(2005) Bethany Aiken is delighted to work with ACT again after assistant music directing Bye Bye Birdie this past summer. A recent graduate of Oberlin College, Bethany accompanied productions of The Last Five Years, Pippin, and Sweeney Todd and sang with the Oberlin College Choir. She has previously worked with Bedford Summer Adventures Junior Summerstock, serving as assistant music director and pianist for Tom Sawyer, Bye Bye Birdie, and Give My Regards to Broadway. Other accompanying credits include Nunsense II (Washington Street Players), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Bedford High School), and Oliver! (John Glenn Middle School); Bethany also appeared in The Secret Garden (Savoyard Light Opera Company). She currently accompanies the middle school choirs in Needham, including the award-winning Treble Choir, and sings with the semi-professional a cappella group None of the Above. She is also working towards an MFA in Creative Writing at Emerson College.
(2008) Emily Allen is an Arlington High School student currently finishing her senior year. She has studied directing with ACT's Colleen Rua and most recently assistant directed Ten Little Indians. Her recent acting credits include parts in Bye Bye Birdie, Loving Louisa, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Tom Sawyer. She plays the viola and loves to draw.
(2006) Kyla is a graduate of Suffolk University, were she majored in English but spent most of her spare time in the theater department. She has performed in shows with theater companies all over Boston, including The Laramie Project with The Oxford Street Players, Tereus In Fragments with The Animus Ensemble, and most recently Mackenzie with SouthCity Theatre. She has directed several short plays and is excited that Colleen and the rest of ACT are giving her the chance to flex her directing muscle again!
(2006) Jacqueline Billings is a former high school English teacher and drama director. She received her BA in English and Education from Regis College and her MA in English Literature from UMass Boston. She taught English and Dramatic Literature, as well as directed theater at Arlington Catholic High School for ten years. Some of her most memorable productions include The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie, Damn Yankees, and Annie. She loves being home with her children, Jack and Rose, but is very excited to be working with someone else’s children on Really Rosie, her first endeavor with ACT!
(2009) Dan Bolton is thrilled to have an opportunity to teach for Arlington Childrens Theatre and he brings with him a background of experience as an actor, director and theatre educator. As a performer, he has appeared on a number of New England stages, including Wellesley Summer Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Jewish Theatre of New England, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Speakeasy Stage Company, Reagle Players and Foothills Theatre Company. The veteran of three national tours, Dan is a graduate of Boston College and continues to keep busy in video and commercial work as well, including the PBS presentation of John and Abagail Adams, the award-winning series Aftershock on The History Channel, Steve in the award-winning Sundance Film Festival entry I Just Want To Eat My Sandwich and Dr. Handley in the upcoming film Jolly. As a Theatre Educator, he has worked on the staffs of Wheelock Family Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Citi Center / Wang Center For The Performing Arts, Company Theatre and New Art Center in Newton. Rounding out his work on both sides of the footlights, Dan is also proud of his continued work with the educational theatre troupe, Theatre Espresso.
(2011) Talia Brown is a teacher and performer in the Boston area. She received her B.A. in Theatre from University of New Hampshire in 2004 and completed her M.A. at Emerson College in 2007. Since then she has enjoyed directing and teaching for children and teens at Arlington Children’s Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, local schools, and summer camps. Currently, Talia teaches Performing Arts for Gloucester’s Public Middle School.
Talia is an active children’s storyteller. Her original story Molly The Magnificent was adapted to music, and performed throughout Massachusetts by New England Conservatory’s youth outreach program. Some of Talia’s favorite storytelling performances include: Patches The Elf, Babar the Elephant, Molly the Magnificent, and Ferdinand and the Bull. Performance venues include Symphony Hall, Boston Children’s Museum, Conservatory Lab Charter School (Boston Public Schools), Boston University’s Suzuki Festival, and several public school systems throughout Massachusetts. Favorite directing credits include Robin Hood, A Year with Frog and Toad Kids, Beauty and The Beast Jr., Annie Jr., Cinderella , House of Stairs, Ten Little Indians, Once Upon a Playground, and Another Dress Rehearsal.
