Faculty Bios

Faculty members are chosen for the Texas Arts Project based on the individual teacher's professional and instructional experience. All faculty members are of the highest caliber and communicate with students in a positive, constructive, and encouraging manner. The core faculty has an established professional relationship allowing them to work closely with one another to guide each student to his or her next level.

Every student, regardless of his/her goals, should receive the best possible training. The faculty takes pride in making sure all students receive personalized training and individual attention. No two artists are alike. Therefore, it is very important for each student to know how to approach his or her craft in a safe and thoughtful manner. 

Our students are taught the value of fine arts so they may become a life-long supporter of the arts regardless of the paths they may choose.

Bea Baldwin

(Visual Arts Instructor, Youth Art Camp )
B.Baldwin (BFA Univ of Colorado, MFA Univ of N. TX) is in her 21st year teaching art in Independent schools. She taught Saturday and summer workshops at Ft. Worth Modern Art Museum for 15 years, ages 5-18. Bea taught grades K-8 at Ft. Worth Country Day School for 11 years, taught H.S. art and held the position of Department Head at Chatham Hall School for girls, Chatham, VA for 6 years. This is her 4th year at SSTX. She is a painter and printmaker.

Kelly Bales

(Junior Camp and Youth Musical Theatre Camp Director/Choreographer)
Kelly Bales is returning to direct TAPjr for the second year. She has taught for Austin Musical Theatre, Footworks Academy, and just finished Assistant directing Le Miserables for Dripping Springs High School. Kelly was an original member of Austin Musical Theatre's Junior and Senior Companies and participated in over a dozen professional shows with Austin Musical Theatre at the Paramount Theatre. Kelly also played the role of Irene in Crazy For You at Zilker Hillside Theatre and occasionally performs with The Small Stars, an Austin rock band.

Travis Brendle

(TAP Production Stage Manager)

Travis is a current BFA candidate in Theater Design and Production with an emphasis in Stage Management at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Favorite credits as a stage manager include Assassins and the US Premiere of the opera Rappaccini's Daughter at CCM, Assassins  and Thoroughly Modern Millie  with Summer Stock Austin and The Rimers of Eldritch and Who Will Carry the Word at St. Stephen’s, where he graduated from the Theater Focus Program. Travis also assistant directed, choreographed, and stage managed many St. Stephen’s Middle School productions including as Fiddler on the Roof and Les Miserables. On stage, Travis could be seen in such shows as Carousel (Mr. Snow), Working, and 42nd Street (Julian Marsh) with Theater Focus and Guys and Dolls (Nicely) and You’re…Charlie Brown (Charlie Brown) with Austin Musical Theater. Travis was also a lifetime member of the Austin Musical Theater/Broadway Texas Junior and Senior Company and performed in all of their Summer Musicals, as well as the Performers Workshop and Stage Three. This is Travis’s fourth year with Tap: he was a camper in 2004 and a Tap Jr. counselor in 2006, and Production Manager in 2007.

Ann Ciccolella

(Co-Director of Shakespeare Camp)

Ann is the new Artistic Director of Austin Shakespeare after working
at Zachary Scott Theatre for the past eight years. Before moving to
Austin in 1989, Ann taught at private schools for 14 years in high
school and middle school levels on the East coast. These days, she is a
frequent guest lecturer at the University of Texas Department of
Theatre and Dance, and she also taught at St. Edwards University. A
graduate of NYU in Dramatic Literature, History of Theater and Cinema,
Ann has served as Associate Director for Shakespeare On Wheels in
Baltimore and as Artistic Director of the Renaissance Theater Company,
producing and directing Off Broadway. In New York City, she directed
Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" in Washington Square Park, "The
Oresteia" at the New York Theater Ensemble, and Chekhov's "The
Seagull" at Direct Theater. In recent years, for Zachary Scott
Theatre she directed Cabaret, Full Gallop, Closer, Master Class, and
Misery. In Zilker Park, she staged Sondheim's Into the Woods and A
Midsummer Night's Dream. In Austin, she also directed Hedda Gabler,
and Other People's Money, as well as productions of her own scripts as
a playwright. A driving force in the Austin arts community, Ann was
recently presented with a "Distinguished Service Award" by the City of
Austin Mayor and Council for her advocacy in building the creative
community of Austin.

Buckner Cooke

(Head of Filmmaking, Senior Camp)
Buckner is a graduate of the University of North Texas. Buckner has been working professionally for ten years. His work in the music industry has been broadcast both national and internationally on MTV and he served as the Music Video Judge at the 1999 SXSW Film Festival. In 1999 he co-founded Red Frame Productions, a full service production company in Austin Texas. Since that time, Buckner has worked as a Producer, Director, Director of Photography, and Sound Mixer for several diverse types of film and video projects. Over the course of the last several years Buckner’s work has been screened at film festivals including SXSW and Slamdance as well as being broadcast nationally on PBS and ABC. Buckner has been the head of Filmmaking for Texas Arts Project since its inception in 2003.

