Daniel Sarnelli
Acting Instructor

Daniel has worked in the professional theater for the last fifteen years. As an actor he has worked with numerous companies including The MCC Theater, The Long Wharf Theatre, The Shubert Theatre, The Mill Mountain Theatre, The Allenberry Playhouse, The National Theatre of the Performing Arts, Elm Shakespeare Company and many others. His most recent work includes roles on Law & Order (the 300^th episode) and All My Children.

Daniel is one of our talented instructors and is very excited to be working with the children again this session!

David is excited to be working with Performing Arts Programs again this session.  Hailing from the Bluegrass state, David has performed and directed throughout the US.  He has taught acting and produced shows in NYC for the past six years.  Recently he was seen on the boards in the Off-Broadway Comedia Del Arte Production of St. Arlecchino at the Lucille Lortell Theatre.  Other recent Off-Broadway and NYC productions include the World Premier of Unbecoming (which completed a 50-state tour culminating in Washington D.C. in March 2005), Measure for Measure, a new translation of Jean Anouilh's The Lark at the Sandford Meisner, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot, Henry V, Terkels' Race and The Boys will be the Boys in which David co-wrote and played the role of Stan Laurel. 

David has also worked as a fight choreographer for American Globe's "Bard-a-thon", The CRG Collective, and Tub Films' indie productions of Lady E and Kung-Fu Christmas.  Some of his other Film credits include:  Kate & Leopold, Private Parts, Looking for Harrison, Jungle to Jungle and HBO's Path to Paradise.  Look for David in the upcoming indie film Lady E.  David's latest production is raising his son with his loving wife.

Kimberly West
Acting Instructor - Glastonbury

Kimberly, a recent transplant from Atlanta, has acting, directing, film and television credits to her name. In Atlanta, she worked for the Alliance Theatre Education Department for 13 wonderful and rewarding years. Here in Connecticut, she has directed several staged reading and short plays, including Women of Roswell which performed at the American Globe Theatre in New York. Also in CT, she has had the fortune to work with Oddfellows Playhouse and with the Hartford Stage Education Department. Kimberly is delighted to be working with children again this session.

Mariah Sage Leeds
Acting Instructor

Mariah is a professional actress and teacher. She earned her MFA in acting from Brown University and her BFA in Drama from NYU. Mariah has performed with theaters across the country including; The Cleveland Playhouse, Trinity Rep (Providence, RI) and The Public Theater (NYC).

Mariah has taught acting to grades 1 - 12 as well as to University students at Brown, NYU, and Quinnipiac University and she is very excited to be working with the children of Performing Arts Programs this session.

Carolyn Paine
Acting Teacher- Enfield

Carolyn is a graduate from University of Hartford with a degree in Drama. While at the University she performed several leading roles in plays while performing with Ballet Theatre Company. She can also be found in several commercials, print work, and independent films. When she is not performing, Carolyn teaches drama and dance with passion throughout Connecticut and is honored to be teaching for Performing Arts Programs again.

Megan LaPorta
Acting Instructor

Megan is a Senior at Central Connecticut State University majoring in Music with a concentration in Vocal Performance. She has appeared in many theatrical productions, most recently Urinetown (Cladwell's Secretary/Ensemble) with the CCSU Theater Department and Into The Woods (Rapunzel) with Musicals at Richter. She has performed in various opera scenes including Le Nozze di Figaro (Susanna) and Don Giovanni (Zerlina). She is a member of the CCSU Chorale and University Singers, the Sounds of Joy Choir, and is also the founder and musical director of CCSU's only all-female acapella group, the Acabellas.

She was recently an award winner at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition for Connecticut. She has studied ballet, jazz, and pointe for over 11 years and has choreographed and directed many variety shows throughout the community. Megan is one of our very talented and she looks forward to working with the children of Performing Arts Programs again this session!

