SoDA STAFF
Gracie Poletti
SoDA PROGRAM DIRECTOR, ACTOR, SINGER, SCREENWRITER
Gracie Poletti (imdb: Gracie Moore) is proud member of Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA. Gracie worked in
Hollywood as a professional actress, singer and stand-up comic for twenty years. She specialized in voice-over work (including dubbing, voice matching, looping and cartoon work), and has added her voice to over 1,000 film and television shows. Her resume also includes appearances in commercials, TV and films, and several soundtracks and theme songs. Gracie studied with the legendary acting coach Roy London and his protege Cameron Thor for many years, then went on to teach and coach, privately and at UCLA. She taught ages 5 through 18 at Kevin McDermott's school for professional child actors in Los Angeles. Since Gracie relocated to the Monterey Peninsula to raise her children, she has starred in many local theater productions, taught chorus at a local elementary school, and started a career in screenwriting.
Maryann Rousseau
SoDA PROGRAM DIRECTOR EMERITA, ACTOR, MOVEMENT SPECIALIST
Master Class CAPHERD, Mills College, SFS, SJS, Stanford and UOP, Choreography & Performance Art - DANCE WEST, SF, California Teaching Credential Phys. Ed, Dance & Drama, Classical Theatre Instructor - Children’s Experimental Theatre (15 years), Movement Specialist - MPC (20 years), Developed and Implemented Theatre and Arts Programs - MPUSD (15 years), Choreographed Nunsense and Peter Pan. Selected Leading Roles: A Little Night Music, Vivien, Antony & Cleopatra, Candida, Tartuffe, The Cherry Orchard, Guys & Dolls, West Side Story, Passion, Death of a Salesman, The Clean House, Lettice and Lovage. Directed: Aladdin, Jr., The Fantastisks, Jungle Book, Jr., 101 Dalmatians
Master Class CAPHERD, Mills College, SFS, SJS, Stanford and UOP, Choreography & Performance Art - DANCE WEST, SF, California Teaching Credential Phys. Ed, Dance & Drama, Classical Theatre Instructor - Children’s Experimental Theatre (15 years), Movement Specialist - MPC (20 years), Developed and Implemented Theatre and Arts Programs - MPUSD (15 years), Choreographed Nunsense and Peter Pan. Selected Leading Roles: A Little Night Music, Vivien, Antony & Cleopatra, Candida, Tartuffe, The Cherry Orchard, Guys & Dolls, West Side Story, Passion, Death of a Salesman, The Clean House, Lettice and Lovage. Directed: Aladdin, Jr., The Fantastisks, Jungle Book, Jr., 101 Dalmatians
Suzanne Sturn
PhD THEATRE, MFA ACTING, SoDA DEAN OF ADULT EDUCATION
Linklater Voice Training, Shakespeare & Co., Theatre Professor: SUNY Brockport College, Guthrie Theatre Outreach Program. Selected Leading Roles: Wit, Cherry Orchard, All My Sons, Driving Miss Daisy, Winter’s Tale, Blood Wedding, Man At The Piano, Thinking Heart, Richard III, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ah, Wilderness, The Circle, etc.
Linklater Voice Training, Shakespeare & Co., Theatre Professor: SUNY Brockport College, Guthrie Theatre Outreach Program. Selected Leading Roles: Wit, Cherry Orchard, All My Sons, Driving Miss Daisy, Winter’s Tale, Blood Wedding, Man At The Piano, Thinking Heart, Richard III, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ah, Wilderness, The Circle, etc.
MaryLee Sunseri
PERFORMING CONCERT ARTIST, CHILDREN'S MUSIC SUPERVISOR, PUBLIC RELATIONS, WEBSITE
Winner of 4 Parents’ Choice Awards, 2 American Library Notables, 16 independently produced music CD’s. Extensive touring as show opener and backup vocalist with Burl Ives, Randy Sparks and the Back Porch Majority, Shirley Jones, Bill Cosby, Lily Tomlin... Performs children’s programs internationally. Workshop leader: Early Childhood Music and Brain Development. London Drama School Certificate with distinction in singing. www.maryleemusic.com
Winner of 4 Parents’ Choice Awards, 2 American Library Notables, 16 independently produced music CD’s. Extensive touring as show opener and backup vocalist with Burl Ives, Randy Sparks and the Back Porch Majority, Shirley Jones, Bill Cosby, Lily Tomlin... Performs children’s programs internationally. Workshop leader: Early Childhood Music and Brain Development. London Drama School Certificate with distinction in singing. www.maryleemusic.com
Diane Wiese Goyette
CHILDREN'S THEATRE DIRECTOR/CREDENTIALED THEATRE ARTS TEACHER
Director of 65 plays and musicals, adding original lyrics and music to showcase students' individual talents. Los Angeles experience includes: teaching Play Production for LAUSD (25 years); curriculum development for the Gifted and Talented program; pilot teacher for GATE's Performing Arts HS; member of LARock Chorus (2 yrs). Experience on Monterey Peninsula includes: Traveling Troupe director, CET (3 yrs); teaching theatre enrichment classes. PGUSD (4 yrs); teaching improv and classic TV comedy for Monterey Adult School (3 yrs); teaching/directing for SoDA (5 yrs). Training includes: Hagen/Bergoff Studio in NYC, & American National Theatre Academy in Los Angeles.
