Native of Jinan, China. Upon graduation from Shandong University of Art, she was offered a role teaching acting and makeup. She was frequently invited by Shandong provincial TV stations to host a variety of TV shows and she  acted in several motion pictures and made-for-TV films. After earning her master’s degree in costume design in 1996, she became a faculty member and a costume designer at Nazareth College. She has facilitated Nazareth’s partnership with Finger Lake Musical Theatre Festival (formerly known as Merry Go Round Playhouse), doubled the enrollment of the last two classes, and doubled the audience for our productions. Many NYC-based practicing artists and agents come on campus to conduct master classes and workshops. She has designed costumes for more than 70 productions, and supervised student designers for more than 10 productions. She also has designed costumes for Rochester City Ballet’s original production of Blood Countess, and Nine Parts of Desire for Geva Theatre Center.

Teaching performance courses at Nazareth since 1988. Director of the Nazareth College Arts Center during its renovation, she served as the founding director and curator for three performance festivals: The Nazareth College Dance Festival, the Nazareth College Renovation Festival of the Arts, and The MuCCC College One Act Festival. While an actor, Korth’s real love is stage directing. Recent past favorite productions: The Secret Garden, Quilters, Under Milk Wood, Waiting for Godot, and a devised physical theatre piece entitled Grimm which she both wrote and directed. Awards include Lincoln Nebraska Best Actress for Cloud Nine, Service Awards for work for the Junior League of Rochester and the University of Nebraska as well as Women’s Studies (including being named a “Vagina Warrior,”) and Service Learning at Nazareth College.

Maine native. While living and working in New York City, he made a number of commercials and recorded voice-overs. He also appeared on several TV programs such as Law and Order, Sex and the City, and Late Night With Conan O'Brien. He taught at Bronx Community College (CUNY), LaGuardia Community College (CUNY), Orange County Community College (SUNY), and University of South Alabama before Nazareth. He is a member of the performer's unions SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity (AEA).

Her teaching career spans over 30 years working with adults, college students, high school, and elementary students, including teaching at Nazareth College since 2005 — including Fundamentals of Acting, Principles of Directing, Acting in Shakespeare, Oral Interpretation, Acting in Styles, and Introduction to Theatre. Her 30+ years of experience in the Rochester area includes 20 years as an actor, director, and producer with The Shipping Dock Theatre, which was known for its productions of new plays. She has also worked as an actor and director at Geva Theatre Center, the area's premiere regional theatre. She has performed and directed at some of Rochester's best-known community theatre producers — Blackfriars Theatre, JCC CenterStage, Lady Parts Theatre Company, and Out of Pocket Theatre Company.

New York and tour credits include Broadway pit of The Boys from Oz, Annie, Five Guys Named Moe, and The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Arranger/orchestrator for Menopause, The Musical. Musical director for the North American premiere of From Here to Eternity and Theatrical Rights Worldwide’s Saturday Night Fever. Original works include music/lyrics for Treasure Island, A New Musical; Pump N Go; The Littlest Witch. Regional credits include Hairspray, The Drowsy Chaperone, Full Monty, Forty Second Street, Five Guys Named Moe, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Spelling Bee, Cabaret, Chicago, Miss Saigon, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Evita, La Cage, My Fair Lady, The King & I, The Sound of Music, Nunsense, Oliver, Tintypes, Brigadoon, Kiss Me Kate, Anything Goes, Dames at Sea, Singin’ in the Rain, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Damn Yankees, and Daddy Long Legs. Member: Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and AFM Local 802.

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Education: B.M. in music education, Eastman School of Music; M.M. in music education, Eastman School of Music

Teaching interests: vocal jazz, vocal technique, choral rehearsal techniques, sight singing, improvisation, musical theatre, and assessments in the music classroom.

Nominated for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award for the past four years, she was selected as a quarter-finalist each year, and a semi-finalist in 2016. The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has recognized her contributions to music education with the “Outstanding Music Educator Award.” Abrahamian was a vocal music teacher at Penfield High School from 1981-2016, which included being vocal music director of the musical productions.

Many of her former students are performing professionally in jazz, opera, and contemporary pop music. Many have performed in shows on Broadway and in Broadway touring companies.

