Jennifer Agbay headshot.

Jennifer Agbay

Jennifer Agbay (she/her/hers) is the director of dance for The Hanover Theatre Conservatory and celebrated founder of Ballet Arts Worcester, whose production of The Nutcracker graces the stage at The Hanover Theatre each November. She received a Bachelor of Science in Dance and Dance Education from New York University. While in New York City, Jennifer worked with several professional companies including The Washington Square Repertory Dance Company and the New York City based “Ballet for Young Audiences.” Agbay was the director of dance at the Performing Arts School of Worcester and directed/choreographed the Worcester Youth Ballet Company. While at PASOW, Agbay founded and directed Company X, created for professional dancers. The company made its debut in 2005 at the PASOW theatre. She was selected by Pulse Magazine as one of Worcester’s 25 to watch in 2005. In addition, Jennifer won both the 2016 and 2017 TAMY Award for “Best Choreographer” for her work with Shrewsbury High School.


Shiyanbade Animashaun

Shiyanbade Animashaun

Shiyanbade Animashaun (she/her/hers) is a creative and tech consultant who has yet to meet a clean body of water she didn’t like. She enjoys solving complex problems and influencing people positively. She has performed in various corporate training, resident and indie improv casts, via ImprovBoston (Family Show, All Access, Mainstage, National Touring Company) as well as Catalyst Comedy (Kerplunk!) and the Women in Comedy Festival. Animashaun has also worked in storytelling/sketch teams, musicals, podcasts and video productions. Animashaun has co-led, directed and taught improv casts and workshops in the northeast, primarily in the greater Boston area. With ten years of formal improv training, she believes that care is its greatest lesson.


Michael Bailey

Michael Bailey

Michael Bailey (he/him/his) has been involved with local theater for more than 27 years, much of that time spent as a stage combat performer and choreographer/director with Pastimes Entertainment and the Connecticut Renaissance Faire. He most recently served as the fight director for Studio Theatre Worcester’s production of “Into the Breeches!” and before that was the Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s fight director for three seasons. Michael specializes in period weaponry and the bullwhip, and lays claim to performing in the (to the best of anyone’s knowledge) first and only three-person sword and whip fight to be showcased in a US renaissance faire production.


Headshot of Travis Benoit

Travis Benoit

Travis Benoit, tenor, from Worcester, MA received his Master of Music Degree from The Manhattan School of Music in the spring of 2020. Previous credits include: Pilate in Arvo Pärt’s Passio, The Tenor Solos with Music Worcester, CONCORA in Handel’s Messiah, Joseph Haydn’s The Creation (Uriel) with The Providence Singers, The Passion According to Saint Luke (The Evangelist) Composer William David Cooper’s New Work, The Pirates of Penzance (Frederic) with The Valley light Opera Company, La Traviata (Gastone) with The Manhattan School of Music’s Opera Repertoire Ensemble, I due timidi (Dottore Sinisgalli) in the 2018 Manhattan School of Music main stage production and Die Zauberflöte (Tamino) with The Nahant Music Festival as a vocal apprentice. Scene work includes Così fan tutte (Ferrando), La Rondine (Prunier) and L’elesir d’amore (Nemorino). In September of 2021, Benoit performed a recital featuring Gerald Finzi’s “A Young Man’s Exhortation” with Mark Mummert, vocal instructor at The Hanover Theatre Conservatory, at the BrickBox Theater in downtown Worcester. Benoit was selected to sing in The Thomas Hampson Masterclass hosted by MSM in 2019. In 2017 Benoit won the Worcester Schubertiade Vocal competition with the first-place college vocal division prize. Benoit is his alma mater’s Concerto competition winner, which gave him a 15-minute performance with the Gordon College Symphony Orchestra. There he performed a program of Mozart Concert Arias. Benoit’s current ensembles include EnsembleNYC, CONCORA, The Providence Singers, The Worcester Chorus, Vox Futura and Magnificat Sacred Music Institute’s Cor Unum Singers.


