|
ROBIN AZERSKY
has her BFA in Theatre
Education from the University Of Arizona. She is the
resident costume designer for Desert Foothills Theater
and teaches performing arts at Foothills Academy
Elementary Prep. During the 2008-2009 school year in The Phoenix Elementary
School
District Robin taught students
from kindergarten to eighth grade how to discover and
fall in love with Theatre. She has taught students how
to strengthen their imaginations to bring words on a
page to life on the stage. She loves puppetry, mask work
and Shakespeare.
 DARLENE DUFFY
hails from the state of Kentucky, spent much of her
professional life in Cincinnati, OH and now calls
Arizona home. Her 30 years in music have focused on
teaching and conducting. She holds a Music Performance
degree in voice with a minor in piano from Northern
Kentucky University as well as her teaching
certification with a Master's in Education for grades
K-8. Professional credits include leads in The Sound
of Music, Oklahoma, The Music Man, Hello, Dolly, The Old
Maid and the Thief, Carmen and Le Nozze di
Figaro. Ms. King directs the band/choral program at
Desert Arroyo Middle School in the Cave Creek Unified
School District.
 JESSICA
FRIELING is thrilled to be a part of the Desert
Foothills Theater's community, and is excited to teach
for the DFT Conservatory of Performing Arts
A makeup artist, and portrait photographer by day (you
can learn more on her
website,
she has been honing her vocal and acting skills over the
last 20 years both in Phoenix and in Los Angeles. She
has worked with Grammy nominated artists and producers
in Los Angeles, and has had the privilege of performing
at many iconic venues in Hollywood, such as B.B. Kings,
as well as being a part of several concert series’ at
Hollywood & Highland.
She has worked as a director, makeup artist and theater
technical support--most recently as director of
Charlotte's Web at Desert Stages Theatre.
She has performed in countless productions around the
valley. Some of her favorite roles include Sr. Mary
Amnesia in Nunsense 1 & 2, Fairy Godmother in
Cinderella, Grace Farrell in Annie, the Seasons of Love
Soloist in RENT, Brenda in Smokey Joe’s Café, and
Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web.
 ANNA PARIS
began her acting career in San
Francisco performing with the group Comedy Sportz and
privately trained with Shelly Mitchell, Mitchell had
been a student of the famous Lee Strasberg and Sandy
Meisner and introduced Anna to the Meisner, Strasberg
and Stanislovsky methods of acting. In San Francisco,
Anna landed her first part on the television series Nash
Bridges with Don Johnson and Cheech Marin. She has
appeared in several commercials and has had lead roles
in industrial films and a supporting role in the short
film, "What You Don't Know."
In 1988, Anna move to New
York and worked in The Actor's Studio, Michale Howard
Studio and received private training with Marsha
Haufrect. In 2001, she moved back to the west coast in
order to pursue T.V. and film work in Los Angeles.
Ann was cast as a lead in
the Aaron Carter music video "Do You Remember," was
featured in the late John Frankeheimer film, PATH TO WAR
on HBO, had a supporting role in a movie called MITR-MY
FRIEND, and appeared in numerous short films with
independent filmmakers from USC, UCLA and AFI.
 PARIS
D. RHOAD (Teacher/Stage Manager) graduated from Virginia
Commonwealth University with a BS in Broadcasting and Creative
Writing and Iona College with a MST in Elementary Education. She is
certified in Elementary Education (K-8), Reading, ELL, Early
Childhood and currently working on her PhD in Child Development at
Walden University. For 14 years Paris worked as a classroom teacher
in grades Pre-K to 2nd grade and as a Reading Coach training follow
teachers. She began performing at age two and spent her adult
theatrical career as a stage manager in VA, NYC, and AZ. Her local
credits include: Stop the World... I Want to Get Off, Into the
Woods, Johnny Guitar: The Musical (Theater Work), Ragtime, RENT,
Forbidden Broadway (Mesa Encore Theatre), Bye, Bye Birdie, and
Seussical (Desert Foothills Theatre). As a director she’s
worked on the Emperor’s New Clothes, Once on This Island, Jr.
and The Women of MET cabaret. Having done her thesis
research on the use of music and movement to enhance the early
childhood classroom she is excited for the opportunity to share her
love of the theatre with our youngest learners.
PETEY SWARTZ
has performed as a singer, actress, and voiceover
talent on both coasts.
Now a long-time Phoenix resident, she has donned
many hats in numerous valley productions.
She directed and created design elements for Desert
Foothills Theatre's 2010 Arizona premiere of "Unnecessary Farce", and 2009's "Last of the Red Hot Lovers", (ariZoni nomination for Direction),
Both shows were critically acclaimed and played to sold-out houses. She will
be directing Inspecting Carol in
the fall of 2010.
Other directing and design credits include the ariZoni award-winning
Six Degrees of
Separation,
Moon Over Buffalo,
(six ariZoni nominations, including Best Director and Best Overall
Production),The
Gin Game (North Valley Playhouse), and
Breaking
Legs (Mesa Encore Theatre). Her acting
credits include theatre venues throughout the valley, (two ariZoni
nominations), and she has been the commercial voice of AJ's Fine Foods for
over five years. Petey also proudly served on the Board of Directors for the
ariZoni Theatre Awards of Excellence for three years, (2006-2009); actively
contributing to the development and improvement of the awards process. Petey
has enjoyed teaching at DFT Conservatory of Performing Arts and is gratified
by her students' sharing how their lives have been enriched through acting.