Carmen Clements

(Visual Arts Instructor, Youth Art Camp )
Carmen is an artist with a MA and BFA in Fine Arts from the Univeristy of Iowa; educator and designer of art classes for preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, college and continuing education. Her professional experience includes working as an art editor, interior architectural designer, gallery manager, and art exhibitor. In addition, she is an accomplished pianist and Nia instructor. Born in Ft. Worth, Texas, she has lived and worked in the midwest, on the Texas coast, in London, England and now resides in Austin (for the past 14 years). Carmen is a mother of three daughters and granmother to three grandchildren. Life is good. She loves St. Stephen's.

Paul Davis

(Technical Design, Senior Camp)
Paul is an active set designer in and around Austin. He has also worked as a scenic artist for the Dallas Theatre Center, Portland Stage, and Connecticut Repertory Theatre; and as Scene and Costume Designer for Finborough Theatre in London, England. In 2004, Davis was nominated for his work on The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as a B. Iden Payne Award for The Drawer Boy.

Rona Ebert

(Tap Teacher/Tap Choreographer, Senior Camp)
Rona began studying ballet and tap at the age of 8, in many schools across the country as she traveled with her military family. Arriving in Austin at age twelve, she began professional ballet training with Eugene Slavin and Alexandra Nadal (Slavin-Nadal School of Ballet). Under their direction, she danced with Austin Civic Ballet (now Ballet Austin) for eight years. After graduating from U. T. with a B.F.A. emphasizing graphic design, she joined Austin On Tap, a nationally touring company based in Austin. Ms. Ebert traveled the with the company for five years and in 1990, joined Tapestry Dance Company, followed by Estampa Y Española, a local Flamenco company. A serious injury put a stop to her career for two years. Upon recovering in 1996, Ms. Ebert began working with Scott Thompson and Richard Byron, directors of Austin Musical Theatre She was graphic designer for the company until 2002, and has danced in their productions of Peter Pan, West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Music Man and Celebrate Austin Musical Theatre, The Wizard of Oz as well as numerous Gala productions. In addition to her professional career as a graphic designer, Ms. Ebert has taught tap and ballet for over 20 years at various locations including Austin Civic Ballet, The YMCA, the Slavin Nadal School of Ballet, and Austin Musical Theatre.

Lisa del Rosario

(Co-Head of Dance/TBallet & Modern Teacher & Choreographer, Senior Camp)
Lisa began her dance studies at the Margo Marshall School of Ballet and the Cleveland San Jose School of Ballet. She continued her training as a presidential scholarship student at the University of Texas at Austin where she received her B.F.A. in Dance. She also studied classical piano and violin for many years and in her later years Pilates, Yoga, Tai Chi, Vipassana Meditation, Taoist Meditation, and the Feldenkrais Method of movement education. Lisa danced professionally in the Philippines with The Philippine National Folk Dance Company, Bayanihan. She currently dances locally with Moving Voices Dance, Sharir/Bustamante Danceworks, Sheep Army/Elsewhere Dance Theatre, Subclavian Groove Dance Company, Yellow Tape Construction Co., and other independent choreographers. Lisa has taught and choreographed at the UT Informal Classes, the Dougherty Arts School, the McCallum High School Fine Arts Academy, and the Creative Movement and Pre-Ballet divisions of the Ballet Austin Academy. She is thrilled to be in her third season teaching for the Texas Arts Project at St. Stephen's Episcopal School. Lisa is also undergoing training in New York City to become a Guild Certified Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method.

Kirk German

(Residential Director, Senior Camp)
Kirk German has worked in the arts and education for over ten years in three states. At Middlebury College in Vermont, where he graduated with honors with a degree in theatre, literature, and art history, he worked extensively as a playwright, director, actor, and stage manger. He also worked as an RA, a feature writer for the campus newspaper arts section, and as a DJ for the local radio station. During the summers, he taught extensively for a variety of theatre camps and arts education enrichment programs, including a two-month stint as an RA and instructor for the Exploration Summer Program in Wellesley, Massachusetts. After graduating, he worked for a year as an assistant dean and residence hall director at Middlebury College while also writing and directing for Middleground Children’s Theatre Company. Since returning to his hometown of Austin, Kirk has performed with several companies including Austin Lyric Opera, TexArts, Austin Playhouse, Different Stages, Naughty Austin, and Theatre at the J, for which he received the B. Iden Payne “Best Ensemble” award along with four other actors. He has directed several children’s shows, including James and the Giant Peach for the Austin Scottish Rite Children’s Theatre and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown for kidsActing. During the day, Kirk has happily worked for the past five years as a teacher of English and theatre at Huntington-Surrey High School in Hyde Park.

