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Music Theater Summer Workshop Presenters:

Craig Carnelia has been teaching acting classes for musical theater in New York for eighteen years, drawing his students primarily from the Broadway community for his twenty hours of classroom work each week. He travels extensively to universities around the country to teach master classes and enjoys long, ongoing relationships with CCM and Northwestern.

As a songwriter in the theater, he has had four shows produced on Broadway. Working with composer Marvin Hamlisch, he wrote lyrics for Sweet Smell of Success and Imaginary Friends. Hamlisch and Carnelia received Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations for their score for Sweet Smell of Success and Carnelia received a Drama Desk nomination for his lyrics for Imaginary Friends. As both composer and lyricist, Craig wrote the score for Is There Life After High School? and contributed four songs to Studs Terkel's Working, for which he received his first Tony nomination.

Off-Broadway, he wrote the music and lyrics for Three Postcards at Playwrights Horizons. Three Postcards, written with playwright Craig Lucas, was named one of the year's Ten Best in Time magazine and is included in the Burns-Mantle anthology Best Plays of 1986-1987 as Best Musical of the Season. Regional premieres include the new musical Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief at Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre and a new Studs Terkel musical at Northlight Theatre in Chicago, The Good War, both written with playwright-director David H. Bell.

Craig Carnelia has won a number of major songwriting awards, including the Johnny Mercer Award, the first annual Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Award and the prestigious Kleban Award for distinguished lyric writing. Recent highlights include the publication of an "Expanded Edition" of Craig Carnelia Songbook from Hal Leonard, the premiere of a new compilation of the composer's work, Life On Earth, at the Laurie Beechman Theater, a beautiful recording of Flight on Sutton Foster's debut CD Wish, and marriage to longtime partner, Lisa Brescia. Craig is a member of the Dramatists Guild and has served on the Guild's council for the past fifteen years.

Mary Anna Dennard, a veteran of the entertainment industry, is the author of the book, I GOT IN! The Ultimate College Audition Guide For Acting And Musical Theatre. She is also a special contributor to the New York Times Theatre Section ArtsBeat, and Education Section The Choice. Mary Anna received her training at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

In 1980, she began working as a casting director and acting coach in Los Angeles. Her fifteen years of casting credits have garnered Clios, Emmys, Academy Awards, and a Peabody Award. After retiring from casting, she was hired by the Kim Dawson Agency in Dallas as Director of Talent Development. There, she counseled some of the nation's highest paid actors and models and is proud to have founded their first Spanish-language talent division.

Since 2000, she has been a college audition coach for programs in acting and musical theatre and has been dubbed "The Princeton Review For Theatre Auditions." As a nationally recognized expert in her field, Mary Anna has coached hundreds of students from all over the country who have been accepted into the most prestigious college training programs in the US and Europe. Her former students have gone on to have successful careers after college in the recording industry, on television, in motion pictures, and on Broadway.

Terence Goodman has been a professional actor, director, and writer for more than forty years. He made his Broadway debut in the original production of Jesus Christ Superstar, went on to appear with Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston in the first revival of Damn Yankees, and played Capt. Smith in Titanic.

He has directed and cast over fifty plays and musicals and is proud of the fact that he has never missed over 2,000 performances on stage. He has appeared regionally at such esteemed theaters as Goodspeed Musicals, The Denver Center, The Indiana Repertory Theater, and The Pioneer Theater Company. Terence has been honored to work with, and learn from, such directors as Hal Prince, Tom O'Horgan, and Bob Fosse. Most recently, he was the Artistic Director of The Egyptian Professional Theater Company in Park City, Utah. He has taught acting, directing, voice, and musical theater at Iowa State University, Utah State University, and University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

His film and television career began co-starring in the highly successful film, Ode to Billy Joe, in 1976 and went on to appear in over ten more films and 41 television shows (from Laverne and Shirley, Three's Company, and Disney's Minutemen). He has appeared in thirty national commercials and has four optioned written works, from television pilots to the full-length screen play, The Times of Danny Bailey, with Glenn Ford, James Earl Jones, and Lee Marvin. He has a Masters Degree in Directing from Utah State University and has been a member of both SAG and Actors Equity since 1972. He was honored last year to be a panelist at the NATS National Conference in Salt Lake City.

Catherine H. McNeela is Coordinator of the Music Theatre Program at Elon University, where she teaches voice and music theatre performance and directs very large musicals. For twelve years, she served as Chair of the Department of Performing Arts, where she orchestrated the creation of the Music Theatre Program. Previously, Catherine taught voice and music theatre at Allegheny College, Illinois Wesleyan University, and University of Arkansas.

As an actor, Catherine is a member of Actors Equity Association, and has performed professionally throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe in more than 100 plays, musicals, and operas. Her favorite role has been playing Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's Master Class. As a singer, she has always been very interested in Contemporary Music, performing Crumb's Ancient Voice of Children, Berio's Recital 1 for Cathy, and recording Schoenberg's Pierott Lunaire for PBS.

Catherine holds degrees from College of Wooster and University of Michigan, and was a charter member of the Music Theatre Program at The School of Fine Arts in Banff, Canada. She loves to teach, and instills in her students a love for the arts and respect for themselves. Her students are working on Broadway, in national tours, and in some of the finest regional houses in the country. Catherine is a proud recipient of the Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching and the William S. Long Endowed Professorship.

