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Hillbarn Theatre
1285 East
Hillsdale Blvd.
Foster City, CA
94404

Sponsored by

VERONIKA OLAH

ASSOCIATE CONSERVATORY DIRECTOR

Along with Joe Duffy, the Associate Artistic Director for Hillbarn Theatre, Veronika oversees the entire Conservatory experience from ground up.

Veronika Olah earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from Santa Clara University, where she worked with SCU Children’s Theatre at many Bay Area Schools and Educational Programs. She has taught arts classes in the Summer Academy at Horace Mann Elementary School, Foster City School, Sunnyvale Community Center, and the Hands on the Arts Festival in Sunnyvale. Veronika directed her first professional production, the U.S. premiere of a Chinese musical titled “The Malan Flower,” at the Flint Center in 2005.  She has also performed or worked backstage at Dragon Productions, Foothill Music Theatre, Actor's Theatre Center, Sunnyvale Community Players, and Renegade Theatre Experiment. She has performed in five Hillbarn shows in the past two seasons including the role of Catherine in The Foreigner for which she won a Subscriber's Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress.  Veronika is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Theatre Arts at San Jose State University.

HILLBARN THEATRE CONSERVATORY FACULTY

Karen Byrnes (Director- Acting Faculty) is delighted to return to Hillbarn Theatre.  In 2004, she taught classes, wrote and directed "More Broadway Legends" for the Summer Conservatory as well as directed the mainstage production, The Secret Garden.  She has directed over 90 productions in the last 25 years with youth and adults. For the past 14 years, she has directed shows at Ralston Middle School. She received her BA in Theatre Arts from College of Notre Dame. Her acting credits include: Top Girls, Am I Blue? A Christmas Carol, Working, and Crimes of the Heart, among others.

Virginia Musante (Director/ Acting Faculty) received a BA in Art and Theatre and earned a Secondary Credential from San Francisco State University.  She began her student teaching at a then new school called Bowditch Middle School in Foster City; Drama went from a “one period a day elective” to a class being offered every period of the day at various levels of expertise (e.g., Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced and Play Production) and many of her students have gone on to pursue successful careers as professional actors and theatre technicians.  Virginia has been teaching and directing Middle School students for the past 30 years and was named the San Mateo Foster City School District Teacher of the Year in 1989-1990. Virginia’s father was a professional musician and music teacher and her mother, her greatest role model, was a wonderful storyteller who also enjoyed performing in local community theatre.  Married for 32 years to her best friend, who she met in high school, George has always been her biggest supporter.  They have one son, Peter who graduated from the UCLA Musical Theatre Department in 2005 and has been working as a successful Equity actor on both the East and West coasts who, according to Virginia, is her “greatest production” to date.  In 2004, Virginia completed the Masters of Education program with an emphasis in Theatre at Notre Dame de Namur University.  Her Masters Thesis was research in creating ways to teach students with special needs through Drama and it now serves as a handbook for many Bay Area teachers.   Virginia was ultimately hired to teach Children’s Theatre for the Theatre Department at Notre Dame de Namur where she still teaches and finds the challenge rewarding.  She recently was part of the directing team of the well-known Notre Dame tradition of A Christmas Carol, The Musical.

Lee Kizsonas (Acting-Directing-Commedia- Masks and Mime and Stage Combat) is thrilled to be back in the Bay Area where she has taught with Marin Theatre Company, SF Shakespeare, Vector, Lagunitas Middle School, and the SF School of the Arts.  Directing credits include:  A Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labors Lost, Julius Caesar, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, A Servant and Two Masters, and East of the Sun, West of the Moon.  Lee is currently living in Philadelphia and has just landed in SF from Alaska where she has been developing her newest play, An Affair of Honor.

Larry Barrott (Director/ Choreographer) This summer marks Larry's first with Hillbarn Theatre's Conservatory. A long-time resident of the Bay Area, Larry serves as Artistic Director for the Shady Shakespeare Theatre Company which performs outdoor shows in Sanborn-Skyline County Park in Saratoga, CA. An actor, director and fight choreographer, Larry also teaches acting at San Jose State University where he is completing an M.A. in Theatre Arts. Larry also holds a B.A. and M.Ed. 

