Instructor bios
ANDRES ALCALA has been working as an actor and director in the Portland area as well as throughout Arizona. He worked for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as an actor for two years and as an outreach teacher for five years. Most recently he has directed Ramona Quimby, and played Long John Silver in Treasure Island for OCT. He is the Artistic Director of C.I.T.E. producing and performing for Portland area schools.
JOHN ARMOUR is an fight director and actor based in Portland. He has choreographed Treasure Island and Cyrano for OCT and taught several classes in stage combat during OCT's summer theatre camp. He teaches and/or choreographs for nearly all local theaters and most colleges, high schools and middle schools in the area.
LESLEY BAILEY began her career working in the halls of MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon. She began her focus on voiceovers at ICM, one of the largest talent agencies in the country. She was Head of Casting at the award-winning production company McHale Barone, where she cast actors in spots for Pepsi, AT&T, Verizon, Doritos, Mercedes, and many more. Currently, Lesley is an acting coach, a freelance casting director and consultant at many major casting companies and advertising agencies, and works with actors, producers, writers, and directors. She has a portfolio of tools at the ready for fueling up young voices and letting them fly!
DANI BALDWIN is OCT's Education Director, where she also teaches and directs. She appeared in The Boxcar Children at OCT, Business as Usual and Who Stole My Dead Husband? with La Famiglia, 7 Great Loves (Drammy Award) and Devine with Sojourn, and five of the 1940's Christmas from Home productions with Tapestry Theatre, among others. She’s also done make-up design, stage management, set/costume construction.
TOM BECKETT has been acting, directing and teaching theater in Portland for twenty five years. He has trained with Shakespeare and Company, the D'ell Arte School of Physical Theater and the Royal Shakespearean Company. Currently he is the Theater director at Da Vinci Arts Middle School.
DAVID BERKSON has been working professionally with young people for over 15 years. He teaches drama at Portland's Northwest Academy, and has also taught for Portland Actors Conservatory, Profile Theatre Project and Northwest Children's Theatre. David's work with young people includes directing productions of Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, and The Tempest; as well as works by Harold Pinter and Edward Albee. Before moving to Portland, he was Education Director for Marin Shakespeare Company and Camp Director for The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. As an actor, David appeared as Jerry in Profile Theatre Project's production of The Zoo Story, and was most recently seen in As Is.
STEPHANIE CORDELL has been working as an actor and teaching artist in Portland and throughout the US. She has been fortunate enough to tour nationally, perform at several regional theaters, and teach for such schools as ARS Musica, Youth Performance Company, Stage Coach, and the Russian Academy of Ballet. For OCT she performed in James in the Giant Peach and is currently performing and teaching with the Educational Theatre Program.
SARA CARMONA received her B.A. in theatre from Willamette University. She is an actress who has taught with OCT, as well as with Children’s Educational Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, and has toured internationally.
JENNIFER DARLING received her MA in Theatre Arts in 2001. She’s been teaching, assistant directing, stage managing, and directing for OCT for over 10 years, working on shows such as Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, and The Boxcar Children. Other credits include working at Back Stage Theatre, Miracle Theatre, and Oregon Ballet Theatre. In graduate school, Jennifer directed The Informer, Graceland, and /Independence/. One of Jennifer's favorite projects with OCT was directing the YP show Cyrano in 2009. Jennifer believes amazing things happen to children who come out of the OCT program and it is a pleasure and honor to work within such a creative community. She would like to thank OCT for all their support and the hard work they do to enrich the lives of children.
MINDY DILLARD earned her BFA in Acting from the University of Utah and then headed up to Oregon to complete an acting apprenticeship with Sojourn Theater. Since moving to Portland in 2006 she has taught with Young Players, OCT, NWCT and Portland Center Stage. Also a certified yoga teacher, musician and singer-songwriter; she teaches yoga, guitar, and ukulele in her own private practice. She performs regionally and nationally with her folk-Americana band Heartroot and her kids' music duo, Snail People. She will complete an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts through Goddard College in 2012. Mindy loves to help kids learn to work together and watch them develop confidence.
