David Alford
- The Callback
- Contemporary Monologues
- Introduction to Voice & Diction for the Stage
- Producing 101
- Shakespearean Monologues
David attended the Juilliard School’s Drama Division where he won the Suria and Saint-Denis Prize for Excellence. In 1994 he received a William and Eva Fox Fellowship for the formation of Mockingbird Theatre in Nashville and served as the company’s Artistic Director until 2004 when he became Executive Artistic Director at Tennessee Rep. Recent acting credits for Tennessee Rep include The Crucible, Speed-the-Plow, Three Days of Rain, Holiday Memories, Oleanna, and 1776. Recent directing credits for Tennessee Rep: It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Dearly Departed, The Winter’s Tale (a collaboration with Nashville Shakespeare Festival), The Santaland Diaries, and Inherit the Wind. Film and television credits include principal roles in A Death in the Family (PBS Masterpiece Theater) and The Last Castle (Dreamworks), among others. Mr. Alford co-wrote and starred in Adrenaline, a winner at the 2007 Nashville Film Festival. His plays include Clara’s Hands, Ghostlight, and Spirit: The Authentic Story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee.
Holly Allen
- Auditioning for the Camera
- Film Scene Workshop for Advanced Actors
Holly is the in-house casting director for Film House, a large and active production company in Nashville. She auditions and casts hundreds of actors every year for projects produced by the creative teams at Film House. Ms. Allen received a BA in Theatre Arts from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California and her Master’s degree in Acting from the University of Idaho. She has taught at the university level as well as community colleges and independent acting schools for over a decade. Many of the actors in Nashville who become eligible for the Screen Actors Guild, do so through working with Film House. She continues to look for and cast new talent in military commercials for the American Forces Radio and Television Services. Ms. Allen is also a professional performer and acts in many local plays, films, commercials, industrials, and voiceovers.
Adam Black
Adam is an award-winning educator, director, playwright, and actor. He holds an MFA in Directing and Theatre from the University of Utah (a program in conjunction with the Sundance Institute). He has directed over twenty stage shows, including one of his own works—a one-act play entitled Pop—published in 2004. For eight years, he taught high school speech and drama in Tennessee. He served on the Tennessee High School Speech and Drama League for six of those years, and twice won the Educator of the Year Award for his district (1999, 2001). In addition, his school honored him with their Educator of the Year award in 2003. Currently, Mr. Black is a professional actor, acting coach, and television producer in Nashville, TN. He hosts two shows for Country Music Television: CMT Outsider and Video Replay. Also, he makes regular appearances as correspondent or guest-host on CMT Insider and Top 20 Countdown. His acting students have appeared or star in films and television shows including Big Fish, Walk the Line, Gilmore Girls, Weeds, Numb3rs, Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and many others. As a producer, Mr. Black is working on projects such as the Football Legends Reunion series and the Country’s Family Reunion weekly series for RFD-TV.
Ross Brooks
Ross is the Artistic Director of People's Branch Theatre, Nashville's professional progressive theatre. Mr. Brooks is an accomplished actor and playwright. He performs regularly with Tennessee Repertory Theatre, the Nashville Children’s Theatre, and the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. He is a graduate of the Creative Writing program at Boston University and an alumnus of the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, where he studied play writing with Nobel laureate poet and playwright Derek Walcott as well as Heidemann Award-winning playwright Kate Snodgrass. Mr. Brooks has had works produced by Kentucky Repertory Theatre and by People’s Branch. His play WONDERLAND, part of PBT’s 2004-2005 season, was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. He is a teaching artist-in-residence at the Nashville Children’s Theatre, and he has taught and directed for Columbia State Community College’s Commercial Entertainment Division.
D. Richard Browder
- Basics of Jazz
- Modern Musical Theatre Dance
D. Richard, after graduating from MTSU, choreographed such shows as Evita, Aida, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Big River, West Side Story, and Children of Eden at local high schools in Middle Tennessee. He then choreographed for such theatres as Nashville Children’s Theatre, People’s Branch Theatre, and Jenny Wiley Theatre. At MTSU he choreographed Hair, Chicago, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Music Man. He also choreographed the musical Lucky Stiff and taught dance classes for Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.
Trish Clark
- What? I Have to Do Costumes, Too?
Trish is in her fourth year as part of Tennessee Rep’s creative team, serving as Tennessee Rep’s Resident Costume Designer and Costume Shop Manager. Ms. Clark holds a BA in theatre from Middle Tennessee State University. She has designed for many other professional and educational theatres including Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Theatre, Nashville Academy Theatre (Nashville Children’s Theatre), MTSU Opera, MTSU Theatre, and Tennessee Dance Theatre. She was especially honored to teach costume design for the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.
