Vicky Bussert is resident director for musical theatre for the Great Lakes Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. She has taught as a guest faculty member at UNCSA, Kent State, and Northwestern University. She has directed worldwide including productions in Russia, Denmark, Africa, England, and South America. Bussert is the 2019 recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize for outstanding mid-career artists. Bussert is also a member of SDC.

Gary Kline was appointed as Assistant Head of Musical Theater, and during that tenure created the CMU/CLO New Works Partnership, resulting in Workshops of new Musicals such as CASPAR, ONE RED FLOWER, and YEAST NATION (created by URINETOWN Writers), among several others. Under the partnership, Gary coordinated the JERRY HERMAN LEGACY CONCERT, with Mr. Herman appearing on the Chosky Stage along with Broadway vets Karen Morrow, Jason Graae and Donald Pippin. In 2006, Gary negotiated a new National Partnership with CLO, ASCAP and Stephen Schwartz’ New Writer’s Workshops, which have produced Staged Readings of ALIVE AT TEN and BUBBLE BOY at CMU’s School of Drama. Gary has directed several Musicals for CMU, including CAROUSEL, 110 IN THE SHADE, JACQUES BREL, and THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND, which was named in the “Top Five” of Pittsburgh’s Theatrical Best in 2000 by the PPG. He has served as Head of Music Theater for the Flying Swan Acting Program at Wesleyan University (CT) as well as Perry Mansfield School (CO), CLO Academy, and taught Master Classes for NATS and local Schools. He has soloed twice with Marvin Hamlisch and the Pittsburgh Pops. His CD, released in 2004, includes duets with singers Margaret Whiting, Billy Porter, Patrick Wilson, as well as guitarist Joe Negri, among others musicians.

TBC Lisa Velten Smith is a Designated Linklater Voice teacher and professional actor. After receiving her BFA from the Theater School at DePaul University, Velten Smith cut her teeth on the Chicago stage with such theaters as Steppenwolf, About Face, and Lookingglass. She was a member of the now defunct fringe WNEP theater company, acting and directing in new and devised work. Later, Velten Smith received her MFA from University of California, San Diego where she trained with notable directors Darko Tresnjak and Les Waters and performed with famed New York theater company The Civillians at The La Jolla Playhouse. Her 20+ career spans Broadway, off Broadway, Regional Theater, television and film. In 2019, Velten Smith was awarded Pittsburgh Performer of the Year for her portrayals of Nora in A Doll’s House Part II at Pittsburgh Public Theater and Laura in Stephen Belber’s We Are Among US at City Theatre. With an interest in the actor’s and student’s vocal and mental health, Velten Smith developed The Resilient Voice a workshop that combines the science of meditation with vocal exercises. She is trained in Intimacy Education and recently served on City Theater’s Community Conversation panel about race in the Pittsburgh Region.

John Benitz Among the many stage productions John has directed, a few include the West Coast premieres of Borderlands, an original play about Bosnia, which was a Best Pick in the LA Weekly and Fortune’s Fools at the McCadden Theater in Hollywood, and a Best Pick and for which he won a Dramalogue Award. He directed One Grimm Evening at the Odyssey Theatre as well as What I Heard About Iraq by Simon Levy, which performed on college campuses, in theaters and performing arts centers in New York, California, Washington State, Montreal and at the LaMama Theatre in Manhattan. He has acted Off- Broadway at the former Ubu Rep, at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, The Odyssey and Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles and Shakespeare Orange County, as well as a host film/television roles. He’s a proud member of Actor’s Equity and SAG/AFTRA.

John is certified by Ivana Chubbuck to teach her approach to acting, a technique used by award-winning actors Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Judith Light, Terrence Howard, Jim Carrey, Jake Gyllenhaal, among many others. In 2019 he directed and produced an educational documentary film featuring Ms. Chubbuck discussing her technique, titled The Power of the Actor: The Chubbuck Technique. The film is distributed through Films for Humanities.