Tony is a graduate of Nazareth College, class of 2006, with a degree in music education. He is currently a musical theater accompanist at Nazareth College. In addition to playing piano, Tony has had a very successful career as a symphony orchestrator. He served as Marvin Hamlisch’s principal pops orchestrator/arranger from 2007-2012. His music has been performed around North America with such symphonies as the Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. He has also had the privilege of working with such recording artists as Michael Londra, Lari White, Tim Halperin, and Jodi Benson of Disney’s Little Mermaid. His work has been seen on PBS, as well as Australian T.V. In 2016, Anthony started the community-based pops orchestra, Center Stage Pops Symphony Orchestra in Rochester, New York. The orchestra performs music from stage and screen, as well as music that encompasses American pop culture. The orchestra has received rave reviews and incorporates around 85 musicians in each of its performances.

Bill was “Nicely Nicely Johnson” in the first European tour of Guys and Dolls. His earliest New York credit was a season with The Light Opera of Manhattan at the Cherry Lane Theater.  Early in his career he had the honor of working under the direction of George Abbott in a revival of Damn Yankees.  Other regional productions include: My Fair Lady, Man Of La Mancha, The Fantasticks, The Pajama Game, Evita, The Little Foxes, Night Of The Iguana, Side By Side By Sondheim, Annie Get Your Gun, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Naughty Marietta and Candide.  He has headlined in some of New York's premier clubs including The Oak Room at the Algonquin, The Russian Tea Room, The Rainbow Room, Feinstein's and Sardi's. Formerly of the critically acclaimed musical comedy team "Daugherty & Field," their Obie nominated two-man show ran Off-Broadway at the Van Dam Street Theater for 8 months.  Bill is the recipient of 4 MAC awards and 3 of Backstage Magazine's Bistro Awards (including best male vocalist). As well as being a 12-year veteran of the 92nd St Y's Lyrics and Lyricists series and for the past decade, Bill has also been a regular at The Town Hall in Scott Siegel's Broadway By The Year and Broadway Unplugged concerts. Until recently, he was a faculty member at CAP21 Musical Theater Conservatory for 18 years as well as an instructor at NYU Tisch and the Professional Performing Arts High School.  His disciplines include Vocal Technique, Vocal Performance, Audition Repertoire and Technique and Private Voice.  He was a pioneer teacher and director in the “Camp Broadway” and “Stages For Learning” programs and was the co-founder of “Curtain Up!” – an educational theatre workshop program.

An active performer and teacher, Sara achieved her national teaching certification in piano, accompanying, and chamber music and has toured eastern Europe performing with her piano trio, coaching, and giving master classes for international students of all levels. In addition, Sara served as music director for Prairie Fire Theatre in Bloomington, IL, working with a variety of repertoire from Gilbert and Sullivan to brand-new contemporary music theatre works and guiding the summer children’s opera tour. She also worked as keyboard programmer/keys 1 and 2/assistant music director for the Normal Parks and Recreation summer music theatre program, performing in The Secret Garden, Xanadu, Little Mermaid, among many others. She has also been assistant music director/rehearsal accompanist for music theatre and opera performances at Illinois State University, including Into the Woods, Evita, Candide, The Merry Widow, and a new Sondheim revue entitled Good Thing Going. Currently Sara is music director/director of choirs at East Rochester United Methodist Church and serves on the collaborative piano faculty at Nazareth College. She has worked closely with the dance and theatre departments at Nazareth, playing for a range of classes from ballet, modern, and music theatre dance to vocal techniques. She has also collaborated with dance instructor Paige Cummings to compose new music for department showcases, debuting two new pieces in the last year.