René Copeland
René is Tennessee Rep’s Producing Artistic Director and holds her MFA in Acting and Directing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Since she joined Tennessee Rep in 2004, her directing slate has included Doubt, The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?, Noises Off, Three Days of Rain, The Crucible, Speed-the-Plow, Intimate Apparel, 1776, and Oleanna. Before joining the staff of Tennessee Rep, she completed a decade with Mockingbird Theatre, beginning with its first show, Becket. She eventually directed a majority of Mockingbird’s productions, including Of Mice and Men, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Glass Menagerie, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Hamlet (co-directed with David Alford), and The Night of the Iguana. She has directed for other theatres in Nashville, including Nashville Children’s Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, and Chaffin’s Barn Dinner Theater and has extensive acting and teaching experience on the professional, collegiate, and high school levels, including Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. She serves on the board of the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival and has twice been named Best Director by the Nashville Scene, most recently in 2007.
Scot Copeland
Scot has been Producing Director of Nashville Children’s Theatre since 1985. He has directed over a hundred plays for young audiences and has written twelve. In 1972 he was a founding member of the Whole Backstage Theatre in Guntersville, Alabama—a theatre that serves its community to this day. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Montevallo and his MFA in Child Drama from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has served on the boards of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, and the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America. He served two terms as President of ASSITEJ/USA—the US division of the International Association of Professional Theatre for Children and Young People. Mr. Copeland is proud to be a native Tennessean.
Richard Daniel
- Irish/Scottish
- Learning to Fish
- Standard British/Cockney
Richard received his MA in Speech, Communication, and Theatre at Austin Peay State University, where he studied dialects with renowned dialect coach Paul Meier, who went on to create the International Dialects of English Archive. Over the past two decades, Mr. Daniel has appeared in many productions in and around Nashville with Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Nashville Children's Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Mockingbird Theatre, Chaffin's Barn, Cumberland County Playhouse, and Robertson County Players.
Lane Davies
Lane, a graduate of MTSU, was the original Mason Capwell on NBC’s Santa Barbara, an international hit seen in over 53 countries. He was seen not too long ago as the late Dr. Cameron Lewis on GeneralHospital for ABC Television, and as Elliot’s dad, Dr. Simon Reid, on Scrubs. Other credits include starring roles in four prime-time series, Good & Evil, The Mommies, Woops!, and The Crew. He appeared regularly as the psychopathic time-traveler Tempus on Lois & Clark - The New Adventures of Superman, and recurred on 3rd Rock from the Sun as Chancellor Duncan, and on The Practiceas Kyle Barrett, among other shows. Television credits also include some 50 guest-star appearances on such shows as Seinfeld,Working, The Nanny, Ellen,Jesse,Coach,Major Dad, Clueless,Married With Children, and Just Shoot Me. During 30 years as a stage actor, Mr. Davies performed such roles as Hamlet, Macbeth, Petruchio, Henry V, Prospero, King Lear, and Cyrano de Bergerac in companies from San Diego to Providence, Rhode Island. Tennessee audiences saw him recently as John Barrymore in Tennessee Rep’s I Hate Hamlet and as director for the last season’s Rep production of The Underpants. He is Artistic Director of the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival which marked its inaugural season with June’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which Mr. Davies directed and appeared in as Oberon. As Artistic Director for the Santa Susana Repertory Company, a professional resident theater company in Ventura County, CA, Mr. Davies has produced and/or directed over 30 productions and guided the company from its inception in 1988 and also founded and still works closely with the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival in Thousand Oaks, California, now in its 11th season.
Erica Edmonson
Erica is a professional scenic artist who has been living and working in Nashville since 2006. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in technical theatre with a minor in studio art from Indiana University and a technical certificate in scenic art from Yale University’s School of Drama. She has also worked professionally for North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts, and the University of California Irvine. She has contributed her scenic artist skills to many organizations in Nashville, including the Nashville Opera, Fisk University, the Nashville Zoo, TPAC, and the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. In September of 2008, Erica begins her new position as the scenic artist and props artisan for Nashville Children’s Theatre, where she will also be designing this season’s production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Henry Haggard
Henry is a native of Lexington, Kentucky and a graduate of the University of Kentucky's BFA program in Theatre where he focused on Commedia, movement for the stage, and stage combat under Patrick Kagan-Moore, Rick Ney, and Rich Rand. He was last seen by Rep audiences as Ross Tuttle in The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? He has performed locally and regionally with Nashville Children's Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Mockingbird Theatre, Tennessee Rep, Nashville Opera, Kentucky Repertory Theatre, and American Stage Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida. Henry has taught master classes and conducted workshops for Tennessee Rep, The Kentucky Repertory Theatre, Nashville Children's Theatre, Davidson Academy, and The Nashville Film Festival. He was the 2000 recipient of the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Ingram Acting Fellowship and the 1989 recipient of the Kentucky chapter of the National Arts and Letters Society Theatre Award for Excellence.