STAN FOOTE is the Artistic Director at OCT. He is a multiple Drammy award-winning director who has professionally directed and taught at professional theatres for more than 25 years.
ROSALIND FELL moved to Portland 6 years ago from London England where she worked as a dancer, actress and choreographer in theatre and television. As a dancer she has performed at many venues in and around London including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She also appeared in many BBC productions for television. Since moving to Portland Rosalind has appeared in many theatre productions including most recently Farndale Avenue Ladies..(Bag n Baggage) Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey (Quintessence) The Secret Garden, Lettice and Lovage (Lakewood Theatre). She also recently appeared in an Oregon Lottery commercial. Rosalind teaches dance at Stagecoach Theatre Arts School, NWCT and drama in various Portland schools.
JAY FLEWELLING was born and raised in Portland, and has been a comedian since birth. He has been involved in the dramatic arts for more than a decade, including being an established member since the first annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival. He has produced, directed, and performed in his own comedy variety show, The Comedy Grab Bag, at the Funhouse Lounge. You will find him, almost any time, practicing his craft on sanctioned and also, surreptitious platforms. He welcomes the opportunity to become an instructor for the OCT and is committed to supporting other comedians in developing their craft. Jay has a passion for youth work and education, he has taught the power of play in a K-8 school assisting children in adopting a more active and healthy lifestyle. Jay has taught in his year of service for the Americorps, for the Outdoor School Program, adult and family classes at Curious Comedy Theater, and is currently at Forest Park Elementary.
KRISTIN HAILSTONE is thrilled to be teaching her first class with OCT! She holds a BA in Theater from Arizona State University. Since 1997, she has been a Teaching Artist and member of the acting ensemble for the internationally acclaimed theatre company Childsplay in Tempe, AZ. With Childsplay, Kristin helped to develop a program called Footprints which blended creative drama with history for Arizona’s centennial celebration. Additionally, she has been the Teaching Artist for the Edna Vihel Center for the Arts Young Actor’s Theatre program for the last 5 years. She lives and laughs with her husband and 9 year-old son.
CHANDA HALL is a performer, teacher, producer, writer, and the Artistic Director of “Staged!–Portland’s Musical Theatre Series.” She is a teacher for OBT, NWCT, and several metro area schools. Chanda has also had two of her original full-length musicals produced.
CHRIS HARDER received his degree from the University of Wisconsin - Parkside and was a core member of Sowelu Theatre Ensemble for seven seasons (Meisner, Chekhov and Viewpoints training) As an Equity actor he has worked locally in numerous theatre, film, TV and commercial projects and is a certified stage hypnotist, comedy magician and clown performer. Chris has taught regularly with Oregon Children’s Theatre, Portland Public Schools, Playwrite Inc., Actors To Go, and The Young Players. Having worked with students of all ages from grade school to adults, his classes focus on the playful aspects of theatrical performance and acting technique.
BRIDIE HARRINGTON received an MFA in Acting from the University of Washington and is a teacher for OCT as well as the Administrative Director of the Educational Theatre Program. She is the recipient of a Global Graduates, Theatre Arts Fellowship through the Globe Theatre, London and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Her theatre credits include: Artists Repertory Theatre, Seattle Rep., The Guthrie Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Source, Lunacy Stageworks. She played the role of Nora, directed by Jon Jory, in Ingmar Bergman’s adaptation of “A Doll’s House” and was an improv team member at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NY.
LANE HUNTER has entertained audiences around the world with his performances and original choreography. His first major productions were performed with with Brigham Young University’s Folk, Modern, and Ballet companies, where he received his B.A. in Dance. Afterward, as a freelance performer and choreographer, he has traveled the globe and appeared in music videos for Michael Jackson and the Blues Travelers. He spent several years as a member and choreographer for BodyVox before embarking on his solo company, Lane Hunter > Dance.
