Faculty & Staff

Cassie Abate is a Co-Head of the Musical Theatre Program. Cassie originally hails from Sarasota, FL and has spent the last 15 years working as a performer, director and choreographer in New York and throughout the country. Cassie received a BFA in Musical Theatre from The University of Miami and an...

Born in NYC, raised and educated in Colorado and then back to NYC for a career on Broadway. Passed through Los Angeles for a few years in the Television industry then to Austin, Texas where I direct and stage manage new plays and perform in Shakespeare and Sondheim musicals. I teach Voice and Diction...

Kaysie Seitz Brown is an educator, choreographer, and dancer based in Austin, TX and an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Texas State University. She holds an MFA in Dance from Case Western University in Cleveland, OH and a Bachelor in Exercise and Sports Science from Texas...

Emmy, Peabody and Gracie award-winning producer and writer Elizabeth (Betty) Buckley is a native Texan with over 25 years of experience in film, television, new media and animation.

She has BFA in Broadcast-Film Arts from SMU, and studied in the Dramatic Writing Graduate Program at Texas State...

Trad A Burns, Lighting Designer

Trad has been designing scenery and lighting professionally since 1989 for theatre, dance, and amusement parks. Recent credits include the world premiere of Carmen, choreographed by Kenneth Tindal; Thrive, Choreographed by Ma Cong; What’s...

MFA 2000 The University of Texas at Austin,
Major: Writing (James A. Michener Fellow) Minor: History
Thesis: Feature screenplay - HOLLOW MACK
B.S 1982 The University of Texas at Austin. Major: Radio-TV-Film

Dr. Byrne has a PhD in Theatre Studies from the City Univeristy of New York, Graduate Center, a MA in Theatre from Northwestern University, and BAs in Theatre and English from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Julio is the Head of Musical Theatre Dance. Native Spanish and fluent English speaker. He recieved his BFA in dance from The Ailey School/Fordham University and MFA in musical theatre from San Diego State University. He has spent the past 20 years as a performer, producer, director, choreographer and...

As a theatre artist, educator, and facilitator, Michelle Dahlenburg works at the intersection of art and community, civic, and social change. Michelle is the former Artistic Director of Conspire Theatre, where she created and facilitated theatre and creative writing programs for women during incarceration...

Tom is a Co-head of Musical Theatre: Head of Production and New Works. They hold a Masters in Directing from Texas State University. At TXST, Tom has directed Spring Awakening, Guys & Dolls, Cabaret, Hair, Speech and Debate, the New Musical workshop of Dylan Spencer’s Cat Obedience School, and many other...

Cheri Prough DeVol is an American scenic and lighting designer who employs theatrical forms to synthesize her passion for music, storytelling, truth, and beauty. Inspired by both physical and metaphorical action in the source material, she creates sculptural forms that evoke emotion and provoke...

Kevin Gates holds an MA in Theatre from Texas State and a JD from the University of Houston Law Center.

Ms. George is a professional actress and has been a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA for 35 years. She hails from Albuquerque, NM and began her acting career after graduating Magna Cum Laude from The University of Utah in Theatre with a Performance emphasis. After working and teaching for many years, she...

Kenya Gillespie is a Japanese American filmmaker and composer based in Austin, TX. His narrative short film JEREMIAH received its international premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival (Cinéfondation) where it was nominated for the short film Queer Palm. It won Best Score at the Brooklyn Horror Film...

Kate Glasheen is an actor, voiceover artist, dialect coach, and voice & speech specialist. She teaches vocal health and production, verse and scansion, text analysis, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), and dialects. Professionally, she has coached at major regional theaters including the Tony...

Brandon Gonzalez holds a BFA in Sculpture and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Dramatic Arts where he worked between the fields of visual arts, choreography, and performance. His investigations of the body as a resource for artistic practice led him to develop works across a variety of artistic mediums. Currently,...

Kaitlin Hopkins is an award-winning actress, director, producer, and educator and has performed on and off Broadway, on national and international tours, and in film and television for more than 30 years.

In 2009, she created BFA musical theatre program at Texas State University ranked in the...

Taniel Kilajian is an Armenian-American independent filmmaker that experiments in both fiction and documentary mediums. Throughout his career, Taniel’s stories have often explored individuals that exist off the beaten path as well as the rich complexity of everyday life. His films have screened and won...

Austin Kimble is an award-winning music director, pianist, actor, and educator and has worked in regional theaters and with international and national tours in multiple disciplines. He accepted a full-time position as Lecturer and Associate Music Director with the BFA in Musical Theatre program at Texas...

Lauren Lane Head of Acting
In her ten years in Los Angeles, Lauren Lane starred in three award winning television series; The Nanny, L.A. Law and Hunter. Winning the LA Critics award, Austin Critics Circle award and multiple B Iden Payne awards represent the critical acclaim of her extensive and continuing...