Jonathan Hammel
Jonathan is a native of New Orleans and his career in technical theatre began some ten years ago with his work for Le Petit Theatre and Crescent Sound and Light. After earning his BFA in technical theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi, Mr. Hammel worked in Massachusetts for Williamstown Theatre Festival and then as Shop Foreman at North Shore Music Theatre. He also spent time in California working for the U. C. Irvine School of Drama. After living and working on each coast, he is starting his third season on staff with Tennessee Rep as Technical Director.
Denice Hicks
Denice is the Artistic Director of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, a position she held from 1998-2002 and since 2005. Educated at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pa, she moved to Nashville in 1980 to perform at Opryland. Ms. Hicks was an original company member of the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, and was among the founders of both the Darkhorse Theater and of People’s Branch Theatre. An Ingram Fellowship award winner, her work has been praised by the Tennessean, Nashville City Search, and The City Paper, among other publications, from which she has received “Best Actor” and “Best Director” acknowledgments. A teaching artist and advocate for Arts in Education, she has edited and directed touring productions of Shakespeare's works, developed and facilitated workshops for students of all ages, and designed and implemented the Apprentice Company Training Program for Nashville Shakes. Ms. Hicks also does film, video, and voiceover work.
Gary C. Hoff
Gary is Tennessee Rep’s Head of Design and Resident Scenic Designer. Mr. Hoff was honored to be included as one of the six “Virtuoso Designers” spotlighted in American Theatre, a national magazine for theatre in America. Mr. Hoff’s work has also been seen at Nashville Children’s Theatre in the recent production of Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, at Dollywood, for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s productions of A Winter’s Tale (2005) and Macbeth (2006), and for the inaugural season of the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival in their production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2008). He is also the proud recipient of the Tennessee Arts Commission Ingram Fellowship in design and holds a Master’s degree from Purdue University.
Robert Kiefer
Robert, an actor and director with 40 years of experience in theatre and film, believes that every person has something important to express. Actors just do it for a living. He has directed everything from Beckett to Shaw to Shakespeare, with some opera thrown in for spice. He excels in working with actors of all ages and levels of experience to explore and draw out strong performances that probably surprise the actors themselves more than anyone else.
Shawn Knight
Shawn is a local performing artist who holds an MFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Louisville. He has taught musical theatre and auditioning classes at the Nashville Children's Theatre for the past two years, doing the same in Cincinnati, OH, where he also participated in workshops with Tony Award winners from the world of musical theatre. Shawn is a member of Actors Equity, the union of professional actors and stage managers. He has written a one-man show on the life and music of George Gershwin, which he has performed across the southeast.
Eric Pasto-Crosby
- Pratfalls are Funny
- Unarmed Combat & Fighting for Film
Eric graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a BFA in performance studies. He has acted for the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival, Stage One: The Louisville Children’s Theatre, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Tennessee Rep, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and People’s Branch Theatre. A loyal member of the Society of American Fight Directors (as well as Actors Equity Association), he's been fight choreographer for Nashville Shakespeare Festival, New Twenty-Two Productions, Nashville Opera, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Cookeville Children’s Theatre, Actor’s Bridge Ensemble, New Bear Productions, and others. Certified in stage combat for Unarmed, Rapier & Dagger, and Broadsword, he has taken classes and worked with many great fighters affiliated with the SAFD including SAFD Fight Masters: David Boushey, Chuck Coyl, Drew Fracher, Richard Raether, and Richard Ryan; SAFD Certified Teachers and Fight Directors: Geoffrey Kent (SAFD president), Brian LeTraunik, D.C. Wright, and Stephan Gray.
Carol Ponder
Carol, a performing artist since 1958 (yes, you read that right) and professional theatre artist since 1969, stopped many years ago counting how many plays, cabarets, and reviews she'd done at 100. In 1998, she began focusing more of her artistic power on singing, making three critically-acclaimed recordings of music based in Southern Appalachia with several more in the hopper. She has worked with most area theatres including Tennessee Rep, Nashville Children's Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Mockingbird Theatre, and Cumberland County Playhouse. She has been teaching almost as long as she's been acting, especially helping people of all ages unlock the potential of their own voices. A professional Teaching Artist since 1987, she received the first national Teaching Artist Fellowship, spending last fall at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA.
Jamie Scott
- Costume Distressing & Dyeing
- Wig Design & Maintenance
Jamie was born and raised in Nashville. She holds a BFA in fashion design and merchandising from O’More College of Design in Franklin. Jamie served as an intern and design assistant to Tennessee Rep’s Resident Costume Designer, Trish Clark, for the Homecoming season. She began and continues to manage Tennessee Rep’s thriving costume rental program in addition to her duties as design assistant.
