Directing & Stage Management Workshops Graduate!

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Directing & Stage Management Workshops Graduate!

06/11/2023

Raleigh Little Theatre is excited to announce the Graduates of our 2023 New Leaders Program. This 6-week workshop series offered master classes in Directing & Stage Management and centers our BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community members. Congrats Grads!

Lagan McGinnis (Stage Management)
Lagan is a senior at NC State, and has loved working backstage all four years. They are grateful to RLT for this opportunity and excited to branch out into other areas of theater.

Tamara Peterson (Directing & Stage Management)
Tamara Peterson is an Executive Assistant at The Safe Sister’s Circle, a nonprofit that provides free services to Black women survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault. In addition to working in the nonprofit sector, she has a passion for art of every form, especially everything about the stage and screen. She has her own registered nonprofit, The Art Divide, which aims to radicalize the cultural capital of art by bringing marginalized artists into canon through collective innovation and access. Tamara holds a BA in Women and Gender Studies from North Carolina State University.

Michael Lamont (Directing)
Michael’s expressions of identity and interconnectedness in his art stems from both his identity as a queer man and the mixing of his mother’s Paraguayan culture and his father’s Scottish heritage. Mythology, magic, and the surreal have always been close to his heart.

Roni Nicole (Directing & Stage Management)
Roni Nicole is a professional wrestler, author, activist, model, actress, dancer and choreographer. Her passion for the arts began at a very early age and has since blossomed into a successful and fulfilling international entertainment career. Born in Houston, Texas, Roni refers to herself as ‘Houston born but Carolina bred’ and her love for the South is only matched by her endeavors to improve its conditions through her arts, poetry, prose, and activism. Roni is a Senior at East Carolina University where she is receiving her second undergraduate degree in University Studies with a thematic core of Consumer Behavior and Event Services.

Michelle Corbitt (Directing)
Michelle has experience with improvisation, acting, playwriting, and directing short plays. She is excited to have the opportunity to learn more about the directing process so she can bring a full length piece to life. As a clinical social worker, she sees the importance and value in every person’s story and this workshop will assist her in giving a voice to those stories.

Emily Steinhoff James (Directing & Stage Management)
Emily Steinhoff James is an Army veteran, attorney, and registered nurse. She is a graduate of Methodist University, UNC Law, and Duke School of Nursing. She is passionate about the arts and is a writer, actor, and singer. She loves performing but also enjoys other roles. She has been an assistant stage manager for Three Little Birds at RLT and the African American Cultural Festival. She likes fundraising and was crowned RLT Diva 2020. She is originally from South Dakota and currently resides in Garner with her amazing husband, Chris, beautiful son Miles, and sweet dachshund, Lily. Emily loves to travel and has been all over the world. She is thrilled to have participated in RLT’s Directing and Stage Management Workshops and is grateful to RLT for this amazing opportunity.

Bri Flynn (Stage Management)
Bri is an aspiring designer based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a graduate of Wake Technical Community College with an Associate’s in Applied Science in Advertising and Graphic Design. She is also graduated from The Savannah College of Art and Design with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Production Design, with a Set and Lighting concentration.

Her background is in Film and Theater. When she attended SCAD, she worked on school theater productions as both a stage manager and set builder. She also was involved in a plethora of short and feature films as a production designer, set decorator, and property master.

Courtney Hamilton (Stage Management)
In her day job, Courtney is an office manager. She also love puzzles – solving problems and seeing how something complex comes together. Most importantly, she enjoys plays and stage performances of all types. This opportunity with RLT combines elements of all of the above! She’s excited to be a part of this workshop cohort.

Wren Waldrup (Stage Management)
Wren Waldrup, a junior in high school has performed in 10 productions at her school, written sound cues for 3 class productions, is a part of the theatre leadership team, and is also the International Thespian society vice president for her troupe. She has plans of becoming a theatre teacher so she can share her passion with others!

Nicky Taylor (Directing)
Nicky is an actor, writer, aspiring director, and parent of the two stinkiest cats in the entire Triangle: Teacup and Coffee. While earning his BA in Theatre from UNCW, he gained experience in costuming, Shakespeare and Autism, devising, and directing as well. Nicky has a passion for weird and absurd types of theatre and gravitates towards works that break convention and explore the darker parts of the human experience. Due to his acting background, Nicky has a love for script analysis, scene work, and collaborating alongside other theatre artists to bring stories to life.

Sydney Kain (Stage Management)
Sydney Kain is a North Carolina native and has mostly moved through the theatre world as an actor, their most recent credit as Schwartzy in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Raleigh Little Theatre. Stage management has always piqued their interest and they recently had the opportunity to be an ASM for Mlima’s Tale at Burning Coal. They are excited to continue to grow in their knowledge and experience in stage management.

Kia Dunn (Stage Management)
Kia is from a small town called LaGrange, NC. She was introduced to the theatre world beginning with small skits at her church, but truly fell in love in high school, being part of drama club. She graduated in 2020 with a B.M. in Musical Theatre. However, she realized that her passion was to be consistently in the business, whether that meant on the stage or behind the scenes. She is excited to learn everything there is to know about stage management and continue her wishes of helping “the show go on”!!

Carol Machuca (Directing & Stage Management)
Carol has always enjoyed theatre and other stage performances as a way to help bring balance from her day job as an engineer. She has had experience in improvisation and more recently as an AD and actor. She is grateful for this opportunity at RLT as she continues to explore more active roles in bringing the stories she loves to life. Carol is originally from Puerto Rico.

Bryce Nasir Preston (Directing)
Bryce Nasir Preston is a performer, producer, and community activist from Greensboro, North Carolina. After finding his passion for the arts at an early age, creating new ideas or characters with anything he could find around the house, Bryce soon graduated to stage performance. From expressing his personal stories in his stand-up comedy, touring with several improv organizations, to staring as Benny in RLT’s In The Heights, Bryce love for the arts knows no bounds.

Valentina Garcia (Directing & Stage Management)
Valentina Garcia is a junior in high school. Since she was a little girl, she’s loved writing, film, and acting. She practices her passions through clubs, projects, and classes but always seeks more opportunities to broaden her knowledge on these subjects. In the future, she hopes to be a film screenwriter and director. Her favorite movies, to name a few, are Moonlight, Pride and Prejudice, Waves, and Midsommar. Finally, her main goal as an artist is to make people feel seen through characters, especially if they don’t feel seen in their every day life.

Skye Pham (Directing)