Theatre Department Head - Donald Hicken
DONALD HICKEN has directed Our Town, I Am My Own Wife, The Turn of the Screw, Betrayal, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Childrens’ Hour, Jacques Brel..., My Children! My Africa!, Watch On The Rhine and The Road To Mecca for Everyman Theatre. He has also directed at The Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, The Kenyon Festival Theatre, Round House Theatre, Rep Stage, and Pennsylvania Stage Company. For his production of The Glass Menagerie (a co-production of Everyman Theatre and Round House Theatre) Mr. Hicken received the 2001 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director of a Resident Play. The production also received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Resident Play. He created and directed Steps in Time: Scenes From 1840 Baltimore for The Baltimore City Life Museums. Mr. Hicken founded The Center Stage Conservatory, The Actors’ Conservatory and has taught master classes at The Berkshire Theatre Festival where he developed Fog People, a celebration of the Eugene O’Neill centenary. As an event director, he has staged galas featuring, Ray Charles, Ben Vereen, Tony Bennett and George Burns. He has been Department Head of Theatre at The Baltimore School for the Arts since 1979, where his productions include: Romeo and Juliet, Lysistrata, The Rimers of Eldridge, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Marat/Sade, Curse of the Starving Class, Yerma, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Lady From Maxim’s, his own adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, “A Chekov Sampler”, “Ionescorama” (an evening of one-act plays by Eugene Ionesco) the world premiere of Chalk by Al Letson (co-commissioned with the Baltimore Theatre Project) and Our Town. Mr. Hicken was a founding board member of The Baltimore Theatre Alliance and now serves on its Advisory Board as well as on the Board of Trustees of The Hippodrome Foundation. He was Artistic Director of The Columbia Festival of the Arts from its founding in 1989 until 1997. At the Festival he initiated many commissions and collaborations including Free At Last with Max Roach and Bill T. Jones, Mark O’Connor with The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the world premiere of Real Time, by TMU-NA Theatre of Tel-Aviv.Production Manager - Paul Christensen
Mr. Christensen has been the Production Manager for the Baltimore School for the Arts since 1983. He has done Set and Lighting design for many Baltimore companies including: Wittenberg for Rep Stage and the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Romeo And Juliet for the BSF, Cosi Fan Tutti, Rigoletto, The Turn of the Screw, Werther, La Finta Giardiniera, Le Villi, Face on the Barroom Floor, Agrippina, Don Pasquale, Pelleas and Melisande, and Amahl and the Night Visitors for Opera Vivente; The Bartered Bride for Opera AACC; and Beckettland and I Married A Fly for Action Theater Company. Mr. Christensen toured with Action Theater to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and to the Netherlands. He has also designed lighting for many of the productions of the Baltimore School for the Art's Theater and Dance Departments. He was the recipient of a Surdna Arts Teacher Fellowship in 2009, studying stage lighting, and of the Mark K. Joseph Faculty Development Award for 2002. Mr. Christensen has worked was the Production Manager for the Columbia Festival of the Arts, as the set and lighting designer for Cockpit-In-Court Cabaret, as a stagehand in Atlantic City, and as a stage carpenter for many New England performing arts organizations. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Arts and English Literature from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He also studied at the National Theater Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut and he has done Education coursework at the College of Notre Dame.Instructor, Movement - Maria Broom
Although nationally known as an actress for her recurring roles in HBO’s “The Wire” and “The Corner”, Maria is also a storyteller and dancer with more than forty years of performing and teaching in the US and across the globe. She is a Fulbright scholar and former news reporter for the ABC affiliates in Miami and Baltimore. Currently, she is on the theater faculty at the Baltimore School for the Arts. A native of Baltimore, Maria has received many awards and honors including the Eubie Blake Award, the Sarah’s Circle Award and the 2004 Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist. In 2007, she was named, Artist of the Year by Young Audiences of Maryland, Inc. In addition to her work as performer and educator, Maria is much requested as a speaker and presenter. With a background in yoga, meditation, Homa therapy and dance therapy, she conducts staff retreats, workshops and weekly classes that help people to release stress and feel at peace. Formerly, the diversity coordinator for the Park School in Baltimore, she has been a consultant since 2006 for Maryland Public Television’s Campaign for Love and Forgiveness, sponsored by Fetzer Institute. As a recipient of an Open Society Institute community fellowship grant, Maria established a unique mentoring program in the inner city schools, and beyond, called the Dance Girls of Baltimore. It is through this vehicle that she passes on the values of self-discipline and thoughtful behavior. In 2007, Maria worked in Poland and Czechoslovakia co-directing the independent film “Soul Immortal” to be released in 2010.Instructor, Video and Digital Imaging - Beatriz Bufrahi