(2007) Liz Buchanan is delighted to teach acting classes with ACT for the first time this fall. She has taught theater classes at Arlington Center for the Arts and the Hardy School, directed the Bishop School Cooperative Theater's production of Annie in the spring of 2006, and coordinated past Bishop productions of Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz. She is working on an original musical, Music Island, which she staged in a workshop production at the Arlington Center for the Arts in March, 2006. Liz also leads children's sing-alongs at local public libraries, teaches music to preschoolers at the LEAP School, performs family concerts and has recorded a children's CD. She loves working with children to help get their creative juices flowing, and coached the creativity program Odyssey of the Mind/Destination Imagination for 5 years at the elementary level. Liz holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College and a BA from Duke University. She has lived in Arlington with her family for 12 years.
(2018) Christopher Charig, B.M. in Music Education Boston University class of 2000, has studied choral conducting, composition, and dramaturgy, and also has his Masters in Education from Fitchburg State University. He has put his skills to work directing and coaching for Wakefield Repertory Theatre, the SMARTS Collaborative, Theatre To Go of Stoneham, MA, and The Un-Common Theatre in Foxboro, MA where he music directed for their productions of “Bat Boy: the Musical”, “Assassins”, “Sweeney Todd”, and their award-winning, “RENT: School Edition.” In his home town of Arlington, MA, he spent two years as Assistant Conductor with the Arlington-Belmont Chorale, where he also recently was awarded a commission to compose a piece for strings and choir. In 2009, he founded Firefly Theatre Works, to create a new kind of theatrical experience for young performers, with a venue committed to new works for young people's musical theatre. Chris also has written and composed musicals for young performers over the last few years. He has taught choir, music theory, drama, and music fundamentals at Wakefield High School, at the Boston Latin School, and now teaches at R. J. Grey Junior High in Acton, MA. In his spare time, he plays piano and guitar for local churches and teaches vocal pedagogy and dramaturgy to his private students in the area. He and his wife live in Westford, MA, with their two daughters and his son.
(2013) Paula Chase is a singer, pianist and composer who teaches private lessons and has music directed many shows, including ACT's Summer Day Program. Paula has also written 4 plays for ACT's Ten-Minute Play Festival. She has created the “Find the Singer In You” series of video voice lessons and writes the “Do Your Art Now!” blog. twitter
(2014) Joe Creedon is a graduate of Harvard University. He has studied at the American Reperatory Theater, The Annoyance Theater, and Chicago's Second City. He is the creator of several popular comedies including: Left Behind: Ragnarok, My Dark Love: A Twilight Parody and CAMP. He was the director of ImprovBoston's Family Show for over a year, and is currently an instructor and producer for Fine Line Comedy.
(2013) Cory is a Soprano, and graduate from Gordon College, with ten years of stage experience. A co-founder and artistic director of Lights Up Theatre in Wakefield, MA, she served as artistic director, choreographer, and vocal coach for their summer 2008 production of Light Up The Stage! and as stage director and vocal coach for the 2009 production of Once Upon a Mattress. Cory has worked with ACT since 2008, having vocal coached for productions of Little Shop of Horrors, West Side Story, Godspell, Urinetown, and Cabaret. Cory also Music Directed ACT's 2009 summer production of Honk!, Jr. , 2010's Beauty and the Beast, Jr., 2011's Aladdin, and last summer's production of Alice in Wonderland. No stranger to the stage herself, favorite credits include “Vera” in Mame, the title role in Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and “Lily” in The Secret Garden. She performs regularly with Gordon College's Symphonic Chorale and Women's Choir, and danced for 14 years at Dance Track in Melrose.
(2014) Christine Cuddy is thrilled to be teaching at the Arlington Children's Theater. She started as an improv student at ImprovBoston back in 2003 and has loved improv ever since. Cuddy has trained in Chicago at the Second City and Annoyance theaters. She performed with the ImprovBoston Mainstage for 2 years, was just recently cast on the Improv Asylum Mainstage and has had the pleasure of performing with Rachel Dratch at the Women In Comedy Festival in March 2013.