Nicole Tung (Starshiners Director/Choreographer) Ms. Tung has been performing since the age of 5. Trained at Pacific Ballet Academy in Mountain View, she performed in the Nutcracker as the Dancing Doll, Snow Queen, and Dew Drop. She continued training in the theater arts at Santa Clara University where she also received her Bachelor’s in Psychology. A member of Actors’ Equity, she has performed with professional Bay Area companies in such shows as: South Pacific, Joseph, Miss Saigon, Pacific Overtures, Flower Drum Song, Gypsy, Making Tracks, King and I, and Funny Girl. Last year, she co-choreographed Golden Child at Hillbarn Theatre. Ms. Tung has taught and choreographed for Starting Arts, Monte Vista Christian High School, and Pacific Ballet Academy. Ms. Tung is also a certified massage therapist and health educator.

Erin Sjostrom (Startots Faculty and Extended Care) recently graduated from The Boston Conservatory with her Masters in musical theatre performance. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, she attended Notre Dame High School, Belmont; she received her undergraduate degree in political science and music (vocal performance) from the University of Notre Dame (Indiana). She has performed professionally on both the East and West coasts. Favorite roles include Cathy in The Last Five Years, C.C. in The TAXI Cabaret, and the Pretty Girl in Parade. She was most recently seen onstage in Hillbarn's production of Smokey Joe's Cafe. 

Courtney Iventosch (Startots Faculty) has been dancing for fifteen years, studying tap, ballet, jazz, musical theatre, hip hop, and modern.  She began teaching at age fourteen at Pamelot in Auburn, California, and currently teaches at Dance Effects and East West Music and Dance in the San José area. She is pursuing a business degree and dance minor at San José State University and is a member of the University’s Company One, a musical theatre group. She will be dancing in AMT’s Beauty and the Beast this spring. She recently performed in Smokey Joe’s Café at Hillbarn Theatre and is delighted to return to work with the STARTOTS this summer!

Nancy Fitzgerald Metzler (Acting-On Camera Workshops), has been directing musicals and plays for San Mateo and Santa Clara County schools and youth theater organizations since 1990. Nancy has worked with Hillbarn as a Director (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN) and Stage Manager (THE FANTASTIKS, MY WAY) and for Broadway by the Bay as a Performer, Stage Manager, Assistant Stage Manager, Head Carpenter, Electrician, and Stage Technician.  Nancy owns and runs Brave Monkey Productions, a boutique video production and

photography company for broadcast, game, and corporate clients such as: MTV, FOX Family Channel, Nickelodeon, Sony CEA, SEGA, NAMCO, and Children’s Television Workshop.

Dyan McBride-(Acting- Workshops), Dyan is excited to join the Hillbarn Conservatory  for Summer 2007. Ms. McBride is an actor, director and teacher.  She resides in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles. She holds a BA in Musical Theatre from CSU Fullerton and an MFA in acting from UC Davis.  She is a member of SAG, AFTRA and AEA.  Her acting class is based on Stanislavski's method of physical action and being.  Dyan believes that the body and voice work together to create truthful, vulnerable acting.  Her classes are safe, very fun and challenging. Ms. McBride has worked at many different theatre companies as an actor, director and teacher.  Some include: Laguna Playhouse, Broadway by the Bay, 42nd Street Moon, New Conservatory Theatre, Napa Repertory Theatre, Pacific Alliance Theatre, Performance Riverside and Utah Musical Theatre.  She has been married to the actor, Dennis O'Brien for 9 years and is the mother of 2 dogs and a cat.

Paige Cook Perez (Dance for Teens) is so happy to be a member of Hill barn’s faculty. She has been dancing most of her life and also enjoys performing.  San Mateo audiences may have seen her as Lina Lamont in BBBay's Singin in the Rain, earning her a Bay Area Theatre Critic's Circle Award. She has extensive experience in the classroom, studio and onstage, performing in more than a dozen different productions for American Musical Theatre of San Jose as dancer and Co-Choreographer and with other companies, including Hillbarn, the Bay over.  Paige has also been a dance teacher for over 20 years, holds her degree in Early Childhood Education, and is a member of The Royal Academy of Dance.  The opportunity to work with young children is always such an exciting challenge, for they are the true teachers.  Her daughter Gabriella is forever presenting her with something new to learn. She is registered as adjunct faculty within the Santa Clara, San Mateo-Foster City, San Mateo Unified High School and San Jose School Districts.  She currently freelances as a Voice-Over artist for commercials and Video games and teaches at The Dance Arts Center in San Mateo for Berle Davis and Jayne Zaban.

