ROBIN AZERSKY has her BFA in Theatre Education from the University Of Arizona. Robin taught the 2008-2009 school year in The Phoenix Elementary School  District teaching students from kindergarten to eighth grade how to discover and fall in love with Theatre. She has taught students how to strengthen their imaginations to bring words on a page to life on the stage. She loves puppetry, mask work and Shakespeare.

DARLENE DUFFY hails from the state of Kentucky, spent much of her professional life in Cincinnati, OH and now calls Arizona home. Her 30 years in music have focused on teaching and conducting. She holds a Music Performance degree in voice with a minor in piano from Northern Kentucky University as well as her teaching certification with a Master's in Education for grades K-8.  Professional credits include leads in The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, The Music Man, Hello, Dolly, The Old Maid and the Thief, Carmen and Le Nozze di Figaro. Ms. King directs the band/choral program at Desert Arroyo Middle School in the Cave Creek Unified School District.

KEVIN GLENN: Originally from the Jersey Shore, Kevin spent many years in New York City, before moving to Arizona in 2002, studying music, theater, voice & movement in Manhattan and performing with many theater companies throughout the region.  He also had the opportunity to travel the world singing on various cruise ships as a featured entertainer.  Since moving to Arizona, Kevin has been musical director for Desert Foothills Theater’s productions of Grease; Footloose; Fame: the Musical; and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; for which he won an AriZoni Award as Best Musical Director.  Local acting credits include Rapunzel’s Prince in Desert Foothills Theater’s production of Into the Woods(Arizoni nomination for Best Supporting Actor); The Architect, Thomas Andrews, in Stagebrush Theater’s production of Titanic; Sky Masterson in DFT’s production of Guys & Dolls; Will Rogers in Broadway Based on True Stories, as well as three other lunchtime theater programs directed by Ann Tully and Scott Storr, presented at The Herberger; The Monk/Singer in Southwest Shakespeare’s production of Cardenio; Appolonia in MusicaNova’s production of Joseph Haydn’s opera, La Canterina; and King Kaspar in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors produced and performed at the Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center.  Also a songwriter and composer, Kevin wrote the scores for Alice in the Desert, Once Upon a Planet, Symphony of Silence, Cinderella, Don Quixote, and The Oddysey, conceived and directed by C. Nicholas Johnson and presented at the Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center.  In addition, his music was featured in Center Dance Ensemble’s, Quilters-the Ballet, which premiered in March, 2005 at The Herberger Theater and performed again in October, 2006.  Kevin also is the featured male singer in the valley’s newest and biggest “small big band,” Main Event; www.maineventswingband.com.  Kevin has a collection of his songs entitled, “See in Full,” available on CD at www.cdbaby.com. www.kevinglenn.com

ANNA PARIS began her acting career in San Francisco performing with the group Comedy Sportz and privately trained with Shelly Mitchell, Mitchell had been a student of the famous Lee Strasberg and Sandy Meisner and introduced Anna to the Meisner, Strasberg and Stanislovsky methods of acting. In San Francisco, Anna landed her first part on the television series Nash Bridges with Don Johnson and Cheech Marin. She has appeared in several commercials and has had lead roles in industrial films and a supporting role in the short film, "What You Don't Know."  In 1988, Anna move to New York and worked in The Actor's Studio, Michale Howard Studio and received private training with Marsha Haufrect. In 2001, she moved back to the west coast in order to pursue T.V. and film work in Los Angeles.  Ann was cast as a lead in the Aaron Carter music video "Do You Remember," was featured in the late John Frankeheimer film, PATH TO WAR on HBO, had a supporting role in a movie called MITR-MY FRIEND, and appeared in numerous short films with independent filmmakers from USC, UCLA and AFI.

We can also offer a similar class through Community Education, however, it seems the club opportunity/fee structure worked well for your students in the past.

PETEY SWARTZ has performed as a singer, actress, and voiceover talent on both coasts.  Now a long-time Phoenix resident, she has donned many hats in numerous valley productions. She directed and created design elements for Desert Foothills Theatre's 2010 Arizona premiere of "Unnecessary Farce", and 2009's "Last of the Red Hot Lovers", (ariZoni nomination for Direction), Both shows were critically acclaimed and played to sold-out houses. She will be directing Inspecting Carol in the fall of 2010. Other directing and design credits include the ariZoni award-winning Six Degrees of Separation, Moon Over Buffalo, (six ariZoni nominations, including Best Director and Best Overall Production),The Gin Game (North Valley Playhouse), and Breaking Legs (Mesa Encore Theatre). Her acting credits include theatre venues throughout the valley, (two ariZoni nominations), and she has been the commercial voice of AJ's Fine Foods for over five years. Petey also proudly served on the Board of Directors for the ariZoni Theatre Awards of Excellence for three years, (2006-2009); actively contributing to the development and improvement of the awards process. Petey has enjoyed teaching at DFT Conservatory of Performing Arts and is gratified by her students' sharing how their lives have been enriched through acting. 

 LORI VANDER MATEN  has worked in theatre since the 1980’s as an actress, writer, director, producer, designer and stage manager.  She has worked in professional, community and educational theatre and has taught and directed at the adult, college, high school, middle school and elementary school levels.  She is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who earned both her BA in Theatre and her MFA in Playwriting from UCLA.  Her musical adaptation of Little Women was the winner of the YES Festival of New Plays and premiered at the University of Northern Kentucky in 2001.   Her first full-length play, Storms Without Warning was the winner of the Siena College International Playwriting Competition, and she was a guest-artist-in-residence at Siena College for the premiere production of that play.  Her full-length play, Seasons, was 4^th runner up for the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award, and her musical, Make Believe, was the two-time winner of the Burdette Fitzgerald Award for Theatre for Young Audiences.  Her screenplay, Goin’ Home was a semi-finalist in the Walt Disney Fellowship for Writers Competition, and her screenplay, Razha, was a semi-finalist in the Fade-In Screenplay Competition.   Favorite acting roles include:  Rose in God’s Favorite, Meg in Brigadoon, Anne in All My Sons, Elaine in Arsenic and Old Lace, Mrs. Beaver in Narnia, Amy in The Contender, Mopsa in A Winter’s Tale, and most recently, Rose in God’s Favorite.  She has studied acting at UCLA, The University of Arizona and the Arizona Theatre Company.  Favorite directing experiences include: Into The Blue, Nutcracker and the Mouse King,  Kidzstuf, The Merchant of Venice, West Side Story, The Actor’s Nightmare, Working, A Marriage Proposal, The Singer, Rich and Pearl, Make Believe and portions of The Kentucky Cycle.  She also directed a short film, Secret Sisters, which was a semi-finalist in the Miramax/LivePlanet Project Greenlight directing competition.  Since moving to Phoenix in 1999, Lori has taught at Southwestern College, Scottsdale Community College, Paradise Valley Community College, Scottsdale Christian Academy and The Arizona School of Classical Ballet. 

In Memorium – Miss Brenda B. Waffle – Founding Director, Gecko Teatro

Brenda was owner and director of the award winning Columbus Youth Theater in Columbus, Ohio for ten years. For the past fifteen years, Miss Waffle has been a teacher for the Cave Creek Unified School District and has been performing in theaters throughout the valley.  Miss Waffle was excited to be able to combine her two great passions: teaching children and theater.  Miss Waffle had been on stage acting since the third grade.  She acted in or directed over forty shows during this time period. Miss Waffle passed away July 2008.