Fiona Santos: Co-Artistic Director

Fiona Santos is a performer and musical director based in New York City.  She musical directed and arranged the music to the new Off-Broadway show The Water Coolers, assistant musical directed the U.S. Open Tennis Ceremonies starring Diana Ross and the cast of Blast!, and arranged and musical directed Enya's backup vocalists for live performances of her hit song "Only Time" in New York.  She was the founding Artistic Director of Brand X Musical Theatre in upstate New York, and has musical directed with companies up and down the East Coast, including Ithaca Opera, Civic Theatres of Central Florida, First Edition, and SAK Comedy Lab.  She spent two years performing and directing for the Walt Disney World Co., one of the industry leaders in family entertainment.  Fiona received her theatre and music training at Ithaca College and Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.  She is a musical director for the Theatre and Dance Alliance in New York City, a Theatre Department Director at Long Lake Camp for the Arts, and an adjunct professor at New York University.  She is married to Co-Artistic Director Jason Brantman.

Jason Brantman: Co-Artistic Director

Jason Brantman is a Director of Theatre & Live Events, currently living in New York City. He recently directed the world premiere of Lady Chardonney at Theatre Row on 42nd Street.  Other off-Broadway and regional directing credits include: The Crucible, All in the Timing, Urinetown, Les Miserables, Chicago, Tommy, The Secret Garden, Once on this Island, Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, The Fantasticks, Assassins, and the NYC premiere of Are We There Yet? at Queens Theatre in the Park. 

For the past ten years, Jason has been associate creative director for the US OPEN Tennis ceremonies, getting to work with incredible musical legends ranging from Art Garfunkel, James Taylor, Harry Connick Jr., Tony Bennett, Carole King, and Liza Minnelli to film/tv stars Liev Shrieber and Phylicia Rashad to theatre icons Ben Vereen, Idina Menzel, and Twyla Tharp, to fabulous divas Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Patti Labelle.  This event is broadcast live on CBS to millions of homes around the world, and includes Jason's favorite part - directing 40 Marines unfurling the largest American flag in the northeast. 

Other live events include: productions for Walt Disney Entertainment, ABC's "The View," associate director for the IBM e-server Spectacular event at Radio City Music Hall (featuring the band Smash Mouth), and production stage manager for The Water Coolers - both off-Broadway and as a show for corporations such as Microsoft, Toyota, JP Morgan, Harrahs Las Vegas, and the launch of Microsoft's Xbox 360.

In addition to directing plays, musicals, and live events, Jason has been the director of several improvisation troupes across the northeast.  He received his improvisation training at SAK Comedy Lab (training ground for Wayne Brady). 

He is a proud graduate of Cornell University, and has had the privilege of working with Emmy Award Winning filmmaker Slawomir Grunberg. 

Jason very much enjoys bringing his love of theatre to the next generation.  At the college level, he has been an adjunct professor at NYU and a director & guest lecturer at Cornell University.  At the pre-college level, Jason is show director for the CASA program at Queens Theatre in the Park, a senior director at Long Lake Camp for the Arts, has directed at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, and has been associated with the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center - Youth Theatre Program.  Jason was honored as the first director given the amateur rights to mount Urinetown: the musical.  Jason is currently the co-artistic director of Broadway Training Center with his inspirational partner Fiona Santos and their Zen children Sprout & Mouser.

Cheryl Bass: Ballet Instructor

Cheryl Bass began her career at age nine at The Metropolitan Opera House performing in over 40 operas and ballets, and national tours. She was an honors graduate of School of Performing Arts and was the owner/director of The Ballet Arts Center in Nyack for 23 years, and starred in and/or choreographed countless shows for Nyack Drama Group, Tappan Zee Playhouse Restoration, Theater For All Seasons and The Hudson River Repertory (in which she is still active). 
 
Many of her students (including Fiona Santos) are now top professionals in dance, theater, film,TV and the fitness/nutrition industry. Cheryl thankfully continues her love of choreography and teaching with the extraordinary students of BTC.

