Theatre/Dance Instructor Biographies
Elzbieta
Alabuszew-Kutek
Elzbieta Alabuszew-Kutek is a professional dancer trained at the
National Ballet School in Warsaw and Gdansk, Poland, with an MFA (in
pedagogy-choreography) from National Institute of Theater Arts in
Moscow, Russia. Before moving to the United States, Elzbieta
performed, taught, directed, and choreographed performances across
Europe (Poland, Russia, England, Germany, France and Denmark).
Ela has received many awards, including an Award for Special
Contribution in Developing Education for Artists in Poland and an
Award for Outstanding Choreography Achievements, and was recognized
in 2000 as a Meritorious Artist of Culture in Poland.
Currently, Ela continues her artistic efforts as a master teacher,
choreographer, and director at Lansing Community College, Danceworks
of Michigan, Academy of the Arts, Jackson Ballet Company, and is the
co-Artistic Director of Lansing Chamber Dance. In 2002 she was
elected to serve on the Board of the Michigan Dance Council and she
is a member of the National Dance Educational Organization.
Andrew
Callis, Lead Faculty Theatre
Andy Callis received an M.F.A. in Directing from Roosevelt
University, and a B.S. in Communication and Theatre Arts from Eastern Michigan
University. He has directed roughly three dozen plays, including The
Grapes of Wrath, Miss Julie, Pygmalion, Dark of the Moon, Leader of the Pack,
Six Degrees of Separation, All's Well That Ends Well, and Conference of the
Birds. He also attended Bulmershe College of Higher Education in
Reading, England as an exchange student, studying European Film and Drama of the
early to mid-twentieth century. Andy was the founding Artistic Director of
ShawChicago, an Equity group that did staged readings of Bernard Shaw plays.
Five of the shows Andy directed for ShawChicago received Critic's Choice notices
in the Chicago Reader. At Lansing Community College, Andy has
taught voice, improvisation, mask work, Shakespeare, period styles, and
beginning acting.
Erin
Elizabeth Falsetta
Erin has over twenty years of studio and classical dance training.
She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance from Western Michigan
University. During her four years as a dance major at WMU she had the
opportunity to work with such choreographers as Derrick Evans, Frank Chavez, and
Lindsey Thomas. Erin also represented WMU at Jazz Dance World Congress
in Buffalo, New York (2000), and Monterrey, Mexico (2001) where she
competed in the Leo's Choreography Competition. Upon graduation she
continued her dance training at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC, and also
studied extensively with Pam Chancey and Richard Pierlon. After a year in
NYC Erin returned to Michigan to pursue her Masters Degree in Counseling from
Central Michigan University. While living in Mount Pleasant she taught
ballet, jazz, and lyrical at Newman's School of Dance and Toni's Dance Studio.
She also taught company classes at CMU's Dance Department. She is now a
counselor at Everett High School, an arts magnet high school in Lansing, MI, and
co-advises the school's dance company.
Lela Ivey
Lela is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New
York City and has studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and H-B Studios, both in
NYC. For 20 years she made her living as an actress in television, film
and theatre while living in New York and Los Angeles. She is a member of
SAG, AEA, and AFTRA. Lela received a Los Angeles Dramalogue nomination for
her work at the Los Angeles Theatre Center and a Los Angeles Ovation nomination
for her work at the Mark Taper Forum. For a list of Lela's TV and film
work you can give her a GOOGLE.
Mary
Hannorah Job
Since "retiring" as a full time labor lawyer in 2000, Mary has
taught and directed at Lansing Community College in the studio program (4th
Semester, Acting Styles) as well as teaching Introduction to Acting and Theater
History, and has team taught in the multi-disciplinary Humanities course The Art
of Being Human. As a director, she has been involved in a number of
critically acclaimed productions in the Lansing community. Her directing
credits at LCC include the award-winning Pride and Prejudice
(Pulsar and Thespie awards, 2004), An Enemy of the People
and The Visit. She has also directed
Twelfth Night, Chaucer in Rome, Oxygen, Pruning the Family Tree, A
Month in The Country and Translations at Michigan State
University. Community theatre projects include
The Dining Room, Broadway Bound, Top Girls, Arcadia, and
Let's Get a Divorce at Riverwalk Theatre and Uncommon
Women, A Man for All Seasons, and Crossing Delancy Street
for Spotlight Theatre. Mary has a JD from Northwestern
University School of Law, and an MA in Directing from Michigan State University.