Beatriz Bufrahi was born in Panama and raised in Germany before coming to the United States in 1992. Beatriz received her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Imaging and Digital Arts in 2004 from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. In her artwork she is interested in narrative and community issues and often works in collaboration with organizations and individuals. In 2001 she collaborated with breast cancer survivors to create the sound installation Diagnosed that was exhibited at the Susan G. Komen Foundation conference. Her MFA thesis exhibition Three Women employed multiple sound tracks and projected video to explore issues of assimilation and displacement among immigrant women. For several years Beatriz developed and coordinated educational outreach programs for the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture at UMBC and taught video to inner city youth for Wide Angle Youth Media.Voice – Linklater - Denise Diggs
Denise Diggs has acted professionally for over 35 years. She recently played several major characters in 365 Days by Susan Lori Parks and Pillowman Nightmares and Pillow Tales at Studio Theatre in Washington D.C. Other theatre credits include performances at Center Stage, Everyman Theatre, Actor’s Ensemble, The Baltimore Shakespeare Theatre, Olney Theatre, Arena Stage (D.C.), Round House Theatre, Theatre of the First Amendment, and the La Jolla Theatre in San Diego. Ms. Diggs received the 1998 Maryland Arts Council Individual Artist Award for her work as an actor, teacher, and promoter of various arts programs throughout Maryland. Her one-person show on Winnie Mandela which she wrote and performed at the Theatre Project also contributed to this prestigious award. Ms. Diggs has had the honor of teaching voice and speech at the Baltimore School for the Arts since 1981. She has also taught acting in their TWIGS program and was the coordinator of several outreach programs. She is presently teaching voice and acting at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory (D.C.), voice with acting emphasis at Duke Ellington School for the Arts (D.C.), and is the private instructor for various professionals throughout the Baltimore/Washington area. Her television credits include recurring roles on the Emmy award winning Homicide: Life on the Streets, The Corner, and most recently, The Wire. Ms. Diggs has a B.A. from Towson University.Instructor, Set Design - Mariana Fernandez
Mariana Fernandez works at the Baltimore School for the Arts as a set design teacher, where she has received the 2009 Mark. K. Josef Award in recognition of the energy, expertise and high standard she has brought to the stage production program. Also, she has worked at GALA Hispanic Theater as a set and costume designer, scenic artist, and prop master for classical and musical plays such as: El Bola, Momia in the Closet ( 5 nominations for the Helen Hayes Awards), Agustin Lara, Boleros and Blues, El Mejor Alcande, El Rey, Bodas de Sangre ,Castrucho, The Hustler: La Verdad Sospechosa, Brasil as coisas do Samba, Raíces Cubanas and La Verdad Sospechosa. Also, She has designed sets for musicals at Millsaps College in Mississippi, The Sound of Music, Imagination Stage in Maryland for The Robber Bridegroom. She also worked as a scenic artist for Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Miniature Theatre of Chester, The Reveals, The Round House, Teatro de la Luna, The Shakespeare Theater, Folger Theater, Signature Theater, Forum Theater, and Atlas Performing Arts Center among others here in the States. She is the set designer resident of the Barbara Simon Theater at the Inter-American Development Bank. Recently, she has designed for the Cultural Foundation at the Inter-American Development Bank Convention in Mexico 2010. Also, she has been part of the TGC delegation representing the US at the Festival Internacional de Teatro, Bogota, Colombia 2010. She is a member of EWI, Empowered Women International, a non-profit organization, where her work has a social impact on immigrant women artists. She received a Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Costume Design for the classical play at GALA:”La Verdad Sospechosa” in 2003.Director of Ages on Stages/Instructor, TWIGS - Anita Horwath
Anita has a Bachelors degree in early childhood education and has taught creative drama for Twigs for the past twenty years . She also teaches an after school drama program for Roland Park Country School. Ages on Stages is an intergenerational improvisational group that includes the sophomores from the Baltimore School for the Arts. The group performs in senior centers and high schools around the city.Instructor, Voice-Lessac - Nancy Krebbs
Nancy is a Lessac Master Teacher, one of six in the world. She has been a voice instructor in the theatre department of the Baltimore School for the Arts since 1981, operates her own private voice studio, The Voiceworks; and has served as a dialect/vocal coach for numerous professional productions in the Baltimore-Washington area since 1994. She is a professional actor-singer, having received an Emmy award for her work on the PBS TV show Once upon a Town, and a Grammy and Unity award-nominated recording artist, having released 7 albums of meditational music since 1998. She is the Associate Director of the Lessac Summer Intensive Workshops, and is a member of AEA, AFTRA, SAG, and VASTA (Voice & Speech Trainers Association)Her albums: The Journey, Love Makes Room, Come to the Stable, Simple Gifts, One Heart at a Time, Songs from the Heart and Moved by God are receiving air play throughout the US and abroad.
