STAFF & TEACHERS

  1. Home
  2. /
  3. All About Us
  4. /
  5. Staff & Teachers

TADA! Staff

[email protected]
(212) 252-1619 ext. 121
Favorite Musical: Your Own Thing

Janine Nina Trevens co-founded TADA! with Linda Reiff in 1984. Nina has served as Artistic Director for all of the works produced by TADA!, many of which she commissioned specifically for the company. For TADA!, she wrote The Perfect Monster, The History Mystery, The Little House of Cookies, Sweet Sixteen, and Odd Day Rain.

She is currently working on a new musical with Deirdre Broderick about kids and teens and anxiety. She directs many of TADA!’s musicals, numerous staged readings, and Ensemble appearances at various locations and events in and around NYC including 2016’s Banned Together: A Censorship Cabaret for Dramatists Legal Defense Fund by John Weidman at The Drama Book Shop. Nina was selected as one of 10 Parenting Leaders by Parenting Magazine, and she was one of only five women nationally to receive Family Circle’s First Annual Halo Award for women who make a difference. She was chosen to be part of the #OneInspired World Observatory opening, featured as an artist that has made a NYC difference, and was featured as New Yorker of the Week on NY1. She is proud to have served on funding panels for NYSCA, DCA, ART/NY and TCG. Nina is a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women.

[email protected]
(212) 252-1619 ext. 206
Favorite Musical: Into the Woods

Julia O’Brien is an arts administrator with a background in producing, directing, acting, and education. Past Off-Broadway credits include the world premiere of Babette’s Feast (producer), The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (director/producer), The Snowy Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats (director/producer). As a general manager with Jessimeg Productions, she worked on dozens of shows, including the Drama-Desk Award winning Zero Hour: The Zero Mostel Show. She also worked in programming at the Sheen Center where she had the honor of presenting American Slavery Project’s Unheard Voices, and producing Ken  Jennings’ one-man show, The Gospel of John. In 2021, she completed the Executive Program in Arts and Culture Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania.

She’s most inspired when creating exceptional theater experiences for children and families, and she’s thrilled to join the TADA! team to carry on its incredible legacy. Outside of TADA! you’ll find her hiking and birdwatching in Central Park with her family, getting lost in a good book, and taking in live performances of all varieties.

 [email protected]
(212) 252-1619  ext. 118
Favorite Musical: 42nd Street

Katy Knowles holds a Masters of Arts in Educational Theatre for Colleges and Communities from New York University.  Some of her career highlights as an arts administrator include Event Coordinator for NYU’s Educational Theatre Forum on Site-Specific Theatre, Assistant Camp Director at Acting Up Performing Arts Camps, Theatre Facilities Manager at Davis Center for the Performing Arts and Stage Management Intern at the Asolo Repertory Theatre. In addition to her administrative work she has extensive experience as an Educator, Director and Choreographer. As a theatre director and teaching artist, Katy spent many years teaching classes and workshops in musical theatre, acting and dance at Manatee High School, Lakewood Ranch High School, Greensboro Performing Arts, and Mary McDowell Friends School. Some of her favorite shows as a Director and Choreographer are Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game, Anything Goes and The Drowsy Chaperone. Katy also holds a Bachelor in Arts in Acting from Greensboro College and an Associate in Arts in Musical Theatre from Florida School of the Arts.

[email protected]
(212) 252-1619  ext. 184
Favorite Musical: RENT

Javier Cardenas is a NYC native, where he began his training with the Resident Youth Ensemble of TADA! (RYET) program, where he cultivated his love for the arts. He received pre-professional training from Joanna & Ryan Greer, Jim Colleran, and Janine Nina Trevens. Some of his credits at TADA! include Adventures of Ezra Jack Keats: Maggie and The Pirate (JJ) & Apt. 3 (Sam), Everything About School (Almost), Gumball Gang: Crime Solving Kids (Danny), Princess Phooey (Quintos), & Everything About a Family (Almost).

Javier graduated Magna Cum Laude from Leman College where he received his BFA in Multimedia Performing Arts with a concentration in Dance, and is also the 2022 recipient of the Joan Miller Award for dance excellence. He studied Ballet, Jose Limon, Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Hip-Hop, House, Vogue, improvisation and multimedia production under Michael Manswell, Amy Larimer, Wendell MX oops Cooper, Johanna Meyer, Monica Duncan, Jason Slim007 Rodriguez, Beverly Lopez, Tweetboogie, and Charmaine Charmy Wells.

