Conservatory Teaching Artists
Hisa Takakuwa
Conservatory and Educational Programs Director
Takakuwa is a classically trained actor, director and educator. She has worked at many theatrical institutions around the country including the Sundance Children’s Theatre, The Music Center on Tour and the Indiana Repertory Theatre. At SCR, she appeared in The Man Who Came to Dinner and in 14 seasons of A Christmas Carol and Education Touring Productions. She has directed many past Players* productions including Metamorphoses, Hard Times, Cinderella, Mansfield Park, two productions of Into the Woods, Snow Angel, Seussical, Annie, Bliss, Peter Pan, David Copperfield and Mary Poppins. While a longtime resident artist at the classical repertory company A Noise Within, she appeared in many productions including The Triumph of Love, The Comedy of Errors, The Misanthrope, Another Part of the Forest, The Seagull and Our Town. She directed Henry V, Twelfth Night and Shooting Stars at the Actors Co-op theatre in Hollywood. She holds a BA from Smith College and an MFA in acting from the California Institute of the Arts. She received an honorable mention by the Tony Award's Excellence in Theatre Education Awards and the California Educational Theatre Association's Professional Artist Award in 2019.
Joe Alanes
Alanes has been involved in South Coast Repertory for 15 years as instructor in the Kids and Teen Programs; director of the Junior Players (The Jungle Book, Riding the Wind: Story Plays from Old China and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court); and as an actor (Educational Touring Shows My Mom’s Dad, Badwater Blues and Power Play and Theatre for Young Audiences production of The Emperor’s New Clothes). He currently is director of theatre arts at Mater Dei High School, where he has been involved in productions, competitions and festivals and directed plays including Little Shop of Horrors and All Shook Up. He is co-artistic director of Modjeska Playhouse in Lake Forest, where he has directed The 39 Steps, First Night, The Odd Couple, and the young audiences shows Blue the Book-Loving Buccaneer and The Frog Prince. Alanes directed and acted in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged along with his fellow co-artistic directors, Josh Stecker and Chris Sullivan. Previously, he was a director and program supervisor for Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre, where he managed and directed the Drummin’ Up Peace program and the middle school program, Someone Like Me, among others. Alanes has toured the country with children’s theatre as an actor with Magic School Bus Live and as a stage manager and company manager for Wimzie’s House Live. He has appeared in productions from San Diego to New York City, with his favorite role being Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. He is a member of the California Educational Theatre Association and a graduate of UCLA with a BA in theatre.
Donald Amerson
Amerson has an MFA in Drama and Theatre for Young Audiences from Eastern Michigan University. His career has spanned Los Angeles to New York where he began his career as an actor, writer and director. Currently he teaches at South Coast Repertory and Orange County School of the Arts. At OCSA, he leads Thespian Troupes 6826/88726 (the theatre honor society) and teaches subjects including acting, improvisation and experimental theatre. In addition, to television appearances he is also proud of having a play produced in London, creating theatre curricula for several school and private coaching many successful students.
Matthew Arkin
Arkin's Broadway credits include the revival of Neil Simon's;The Sunshine Boys with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, as well as Mr. Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor (also national tour). He has numerous Off-Broadway and regional credits including his Drama Desk-nominated performance as Gabe in Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner with Friends, and he received acclaim for his portrayal of the 600-pound Charlie in the West Coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale, one of his many appearances at SCR. Films include indies Second Best, and Raising Flagg, as well as Death to Smoochy, Liar, Liar, North, and An Unmarried Woman. Television appearances include recurring roles on "Rescue Me," "100 Centre Street," "Third Watch" and "All My Children," and guest spots on "Aquarius," "NCIS," and "Switched at Birth," among many others. He is an adjunct professor at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University, has taught Technique and Scene Study at New York's world-renowned HB Studio, and now teaches privately in Los Angeles. He studied technique, scene study and Shakespeare with Uta Hagen, and studied as well with Austin Pendleton and Sheldon Patinkin.