(2009) Leah is a first year drama teacher at the Wellesley Middle School. Prior to this, for three years, she split her time between running the Community Academy of Theater at the Walnut Hill School in Natick and as an outreach drama and dance teacher in the Boston Public Schools. Leah also teaches, directs and choreographs in and around the Boston area at different performance venues, such as the Stoneham Theater and Arlington Children's Theatre. In her “spare” time she performs as well. Leah received her BFA in Acting from the University of Connecticut and recently finished her MA in Theater Education from Emerson College in Boston, MA.
(2016) Maya Fraser is an ACT alumna who just couldn’t stay away. As an Arlington resident and student of childhood studies at Lesley University in Cambridge, the pull she has felt to continuously return to the ACT community is not one that was easily avoided. Since her graduation from the organization in 2013, Maya has enjoyed her off stage experiences as stage manager and assistant director and is proud to have earned the role of director. She feels extremely privileged to be able to share her love of theatre and the performing arts with young people in the same place that has provided a constant home away from home for her for the past 16 years.
Lea Grieco is a senior at Suffolk University studying English and History for Middle School Teaching and hopes to go on and get a masters degree in Theatre Production. Lea directs musicals for children in summer camps in Cambridge and Arlington. Some shows include, Wizard of Oz, Wonderful World of Disney, Who Shot Willie, Free 2 Be U and Me, and 50s Rock N Roll Review! as well as many one act plays. She also teaches music and drama in an after school program in Cambridge. She has been a performer since childhood in shows and benefits such as, Sound of Music, Cinderella's Enchanted Ball, I've Got Rhythm, and Nice Song & Dance. At Arlington Catholic high school she sang Christmas Songs in Walt Disney World's Epcot Center with her chorus. She continues to perform whenever she gets the opportunity, but her real passion lies in directing—especially children!
(2008) Lynn graduated from Hofstra University, having majored in Fine Arts and Theater with a focus in performance. After studying in New York and Oxford, she realized there’s just no place like Boston, so she traveled back to her hometown and currently works as a ballet, tap, jazz, modern and hip hop instructor at the Dance Place in Arlington, MA. She’s looking forward to getting some toes tapping at A.C.T. this summer.
(2008) Kate Hamilton is a high school senior and long time theater geek. Since hitting the stage as Peter Pan (not with ACT) at the age of ten, she has been in over fourteen plays. Recent favorites include Mrs. MaAfee in Bye Bye Birdie, Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Lola in Damn Yankees. She has also co-directed two vacation camps, Half Magic and When You Wish Upon A Star. She has taken Colleen Rua's directing class for teenagers, which gave her guidance for bringing an artistic vision to the stage. She has been an intern and dance captain, and enjoys working with the fabulous children and adults at ACT. Nine years of Irish dancing, two years of ballet, four months of jazz, and a lead role in a Bob Fosse musical helped prepare her for her choreography debut in Jeanne d'Arc.
(2008) Amanda Jean Heimbecker is a graduate of Dean College, having earned her B.A. in Dance. She is in the process of earning her Master's in Dance Therapy from Lesley University. Ms. Heimbecker also received her Associate's in Musical Theater and has performed in many shows including Oliver, in the role of “Nancy,” and Pippin, and also worked with the role of “Maggie.” She has been seen in serious theater productions such as The Menchimi and had the role of “Mavis Johnson” in The Rimers of Eldrich. Ms. Heimbecker's dancing credits includes performances in New York City, Disney Magic Music Days, and many shows in Boston, MA. Amanda is also a part of the New Horizons Dance Company out of Boston, MA. Amanda is extremely honored to be able to perform and believes that “It's not about waiting for the storm to pass, but to learn how to dance in the rain.”
(2009) Lindsay Holland is very excited to be a part of the Arlington Children's Theater summer program! Lindsay is a graduate of Westfield State College where she studied Theater and English. She works during the school year as a teacher's aide at Needham High School. Lindsay began combining her passions for education and theater about two years ago when she taught musical theater classes at the Charles River Creative Arts Program. She began performing in musicals at age 10 and is still seen on stages in the Boston area. Lindsay will next be seen playing Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre (Theater III) this November.