Professionally, Javier is currently the Associate Director of Artist Development at TADA! Youth Theater. He began teaching hip-hop classes for RYET, and later became a Director/Choreographer throughout NYC Public Schools for TADA! via the education department. He was also Assistant to the Choreographer, Apollo Levine (MJ: The Musical), for The Party (2017), a production produced by New Light Baptist Church at City College of New York. Javier was Assistant Choreographer on Game Changers (2018), Choreographer of Wide-awake Jake (2022) and Adventures of Ezra Jack Keats: Maggie and the Pirate & Apt. 3 (2022) at TADA! Youth Theater. He has also choreographed at the Queer Movers in Movies Festival at BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance.

Javier is still performing and competing in multiple dance styles with Heartbreak Crew and Danceworks NYC. IG- @iRjavii

Ashley Knowles

[email protected]
(212) 252-1619  ext. 132
Favorite Musical: Hadestown

Ashley Knowles (they/she/he) holds a BA in Theater, Minor in Arts Administration from the University of Montevallo. Their love of working with youth began with the Girl Scouts where they previously worked as Head Counselor, Programs Facilitator, and Counselor Trainer for numerous Girl Scout Camps in Alabama. Prior theatrical experience includes Sub Stage Manager for Sleep No More, and a Stage Manager/Counselor and Head Counselor at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center. Some of their favorite stage management credits include She Kills Monsters, Tartuffe, A Comedie of Errors, Into the Woods, God of Carnage, and Rent. They have production stage managed numerous shows with TADA! Including The History Mystery, Game Changers, Wide-awake Jake, and Everything About Camp (almost).

[email protected]
(212) 252-1619 ext. 207
Favorite Musical: Spring Awakening 

Ceanna Bryant, Costume Designer was a member of the Resident Youth Ensemble of TADA! for ten years, appearing in numerous productions and special events. She has served as Assistant Choreographer and Dance Captain on various productions, as well as a Teaching Assistant for TADA! Education camps and dance classes at Steps on Broadway. She has designed costumes for numerous TADA! productions including: Game Changers, Sleepover, How to Eat Like A Child, and Adventures from Ezra Jack Keats: Apt. 3 & Maggie and the Pirate, and Everything About Camp (almost) at TADA!. She has Assistant Directed on Princess Phooey and B.O.T.C.H.

[email protected]
(212) 252-1619  ext. 136
Favorite Musical: West Side Story

Grantland Tracy is absolutely thrilled to be a part of the TADA! fundraising team. He holds a BA in Theatre Arts with a minor in English and Art History from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Grantland has done theatre since a young age and has worked as an actor, director, dramaturg, playwright, stage manager, sound designer and teaching artist! His true passion lies in storytelling and arts education. Some of his favorite shows he’s been able to work on are Chatroom, Our Town, The Last Five Years, She Kills Monsters, and a handful of self produced projects. When Grantland isn’t working, he’s probably seeing shows, going for walks around NYC, or following his latest creative journey. 

[email protected]
(212) 252-1619  ext. 203
Favorite Musical: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum 

Thomas Vaethroeder is a TADA! alum who graduated in 2018. He attended Bennington College and studied Theater before returning to New York to pursue stand-up comedy and other performing opportunities.

[email protected]
212-252-1619 Ext. 186
Favorite Musical: Spamalot!

Carpenter, newly based in NYC. Their recent credits include Harmony: A New Musical and Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof as a scenic carpenter, and has spent the past two summers at Forestburgh Playhouse as the Assistant Technical Director. New Hampshire born and raised, Jeremiah has an extensive background in Circus and performing arts, finding their true passion for the technical side of things at Dean College, where they received their BA in technical theatre. They are so thrilled to join the TADA! team, and hope you enjoy the show!

TADA! Teaching Artists

Chris Bell is originally from the Eastside of San Antonio, Texas but lives and works out of NYC.  Chris holds an an MFA Contemporary Dance (Case Western Reserve), a in BS Dance (Lamar), and because he likes camping and the beach, a BS Geology. He currently makes work with Raja Feather Kelly & the feath3r theory and is a frequent collaborator with (and former choreographic assistant to) Mark Dendy. Current & Recent Projects include: Jelly’s Last Jam (Choreographer, Long Wharf Theater/New Haven), The Wild Party (Co-Choreographer, Up Until Now Collective), Eighty-Sixed (Associate Choreographer, Diversionary Theater/San Diego) Wednesday (TF3T/New York Live Arts), The Met Gala (Rachael Chavkin), and Mute Swan, a collaboration with Theater in Quarantine written by Pulitzer-prize finalist Madeleine George. His company chrisbelldances (CBD) has presented work in 6 states and 4 out of 5 boroughs in NYC including evening length works at Dixon Place and Gibney Dance Center. CBD was the first dance company in residence at the Cherry Grove Community House and Theater, America’s oldest continuously operating LGBTQIA+ theater. CBD is proudly Queens based and an inaugural member of the Queensboro Dance Festival (2014). CBD is currently on the 2022 summer tour with QDF presenting free dance events in neighborhoods across Queens. chrisbelldances.com

