Young Performer's Community Theater of Mason
Young Performer's Community Theater of Mason
Production Team
We were very fortunate to have the following talented people volunteer their efforts for our Fall 2009 production, Disney's High School Musical. By clicking on one of the following names, you will be directed further down the page for more information on that individual.
Executive Producer - Laura Peebles
Laura has a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Illinois and is the mom of Ally and Ian. She was the Producer for Acting Up’s Annie Jr., Once on This Island; Associate Producer for Honk! Jr. and The Wizard of Oz; and Co-Producer for Footloose the Musical, Grease and Alice in Wonderland. Laura has won 3 Orchid awards for producing in 2007 and 2008. She has always had a love of musical theater and thinks that working with such talented kids is the coolest.
Director / Stage Producer & Manager - Becca Johnson
Becca was the director of Acting Up’s fall musical spectacular, Thoroughly Modern Millie for which she won an Orchid Award. Becca has 12 years experience directing and producing original large scale musicals for Faith Church, in Milford, Ohio. She has been a part of Acting Up since our first production, volunteering as Assistant Director & Stage Manager for Footloose; and Stage Manager for each of Disney's Alice in Wonderland Jr. (for which she one an Orchid Award for Excellence in Stage Management), Once on this Island, Honk! Jr., and The Wizard of Oz. She was the Assistant Director for last season's Grease. Becca teaches drama and art at a local home school co-op, and has assisted with several children’s musicals at Faith church. Becca is the proud home school mother of four beautiful kids, and wife to her high school sweetheart Jeff. A BA in Sociology from UC, is of no help in dealing with the typical 60 member cast of 5-18 year olds, but with the incredible kids that are a part of the Acting Up family, the job is made a joy.
Acting Coaches -
Brahm Corstanje. Brahm was avidly involved in acting during high school. As an adult he has been involved in several local community theater productions, including acting roles in Lebanon Theatre Company's Taking Steps, Little Mary Sunshine (for which he won an Orchid Award for Excellence in Acting in a Musical), See How They Run, The Octette Bridge Club, A Thousand Clowns (for which he was nominated an Orchid Award for Excellence in Acting), and their yearly Gala Fundraiser. He has directed Footloose the Musical and Grease for Acting Up and Charlotte's Web for the Children's Theatre of Mason. Brahm provided the magic special effects with Scott Meyer for Acting Up's Once on this Island, for which they won an Orchid Award; and Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Brahm was responsible for Papa Ge's nightmarish make-up in Once on this Island, for which he received an OCTA Fest Award for Outstanding in Make-up; and created the terrifying make-up for the Wicked Witch in Acting Up's production of The Wizard of Oz. Brahm is also the website designer and webmaster for our website as well as for the Lebanon Theatre Company (LTCPlays.com), for which he recently won three OCTA Awards: Outstanding Website Functionality, Excellence in Website Content and Excellence in Website Design. He also has an ongoing spooky fundraiser project for Acting Up. Brahm can be seen weekdays performing as a transactions attorney at The Procter & Gamble Company.
Brent Peebles. Brent is a past-President of Acting Up as well as being a busy director and actor. He acted in three productions with the Lebanon Theatre Company in the past year including, Taking Steps, Putting It Together (for which he won an Orchid Award for Excellence in Vocals) and Most Happy Fella (Chef Giuseppe). Brent received Orchid Nominations for Excellence in Direction for Acting Up's Disney's Alice and Wonderland Jr., and Honk, Jr.. Brent has also appeared in the Loveland Stage Company’s Annie Get Your Gun (Pawnee Bill); in Mason Community Players' Scrooge the Musical (as "Scrooge"), and in Cole; and in Children’s Theatre of Mason’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (as "Willy Wonka"). During the theater “off hours,” Brent acts as a patent attorney for The Procter & Gamble Company.
Choreographer - Megan Kelley
Megan Kelley is a senior at Mason High School where she is captain of the Varsity Dance Team. She has been dancing for the past 11 years in ballet, tap, jazz, musical theater, hip-hop, and modern. This Fall '08 will begin her 7th year as a member of a competition team at Star Performance Centre. Her tap/musical theater solo recently received “Grand Champion” at the Dance USA Competition and qualified for a place on Team USA for the World Competition in Italy. When she’s not dancing, she teaches dance classes to children ages 3-11. She has been involved in Acting Up productions since our inception, including: as a Co-Choreographer for Footloose and Thoroughly Modern Millie (for which she received an Orchid Award for Excellence in Choreography), “Cha Cha” in Grease, Assistant Choreographer in Acting Up’s Once on this Island, and an Ensemble member in The Wizard of Oz.