Greg Atkins
Atkins is an award-winning writer/director of theater and special events. He has worked with for The Walt Disney Company, the Olympics, Blizzard Entertainment, Elton John AIDS Foundation, SenovvA and other major entertainment companies. As an executive coach, he prepares Fortune 500 executives to speak before live audiences and on video. As the president of InterActors, he travels with an international team of improv actors to exotic locals such as Prague, Singapore, Rome, New Delhi and Irvine. The author of the book, IMPROV! A Handbook for the Actor, he was a creative consultant on the hit ABC primetime show, "Whose Line is it Anyway?," and has published multiple plays. His most current play is 9/10th, an evening of 10-minute plays. Atkins began his theatrical career at South Coast Repertory as an actor/writer/director. He is proud to be an SCR Theatre Conservatory teaching artist.
Diana Burbano
Burbano is a Colombian immigrant, a playwright, an Equity actor and a teaching artist at South Coast Repertory (SCR). Her written work include Policarpa (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Brown Swan Lab, Latinx Play Project 2017); Fabulous Monsters (San Diego Repertory Theatre Latinx Festival); Picture me Rollin’ (35th annual William Inge Festival); Silueta (English and Spanish about Cuban artist Ana Mendieta, with Tom and Chris Shelton); Caliban’s Island (winner, 2017 Headwaters New Play Festival at Creede Repertory Theatre); and Enemy|Flint (Rio Hondo 2018 , both published by YouthPLAYS). Libertadoras, Vamping and Linda were written for the 365 Women a Year Project and have been performed around the world, with Linda featured in more that 20 festivals over the last year, including Center Theatre Group’s community library series. Her short plays Rounds Per Second and The Ring are featured in #CodeRed Playwrights Say #NeverAgain to School Shootings. She has written material for Center Theatre Group’s Chisme y Queso series and for Rogue Artists Plummer Park project. She has been a working actor for nearly three decades. She originated the roles of Ama de Casa in the Spanish version of Menopause the Musical, Thumb in Imagine, and Holo-1 in The Labors of Hercules. She played Ana Guerrero in Jose Cruz Gonzales' Long Road Today/El Largo Camino de Hoy Dialogue/Dialogos project at SCR. Her television credits include "The People v. OJ Simpson," "Cold Case" and "Betas." She played punk Praetorian guard Viv in the cult movie musical, The Isle of Lesbos. She manages Sleep Till Noon Productions and The Gourmet Detective. Burbano is one of the original members of the writers circle for Latino Theatre Association/Los Angeles. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild and The Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights.
Hannah Butson
Butson is a Canadian theatre-maker, performer and teaching artist committed to human connection and the investigation of our world through the performing arts. Her training and performance experience in physical theatre includes mask, clown, acrobatics, Commedia dell'Arte, improv, puppetry, Tragedy, voice, and more. She is curious about the ways in which bodies (both as uniquely capable individuals and together as an ensemble) can be powerful vessels for storytelling. Hannah received an MFA in Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in December, 2020, where she was awarded a Calgary Animated Objects Society Scholarship. She has over 13 years experience working with young people around the world; and has produced, directed, toured and performed in Canada and the United States. Hannah is absolutely thrilled to be joining the SCR faculty this fall! Website: https://www.hannahbutson.com/
Estela Garcia
Garcia is a multi-disciplinary artist who specializes in physical performance styles such as mask, movement and puppetry, whether she is acting, writing and/or directing. She received her BA from UCLA in Chicana/o studies and her MFA for ensemble-based physical theatre from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She also has studied mask, movement and sculpture in Mexico with El Laboratorio de las Mascaras. She has collaborated with Rogue Artists Ensemble on many of its award-winning shows as creator, act or, assistant director, movement coach and teacher including Hyperbole: Origins, which was nominated for Production of the Year by the LA Weekly Awards. She has been a teaching artist for South Coast Repertory's Theatre Conservatory since 2013 and worked on SCR's Dialogue/Diálogos project. She currently teaches for VoxBox Arts Collective’s Spanish Immersion Arts program, Center Theatre Group and Pasadena Playhouse. She has been a guest teacher at UCI, Cal State LA, Cal State Northridge, Cal State San Bernardino, Chapman University and the University of LaVerne; she was a lead teaching artist for Cirque at the Playhouse, a circus arts program for kids and adults at The Pasadena Playhouse. Garcia is in development for her play Remedios Varo: La Alquimista, which she wrote as part of LA’s Latino Theatre Alliance’s eight-month Writers Circle that had a reading at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. She is the community liaison for the “Community as Creators” program hosted by Center Theatre Group in collaboration with El Teatro Campesino, working with the community of Boyle Heights.