Lauren Shouse
Lauren holds an MA in Performance Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she adapted and directed a production of The Time Traveler’s Wife for Wordshed Productions. Upon graduation, Ms. Shouse worked in London, UK with Producer/Director Hugh Wooldridge. There she served as Production Executive to The Night of 1000 Voices (A Tribute to John Kander and Fred Ebb starring Joel Grey and the cast of Avenue Q) at The Royal Albert Hall. Her other UK credits include: Assistant Director of The Night of 1000 Voices at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Assistant Director of The Gift of Music at Roundhouse Theatre—London—and Production Executive of An Evening with Michael Parkinson at Theatre Royal—Windsor. Ms. Shouse moved to Nashville in fall 2007 to work with Tennessee Rep as a production assistant, assistant stage manager, and assistant director. She recently directed Religion and Rubber Ducks for Ovvio Arte and stage managed Lucky Stiff for the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. She recently joined the staff of Tennessee Rep for their 2008-2009 season as Artistic Associate.
Claire Syler
Claire is a Nashville-based director, teacher, and actor. She is the Education Director for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, an adjunct faculty member at Belmont University, and a Teaching Artist for TPAC Education and the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. Locally, she has directed for The Nashville Shakespeare Festival (The Two Gentlemen of Verona), Belmont University (A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Pride & Prejudice), and provided assistant direction at Tennessee Rep (Intimate Apparel). As an actress, she has performed for Naked Stages (Hamlet and Twelfth Night) and People’s Branch Theatre (Mother Courage). Claire holds an MFA in Directing and trained with SITI Company members Akiko Aizawa, Leon Ingulsrud , and SITI Company Associate member Jeffrey Fracé.
Kathy Tobey
- Dance Auditions for Non-Dancers
Kathy returned to Nashville after pursuing her performing career in New York City and Los Angeles for several years. She performed in Tennessee Rep's productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Evita. She has appeared in productions of Guys and Dolls (Dance Captain), Jesus Christ Superstar, Oklahoma! with Jean Stapleton, Showboat with Davis Gaines, Follies with Juliet Prowse, and a leading role in Annie. She has also appeared in several TV productions alongside such talents as Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. While in Los Angeles, Kathy danced in two films, one of which she choreographed. Ms. Tobey’s dance background also includes The Peggy Spina Tap Company in New York City, The Ruth Mitchell Jazz Company in Atlanta, The Dancers’ Theatre Company in Nashville, and various industrial productions. She also assisted New York choreographer Mary Jane Houdina with her dance auditions.
Erin Whited
Erin has been involved in Nashville theatre in various capacities since 1992, working with Nashville Children’s Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, People’s Branch Theatre, Point B Productions, Chaffin’s Barn, Mockingbird Theatre, and Tennessee Rep in various capacities including actor, stage manager, assistant stage manager, light board operator, grant writer, business manager, and bookkeeper. Her Stage Management experience spans the past 10 years and most recently has been for Nashville Children’s Theatre and Nashville Shakespeare Festival. Erin also contributes to voiceover projects, local films, and industrials. Erin, a Vanderbilt graduate in theatre, has been a member of Actor’s Equity Association (the national actors’ and stage managers’ union) since 2002 and has stage managed under five separate types of Equity contracts.
Samuel Whited
- Basic Makeup for the Stage
- It’s Halloween!
Samuel has been involved in theatre since his first production at age five. Since first seen at Chaffin's Barn Backstage in Tom Lehrer's Tom Foolery, he has worked in Nashville theatre for 18 years. He has appeared in numerous productions for Nashville Children's Theatre, Mockingbird Theatre, People's Branch Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, and Point B Productions of New York—as well as Tennessee Rep. Sam has also been involved in local films for Forest Light/Solo Productions, No Budget Productions, Rough Customer Films, and Filmhouse. Sam completed his BA at Austin Peay State University in 1992 and has directed many educational and professional theatre productions, taught voice and dialects, as well as held technical theatre workshops on makeup and lighting. Sam served as artistic director for Robertson County Players for the 2003-2004 season. When not teaching for The Rep or NCT, Sam spends his time onstage.
David Wilkerson
- Broadsword
- Rapier & Dagger
- Stage Managing 101
David is celebrating his 10th year in the Nashville area, where he has worked professionally as an actor, stage manager, and fight choreographer. He is entering his fifth season of stage managing shows at Tennessee Rep. He has also managed the stages of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Mockingbird Theatre, and the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival. In addition to acting for Tennessee Rep, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, and People’s Branch Theatre, he has choreographed fights and/or taught combat workshops for Tennessee Rep, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Nashville Opera, People’s Branch Theatre, Tennessee Shakespeare Festival, Vanderbilt University, and many other educational institutions and professional theatres. This fall he will be the Fred Coe Artist in Residence at Vanderbilt University Theatre focusing on Stage Combat.