Jake Berger, conservatory faculty

Jake Berger 

Jake Berger (he/him/his) is an artist with over thirty years of experience acting, directing and teaching theatre.  He received his B.S. in Theatre from Emerson College and his M.F.A from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has also trained with Shakespeare & Company, The Barrow Group, The Sandra-Feinstein Gamm Theatre, Dody DiSanto and Patsy Rodenburg. Jake has acted with Advice to the Players, Saco River Theatre, New Century Theatre, The Actors’ Shakespeare Project, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Shakespeare & Company, Maryland Shakespeare Festival, Zeitgeist Stage and Fort Point Theatre Channel. On screen, he has been seen in web series, independent films, commercials, and industrials throughout New England. He has directed for the education programs of The Maryland Shakespeare Festival, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and Shakespeare & Company. As an educator, he has taught on the faculties of Virginia Commonwealth University and The Webster Conservatory in Saint Louis. Jake is currently in training to be certified as a PRA, an Associate in the voice/speech/presence methodology of master voice teacher Patsy Rodenburg. Jake is also a monologue/audition coach and an ESL teacher. He currently resides in Pawtucket, RI. 


Sarah Callinan headshot.

Sarah Callinan

Sarah Callinan (she/her/hers) is an accomplished performer of opera, oratorio, musical theater, big band, and traditional jazz throughout the US and abroad. Some favorite performance highlights include: Cosi Fan Tutte with Opera Carolina, Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Arizona Opera, Carmen with Michigan Opera Theater, Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute with Boston Lyric Opera (tour), Blondie in the “Star Trek” production of The Abduction from the Seraglio with Salt Marsh Opera, the Texas premiere of The Hotel Casablanca, The New Moon and Orange Blossoms with Light Opera of New York, and a recital tour of Sweden as the winner of the Jenny Lind Competition for Sopranos. In addition to her extensive performance career, Sarah is a gifted teacher whose students have been accepted to collegiate music and theater programs, young artist programs, community theater productions, and district/all-state festivals. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Sarah was the Choral Director and Theatre Arts teacher at Holy Name High School from 2015-2020. Her teaching philosophy is: It’s not my students’ job to understand everything I say, it’s my job to figure out how to say things in a way my students understand.


Saharra Dixon, conservatory faculty

Saharra Dixon

Saharra Dixon, M.A., C.H.E.S. (she/her/hers) is an applied/community-engaged theatre artist, certified health education specialist, arts-based researcher and a Dean’s Ph.D. Fellow in the Department of Health Promotion & Policy at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Originally from southern New Jersey, Dixon began her artistic training at New Freedom Theater in Philadelphia, PA, one of the oldest standing Black/African American theaters on the East coast. There she studied Black acting methods, African dance and tap dance. She has performed in numerous productions across Philadelphia and New York City. Dixon received her M.A. in Educational Theatre – Applied Theatre at New York University (NYU) where she assisted in the Theatre and Health Lab, completed a study abroad in Dublin, Ireland focused on building meaning and community through drama, and directed several plays with young people. She has partnered with multiple organizations and institutions in applied theatre for health programming including Spellbound Theatre Company in Brooklyn, NY and Camba, Inc. She received her B.S. in Health Behavior Science from the University of Delaware. She’s developed her own artist-researcher-activist praxis incorporating health and wellness into her artistry. She loves working with youth to help them develop as artists and creatives through a community-based approach rooted in what Bell Hooks calls a “love ethic.”


Cassie Donegan

Cassie Donegan

Cassie Donegan (she/her/hers) is an accomplished performer, educator, and director with a combined 18 years of professional experience in her career. She attended Belmont University in their award winning Bachelor of Fine Arts Musical Theatre program. Post college, she has had the privilege of traveling the country performing at incredible venues with some of the industry’s finest. Some career highlights include Sandy (Grease), Doralee Rhodes (9 to 5), Carrie White (Carrie), Elle Woods (Legally Blonde), Sophie (Mamma Mia!), Narrator (Joseph…Dreamcoat), Jane (Tarzan), and more! She recently was seen starring alongside the Emmy, Grammy, and 6 time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald in the world premiere of the new musical Sticks and Stones. When not performing, Cassie can be seen on networks such as Amazon Prime, TUBI, TBN, CBS, and Discovery I.D., in a variety of episodic shows and films as well as in multiple local and national TV commercials. Cassie loves working behind the table as well. She has choreographed, directed, and music directed numerous shows and programs both educationally and professionally. Her students have won numerous awards and can be seen on stages and screens as well as working on their crafts in some of the country’s top collegiate performance programs. When not working, you can find her eating sushi and cuddling, hiking, or in the ocean with her dogs! She is thrilled to be joining the Hanover Conservatory family and have the opportunity to pour into the lives of our next generation of performers.