(2015) Courtney Jones is a former Arlington Children's Theatre actor, and a recent graduate of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy; College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts in New York City. Ms Jones has performed in several productions in both amateur and professional settings, along with directing and choreographing several shows in and out of ACT.
(2016) Jaime Joseph has been dancing and performing since the age of 2 years old. Her love of dance has led her to perform in local musicals that benefit Cancer Research. Recently she had the opportunity to choreograph a children's musical and teach dance workshops at after school programs. In her downtime you can find her working on one of her many hats as Mother, Fashion Designer or taking dance lessons.
Kerstin Karlhuber is an actress and filmmaker who recently relocated to Boston from New York City. As a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, her career began in the theater. Kerstin’s Off-Off Broadway credits include: Lizzy in The Rainmaker and Popeye in The Miss Firecracker Contest. Her favorite Summer stock and Regional performances include: The Wizard of Oz, Annie, King and I, Cinderella and The Magic Flute. Kerstin has also worked at the prestigious Edinburgh Theater Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. She can currently be seen in a national commercial on the Weather Channel and the feature film, Frozen Impact. She has recently directed and starred in several Boston based student films, one of which recently screened at the American Pavilion Student Filmmaker screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Kerstin is finishing up her MFA in film production at Boston University and serves as Artistic Director for the Killington Film Festival in Killington, Vermont, set to host its first annual festival next summer.
(2011) Brendan is embarking on his fourth consecutive year as Music Director for ACT with The Wizard of Oz. Primarily a pianist, organist, and flautist, Brendan has performed with various bands and pit orchestras across the North Shore and works as a professional cantor, organist, and Music Director at local churches when he is not in the theater. He is currently the Music Director and Conductor for the theatre programs at Arlington Children’s Theatre, Wakefield High School, and Lights Up Theatre, where he also serves as founding Co-Artistic Director. Past music direction and conducting credits include: West Side Story, Urinetown!, Once Upon a Mattress, Singin' in the Rain, RENT (School Edition), and The Lexington Players' Ain't Misbehavin' for which he received the “Special Adjudicators' Award for Piano Accompaniment” at the 2010 EMACT Festival.
Lisa Korak is a professional actor and drama educator. Lisa is thrilled to be teaching at ACT again. Lisa teaches original workshops through her business, The Next Stage Workshops. Clients include Montessori School of Quincy and The Government Center Childcare Corp. She also has a full studio of private students from age 8-17. Lisa taught for Chelsea Youth Theatre and Walnut Hill School. She is on staff at Wheelock Family Theatre teaching weekly classes, vacation week institutes, auditioning workshops, and a summer program. Also through the WFT satellite program, Lisa develops and teaches weekly drama workshops at the Tobin School in Roxbury. She is on staff at Riverside TheatreWorks in Hyde Park, teaching several levels of acting as well as puppetry and auditioning workshops. Along with teaching, Lisa performs on the stage and screen. www.lisakorak.com
(2012) Taylor is an ACT alumna and undergraduate student at Brandeis University where she is studying psychology and theater. At Brandeis, she is co-president of Adagio Dance Company, the largest undergraduate dance group on campus. In addition to being co-president of ADC, she also choreographs, performs, and is a member of the competitive Dance Ensemble. She has choreographed several productions for the Brandeis Undergraduate Theater Collective, including RENT, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and most recently, Bat Boy. She has also choreographed the Brandeis Theater Company's musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. At ACT, Taylor has choreographed two of the past summer productions: Footloose and Spring Awakening. She can also be seen in the annual Alumni Show!
(2014) Matt Lundeen, artistic director, holds an M.Ed from Lesley University, and a BS in Theatre from Suffolk University. He has worked on and off stage in several capacities over the last 10 years including directing, stage managing, and performance. His recent directing credits include Shrek the Musical, The Tempest, and The Drowsy Chaperone. As an educator, Matt teaches workshops in acting, Shakespeare, and directing, and was once a teaching assistant in first, second, and third grade classes.