She received a BA from the University of Vermont in American Ethnic Studies.
In addition to her theatre work, Mary teaches Advocacy as a Performing Art for
the Fieger Trial Practice institute at MSU College of Law and serves as the
acting coaching for actor/witnesses in the Trial Practice II class.
Deborah Keller
Deborah is a BFA graduate of
the University of Michigan and has her MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Her influences are experimental theater in all shapes and sizes and she
continually learns as she practices. She has apprenticed under Rick
Sordelet and Steve White in NYC in Stage Combat, and has choreographed many
shows in NYC. She recently taught Stage Combat, Directing, Acting, and
Movement at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids. She is delighted to be
teaching here at LCC because of the fine caliber of students and facility.
John Lennox
John has been working in theatre for 20 years, and began teaching at
LCC in 1994. His directing credits include The Three Musketeers, I
Hate Hamlet, and Rashomon. Stage Combat and Advanced
Stage Combat are two of the most popular courses John teaches at LCC. John
is also co-founder of Art of Combat, which provides stage combat services for
theatre and film. He is currently the director of the Western Community
Arts Center and is finishing his doctoral studies at Wayne State University.
John Lepard
John has been acting professionally for 14 years. His
credits range from film and television in Los Angeles, to live
theatre off-Broadway. He is an Associate Artist at the Purple
Rose Theatre Company and a member of AFTRA, SAG, and AEA. John
received his BA in Theatre from Michigan State University and his
MFA in acting from the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Recent
appearances on stage include Candida at The
Performance Network, Rounding Third at Williamston
Theatre, Same Time Next Year at Meadow Brook,
Bus Stop (2005
Detroit Free Press Best supporting Actor Award, Wilde Award),
and Leaving Iowa (2004 Detroit Free Press Best
Actor Award) both at the Purple Rose. John is the Executive
Director of Mid-Michigan's newest professional theatre company, the
Williamston Theatre.
Jon Little
Jon received his Bachelor of Science in
English with French and Speech/Communication minors from Central
Michigan University. After college Jon began working in the
field of stage technology, and has been a member of the
International Alliance of Technical Stage Employees since 1994.
Jon has worked on many touring Broadway shows, including Les
Miserables,
Saigon, Cats, and Phantom of the
Opera. He has done contract work at Interlochen Center
for the Arts, Midland Center of the Arts, Hope College Summer
Repertory, and Lansing's BoarsHead Theatre. Jon has also
supported live concerts for Phish, the
Dave Matthews Band, Bob Dylan, Phil Lesh and Friends,
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys,
Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Kiss. His interests include
family, travel, poetry, and nature.
Mary Matzke
Mary Matzke received her B.A. in Theatre from M.S.U. She
has directed over 30 plays for LCC including Mother Hicks, The Trial Of
Tom Sawyer, Our Town, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Nerd, and
Lysistrata 2411 A.D.
Mary was the Theatre Program director for the Blue Lake
Fine Arts Camp Theatre Department for
three years, and taught acting for the Extension and Community Education's
Gifted and Talented Education program at LCC for 9 years. She is
co-founder of "Play--Two--Day" drama camp in Grand
Ledge. At LCC Mary has taught
Beginning Acting, Acting I, Introduction to Theatre, Mask Work, Improvisation,
and Shakespeare.
Connie Curran-Oesterle
Connie Curran-Oesterle has spent most of her career performing
in Detroit, Ann Arbor, New York City, and now Lansing. She has sung lead vocals
in bands, small combo nightclub work, and background vocals for Bob Seger and
the Silver Bullet Band. Her work in the theatre has included such roles as Reno
Sweeney (Anything Goes), Sally
Bowles (Cabaret), Lorraine Sheldon (The Man Who Came To
Dinner), Jennie (Chapter Two), Velma Kelley (Chicago),
& Edwin Drood (The Mystery of Edwin Drood). She has directed
numerous shows (Godspell,
A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, and Stags
and Hens,)
and industrials. Connie co-wrote and directed three children's
operas which toured Michigan for four years as the Opera in the Schools Program. She studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, NYC and Wayne State
University, Detroit, but her real growth as an actress came with her work at HB
Studio, NYC. Currently, Connie is taking online classes with Ruth Bruford
College in Kent, England in Theatre Studies. She loves teaching acting, dramatic
form and function, voice for theatre majors, and encouraging the students to
make choices, commitments and risks!