Brett was born in Kailua, Hawaii, the son of a state department diplomat.  As a result, Brett grew up overseas in Paris, Saudi Arabia, Berlin, Libya, Pakistan, Israel, Singapore and Washington DC – where he received his B.A. in Theatre from The American University.  Brett began his career as a dancer appearing on the National Tour of 42nd Street, the International Tour of Cole Porter’s Aladdin and the Broadway workshop of Fosse’s Redhead. His first job out of school was at the Merry Go Round Playhouse … the rest is history.  2017 marks Brett’s 25-year tenure at the organization. Brett’s work as director/choreographer spans two decades, with over 85 productions in the US and around the world.  For the Festival/MGR, he has directed and choreographed 34 productions including last year’s megahit, Tim Rice’s latest musical, From Here To Eternity (Pre-Broadway), the world premiere of the new Saturday Night Fever, the acclaimed The Light In The Piazza and this year’s upcoming production of the Tony Award winning, Parade.  Brett staged a new show for Cunard’s QE2 in London and South Africa and choreographed the First European Tour of Guys & Dolls. He worked with the Cole Porter and Gershwin estates to create new productions of Kiss Me Kate and On The Town for Inside Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.  He has judged competitions from Los Angeles to Miami, staged special events in Indonesia, Mexico and across the US with the likes of John Lithgow, Linda Eder, Barbara Mandrell, Dionne Warwick and Presidents Clinton and Bush.  Dedicated to the development of new musicals, Brett has developed many new works. Proud member of Actor’s Equity Association (AEA), The Dramatists Guild (DG) and The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).  Brett lives in New York City and Auburn, NY.

Program Director of Dance. She has performed nationally and internationally with the Garth Fagan Dance Company; Bill Evans Dance Company; FuturPointe Dance; Assemblage Dance; her own work as artistic director of Heather Roffe, Dance; and at festivals such as Jacob’s Pillow, the International Dance Festival, and the American Dance Guild Festival. Roffe’s choreography has been presented across the country, internationally, and has been commissioned by dance companies and college programs. Her choreography explores the human experience,  including relationships to each other, our world, and technology; solidarity vs. isolationism; and divisive memes such as classism, racism, and gender. Roffe collaborates through movement to reveal and dramatize the power of human gesture and of the body’s inherent ability to convey universal themes of love, loss, compassion, and fear. Roffe is an active scholar in the field of dance, presenting nationally and internationally on dance pedagogy, somatics, and dance and feminism.

Her website: heather-roffe.squarespace.com

Heather Acomb is a dance artist and educator who has performed and had her work shown in venues such as Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Core Project/Going Dutch, Rochester Fringe Festival, WAX Works, and Midwest RADFest. She has danced and toured nationally with the Bill Evans Dance Company and is a certified Evans teacher and is well versed in the Laban/Bartenieff framework.

She has been on the faculty at Nazareth since 2015, also teaches at The College at Brockport, and has held several part and full-time positions at colleges and universities in the region.

She is a hatha yoga instructor registered through Yoga Alliance, a Pilates mat instructor, and a certified holistic health practitioner, specializing in nutrition and natural healing. Heather is an advocate for organic farming and sustainable living, and has volunteered on organic farms locally and across the nation. At Naz, she teaches Modern and Contemporary Dance Techniques, Dance Performance Repertory, Dance Ensemble, Dance & Culture, Ballet Barre, and Pilates.

Allison Bohman is a choreographer, educator and dance artist based out of Rochester, NY.  She is currently on dance faculty at The Aquinas Institute, a co-educational, college-preparatory school.  She received her MFA in dance from The College at Brockport and is a certified New York State educator in grades 1-6, special education and dance K-12. She attended SUNY Geneseo for her undergraduate studies.  Allison has also been on faculty at The College at Brockport SUNY, Nazareth College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Colgate University and The American School in Switzerland (TASIS).  Her choreographic work has been featured in the Vision of Sound New Music and Dance Festival throughout New York State, the STEPS on Broadway Performance Lab in NYC and at the Eastman Kodak Theater in Rochester in collaboration with Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.  Recently, Allison Bohman was voted the winner of So You Think You Can Choreograph in Saratoga Springs, NY and is setting a new piece with Nacre Dance Company. In addition to pursuing choreographic opportunities with her dance company, Allison Bohman Dance, she has also served as the Artistic Director of Chamber Ballet Brockport and an administrative assistant for New York State Dance Education Association. New York State Initial Certification as a Teacher of Dance (Grades Pre-K-12). New York State Initial Certification in Childhood Education (Grades 1-6). New York State Initial Certification in Special Education 2.