Instructor, Physical Characterization - Tim Marrone
Tim received his training at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City and has appeared on stage throughout the Northeast, most recently in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. For ten years, Tim served as a founding member of the Maryland-based clown/theatre troupe, Theatricks. He has appeared as a silent, comic character for: The Washington National Opera; The Maryland Lyric Opera; The Summer Opera Series at Catholic University and has appeared as part of a clown act with the George Carden Circus. As a physical comedian, Tim has co-written and performed productions with: The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; The Baltimore Chamber Orchestra; Concert Artists of Baltimore; The McLean Orchestra; The Lafayette Symphony Orchestra; The Lansing Symphony Orchestra; The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra; The Billings Symphony Orchestra; The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra; The Lincoln Symphony Orchestra; The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra; and The River Concert Series in St.Mary's City, MD. Tim tours his solo show "Clowning Around With Shakespeare" (co-written with Baltimore playwright Kimberley Lynn) through Young Audiences of Maryland and is part of the Big Apple Circus' Clown Care Unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital and DC Children's Hospital.Instructor, Musical Theatre - Becky Mossing
Becky is a graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts, as well as NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she received the Outstanding Achievement Award in musical theater. Becky received her Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Goucher College in 2000. She has worked as an actor Off Broadway, in national tours and in regional theater. She has taught acting and/or musical theatre classes at Everyman Theater, Summer Stock Performing Arts Camp, and in New York at Musical Theater Works, Inc. She is currently the co-director of The Hippodrome Foundation’s summer theatre camp. Becky’s cabaret performances can be seen regularly in the Baltimore area.Principal Acting Teacher - Richard Pilcher
Richard Pilcher has been the principal acting teacher at BSA since 1981, and is the only acting teacher to teach all four years of the student ensembles. He has performed on and off-Broadway, in resident theatres throughout the US, and in film and television. Local theatre performances include the Olney Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Round House Theatre and others. Films include Serial Mom, The Replacements, and Tuck Everlasting; for television he has appeared in The Wire and played the recurring role of Sgt. Deutch on Homicide: Life on the Streets. He was nominated for a Helen Hayes award for his leading role in Poster of the Cosmos with the Potomac Theatre Project. Productions he has directed at other theatres and schools include Hamlet, Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Our Town and the Beaux Stratagem. At BSA he has directed the Junior Scene Night project, a program of original scenes, since 1992. Other productions he has directed at BSA include The Arabian Nights, Moliere Shorts, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Workroom. He has also taught at Towson State University and at the TASIS school in England. In 2010 he received a Surdna artist-teacher grant. He is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, a method of learning to move with greater ease and energy.Instructor, Sound - John Suchy
John designs sound for theaters throughout the Baltimore/Washington area for SoundLogix LLC. He also teaches audio and recording techniques at CCBC Essex and the Baltimore School for the Arts. At SuchSound Studio, John has recorded and produced local and national artists for years. He produces and performs with Noggin Network artist MILKSHAKE, who was recently featured in Time Magazine. When not acting onstage, John can be seen playing with the local rock legend, Hectic Red.Instructor, Acting Technique - Tony Tsendeas
Tony Tsendeas is an actor, director, writer and teacher. He is the former Artistic Director of Action Theater and current Director-in-Residence with the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. His work as an actor and director has received critical acclaim nationally and internationally. With Action Theater, Mr. Tsendeas directed and performed in BeckettLand which played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where he was nominated for a best actor award by London’s Stage magazine. Mr. Tsendeas subsequently toured the Netherlands with BeckettLand, where the show received great critical and popular reception. Mr. Tsendeas has both performed and directed at many theaters in the region. His play The Adventures of Felix was awarded a Maryland State Arts Council Playwriting Award. He is also currently a playwrite in residence for the Maryland State Arts Council ‘Arts in Education’ program. A sample of favorite roles includes Jerry in The Zoo Story, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, and most recently The Player in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Directing credits include The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, The Madman and the Nun, Othello, Julius Caesar, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare abridged, and most recently, Macbeth. Mr. Tsendeas has taught many acclaimed acting, directing, and playwriting workshops regionally. He has a B.A. from Towson University.Instructor, Technical Director - Harley Winkler
