Acting

Leslie Lenert

Leslie Lenert is an actor and teaching artist who has worked through Hope Stone, Theater Under the Stars, Brave Little Company, Main Street Theater, Interactive Theater, and A.D. Players.  Since 2013 she has helped students of all ages embrace the practice of play and develop their ability to enter a story.

Film Acting

Byron Franco

Byron Franco is a filmmaker/actor with over 10 years experience in the Houston film industry. In addition to writing/directing his own short films, he has acted in over 30 short/feature length productions. He has taught various classes for students of all skill levels and believes in an active learning approach. He's excited to improve your self-tape audition and on-set skills through a mix of warmups, scene work, and immersive training.

Acting / Shakespeare

Jonathan Gonzalez

Jonathan has been the Education Director at Main Street Theatre since 2009 and was the Artistic Director of Shakespeare in the Shade since 2012.  Jonathan spent over 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was the Education Director at Marin Shakespeare Company and teacher/manager at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.  He also worked with Shakespeare at Stinson, and Windsor Shakespeare Company.

Opera / Musical Theatre

Amanda Martinez

Amanda Martinez is a professional actor, singer, and acting coach.  She received her BM in Musical theatre from Oklahoma City University. Her training as a singer had a strong emphasis in classical music and opera. She has performed internationally, Off-Broadway, and in regional theatres across the country.

Improv

Kory LaQuess Pullam

Kory LaQuess Pullam was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. He earned his BFA at Stephen F. Austin State University in 2013. Leaving the collegiate nest, Kory moved to Chicago and worked with Raven Theatre, Light Opera Works, The Gift Theatre, and Porchlight Music Theatre in their Jeff-nominated production of Pal Joey.

Kory is a founding member of Blackout Improv, a premier Black comedy troupe in the Twin Cities. Also, Kory is founding artistic director of Underdog Theatre.

Voice / Acting 

Vivian Majkowski

Vivian Majkowski is the Voice and Speech professor at the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance.  She received her MFA from Harvard University and has taught voice extensively at Harvard, University of Colorado, Savannah College of Art and Design. Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, A.R,T., Orlando Shakes, TheatreWorks, and American Players Theatre.

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Musical Theatre

Alric Davis

Alric Davis is the Founding Artistic Director of The Sankofa Collective. He holds a B.F.A. from Howard University with a concentration in Musical Theatre and Playwriting. He is a  performer, director, theatre critic, acting coach, adjunct instructor, and award-winning playwright.

Youth Programs: Acting

Adrienne Shearer

Adrienne Shearer is a teacher, director, choreographer, and performer who has devoted much of her professional life to building bridges and improving opportunities for youth and adults in the autism spectrum.  Having taught at all levels, from elementary to university, she brings a collaborative approach to work as an artist and a teacher.  

Auditions / Make-up 

Alyssa Rodriguez

Alyssa is an actress, makeup artist, producer, and audition coach, who spent 12 years in LA landing roles on Grey’s Anatomy, Longmire, 9-1-1 Lonestar, Famous in Love, Shameless, as well as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley, and Jane the Virgin. In addition to her successful acting career she has more than 20 years experience as a professional make-up artist for headshots, photoshoots, for film/tv, weddings, red carpets as well as lessons. Her makeup business is Look The Part Book The Part.

Comedy / Improv

Brian Kondrach

Brian Kondrach is an acting teacher, improviser, performer who specializes in improvisation and comedy.  He is an active member of the ComedySportz pro team and also regularly produces episodes for The Jim Carrey Project podcast.

Acting / Clowning and Play

Zack Fine

Zack trained in clown and play in Paris at the renowned École du Philippe Gaulier and in New York City with Christopher Bayes, as well as with master teachers around the world. In 2020, Zack founded the company Recess (www.letsgotorecess.com) with his partner Arielle Yoder to help build community in the workplace through games and play. He holds a B.A. from Oberlin College in American History (Summa Cum Laude) and an MFA from the University of Tennessee.

Musical Theatre / Voice

Dr. Karen Rees

Dr. Karen Rees has been a Voice Instructor and Lecturer at SHSU Musical Theatre Program, Voice Program Lead, and Children's Choral Program Director at Keyano College (Alberta), and is currently the Voice Instructor and Lecturer at Lone Star College - Montgomery. And she holds degrees from five universities in vocal music.