Paige has performed and taught both nationally and internationally. She lived and worked in NYC for almost 2 decades and traveled throughout Europe teaching and performing. Paige has taught at Steps on Broadway and Dance New Amsterdam in NYC and has held a Faculty position at the Hudson Valley Conservatory of Fine Arts. She has been an Adjunct Professor at Alfred University and has taught at festivals including MAD (Movement and Dance) festival at Nazareth College and Inspire Dance Festival at the University of Rochester. Paige will be a guest artist at Emerson College for the 2017-2018 academic year. Paige is the Artistic Director of The Movement Warehouse/Valley Contemporary Dance Company, which earned an Orange County Arts grant in 2010 and 2014 for her ‘Women who Rock’ series based on the lives of Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday. Her choreography has been seen at The Bardavon Opera House, The Ulster County Performing Arts Center, The Brooklyn Lyceum, LaTea Theater, The New Rose Theatre, Nazareth Arts Center, and Merce Cunningham Studios. In addition to her performance and choreography experience, Paige is a licensed Creative Arts Therapist in the state of New York. She has been a member of the American Dance Therapy Association since 1998 and has been a Board-Certified Dance Movement Therapist since 2001. She has built Dance/Movement Therapy programs in the NYC Healthcare system where dance and movement are used in healing the mind and body.

Cheryl Johnson as performed off-Broadway, at international dance festivals, in music videos, TV specials, nightclubs, and touring dance companies. In Seattle, she was the dance consultant to the Jimi Hendrix Museum: Experience Music Project and an ambassador of rhythm tap dance hosting festivals, master classes, educational programs, and creating choreography for musical theater and the concert stage. In NYC, she was a member of Gail Conrad’s Tap Dance Theatre, Jerry Ames Tap Dance Company and performed as a pioneer dancer for the original creation of MTV. In Rochester she has enjoyed gigs with the likes of the Vision of Sound Concert Series, Bill Evans Dance Company, NYS Dance Force Duets Concerts, and the NYC New Mix Festival. Ms. Johnson is a dance educator at University of Rochester, College at Brockport, Nazareth College, and Hochstein School of Music & Dance. She has been awarded choreography grants for her Experience Music approach to Percussive Expressionism. Ms. Johnson has had the great privilege of honing her craft with tap masters such as Charles ‘Cholly’ Atkins, Brenda Bufalino, Gregory Hines, Arthur Duncan, Dianne Walker, Steve Condos and the Nicholas Brothers.

She has taught dance as an adjunct professor at SUNY Brockport, Orange Coast Community College, and Loyola Marymount University. While in Los Angeles, Michelle performed with Keith Johnson/Dancers and the LA Contemporary Dance Company. She was nominated for a Lester Horton Award for her performance with Keith Johnson in 2006. Other choreographers Michelle has worked for include Doug Varone in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Les Troyens, and David Parsons in the Times Square Millennium Celebration and here in Rochester with Kathy Diehl Dance and Heather Roffe. Michelle is the owner of Evolution Pilates Studio in Pittsford.

Mariko Yamada is a Rochester-based contemporary dance choreographer, teacher, and dance artist. Originally from Japan, Yamada grew up in a musical family and later discovered dance as a young adult. She relocated herself to pursue dance education in the US, studying at SUNY Potsdam for a B.A. and at The College at Brockport for an M.F.A. Currently she is serving as an adjunct lecturer at Nazareth College and The College at Brockport, sharing the joy of creative aspects of dance and possibilities of movement. In addition to her own dance works, she enjoys expanding her artistic horizon as she collaborates with artists from other disciplines. Yamada's works have been presented in various venues in Rochester, including Rochester Fringe Festival and area colleges, Baltimore, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Often minimalistic yet subtly dramatic, her unique artistic voice resonates through tangible richness within simplicity.

Native of Jinan, China. Upon graduation from Shandong University of Art, she was offered a role teaching acting and makeup. She was frequently invited by Shandong provincial TV stations to host a variety of TV shows and she  acted in several motion pictures and made-for-TV films. After earning her master’s degree in costume design in 1996, she became a faculty member and a costume designer at Nazareth College. She has facilitated Nazareth’s partnership with Finger Lake Musical Theatre Festival (formerly known as Merry Go Round Playhouse), doubled the enrollment of the last two classes, and doubled the audience for our productions. Many NYC-based practicing artists and agents come on campus to conduct master classes and workshops. She has designed costumes for more than 70 productions, and supervised student designers for more than 10 productions. She also has designed costumes for Rochester City Ballet’s original production of Blood Countess, and Nine Parts of Desire for Geva Theatre Center.