Julieta Garza
Garza is an actor, creator, and educator who is passionate about using theatre as a tool for connection, healing, and transformation. Her experience includes teaching, directing, and performing with children of all ages in schools and theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Northern California. She received an MFA in Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre from Dell’ Arte School of Physical Theatre in June 2021, and a Bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts and a teaching credential from CSU Dominguez Hills. Her theatre roles include: Remains an ensemble theatre piece performed at REDCAT, The Taming of the Shrew performed with the Shakespeare Center LA, Translations, Missed Communications, a Dance/theater piece, at Highways in Santa Monica, and The Journey, which she directed at Highways. Garza is excited and grateful to join the SCR faculty team.
Geneviève Flati
Flati (SCR Acting Intensive Alumna 2018) has puppeteered with The Jim Henson Company since 2015, performing in Brian Henson's Puppet Up Uncensored! at the Jim Henson Company's Charlie Chaplin Soundstage in Hollywood, and at the Charles M. Schulz Theater for Knott’s Scary Farm. She puppeteered for the new Jim Henson Company TV show , Earth to Ned , currently on Disney+. "G" has done two international tours with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus as a stunt clown and sketch writer. She performed at Disneyland for seven years in various shows, and does extensive voice over acting for videogames, cartoons, and commercials. She has worked as a Virtual Reality live performer in three videogames games featured on the Oculus- Dr. Crumb’s School for Disobedient Pets (Dr. Crumb), The Under Present s (various characters) and The Tempest (Prospera). Geneviève is the founder and director of (Wo)men Rule Broadway, a nonprofit production company, which made its international debut in London at the Vault Theater Festival 2020. She currently works as a pediatric hospital performer through Healthy Humor Nonprofit, and is the head writer/executive producer for the specialty children’s content in 16 pediatric hospitals in the country. She was a double major at Chapman University (BFA in Theater Performance and Vocal Performance), and has studied and performed improv/sketch writing with the Upright Citizens Brigade, Second City Hollywood, iO West, Nerdist, and the Improv Space. She has directed numerous stage shows and films in LA, Orange County, New York, Chicago, and London. She also currently teaches improv, puppeteering, and acting at McCoyRigby Arts Conservatory and the Governor's School for the Arts.
Sara Guerrero
Guerrero is the founding artistic director of the award-winning, Santa Ana-based Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble (breathoffire.org). She has been recognized by American Theatre Magazine in its "People to Watch" profile and by OC Weekly as “Best [Artistic] Director" and “Person of Interest.” A CalArts theatre alumna, Guerrero is a professional, versatile theatre artist whose mission is to model, share and create theatre-making opportunities for and with her community. She holds an extensive list of work and credits with many major institutes, organizations, universities, schools and communities. OC Weekly said, “Guerrero's theatrical vision isn't just a collaboration of artists; it's about collaborating with the community. American Theatre Magazine said, “Deeply feeling and deeply compassionate, Sara can’t help but make theatre that matters to her community. She is as smart as she is fierce. She reminds us of what is possible and why we must keep fighting.” Previously, she served as the community engagement director for SCR’s Dialogue/Diálogos Project (a two-year community theatre-making project) and was producing associate to the project’s production, El Largo Camino de Hoy / The Long Road Today by José Cruz González.