 


Robb Gibbs, conservatory faculty

Robb Gibbs

Robb Gibbs (he/him/his) is one of Worcester’s newest residents having lived in NYC for almost fifteen years.  Robb has been teaching around the country for over nineteen years for studios, schools, companies, conventions, and master classes.  He began his training in Arkansas with classical piano, private voice, and dance.  Robb is now a proud alumni of AMDA NY as well as a member of AEA and Impact Dance Adjudicators.  He has been seen Off-Broadway, around the country, and Canada in an extensive array of shows.  His favorites include A Chorus Line and 42nd Street, both directed by members of the original Broadway casts.  Robb is thrilled to be joining with The Hanover Theatre Conservatory to spread his love of the performing arts.  


Sharon Hart headshot.

Sharon Hart

Sharon Hart(she/her/hers) has been involved in theatre for most of her life. She is an actor, playwright, educator and director. She has trained and performed in Los Angeles, Seattle, Northampton and Boston. She holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Masters of Art in Theatre Education from Emerson College. She has taught at Wheelock Family Theatre, Brookline Adult & Community education as well as with various companies on the west and east coasts. She is very interested in using theatre to promote social justice and to empower kids to be their unique selves.


Headshot of Marc Hirsh, instructor at the conservatory.

Marc Hirsh

Marc Hirsh (he/him/his) has been performing improv since 1994, largely with ImprovBoston in various casts from 2001 until 2024, when he told the very last joke in the very last show before it closed down forever. He writes music reviews for local and national outlets and was the 2011 World Men’s Four Square Champion. He once got huge laughs at a national improv festival for doing nothing more than standing on stage and straightforwardly summarizing the Communist Manifesto, something he’s still trying to figure out two decades later.


Jilanne Hobson, conservatory faculty

Jilanne Hobson

Jilanne Hobson (she/her/hers) is a highly trained dance instructor in tap, jazz, musical theater, and ballet with over 25 years of experience teaching all levels of dancers. She received her Bachelor of Performing Arts at Oklahoma City University under the direction of Jo Rowan. Jilanne then went on to work professionally in various settings, including the Costa Classica cruise line, at Opryland USA in Nashville, and as a featured performer at Caesar’s Palace in Atlantic City for Anita Mann Productions. She trained at The Edge Dance Studio in Los Angeles and also assisted Tony Capolla on the Joe Tremaine Convention circuit. Besides being a dance instructor, Jilanne is a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant, who treats patients ranging from pediatric to geriatric in gross motor activity, balance, coordination, and strength training. Jilanne is also a Les Mills Certified fitness instructor, teaching classes in Body Combat and Body Flow.


Jamie Irwin Brown headshot.

Jamie Irwin-Brown

Jamie received her training at the Allegheny Ballet Academy and Boston Ballet with several summers spent studying at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She was selected to perform corps de ballet roles in Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker and Swan Lake and was invited to tour in BBII’s production of Snow White. She went on to dance with Indianapolis Ballet Theatre and the Boston Dance Company where notable roles included the title role in Cinderella, Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker, and Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie and Minkus pas de Trois. Over the past several years, Ms. Brown has enjoyed sharing her passion as a teacher, choreographer and rehearsal coach for studios throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Her students have established themselves with professional ballet companies, in television and on Broadway, as well as continuing on to major in dance at prestigious universities.


Jennifer Dowdle, conservatory faculty

Jennifer Ivascyn-Dowdle

Jennifer Ivascyn-Dowdle is a Central Massachusetts native. She received her acting training from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) and was a member of Northwestern’s first Musical Theater Program. Jennifer has worked as a professional Actors Equity performer in Chicago productions of West Side Story, Guys & Dolls, and The Will Rogers Follies. She was a Radio City Rockette (NYC). She holds a B.A. in Political Science (Northwestern University), an M.Ed. (Worcester State University), and is a Certified Communication & Performing Arts Teacher in Massachusetts. She has taught history & dance at Shepherd Hill Regional High School and was selected as the only high school finalist for Massachusetts Teacher of the Year (2005). She has directed & choreographed productions at Grafton High School and Worcester Academy. Most recently, Jennifer directed the Hanover Theater’s pre-teen summer program, “Fiddler on the Roof”.  


