Guest Artists and Lecturers
Every year the School of Theatre hosts international and national guest artists from every spectrum of professional and educational theatre to work closely with theatre majors and minors. Guest artists work on productions, develop new work, offer weekend workshops, or serve as semester long guest artist(s) in-residence. Recent guest artists include:
2021 – 2022
2020 – 2021

Lynn Nottage
American Playwright and screenwriter and only woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for drama twice.

Stephanie
J. Block
Stephanie has established herself as one of the most relevant and versatile voices in contemporary musical theatre. She most recently won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, as well as winning The Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Award for her STAR turn in THE CHER SHOW.

Soshana
Bean
Shoshana is a veteran of the Broadway stage having made her debut in the original cast of Hairspray, starring as the very first replacement for Elphaba in Wicked and most recently as Jenna in Waitress.

Julia Murney
Julia Murney last appeared on Broadway as Elphaba in Wicked after playing the role on the national tour for which she received an Acclaim Award.

Dr. Vanessa Cornett
Dr. Vanessa Cornett is an associate professor of music at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis–St. Paul. She is author of the book The Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Lauren Haughton Gillis
Lauren Haughton Gillis is a performer, director, and choreographer. She performed on Broadway in Wicked. She was in the original casts of Turn of the Century directed by Tommy Tune.

Sebastian Arcelus
After taking on the role of Buddy in Elf, Fiyero in Wicked, Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys and Roger in Rent on Broadway, Sebastian Arcelus traded in his more lighthearted musical fare for the role of Jake Brigance in the new stage adaptation of A Time To Kill.

Murphy Taylor Smith
Students got to work closely with Smith on one of the Spartan New Musicals, Radio: A Musical Ghost Story. Murphy Taylor Smith is a trans woman musical theatre writer, performer, and musician.

Emerson Mae Smith
Students got to work closely with Smith on one of the Spartan New Musicals, Radio: A Musical Ghost Story. Emerson Mae Smith is a trans woman creator and writer interested in telling unusual stories about queer life in the 21st century.

Madeline Myers
Students got to work closely with Myers on Flatbush Avenue. Madeline Myers is a composer and lyricist for musical theater in New York City.

J. Quinton Johnson
Students got to work on One Week at Woolworths with Johnson. Johnson made his Broadway debut as HERCULES MULLIGAN/JAMES MADISON in Hamilton, completing 500 performances.

Melvin
Tunstall III
North Carolina native Melvin Tunstall is an Off Broadway Alliance Award Winning Playwright for his TYA Phenomenon Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical, currently on its first National Tour.

Betty Siegel
Betty Siegel has specialized in arts and disability issues for over 30 years starting at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. and now as Director of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Laura Pappano
Laura Pappano is an award-winning journalist, community leader and author of Inside School Turnarounds (2010), co-author of Playing With the Boys (2008) and author of The Connection Gap (2001).

Kelvin Dinkins, Jr.
Kelvin Dinkins, Jr. is the Assistant Dean and Lecturer in Theater Management for Yale School of Drama and the General Manager of Yale Repertory Theatre. Kelvin frequently joins our Scaffolding for Change Committee meetings to help lead activities and facilitate conversations.

Amber Flores
Amber Flores (Director of Development and Foundation & Annual Giving) was the Gallo Center for the Arts intern in 2008, and officially started working for the Center two years later as its Development Manager.

Donna
Lynn Cooper Hilton
Donna Lynn Cooper Hilton (Producer) manages artistic efforts at the two-time Tony Award-winning theatre, where she’s been a creative force since 1988.

Richard
Whittington
Richard Whittington has served as Managing Director of Triad Stage since its inception. Rich has taught Theatre Management at Greensboro College and NC A&T University.
2019 – 2020

Dr. Joan
Herrington
Dr. Joan Herrington is chair of the Department of Theatre at Western Michigan University. Most recently, she served as dramaturg for Unison, a new theatre piece based on the unpublished poetry of August Wilson.