Health & Wellness

Jennifer Doctorovich

Jennifer Doctorovich is a psychotherapist (LPC-Associate), nutritional therapist, and coach who utilizes an integrative approach when working with her clients. She was a regularly featured nutritional therapy coach on TLC’s My 600 Pound Life. Having been an actor herself, she enjoys working with artists to provide better fitness and mental health.

Acting / Opera

Pamela Vogel

Pamela Vogel is a professional actor who has worked in many regional theatres, including Shakespeare festival in Houston, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,and Utah.  And she's recently been working with opera singers on dramatic techniques for the stage.

Acting

Sara Gaston

Sara Gaston is an award-winning actor, writer, and filmmaker. She's a life-long student of craft and has been a teaching artists since 2007.  She has her own studio. but has taught at Alley Theatre, AD Players and the JCC in Houston. She studied at University of Texas in Austin, and frequently appears on Houston stages.  As a filmmaker, film producer and screenwriter she loves sharing her growing knowledge of the business of filmmaking.

Youth Programs: Acting

Jasmine Christyne

Jasmine Christyne received her theatre training from The University of Wisconsin Green-Bay with a degree in Musical Theatre and Dance, and continued training at The Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland. She is a multifaceted creator of new work and is a passionate teacher of both theatre and dance.  She has worked on many Houston stages as an actor and regularly dances with The Pilot Dance Project.

Film

Joe Grisaffi

Joe Grisaffi is the founder of Southwest Casting, a premiere casting resource for Houston, and is an award-winning actor, director, producer and screenwriter. And avid storyteller dedicated to independent cinema, he has produced and directed award-winning films and has appeared in over 100 independent productions.

Youth Programs: Acting

Jay Gracia

Jay Gracia is an actor and educator in Houston. He received his B.F.A in Acting at the University of Houston School of Theatre where he trained in Acting, Suzuki, Viewpoints, Stage Combat, Intimacy work, and Voice. Jay is also an Actor Combatant through the Society of American Fight Directors.  He is currently Head Director / Artistic Director at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy.

Masks / Clowning

Luis Quintero

Luis Quintero trained at North Carolina School of the Arts, and has worked at many top regional theatres around the country, both as a performer and a writer/composer.  His specialties include wordsmithing, physical gesture, clowning, and composition. He is also an avid educator who helps artists of all ages unlock there physical expression.

Dialects 

Molly Wetzel

Molly Wetzel is a professional actor and audiobook narrator with a passion and ear for dialects. She is a certified teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork, and a frequent

Dialect Specialist for theatre's around the country, including the Alley Theatre, Stages Repertory Theatre and Theatre Under the Stars. 

Acting / Stage Combat / Physical Training / Intimacy

Adam Noble

Adam Noble is currently Head of MFA Acting at the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance.  Adam is also the resident fight director and intimacy specialist for The Alley Theatre, the studio movement instructor for the Houston Grand Opera, as well as a freelance actor and director.

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Youth Programs: Acting

Eva Olivia Catanzariti

Eva Olivia Catanzariti is a professional actor, intimacy/fight director, and interdisciplinary performer who holds an MFA from the University of Houston’s Professional Actor Training Program. She's a certified Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, and is currently a professor at Lone Star College - University Park Department of Drama. Eva is also a classically trained singer/dancer in opera and ballet. 

Scripts Analysis / Playwriting

Bradley Michalakis

Bradley Michalakis is a playwright, director, and Head of Dramaturgy at the Alley Theatre.  His recent adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw" was produced The Catastrophic Theatre last season, and he directed "Winter Solstice" at the REC Room this past fall.  He has led many writing groups and runs the Alley All New Festival each year.

Film Directing / Film Acting

Michelle Mower

Michelle Mower is an award-winning Houston-based director who writes and produces feature films, television movies, docu-series and commercials. In addition to making films, she is also a film distributor, and an educator of film directing for filmmakers and on-camera technique for actors.

Movement & Dance

Karmetra Shy

Karmetra Shy is a professional dancer, educator, and choreographer with a B.S. from Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre and Dance, specializing in Secondary Education. Over the past ten years, Karmetra has worked as both a performer and a certified teacher, developing and implementing arts-based curricula that incorporate dance, drama, and social-emotional learning. 