H. Adam Harris
Harris is an actor, director, educator, cultural equity consultant, and the Artistic/Audience Engagement Associate at South Coast Repertory. He often works at the intersection of theatre, education, social justice, and community engagement. Recent theatrical credits include directing Redwood by Brittney K. Allen at the Jungle Theater He’s a frequent performer with the Children’s Theatre Company: Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, The Snowy Day, The Jungle Book, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He has worked with The Old Globe Theater, Guthrie Theater, Seattle Children’s Theater, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He is a proud Penumbra Theatre Company member, credits with Penumbra include The Owl Answers, The Dutchman, The Ballad of Emmett Till, and The Amen Corner. As a teaching artist, H. Adam has taught 40+ classes and workshops at The Guthrie Theater highlights include adult acting classes focusing on text analysis and scene study, youth classes through the Hennepin County Libraries, and various corporate development workshops by request. He spent many years as Teaching Artist with the Children’s Theatre Company, Penumbra Theater, and the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artist. H. Adam has led numerous masterclasses, workshops, and residencies for Theatre & Dance departments at various colleges and universities including University of Minnesota, University of Texas-Austin, Augsburg University, Macalester College, Cornish College of the Arts, Louisiana State University, and the University of Cincinnati.
Brenda Kenworthy
Kenworthy is an actor, writer, director and artist. She was a member of the cutting-edge theatre company, Rude Guerilla/Monkey Wrench Collective, performing with them in many West Coast and world premiere productions. She has been in more than a dozen Shakespearean plays including Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing, performed in repertory at the New Swan Shakespeare Festival (University of California, Irvine). She believes everyone is an artist and that expressing that artistry need not be a traumatic experience. She received her BFA in art from UCLA, her MFA in acting/theatre from CalArts and studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
Erin McNally
McNally is an accomplished actor, vocalist and educator. She has been inspiring young actors at SCR for more than 12 years including musical direction for the last nine Summer Players shows and the creation of musical theatre classes for the advanced teen students and Summer Acting Workshop. Armed with a BA in acting and musical theatre form CSU-Fullerton, McNally has been a guest artist at the Hollywood Bowl for 13 years and has performed with such greats as Patti LuPone and Kristen Chenoweth. She has worked at the Pasadena Playhouse, Segerstrom Center for the Arts and the Honda Center and was the headliner for many Concert Under the Stars for CSUF. Her favorite roles have included Little Red in Into the Woods, Amy in Company and Rona in Spelling Bee. Her concert and cabaret credits are extensive, including two sold-out solo concerts at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. When she is not performing, McNally also shares her passion for acting and voice with students at Tri-School Theatre, St. Juliana School and Disneyland, where she is a teaching artist for Disney Performing Arts.
Jasmine O'Hea
O’Hea is an alumna of the South Coast Repertory Theatre Conservatory. She has served as production assistant and Assistant Music Director for multiple SCR student productions. As an actor, she has performed in nontraditional settings including correctional facilities and a Smithsonian affiliate, where she was a costumed historical interpreter. O'Shea has taught at Christian Youth Theater, the Young Singers of Orange County and the Newport Mesa Unified School District. She graduated from Wheaton College (Ill.), with a degree in communication and theater.
Jay Scully
Scully spent three months in 2018 coaching the main cast of the feature film SuperFly for Sony Pictures, Joel Silver and Director X in Atlanta. He has cast more than 50 feature films and television shows, and worked extensively on set as an acting teacher and coach. Recent coaching work includes Paradise Pictures, a pilot for USA Network, The Fosters (Freeform), as well as features for directors J.J. Abrams (Super 8), Judd Apatow (This Is 40), and James Wan (Furious 7). He has coached a number of Hollywood's top actors privately including Frieda Pinto, Moran Atias, and the late Paul Walker, as well as NBC sports color commentators. As a writer/director he co-created and directed the pilot presentation Big & $ave. His feature script, The Overview Effect, is in development at Bad Robot. Jay received his M.F.A. in Acting from Brandeis University and was a founding cast member of Expanded Arts, a theatre company in New York.