Christopher Dippel: Guest Acting Instructor

Kevin R. Free: Summer Mainstage Director

Kevin R. Free has appeared on national television in commercials and on NBC’s Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU. New York audiences have seen Mr. Free Off-Broadway, creating the role of Memphis in From My Hometown both for Amas Musicals and at the Gramercy Theatre, for which he was nominated for an Audelco Award. He was also seen Off-Broadway at the York Theatre in Taking A Chance On Love, and as Bubber Brown in The New Federal Theatre’s acclaimed The Conjure Man Dies. He is a writer/performer/director in the New York Neo-Futurists, writing and performing regularly in Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. Once a regular contributor the NPR show “News & Notes, “ Mr. Free’s voice can now be heard on the World Premiere Recording of the musical Avenue X and numerous audio books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Known World, for which he won an AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award. As director, he assisted Martha Banta with Barbara's Blue Kitchen off-Broadway. Though he has been an actor, singer, writer, and director in NYC since 1995, he is proudest of his accomplishments as a teaching artist. He has shared his passion for Theatre-making for organizations like Symphony Space, QIIQ, The Hamptons Shakespeare Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Roundabout Theatre Company. He created his own company, Working Actor For Hire in 2005, to create and develop programming for Drama Clubs, and directed or vocal coached numerous school productions in NYC, including Dreamgirls, A Year with Frog & Toad, and The Big Bad Musical (his favorite). Kevin is now the Artistic Director of Educational Programming at Queens Theatre in the Park, overseeing their ever-expanding CentreStage Program, in which over 500 elementary and middle school children write, edit, rehearse, and perform their own plays.

Aaron Galligan-Stierle: Guest Acting Instructor

Aaron Galligan-Stierle is both an actor and a director, although he spends much of his time doing what he calls "artistic collaboration." He has assisted in the creative process of over forty-five original works, including scripts, movies, plays, cabarets, and dance concerts. He has an extensive performance resume including:

Broadway and 1st National Tour: Henry Ford in Ragtime (currently on Broadway), Papa Who in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2007 & 2008 Company.) International Tour: The Herald in Cinderella (starring Lea Salonga)  Regional: Frankie in Forever Plaid, Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mordred in Camelot, Leo Davis in Room Service, Slender in Merry Wives of Windsor (Utah Shakespearean Festival), Will Blunt in Measure for Pleasure (Florida Studio Theater), Phil Davis in White Christmas (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), Hortensio in Taming of the Shrew (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival), Jamie in The Last 5 Years, Eugene in Broadway Bound, Stephano in The Tempest (Pennsylvania Center Stage), Action in West Side Story, Dickon in The Secret Garden (SSMT). Other favorite roles: Frank in Merrily We Roll Along, Motel in Fiddler on the Roof, Lloyd in Noises Off, Feste in Twelfth Night, and Old Tom in The Lost Colony. Aaron played Max in the 1st reading of the NYC-bound Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical as well as numerous workshops of original musicals through both the NYU Graduate Musical Theater program and the BMI Writer’s Workshop.

Some of Aaron’s favorite directing credits include:

The Pact (Penn State University), …Ever After…(Shenandoah University and The Grove Theater), Opaline (NAPP @ Utah Shakespearean Festival), and a world premiere version of Terrance Man’s “R & J.”

Additionally Aaron is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Late Night Cabaret at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. He served on the reading / selection committee in 2005 for the New American Playwright’s Project. He is also Co-owner of the film production company “Lonely Planet Productions.,” which has produced 4 short films including "The Big Production" which has screened world-wide at film festivals and won 1st Runner-up for Best Comedy at the 2007 College Emmy Awards.

Aaron received a BFA in Musical Theater from Shenandoah University and an MFA in Acting from Penn State University.

Chris Harcum: Acting Instructor

Darleen Jaeger Hickok: Guest Acting Instructor

Darleen Jaeger Hickok - Director: The Laramie Project. The Masters School; History of Women In Theatre, Common Ground Festival; Into The Woods, Gallery Players; Inferno the Opera, Manhattan School Of Music; Cinderella, Annie, Wizard of Oz, Youth Theatre Project. Darleen is a director and acting instructor for The Neighborhood Playhouse and Dreams On Stage Productions. She graduated from California State University, Northridge. She was the August Workshops Director here at BTC in Summer 2004.

