Roll North America Tour (featured background singer), US Premiere of Sacred Ellington starring Jessye Norman with the Carnegie Hall ‘HONOR’ Series. Tyrick received 2015 Detroit Broadway World awards for Best Actor in Once on This Island and Best Choreographer for his work on The Bikinis. He has been featured in many readings/workshops in NYC and has made numerous film and TV appearances throughout the U.S. and Europe. Back to Me, an Independent Short he starred in, traveled the Film Festival Circuits. He choreographed Shimmer and Shine on Nickelodeon and he also worked as Assistant Choreographer for the film Joyful Noise with Queen Latifah & Dolly Parton. Tyrick’s voice was heard singing background off-Broadway in John Tartaglia’s Imaginocean. A popular NYC Triple Threat Arts Educator, Tyrick teaches Master Classes all across the US and particularly enjoys working with young, up-and-coming performers through programs like Broadway Artists Alliance of NYC, where he has been on the faculty for the past 12 years. www.BroadwayArtistsAlliance.org,  www.tyrickwiltezjones.com

Valeriya Nedviga is a final year M.F.A. candidate in Scenic Design at Indiana University. She designed for Red Tape Theatre and Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Chicago, and The Tank theatre in New York City. She also worked as Production Assistant for the Ohio State Opera and Lyric Theatre and as a critic in residence for BorderLight Cleveland International Theatre and Fringe Festival. Her sound design for Twelfth Night has won Sound Design Award in the Design/Tech Competition at the 2021 SETC Virtual Convention; she also received Properties Design and Construction award and Technical Direction award at SETC 73rd Annual Convention.

Violette earned her post graduate degree in Actor Training and Coaching from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She has since worked coaching actors individually and training actors in the classroom throughout the United States. Violette is also an instructor in the Emotional Body and Alba Method for Emotional Regulation and has training in Theatrical Intimacy. She is currently the theatre director at Western Nebraska Community College.

Walt Jones, who joined the CSU Theatre program in 2006, is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. As a teacher of acting, directing, and playwriting, he has served on the faculty at Yale School of Drama, and University of California, San Diego. He has directed twice on Broadway, six plays off-Broadway, including the American premiere of Howard Barker's No End of Blame at Manhattan Theatre Club, and over sixty plays in more than twenty regional theatres from Cambridge to Fairbanks and productions in Soviet Russia and in Tokyo. He directed world premiere productions of plays by Thomas Babe, Lanford Wilson, Naomi Iizuka, Jos Rivera, Arthur Kopit, Jim Yoshimura, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Sam Shepard and David Mamet, John Pielmeier, Derek Walcott and Christopher Durang. Among the many actors Walt has directed are Meryl Streep, Roc Dutton, John Turturro, Tony Shaloub, Nathan Lane, Liev Schreiber, Angie Bassett, Christopher Walken, Jason Alexander, Michael Gross, Lindsey Crouse, Linda Hunt, Sigourney Weaver, Peter MacNicol, Frances Conroy, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Lewis Black, Mariel Hemingway, John Goodman, Christopher Lloyd, Kevin Kline, Paul Guilfoyle, Bill Sadler, Athol Fugard, Max Wright, William H. Macy, Ed O'Neill, and Tony Award-winning stage actor, Jefferson Mays. Mr. Jones was a staff director at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference from 1980-1990, and directed regularly for the Yale Rep, Arena Stage, and the American Repertory Theatre. He is the author of The 1940s Radio Hour and A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol, both published by Samuel French, Inc.

Walt Jones, who joined the CSU Theatre program in 2006, is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. As a teacher of acting and directing, he has served on the faculty at Yale School of Drama, and University of California, San Diego.

He has directed twice on Broadway, six plays off-Broadway, including the American premiere of Howard Barker's No End of Blame at Manhattan Theatre Club, and over sixty plays in more than twenty regional theatres from Cambridge to Fairbanks and productions in Soviet Russia and in Tokyo. He directed world premiere productions of plays by Thomas Babe, Lanford Wilson, Naomi Iizuka, Jos Rivera, Arthur Kopit, Jim Yoshimura, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Sam Shepard and David Mamet, John Pielmeier, Derek Walcott and Christopher Durang. Among the many actors Walt has directed are Meryl Streep, Roc Dutton, John Turturro, Tony Shaloub, Nathan Lane, Liev Schreiber, Angie Bassett, Christopher Walken, Jason Alexander, Michael Gross, Lindsey Crouse, Linda Hunt, Sigourney Weaver, Peter MacNicol, Frances Conroy, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Lewis Black, Mariel Hemingway, John Goodman, Christopher Lloyd, Kevin Kline, Paul Guilfoyle, Bill Sadler, Athol Fugard, Max Wright, William H. Macy, Ed O'Neill, and Tony Award-winning stage actor, Jefferson Mays. Mr. Jones was a staff director at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference from 1980-1990, and directed regularly for the Yale Rep, Arena Stage, and the American Repertory Theatre. He is the author of The 1940s Radio Hour and A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol, both published by Samuel French, Inc.

Wes Halloran (he/him) is a lighting and sound designer, moving light programmer, production electrician, and A1. He originally hails from Memphis, Tennessee but has called Colorado home for 12 years. As a production electrician and moving light programmer, Wes has worked with Lamont Opera, Barrington Stage Company, Local Theatre Company, Town Hall Arts Center, and GaiaTV, among others. He has also designed or mixed sound for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center, Barrington Stage, and a few bands here and there.

As head of the Electrics and the Lighting Shop at CSU, Wes supervises the installation and maintenance of all lighting systems in 6 venues, teaches Lighting 1 and 2, and mentors lighting and sound students in console programming and systems engineering.