Sarah Katarina headshot.

Sarah-Katarina (SKooJ Core-O)

SKooJ brings her knowledge and talents to the performing arts with experience in performance, choreography, instruction and adjudication. She created the Boston Community Dance Project (BCDP), a professional collective expressing their passion of storytelling through contemporary and fusion movements. BCDP’s work can be seen at NYC Dance Week, NYC Carnival, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival and their annual August show. SKooJ is the former Artistic Director of the Boston-based Static Noyze Dance Company (World Of Dance: NYC/NJ Champions and 5x Best Theme Winner), a theatrical hip hop company that has performed for Governor Devaul Patrick, Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition and colleges throughout the country. Her choreography and direction have been featured on HGTV, NESN, The Dr. Oz Show, WayFair.com commercials and MTV. She has collaborated with TedEX Boston/Philadelphia, New Balance, Broadway in Boston, LA’s own Club Jete, Carnival Choreographer’s Ball Anniversary Show and Salty Bovine Films. In addition, SKooJ travels the country adjudicating for a variety of elite dance competitions. Most recently, SKooJ joined the faculty of Artistic Dance Exchange and assists Brian Friedman at his RADIX Dance Convention classes. SKooJ has choreographed for music videos and concert tours with such artists as Tamara Rodriguez, Erene, Lucia Marie, Makio, Bad Rabbits, Ari B and more! She recently showcased her acting talent in movies “Basic Math” starring Cameron Diaz, “TED2” with Mark Wahlberg and “Patriots Day.” SKooJ has inspired thousands of movers around the world, and she will continue to mentor the next generation.


Erin Kearney headshot.

Erin Kearney

Erin Kearney (she/her/hers) is the student affairs manager at The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts. Her primary focus is the conservatory student experience and continues to look for ways to grow our community. Erin is also a proud stage manager and currently teaches stage management at the conservatory. Her work as a stage manager extends to the Youth Acting Company’s three productions each year. Erin began her time at the education division as the stage manager for our Youth Summer Program working with the teens from 2018-2022. As a freelance stage manager and theatre artist, she has previously worked at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Boston Theater Company, The Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at The American Repertory Theater, Playhouse on Park, Hartford Stage and The Ogunquit Playhouse. Erin holds a BA in both Mediated Communications and Spanish from Stonehill College.


Linnea Lyerly Headshot.

Linnea Lyerly

Linnea holds a B.A. in Vocal Performance/Arts Administration from University of Maryland, College Park. Since moving to New England in 1998, Lyerly has worked in the Shrewsbury Public Schools as an Extended School Care teacher and Classroom Aide. She has been a Music Together parent at Pakachoag since 2004 and was so excited about the program and its benefits, that in 2005 she completed the Music Together teacher training. As the younger of her two children reached elementary school age, Lyerly was happy to be able to continue her involvement with Music Together by joining Pakachoag’s roster of Music Together teachers starting in the Fall of 2010.


Peter Mansfield

Peter Mansfield

Peter Mansfield is a West Haven, Connecticut native who was born with a passion for dance. Peter attended the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, CT during high school in the dance program and is a graduate from Dean College with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Associate Degree in Exercise Science. Peter has experienced the professional world of dance by dancing with the Paul Taylor II Dance Company during their residency at Yale University and being a current company member with the Urbanity Dance Company of Boston, MA. He has also worked with performers and choreographers such as Aubrey Lynch, Levi Marsmen, Todd Shanks, Kristina Berger, Jill Silverman, Kurt Douglas and Stephan Ursprung.  He aspires to use all these experiences to expand his career in the professional dance world. He has been awarded numerous scholarships for dance and performing including the Joan Phelps Palladino School of Dance scholarship and the Urbanity Dance Summer Intensive Scholarship.  Peter has experience dancing in all styles of dance, but his greatest loves are ballet and modern. 


Headshot of Kyle Maxwell, instructor at the conservatory.