Amanda Andrews (Production Assitant) is thrilled to be a part of the summer conservatory at Hillbarn where she herself has performed in two musicals.  She recently graduated from Hillsdale High School where she performed in a variety of shows and directed.  Amanda has been singing and dancing for most of her life and studies jazz, ballet and tap at Dance Arts Center and voice with Lauren Mayer.  Having been lucky enough to play a variety of part sizes and types in different musicals and plays, favorite roles include Princess Winifred the Woebegone in Once Upon A Mattress and Zaneeta Shinn in Hillbarn's The Music Man!  Amanda will attend University of California Irvine next fall where she plans to study theatre and phsychology.

Jennifer Brissman (Faculty Assistant/Production Assistant) is delighted to be working at Hillbarn this summer. She has had extensive dance training in ballet, jazz, and tap from Dance Arts Center under the tutelage of Berle Davis and Jayne Zaban and extensive vocal training with Dave Stroud and Debra Lambert. She has performed in musicals across the Peninsula with companies such as TheatreWorks, BBBay/PCLO, Hillbarn, 42nd Street Moon, Peninsula Youth Theater, Pied Piper Players, e.T.c., and San Mateo High School.  In her spare time, she is active in educational programs and is constantly thriving on theatre!

Emily Carambat (Dance) is currently a student at the University of Arizona where she area of study is a Dance Minor, emphasis in jazz, working towards a Dance Major.  She studies under the directorship of Michael Williams, Professor in The University of Arizona’s prestigious triple track Dance Division and with pricipald dancer’s from Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and his choreography has been featured in many Jazz Dance World Congress international events.  Emily is a proud member of the University of Arizona Dancers’ Consort and has performed in the Fall 2006 Collection Student Spotlight performance.  A resident of the Bay Area, she previously studied since the age of four at The Schumacher School of Dance in South San Francisco for fourteen years in areas of modern lyrical, acrobatics, tap, ballet, and jazz.  Her work included individual and solo work, small and large group, and production dance at the junior and top line levels. She has danced competitively in numerous dance competitions including Showstoppers, Show Biz, IDC, and the International Dance Festival, Prague 2000 where her groups won first place in the world.  Other works include Mercy High School Burlingame Modern Dance, Tri School Dance Performance, and individual work with Ayako Takahasi, Ayako School of Ballet and Joe Duffy, Associate Artistic Director at Hillbarn Theatre. 

Martin Rojas- Dietrich (Acting and Vocal Coaching/Audition Technique) is overjoyed to be working at Hillbarn Theatre. Martin is a Theatre Arts graduate of Cañada College where he trained with acclaimed Bay Area actress Linda Hoy (later collaborating with her on 4 different productions.) Martin has performed with Broadway By The Bay, Bus Barn Stage Company, Coastal Repertory Theatre, Foothill Music Theatre, Menlo Players Guild, San Jose Stage Company and TheatreWorks. He was named Best Supporting Actor for his work as King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar by Keith Kreitman/Inside Arts and received a 2005 Dean Goodman Choice Award for his portrayal of The Beadle in FMT's Sweeney Todd. Martin is currently a Senior at Notre Dame de Namur University where he is a Vocal Performance Major.

Claudia McCarley (Theatrical Make-Up Design and Application) For eleven years Claudia was in charge of makeup for the Serra, Notre Dame, and Mercy High Schools' Tri-School Musical Productions where she conducted classes in theatrical makeup for both students and adults.  She has done makeup for several other production companies; including, West Bay Opera, Renaissance Productions, The Dickens Faire, and several community theatres in the area.  Her experience includes everything from basic stage makeup and old age, to prosthetic makeup for The Beast in "Beauty and the Beast."    

Additional Faculty (Biographies Pending):   Matthew Mattei (Musical Director), Noah Pearce (Costumer and Design) .

New Faculty will be added often!  Each Faculty member will be paired with a team of Production/Teachers Assistants to help facilitate their class or workshop.  Please check our website often for more info. 

If you are a Perfoming Artist with a background in arts administartion or education and are interested in working with us on SummerStage and ongoing educational workshops, please send your resume to:

backstage@hillbarntheatre.org

EOE/Competitive Salary-DOE.