 CLAUDIA
TULIP, a Music Together® Center Director
since 1999, now directs Under One Common Sky featuring
Music Together, KidStrums, Indigo Rhythm, Family Jazz
Jam and private lessons in flute, guitar, piano and
songwriting. Classically and jazz trained, she has
written music for dance companies, documentaries and
theatre. Claudia was a contributing musician to Jerry
Jacka's Emmy award winning documentary "Beyond
Tradition", PBS Mystic Lands (Peru, Bali and Anasazi
segments) and the NAMA award winning CD 'Colors of My
Heart' by Sharon Burch. Claudia's artistic life has
always been a blend of performance and innovative
teaching. Her roots include Flute Master Classes with
Marcel Moyse who is considered to be one of the greatest
flute masters of the 20th century.
In addition to her B.A in music performance and study of
the Dalcroze and Orff methods, Claudia has attended jazz
band directors' intensives at Eastman School of Music
and Toronto's York University and had years of study
with "Coach" Barry Harris at the Jazz Cultural Theatre
in New York City. Since 1988, Claudia has been the
flutist of the William Eaton Ensemble, a world fusion
quintet, having released five albums for Canyon Records.
'Where Rivers Meet' earned a Billboard Critic's Choice
and 'Sparks and Embers' garnered top ten play list in
the World Music catagory in Japan and Canada in 2006.
The Ensemble has performed for Princess Ann, opened for
James Taylor, Kenny Loggins, Diana Krall, John Couger
Mellancamp, Thunderbirds, Dana Carvey, Sinbad, the
Drepung Monks and has performed innumerable concerts and
festivals throughout the western United States.
During Claudia's time of tenure at New York's famed
Saint Ann's School, she conducted the Middle School
Chorus, Chamber Ensemble, Flute Ensemble and Jazz
Ensemble while teaching Orff-inspired classes in
Improvisation-Composition. She was one of 10 Music
Faculty members at Saint Ann's. The Indigo Rhythm and
KidStrums programs grew out of Tulip's desire to share
the naturalness of learning an instrument and using it
as a creative vehicle for improvisation, composition and
ensemble work. Classes, lessons and workshops embrace
the understanding that the muse within each of us need
only be recognized and cultivated to express works of
great beauty in resonant concert with others, Under One
Common Sky*. Tulip is known for diving deep into the
heart of music and creativity with people of all ages
and many cultures.
 LORI
VANDER MATEN
has worked in theatre since the 1980’s as an actress,
writer, director, producer, designer and stage manager.
She is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who
earned both her BA in Theatre and her MFA in Playwriting
from UCLA, and next season, DFT will premiere her newest
work, In The Devil’s Frying Pan as a part of the
Arizona Centennial Celebration. Her musical adaptation
of Little Women was the winner of the YES
Festival of New Plays and premiered at the
University of Northern Kentucky in 2001. Her
first full-length play, Storms Without Warning
was the winner of the Siena College International
Playwriting Competition, and she was a
guest-artist-in-residence at Siena College for the
premiere production of that play. Her full-length
play, Seasons, was 4th runner up for
the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award, and her
musical, Make Believe, was the two-time winner of
the Burdette Fitzgerald Award for Theatre for Young
Audiences. Her screenplay, Goin’ Home
was a semi-finalist in the Walt Disney Fellowship for
Writers Competition, and her screenplay, Razha,
was a semi-finalist in the Fade-In Screenplay
Competition. Favorite acting roles include:
Mae in DFT’s fall production of Bye, Bye Birdie,
Rose in God’s Favorite, Meg in Brigadoon,
Anne in All My Sons, Elaine in Arsenic and Old
Lace, Mrs. Beaver in Narnia, Amy in The
Contender, and Mopsa in A Winter’s Tale.
She has studied acting at UCLA, The University of
Arizona and the Arizona Theatre Company. Favorite
directing experiences include: Into The Blue,
Alice In Wonderland, Nutcracker and the Mouse
King, The Merchant of Venice, West Side
Story, The Actor’s Nightmare, Working,
A Marriage Proposal, Make Believe and
The Singer. She also directed a short film,
Secret Sisters, which was a semi-finalist in the
Miramax/LivePlanet Project Greenlight
directing competition. Since moving to Phoenix in
1999, Lori has taught at Southwestern College,
Scottsdale Community College, Paradise Valley Community
College, Scottsdale Christian Academy, The Arizona
School of Classical Ballet and was the Education
Director for DFT for two years.
 In Memorium –
Miss Brenda B. Waffle – Founding Director, Gecko Teatro
Brenda
was owner and director of the award winning Columbus
Youth Theater in Columbus, Ohio for ten years. For
the past fifteen years, Miss Waffle has been a teacher
for the Cave Creek Unified School District and has been
performing in theaters throughout the valley. Miss
Waffle was excited to be able to combine her two great
passions: teaching children and theater. Miss Waffle
had been on stage acting since the third grade. She
acted in or directed over forty shows during this time
period. Miss Waffle passed away July 2008.
|
|