Director of 65 plays and musicals, adding original lyrics and music to showcase students' individual talents. Los Angeles experience includes: teaching Play Production for LAUSD (25 years); curriculum development for the Gifted and Talented program; pilot teacher for GATE's Performing Arts HS; member of LARock Chorus (2 yrs). Experience on Monterey Peninsula includes: Traveling Troupe director, CET (3 yrs); teaching theatre enrichment classes. PGUSD (4 yrs); teaching improv and classic TV comedy for Monterey Adult School (3 yrs); teaching/directing for SoDA (5 yrs). Training includes: Hagen/Bergoff Studio in NYC, & American National Theatre Academy in Los Angeles.
Brittney Kalmbach
BA THEATRE ARTS
A theatre graduate from Cal Poly Pomona University, Brittney has performed on stage and screen in Los Angeles for the past 9 years. Although her first love is performance, writing and producing original plays and screenplays is her joy. She is co-founder of HARA Motion Picture Conservatory in Carmel, teaching screenplay writing and on-camera technique for the Conservatory, as well as producing the student’s first film, “Instructions Not Included” due in February. In Los Angeles, she has served as a lead teaching artist and script supervisor withThe Unusual Suspects Theatre Company and Virginia Avenue Project, both non-profit organizations dedicated to bringing the performing arts to at-risk youth. As a company member ofThe Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, Brittney taught Shakespeare in schools throughout Los Angeles to students of all ages, as well as in Theatricum’s Summer Shakespeare Camp andYouth Drama Program. Her credits also include mentoring special needs students, as well as teaching in after school programs and leading workshops in acting, playmaking, adaptation playwriting and Shakespeare.
A theatre graduate from Cal Poly Pomona University, Brittney has performed on stage and screen in Los Angeles for the past 9 years. Although her first love is performance, writing and producing original plays and screenplays is her joy. She is co-founder of HARA Motion Picture Conservatory in Carmel, teaching screenplay writing and on-camera technique for the Conservatory, as well as producing the student’s first film, “Instructions Not Included” due in February. In Los Angeles, she has served as a lead teaching artist and script supervisor withThe Unusual Suspects Theatre Company and Virginia Avenue Project, both non-profit organizations dedicated to bringing the performing arts to at-risk youth. As a company member ofThe Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, Brittney taught Shakespeare in schools throughout Los Angeles to students of all ages, as well as in Theatricum’s Summer Shakespeare Camp andYouth Drama Program. Her credits also include mentoring special needs students, as well as teaching in after school programs and leading workshops in acting, playmaking, adaptation playwriting and Shakespeare.
Lyla Englehorn
BA THEATRE ARTS, VOCAL PEDAGOGY, MASTERS PUBLIC POLICY (Panetta Institute)
Experience includes: Touring actor & director with Missoula Children's Theatre Residency, Musical Director Western Stage Young Company, Director and Instructor MCT Performing Arts Camp, Movement Instructor YMCA Creative Movement Class, Musical Director Salinas High School, Assistant Director and Choreographer Missoula Community Theatre, vocal coach and dance captain for a variety of theatre companies. Favorite roles: Carrie Pipperidge in CAROUSEL (MPC), Betty Blake in WILL ROGERS FOLLIES (TWS), Peggy in A TAFFETA CHRISTMAS (MPC), and Stella in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (PRT).
Experience includes: Touring actor & director with Missoula Children's Theatre Residency, Musical Director Western Stage Young Company, Director and Instructor MCT Performing Arts Camp, Movement Instructor YMCA Creative Movement Class, Musical Director Salinas High School, Assistant Director and Choreographer Missoula Community Theatre, vocal coach and dance captain for a variety of theatre companies. Favorite roles: Carrie Pipperidge in CAROUSEL (MPC), Betty Blake in WILL ROGERS FOLLIES (TWS), Peggy in A TAFFETA CHRISTMAS (MPC), and Stella in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (PRT).
Stevie McKim
Stevie McKim joins the staff from RockStar Dance Studio in Pacific Grove. She will be co-teaching Beginning Theatre with Gracie Poletti starting Spring 2012.
