DURANGO PERFORMING ARTS CAMP: STAFF

Jalyn has been a favorite performer and vocal coach throughout northern Colorado for the last 20 years. Favorite roles she has played on stage include Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Anita in West Side Story, Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof, the Baroness in Sound of Music, the Witch in Into the Woods and Arlene in Baby. Jalyn also toured the Western Slope with a production of Quilters and was the singer of the national anthem for the Colorado Avalanche from 1996 through 1998. Jalyn directed the Vocal Jazz department at CSU and taught elementary music at the Washington Core Knowledge School in Ft. Collins, CO for two years where she was honored as a presenter at the national Core Knowledge Convention for her original lesson plan ideas. Jalyn was also a member of the critically acclaimed acapella group, eLeMeNO-P, with whom she toured for several years and recorded the album No More Lonely People. Jalyn received a B.A. in Music Theatre/Vocal Performance from UNC in Greeley, CO and did graduate work in Music Education at CSU. She currently works for Vera Bradley in Colorado, and still performs locally in dinner theater across northern Colorado, most recently at the Carousel Dinner Theater and the Union Colony Dinner Theater in Greeley.

Brett Scott

Brett Scott is a New York City native. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance from The University of Miami and his Master's of Fine Arts From The National Theatre Conservatory, part of the Denver Center fro the Performing Arts. He will be teaching at the Durango Performing Arts Camp for the second time next year. He is currently teaching Acting, Directing and Theatre at The Denver School of the Arts, The Denver Center Theatre Academy, Metropolitan University of Denver, and Red Rocks Community College. He has taught, directed and performed in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Arizona, and Denver. In Los Angeles he directed Robert Patrick's word premiere (The Playwright of the Tony winning play Kennedy's Children) self proclaimed autobiographic play Hello Bob. Some of his Regional credits include Much Ado About Nothing, The God Doctor, A Christmas Carol, John Brown's Body, The Good Doctor, Arms and the Man, A Woman in Mind, The Three Sisters, Landscape of the Body, Endgame, The Crucible, and Flowers for Algernon. His TV Credits include All My Children, The Guiding Light, The Chris Rock Show, Lois and Clark, and Sister's. He was recently nominated for an Arizoni Award for best actor in a play for his portrayal of Benedick in Southwest Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Tammy Pessagno

Mark Lewis

Mark is first and foremost a storyteller, but one who wears many hats! His goal is to re-awaken the art of storytelling in the world of today and to re-introduce this world to it's imagination. He is also a master of "Old Wave Special Effects." His 25 years of professional experience have most recently won him two Emmy awards for his show Word Pictures from WTTW in Chicago and guest spots on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Vicki! with host Vicki Lawrence. Mark has performed across the United States, Europe and the British Isles. He is also an actor with several films and national commercials to his credit as well as having been a featured performer on the CBS hit series Northern Exposure. Mark is a published author with four books to his credit and is the founding director of Laughing Moon Productions - a Creative Consultation Business whose clients include MCA/Universal, Disney Imagineering and Silicon Gaming Inc. He is an art director for film and television and spent a year in the concepts division for a major toy manufacturer. He teaches writing, storytelling and creativity classes to students of all ages and his storytelling workshops have been hailed by professionals, librarians, and educators from kindergarten through college and beyond. Mark also sings, composes music and plays the recorder.

Christopher Johnson

Christopher is a proud Colorado native who received training in music, theater and dance from the University of Colorado and a B.A. in Music Theater Performance from the University of Northern Colorado. For the last 13 years Christopher has been living and working in New York City. He has performed in many of the top regional theaters in the country and toured with the hit musical, Grease. He was in the original cast of the European premiere of the acclaimed musical, Chicago, and has been a featured vocalist and dancer for the last nine seasons in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the world famous Rockettes. Christopher has also had the incredible opportunity to perform for veterans and active duty military around the world through the USO in their professional show groups New Vision and American Spirit. Christopher continues to work in theater and event production in New York City and is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Denise Hagemeister (camp co-director) again. Denise played an essential part in Christopher's theatre arts education when he performed in her groups and was given the opportunity to teach and choreograph for her at the Colorado Academy of the Arts. Christopher brings a love of both traditional and modern music theater and a firsthand knowledge of working in today's professional theater environment.

Traci Lyn Thomas

Traci Lyn Thomas is a professional actress, mezzo soprano and theatre dancer who's performed in the following national tours: Les Miserables, Civil War, and Mamma Mia Las Vegas. In New York City she performed Off-Broadway in Splendora (Maga Dell), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia) and Human Comedy (Mary Arena). Traci Lyn’s regional theater credits include work with the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the Cincinnati Playhouse, Meadowbrook Theatre, Skylight Opera Theatre, Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center, and the Totem Pole Playhouse. She graduated with B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from Carnegie Mellon University and has undertaken vocal studies with Paul Gavert, Patrick Degenero and Charles Michel. Traci is an accredited early childhood educator who taught at Play Mountain Place in Los Angeles and served as assistant coach of the Stuyvesant High School Speech and Debate Team in New York City. Traci Lyn also served as the Director of the Totem Pole Playhouse Theatre Camp in the summer of 1995 and directed their production of Cinderella.

Dan Hoeye

theatre musicals including The Prince and the Pauper, The Snow Queen, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Gulliver's Travels, and Frosty the Snowman. In 2005 Dan was asked to write several songs for the Durango Arts Center's original performance of Pickle Chiffon Pie! Dan has also toured with various song and dance troupes, toured and recorded professionally with an acappella singing group, designed and built audio and video studios, and taught, lectured, and been a clinician throughout the United States on topics including music, performance, and audio/video production. Currently Dan is the proud father of four daughters (with another on the way, thank you very much), an honored husband to a beautiful wife, and enjoys living the "American Dream" as a Director of Marketing for a large music company in the Midwest. While Dan is now living on the other side of the white picket fence - working on MBAs, driving kids to soccer practices and piano lessons, and wearing a shirt and tie - he still searches for the right opportunities to share his strong conviction that life can be improved and inspired through music and the arts. He is excited and honored to be a part of this year's crew.

THE STAFF