Richard
Whittington
Managing Director of Triad Stage. MFA in Theatre Management from the Yale School of Drama, BFA in Acting and Directing from Marymount Manhattan College. Member of the Executive Committee on the board of the NC Arts Council.

Heather Young
Heather’s experience includes leadership roles with a variety of arts and heritage service organizations, theatre and dance production companies, galleries and museums, facilities, festivals and community organizations, in both professional and volunteer capacities.

Jay Bushman
Multi-Emmy winning writer and producer of interactive entertainment and a pioneer of transmedia storytelling, with a track record of pushing the boundaries of next-generation entertainment.

Amy Da Luz
Amy’s latest play, COMING BACK FOR ME, was selected for the 2019 UNCG New Theatre Concepts Lab. Amy joined UNCG Theatre for a 10 day residency in August of 2019.

Kelvin Dinkins, Jr.
Assistant Dean and Lecturer in Theater Management for Yale School of Drama, General Manager of Yale Repertory Theatre, Co-Chair of LORT Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Committee.

Liz Rosier
Liz represents actors in projects such as Orange is the New Black, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hairspray, The Following, Girls, Elementary, and Person of Interest.

Joe Forbes
Founder of Scenic Art Studios, Inc., and The Studio and Forum of Scenic Arts in 2004. In May 2019, Forbes was selected as a recipient for the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre

Erica Jensen
Erica Jensen is a casting director at Calleri Casting. She teaches on camera audition technique, playwriting, and screenwriting. Erica directed Mother Eve’s Secret Garden of Sensual Sisterhood for the NYC Fringe Festival. Erica holds an MFA in Acting from Illinois State University.

Keith Martin
Martin’s career spans over 35 years and includes producing, artistic direction, choreography, and management for professional theatre. Martin holds a BFA and MFA degree from UNC Greensboro.

Barry
Kornhauser
Barry Kornhauser holds many honors. His work has taken him to many places, including The White House, the Children's Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse and more. Visit here to read more about his accomplishments.

Calandra Hackney
Actors Equity Association, Agency Representative, NYC, Director

Pearl Cleage
Pearl Cleage is an Atlanta-based writer and playwright. She’s a contributing writer to ESSENCE Magazine and in 1998 her novel, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, was an Oprah Book Club pick.

Fit for Broadway
Fit for Broadway’s mission is to inspire wellness as a way of life for performers. Founded in 2014 by Jane Jourdan, Fit for Broadway online is a collection of conversations discussing lifestyle, Broadway, and more.

Jeghetto
Entertainment
Tarish Pipkins a.k.a. Jeghetto, was born in Clairton, PA. He has worked with Paperhand Puppet Intervention, Missy Elliott, and on an Amazon Echo commercial.

Nancy Altschuler
Nancy Altschuler is the Director of Development for Godspeed Musicals. She is responsible for fundraising for this $11M Musical Theatre Company including major gifts, membership, foundation, corporation, planned giving, and events.

Laura Pappano
Laura Pappano is an award-winning journalist, community leader, and author of Inside School Turnarounds, co-author of Playing with the Boys, and author of The Connection Gap.

Betty Siegel
Betty Siegel specializes in the arts and disability issues. She now is Director of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Jessica Vosk
Performer. Broadway: Wicked, Fiddler on the Roof, Finding Neverland,The Bridges of Madison County.

Drew Gehling
Broadway: Waitress, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and Jersey Boys. Off-Broadway: A Minister’s Wife, and Anne of Green Gables. Graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

Curtis Holbrook
Photographer and performer. Broadway: Spongebob Squarepants, If/Then, The Addams Family, West Side Story, Xanadu, All Shook Up, The Boy From Oz, Follies, Fosse, and Footloose.

Cortney Holbrook
Photographer and performer. Broadway/Tour: Kinky Boots, The Addams Family, Legally Blonde, Les Miserables.
2018 – 2019

Chris Chalk
Chris Chalk is an actor known for his roles in Detroit, Central Park Five, The Newsroom, Homeland, Justified, Law & Order, 12 Years a Slave, Gotham, and the 2010 Broadway play Fences.