Mr. Hoo (aka JEFF INLAY) is a children's musician performing around the Northwest by himself and with his band, The Alphabeticians. He also runs Kid's Recording Studio, where he has engineered and produced CDs for his band and others, as well as over a dozen CDs of kid's singing groups at schools and daycare centers. He has been a professional musician for over 25 years, and has never enjoyed himself more than when he's singing with or for kids.
LAURA JAMES earned her BFA in Acting at Southern Oregon University. In Los Angeles, she was a part of the popular improv group called "The Comic Ozzies" for 5 years. She studied with Bob Koherr and Kathy Kinney and worked on the "Drew Carey Show". She has been teaching improv for 15 years. Her philosophy is that we are all infinitely creative and improv is a great tool and foundation skill for all types of performing. Her positive approach to teaching creates an safe environment for beginners and experienced improvisors alike. She was recently in the OCT production of "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs". Laura coaches privately, and teaches improv at Curious Comedy Theater and OCT. She is currently part of the "Main Stage Improv Players" at Curious Comedy Theater.
PAIGE JONES has been teaching theatre to children for 10+ years, not only here at OCT but also with Artists Repertory Theatre's Actors to Go program and in Summit County, Colorado, where she served as Artistic Director of Lake Dillon Theatre Company, and directed the children's productions of Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. and Twain by the Tale. Since moving to Portland nearly 7 years ago, local acting gigs have included runs at: A.R.T., JAW/WEST at PCS, defunkt theatre, Northwest Classical Theatre Company, Key Productions, Profile Theatre, and Stark Raving Theatre. Paige holds a B.A. in Music from Hunter College, CUNY, and studied extensively at HB Studio in NYC.
SARA KENNEDY ADAMS has taught for OCT since 2002 and also teaches with StageCoach Theatre Arts. She directed and lead a performance based class through Multnomah Arts Center and has been a coach and performer for Play Write Inc. She most recently appeared as Sally in Found Lives: The Inner Lives of People with Schizophrenia (New Moon Productions and OHSU Psychiatry). She received a BA in Theatre Arts at Southern Oregon University.
AMY LA ROSA has been teaching theater for the past thirteen years. She graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a major in theater and a minor in music. She was a company member of The Theater Project in Brunswick, Maine where she both taught and performed and taught theater and music for Bar Harbor Maine's Summer Festival of the Arts. Her love of rainy nights brought her to Seattle where she taught for Youth Theatre Northwest and performed with Live Girls! Theater. Her husband brought her to Portland where she now teaches for Young Players and Portland Public Schools, as well as Oregon Children's Theatre.
VAL LANDRUM has been teaching at OCT since 2002 and recently co-directed Antigone Now for the Young Professionals program. An Equity and award winning actor originating from Chicago, Val has worked and trained with several first class regional theaters, including Steppenwolf and The Goodman. Since moving here she has been in productions for OCT, Portland Center Stage, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Artist Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, CoHo, Portland Playhouse, Triangle Productions, and Lakewood. She began her teaching career at Purdue University where she also received her BA and then transitioned into inner city Chicago, working with troubled youth. She has also taught for Northwest Children’s Theatre, Portland Center Stage, The Young Players, ART and several immersion programs with the Portland Public School system.
JACKLYN MADDUX was Head of the Voice and Speech Dept. at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City for ten years where she created the first Shakespeare Workshop for advanced students. She taught Voice, Speech and Alexander Technique for six years at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she was presented with the Excellence in Teach Award in the School of Drama. Moving to Portland four years ago, Jacklyn teaches privately and has taught Alexander Technique workshops for Third Rail Repertory and Theatre Vertigo. She is also a professional actress and has appeared Off-Broadway and regionally at such theatres as the New York Shakespeare Festival, Kennedy Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, etc. She made her Portland debut this past year in Third Rail’s The Lying Kind and most recently appeared in Profile Theatre’s The Carpetbagger’s Children. A Certified Alexander Technique Teacher, she is also an Artistic Member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City.