Katherine LaPorta
Acting Instructor

Katherine is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance at the University of Connecticut, expected to graduate May 2007. She is currently studying under Dr. Constance Rock, and has previously studied under Dr. Susan Quigley-Duggan Dr. Scott Murphree at the University of Connecticut. Ms. LaPorta is the soprano soloist and section leader, as well as the children's choir director at the Unitarian Meeting House in West Hartford, CT. She is also frequent featured soloist at the Middlebury Congregational Church. Katherine has performed many roles in musical theater as well as opera. 

Most recently at UConn she performed in A Little Night Music (Mrs. Anderssen, as well as Mozart's opera The Impressario (u/s Mme. Goldentrill), Signor Deluso (Clara), Hansel and Gretel and scenes from Roméo et Juliette (Juliette), Cosi Fan Tutti (Fiordiligi) and The Magic Flute (First Lady).  She also performed in Danbury's Musicals At Richter, in their production of Into The Woods (Rapunzel/Sleeping Beauty).  Ms. LaPorta also participates in UConn Festival Chorus, Concert Choir, and Women's Singers and was one of our very talented Camp Instructors. She is very excited to be working with the Children of this session.

Kathleen Mahan
Acting Instructor - Fairfield & Wilton

Kathleen attended the Tatnall School in Wilmington, Delaware and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. As a performer she appeared at the Carousel Dinner Theater in Maine, the Shubert Theater in New Haven, and the National Musical Theater Network in New York. She has also performed with many children's theater companies throught the Northeast.

Kathleen is the stage director of the Westchester Girls Choir and directs the children's cantatas at the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, NY. She is very excited about working with the attending children of Performing Arts Acting Classes. 

Christian Shaboo
Acting Instructor - Southington

Christian is a young aspiring actor currently residing in Hamden, CT.  Christian is a recent graduate of Quinnipiac University with a degree in English and concentrations in Sociology, Media, and Theatre.  At Quinnipiac, Christian took on many various roles in the Quinnipiac Theater for Community including: Balthasar in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Jimmy Farrell in Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, Matt of the Mint in Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, and Hilton Barber in Tim Robbin’s Dead Man Walking.  Christian has also been involved in other various Quinnipiac performances including Don’t Throw the Tomatoes, a sketch comedy variety show and numerous Quinnipiac Dance company performances. 

However, his experience goes far beyond the Quinnipiac stage.  Christian has been performing both as a singer and actor for seven years, highlighted by his portrayal of Kenickie in Grease and singing the national anthem at various sporting events with the acapella group Broken Silence.  Christian is eager and excited to be working with Performing Arts Programs and all the talented young students!

Candace McM Routh
Acting Instructor -  Guilford

Candace has degrees in both theater and music, and has been performing since the age of ten. She taught for the Creative Arts Dept of San Francisco State University, and was a language and diction coach for singers in the Bay Area. While she has performed in many theatrical productions, her greatest love is musical theater. She was Music Director for Company, West Side Story, Brigadoon, Oliver, Fiddler on the Roof and Ernest in Love. While in SF, Ms. Routh sang with the SF Symphony Chorus and Chamber Singers and the SF Opera Chorus, among other groups. She was also Music Director for a Japanese church and had a professional quartet that performed extensively in the Bay Area for many years.

In New Haven, Ms. Routh has sung with the Yale Camerata, the New Haven Chorale (where she conducted many Chamber Ensemble concerts), and several church choirs (as soloist and interim conductor). She has also taught choral music at Adams Middle School in Guilford. So far in 2007, Ms. Routh has performed in La Boheme at the Shubert Theater with Yale Opera, and in the innovative world touring production of Video Games Live at Woolsey Hall with the Yale Symphony Orchestra. Candace is excited about sharing another fun session of acting classes with her students.

Kathryn Schmitt
Acting Instructor - Ledyard

Kathryn is a native of Ledyard, CT, and recently received her BFA in Acting from Adelphi University in NY. As a student she performed in many plays including Jane Martin's Vital Signs, A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room, and Tennessee Williams' Hello From Bertha. She can also be seen in upcoming independent films and television background work. She has worked for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and New York Stage and Film. Kathryn is also a classically trained vocalist and does church and choral work throughout CT and NY. She loves working with children and is extremely excited to be teaching for Performing Arts Programs this session!