Nicole is a NJ/NYC based actor and teaching artist. She is a performance graduate of Fordham University’s BA Theatre program and a current student of NYU’s Educational Theatre MA program. Some of her recent acting credits include: Blood Manor (Morgue Victim, New York Times feature), Love and Information (Various) at NYU Steinhardt and The Thanksgiving Play (Alicia) at the Wombat Theatre Company. In the summer of 2018, Nicole trained at Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Tuscany in commedia dell’Arte and cirque performance, developing her love for physical theater and clowning. 

During her undergraduate years: she studied abroad and interned in London, England at the Theatre Royal Stratford East; directed, produced and adapted The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) for Fordham’s Fall 2019 Studio Season; and lead produced Fordham’s 2019 Performance Showcase. 

Nicole has worked with companies such as Envision Theater, Chamber Theatre Productions, Neighborhood Playhouse, Broadway Bound Kids, bergenPAC, and Helen Hayes Youth Theater teaching acting and dance, running workshops and co-directing student performances.

Miriam Daly is a composer, music director, pianist, and teaching artist. A long time Music Director of the Off-Broadway smash, Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding, she’s worked in numerous theaters in NYC and around the country. Recent composition credits include: 12 shows for The Catastrophic Theatre (Houston); NYU Steinhardt’s 4@15 The Far-Out Way To Fly!; Houston Shakespeare Festival: As You Like It; U. of Houston: Blood Wedding, Mother Courage And Her Children, and The Snow Queen. As a composer she received The York Theatre’s NEO award. She is a graduate of Eastman School of Music and NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. miriamdaly.com


Michael Finke is a New York-based composer, lyricist, and librettist. He has had songs, concerts, and full productions of his work performed at Lincoln Center, the Czech National Symphony, Feinstein’s/54 Below, Joe’s Pub, The Laurie Beechman Theater, NYU, Don’t Tell Mama, Off Broadway at St. Luke’s, NYMF, L.A.’s Rockwell: Table & Stage, the Christmas Day telecast on ABC, and many more. He’s written the book, music, and lyrics to musicals such as Reporting Live, Caroline and George, Surrounded By the Water, and his latest project, Powerline Road. His work has been workshopped and produced by regional theaters in New York, Boston, Detroit, Kansas City, and more. And his musical short, Dead Flowers, has been published and licensed by MTI, being performed in both English and Spanish in the U.S., Mexico, and Spain. He is a member of ASCAP, the Dramatist Guild, and is the winner of the 2015 New Voices Project with Disney Imagineering and New Musicals Inc. Upcoming projects include the Broadway-bound musical 161st Street and his debut musical theatre album “Get What You Want”, being released winter 2022 by Broadway Records. He has been a musical director for the Lovewell Institute since 2007, having music directed Lovewell workshops in Ohio, New York, Florida, Kansas, Nevada, Sweden, and Italy.

Timmy Gage Teaching Artist Director/Choreographer

Timothy Gage is a New York City based theatre artist and educator. As an artist, Timothy works as a director and choreographer and has put up numerous shows with students ages 5 – 18. His favorite credits include Disaster!, Legally Blonde Jr., and Fame Jr. As an educator, he has taught acting, dance, writing, improv, speech, movement, and more to students ages 3 – 80. Timothy has also taught at New York Theatre Workshop, Brooklyn Acting Lab, Stagedoor Manor, A Class Act NY, and Millbrook Playhouse. He holds a BA in Theatre Arts from SUNY New Paltz and is currently working towards his MA in Educational Theatre at NYU. He is so excited to be working with TADA!

Emily Goggin Teaching Artist Music Director

Emily Goggin is an New York-based music director, pianist, teacher, and performer with a B.A. in Music from George Washington University. Emily has a passion for bringing new musicals to life, most recently productions of a new opera, The Project by Peyton Marion, at Lincoln Center and The Eleventh Hour, written by Dave Seamon. She has music directed countless shows and cabarets in and around New York City; some of her favorites include productions of Assassins, Newsies, and Gypsy. One of Emily’s joys is bringing the light and magic of theatre to young people. She has music directed many youth productions, including Into The Woods Jr., Bring It On, and Fiddler On The Roof Jr., devised new musicals and theatrical pieces with students, and teaches private voice and piano lessons. Emily is absolutely thrilled to join TADA! in their mission to bring theater and music to young people in NYC!