(2015) Emma had such a good time directing for TMPF that she is returning to Arlington Children's Theatre for Henry IV (part 1). She's a recent graduate of Wesleyan University where she studied theatre, specifically looking at its intersection with disabilities. She has previously directed The History Boys as well as an adapted and devised performance of Where The Wild Things Are. She has had a love a Shakespeare since she played Balthasar at age 7. She can't wait to get started on new theatrical projects!
Since graduating from Emerson College in 2001 Medina has been working hard to develop a teaching program of her own: Magic Carpet Adventures!! She has worked with local theater companies and schools to develop her ideas. She currently teaches with The Underground Railway Theater and Arlington Children’s Theater. She has been teaching with Arlington Children’s Theater for a little over a year and with their support has had a place to develop her unique teaching style and class ideas!!
Mike Manship is an actor, writer and improviser from Raleigh, NC, and co-founder of the SouthCity Theatre Company. He has studied with instructors from ComedySportz (Raleigh, NC), ImprovBoston (Boston), ImprovOlympic (Chicago), The Second City (Chicago and LA), The Annoyance Theatre (Chicago) and the Upright Citizens Brigade (NYC). He also coaches Newton North's High School Troupe, Spontaneous Generation, and acted this summer as the Advanced Improvisation instructor at the Charles River Creative Arts Program in Dover, MA. In addition to teaching, he has also founded several performing ensembles, including Furman University's improv troupe “Improv!Able Cause” and SouthCity Theatre's performing ensemble, which writes its shows largely through improvisation.
Anna Graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire (UK) with a music performance degree specialising in clarinet in 2004. She then moved to Boston in September 2004 and has since been involved in organising community music projects, as well as teaching instrumental lessons both from home and at several local schools, and performing with several different local music groups. Most recently Anna has been working at the Arlington center for the arts and the Robbins library creating and running music projects for elementary aged children. She has a website with further information on woodwind lessons and music projects: www.annamaughan.com
(2013) Thomas Martinez is a recent graduate of Tufts University with a bachelor's degree in drama. During his time as an undergraduate he wrote, directed, and acted in a webseries that he created in his freshman year. In addition he directed, performed, and set designed for the stage. He is an art teacher at Creative Arts, a youth drama summer camp, and has both directed and assistant directed productions for ACT.
(2012) Nicola McEldowney is an actress and puppeteer who works in Boston, performing and teaching puppetry for both children and adults. She and her puppets (she prefers the term “colleagues”) have appeared at the Boston Public Library, the French Cultural Center, the Puppet Showplace Theatre, the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine, and many other venues. She studied French at Columbia University in New York and theatre at the Université Paris 3 in Paris, France. Nicola is the proud author of a musical, Aisle Six, which has a puppet in it, of course.
Lisa Morse,a native of Rockville MD, has performed extensively both in NYC and regionally, at such venues as Missouri Rep, The Marin Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Depot Theatre, OldCastle Theatre, Lincoln Center Institute and The Abingdon Theatre. Favorite roles include Lala in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Tess in The Sisters Rosensweig and Anna in the two-person play Syncopation. She has studied with Uta Hagen, David Shiner, Gene Saks and Joseph Chaiken, among others. Lisa also writes her own material, and has performed her one-woman shows, The Clown Bride and Five Times, at P.S. 122, Trilogy Theatre, The Sanford Meisner, Actors Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Source and West End Theatre. Here in Boston, Lisa has worked with Lyrical Edge Productions, Sugan Theatre, and Zeitgeist Stage, and the Stoneham Theatre. This June, she celebrates her first anniversary with her fabulous husband, Bruno Kurtic.
(2018) Thomas Nickerson is excited to return to ACT after a few years away. In that time he moved across the country... and back! He recently became a classroom teacher and looks forward to returning to working with children in theater. Previous ACT productions include: Phantom Tollbooth, Dear Edwina, and Footloose.
