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Drama School
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Musical Theatre
Grace Aiello received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Summa Cum Laude, in Theatre from Wayne State University where she received extensive dance training in many musical theatre styles. She then began her professional career as an equity actress in Detroit, and has worked as a professional actress in a number of theatre companies in Chicago. She has worked professionally as a choreographer since 1983 for dozens of shows, and has directed several plays. Also, she has written several plays, including plays for casts of exclusively children actors which have been produced in upstate New York. She enjoys offering classes and summer camps at Metropolis School of Performing Arts where she has displayed her exceptional talent and love for working with children.
Marlene Flood is an equity singer-actress from Chicago. Marlene’s regional theatre credits include: Dialogues Of The Carmelites (Lyric Opera of Chicago); The Taming Of The Shrew and Sunday In The Park With George (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Fosca in Passion (Jeff Citation Award, Porchlight Music Theatre). She has also performed at Theatre At The Center, Light Opera Works, Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre, Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Pheasant Run Theatre and National Jewish Theatre.
Other favorite roles include: Eva Peron, Evita; Fanny Brice, Funny Girl; Lady Thiang, The King and I; Agnes, I Do, I Do. Marlene also created the original character roles for the musicals, The American Girls Revue and Circle of Friends, and sang with the show’s lyricist, Gretchen Cryer, to record the CD’s for both shows.
Marlene has taught workshops in voice and voice-over, acting, and character movement and conducts the Bethany Union Children’s Choir. She holds a BA in Theatre Performance, a BA in Vocal Performance and a Masters Degree in Vocal Music Performance. Marlene is honored to be a part of the teaching staff at Metropolis School of The Performing Arts.
Ken McMullen is happy to be making his debut as a teacher here at Metropolis. Besides his love of teaching, he is also a professional pianist/music director in the Chicago and surrounding suburbs. You will be able to see him play for Metropolis's A Christmas Carol. Other shows here have been, Forever Plaid, Secret Garden and The Wiz. Besides Metropolis, he has played for Drury Lane Oakbrook, Theatre at the Center, and the Bailiwick in Chicago. Ken currently resides in Des Plaines where he continues to teach theatre, private piano, vocal coaching, and hopes to play for many more shows to come.
Sarah Wade is honored, excited and proud to be the Department Chair of Musical Theatre here at the Metropolis. She believes what SOPA stands for is so important. Participation in the arts teaches students life skills such as analyzing, communicating, self-assessing and possibility-thinking. On a larger scale, students that participate in the arts have a greater understanding of themselves on a personal level. Before joining the SOPA team, Sarah taught theatre and music in the public schools for five years in both middle and high school, and directed plays and musicals for both levels as well. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Education and a minor in English from Northern Illinois University. Her emphasis in the English minor was History of Theatre and Classical literature. She also studied the English Renaissance and Shakespeare at Oxford University, Oriel College with Dr. Glen Black. Presently, Sarah is working towards her Masters in Directing from the Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University. Along with these degrees, she has extensive specialized training from a number of professional coaches. She is a Meisner trained actor who studied under Kathryn Gatley and has trained with both Michael Kachingwe in the Arthur Lessac vocal technique and Christine Adaire in the Linklater vocal technique. Her movement training is in the Lloyd Williamson technique. Her theatre history mentor was Christopher Jones (Chicago Tribune theatre critic and Depaul Administrative Staff.) She studied improvisational acting at Second City’s Players Workshop with Eric Foresberg and has trained with numerous Chicago Directors such as Steve Scott of the Goodman Theatre and Jason Loewith of the Next Theatre. She lives in Arlington Heights with her husband, son and their chocolate Labrador, River.
Drama
Rachel Jamieson Kick is the Associate Education Director for Metropolis School of the Performing Arts. She has directed, stage managed, performed and taught students of all ages in the Chicagoland area and Cork, Ireland. Rachel was a Founder and the Artistic Director of the High School Repertory Company for several years at the Children’s Theatre of Western Springs. Other highlights include work with Lifeline Theater, Steppenwolf Arts Exchange, Cork Shakespearean Company, University College of Cork and the world-renowned Gaiety School of Acting. Rachel is an Illinois state certified theatre, speech and English teacher, has been a middle school music teacher and is currently a speech coach at Maine West High School. She holds a BA in Secondary Education from Concordia University, River Forest and has taken professional courses at Act One Studios in Chicago. Rachel has just completed her term as a board member for the Illinois Theatre Association.
Steve Leaver, Artistic Director of Imagination Theater Steve has been a Drama teacher at Metropolis since 2002. He also has worked with Imagination Theater since 1997 and has been the Artistic Director with the company since 2001. He oversees all of the programming at the theater and also leads staff development workshops and customized programming for schools. Steve has worked as a professional actor with many theaters in and around the Chicago area. He holds a BS in theater from Illinois State University.