JAKE MICHELS is a former student at the OCT Acting Academy. His first class, "Whose Line is it Anyway"? with Laura Smith introduced him to his favorite art form; improvisation. As a teen, he was cast in two OCT Productions: Tom Sawyer and Tuck Everlasting . After gratuating from WSU, he returned to Portland and has worked at OCT in the adminstration since 2008. He currently performs, directs, and teaches classes locally, and can be seen as a main stage Playa at Curious Comedy Theater.
CHRIS MURRAY is an equity actor and educator living in Portland. He has worked on many stages in town, and has appeared in a number of movies and television commercials. He was in the touring show What Would You Do? and /The Pressure Point! at OCT, and has produced a video documentary of the OCT play IF. He believes education through the arts is the only way to truly learn who you are.
SANDRA PEABODY Sandra Peabody is an Emmy-award winning writer/producer/director and has worked in broadcast television and film. She is a Graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City where she studied with Master Acting Teacher /Sanford Meisner/ and also attended classes in dance, voice and speech, singing, and physical theater. Additional training includes studying drama at Carnegie-Mellon University, and later earning a B.A. in Arts and Letters. As a teacher and coach for the past twenty five years, Sandra develops talent and also teaches speech. To help prepare actors for a professional career, she splits her time between Los Angeles and the Northwest.
AMY PALOMINO has choreographed numerous shows in the Portland area including Grey Gardens at PCS, Grease! at Broadway Rose, The Mystery of Edwin Drood at Lakewood Theatre, and many more. Amy is currently choreographing the Jefferson Dancers in a Pixie Dust production of Beauty and the Beast. Amy also teaches numerous teen and adult classes for dance and musical theatre, and assistant-choreographed/performed in three musicals at PCS. Amy won a Drammy Award for her outstanding performance of Peggy Sawyer in Broadway Rose's 42nd Street. Before moving to Portland, Amy danced both on Broadway and in the national tour of 42nd Street.
SHAWNA PLEDGER is an actor and teaching artist. She taught drama at OCT some years ago and is thrilled to be back guest-artist-ing. During the year she teaches drama at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC, where she lives with her family. Shawnna has also been seen onstage at regional theatres across this country. Shawnna graduated from University of Oregon and Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre, trained at the San Francisco School of Circus arts and has her Masters in Educational Theatre from New York University.
ZOE RUDMAN is a recent graduate from Occidental College where she received a B.A. in Theater. Past acting roles include Joan in Saint Joan, Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Bambi in the Edinburgh Fringe world premiere of Rhino Provino. As a child she took many classes at OCT, then continued on to Assistant Teach/Teach in a variety of skills, focusing primarily on musical classes. Zoë has extensive dance training and acts, teaches and dances in Portland.
TED ROONEY On camera, Ted has amassed over 35 TV guest-star and recurring credits including ER, Gilmore Girls, Community, My Name Is Earl, Seinfeld, CSI, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia...most recently on Boardwalk Empire, Grimm, Weeds, and Lost. Ted has over 20 principal movie roles and over 35 principal appearances in commercials. Locally, Ted has appeared in Leverage, Bucksville, The Kill Hole, The Weather Outside and Cell Count with The Freeman Brothers, and recently: Gone. On Stage, Ted has acted in regional theatres (Ahmanson-LA, Williamstown Theatre, The McCarter, The Wilma, The Arden, Portland Stage, and Idaho Shakespeare. He has performed in 10 off Broadway plays and 10 plays in LA with the Actors Co-op. Ted has a BA in Theatre from Lewis and Clark College and an MFA in acting from Temple University. Ted has coached acting, directed several plays and taught acting at the undergraduate level (most recently, George Fox). Currently, Ted teaching on camera acting classes in the studio space he is sharing with fellow actor and instructor, Robert Blanche. Classes: foundational On Camera Acting, Foundational II, Auditioning For the Camera, and Intermediate / Advanced Scene Study. http://pdxacted.blogspot.com/
LAURA FAYE SMITH has performed for OCT in The BFG, Cyrano, Pippi Longstockings, It's a Wonderful Life, and Charlotte's Web. In addition, she has been teaching OCT classes for over a decade. She performs long form improv with Super Project Lab, has numerous film and voice over credits, and has appeared in productions at multiple theatres throughout Portland, including Portland Center Stage, ART, CoHo Productions, Triangle! Productions, Theatre Vertigo, and Profile Theatre. She studied improvisation at The Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada, as well at Bay Area Theatre Sports in San Francisco. She and holds a B.A. in English and Theatre from OSU.