Elise A. MurphyMulligan
Acting Instructor - East Haven, Oxford, & Orange

Elise is a local teacher and actress. She is currently teaching theatre, children's theatre and speech communications in many schools throughout Fairfield County, as well as writing numerous children's plays. Elise studied acting at Boston University and then went on to study educational theatre and psychology at New York University. While attending school in New York, She studied with a number of reputable teachers in Manhattan, as well as receiving a scholarship to study at HB studios in Greenwich Village. She has her Masters in Teaching from Sacred Heart University here in Connecticut. 

Elise also teaches theatre and writes children's' plays with TigerTale Theatre and with Stamford Theatre Works' School for the Performing Arts, which she helped in creating and establishing more than ten years ago, Elise has taught theatre arts with The Boys and Girls Club of Stamford and at The Urban League. She also redesigned the educational program of Dr. LivingSound, an in school assembly program, for The Maritime Aquarium of Norwalk, for which she performed as Dr. LivingSound for a time.  Elise has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, several films, commercials and music videos. Elise is thrilled and excited to be joining the wonderful group of professionals at Performing Arts Programs, Inc.

Stephen Thompson
Acting Instructor

Stephen holds a B.F.A. from NYU TSOA in Dramatic Writing and Musical Theatre and an M.A. in Performing Arts Education in Music and Theatre from Emerson College. Stephen has worked professionally for the past 12 years as a director, music director, technical director, stage manager and actor in NYC, CT and MA. He has taught and directed at public and private schools, as an outreach educator and at children’s arts and theatre camps in CT, NY, MA and WA . Stephen is the writer of original works for the theatre including The Troll Knight with staged reading at the Mansfield Oak Grove Montessori, Jonestown with production at Emerson College, Suburban Dreams: an American Opera’ at MTW with TONY award winner Daisy Eagan and off-Broadway at the Producer’s Club. He helped record and engineer the original cast album with American Idol’s Constantine Maroulis. Most recently Stephen worked for Break-a-Leg Productions at the Pomfret School as musical director for their production Kids on Broadway.

Daniel Lee White
Acting Instructor - Coventry & Jamestown

A native New Englander, Daniel developed an early obsession with the performing arts-both in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes. Whether creating his own homemade features or critiquing most of the films made during the 1980s with his father, Daniel quickly realized that he wanted to dedicate his life to the arts. His extensive experience centers on all aspects of the theatre, film, and television industries. In film, Daniel continues to develop his acting skills through performances in large productions, independent pieces, and student films. In theatre, Daniel has professional credits in both acting and directing. At the age of twenty-one, he starred in Blood Wedding, an off West End performance in London. Today, he is a lead actor in the Providence-based dinner theatre troupe Murder On Us. Daniel is a 2000 graduate (BA in Mass Communication and a minor in Theatre Arts) of Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire and currently resides in Providence with his fiancé Kerri and their super rabbit named Emily. Besides his personal work in theatre and film, he is also the creator and owner of Love Thy Job-a multimedia company dedicated to promoting the arts.

Emily Lutin
Acting Instructor

Emily, a Connecticut native, began dancing with Terpsichore Dance and Theatre Company in Simsbury, CT. With a BA in Dance and Arts & Education from William Smith College, where she received the 2005 Award for Excellence in Dance Performance & Choreography; her choreography was performed at the 2005 American College Dance Festival in Buffalo, NY as well as the SUNY Brockport Diversity Conference. Emily has been a dance educator at the Exploration Program at Yale University in New Haven, CT. She recently returned from the 2006 European Cultural Capital Festival in Patras, Greece, where she danced in a production directed by Lee Breuer. She worked as the Assistant Director and Choreographer for The School for Gifted Children in NY, NY as well as acted in the company. She is currently working with Clark Dance Theater in New Haven, CT and is excited to join the Performing Arts Programs community.