Education: B.A. in technical theater, Christopher Newport University

Bio: Technical director and production manager. She previously served as the master carpenter and as the assistant technical director at Nazareth, as assistant technical director at Merry-Go-Round Playhouse and Bristol Valley Theatre, as scene shop supervisor at SUNY Fredonia. She also worked at other theaters, including Mill Mountain Theatre and Hope Summer Repertory Theatre.

Education: B.F.A. in costume technology, Wright State University

Bio: Costume shop manager at Nazareth College, overseeing wardrobe and all construction aspects of the costumes for each theatre and dance production. This includes teaching students how to accomplish the construction of costumes and run the shows. She consistently researches and learns construction techniques to better serve the department and students. She has worked as a stitcher and first hand at Geva Theatre and as a draper for Rochester City Ballet and Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival. She has designed for Nazareth College, Garth Fagan Dance, Blackfriars Theatre, The Jewish Community Center, and Roberts Wesleyan Community Players. Shows include A few Good Men, Mary Poppins, West Side Story, Les Miserables, and Beauty and the Beast. At Nazareth, she helps with recruitment and the grading of lab students. Her work outside the department connects her to the local theatre community, perspective students, and guest artists. Recently, she led the costume shop’s community service project to sew dresses and shorts for orphans in Africa and Haiti.

Resident scenic designer at Nazareth College. Since coming to N.Y., his work has been seen at Nazareth, The JCC of Rochester, Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, Blackfriars Theatre and SUNY, and The College Of Brockport. In Minneapolis, Shannon designed for Theatre In The Round; Bloomington Civic Theatre; Miss Minnesota, America; and for the apprentice company at Minnesota Children's Theatre. He was also instructor of ballet/pointe, choreographer, and costume designer for The Monique Dance Companie, The Dance Conservatory of Southern Minnesota, and The North Dakota School of the Arts. His design work has also been seen on HGTV, The Discovery Channel, KARE 11 TV, and Good Housekeeping Magazine. His work as a scenic painter includes national tours of Bear In The Big Blue House, Muppet Babies, Sesame Street Live and a permanent Sesame Street installation in Japan through VEE Production Services. At Atomic Props And Effects, Shannon painted Time’s Square installations for Target Corp., Motorola, and Unibanco in Venezuela. While earning his master’s in scenic design at Minnesota State University, Mankato, he won the Barbizon Prize in Scenic Design through the KCACTF at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

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Emily Stork’s lighting designs for theatre, dance, opera, puppetry, and performance art have been seen worldwide — including festivals in Italy, France, Scotland, and Israel — and in the U.S. at places as diverse as Lincoln Center, PS 122, Dance Theatre Workshop, the Cherry Lane Theatre, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the National Museum of the American Indian, and on the side of a building in Rochester, N.Y. In 2003, she was the resident lighting designer for the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy where she had the pleasure of working with Maestro Gian Carlo Menotti on Wagner’s Lohengrin. Among favorite collaborations: Split Britches on Peggy Shaw’s To My Chagrin, Pig Iron Theater Company’s James Joyce is Dead and So is Paris, Nora Jones’ album release party for “Little Broken Hearts” at the Box in NYC and the world premiere of Greg Kotis’ All Your Questions Answered, directed by Sean Daniels at Geva Theatre Center. She was the lighting director at The Juilliard School for 12 years, where she designed countless shows and special events including the Leading Ladies Gala starring Audra McDonald and Barbara Cook and the Tempest Benefit reading with Sir Derek Jacoby. Stork is  the festival lighting designer for the Rochester Fringe Festival, where her designs included the aerialist dance group, Bandaloop, the Cirque du Fringe in the Magic Crystal Spiegeltent, and the outdoor informal installation at the Spiegel Garden. Examples of her work:  www.emilystorkdesign.com.