Calvin Hitchcock

Calvin Hitchcock is a composer, performer, music director based in Jersey City, NJ. His music has been described as “impressive” and having “a fine ear for sonority” (Pittsburgh Tribune Review), and has received awards from the Kennedy Center and The American Prize. Calvin also frequently works as a performer/MD in theatre and live entertainment, and has been seen at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Carowinds Theme Park, Virginia Stage Company, and music directed multiple shows for TADA! Youth Theater’s Resident Youth Ensemble. He is currently pursuing an MM in Composition at the Mannes School of Music, studying with David T. Little. www.calvinhitchcock.com


Jeremy Jacobs is an international music director and teaching artist who uses music,storytelling, and the arts as active agents for social change and personal discovery. His work has been seen in London, England, Trentino, Italy, Shenzhen, China, New York City, and all across America. Alongside TADA!, Jeremy is an active teaching artist at YAYA Theatre Company (Shenzhen, China) and Piknik Theatre (Steamboat Springs, CO). Some recent credits in music direction include Jersey Boys and Always… Patsy Cline (STAGES St. Louis), A Year With Frog and Toad and Twelfth Night [MD/Composer] (Piknik Theatre), and Urinetown (Sargent Conservatory at Webster University). He could not be more thrilled to continue encouraging students to think critically about themselves and the world through theatre arts at TADA! BM: Music Direction in Musical Theatre (Webster University).

Sabrina Kalman Teaching Artist Director/Choreographer

Sabrina Kalman is an actress, dancer, singer and proud theatre/arts educator from New York City. She has a degree in Theatre Performance from Wagner College, and she has traveled the world performing and teaching children of all ages. Some favorite performance credits include The Wizard of Oz (National/Int’l Tour), Newsies (Surflight Theatre), and Gabriel’s Daughter (Documentary Film). As a teaching artist Sabrina has taught, choreographed and directed with organizations  such as MainStages, DMF Youth!, From Stage to Screen and many more! Most recently, Sabrina’s choreography could be seen in The John W Engemen Studio’s production of The Sound of Music. Sabrina loves storytelling and exploring the world with creativity and imagination.  She has dedicated her life to shedding light and sharing love through the arts!

Ruchir Khazanchi Teaching Artist Music Director

Ruchir Khazanchi is an awarded actor, songwriter, and musician, originally from Omaha, Nebraska. As a child of two educators, he’s developed a passion for working alongside young people to establish a more equitable, joyful, and inclusive future in the arts. He graduated from Northwestern University in 2021 with concentrations in Theatre, Musical Theatre, Creating the Musical, and Screen Acting. His original shows have been performed and recognized with The American Music Theatre Project, Davenport’s Piano Bar, Brooklyn Children’s Theatre, and New Musicals Inc., where his original musical, A BRIDGE TO THE MOON, received 3rd prize in the “Search for New Musicals 2021”. THEATRE: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Lyric Opera of Chicago); THE APPLE TREE (Porchlight Music Theatre); THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY (TheatreSquared); MR. DICKENS HAT (Northlight Theatre); LEGALLY BLONDE (Paramount Aurora); KISS (Haven Chicago). FILM/TV: INSIGHT (ABC); THE BECOMERS (Zach Clark). Music Direction: JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, JERSEY BOYS (Maine State Music Theatre); BROADWAY CAN YOU HEAR ME? (Davenport’s Piano Bar). He is proudly represented by Paonessa Talent. More at www.ruchirkhazanchi.com. Thank you to my teachers.

Composer, lyricist, music director and performer Diana Lawrence works across genres and disciplines to tell essential human stories through music.  Her musical, Mill Girls, released a 2021 EP featuring Nikki Renée Daniels, Alysha Deslorieux and Val Vigoda, and her chamber musical, Zora On My Mind, received a spring 2022 workshop via Georgetown University’s Racial Justice Institute. She has worked as an improvising music director for The Second City, and was commissioned to write original music for Steppenwolf Theatre’s premiere of Tracy Letts’ Mary Page Marlowe.  Diana & the Dishes, Diana’s original pop-soul project, has shared the stage with artists such as Nellie McKay and Becca Stevens. Dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices, Diana has worked with Broadway Advocacy Coalition and Storycatchers Theatre, a company that creates original musical theatre with incarcerated youth. A member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, Diana is a 2021 recipient of the Jerry Harrington Award.