Tracey Moore's book, Acting the Song: Performance Skills for the Musical Theatre, was published by Allworth and is available on Amazon. Articles and essays she has written have appeared in New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education, the international journal, Studies in Music Theatre, Dramatics magazine, Southern Theatre magazine, and Teaching Theatre Journal.

Her performing career includes two national Broadway tours of Camelot with Richard Harris and the role of Emma Goldman in Ragtime. She has appeared Off-Broadway in Señor Discretion by Frank Loesser, I Will Come Back (with music by Timothy Gray), and in the title role in Blitzstein's Regina at the York. Other performances include a world premiere at Metropolitan Opera, a U.S. premiere at New Jersey State Opera, and leading roles at major regional theatres including Connecticut's Candlewood Playhouse, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Hilton Head Playhouse, Mountain Playhouse in Pennsylvania, Gablestage in Miami, St. Louis MUNY, and North Shore Music Theatre in Massachusetts.

Tracey has worked with the late Richard Harris and Rue McClanahan, and with Lainie Kazan, Jewel, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, David Lindsay-Abaire, Robert Cuccioli, Sylvia McNair, Nova Thomas, Peter Volpe, Tim Noble, Ted Sperling, Jeffrey Stock, Victoria Clark, Lynn Ahrens, Mike Stoller, Sheila and Heather MacRae, Larry Storch, and many others. Syesha Mercado, a third-place American Idol winner, currently touring in Dreamgirls, studied voice and acting with Tracey. Other students have appeared as featured characters on television (Middlemen, Army Wives, Parks and Recreation, and White Collar), at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Fest, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Fringe Festivals, and in independent and feature films. Ms. Moore earned her M.F.A. degree from Brooklyn College, an M.A. from Southern Illinois University, and a B.M. in Voice from Indiana University. She is a member of the Actors' Equity Association.

Leda Scearce obtained her Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Boston University, where she completed an internship in voice disorders and voice rehabilitation for the performing voice at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. She is currently Performing Voice Specialist and Director of Performing Voice Programs and Development at the Duke Voice Care Center, where she provides rehabilitation therapy to singers, actors, and other vocal performers with voice injuries. Ms. Scearce is a frequent speaker on the topic of the singing voice at national and international voice conferences, including American Academy of Otolaryngology, Voice Foundation, National Association of Teachers of Singing, International Conference on the Physiology and Acoustics of Singing, and McIver Lecture in Vocal Pedagogy. She is a member of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Voice Foundation, and National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Ms. Scearce has performed as a soprano in opera roles with National Opera Company, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Long Leaf Opera Festival, Triangle Opera, Ohio Light Opera Company, and Whitewater Opera Company, and has appeared as concert soloist with orchestras including the North Carolina, Toledo, and Honolulu Symphonies. An active proponent of new music, Ms. Scearce has given world premiere performances of works written for her with the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Nashville, Mallarme Chamber Players, American Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Hawaii. A winner of the Birmingham Opera Vocal Competition, Ms. Scearce has also been a Regional Finalist in Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Scearce is a graduate of Indiana University with both bachelors and masters degrees in vocal performance. A voice teacher for over twenty years, Ms. Scearce has served on the artist faculties of Bowling Green State University, Meredith College, Brigham Young University of Hawaii, and University of Southern Maine. She currently holds an appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music in the Duke University Department of Music, where she acts as consultant in vocal health and wellness.

Ann Evans Zavada has been a vocal instructor, performer, and theatre arts educator in the Seattle area since 1988, and has an active private voice studio. She holds membership in AEA, Actor's Equity Association, and National Association of Teachers of Singing. Ms. Zavada's work as an instructor includes public/private schools in Colorado, New York, California, and Washington, and performing arts programs such as Washington Academy of Performing Arts, Village Theatre Kidstage, Seattle Playhouse, Youth Theatre Northwest, Seattle Children's Theatre, West Seattle Theatre Arts, and Tacoma Actors Guild. She developed the curriculum for, and was the acting chair of, the Musical Theatre Department at Washington Academy of Performing Arts from its inception to 1998.

Ms. Zavada's studio is focused on Broadway-style singing. Her students range from high school performers to Broadway actors, with students playing roles on Broadway in Spring Awakening, Wicked, All Shook Up, 42nd Street, The Pirate Queen, Aida, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Xanadu, and White Christmas, as well as in national tours of Annie, Cats, The King & I, My Fair Lady, Mamma Mia, Wicked, and Jersey Boys. Studio alumni have gone on to study at top theatre programs around the country. In addition to teaching, Ms. Zavada continues to perform as an actor/singer/dancer. From summer stock to Off-Broadway, some of her favorite roles include Anna in The King & I, Mona in Dames at Sea, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Kate in Taming of the Shrew, and Cinderella in The Cinderella Opera. She has recorded several albums, including Chamber Music, and one with her son, Crossword. Ms. Zavada holds a BA in Music and a BFA in Theatre from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. Prior to completing graduate work at Circle in the Square Professional Actor Training Program in NYC, she studied at the National Theatre Institute at the O'Neill Theatre Center, University of Colorado, and Connecticut College.