Janet is an Actor, Director and Playwright and recently earned her Graduate degree in Theatre Education at Emerson College in Boston. She graduated from St. Michael's College in Vermont in 2002, where she received her BA in Theatre-Fine Arts with a concentration in musical theatre. She then spent four years professionally touring as an Actor/Director with the Missoula Children's Theatre giving her the opportunity to perform and work with children all over the United States and parts of Canada. Some of her performance credits include roles in Seussical, Working, Once on this Island, The Siren Song of Stephen Jay Gould, Honk, and And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank in which she received an Irene Ryan Nomination for Best Actor/Performance for her role as Mutti. She has directed over 35 productions to date, and is currently directing her self-written play that is being produced in Brockton. She has headed various youth theatre programs in New England, and last year taught and directed with the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. This year Janet will return to the Huntington to teach the theatre program in collaboration with Codman Academy. Janet is working towards her certification to be a licensed Drama Therapist. This is her second year with the Arlington Children's Theatre, and she looks forward to working with all the talented youth at ACT.
(2013) Lexi Quagliozzi is a 2007 graduate of Salem State University where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance. She is currently a theatre arts teacher and director for an alternative high school where she has taught for the past four years. In addition to teaching and directing, Lexi has been working toward her Masters Degree in Special Education and hopes to continue her efforts of immersing the arts into Special Education learning. She has loved every moment of becoming part of the ACT family and can't wait to continue working with ACT throughout this upcoming year!
(2014) Sophie Rich is a drama educator, director, actress, and Boston Native. Sophie graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University, where she concentrated on theatre for young audiences and directing and was awarded the Winifred Ward Award for creative drama. Sophie is the Education Director of Boston Theater Company, and she also teaches at Wheelock Family Theater, Stoneham Theatre, Watertown Children's Theatre, and The Freelance Players. Favorite directing credits include The Secret Garden, a community production with the youth of Somerville, A Year With Frog and Toad as part of Northwestern's Imagine U Family Series and The Snow Queen, a collaboration between Northwestern and Haven Middle School. She can be seen performing on KidStage at the Boston Children's Museum, and she is also a member of Theatre Espresso.
Emily Roos studied music at Indiana University. She has been Music director for ACT’s productions of Peter Pan, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Oliver, and Into the Woods. She has also been music director for the Concord/Carlisle public schools, The Bishop School in Arlington as well as several other local theater organizations. Currently, she is Principal flutist in the Hillyer Festival Orchestra, Jr choir director for Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord, and maintains an active teaching studio in Arlington Ma. Emily is a kindermusik educator and on the faculty of Dana Hall School.
Chris Roppola has his bachelor’s in Music from Brandeis University and hails originally from Brooklyn, NY. He has been involved with Musical Theater for more than 15 years and has been musically directing, accompanying, and playing in pits around the Boston area for the last six with such organizations as Core Stage Company, Encore Theater Company, Concord Youth Theatre, Brookline High School, Boston Children’s Theater, The Lyric Stage Company, New England Conservatory, Noble and Greenough High School, and other community groups too numerous to name.
Jacqueline Rossi was the Artistic Director of "The Belmont Children's Theatre" from 1996 through 1999. As the founder of J.R.'s Discovery Theatre, Jacqueline has written over sixty original musicals in Belmont, Lincoln, Cambridge, and Arlington public and private schools, performed as a storyteller at the Copley Plaza Hotel for a Christmas Festival and directed a video for Opera New England. Currently she is the music teacher at the Lincoln Nursery School and is often called upon as a Music/Theatre Consultant. As a Consultant she travels throughout New England and brings her programs to children's facilities such as Children First at Mass Medical Society, The Children's Center at Mass General Hospital and Lotus. Her programs are also available for children's birthday parties. For the past ten years she has performed in the Boston Jazz circuit as a vocalist. Jacqueline's degree is in the Creative Arts in Learning Program from Lesley University.
(2014) Colleen Rua is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Bridgewater State University where she most recently directed Pilgrims of the Night and will direct Assassins in the fall. She has directed with ACT for many years, where her most recent credits include: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Spring Awakening and Footloose. She was co-founder of SouthCity Theatre which produced the work of local playwrights in Boston and Cambridge. More recently, Colleen has taught courses in theatre at Northwestern University, Tufts University and UMass Lowell, where she directed Columbinus. Colleen holds a PhD in Theatre from Tufts University.