Harley was a musical education student at Towson University. She was playing violin professionally when she became more interested in production than performance. In the past 7 years, Harley has worked as a carpenter and electrician at Everyman Theatre, Center Stage, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, and Round House Theatre. She has also been Technical Director at the Chesapeake Arts Center, and Assistant Technical Director at Maryland Hall. This is Harley’s second year as Technical Director at the Baltimore School for the Arts.Instructor, Costume Design - Norah Worthington
Norah Worthington has been costuming shows in the Baltimore area since 1984. As Resident Costumer at BSA, she has designed theatre and dance costumes for the past 14 years. Design credits include: Baltimore Shakespeare Festival (Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Love’s Labours Lost), Everyman Theatre (Watch on the Rhine, The Crucible), Opera Vivante (Resident Designer for 8 years; Cosi fan Tutti, Rigaletto, The Turn of the Screw, Werther, La Finta Gardiniera, Pelleas and Melisande, Agrippina, Don Pasquale, Amahl and the Night Visitors), Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Swan of Tuonella, Carol of the Bells), Toby’s Dinner Theatre (West Side Story, Carousel, 42nd Street, Follies), Young Victorian Theatre Company (HMS Pinafore), Handel Choir (Solomon), UMBC (Cabaret), Goucher College (Vinegar Tom, The Cradle will Rock, Twelfth Night), St. Paul’s Schools (Much Ado About Nothing). As an instructor, she has taught at Goucher College, McDonough School, and Gilman School. She lives in Towson with her husband Paul and children Lewis, Owen and Caroline.Instructor, Movement - Shannon Glasgow
Shannon Glasgow is a native of Baltimore who received her M.Ed. and B.F.A. from Temple University’s Department of Dance with an emphasis in educational theory and movement history. She is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) through the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies at the University of Utah. Movement consulting and choreographic credits in the theatre world include: L’Amour Nomade (for El Haddawi DanzTheatre); Pippin (most recently at BSA); The Crucible (for Everyman Theatre); The Wind in the Willows and A Child’s Christmas in Wales (for BSA). Her aerial dance credits include performing her own work in On The Line and for Saint Paul’s Schools. She has also performed with Air Dance Bernasconi since 2002 in venues as diverse as Theatre Project of Baltimore, Aerial Dance Festival in Boulder, International Dance Festival in NYC, and Towson University. Ms. Glasgow has also performed and/or choreographed dance works for El Haddawi (The Cirlces Project in Baltimore and L’Amour Nomade in Wasserburg and Fraunchemsie Abby Germany), Association of Independent Maryland Schools, Saint Paul’s School for Girls, Spiral Dance Company, Dimensional Dance Media, EDA-AAHPERD (Eastern District Association-American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance), Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, and for other performance venues in the Baltimore-Washington DC area, in Philadelphia, and in Salt Lake City. Ms. Glasgow has taught for Loyola College, Towson University, the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies at UM College Park, Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, and Temple University. Her research on educational theory in the arts has been presented at conferences for NDEO (National Dance Educators Organization), LIMS, PSAHPERD (Pennsylvania Association of HPERD), MAHPERD (Maryland Association of HPERD) and EDA-AHPERD. She has studied extensively both anatomy and dance medicine science. In addition to assisting the 1998-2000 LIMS Intensive Certification Program, she completed an additional 200 hours of Hands-On Training with Martha Eddy and Diane Woodruff towards becoming a Registered Movement Educator/Therapist at George Mason University.Instructor, Movement - Chantia Jackson
Chantia is a graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts. She recieved her BFA degree from SUNY Purchase College of Performing Arts. Chantia has been teaching for nearly a decade and loves what she does. She has some film, television, and stage credits. Chantia is very excited about being an alumni of the school and giving back to a place that helped her to get where she is today.Instructor - Susan Taylor
Susan Taylor, CMA, LGSW is returning to BSA after a two-year sabbatical spent pursuing her Masters degree in social work. Susan will teach in the theatre department – she specializes in connecting intention, emotions, and sensations in mind and body in her work with young actors and designers, parents and children, medical learners, and community dancers at BSA and across the country.