Carol Horn

(Co-Director, Shakespeare Camp)
Carol has directed, acted, designed, and taught with schools and theatres throughout Central and North Texas, including Austin Theatre for Youth, Second Youth Family Theatre, Sherman Community Players, Sam Bass Theatre, and Zach Scott Theatre's Project Interact and Performing Arts School. She holds a Master's Degree in Social Work and has graduate level training in Theatre for Youth, Theatrical Design, and Education from The University of Texas and Texas State University. While teaching at Johnston High School and AISD's Liberal Arts Academy, she co-directed plays that advanced to State Level UIL One-Act Competition. As the Director of Middle School Theatre at St. Stephen's her credits include Shakespeare's The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, and Much Ado About Nothing.

Stacey Huston

(Jazz Choreographer, Senior Camp)
Stacey is happy to be involved with TAP for the first time this year. After graduating from UT with a Business degree, she attended The University of California at Irvine and graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Dance, Theater and open-by-audition-only Choreography program. At UC Irvine and an away-program in NYC, she studied dance, voice and acting under such renowned greats as Susan Stroman, Uta Hagen, Donald McKayle and Harry Garland to name only a few. Stacey has been involved in partner dancing in one way or another for over 13 years. She tested out and is certified through American Style Gold levels and competed heavily in International Latin for 3 years. Her rankings include top six placements in Rising Star events in many national competitions like California, Nevada, Washington, Virginia, and Florida. Upon completion of her competing career in 1996, she was ranked 7th in the U.S. and 13th in the World in Rising Star Latin and Jive styles. Her vast experience includes Feature Films, Television appearances, Commercials, Special Gala events, and stage productions. Her most recent work has been 5 years with stage show productions in theaters and hotels in California, New York, Philadelphia, and finally overseas on cruise ships. She has quite literally been around the world and back. 

Heather Huggins

(Co-Head of Dance/Jazz Teacher/Acting Teacher, Senior Camp)
Heather has taught at Baylor University, Ballet Austin's Musical Theatre Division, Musical Theatre Institute at St. Stephens Episcopal School, Footworks Dance Center, Zilker Academy, Performers' Workshop, Young Actors' Shakespeare Project, Kids' College and DanceWorks. Regionally she has performed with Austin Musical Theatre, Broadway Texas!, Hyde Park Theatre, Vortex Repertory Theatre, Sharir + Bustamante Danceworks, Silver Star Productions, Waco Musical Theatre, Inc., Zachary Scott Theatre Center and Zilker Theatre Productions. Her recent performance credits include Rhonda in You're No One's Nothing Special, Frenchie in Cabaret, Kathleen in Chopper and Lilianna in Windblown, conceived by Kimmie Rhodes and directed by Joe Sears. Heather is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance, where she was a member of Dance Repertory Theatre under the direction of Yakov Sharir, Lyn Elam and Jeffery Bullock. She is currently attending an MFA program at the Boris Schukin Insititue at the Vakhtangov Theatre, a studio of the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) in Moscow, Russia.

Larry Lehew

(Head of Technical Theatre Program, Senior Camp)
Larry is currently working on his Masters Degree at Yale School of Drama. He served as the Master Electrician at the UT Performing Arts Center for several years. He holds a BA in Arts Administration from St. Edward’s University. Larry has worked as a Lighting Designer, Set Designer, Technical Director and Robotic Lighting Consultant for theatre companies, educational institutions and lighting organizations.

Dr. Michael McKlevey

(Musical Theatre & Voice Instructor; Senior Camp & Vocal Director, TAPAdvanced)
Dr. McKelvey coordinator of Music at St. Edward’s University, received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Texas. Performance credits include work with Austin Lyric Opera, The State/Live Oak Theatre, Austin Musical Theatre, Austin Shakespeare Festival, and Mary Moody Northern Theatre, Dallas Opera, Shreveport Opera, Theatre Three, Deep Ellum Opera Theatre, New Texas Music Festival. He has been a musical and vocal director for Austin Musical Theatre, The State Theatre Company, and Austin Playhouse. This past year Dr Michael Mckelvey won Austin Critic’s Table award for best musical direction and received his third B. Iden Payne nomination. He has served on the faculties of Concordia University, St. Stephen’s School, Broadway Texas/AMT Academy, The Zilker Academy @ Footworks and Mountain View College. He also runs a private vocal studio in north Austin.