Heaven Lei Lucas Teaching Artist Director/Choreographer

Heaven Lei Lucas is a Wisconsin native turned New York-based actress, dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist. Like the outstanding students of TADA!, Heaven found her love for performing early. At the tender age of three, she started performing elaborate one-woman shows, including standup comedy, choreographed routines, and boisterous singing. The theatre bug bit her and she hasn’t looked back! Heaven has just graduated with her BFA in Drama and a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her past credits include Heathers, The Taming of The Shrew, The Laramie Project, Fuenteovejuna, and in lucem with TISCH DRAMA STAGE. Additionally, Heaven has produced, directed, and starred in multiple short films dealing with subject matter such as equity, female empowerment, and international relations. Fostering her love for the arts and mentoring young people, Heaven began her teaching artist career in 2019 and has worked with students from ages 4-18. She is fascinated with her student’s creativity, critical thinking skills, and all the magic they bring to each class. She is also a licensed special education aide and believes that accessibility, diversity, respect, and empathy are essentials for every classroom! Heaven works to ignite a passion for personal and artistic growth in each of her students. She extends her appreciation to the TADA! staff and is absolutely thrilled to begin her adventure with this organization!

Vivienne Luthin Teaching Artist Director/Choreographer

Vivienne Claire Luthin is an actor, arts educator, and visual artist. Vivienne graduated from Webster Conservatory with a BFA in Acting and a Minor in Music.Theatre credits include: Maria in St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s production of Love’s Labors Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Helena/Snug at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Cat in the Hat as the Cat at ASF, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever as a Mom and the production’s Fight Choreographer at ASF, and And Then They Came for Me as Eva Schloss at ASF. Vivienne has spent the last three summers at Piknik Theatre in Steamboat Springs, CO, as an actor and the Director of Educational Outreach. Vivienne recently became the Artistic Director for Piknik Theatre in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This fall, Vivienne will be teaching musical theater with YAYA’s Youth Theater in Shenzhen, China. Vivienne is incredibly passionate about teaching and looks forward to returning to TADA!


Originally from Louisiana, Trey McCoy is a NYC based actor, singer, and teaching artist. Previous Credits include the touring productions of Motown: The Musical and Waitress. When he’s not performing or teaching, he can be found learning a new recipe, working on his web series, or watching his guilty pleasure…Real Housewives. He holds a BFA from Montclair State University and is ecstatic to be teaching the artists of our future!

Angelika Menendez Teaching Artist Director/Choreographer

Angelika Menendez comes from Miami, FL and is a New York-based Latinx actor, singer, educator who graduated with her BFA from Emerson College. She is thrilled to be working with TADA! Youth Theatre and is so excited to get to play in the room and make discoveries with her students! As an educator Angelika has toured to many states in the northeast and southwest performing for students K-6th. Later in the year she will be teaching with New London Barn Playhouse. Previous credits include: The world premiere of Casa Alfonsa (Creede Rep) Do You See… and For Carmen in San Sebastian (The REV Theatre Company). Angelika seeks to create diverse and inclusive brave spaces in all the work she does. Many thanks to her family and friends in Miami and the northeast for their love and support.
angelikamenendez.com


Samantha Sayah Teaching Artist Director/Choreographer

Samantha Sayah is a NYC based actor, singer, musician, and teaching artist. As a performer, recent theatre credits include Girl in Once and Sister Act at the Geva Theatre Center, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story at Florida Repertory Theatre. Additionally, she’s performed at The Summer Theatre of New Canaan, Astoria Performing Arts Center, Disney Cruise Line, and Tokyo Disney Resort. She has also acted in National commercials and on voice over projects for brands like Tic Tac, Dannon, Walmart, Outback, and more. When she’s not performing, she can be seen playing Dueling Pianos around the tri-state area with The Flying Ivories. Samantha’s Directing credits include Into the Woods Jr. at The Secret Theatre in Queens, and Matilda Jr. & Into the Woods Jr. with the Performing Arts Conservatory of New Canaan. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Montclair State University, and is ecstatic to be teaching at TADA! www.samsayah.com. IG: @samanthasayah

Kevin Smith Teaching Artist Music Director

Kevin A. Smith is thrilled to be teaching with TADA! New York City credits include; Amas Romeo & Bernadette; Theater 2020 A Little Night Music; Three Act Theater Next To Normal. National Tours: Miss Nelson Is Mission, Miss Nelson Has A Field Day, Stink Cheese Man, The Little Engine That Could. Regional credits: Northern Stage The Sound Of Music, Mamma Mia; McLeod Summer Playhouse Gypsy, The Drowsy Chaperone, 9 To 5, Into The Woods, Sister Act, Singin’ In The Rain, Bring It On, Hairspray, Spamalot, The Sound Of Music, Chicago, And Annie. Dartmouth College Into The Woods, Cabaret, Urinetown; Columbia University Ragtime.