Jason Beck is a freelance director, producer, and actor. He was a founding member of Caffeine Theatre in Chicago where he served as the Managing Director for seven years and the Producing Artistic Director for two years. For Caffeine he produced 21 shows over eight years, including seven Joseph Jefferson Award-nominated productions. He is in his twenty second year on staff of The Theatre School where he previously served as the Director of Admissions and the school’s Operations Manager. Jason is also a graduate of the BFA Acting program and served as the President of The Theatre School’s Alumni Board for four years. As an adjunct faculty member, he has directed nine productions for the BFA Acting program’s Introduction to Performance series.

Catherine Walker is an associate professor of music in the Department of Musical Theatre and has worked extensively as a music director, conductor, vocal coach, pianist, educator, and clinician for over 35 years. Walker serves annually as a mentor and judge for the national Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Vocal Academy. Other music direction credits include: The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle; The Augusta Barn Theatre’s production of Shenandoah starring Robert Newman; Island Center Productions, St. Croix, USVI; Three-D Productions National Touring Company; Derby Dinner Playhouse, Louisville; Red Barn Playhouse, Saugatuck, Michigan; and Farmers Alley Theatre, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Walker was the featured pianist for “Wicked Divas” with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and “Family Night at the Movies” with the Saginaw Symphony Orchestra. She has also served as the music director and pianist for various cabaret performances including “An Evening with Lauren Kennedy” and “An Evening with Scott Coulter.”.

Malcolm Tulip is an actor, director, playwright, head of the directing concentration, and co-founder of the Interarts program. He teaches directing, physical theatre, acting, clown, and devised theatre. At U-M he has directed 35 productions including War, The Arabian Nights, Iphigenia at Aulis, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Red Noses, Katzelmacher & Pre-Paradise Sorry Now, The Burial at Thebes, The Rover, The Diary of a Scoundrel, The Imaginary Invalid, The Good Person of Szechwan, Lysistrata, and The Visit. He also directed two new operas by Stephen Rush and Michael Rodemer. With colleague Professor Vince Mountain and the collaboration of the Copernicus Program in Polish Studies and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw, he has forged a relationship with theatre practitioners in Poland to bring Polish artists to the University and taking a departmental production to the International Theatre School Festival (ITSeLF) in Warsaw. 

Lenny Leibowitz is the founding artistic director of Marvell Repertory Theatre (Drama Desk Award nominee for Lenny’s production of THE THREEPENNY OPERA). Recently, Lenny joined the faculty of Otterbein University’s

B.F.A. program. As the former artistic director of New Harmony Theatre and as a

freelance director in New York, Boston, DC, and Seattle, Lenny has firmly established himself as a director who helps actors “unlock” their best performances in a supportive, encouraging, positive environment. As a professor in the acting programs at Boston University and University of Southern Indiana, Lenny developed his own teaching method that focuses on clear, compelling storytelling; active, imaginative choices; and integration of body, breath, and thought. Based on years of experience as a director, teacher, musical director, actor, and coach, Lenny offers specific, practical guidance to today’s working actor in a variety of classes, workshops, and private coaching.

Jesse Carlo is the new Program Head of Musical Theatre at Pace University. Dr. Carlo is an established and avid musical theater practitioner, bringing his in-depth experience and knowledge of arts programs in academic institutions to Pace University. He facilitated the undergraduate curriculum for performing arts studies in acting, musical theater, and theater studies at Columbia College Chicago for a year with an emphasis in revising courses that decentralized whiteness and Eurocentric practices. Prior, he spearheaded Miami Dade College for six years as an Assistant Professor of Arts & Humanities. Looked to as a trusted professor by the diverse student body, Dr. Carlo was a meaningful presence in leading college-wide initiatives and was awarded tenure in 2018 for his achievements within the department.

Grant Kretchik, Associate Professor created PPA’s BFA Acting program. Kretchik has appeared Off-Broadway as well as in film and television. His projects have premiered in festivals around the world including Cannes, Austin, Mumbai, Santa Fe, Boston LGBTQ, Honolulu, London. His latest project, America, which he executive produced, has been seen at Rosebud, Julien Dubuque and Women’s International Film and Arts Festival, Glendale Film Festival, Awareness Festival, Sapporo Film Festival (Japan) and The Moving Image where it received nominations as Best Narrative Short and Best Editing. 