Roberta Otten-Mason
Roberta teaches Modern Dance and Movement for Actors classes at
LCC. She holds a Bachelors degree in Physical Education/Dance from Northern
Illinois University and a Master in Education from the University of Michigan.
Roberta is a 20 year veteran of Happendance, mid-Michigan's professional Modern
Dance company. Her choreography has appeared in many LCC productions, including
The Three Musketeers, You Can't Take It with You, The Birds, and
Picnic. Roberta is a Pulsar Award nominee for her
work in LCC's Pride and Prejudice and Sunsets by Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet.
Paige Tufford (Dunckel)
Paige received her Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of
Arkansas in Theater and Journalism and her M.F.A. in Directing at the University
of Tennessee at Memphis. During her three years in Memphis, Paige was an
instructor in the children's summer theater program at Playhouse on the Square. She worked as the Education Director at BoarsHead Theater for four years and did
stage management at LCC for the Turner House Festival. She later served as the
Production Coordinator at LCC for three years. As an adjunct instructor at LCC,
Paige has taught Stage Management, Improvisation, Introduction to Theater, and
Introduction to Acting. She has also directed The Love of the
Nightingale and
Suburbia at LCC.
Heather Vaughn-Southard
Heather is the Director of Dance at the
Everett High School Visual and Performing Arts Magnet Academy in Lansing, MI and
serves as adjunct dance faculty at Lansing Community College. She has danced
professionally in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York and is currently a
member of Lansing's Happendance Professional Company. She has performed works by
Bob Fosse, Donald McKayle, Lar Lubovitch, Billy Siegenfeld, Alexandra Beller,
and Mia Michaels. In 2002 she co-founded the Underdog Dance Project with Cat Manturuk in Los Angeles. Their company blended jazz and modern dance forms and
has been credited by the Los Angeles Times for "creating heat." Heather received
her MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and her BFA in Dance from
Western Michigan University.
Sarah Elizabeth Wallace
Sarah Elizabeth Wallace started singing, acting and dancing at the
age of three. She played the characters of Fannie, an Urchin Child and
Francis Crachit in a national professional tour of Charles Dickens' A
Christmas Carol at the age of eight. She has continued to pursue
her performance career through different venues, including a recent production
of Side By Side By Sondheim at the BoarsHead Theatre. Sarah earned
a BA in Music, Vocal Performance, from ORU-Tulsa and has taught adult and
children's Private Voice, Music, Art, Spanish, French, Beginning Ballet,
Swimming and Diving, and Drama Club. She has choreographed and directed
numerous Christmas and Spring Productions for Calvary Christian Academy in
Wayne, NJ while continuing to perform in musical theater and dinner theater.
Sarah has much experience both behind and in front of the camera with commercial
and live performance. Her credits include promotional modeling for
L'Oreal/Vogue, BBMAC Tour, ABC Soap Stars Tour, NYC Auto Show, Teen People
Magazine, and many others in New York City, New Jersey, Detroit and Lansing, and
she is a member of the Actor's Equity Association.
Michael Wright
Michael is presently Technical Director for Theatre, Music
and Dance at LCC, as well as a faculty member in Stage Technology and Theatre.
Michael started his career with a traveling tent theatre in 1977. Michael has
held various positions with, among others, the U of M Dance Company, Jackson
Community College Theatre Department, Hollywood Wax Museum, Burbank On Stage
Theatre, and the Lansing Civic/Convention Centers. Michael spent several
years in the United States Coast Guard. He graduated from the University of
Michigan with an outstanding achievement award in Theatre and Drama. He works
with the LCC / I.A.T.S.E. (Stage Technicians) Stage Apprentice Program. He is a
Trustee of the I.A.T.S.E. Stage Technicians Local 274 for central and northern
Michigan, and is Vice President of the I.A.T.S.E. State Alliance.