Michael-Anthony Souza Teaching Artist Director/Choreographer

Michael-Anthony is a performer, director, and creator proudly residing in Harlem. Michael-Anthony studied acting at The Atlantic Theatre Acting School and musical theatre at CAP21. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from New York University/Tisch School of the Arts, he went on to act abroad at the Old Vic in London and around the world as a lead vocalist with Royal Caribbean. Along with touring the country with TheatreWorksUSA, Michael-Anthony has performed works with FringeNYC (Standby: The Musical), The Movement Theatre Company (And She Would Stand Like This), The Atlantic Theatre Company (Books Cook), and Westchester Broadway Theatre (Sister Act). Along with performing, Michael-Anthony became a teaching artist with the NiteStar Program in 2012 and then went on to direct full musicals at CK Kids American Dance and Drama Camp for eight years. In 2017, he joined Toes for Dance in Canada as a teaching artist, showcasing and guiding works in the process. In 2019, he was the associate director for T. Adamson’s The Straights at JACK Theatre in Brooklyn, NY and during the pandemic, he joined the writing team at The After Image Theatre Company.  Spring 2021, Michael-Anthony signed on as 1st AD for Not Looking: The Series and that fall, he assistant directed Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors with The Boomerang Theatre Company. This past year, M.A. taught a filmmaking course with the Imogen Foundation, along with directing a handful of musicals with Brooklyn Children’s Theatre, including a Disney pilot production. Michael-Anthony is thrilled to be starting his second season with the education team at TADA!

Ammon Taylor Teaching Artist Music Director

Ammon Taylor is a pianist, composer, music director. With a Bachelor of Music in composition from UT Austin, Ammon has a background in classical, jazz, and musical theatre. In his former position as the Paramount Theatre’s Education Music Director in Austin, TX, Ammon did everything from setting children’s narrative inventions to music with the Paramount Story Wranglers to arranging and music directing full musical revues for summer camps. Ammon is an avid accompanist of improvised theatre, and has created scores for improvised musicals on-the-spot with various troupes and theaters in Austin, and is currently involved with The PIT theater in New York. The winner of B. Iden Payne awards for his original scores in 2015 and 2016, and for his live music performance in 2018, he attended the National Winter Playwright’s Retreat in 2019, and is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, 2022 cohort (composition.) He is also the composer and creator of the internationally acclaimed post-apocalyptic song cycle Rites of Warming.

Ashley St. Juliette Teaching Artist Director/Choreographer

Ashley is a professional New York City-based actress. She studied theatre at the Stella Adler Studio of acting, and on-camera acting at the New York conservatory for dramatic arts. Fond of the Meisner method Ashley looks for the truth in her work and seeks to pull the same from within her students. She has a passion for developing character and stories exploring the voice, body and imagination. Taking the text off of the page and putting it in our bodies to tell compelling and truthful stories to audiences. Ashley is particularly excited to teach acting throughout New York City public schools as it helps students with social and emotional learning. Discovering and developing who they are in some of the scene study and character work they’ll do will be very beneficial as students continue their journey into adulthood. With her background as a professionally trained stage and screen actor, her lesson plans will mirror the nature of the business for when it’s time for students to take center stage. Hearing their unique voices is what Ashley looks for to build upon.


Stephanie Wells Teaching Artist Music Director

Stephanie Wells is a pianist, music director, teaching artist, vocal coach, and an educator. She has been teaching and music directing for more than 20 years. She received her BA in Musical Theater Performance from Columbia College Chicago. In Chicago, she began music directing, gigging with bands and started her teaching career at Old Town School of Folk Music. After moving to NYC, she collaborated with Elizabeth Swados at New School and Tisch School of the Arts of NYU where she had the pleasure of working on a devised musical theater production The Reality Show that was produced and performed for the NYC, Abu Dhabi and Shanghai campuses. She has also served as adjunct faculty and resident music director at Kingsborough College in Brooklyn. Oh her recent travels through the county, she worked at Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids, University of Colorado Boulder. The Arts Hub in Colorado. In Texas, she served as the Associate Music Director at Texas State University’s BFA Musical Theater program. And in Portland, she worked with Vibe Portland and The Young People’s Theater Project. Currently, in addition to her work at TADA!, she music directs and teaches for PPAS, Hannah Senesh, teaches piano and voice lessons and works as a freelance music director in NYC.

