RMTA Festival Presenters
Mr. Dixon is an active Artist Roster member of the Wyoming Arts Council offering recitals and audience development efforts throughout Wyoming. He was cited by former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer for his “Suddenly Shakespeare “, “Sing, Play, Act, Tell Me a Story “and “Broadway… Bravo!” presentations and their success in generating greater student interest in reading, writing and theatrical participation in elementary and secondary schools throughout Wyoming. We are please to have Wm. Lynn Dixon as this year's keynote speaker.
We are please to have Allison Wedell Schumacher as this year's keynote speaker.
She earned her B.A. in Speech Education from the University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Communication and Theatre from the University of Colorado-Boulder. She has taught at the Universities of Colorado, Wisconsin, Denver, and Pittsburgh (Semester at Sea), and at the DCPA’s National Theatre Conservatory.
John O’Hagan joined the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Wyoming as an Assistant Professor of Theatre (Acting) in the fall of 2008. Prior to that, John taught acting as a sabbatical replacement at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. He spent two seasons as a member of the acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival appearing in Cyrano de Bergerac, The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest, On the Razzle, and The Taming of the Shrew. He had the great good fortune to play Hamlet during the second of two regional school tours for OSF. These tours consisted of performing and teaching Shakespeare to high school and college students in Oregon, Washington and, oddly enough, Arkansas. John has directed for Snowy Range Summer Theatre, Idaho Repertory Theatre, Idaho Theatre for Youth, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and the College of Idaho. John also served as the Director of Education for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and as Company Manager for Idaho Theatre for Youth. He received a Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (Education) in 2003 for his work with both ISF and ITY. He received his MFA from the University of Idaho where he also was the 2006 Rex Rabold Fellowship recipient. Patrick Newell, baritone, is the founder of the Musical Theatre program in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Wyoming. He is also the resident Stage Director of Helios Ensemble in Dallas, Texas. As a performer he has been seen in roles such as Sweeney Todd, Miles Gloriosus, Schaunard, Figaro (The Ghosts of Versailles), and Captain Corcoran. His Direction credits include The Magic Flute, The Medium, Into the Woods, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Songs for a New World. His Music Direction credits include A Little Night Music, The Secret Garden, A Chorus Line, The Last Five Years, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. His productions in small venues with Helios Ensemble have received critical acclaim, and lead to a series of presentations with the National Association of Teachers of Singing in Los Angeles. His vocal students have performed in national tours and in regional theatre productions across the United States. He holds the Doctor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Indiana University, where he also received his Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees. Laura K. Love has worked as a designer, technician, and teacher throughout the Rocky Mountain region for more than 25 years. She has designed scenery and costumes for more than 100 productions for a variety of theatres throughout the Rocky Mountain region, including the Denver Center Theatre Co., the National Theatre Conservatory, the Arvada Center, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, the University of Denver, and Metropolitan State College of Denver. She is currently the faculty Costume Designer at Metro State. Joe Cervone, of Production Resource Group, has provided award winning lighting solutions and production support to theatrical, film and television shows in North and South America in his career spanning the last 25 years.
Taylor Dykstra - Production Resource Group
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Wm. Lynn Dixon was educated at the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music and holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance with a subsequent Performance Certificate in Opera, Oratorio and Art Song.
Allison Wedell Schumacher is the author of Shaking Hands with Shakespeare: A Teenager’s Guide to Reading and Performing the Bard, published by Simon and Schuster in 2004. Originally from Cheyenne, Ms. Schumacher grew up attending and acting in the productions of the Cheyenne Little Theater Players. She went on to earn her BA in Theater and English from St. Olaf College and her MFA in Theater from the University of Louisville. She now lives in Seattle, WA, where she has acted professionally for such companies as the 5th Avenue Theater and Theater Schmeater, and currently serves as a writer for a nonprofit organization.
Dr. Marilyn A. Hetzel (known as Cookie) is the Chair of Theatre and a Full Professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. She is also a voice/performance workshop leader (associated for eighteen years with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts); a theatre director and choreographer (with specialties in music theatre, developing original scripts with actor collaboration, and touring theatre); a theatre and communication consultant; and a performer with over forty years of experience.
Eulanda Shead, 2006 International Salsa Champion, is a classically trained dancer who has studied dance at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Cleo Parker Robinson, Broadway Dance Center, and throughout the U.K. She specializes in fusing classical, folkloric and contemporary dance forms within the African Diaspora. She has extensively studied West African, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Haitian, Afro-Cuban Rumba, Flamenco, Modern, Jazz, Salsa, Tango, Ballroom, Hip-hop, Horton, Dunham, House, and Ballet; which are all a part of the foundation for her unique blend of Afro-Salsa & Contemporary dance.
Scott Bellot has his MFA in Acting from the University of South Carolina. He teaches at Red Rocks Community College and works as a professional actor in Denver. He has been acting, directing, and teaching for over twenty years.