Kretchik assisted director Michael Grief on the first national tour of Next to Normal. Other directing credits include: The Parade at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival; Scottish Sperm at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (world premier), Zoofest and Just for Laughs in Montreal, Canada. Kretchik has worked as both director and an actor at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. As an actor, he has appeared Off-Broadway in The Servant of Two Masters, Einstein, I Knock at the Door and Pictures in the Hallway. Film/TV: Law & Order, Guiding Light, As The World Turns, Broken, Man on the Moon, and When Harry Tries to Marry. Kretchik is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. 

Aquila Kikora Franklin is an Associate Professor of Theatre/Dance and the Associate Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the Penn State School of Theatre where she teaches courses including Intro to West African Dance, Hip Hop Theatre, jazz, and Mojah dance. Franklin has performed, choreographed and taught in cities across the globe including Linz, Austria, Grahamstown, South Africa, Dakar, Senegal, Minas Gerais, Brazil, throughout China, Europe, and the United States. In addition, she has choreographed and performed for the Atlanta Hawks Dance Team, Grammy Award Winning group Arrested Development, and renowned poet, Sonia Sanchez. Franklin was also a collaborator and choreographer for Dominique Morisseau’s Blood at the Root. Franklin’s creative work focuses on developing the Mojah dance technique, an original style that fuses elements of modern, jazz, West African, and Hip Hop movement into one form. As a community artist, Franklin engages with students of all ages using dance as a means of human development. She is the co-founder and director of Roots of Life Performing Arts Ensemble, a State College, PA Area School District arts education program comprised of 4th-12th grade students who perform throughout State College, Pennsylvania. Franklin received a JD/MPA from Georgia State School of Law and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies in Atlanta, GA.

Danielle Liccardo is an Assistant Professor and the Movement Specialist in the
professional acting conservatory at Mason Gross School of the Arts, teaching physical
technique as well as advanced movement and period style work. She is the Intimacy
Designer and facilitator, and movement specialist, at William Esper Acting Studio in
NYC. She is a certified master movement specialist in The Williamson Technique and
has designed a unique physical training component for the actors that envelopes the
teachings of mentor Loyd Williamson, Tadashi Suzuki, experimental theatre and
choreography, ensemble creation, and authentic human connection. She has most
recently designed a program of self-advocacy, freeing the inner landscape of the
athlete, and building inter-connectedness between coaches and athletes, for the
Women’s USA Rhythmic Gymnastics team.

Christine Albright-Tufts has worked as an actress at Arena Stage, the Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, the Marin Theatre Company, the Mint Theatre Company, the La Jolla Playhouse, and many others. She has been a company member at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) since 2006, where she has worked as an actor, director, and teaching artist. Albright-Tufts’ OSF credits include Juliet, Titania, Lady Percy, and the world premiere of Bill Cain’s Equivocation. She was awarded a Theatre Bay Area Critic’s Circle Award for Best Actress for her performance as Mother in the West Coast premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s Oldest Boy. Albright-Tufts’ directing credits include Louisville//KY/USA for Actors Theatre of Louisville, OSF’s School Visit Program (The Tempest, They Say It’s Your Birthday); Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (staged reading of TITUS, an ASL adaptation); Lean Ensemble Theater (The Importance of Being Earnest); and Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts (Bully). In addition to acting and directing, Albright-Tufts has taught at theaters and universities all over the country. She served as the director of the Professional Training Company at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Prior to that, she was a resident teaching artist at the OSF, where she managed its School Visit Program. She taught acting, audition technique, and advanced Shakespeare performance at Oklahoma City University, Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of the Performing Arts, and Southern Oregon University. Albright-Tufts holds an M.F.A. in acting from the University of California-San Diego and a B.S. in performance from Ball State University.

