Stephanie LaVardera (Teaching Artist) (she/her) is an NYC-based actor and teaching artist who started teaching the Shakes Pre-K program in 2018. Stephanie is also currently on the faculty of the Waterwell Drama program at the Professional Performing Arts school, where she teaches acting and voice. She has also taught with Everyman Theatre, Maryland Shakespeare Company, Northern Stage Company, and Imagination Stage. She is a Resident Acting Company member of Hamlet Isn’t Dead, and proud AEA member. BFA: NYU/Tisch, MFA: the Academy for Classical Acting at the George Washington University/Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Gabriel Ethridge (Teaching Artist) (they/she) is originally from Dallas, TX, and uses that southwest magic to brew up welcoming heartfelt art that is accessible, truthful, and aims to heal and grow our humanity, curiosity, and community. Grad of Circle in the Square, RAC Member of Hamlet Isn’t Dead.
David Andrew Laws (Acting Program Director)’s educational practices have been implemented from New York to Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Bulgaria, and beyond. Highlights of his career include arts & music education with the Goddard School and arts training with Born Dancing, an NYC non-profit that offers programming for underserved students with disabilities and high-needs students. Whether teaching 2-year-old's, adults, or anyone in between, David's personal pedagogy is all about specificity and individual need.
James Rightmyer Jr. (Founding Program Director) is a graduate of the Liverpool Institute of the Performing Arts. He has experience teaching and performing for all ages, and is delighted to evangelize his passion for Shakespeare to anyone who will listen to him.
Elizabeth Campbell Rightmyer, Ed.D. (Education/Research Consultant) enjoys the fresh thinking of young children and has taught, directed, researched, and counseled them and their caregivers for over 40 years. She believes that children learn what they live, and advocates for wholesome, intriguing, and poetic curriculum and instruction.
Shaina Morgan (Education Consultant) is a graduate of the Early Childhood Education/Early Childhood Special Education program at the University of Delaware. She specializes in Preschool aged child development, where it is her firm belief that exposure to the arts is critical to healthy growth.