Huay-Bing Law is a director and cinematographer whose films have earned an HBO APA Visionary Award, Princess Grace Award, and played in festivals worldwide. His latest directorial film, JUNE, about a Chinese immigrant’s experience in the segregated South, premiered on HBO. His work as a cinematographer...

Professor Maines has been the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance since 2020. She specializes in theatrical lighting design and is the recipient of the National Partners in American Theatre Mentor Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival as well as Presidential Distinction...

Some say he’s the messenger of the “Good News” to the world of singing. Having taught tens of thousands of vocalists across the globe in the last 20yrs, the creator of “One Voice” has heard a lot of voices. “Can’t sing high, can’t sing low, can’t sing loud, can’t vibrato, can’t control…" he’s heard it...

Dr. Ana Martínez is a theatre scholar and performance designer. She holds a doctoral degree in Theatre Studies from the City University of New York, an MA in Scenography from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, and an Architecture degree from Universidad Anahuac in Mexico.

As...

Johnny McAllister (Co-Writer, Executive Producer) is a filmmaker and writer from Donegal, Ireland. He has written and produced films that have screened at international festivals including Cannes, Sundance and SXSW. Raised in the Middle East and North Africa, McAllister pulls from a wide cultural spectrum...

Amanda McCorkle, MFA, is an award-winning choreographer, performer and teacher from Austin, Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance from Texas State University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Texas Woman’s University.
Amanda has performed the works of talented choreographers...

Hailing from southern California, Anne grew up in a household of artists and engineers. Throughout her professional career Anne has worked in many production positions, from scenic & lighting design to stage management, scenic painting, media design, carpentry, props and backstage crew work. Anne received...

Michelle Nance, Professor and Director of Dance at Texas State University, has enjoyed many years of devising dance works collaboratively with colleagues and students; as well as performing in the U.S. and abroad. Michelle has studied and taught the technique of Erick Hawkins extensively, and served...

Michelle Ney has designed scenery and costumes for numerous theatre and opera companies, including ZACH Theatre, The Colony Theatre and The Theatre at Boston Court (Los Angeles), Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Repertory Theatre, Austin Shakespeare, and Austin Lyric Opera....

Christa Oliver is an educator, activist, dancer, choreographer, and an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Texas State University. She received a Professional Diploma in Dance Studies and a Master of the Arts degree in Dance Performance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire...

Jackson is a performer, singer-songwriter, and vocal coach on faculty for Texas State University’s Musical Theater program. Since attending Texas State for Musical Theater Jackson received his certification and master certification in One Voice and has taught privately for nine years. He’s helped hundreds...

Bachelor of Science, University of Texas-Austin, Radio-TV-Film, 1996

Aimee Radics (she/her) is a music director, conductor, pianist and educator currently serving as Head of Music Direction for the BFA Musical Theatre Program at Texas State University. She teaches Singing for the Actor, a musical theatre performance course, and teaches collaboratively as in-class...

Melissa started in theatre at a young age in school and community theatre, and she began to pursue it seriously in undergraduate school at Troy University. After taking some time to pursue work in film and television, Melissa attended Texas State University and earned a Master of Arts Degree in Theatre...

Upon graduating from UC-San Diego with an MFA in Directing, moved to NYC and launched a successful career as a stage director specializing in developing new plays, directing world premieres at noted off-Broadway and regional theaters such as Second Stage Theater, Primary Stages, Denver Center Theater...

Syd has penned various stage productions in both Chicago, Texas and Los Angeles. He also wrote and performed his one man show Brother’s Tellin’ which opened for Lily Tomlin’s show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe in Los Angeles. Syd was then selected for the Mark...

Colin is the Assistant Professor of Technical Production at Texas State University where he serves as the Technical Director for the University. Originally from Indianapolis, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Recording Arts from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music as well as a Masters of Fine...

Jack Smith is a costume designer for Theater, Musical Theater and Dance as well as a teacher and costume historian. His career has spanned from educational theater to regional theaters around the United States. As a costume designer he loves discovering the intimate details of a character and collaborating...

Neil Patrick Stewart is a proud member of the acting faculty at Texas State, as well as an actor, writer, and decorated director. He holds an M.F.A. in acting from the world-renowned American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training (A.R.T.) at Harvard University,...

Caitlin Turnage holds a B.F.A in Playwriting and Dramaturgy from the University of Houston and an M.F.A. in Theatre from Texas State University. She's a co-founder of Ignition Theatre Productions a student run group operating out of the University of Houston. Her play "It's a fine day for a picnic" was...

Nicole Wesley, MFA, CLMA
Nicole Wesley is an educator based out of Austin, Texas and is currently an Associate Professor of Dance and Head of the BFA in Teaching Certification at Texas State University. She received an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and a BFA in Dance from The University...

Yong Suk Yoo (director) is an international director and theatre educator who focuses on interdisciplinary work and the integration of technology into the performing arts. His experimental work includes multimedia theatre production of When Spring Comes to Hills and Dales, Oedipus the...