Heather LoSchiavo: Managing Director, Acting/Dance Instructor, Summer Director

Heather LoSchiavo is an accomplished producer, director, choreographer, master teacher and performer in NYC, LA and abroad. Currently, Heather is the Director of The Professional Training Program at The Neighborhood Playhouse JR School in NYC and the Managing Director at The Broadway Training Center of Westchester. Both Non-for-Profit organizations dedicated to the enrichment and education of young people. Her experience in the professional world of entertainment, fundraising & corporate event planning have provided her the tools needed to bridge communities that may seem a world apart. She is a teaching artist at The Dance Center of Westchester, The Darcy Academy, and The Caymichael Patten Studio. Her students have been seen on Broadway, listened to on the Radio, featured on numerous TV shows, and spotted in Films. As a performer recent independent film credits include: Sheltered (to be released in November 2008), Echo’s, The Session, Reverse, Anthony & Cleo, You Fit The Description, and Lady Love. Performed: The Clark Studio Space/Lincoln Center, Dixon Place, The 92nd Street Y, BAM, Walt Whitman Theatre, ATA, The Gene Frankel Theatre, Caramoor, and The Cathedral of Saint John The Divine. Company work includes: Walk The Plank, I Guillari di Piazza, Contemporary Dance Theatre of NY, The Bouncing Gingers, and Jonathan NYC. Choreography: In The Mirror (Ugly-productions/film), Mazur Children’s Rep., BTC, French Woods Festival, and MTV. Produced: Straight ForWard (film/Saige Belle productions release 2007), The American Theatre, The Trilogy, Classic Stage, and Chicago City Limits. Worked: The Public Theatre & The New Victory, NYC.  She holds a BFA from Marymount Manhattan College and is also a founding member of Focal Point Aid, a non-for profit organization, helping education systems in crisis.

Julie Mac: Dance Instructor, Choreographer

Julie Mac has been dancing tap, jazz, ballet, modern, lyrical, African and hip-hop for over 20 years. In 2004 she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance Studies with a minor in Theatre at the University of South Florida. At USF, her studies with well-known professionals in Choreography, Music for Dance, Dance Kinesiology, Dance History, Stage Practicum combined with hours of dance technique provided an in-depth understanding of the many styles of dance.  While at USF, she performed and choreographed the production of “HONK! The Musical,” and numerous other fall, spring and student dance productions.  After graduation, Julie landed her first professional dance job at Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay appearing in the main stage show “Katonga, Tales of the Jungle.” She remained with the show for two years, working as a dancer and technician.  In January 2006, Julie moved to New York City and was hired as a choreographer for Long Lake Camp for the Arts during the summer of 2006.   She returned to Long Lake in 2007 and 2008 to choreograph and to co-direct the camps first year of a Dance Intensive. Julie is currently dancing and choreographing for MusInc.-An Artist Collective a local company based in Tampa and West Palm Beach.

Ginger Merritt: Dance Instructor, Choreographer

Ginger Merritt has been on the faculty of Broadway Training Center for 3 years wherein she has taught Musical Theatre Dance and Tap and has choreographed Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  For the past 3 summers she has taught and choreographed at Long Lake Camp for the Arts wherein she choreographed such shows as Chicago, West Side Story, Footloose, Frog and Toad, and Free to Be You and Me.  She has also choreographed and performed in Sugar Babies for Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Varia at Merce Cunningham Studios.  Ginger has perfomed all over the world in such shows as 42nd St. and Fiddler on the Roof wherein she has worked with Broadway choreographers, Randy Skinner and Sammy Dallas Bayes.  She holds a B.A. in Theatre/Dance from Wagner College.  She is proud to be a part of the very talented staff at Broadway Training Center.

Rosie North: Guest Dance Instructor

Rosie North is a working actress/singer/dancer living in New York City. Originally from St. Louis, MO, she was an original cast member of the most recent national tour of 42nd St. and has performed in regional theatres such as the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut and Stages St. Louis.   A graduate of New York University's vocal performance program, Rosie also has several years of experience assistant directing and choreographing.  Soon to be an adjudicator for Starbound National Talent Competitions, Rosie loves teaching and working with children.  

Aaron Salazar: Guest Dance Instructor, Choreographer

Aaron Jacob Salazar has been on stage performing since the age of 8 years old.  Trained as a legitimate singer, actor and dancer, with dozens of plays, musicals, dance productions and concerts under his belt, Salazar’s professional training is paramount to his vision of the entertainment industry and the professional level of product that it requires in order to have success in this business.  

As a teacher and choreographer, Salazar’s passion for his craft began at a very early age when at 15 years old, he was asked to choreograph a private High School’s production of FAME.  After that experience of feeling what it is like to see an idea turn into a reality, he was hooked.  Now in his late twenty’s Salazar has continued to pursue his career as both a performer on stage and a choreographer and instructor behind the scenes.