SUZI SMITH was an agent in Los Angeles for prominent Youth agencies for 15 years. She worked with and enhanced careers such as the Olsen Twins, Hilary Duff, Michelle Williams, Brandy Norwood aka BRANDY, Ericka Christenson, Trevor Morgan, Andrew Keegan, Camilla Belle, and several more. She started at Mary Grady Agency, a children's agent, but was asked to start a youth division for J. Michael Bloom and then Buchwald Agency. She has always loved kids and enhancing these kids lives.She moved to Oregon in 1999 and became a casting director (The Hunted w/ Tommy Lee Jones) and she cast several commercials. She also has been teaching acting classes and now is offering a NEW type of acting workshop. I have a unique perspective to share with the you, the actor. I have been an agent, a casting director, and a mother on the set.
SPRING SNYDER is currently a MFA candidate in the Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities Program at the University of Texas at Austin, and is so happy to be back in Portland for the summer. Her theatre training started at the American and Musical Dramatic Academy in New York City and then continued on to The University of Montana, Missoula. She has worked with Missoula Children's Theatre, Sight Theatre Group, Young Players, and Oregon Children's Theatre. Spring loves using theatre as a way to not only tell stories but to create dialogue, build friendships and communities, educate, and to create laughter.
MARK STEERING has a degree in Performing Arts from Ithaca College in NY. He is a vocal instructor and has taught theatre, music and directed musicals with kids and adults for over 20 + years. Recently, Mark directed You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown with OCT's Young Professional students. Mark was the Theatre Arts Director at MJCC. He is also a composer who has written and produced several musicals, a 30 minute opera for the Saturday Market/Sunday Opera project and has written choral arrangements for Angels, the Next Generation.
HANNAH TREUHAFT is an acting ensemble member of Portland's Sojourn Theatre and was also the company's Director of Education for five years. She has taught devising and ensemble workshops at schools and community centers all over the Portland area, and at colleges and universities across the U.S. Her favorite things about theater are the relationships she builds when working with an ensemble and the moment at the beginning of a project when everything is unknown and everything is possible! She's been away from the theater for the past year while she has worked on her newest project, her baby son Jacob.
BLAKE WALES is an alumni of the Young Professionals Program at Oregon Children's Theatre and has been a part of the OCT family since a very young age. Currently, Blake is a student at Adelphi University in New York as a theatre major where he will receive his B.F.A degree in 2014. Recently he was nominated for the Region I Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship where he represented his University for his work in the show Eurydice. Blake has assistant taught classes at OCT such as, Fairy Tale Theatre, Harry Potter, Beginning Acting, Sing Dance Act, and Beginning Improv. He has been seen onstage at OCT in the shows The Giver, The Ghosts of Treasure Island, and Honus and Me: A Baseball Card Adventure.
MATTHEW ZREBSKI moved to Portland, OR in 1997. He graduated from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University with a BFA in Acting, Directing, and Playwriting. Matt took over the Dallas, TX summer company, Youth Could Know Theatre. In his three-season tenure, he produced seven world premieres and received a Dallas Observer "Best of Dallas" award for innovative theatre. In his five seasons at SRT, Matt directed, wrote, and scored numerous productions, and oversaw 31 plays as they went from page to premiere. His own plays, The Planet ME, Neck, A Place Called Timothy, Parts, Darkstep and Dawning, After the Zipper, and The Vespiary have been produced in the Dallas, Texas and/or Portland, Oregon areas. Matt is a multi-award-winning director and writer, and has also written a wide range of plays for the JAW Festival at Portland Center Stage.
* Teachers subject to change