Jennifer has been an actress and children's acting coach in the Los Angeles area for six years. Upon earning her BFA in Theater Performance from Chapman University, with an emphasis in Acting for the Camera, she made the transition to the Los Angeles acting and teaching scene. She collaborated on many original children's musicals and has served as director, vocal coach, stage manager, and choreographer for several Los Angeles-based children's theatre companies. In addition to teaching, Jennifer also has extensive stage, screen, commercial, and industrial credits, with her most recent film projects screening at the Cannes and South by Southwest Film Festivals.
Since moving back to the Boston area, Jennifer has had the good fortune of working with some of the area's most renowned children's theatre companies and casting agencies, including the Watertown Children's Theatre, Harwich Junior Theatre, Pocket Full of Tales Children's Theatre, and Boston Casting, where she is their current Improv and Scene Study coach. In her spare time, she does private acting coaching and serves as a cast member for the touring production of "Consent," which is part of an education collaborative from the Orpheum Theatre (Foxboro, MA) and the Norfolk District Attorney's Office. One of Jennifer's passions is bringing the performing arts to children—she continues to be astounded by the amount of creativity, passion, and imagination that children bring to the performing arts and is thrilled to be part of the ACT team!
Steve Smith is a writer, musician, composer, dad, and former middle school teacher with a passion for theater. During ten years of teaching, he wrote, directed, composed and produced several plays with his students, most recently at the Atrium School in Watertown, MA. He's never studied with anyone, unless you count Mrs. Speiser or Mr. Goldstein when he was a kid or the incredible professionals he's worked with and among at ACT.
Brenann Stacker's dance training began in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Dance led her to a sixteen year career in Rhythmic Gymnastics, seven of those years on the USA National Team. Brenann has competed internationally on four continents for the USA, including World Championships and Pan American Championships. She attributes much of her success as a gymnast to her dance background. A senior majoring in Drama at Tufts University, she has studied stage movement and Droznin Russian Movement at the National Theater Institute with David Chandler and Rachel Jett, respectively, Phil Soltanoff at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and former member of the Grotowski experimental theater, Rena Mirecka, at Double Edge Theatre. She also studied ballet, modern, and Russian Physical Theater at the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy. Brenann continues to use her dance and rhythmic talents in theater, film and commercials.
Noah Starr is from Camden, Maine. He earned a BFA in Theatre from the Boston University College of Fine Arts, and studied in Europe at LAMDA. Noah has performed comedy at most major venues in NYC, and has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (where he is a regular sketch player), MTV, AMC, COURT TV, CNBC, and in the upcoming feature film Nail Polish. Next up, Noah can be heard as a voice on E!’s new animated series Starveillance as well as the Blue Monster on www.freshivore.com. He is a founding member of the Milwaukee Theatre Collective, Collaborationtown, and The Beautiful Ponies. He has written comedy for Paramount Pictures and McSweeneys, and is also a highly sought-after improv. and comedy writing teacher. For more information: www.noahstarr.com
Janet Welby has been the pianist for a couple of ACT productions and is thrilled to join the ACT team as music director for their production of Music Island. A performance graduate from the New England Conservatory, Janet also holds a Master’s degree in Music Education form the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She teaches K-5 music and chorus in the Arlington School system, conducts the children’s choirs at the First Parish Church in Bedford, music directs for the Bishop Cooperative Theatre, and founded the “Artistic Culture” recorder ensemble, a group for advanced recorder students. As an applied musician, she is a member of the Payson Park Chancel Choir, a performer on the recorder, a composer, and researcher and lover of world music.
Kate Wisnioski became involved with community theatre at an early age and has taken part in over two dozen shows. She founded Norton Youth Theatre in Norton, MA and directed Once on this Island Jr., Cinderella, and Dear Edwina Jr. Kate has worked on ACT’s Really Rosie, Damn Yankees, Twits, Into the Woods, Much Ado About Nothing, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. She currently works at the New Art Center in Newton, MA as the Assistant Education Director. Kate holds a BA in English and Theatre studies from Wheaton College.
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Last updated: Mon Sep 5 2016 10:20 EDT