Rachel Tuggle Whorton Teaching Artist Music Director

Rachel Tuggle Whorton is a performer, director, writer, and arts educator who promotes the arts as tools for personal expression, cooperative storytelling, community dialogue, and social change. Rachel has collaborated with groups across the country, including Royal Caribbean International, National YoungArts Foundation, La Jolla Playhouse, Blindspot Collective, San Diego Musical Theatre, The Acapella Company, Harding University Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The New School, SITI Company, CO/LAB Theater Group, Havas Luxe Events, NYU Looking for Shakespeare, Verbatim Performance Lab, & New York City Center. Her 2017 Off-Broadway performance, Her Opponent, was featured in The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, and on MSNBC. Rachel holds a Ph.D. in Educational Theater from New York University, where she often serves as an instructor and music director. She is also the co-editor of the Teaching Artist Journal. Member: Actors’ Equity Association, Dramatists Guild.

Text goes here.

Text goes here.

Arts Mentorship Program (AMP) Mentors

AMP mentor April Rozier

April Rozier got her love for theater and started her career at age 5. She began her training at the Walnut Street Theater in Philly, and performed throughout the East Coast. After attending AMDA New York, she found her passion working with Youth Theaters and Camps. She has been a part of several Arizona debuts, her favorites include choreographing Nevermore, The Life of Edgar Allan Poe, and stage managing Heathers.

After traveling and working bicoastal for over ten years, she is excited to be back in New York mentoring and training the next generation of creatives.

AMP mentor Jay Adana

Composer/Lyricist: The Loophole (Public Theater), The Woodsman (New World Stages, lyricist), The Last Tiger in Haiti (Berkeley Rep/La Jolla Playhouse), Fingerpaintings (Playwrights Horizons Downtown). Performance: The Loophole (Public Theater), On the Head of a Pin (59E59), Joe’s Pub. 2018 Jonathan Larson Award, 2019 Dramatist Guild Foundation Fellow. Training: #BARS workshop, #BARS Residency at The Public Theater, BFA SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Theater Arts and Film

AMP mentor Luis Salgado

Luis Salgado is an international director, choreographer and educator from Puerto Rico based in New York City and who most recently opened his own adaptation of the musical FAME to great reviews in Washington D.C. He was the Assistant Latin Choreographer of In the Heights on Broadway, which won four Tony Awards.

Last year Luis worked as the associate director/choreographer of Cirque de Soliel’s Paramour in Hamburg, Germany. Among the productions he has directed/choreographed in the United States and abroad are the fantasy musical Ella Es Colombia in Bogota, Colombia with MISI Musicals, the Holland Production of On Your Feet, Ragtime, To Be or Not to Be . . . A Shakespearean Experience, Aida, The Musical, Amigo Duende, The Musical, Bountiful, Zuccotti Park, Song of Solomon, Speed the Plow, The Tempest and Fuerza y Pasión in Lima Peru.

In 2017, Luis directed and choreographed the U.S premiere of the Spanish version of In The Heights at GALA Theatre in Washington D.C which received nine 2018 Helen Hayes Awards including Best Musical, Best Direction and Best Choreography.

He has appeared on Broadway in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, ROCKY, In The Heights, On Your Feet, as well as Off-Broadway shows and Broadway tryouts The Mambo Kings (Frankie Suarez), Fame on 42nd Street (Joe Vegas, understudy) and Aida, among others.

Film credits include: American Gangster, Dirty Dancing 2, Havana Nights, the television remake of Dirty Dancing, Enchanted and Step Up 2, The Streets (Alejandro), for which he also was assistant choreographer.

Luis is the founder/director of R.Evolución Latina, an affiliate of the non-profit organization Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Luis’ personal mission as an artist and a leader is to empower society through the arts to make a change for the better.

Elizabeth Addison is a multi-hyphenate whose work exists at the intersection of Theatre Arts and Recovery. As a person in long term recovery, Elizabeth understands the power of the Arts and storytelling to heal and transform. Elizabeth has written three musicals about her recovery journey. Her first musical, “This is Treatment,” just had a sold out run at Northeastern University, and her third musical, “Chasing Grace,” was just accepted into the SheNYC Arts summer festival. Elizabeth was a part of the MUSE Mentorship program where she was mentored by Broadway musicians. This mentorship program resulted in an opportunity for Elizabeth to observe the rehearsal process and the remounting of “Dear Evan Hansen” on Broadway. Elizabeth was just appointed The Artistic Director of New Play Development at 2nd Act, an organization whose mission is to change the way people and communities respond to the impact of substance use through theatre and drama therapy. She is on the Advisory Board for The Recovery Project at Florida Studio Theatre. The Recovery Project will have a summer residency at NYSF where Elizabeth will also be one of their resident artists. Elizabeth is a creative recovery coach at Revolution Recovery where she also facilitates Recovery Storytelling workshops. This September, Elizabeth will be leading a storytelling through song workshop at the prestigious SHE RECOVERS conference in Chicago, and her fourth musical, “In Between…” will premiere at 54 Below in October 2023.