As head audio at Colorado Shakes, he mixes all performances in the 1,000 seat outdoor theatre, and he has served as in-house associate sound designer and production audio on 18 productions there.

Wes holds a B.F.A. in Lighting and Sound Design from the University of Colorado and is a proud member of IATSE Local 7. He is fluent in Digico, Yamaha, Studer, Soundcraft, Midas, and ETC Eos consoles. He has a cat named Harold.

William Goldyn was nominated by his students and was further honored by the Fulfillment Fund organization as one of the top twenty-five educators in Los Angeles. He is a National Board Certified Teacher and a Center Theatre Group Bravo award recipient who has directed over 45 high school productions, including the California Educational Theatre Association’s award-winning productions of Noises Off, Steel Magnolias, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone as well as the Jerry Herman’s Best Musical nominee In The Heights.  His MA thesis production of The Crucible was selected to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, the largest arts festival in the world.  Besides receiving an MA in Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado, Mr. Goldyn was also educated in Prague and Vienna, being one of only fifteen teachers in the United States for an NEH Scholarship.  He currently teaches all levels of acting, theatre directing, advanced speech and is the proud sponsor of Troupe #7573.  Through the incredible International Thespian Send-a-Troupe opportunity, Mr. Goldyn and his students were selected just a few years ago to receive a grant and attend the annual International Thespian National Conference in Lincoln, NE.   

William LeDent SAG/AFTRA, AEA REGIONAL: Bates & Grey in Henry V; Curan & Knight in King Lear; Man 2/Murderer in Richard II at Shakespeare Theatre Company; King Duncan/Porter in Macbeth, Claudius in Hamlet, MacDuff in Macbeth, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, Tranio in Taming of the Shrew, Dee (Titus, Macbeth, Edgar, Thisby) in Kill Will at Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre; Catesby/Murders in Richard III at Baltimore Shakespeare Festival; Illinois Shakespeare Festival: Lucius in Titus Andronicus, Grumio in Taming of the Shrew, Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream; Lyceum Theater: Sweating Palms; The Stage House Theater: George in Of Mice and Men, Jack in Importance of Being Earnest, Maurice Duclos in Fallen Angels, Marco the Magnificent in Carnival, Bishop Howe in The Elephant Man; S.A.A. Summer Shakespeare: Constable/Montjoy in Henry V; Lamp Lighter Theater: George Spelvin in The Actor’s Nightmare FILM: King Lear, Bare Knuckle, The Last Airbender, Bourne 5, The Fix, Progeny, What the Man Wants TELEVISION: American Titans, A Haunting, Legends and Lies, A Stranger in My Home AWARDS: Helen Hayes best Ensemble Cast for King Lear at Shakespeare Theatre Company. VOICE OVER: Fallout 4 DLC, Environmental Protection Agency, Philadelphia Convention Center TEACHING: Teaching Artist at Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre; Adjunct Professor of Acting at Stevenson University; Teacher/Choreographer at DC Stunt Coalition; Assistant Teacher at Point Loma High TRAINING: George Washington University’s Academy for Classical Acting w/The Shakespeare Theatre Company: MFA in Classical Acting. University of California, Los Angeles: BFA in Acting;

Rythm EFX is a local, family owned company, owned by 2 Fort Collins Natives and founded in 2010. Rythm EFX was founded on a passion for Music, Production, Theatre and the passion of the people behind it all. We are based out of Fort Collins, 4 generations here in the local community and understand keeping sources and services local is important to most. Doing so, we are able to better communicate design concepts & processes as well as having a personal connection to the Colorado area and people we are working with. We have over 20 years in experience in Special Effects, Lighting and Event Production as well as Professional Lighting Design. We have a passion for Event Lighting, Special Effects, Custom Prop Building & Entertainment Events as well as working in the local community. When we began in 2010, our goal was to bring to the stage, a live production that was new, unique and cohesive to the event that the client was promoting. We were tired of seeing random lighting and thoughtless stage design that seemed pieced together to make things easy. We wanted to make a stage look and feel ALIVE and present that to the audience or guests so that that they could have the experience that they came for! We put thought into every single event, no matter what the budget is! We have found ways to make smaller budgets work with less expensive materials and we have ways to make events even greater with budgets that are larger. We are all about making your daydreams come true! What you pictured your event to look like, we can make that happen! Our designers and team members can fulfill the visions and goals you are looking for in bringing the event a great event, every single time.

Zack Frongillo, a Littleton Colorado native, began his theatric career in high school by attending Thescon every year. As a senior, Zack was selected to be an STO for the 2014 Thespian Conference. Zack would later be selected by the Thespian Festival in Lincoln Nebraska as a featured dancer in the opening production of An Evening With: Alan Menken. Zack would go accept a scholarship with the University of Nevada Las Vegas on a BFA track in Dance Performance and Choreography. While in school he performed with the the company “Dancescapes” which gave him the opportunity to perform around the world while perusing his degree. Zack was also selected to be the youngest company member in history for the Eric Hawkins Company. Shortly after a tour in Korea, Zack joined the Vegas Golden Knights as a performer and stage manager. He performed for 18,000 fans a night and performed in the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals. After 4 years with the Knights, Zack was reached out to by Jesse Cole and The Savannah Bananas to join the team in 2021. Zack would go on to join the Bananas family after the spring series in 2021 as the Director of Entertainment. Most recently Zack was a featured personality on ESPN+ Original Show – “Bananaland”. Zack has also worked and produced for UNLV Hockey and assisted in regional tournaments with organizations such as the Pac-12, Mountain West, and WAC.