Meet Virtual Academy’s June Teaching Artists!
We are thrilled to bring these stellar teaching artists’ knowledge and craft to your students this June through CTC’s Virtual Academy. Read a bit more about them and don’t forget to sign up for one of our 41+ offerings throughout the summer! https://childrenstheatre.org/virtual-academy/
Chloe Armao
Chloe Armao is an actor and teaching artist based out of Minneapolis, but originally from Colorado. She has been teaching theatre to young people for many years working with students of all ages at Children’s Theatre Company, Youth Performance Company, and Lakeshore Players Theatre among other organizations in the Twin Cities and across the country. Through modeling respect, curiosity, and confidence for the children whom she has the privilege to teach, Chloe seeks to create spaces that allow for young people to grow as intellectuals, creators, and human beings. As an actor she has performed in productions at Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, The Playwrights’ Center, Red Eye Theater, The Minnesota Jewish Theater Company, and others in Minneapolis and nationwide. Chloe holds a BFA in Acting and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program.
Chloe will teach Telling Tales for grades K-1! Sign up for her class here!
Jay Owen Eisenberg
Jay Owen Eisenberg is a Minneapolis-based actor, educator, director, and facilitator. Jay’s backgrounds in sex education and theatre have supported him in designing dynamic, inclusive curriculum in Health and Wellness for young performers in training. He teaches with Penumbra Theatre’s RACE Workshop and Summer Institute programs, Upstream Arts, the University of Minnesota, Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, and Children’s Theatre Company, among others. Here in the Twin Cities, he has performed at regionally and nationally acclaimed theaters including Penumbra Theatre, Theater Latte Da, Jungle Theater, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Mixed Blood Theater, Open Eye Figure Theater, and Red Eye Theater, and he is a regular collaborator with the Playwrights’ Center. He was the recipient of a 2017 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant. Jay holds a BFA in Acting from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and he is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Jay will teach Digital Performance: Pride for grades 7–12. Sign up for his class here!
Johanna Gorman-Baer
Johanna Gorman-Baer has been teaching theatre in many forms for the last ten years. She is constantly inspired by how collaborative play can challenge the imagination to grow beyond the individual, creating small artistic communities in every class. She works to incorporate social skills and emotional literacy as essential components of artistic education. Johanna holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota, and has worked with Six Elements Theatre, Human Combat Chess, Theatre Novi Most, and many others in the Twin Cities area. This will be her seventh year working at Children’s Theatre Company.
Johanna will teach World Premiere for grades 2–3. Sign up for her class here!
H. Adam Harris
H. Adam Harris is an actor, director, teaching artist, and cultural equity consultant. He works at the intersection of theatre, education, social justice, and community engagement. Recent theatrical credits include puppeteering and voicing the title role of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax in the U.S. premiere at Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) and The Old Globe Theatre. H. Adam is the Education Coordinator at the Playwrights’ Center; a resident teaching artist with the Guthrie Theater and CTC, and a freelance equity, diversity, and inclusion consultant for various organizations.
H. Adam will teach Acting Bootcamp: Scene Study for grades 4–6 and 7–12. Sign up for his classes with those links!
Autumn Ness
Autumn Ness has been a proud member of the Acting Company at Children’s Theatre for 20 seasons, performing in over 75 productions including; the Stepmother in Cinderella, Mrs. Wormwood in Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, Solo performer in The Biggest Little House in the Forest, Fiona in Shrek the Musical, and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. Autumn has been a Theatre Arts Training instructor for 14 years, most recently directing the Senior Intensive, Carrie the Musical. Autumn received the 2018 TCG Fox Fellowship and the 2020 Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Fund to develop programming for children on the Autism Spectrum. Autumn’s work as a playwright, Babble Lab, will be performed at CTC in 2021.
Autumn will teach Acting with a Script for grades 7–12. Sign up for her class here!
Jesse Schmitz-Boyd
Jesse Schmitz-Boyd is a Twin Cities based dance artist and educator. Working with students throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin since 2003, his teaching philosophy is based in belief that through connection and enthusiasm, skills are developed. His classes are designed to meet the social, emotional and physical needs of students.
He is company member with Alternative Motion Project and the Artistic Director and founder of Rogue and Rabble Dance.
He holds a B.A. in Dance from the University of Wisconsin — Stevens Point with a minor in Anthropology.
Jesse has been on faculty at studios throughout Minnesota including Zenon Dance School, TU Dance Center, Children’s Theatre Company, Ballare Teatro, and Allegro School of Dance.
Jesse will teach Creative Movement for ages 4–5. Sign up for his class here!
Are you excited? Sign up for CTC’s Virtual Academy now!