Julia Jordan Kamanda Composer

Julia Jordan Kamanda, singer/songwriter, music mentor, and owner of J3Music Studios, is on a music mission. Her focus is on spreading a positive musical message to encourage and empower others.

In 2010, Julia co-founded the Creative Arts Initiative in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and traveled there to teach young women new ways to express themselves creatively through the arts. She currently offers songwriting, guitar, and vocal mentoring sessions to students of all ages; blogs about the experience of being a musician and a mom on her “Music Mommy” blog; and offers a music supervision service for independent filmmakers.

As a songwriter, Julia’s music is acoustic-based; but the arrangements go much deeper, pulling inspiration from her jazz and folk roots and natural R&B soul. On her debut album Urban Legacy, released in 2007, she presents songs about light, love and trusting life’s changes- lessons she learned from her musical genius father, Stanley Jordan, and her poetess mother, Sandy Kilpatrick Jordan. At 30 years old, she already has 21 years of professional performance experience and her voice has carried her around the world to grace the stages of legendary music venues, including the Buzios Jazz y Blues Festival in Brazil; the Cairo Opera House in Egypt; the Long Beach Jazz Festival in California; and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, among many others.

AMP mentor Kathy D Harrison

Kathy D. Harrison is a multi-disciplined performing artist, songwriter and playwright. Her original musical titled, The Movement- An A Cappella Musical, was selected to perform for the 2019 New York Theater Festival – Winterfest, the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival, Puffin Foundation and The Greene Space – WNYC live webcast. Her musical Southern Boys – Sons of Sharecroppers was featured at the 2017 National Black Theatre Festival and will be presented by Charleston Black Theater in October 2019.

With an extensive background as an Arts Educator, Kathy D. Harrison was selected to be a recipient of the Jubilation Foundation 2 Years Artist Fellowship. She has spent the past 15 years working successfully in Arts Administration and Arts Management, designing theater, music and dance curriculum for school programs, social service agencies, and non-profit efforts. Social advocacy and purpose-driven creative arts are Ms. Harrison’s lifelong commitment and purpose.

She is a visionary leader with a strong entrepreneurial drive. She is the Founder and Managing Artistic Director for Diversity Youth Theater; a performing arts company based in NJ. Merging her creative abilities with her management skills, she developed several unique Arts projects that helped to brand the grass-roots company into a reputable establishment. In 2014, she started Performing Artists United, a membership based arts collective for young adults. The membership based ensemble company develops original works for touring purposes, while also serving as the leadership umbrella for Diversity Youth Theater.

Simran Pal Kaur is an NYC based multidisciplinary artist who graduated with an honors Multimedia and Performing Arts degree with a concentration in theatre from Lehman College. She is ambitiously curious about diving deep into the psyche of each role at hand to unlock its true nature and mysteries. She has played a vast array of roles and has delved into works ranging from Chekov to Shakespeare. Acting credits: Pearl (Locked in Love), Masha (Three Sisters), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet). Production/stage management credits: Future Classics Festival 2023 (Titan Theatre Company, Queens Theatre), Spring Dance Concert 2022 & 2023 (Lehman College), How to create massive change… (The Tank), Dance In Dialog 2022 & 2023 (Lehman College). Directorial credits: The Love Hate Club (Off-off-bdwy, Broadway Bound Theatre Festival, Theatre Row), One Night Standoff (a finalist for the Queens Shortplay Festival, The Secret Theatre; and for Queer Love Festival, Lehman art gallery). More credits plus contact info available on website: www.simranpalkaur.com
Gia Gan Music Director

Malaysian-born Gia Gan, holds a MM in Music from the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory College of Music and a BA in Arts from Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music. Gia was an Assistant Conductor at the Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC) where she conducts young choristers ages 7-18 all over New York City. In China, she was Assistant Conductor at the Children and Young Women’s Choir of the China National Symphony Orchestra serving over 3,000 children of all ages and the associate music director at the Beijing Children’s Theatre Arts. She has also directed the music in such New York City productions as Wizard of Oz Jr., Peter Pan Jr., Children of Eden, Godspell, and I Do! I Do!, among others. Besides being a conductor, pianist and singer, Gia is also a composer at the Advanced BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Text goes here

Close menu
×