David Marcotte (co-teacher for “Act and Sing”) returns to MPAC where he co-taught a full day workshop on theater appreciation this summer. In addition to teaching workshops David is the first and only Artistic Associate with Provision Theater Company where he, among many responsibilities, has acted in six of their last eight productions including the Jeff Nominated A Christmas Carol, The Spitfire Grill, and composed and performed the percussion track for the award winning A Cotton Patch Gospel. David is also a member of Right Brain Project where he has directed, composed, choreographed, and acted. Most recently David worked on Navy Pier understudying and performing two roles at Chicago Shakespeare in Short Shakespeare!, The Taming of the Shrew. He also recently recorded the voices of several characters for an on-line educational textbook of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Other Chicago Credits include The Problem, The Case of the Crushed Petunias, and Shaw’s Man and Superman (Rogue Theater), Johnny Tremain (Lifeline Theater), and The Empire Builders (Right Brain Project). David has also worked with Breadline Theater Group, The Side Project, Polarity Theater Ensemble, Live Wire Theater, Hi-Volt Theater, International Theatre of Chicago, Treemont Avenue Theatre and the Bailiwick. Recent film credits include Salt Creek County and Troubadours (Down State Productions, LLC) and Ray Bradbury’s The Small Assassin (Beverly Ridge Pictures, LLC). David is currently working on the film Coopersville (William and James Productions, LLC) and looks forward to working on Chicago Over-coat (Beverly Ridge Pictures, LLC), an exciting film project happening this November staring many names from TV’s The Sopranos. Also, David can be seen this fall performing in the play Number the Stars at Apple Tree Theater. David may also be heard or seen in various voiceover and commercial spots. He is proud to be “fighting the good fight” in the great city of Chicago after earning his acting degree from Western Illinois University where he also studied music (voice and percussion) and education.
Claudia Peyton is an actress, performer, acting instructor, and nationally certified Alexander Technique teacher. She discovered the Alexander Technique as a student of theatre while at the University of Illinois and The Drama Studio of London. She received her Alexander Technique teaching certification from the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT) in Manhattan. Her background as a teacher and performance coach spans 25 years. She has extensive experience working with musicians, actors and other performing artists in major entertainment hubs such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
As an actress, Claudia has a unique perspective based on her experience and love of the creative process. In New York City she was the primary Alexander Technique Teacher/Physical Life Character Coach for Judith Shakespeare Company. She teaches Acting, Improvisation, and the Alexander Technique at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre (SOPA), and has lectured and taught for Harper College’s Music Department, Pace University of New York, Lake Forest College, Victory Gardens Theater, and Northlight Theater.
In Claudia’s free time she exercises, gardens, loves to cook, and goes to Theater.
Education Director, Annie Sisson Rezac received her B.A. in Broadcast Communications from East Stroudsburg University and her M.F.A. in Acting from Western Illinois University. She has over eight years experience directing, teaching and acting including serving as a teaching artist at Flynn Centre for the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vermont and Metropolis School of the Performing Arts. Annie was also a director, teacher and actor for the Missoula Children’s Theater and served as the General Manager for the Vermont Stage Company. In addition, Annie has toured the country as a drama instructor for in-school drama curriculums and residencies. Since moving to Chicago, she has acted professionally in theatre, film, and commercials, as well as trained in the Second City Conservatory.
Megan Willhite has been teaching and directing for the School of the Performing Arts since 2003. Megan has taught creative drama, improvisation, and performance classes for elementary students and currently specializes in early childhood. Megan is one of Metropolis' resident Wiggle, Giggle & Grow teachers and has been teaching 2, 3, and 4 year olds since 2005. Megan is also the lead teacher for SOPA's Flourish in the Footlights program . Run in conjunction with Friends of Children in Therapy, Flourish gives teenagers and adults with special needs a chance to refine their acting techniques followed by the opportunity to create and perform a full scale production on the Metropolis stage.
Megan's Metropolis directing credits include Robin Hood and The Jungle Book with Flourish in the Footlights and Pippi Longstocking, The Wizard of Oz, and The Phantom Tollbooth with Curtains Up! In addition to teaching and directing, Megan is also a part-time employee in the Metropolis Education Department and has served in many capacities, including Education Office Manager, Assistant Camp Director for Curtains Up! and Lights Up!, and Child Coach for the production of A Christmas Carol. Megan has a BA in Theatre and Communications from Monmouth College and has performed professionally with AlphaBet Soup Productions, Shantz Theatre Company, Morton College Theatre for Youth, and at Six Flags Great America.
Dance
Kristen Gurbach Jacobson is a performer, educator and youth arts manager. She studied at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts, receiving a BA in Musical Theatre, a Minor in Dance and a Concentration in Education. Since then her work has taken her to Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Musical Theatre, DanceTime Studio, LABCO Contemporary Dance Company; Cleveland: Beck Center for Performing Arts, Willoughby Fine Arts; and Chicago: Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Free Street, Metropolis. Kristen’s performance credits include conservatory and regional shows throughout the Midwest. Favorite performance credits include: On the Town, Nine, A Chorus Line, Tesla’s Letters, Two Gentlemen, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods. Kristen choreographs for youth productions and professionally throughout Chicago. Choreography credits at Metropolis include I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; The Secret Garden; A Christmas Carol; The Wiz; and High School Musical. She recently received an MA in Arts in Youth and Community Development at Columbia College Chicago. Currently, Kristen has stepped into the role of Outreach Manager at the Metropolis School of Performing Arts. This position has allowed Kristen to design and implement in- and after-school programs at schools and organizations throughout the community. Kristen also teaches dance and theatre at Metropolis and throughout Chicagoland.
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contactus
Box Office
Tues–Sat 10-5 (or until showtime)
Sun 1-5
847.577.2121
Education Office
Mon-Fri 12-7
Sat 9-3
847.577.5982 x221
Contact Education
Group Discounts
847.577.5982 x241
Contact Group Discounts
Friends of Metropolis
Contact Development
847.577.5982 x242
Contact Development
Address
111 W. Campbell St.
Arlington Heights, Il 60005
Map to Metropolis
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