Jaclynn Hart
Acting Instructor-Tolland

Jaclynn is a senior at Eastern Connecticut State University, majoring in Fine Arts focus in Theatre and a minor in Communications. She has been in numerous productions at ECSU and was nominated to compete in the American College Theatre Festival. Jaclynn has performed off Broadway at the Sargent Theatre in NYC and has also studied theatre abroad in Japan. Recently, Jaclynn has assistant directed and stage managed the children’s production of Anne of Green Gables along with stage managing the children’s production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, in Hartford CT. She has taught Intro to Acting, Auditioning Techniques and Improvisation classes for ages 3-17 and is excited to be teaching again for the Performing Arts Programs.

Diana McCarthy
Acting Instructor

Diana is a senior BFA acting student at Central CT State University. She recently graduated from Naugatuck Valley Community College with an Associates Degree in Theatre-Acting. She has spent the past four years working for a TV production company in NYC filming many episodes for Japanese TV. Diana is excited to begin her teaching with Performing Arts Programs.

Lisa Marie Goldberg
Acting Instructor

Lisa is a graduate of Berklee College of Music where she pursued a dual major of Education and Performance. She completed her student teaching in the Andover school system where she worked with children grades Kindergarten through twelve. During her student teaching she volunteered her own time to work with a specialty theatre group at the elementary school, and helped with the high school musical of Grease. Upon completion of her student teaching, Lisa taught elementary and middle school music in many school systems through out Massachusetts. Here she had the opportunity to feature local artists in monthly showings and book musicians and poets for weekly open mics. Lisa is excited to further pursue her love of performing and continue her passion for teaching.

Curtis has been entertaining and educating audiences for nearly a decade from New York to Boston with his Thing Machine, a comedy skit in a vending machine. His child-friendly "advertising performances" have taught families about the plays at Hartford Stage, the Education Programs at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the sewer system at the CPTV Family Science Expo, and the borough of Queens in NYC's famed family festival, CultureFest. He is a graduate of the University of Hartford Art School, and eagerly looks forward to sharing his experience and performing knowledge with his students.

Christina Maria Acosta
Hip Hop Jazz Instructor-Woodbridge

Christina is a singer/actress/dancer/lyricist and graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. She began touring two years ago as the singer and lyricist for the Squonk Opera, a music theater ensemble which combines live music with visual arts and muti-media, performing in theaters throughout Germany, South Korea, Belgium, and several coast-to-coast US cities.  Christina was recently seen in the Pittsburgh Playhouse production of The Exonerated and as Mattie Campbell in the Pittsburgh Playwright's Production of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

Esther Erickson
Hip Hop Jazz Instructor- East Hartford & Orange, Broadway Jazz- Tolland & Haddam-Killingworth

Madalyn Sheehy
Hip Hop Jazz Instructor - Middlebury, Oxford, Woodbury

Debra Vega
Broadway/HipHop Jazz Instructor-East Granby 

Debra hails from Fort Wayne, IN where she started dancing at the age of 4. She has participated in the “World Famous Radio City Rockette” in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Her other New York/Broadway shows include: A Christmas Carol The Musical (starring Tim Curry), Anything Goes (starring Patti LuPone), and Funny Girl (starring Whoopi Goldberg). Her National and European Tours include: Steel Pier, Crazy For You, and Fame!  Regional Theatre Credits: A Chorus Line, Forum, Wizard Of Oz, My Fair Lady, Guys And Dolls, and Will Rogers Follies.

Debra has taught dance since 1985. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Dance Performance and a minor in Theatre from Ball State University in Muncie, IN. Debra often travels the country choreographing musicals, teaching at theatre camps, and offering workshops. She is excited about joining the caring and talented team at Performing Arts Programs this year.

Brad Shur
Puppetry Instructor

Brad graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Film. At RISD, he began working with Providence based puppet company Big Nazo as a performer and puppet builder. He has performed with several nationally touring performance companies including Wood and Strings Theater and Vermont Puppetree. As a builder he has designed and created puppets for clients large and small including puppets that appeared on American Idol. This is his first workshop with Performing Arts Programs and he is excited to begin.