Vocal Director - Joey Schnell
[Please check back for bio.]
Vocal Coach - Emily Hessling
Emily Hessling is a native of Toledo, OH who relocated to Cincinnati in the summer of 2005 to earn a Masters in Accounting at the University of Cincinnati. Since moving, she has been involved with several community theater organizations including the East Side Players' productions of Honk!, Oklahoma! (as "Laurey"), Anything Goes (as "Bonnie"), and Beauty and the Beast (as "Babette") and the Mason Community Players (where she won an Orchid Award for Vocal Performance in Scrooge the Musical as the "Ghost of Christmas Past"). This is her first production with Acting Up and she is enjoying getting to know and work with new people. She is currently a tax accountant at Barnes Dennig and Co., Ltd. where she does things that are completely unrelated to musical theater, although she may occasionally break into song at her desk.
Costume Designer - Becky Corstanje
Becky is an RN and has an MS in Administration. Becky is a past-President of Acting Up, and has produced Acting Up's Honk! Jr. and The Wizard of Oz; and co-producer for Annie Jr., Footloose the Musical, Grease and Alice in Wonderland. She was also responsible for creating (and sewing many of) the original costume designs for Acting Up's Once On This Island, for which she received an OCTA Fest Regional Award and was nominated for an Orchid Award. In the past, Becky has been responsible for managing medical departments and multi-million dollar budgets. Becky has been a supporter of community theater for years. She has been a make-up technician for several Children's Theater of Mason productions. Becky has won a variety of local theater awards, including: Orchid Excellence in Make-Up and Hair for the Lebanon Theatre Company's production of The Octette Bridge Club (2005); Orchid Excellence in Producing for Acting Up's Disney's Alice in Wonderland Jr. (2007), Grease (2006), Honk! Jr. (2006), Excellence in Producing for Acting Up's Grease (2006); OCTA Fest Outstanding in Make-Up and an OCTA Fest Outstanding in Costuming, both for Acting Up's Once On This Island (2007).
Sound Engineer - Scott Meyer
Now in his fourth Acting Up production, Scott Meyer continues to try and get it right. Borrowing from his experience in radio and television production, Scott remains optimistic that the perfect sound is out there. When he’s not working on Acting Up productions, Scott is an actively performing magician in the Greater Cincinnati area and enjoys spending time with his family. In his spare time, Scott enjoys working with his Iditarod fantasy league and competitive break dancing. Unless someone more qualified comes along, Scott will continue to be an active part of Acting Up.
Parent Liaison - Kelly Carstens
Kelly spent 13 years in the field of education and school counseling. She obtained her M.Ed in Counseling in 1996. After relocating from Cleveland to Cincinnati in 2003 with her husband, Scott and children, Kennedy and Carter, she chose the path of 'stay-home mommy'. Although this has been a challenging career choice on given days, it has proven to be most rewarding on other days. Kelly enjoys all of the volunteer opportunities in her children's schools, their church, outside activities and obviously all that she can do to assist the wonderful productions of Acting Up. In her spare time you may even catch Kelly out running through Mason and training for an upcoming marathon. As a former advocate for children and parents in the school setting she looks forward to serving as a parent liaison in this production.
Parent Liaison - Christine Smith
Christine has always aspired to become involved in the fine arts as an adult and has been especially fortunate to have connected with Acting Up immediately upon moving to Mason, OH from Plymouth, MI when daughter Brianna was cast in Acting Up's Fall '08 production of Footloose the Musical. Christine graduated from Michigan State University and has education background in both Merchandise Management and Fashion Design. With over 20 years experience as the owner of a staffing company in Michigan, Christine is a "people person" and enjoys being one of the 2 person Parent Liason team for Acting Up's High School Musical and and Acting Up's Spring '09 production of Annie Jr. Along with her "partner-in-crime" Kelly Carstens, (they are affectionately referred to as "Lucy and Ethel") this duo loves interacting with the parents, actors and the Production Team, and doing whatever they can to meet the goals of each with as much fun as possible. Christine, with Ken her husband of 10 years, are blessed with 6 children: Cody 16, Brianna 9, Aaliyah 8 (in Sept), Chloe 3, Christian 3 and Casey 2 yrs old, two of which attend Mars Hill Academy, a Classical Christian School located in Mason, OH.
Last updated Sat, November 28, 2009 3:25 PM
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