Faculty & Staff

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 (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 (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.

Rochelle Bard is a vocalist, accompanist, teacher, and music director. An enthusiast and encouraging teacher, she has taught voice and piano for 25 years privately, as well as at The Hartt School and UConn. Techniques include belt/mix/legit and classical in a wide variety of styles. She has accompanied and Music Directed musical theater shows including Guys & Dolls, Seussical, Cinderella, Annie, and The Secret Garden among others. As a professional soprano, Rochelle Bard has been described as an “exquisite singing actress” with a specialty in bel canto and Verdi repertoire. Performances include the title roles of Tosca, Norma, Aida, Maria Stuarda, and Lucia di Lammermoor, as well as Odabella in Attila, Abigaille in Nabucco, Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux, Violetta in La Traviata, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Roselinde in Die Fledermaus, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, at such companies as Opera Tampa, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Sarasota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Knoxville Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Idaho, Opera Theater of Connecticut, Opera Company of Middlebury, and Sacramento Opera. In multiple productions of The Merry Widow, she has performed the witty title role, most memorably under the baton of Anton Coppola. Described as ‘absolutely magical’ for her portrayal of Tosca in Hawaii, critics also acclaimed her Odabella in Attila as “a tour de force both musically and dramatically.” In concert, Bard recently debuted as the soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Knoxville Symphony and was the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall. At Lincoln Center, Bard was the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana in a stunning production with Alvin Ailey dancers. She has also been the soloist on the stages of Tanglewood, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Boston Symphony Orchestra, National Chorale, Opera Orchestra of New York, and Tallahassee Symphony. Bard earned a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from her alma mater, the College of the Holy Cross. She is also the Music Director at a church in West Hartford, CT and at Stepping Stone Community Theater in Whitinsville.

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.

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.

Christi Dionis brings a unique blend of artistic expertise to the Hanover Conservatory. A graduate of the Academy of Art in San Francisco with a degree in Sculpture, Christi further honed her skills at M.U.D, The Makeup Designory in Burbank, CA. Her background in sculpture informs her approach to makeup design, allowing her to create characters that are both visually striking and deeply resonant. Now based in Worcester, MA, Christi’s talents have graced both stage and screen. Her recent credits include the short film “The Hit”, as well as the Hanover Repertory Theater’s productions of Macbeth, The Crucible, and The Edgar Allan Poe Double Heaeder. Christi is excited to continue sharing her passion for visual storytelling with her students and The Hanover Conservatory.

Jackie Daley has been a theater educator for over a decade. She delights in teaching, coaching, directing, writing, and fostering creativity, confidence, playfulness, and joy in performers and storytellers. She earned her BA from the University of Connecticut and is a Certified Kripalu YogaDance Instructor. Jackie attended ImprovBoston Comedy School and performed long form improv and improvised musicals in and around Boston. She has been a cast member of Acme Improv Company since 2018. As the Education Director of Kidstock! Creative Theater, Jackie has directed many junior musicals, improv shows, student showcases, and written plays and musicals with children in addition to creating curriculum. She is a performer and interactive storyteller and loves getting puppets involved. Previously, she was the Instructor and coordinator of the arts on the beautiful Caribbean island of Saba.

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.

For nearly three decades, Matthew Fear has been making things up, building things up, and teaching others to do the same. His roots are in the mid-90s improv scene, a path that led him to ImprovBoston, where he spent years as a performer, teacher, and member of their National Touring Company.

Today, Matthew wears a few different hats. You’ll find him advocating for local culture as the president of 140Arts Collaborative in Upton, or backstage at Nipmuc Regional High School, where he directs the Drama Guild and helps students find their footing in the theater. Whether he’s on a professional stage or in a classroom, Matthew’s goal is simple: to use the arts to build a stronger, more connected community.

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.

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 (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 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.

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 (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.

Diana Khong is a Viet playwright, director, dramaturg, and intimacy coordinator whose work across film and theater has been supported by Panavision, Holy Cross x Worcester Cultural Coalition, Director’s Lab North, Fresh Ink Theatre, Chuang Stage, Button Poetry, and The Institute for Diversity in the Arts. As a filmmaker, they are one-half of the directorial team behind Last Weekend Productions. Their next film, Band Practice (@bandpracticefilm), is a queer coming-of-age romantic comedy following a Black majorette and Viet band geek set to be released in late 2026.

Drawing on their work as a mutual aid organizer and educator, Diana’s art heightens the contradictions within their community and encourages necessary bravery in building a better world. They believe in consent and dramaturgy-led practices that urge theatermakers to dive deep into the archives, ushering forth a deep dialectical understanding of the history that has preceded us while working to erode oppressive power structures in the now.

Diana was born and raised in what they and their friends fondly refer to as “the greatest city on earth”—Worcester, Massachusetts. They love their city and its people.

Nate is a comedian, writer and director out of Worcester, Massachusetts . He’s been performing, writing and directing for over 10 years throughout the nation. He credits his time served on a submarine in the US Navy for his sense of humor. His kids are much funnier than he is.

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.

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 (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.

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, Porto, and serves as Artistic Director of The Hanover Theatre Repertory.

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.

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.

Matthew Wasser (he/him/his) is a video and lighting designer with over a decade of international experience in interactive multimedia stage design. He served as Lighting Director at the Prior Performing Arts Center until 2024, contributing to a wide range of innovative productions. His freelance design credits include Knot an Opera! with Fresh Squeezed Opera in New York City, At Home in Gaza and London with Station House Opera in London, and The Waste Land at the Providence Fringe Festival. Matthew holds an MA in Theatre Production and Design from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and an MFA in Interactive Media from Clark University, where he specialized in computer-generated lighting effects for live performance.