Rebecca Karpoff has been featured as soloist with the Syracuse and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Rochester Oratorio Society, and Eastman School Symphony Orchestra under conductors Helmuth Rilling, Mark Elder, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Daniel Hege, and William Henry Curry in works of Szymanowski, Mozart, Handel, Bach, Schubert, Haydn, and Strauss. Operatic roles include the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, the title role in Puccini's Suor Angelica and, with Syracuse Opera, Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. As recitalist and chamber musician, Karpoff has been heard at such venues as the Ravinia, Aspen, and Skaneateles Festivals and Merkin Hall in New York City. She has sung world premieres by Augusta Read Thomas and Samuel Adler (both later broadcast over public radio) as well as large works by Schoenberg, Boulez, Harbison, Varèse, and Ginastera. Karpoff holds bachelor's degrees in both voice and economics from Northwestern University, where she worked with Elizabeth Fischer.

Kaitlin Hopkins is currently head of the Musical Theater BFA program at Texas State University . As an actress, Kaitlin has performed in theatre, film, television and radio for over 25 years. Favorite credits include: Broadway: Noises Off, Anything Goes (Lincoln Center), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original “mama who”).  Off Broadway (original cast): Bare: a pop opera (cast album), The Great American Trailer Park Musical (cast album), Nicky Silver’s Beautiful Child and Bat Boy-The Musical (cast album) for which she received a Drama Desk and an Ovation award nomination for her performance as Meredith. Other notable credits: She Loves Me- Reprise Series (Ovation nomination/with Rebecca Luker), Disney’s On The Record(National Tour/Ovation nomination/cast album), Dirty Dancing (American Premiere, National Tour), The Importance of Being Ernest (Robby Award / best actress in a comedy/ with Patrick Demsey), John Adams’ opera I Was Looking At The Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky directed by Peter Sellars (International Tour) and The Philanderer (South Coast Rep) Kaitlin has recorded numerous award-winning radio plays for LA Theatre Works, including The Heidi Chronicles, Working  and Proof with Anne Heche. She has made over 50 film and television appearances including: Confessions of a Shopaholic, The Nanny Diaries, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, three years as Dr Kelsey Harrison on Another World, JAG, Spin City, Rescue Me, Star Trek Voyager and Deep Space Nine and all three Law and Orders shows.

Laura Flanagan is an associate professor of theatre practice at the USC School Of Dramatic Arts. She began her professional acting career as a teenager in a Paramount Pictures film, starring a then young and unknown Robin Wright. Since then, she has acted off and off-off Broadway, in regional theaters and film. In Los Angeles, she is currently a lifetime member of the Ensemble Studio Theater/Los Angeles and was previously its producing director. She has taught both acting and voice at Long Island University, NYU’s School for Continuing Education, as well as the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. She is a certified Fitzmaurice Voice Teacher, having been a student of Catherine Fitzmaurice herself for many years in New York. She received the Charles Bowden Award for Acting from New Dramatists in New York, as well as numerous awards for her audiobooks. She holds a BA in English and Theater Studies from Yale University and an MFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon and The Moscow Art Theater.

Melissa Treinkman is an assistant professor of practice in musical theatre at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles and enjoys a versatile career as a singer, voice teacher, and voice researcher. She earned a doctorate degree in musical arts from the University of Southern California, where she received the Thornton Vocal Arts Outstanding Graduate Award. She also holds a master of music degree from DePaul University and a bachelor of music degree from Northwestern University.  Treinkman has conducted original research in the areas of vocal fatigue and focus of attention in voice training. Her scholarly articles have been published in the Journal of Singing and the Journal of Voice. She has presented her research to the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Pan American Vocology Association and the Voice Foundation. As a mezzo-soprano, her opera career has taken her to opera companies throughout the country, including Chicago Opera Theater, Utah Opera, Sarasota Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera, Opera North and Los Angeles Opera. At LA Opera, she sang in the featured ensemble for the GRAMMY-award winning production of The Ghosts of Versailles, performed the role of the Vendor in Carmen and performed the role of a page in Tannhäuser. She is also a member of the LA Opera Chorus and a teaching artist with LA Opera Connects, which brings opera to the Los Angeles community.