Kyle Maxwell

Kyle Maxwell (he/him/his) is an actor and writer born and raised in Worcester, MA. He is excited to return to his hometown after a decade of living and working in New York City. He holds an MFA in acting from the University of Tennessee and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. New York City stage credits include off-Broadway roles as Tom/Berry/Knef (Radium Girls), Warwick (Henry VI, Part 3) and Montano (Othello). Regional credits include Lenny (Of Mice and Men), Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Horatio (Hamlet), Jemmy Campbell/John Arscott (Our Country’s Good), Christmas Present (A Christmas Carol), Chiron (Titus Andronicus) and Todd in the world premiere of The Open Hand. Television credits include a featured comedic dance on “Saturday Night Live.” Active in stand-up and improvisational comedy, Maxwell studied improv at ImprovBoston and the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York. His stand-up credits include Catch a Rising Star, The Comedy Studio in Boston, MA, and the Comedy Connection in Providence, RI. His writing credits include the short film “7 Rising,” as well as the plays Three Decker and Love, in a Violent Year, which premiered at the New York Theatre Festival in 2023, where it was nominated for Best Play.


Charlotte Mcnutt headshot.

Charlotte McNutt

Charlotte began her studies of classical ballet in northern Virginia where she had the opportunity to study with many wonderful teachers including Thomas Russell, Edward Caton, Leon Folkine, and Oleg Tupine. She then went on to study and perform with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., under Frederick Franklin and Ben Stevenson. In 1972, she moved to Annapolis, Maryland and became a founding member and dancer with the Ballet Theatre of Annapolis, now Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Maryland’s only professional ballet company. While performing with BTM, she danced many roles including the DewDrop Fairy, Grandmother, Arabian, Snow, Flowers, and Mother Gigone in the Nutcracker, and created such roles as the lead Temptress in Artistic Director Edward Stewart’s 11th Commandment and the mother in Three Faces of Eve. Other roles include the Queen in Sleeping Beauty and the nurse in Romeo and Juliet. Charlotte served as School Administrator for the Ballet Theatre of Maryland School and taught there until 2006. She also worked as Ballet Mistress and Rehearsal Assistant for the Ballet Theatre of Maryland under the direction of the founding Artistic Director, Edward Stewart. In 2012, she moved to Massachusetts and was excited to be able to share her love for teaching with Ballet Arts Worcester, and now The Hanover Theatre Conservatory.


Meghan Montaner headshot.

Meghan Montaner

Meghan Montaner (she/her/hers) is the president of The Hanover Theatre’s Conservatory & Education Division. Montaner helped to open The Hanover Theatre (THT) in 2008 and grew their education programs to serve 19,000 students annually. In 2017, she founded THT Conservatory, which provides training to 600 enrolled students each year through 90+ class offerings and 20 esteemed faculty. Montaner is a trained dancer, singer and actress. Prior to her current role, she led numerous theatre arts programs in the community with a focus on student growth, production quality and audience development. Her work with the Worcester Public Schools garnered a Community Partner Award in 2012 and the Goddard Scholars Community Partner Appreciation Award in 2014. Montaner’s ground-breaking Adopt-A-School Program, launched in 2013, gained national attention for its achievements incorporating arts into the core curriculum. In 2014, she was asked to present the program at the Broadway League’s Education and Engagement Forum in NYC. Montaner holds a master’s degree in theatre education from Emerson College, where she was awarded the Dean’s Fellowship Award. She is also a 2017 Worcester Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award recipient.


Mark Mummert headshot.

Mark Mummert

Mark Mummert (he/him/his) is cantor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Worcester and assistant director / accompanist for the Worcester Chorus. As a professional singer, Mark has performed with the Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival, The Worcester Chorus, Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, the Bach Choir Houston, Houston Chamber Choir, CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists) and St. John’s Schola Cantorum. Mark has also appeared on stage in “Pirates of Penzance” (Frederick), “Oklahoma” (Will Parker), “Applause” (Dwayne), “Carousel” (Enoch Snow) and “Anything Goes” (Billy). As collaborative pianist, Mark has appeared in concerts with Arlene Auger, Pamela Cooper-White, Deborah Ford, and the vocal studios of Joan Patenaude Yarnell, Robert Grooters, and Jane Shivick. Mark studies voice with Jane Shivick. Artistic management for Mark is provided by Seven Eight Artists.


Kim Pheymannicie headshot.

Kim Pheymannicie

Kim Pheymannicie (she/her/hers) is a trained theatre technician and stage manager from the Boston theatre scene. She has worked on numerous productions and concerts with Stoneham Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Reagle Theatre as a stage manager and lighting technician. She has worked with theatre educational programs at Stoneham Theatre and Groton School as a production manager, stage management mentor, and has taught workshops in lighting, makeup, and design. Kim received her Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology with a concentration in Technical Theatre from Fitchburg State University, and a Master of Arts in Theatre Education from Emerson College. She was a two-time semi-finalist in the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for stage management. She currently works at North High School in Worcester teaching mathematics.


