Guest Artists

(partial list)

JEFFREY SCHECTER
Guest choreographer: A Chorus Line (2018) Guys and Dolls Dance Intensive (2019)
Jeffrey, better known in the theater community as “Shecky”, has been a professional performer for almost 20 years. Jeff’s Broadway and National Tour credits include A Chorus LineThe Pajama GameWonderful TownBeauty And The Beast, Guys And DollsWest Side StoryRagtime, and The Mambo Kings. He has appeared regionally at the Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey (On The Town), Reprise LA in Los Angeles (Babes In Arms) and City Center Encores in NY (Bells Are Ringing, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.)

SARA BRIANS
Guest artist- Matilda/ Kiss Me Kate Dance Intensive (2018)
Sara is an award-winning director, choreographer, dancer and educator based in New York City. Her work spans Broadway theatre to film, live events and industrials.  On Broadway, Sara was the Movement Assistant for Michael Moore’s The Terms of My Surrender, Resident Choreographer for Matilda the Musical, Resident Choreographer for Billy Elliot the Musical, Assistant Choreographer for Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, and Assistant Choreographer for After The Night And The Music. Sara was the Assistant Choreographer for the US Tour of Matilda and Resident Choreographer for Billy Elliot in Chicago and Toronto. Sara also re-mounted the original choreography for White Christmas in England, Scotland and Wales.

GEORGE JUDY
Guest director-Spring Awakening (2014) Into The Woods (2015)
George is Gresdna A. Doty Professor of Theatre at The Louisiana State University, where he headed the M.F.A. Acting Program and served as Artistic Director of Swine Palace, the AEA theatre in residence at LSU. Professor Judy is a member of Actors Equity Association, and was recently invested as a Fellow of the American Theatre at the Kennedy Center alongside such theatre luminaries as Michael Khan and William Esper. His credits as an actor, writer, director and educator include work with the Royal National Theatre Studio, London, The Asolo Theatre, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Texas Shakespeare Festival Pennsylvania Centre Stage, Illinois Shakespeare Festival and twelve seasons with the Tony award winning Utah Shakespearean Festival where he performed and was producer and director for USF’s Plays in Progress, which developed important new works and playwrights for the American theatre. His most recent directing projects were ARCADIA for Swine Palace in Baton Rouge and MUCH ADO for Texas Shakespeare Festival in 2017.

ALEXIS BLACK
Stage Combat Intensive (2015-2019)
Alexis
eceived her BFA in Performance from Ohio University and her MFA in Theatre Performance Pedagogy with an emphasis in Movement from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is an educator, fight, movement and intimacy director, performer, and director. As a professional actor and member of AEA, she has worked with regional theaters, on international tours and in numerous shows in NYC. Favorite credits include productions with The Dorset Theater Festival, The Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company and touring with TNT-Britain. On the small screen you can find her acting and performing stunts on AMC, The Discovery Channel and the upcoming film Tower of Silence. As a fight and movement director she has choreographed in Europe, South Korea, and regionally in the US, including as assistant fight director for Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet for the Tony-award winning theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC. In NYC she has choreographed for the NY Fringe, over 20 productions Off-Off Broadway, and Off Broadway. She also served as assistant choreographer for Fool for Love on Broadway, starring Sam Rockwell and Nina Arianda.

AJ ALLEGRA
Guest Director-Chicago (2019)
AJ is the current Artistic Director of The NOLA Project. A.J. is an original member of the company, along with original Artistic Director, founder, and friend Andrew Larimer. He moved down to New Orleans after graduating from NYU with other members of The NOLA Project in 2007 and has resided in the city since that time. He has over thirty credits with the company as a director and actor and has been nominated for several Big Easy Awards and has won two, for directing Assassins (2008) and acting in Mr. Marmalade (2009). Under his leadership, the company has formed many important cultural partnerships with area organizations, the most significant being The NOLA Project’s unique partnership with The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). In 2012, he was named to Gambit Magazine’s prestigious 40 Under 40 List. He currently teaches theatre at Lusher Charter School and previously taught in the NOCCA Theatre Department for seven years.