Jeremy Mann s the head of the Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program at UCLA TFT. In this capacity, he developed the singing curriculum for the undergraduate musical theater majors, and teaches singing and musical theater performance for the program. Directing credits at UCLA TFT include Into the Woods, Hot Mikado, Cabaret and A Chorus Line, and vocal direction for The Last 5 Years, Urinetown, Side Show, Homer in Cyberspace, Anything Goes and Rent. Before moving to Los Angeles, Mann served for 12 years as resident musical director and actor at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (PCPA Theaterfest) in Santa Maria. In addition to co-creating and teaching the singing techniques for the Actor curriculum at PCPA, Mann musically directed more than 20 productions there, including Honk!, My Fair Lady, Songs for a New World, How to Succeed… and Jesus Christ Superstar. Directing credits at PCPA included Peter Pan, 42nd Street and Anything Goes, and he acted in Arcadia, The Normal Heart (Robby Award) and Rope (world premiere). Mann has also served as musical director and director for the Utah Shakespeare Festival (The Music Man, Man of La Mancha, The Spitfire Grill, HMS Pinafore, Foxfire, The Secret Garden,Great Expectations) and musically directed the world premiere of Brad Carroll and Peter Sham’s Lend Me a Tenor, the musical for USF in the summer of 2007. A lyricist and singer-songwriter, Mann is also co-creator of the original musicals Robin Hood, Christmas Is…a Musical Memory and Christmas Is Here Again, with Brad Carroll.

Marilyn Fox Marilyn Fox has taught acting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television since 2002. She has also been the artistic director of Pacific Resident Theatre since 1995. Under her watch, Pacific Resident Theatre has produced 62 main stage productions, which have garnered more than 150 awards for excellence including 25 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, 20 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award Nominations, 36 Garland Awards and two Outstanding Season Awards from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC). Fox began her teaching career in 1983, when she established a theater program at Lincoln Jr. High School in Santa Monica, Calif. Her early training was under the Russian actor and dancer Benjamin Zemach (Moscow Art Theatre/Habima Theatre/Martha Graham Company) and Elizabeth Lynn (Chekhov Players). During the 1970s, Fox was fortunate to participate in a series of workshops led by Jerzy Growtoski. She spent two years studying theater (1973-74) at Franconia College and was introduced to The Young Vic in London in 1976. In 1978, she returned to Los Angeles and studied with Tom Troupe and Don Eitner. Fox worked in regional theater in productions at South Coast Repertory, Seattle Repertory, Westwood Playhouse, and performed in 25 local Los Angeles productions.

Kevin Ramsey is an award-winning, multi-disciplinary creative artist, life-long educator, and Broadway veteran of five Tony Award-winning and nominated shows: The Life, Five Guys Named Moe, Oh, Kay!, Black and Blue, and The Lion King. (1st Natl. Tour/Los Angeles) In Film/TV, Mr. Ramsey has guest starred on Emmy-nominated TV shows and films including Cold Case, CSI: Miami, 24, The District, Trial By Jury, Night Falls On Manhattan, Saving Grace, Judging Amy, The Hughley’s, and Charmed. As a voiceover actor he can be heard in Ken Burn’s award-winning documentary films, Civil War and Jazz. He is a recipient of many honors and citations including the Outer Critic Circle Award, Theatre World and Fred Astaire Awards for Best New Talent on Broadway, the Zoni Award, New York’s Audelco Award, as well as, the Barrymore Award for his collaboration with the Delaware Theatre Company for co-developing arts literacy programming for at-risk youth. He is a recipient of the Tapology Legacy Award for his work in teaching and preserving the art of tap dance. As a skilled storyteller, writer and director for theater and film/new media, Professor Ramsey is committed to the historical examination and retelling of the African-American musical experience, and its artistic contribution to world culture.