Monica Risi

Monica Risi

Monica Risi (she/her/hers) has been teaching theater to young artists since 2016. Monica is a Peruvian actor, acting coach and university professor. Her career as a teaching artist includes experience in prestigious universities both in the US and South America (Juilliard, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú). A dynamic artist whose approach to teaching places the actor’s curiosity and will at the center of building a genuine, robust, fulfilling and expansive acting technique for each artist.  She has taught courses on character work, ensemble building and scene study, as well as seminars on practice-based research and workshops on producing. Monica has worked at Teatro Chelsea (MA), The New Stage Theater Company (NY), The Civilians (NY), Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble (PA), HERE Arts Space (NY), Teatro La Plaza (Peru) and Tondero (Peru). She holds an MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School at The New School. 

 


Olivia Dambrosio Scanlon headshot.

Olivia D’Ambrosio Scanlon

Olivia D’Ambrosio Scanlon (she/her/hers) or Livy Scanlon, is a Worcester-based playmaker: a versatile theatre professional working as a producer, director, actor, and teaching artist. She has served in these capacities with organizations including The Nora@CentralSquareTheatre, New Rep, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Trinity Rep, Asolo Rep, Paper Mill Playhouse, Hartford Stage, and Bridge Rep, which she founded and helmed for five years, and where she received a 2019 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director and a 2018 IRNE Award for Best Actress. During her tenure at Bridge Rep, Olivia was featured in the Boston Globe and on WGBH, among other news outlets, and had a short essay published on the HowlRound Theatre Commons. Olivia teaches acting in the Department of Humanities + Arts at WPI, and the Department of Theater Arts at MIT, where students and faculty selected her for a 2018 Levitan Teaching Award. A transplant from Cambridge, Livy was appointed to that city’s Mayor’s Arts Task Force, and is a proud Board member emeritus of the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund. A current member of the board of StageSource, and a card-carrying member of Actors’ Equity, Livy earned her MFA from Brown University / Trinity Rep, and her BA from Amherst College (summa cum laude). She now lives in Worcester’s canal district with her wife, Rachel, and their rescue pup, Rusty, and serves as both Artistic Director of The Hanover Theatre Repertory and Managing Director of the Worcester BrickBox Theater in the Jean McDonough Arts Center.


Meredith Stypinski headshot.

Meredith Stypinski

Meredith Stypinski (she/her/hers) is a Boston-area Equity actor known for her chameleon-like qualities, playing everything from power lesbians to shy bookworms! Meredith’s approach to teaching and coaching draws upon a combination of techniques she acquired while studying at the Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee, as well as those she picked up through years of performing. She works with her students to build a strong technical foundation with a wide variety of tools that actors can draw upon for inspiration and guidance. Meredith focuses on connecting the interstitial moments found in each piece to create specific, fully-realized, and truthful characters.


Ana Luisa Thompson Konopka headshot.

Ana Luisa Thompson

A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ana Luisa graduated from the Maria Olenewa State School of Dance, the official School of the Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro. The Olenewa School is internationally recognized, with graduates performing in major Ballet Companies throughout the world. While a student there, Ms. Thompson was chosen to perform in Coppelia and La Sylphide with the Company of Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro. She also danced professionally with the Brazilian Modern Dance Company, Companhia de Danca Rio. Thompson served on the faculty at the Performing Arts School of Worcester from 1998 until 2004 where she was a former Ballet Mistress, Assistant Director and Director of Curriculum working under the direction of several known names as Dierdre Miles-Burger and Richard Rein. She choreographed ballet, modern and contemporary pieces for the Worcester Youth Ballet Company and PASOW’s The Nutcracker. Thompson has performed in numerous productions of The Nutcracker; she was guest artist with the Melrose Youth Ballet, Dance It Up and PASOW’s since 1997 dancing the roles of Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen, Arabian Princess and Spanish Soloist. Thompson has completed the DAVID HOWARD Intensive Dance Seminar for Teachers in 2000 and participated in Boston Ballet’s Adult Summer Camp. She has been the Ballet Mistress at Ballet Arts Worcester for many years.

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