Since moving to New York City in the summer of ’99, Salazar has performed in the Broadway European Tour of GREASE as well as dancing as a guest artist at Barnard School at Columbia University and Now Dance at the Mulberry Street Theatre under H.T. Chen and Dancers. As well as guest dancing in the Nutcracker in Pennsylvania and dancing with the contemporary company Opus One under the direction of Lina McMenamin and Tim Early.  In 2004 Salazar was hired by the European Union to choreograph the "Physical Education Youth Campaign" for the Olympics in Athens. Featuring the Pop Group B3 (Germany's Largest selling Pop/Boy Band).

Salazar has simultaneously been steadily building a name for himself as an instructor and a choreographer for various companies and schools in the greater New York area. Currently Salazar is a resident choreographer and instructor at former ABT principal Vicky Simegiatos’s Performing Arts Center. Salazar is also a proud faculty member of the National Dance Competition/Convention Dancers Inc for which he is a Master Teacher & Judge. Salazar has also recently been appointed the position as the program “Head” and Director and Choreographer for the Broadway Training Center of Westchester’s 2007 Summer Musical Theatre Intensive.  As a teacher and choreographer, Salazar loves to give back and help young and professionals alike strive for excellence in their performance and execution of choreography and dance. His passion for the craft is what moves him to keep reaching for something fresh and exciting in the performing arts.

Having spent 15 years of his life thus far on stage and behind the scenes, Salazar feels confident with his experience  to teach others how to give a great performance, that (to paraphrase Martha Graham) …stems from something deeper than just technique.  At the core of all of Salazar’s performing, teaching and choreography is the emphasis on execution  and that proverbial  “fire” that is needed to be the best, if for one’s career, or just for the love of the arts.

  “…I sincerely love what I do on all levels, this is my heart and my life, and nothing makes me more content than being involved in the arts as a professional and a human being.”

Patricia Santos: Administrator, Music Instructor

Patricia Santos, a native of New York, received her Bachelor’s of Music from Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory with Regina Mushabac.  After earning a magna cum laude degree in cello performance, Patricia’s postgraduate studies were with Bryan Dumm of the Cleveland Orchestra.  Additional teachers include Carole Tilson and the late Andor Toth.  She has performed at music festivals around the country and was an orchestral and chamber music fellow at Texas Music Festival in 2001.  As an eighteen-year-old, Patricia took Gold Ribbon at the Young Artist’s Concerto Competition and subsequently performed Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major with the Rockland Symphony Orchestra.  She is currently on faculty at Rockland Conservatory of Music and has served as Principal Cellist for the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to her classical music pursuits, Patricia is active in pit orchestras for musical theatre and also collaborates with various bands on recordings and live shows.

John Scacchetti: Dance Instructor

John Scacchetti is a Broadway dancer who gets to celebrate 25 years as a dancer, and 10 years as a dance teacher  this year.  John has performed on Broadway in in the 2001 Tony Award winning revival of 42nd Street with choreography by Randy Skinner, and the recent critically acclaimed 2008 revival of Gypsy starring Patti Lupone with direction by Arthur Laurents.  John has also toured the nation twice - once with 42nd Street, and again with My Fair Lady directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Matthew Bourne.  John has performed in regional productions of West Side Story, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Anything Goes.  John was also a soloist in The Illinois Ballet company before moving to NYC.  John holds a BS in theatre performance from Bradley University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Peter Sprague: Guest Acting Instructor

Rob Spring: Guest Dance Instructor

Robert Spring is a NYC based professional actor/singer/dancer. He has toured the country with productions of Crazy For You, and the Broadway revival of 42nd Street (Billy Lawlor), as well as having performed at various regional theatres including Goodspeed Opera House. He has musically directed several professional, college, and high school productions and currently is working part time at NYU's Steinhardt School of Music as an accompanist and vocal coach. He has taught dance for several years in and around the city. In fact, his mother owns and operates her own full time dance studio in upstate NY where Rob received his early training and teaching experience. Rob has a B.A. in Theatre/Speech, a minor in Music Education and is also a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.

Rachel Wineberg: Guest Acting Instructor

Rachel Wineberg is a teaching artist with the Metropolitan Opera Guild, where she teaches students in Kindergarten through 4th grade. She uses theatre improvisation to get kids to write original plays based on their academic curriculum. She has directed everywhere from New York Stage and Film at Vassar College to the Public Theater. She taught acting classes to Cornerstone Theater whose company members included Amy Brenneman (of TV’s Judging Amy). She has taught at Wagner College, The Lark Theater and Circle Rep and public speaking at Cooper Union College.