Guest Artists and Instructors
Broadway Bound surrounds young performers with nationally recognized professionals who support the creation of our outstanding productions. Here are a few of those guest artists behind the scenes.
Sonia Dawkins, Choreographer for GOD LIVES IN GLASS and 13
Sonia Dawkins is the founder and artistic director of Sonia Dawkins/Prism Dance Theatre. She received her BFA and MFA with an emphasis in Choreography and Education. She has been the artist-in-residence at North Carolina School of the Arts, Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Pennsylvania Ballet, and she has danced and choreographed with the National Dance Theatre of Jamaica.
Ms. Dawkins was a member of the faculty and a choreographer for Pacific Northwest Ballet and Company for over ten years. Her choreographic works have been premiered at many companies, including Nevada Ballet Dance Theatre, Tallahassee Ballet, Seattle Theatre Group’s “Dance This,” Bulgarian Dance, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and local Seattle dance companies. She has also choreographed for Seattle Repertory Theatre’s BREACH and Three Musketeers. Ms. Dawkins recently premiered Disillusionment at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Kendra Kassebaum, Summer Camp Instructor
Kendra Kassebaum made her Broadway debut in 2000 in Rent (as Mark’s Mom, understudying Maureen Johnson). She was also in the 2004 Broadway revival of Assassins, and toured nationally with Grease and A Chorus Line. Kendra originated the role of Glinda in the first national tour of Wicked, and was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Best Actress in a Regional Performance. In 2007 and again in 2008 Kendra starred as Glinda in the Broadway company, as well as in the San Francisco company in 2009 and 2010. In Seattle she has starred at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Company, and will be the Fairy Godmother in their upcoming production of Cinderella.
Etta Lilienthal, Scenic Designer for GUYS AND DOLLS and WILLY WONKA
Etta Lilienthal is a scenographer, production designer and visual designer residing in Seattle. Her recent projects as scene designer have been for theatrical and dance performances staged across the country including Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, New Century Theatre, Maureen Whiting Dance Company, 33 Fainting Spells, Spectrum Dance Theater and the UMO Ensemble.
Feature film credits include Production Design for Cthulhu (Regents Releasing 2008) and Police Beat (Sundance Film Festival, SIFF 2005). Short film credits include Production Design for Arthur, C.C. 2010, Rainbow (SIFF Fly Film), Diggers (IFP Spotlight Winner) and The Sidewalk Never Ends.
Etta studied scene design at Smith College in Massachusetts, Textile Design at the Glasgow School of Arts in Scotland and holds a Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts in Scene Design from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in California. She was a participant of the 2003-2005 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers, as well as the recipient of a 2000 Artist Trust/ Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship and a 1998 Princess Grace Foundation Scholarship Award for Scene Design.
Louis Hobson, Master Class Instructor
Louis Hobson, a longtime Seattle theatre community standout, made his New York theater debut with Next to Normal. A native of Puyallup, Washington, Hobson has a number of regional credits, ranging from Tony in West Side Story and Che in Evita to an angst-ridden gay teen in Stupid Kids. Hobson was also part of the pre-Broadway workshop for the new Andrew Lippa musical, The Addams Family.
Patricia Barker, Choreographer for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and GUYS AND DOLLS
Patricia Barker is currently the Artistic Director of the Grand Rapids Ballet company. For over twenty years she was the prima ballerina for the Pacific Northwest Ballet under the direction of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell. She performed the role of Titania in the BBC film version of PNB’s production of Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Barker recently served as artistic adviser to the Slovak National Ballet and is a repetiteur for the Balanchine Trust, staging his ballets for GRBC, the Slovak National Ballet and companies such as the Hungarian National Ballet and Boston Ballet School.
Tom Sturge, Lighting Designer for 13 and FIDDLER
Tom Sturge has designed lighting for over 300 productions across the country and around the world over the past twenty years. He graduated from Boston University and attended the University of Pennsylvania. Tom was the head of the lighting design program at Boston University from 1994 through 2004. After working in and around the NYC area for over twenty years, he recently relocated to the Seattle area. Tom has designed many shows for the 5th Avenue Theatre, including West Side Story, White Christmas, and Hair. Other Seattle area designs include Vanities at ACT, High School Musical at SCT, and Evita and The Full Monty at the Village Theatre.
Barbara Lynne Jamison, Music Dir of HAIRSPRAY, 13, FIDDLER and CINDERELLA
When Barbara Lynne Jamison is not performing music on the stage, she is sharing her passion for it off the stage. Ms Jamison, a conservatory-trained soprano, is also a notable conductor, clinician and consultant for arts education. Prior to coming to Seattle she was the Director of Curriculum and Artist Development at the Metropolitan Opera Guild in New York City, she trained teaching artists and guided thousands of educators and students in incorporating the study and performance of music and theatre into their schools. Barbara Lynne has recorded for Naxos, ARSIS, and Hänssler-Classic labels. She was recently elected to the Board of Directors for the Seattle Girls’ Choir and joined the Seattle Opera as the Youth Programs Manager.
Rebecca Spencer, Master Class Instructor
Rebecca created the role of Madame Giry in the $35 million production of Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular, under the direction of Harold Prince. She has also portrayed Carlotta, performed in German at the Neue Flora Theatre in Mr. Prince’s Hamburg, Germany company. Rebecca was an original Broadway cast member of Jekyll and Hyde and created the role of Emma Carew in the Alley Theatre world premiere, and an original company member of the Toronto workshop production of Ragtime.
Rebecca has performed principal roles in over 50 opera, national tour, regional and Off-Broadway productions as well as in concert as a guest soloist with numerous symphony orchestras, and as guest soloist for Marvin Hamlisch. In NYC she has been featured at Lyrics and Lyricists and as well as the Ira Gershwin Centennial at Carnegie Hall, and has appeared in five Encores! concerts at the City Center. Rebecca was awarded the 2004 BackStage Bistro Award for her debut solo recording, Wide Awake and Dreaming. Her second recording, Fair Warning, was released in March 2006.
Deborah Hartwell, Costume Design for HAIRSPRAY, WILLY WONKA, FIDDLER & 13
Originally born in Seattle, Deborah Hartwell is the owner of Pink Trunk Designs. A passion for designing and creating was sparked when she discovered an antique steamer trunk filled with fabrics, trims, fancy buttons, jewelry, hats and gloves in the basement of an old house that her family moved into when she was young.
For the last 20 years she has followed her dreams and designed everything from costumes to couture for clients worldwide, which includes projects for theatre, ballet, Walt Disney Company, NBC, Universal Studios, MTV, short films and two recent feature films.
Madeline Ramsey, Summer Camp Instructor
Madeline Ramsey moved to Seattle in 2009 from Bethlehem, PA, where she was the founder and Artistic Director of the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre. Leading a faculty of 24 artists/educators and an administrative teal of six, she developed and supervised an educational program of over 60 weekly classes in acting, singing amd dance. In addition, she directed more than 40 professional productions during her 24-year leadership of PYT.
Ms. Ramsey’s students have been featured in Broadway productions of Wicked, Gypsy, A Chorus Line, Beauty and the Beast, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas; in national tours of Oliver and Spring Awakening; and in the television series Bones, Curly, Raising Hope, and Bored to Death.