Viewpoints / Suzuki

Jack Young

Jack Young trained with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company in Viewpoints / Suzuki in New York City and in Saratoga Springs, where he was part of the cohort that helped build their production of Charles Mee's  bobrauschenbergamerica.  He shares this work as the Lead Acting Teacher for the University of Houston's MFA Professional Actor Training Program, in serving as Artistic Director of Houston Shakespeare Festival, and as a Certified Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Acting

Hugo Carbajal

Hugo Carbajal is a seasoned actor, teacher and director who is committed to authentic and physical storytelling.  He is currently in town performing Elyot in the Alley Theatre production of Private Lives, and has worked in theatres aroung the country.  As a teacher he has taught acting, movement and devised theatre.  While he's here, he's excited to share some of what he is passionate about, physical theatre.  

Acting

Blake Weir

Blake Weir is a professional actor, director, and educator with over 40 professional stage credits across the Houston theater scene. He holds a BFA in Acting from Stephen F. Austin State University.  As a teacher and coach, Blake specializes in character development, cold reading, and helping actors unlock truthful performances from audition to final curtain.

Entrepeneurialship

David Lee Huỳnh

Đavid Lee Huỳnh is a graduate of the MFA program at University of Houston, and a professor in the Randolph College MFA Theatre Arts program where he has developed entrepreneurial classes for artist.  Based in New York, he has worked all over the world on stage, in film, on television, in voice-over, and he is also a writer, artistic leader and educator with real world experience in the artistic entrepreneurial field.

Film

Derrick Moore

Derrick Moore is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and actor based in Houston, Texas. A St. Louis native, he is the founder of Moorflics, a creative production company committed to telling bold, visually compelling stories rooted in African American history and culture. Under his leadership, Moorflics has produced a slate of award-winning short films, documentaries, and branded content, with projects recognized on the festival circuit and by industry institutions.

Film

Ricky Catter

Ricky Catter is a professional Actor, Writer and Director. Being in the entertainment industry for over 29 years, he has starred in over 150 commercials, performed on stages all over the country, and starred on numerous films and tv shows, including NCIS, Prison Break, and others.

Musical Theatre

Aramie Payton

Amarie Payton is a multi-faceted artist who most notably worked on Broadway and London's West End in MJ the Musical.  Other Broadway credits include The Outsiders. His regional work includes The MUNY, Starlight, Signature Theatre, Marriott, Paper Mill Playhouse and Alley Theatre, where he is currently playing Cory in August Wilson's FENCES.

Fringe/Devising

Lauren Hance

Lauren Hance has spent the past five years touring the worldwide fringe circuit with her multi-award-winning solo show HOLY O. She is the host/producer of the podcast What the Fringe?!, an accredited media reviewer with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, a member of the World Fringe Congress, a 2026 CIPA Producer Fellow, and a member of the Dramatist Guild of America.

Youth Programs: Musical Theatre

DJ Hale

DJ Hale is a performer and arts educator who is currently the Director of Orchestra at South Houston High School.  With a high baratone, he has a passion for musical theatre, and has performed with The Garden Theatre, Stageworks, Theatre Southwest, Pearl Theatre, Pasadena Little Theatre, CAST Theatrical, and others. He has degrees from University of Texas and Texas Christian University.​

Youth Programs: Acting

Brenda Palestina

Brenda Palestina is a Houston-based director, actor, and teaching artist. She is Co-Artistic Director of Happy Hour Readings at Rec Room Arts. Brenda hs weorked extensively with young arriists, particualrly as a teaching artists with the Alley Theatre's ECE programs.  She is passionate about empowering students to be their most creative, brave, and talented selves.

Writing

comfort ifeoma katchy

comfort ifeoma katchy is a playwright, actor, dramaturg and educator who received her MFA in Playwriting from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, and is a recipient of the ASCAP Cole Porter Prize in Playwriting, and numerous honors for her work as a playwright.

Youth Programs: Acting

Camryn Nunley

Camryn Nunley is a Senior Teaching Artist with The Alley Theatre, and currently the Lower School Drama instructor at St. Francis Episcopal School.. He hold a BFA in Acting and Directing from Sam Houston State University, and is an avid instructor for youth.

Voice / Accents

Magdalen Vaughn

Magdalen Vaughn is a accent coach who specializes in Knight-Thompson Speechwork (KTS).  She has an extensive client base in New York, Los Angeles, Texas, and the UK, and has been the accent coach for many productions here in Houston.

Youth Programs - Acting

Mayra Monsivais

Mayra Monsivais has been a performer and Teaching Artist for Alley Theatre sfor seven years where she has engaged thousands of kids and performed in multiple touring shows.  She studied theatre at the University of Houston, and  works regularrly for Houston theatres.