Tom Shelton
Shelton is an award-winning composer/lyricist as well as an acclaimed vocal coach and professional accompanist. He has appeared on many local Southern California stages including South Coast Repertory (The Trip To Bountiful, In the Next Room, A Christmas Carol and many more), Pasadena Playhouse, Musical Theatre West (1776), La Mirada Theatre and Laguna Playhouse, as well as off-Broadway at Manhattan Punch Line. He has written on commission half a dozen murder-mystery scripts for The Gourmet Detective over its 19 year history. His other works, which include musical adaptations, original plays, screen and radio projects, have been produced and seen nationwide, most notably Caddie Woodlawn, the original musical, and The Boy Who Ruled the Moon And Sun for the San Diego Opera. Other original works include The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Jesse James, The Disciples Undoing, Darling, You Slay Me! and a long string of classic fairy tales musically adapted for the Barnsdall Theater in Hollywood.
Richard Soto
Soto is a professional actor, teaching artist, fight director and writer, who journeys where the stories need to be told. He has performed in theatres throughout Southern California, including San Diego Rep, The Old Globe, A Noise Within (where he was a Resident Artist for 16 years, performing in over 30 productions) and South Coast Repertory, which has been his creative home as an actor, stage manager and instructor for 30 years. His film and television credits include Believers, Firebirds, “The West Wing,” “Third Degree Burn” and “General Hospital.” In addition to being a faculty instructor with SCR’s Theatre Conservatory, Soto is an adjunct professor of stage combat at Vanguard University and a member of Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble (Santa Ana). His acting classes are socially active environments where students of all ages and backgrounds engage their creativity, expression and empathy. As a fight director, he has choreographed stage fights around the SoCal region including SCR, Latino Theater Company, Teatro Meta, Los Angeles Theatre Center, American Coast Theater, and Actors Co-op, where he was recognized for his outstanding fight choreography. His written work includes the Latinx superhero comic book, “The Legend of El Lobo”; and plays including The Black Book and Los Invisibles (The Invisible Ones, which address the inhumane treatment of immigrants) for Protest Plays Project’s #TheatreActionImmigration Initiative, and Freedom to Speak, I Leave You Hope, It Ain’t Perfect, and Something Worth Pursuing (for the We the People Theatre Action Program, Sacred Fools Theater Company). He is currently working on projects for theatre, television and film involving his passions of people, art, history, education, comic books and making the world a better place. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA, and Actors Equity Association.
Christopher Sullivan
Sullivan is an actor, improviser and educator. He has worked in improvisational theatre, street performance, clown theatre, puppetry and traditional stage work. Sullivan is a founding artist of Modjeska Playhouse, where he serves as co-artistic director. He is also the director of Modjeska Unscripted Theater, where he and a resident cast create and perform improvised plays in several genres as part of Modjeska Playhouse's Main Stage season. His numerous film and television credits include Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. He is a former company member of Los Angeles Theatersports and several resident theatre companies. A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and SCR’s Acting Intensive Program, he has been teaching improvisation and acting in SCR’s Theatre Conservatory since 2007 and is currently a teaching artist at Orange County School of the Arts, where he teaches improvisation.
Mercy Vasquez
Vasquez is an actor, playwright and theatre instructor. In 2014, she had the pleasure of being assistant director on SCR's critically acclaimed production of The Long Road Today/El Largo Camino de Hoy. Her directorial work was recognized by the California Educational Theatrical Association in 2013, when her production of Our Town at Newport Harbor High School won the title of Best Play in Orange County. A strong believer in building community through theatre, she has participated in SCR's community outreach by teaching classes through its Neighborhood Conservatory program. She taught and worked with other community and charitable organizations such as Voices Unheard Educational Outreach, Virginia Avenue Theatre Project, Cornerstone Theatre Company, NOHO Theatre Company, Tayer Theatre Company and the St. Francis Center.