Bill J. Adams, DMA
Bill J is an Estill Voice International and Acting with Archetypes Certified Master Teacher. Bill J. coordinates the performing arts programs at Nova Southeastern University.

Joe Forbes
Founder of Scenic Art Studios, Inc., and The Studio and Forum of Scenic Arts in 2004. In May 2019, Forbes was selected as a recipient for the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre

Erica Jensen
Erica Jensen is a casting director at Calleri Casting. She teaches on camera audition technique, playwriting, and screenwriting. Erica directed Mother Eve’s Secret Garden of Sensual Sisterhood for the NYC Fringe Festival. Erica holds an MFA in Acting from Illinois State University.

Michael Gennaro
Executive Director, Goodspeed Musicals

Keith Martin
Martin’s career spans over 35 years and includes producing, artistic direction, choreography, and management for professional theatre. Martin holds a BFA and MFA degree from UNC Greensboro.

Lily Ling
Associate Conductor, Hamilton Philip Tour New York: John & Jen, Carousel, Atlantis (Reading dir. Chris Gattelli), Whiskeyland (Reading), The Lion King (Shanghai, Chinese language premiere), A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder(Shanghai, Asia and Chinese language premiere).

Amber Flores
Director of Development – Foundation & Annual Giving, Gallo Center for the Arts, California

Stephanie Yankwitt CSA
Stephanie Yankwitt is known for her work on Rent (2005), Across the Universe (2007) and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014).

Suzan Zeder
Multiple award-winning, internationally produced playwright, Medallion Award for Lifetime Achievement, Children's Theatre Foundation of America; Wiley and the Hairy Man, When She Had Wings, Step on a Crack.

Shawn Schepps
Award-winning writer of film and television. You and I, Drumline, That Darn Cat, Encino Man; supervising producer of Showtime's Weeds

Sue Frost
Tony Award winning producer of Come From Away, and Memphis. Also produced The Rink, and La Cage Aux Folles

Calandra Hackney
Actors Equity Association, Agency Representative, NYC, Director

Alan Alda
Award winning Actor, Director, and Screenwriter

Ben Holbrook
Brooklyn-based playwright and filmmaker awarded the Edward Albee Foundation fellowship, and is the inaugural recipient of the Peter Shaffer Award for Excellence in Playwriting

Brian Quijada
Actor, playwright, musician, Jeff Award winner, two-time Drama Desk Nominee.

Ryan J. Moller
New York based award winning Costume Designer. Credits include The Metropolitan Opera, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, Sante Fe Opera, Norwegian Cruise Lines. Member: USA 829, IATSE 764

Tom Littrell
Tom started out as a theatre technician in college in the 1960’s. He went on to work as a technician and programmer for Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Genesis, and David Bowie among many others.
2017-2018

Jane Unger
Founding Artistic Director Profile Theatre, Portland Oregon

Fred Abrahamse
Producer, Stage Director, Abrahamse and Meyer Productions

Lauren Warhol Caldwell
Artistic Director of the Hippodrome Theatre

Edurne Rankin García
Artistic Director, Actor, Designer, La Llave Maestra Visual Theatre, Santiago de Chile, Chile

Moses Goldberg
Producing Director, STAGE ONE: The Louisville Children’s Theatre (Louisville, KY), 1978- 2003 (retired); Author

Thomas Keith
Dramaturg, Advisor Tennessee Williams Festival, Pace University

James McManus
Playwright, Member New Dramatists

Alvaro Morales Lifschitz
Artistic Director, Producer, Actor, La Llave Maestra Visual Theatre, Santiago de Chile, Chile

Marcel Meyer
Producer, Actor, Designer, Abrahamse and Meyer Productions, South Africa

Winston Sims
Theatre Arts Teacher, Actor, Director, Marvin Ridge High School, Union County Schools

Scott Wojcik
Wojcik | Seay Casting LLC, New York

Beth Leavel
Stage and screen actress and singer. Recipient of the Tony Award for Drowsy Chaperone