Ginger Morris

(TAP Artistic Director)
Ginger graduated with a BFA in Theatre and a minor in Speech Communications from the University of Texas – Austin in 1998. While in college, Ginger worked as Assistant Stage Manager and Academy Director for Austin Musical Theatre where she produced the Annual All-Youth Summer Musical for three years and garnered two B. Iden Payne Awards for “Best Play for Youth.” She also had the opportunity to co-direct productions with St. Edwards University, Zilker Theatre Productions and Austin Scottish Rite Children’s Theatre. She works locally as a director and choreographer. Ginger directs and choreographs the musicals at Dripping Springs middle and high schools as well as Trinity Episcopal School. She is co-founder of Summer Stock Austin, where she has directed Footloose and West Side Story with high school and college students. Ginger is currently collaborating on a new musical with an Austin band called The Small Stars.

Clay Nichols

(TAP Founder)
Clay has written over a dozen plays for young and adult audiences that have been most recently in Austin, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Louisville, Kentucky.  Titles include "Appleseed John," "The Speaker Speaks" and "O.T."  His plays have received awards from the Center for American History at the University of Texas, the Austin Critics’ Table, Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, and Stages Theatre of Houston.  Nichols is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds an MFA from the University of Texas where he was a James A. Michener Fellow at the Texas Center for Writers. Clay is co-author of a book for aspiring filmmakers called Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts. Founder of the Theatre Focus program at St. Stephen’s School and the Texas Arts Project, he is currently the Chief Creative Officer at DadLabs.com.  He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.

Lisa Orr

(Visual Arts Instructor, Youth Art Camp & Head of Ceramics, Ceramics Camp)
For 23 years Lisa Orr has been professional potter and student of ceramics.  She completed an MFA at the NYSCC at Alfred University in 1992 and later received grants including a Fulbright and a MAAA/NEA.  Her work is in numerous public and private collections including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the permanent collection of WOCEF in Korea.  Currently she teaches, lectures and shows nationally and internationally.

Alan Shorter

(Head of Musical Theatre & Musical Director, Senior Camp)
Alan Shorter received his BA in Acting/Directing from Indiana University and his MFA in Theatre Arts with a Directing Concentration from Minnesota State University. Mr. Shorter worked as an Instructor, Music Director, Artistic Associate, Stage Director and Composer for The Children’s Theatre Company & School in Minneapolis. He served as Director of Music Theatre for Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Graduate Assistant in the Department of Theatre and Dance for Minnesota State University and Musical Theatre BFA Program Coordinator/Assistant Professor for The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Mr. Shorter has worked professionally as a Stage Director, Choreographer, Actor, Musical Director and Composer for college departments, organizations and theatre companies across the country. He is associated with The Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival, The American Composers Forum, The American Federation of Musicians, The Theatre Communications Group and The Educational Theatre Association. Mr. Shorter is currently an Assistant Professor/Performance Faculty for Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX.

David Valdes

(Head of Acting, Senior Camp & Director, TAPAdvanced)
David is currently the Director of Theatre and an acting teacher for the Theatre Focus program at St. Stephen's Episcopal School. Prior to coming to St. Stephen’s, he was Theatre Department Chair and Arts Facilitator (fifteen years) at one of the top ten nationally ranked performing arts high schools in America. David was awarded “arts educator of the year” from the Milwaukee Magazine in 1998. He has directed many award winning plays and musicals in Milwaukee and many of his former students have gone on to study at the some of the top pre-professional acting programs in the country. He was hired by St. Stephen’s in 2000, to design and develop a curriculum, which is the Theatre Focus program. His goal as a theatre educator is to make it clear to student actors that the classroom is an extension of the stage and that the stage must always be a classroom. His goal is to guide actors through a “process” rather than a “product” oriented curriculum. David has his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and has MFA graduate training from Boston University and Minnesota State University. This is David’s fourth year with TAP and has enjoyed working with these students. “We all seem to have one common denominator; a passion for the stage.”

BOARDING CAMPS

Senior Camp

Ages 13-18
Dates June 15 - July 5
General Tuition $2450
Filmmaking Tuition $2650
$500 deposit

Advanced Camp

Ages 15-18
Dates June 8 - July 5
Tuition $2850
$500 deposit

Junior Camp

Ages 9-12
Dates June 22-28, 2008
Tuition $1050
$200 Deposit

MEALS
Three meals a day are provided starting with dinner on Sunday and ending with lunch on Saturday.

DAY CAMPS

Youth Art Camp

Ages 5-10
Dates June 9-13
Half Days 9am-12pm or 1pm-4pm $150
Full Days (ages 7-10 only) 9am-4pm $275
$100 Deposit

Ceramics Camp

Ages 12-17
Dates June 9-13
9am-12pm $150
$100 Deposit

Youth Musical Theatre Camp

Ages 5-10
Dates July 14-18
Half Days 9am-12pm or 1pm-4pm $175
Full Days (ages 7-10 only) 9am-4pm $325
$100 Deposit

MEALS
Lunch is provided everyday for Full Day Campers and on Friday for all Musical Theatre Camp Participants.