The Co-Founders
KYM CHAMBERS OTTO (She/Her/Hers)
Kym received a Masters in Vocal Performance from New York University and BA from St. Olaf College. Originally from California, Kym relocated to the Twin Cities after living in New York City for a decade. Kym works as a professional actor/singer/dancer and has toured with the Broadway Tours Cats, Cinderella, and The Wizard of Oz. Regionally she has worked at prestigious companies such as Kansas City Starlight, TUTS, TOTS, North Shore, Ogunquit Playhouse, Kansas City Rep, Casa Manana, Bushnell PAC and Ordway CPA . Kym is actively involved in developing New Work with Nautilus Music Theatre. She has sung with The St. Olaf Choir, The World Youth Choir, Vocalessence and is a founding member of “Chick Cheer” entertaining over the holiday season.
When Kym is not performing she runs a successful private voice studio (NATS member), choreographs for Musical Theater, is a show choir clinician/adjudicator and a Lead Spotlight Evaluator for Hennepin Theater Trust‘s Theater Education Outreach Program. Her students have gone on to NYU, Vitterbo, UW Stevens Point, U of M Duluth and Twin Cities, University of Oklahoma, Coastal Carolina, UCLA, Northridge, Hartt School of Music, Millikin University, St. Olaf, Luther, Concordia, Gustavus and BYU. Kym has strong ties to the Broadway community and has recently curated Q and A sessions with Broadway Artists to connect with her MT studio students.
While at NYU, Kym worked as a Graduate Assistant in MT and was in charge of all new student inquiries and ran auditions for all incoming students. This provided a unique opportunity to see the audition process from the inside of a highly regarded MT program.
ANDY KUST (He/Him/His)
Andy Kust is an award-winning music director, vocal coach and pianist, and is the Resident Music Director at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Recent credits include regional productions of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn (Regional Premiere), Mamma Mia! (Regional Premiere), Bare, Jesus Christ Superstar, Green Day’s American Idiot (Regional Premiere), The Music Man, Next to Normal (Regional Premiere), Spring Awakening, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Regional Premiere), and RENT, among others. His work as a music director has taken him across the country from NYC, to the Kennedy Center, Phoenix, and now Minneapolis. As a vocal coach, he is a member of New York Singing Teachers Association as well as Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance, and has taught masterclasses at colleges and universities throughout the United States, as well as multiple engagements with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Andy served on the faculty for the BFA in Musical Theater at the University of Minnesota Duluth for 5 years, and prior to that, held a Teaching Assistantship with the musical theater program at Arizona State University. He currently has a private studio in the Twin Cities, where he works with professional singing actors. His clients have appeared on Broadway and in the national touring companies of Wicked, Dear Evan Hansen, Frozen, Mean Girls, Hamilton, Kinky Boots, and Spring Awakening, and at regional theaters across the country. As a college audition coach, recent clients have been accepted into musical theatre programs that include The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Carnegie Mellon University, The University of Michigan, UW Stevens Point, Baldwin Wallace, New York University, The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and Shenandoah University. Andy also keeps a busy schedule as a coach and pianist, serving as the Associate Music Director for the Spotlight Program through the Hennepin Theatre Trust, as an Artist Educator for the Ordway Center of Performing Arts, as well as a pianist for numerous national tours and regional theaters that include The Guthrie, Theater Latté Da, and the Duluth Playhouse.
Education: Bachelor of Arts in Music from Luther College, Master of Music in Theatre Music Direction and Performance from Arizona State University
andykustmusic.com
Associate Coaches
Shad Olsen (he/him)
Andrea Mislan's (she/her) professional performing career spans over 25 years. A graduate from Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division, she has continued to evolve in contemporary and musical theater styles, in such productions as Celine Dion's "A New Day," Cirque du Soleil's "Viva Elvis," and "Chicago the Musical" International tour. A current resident of Minneapolis MN, she has most recently performed at the Guthrie Theater ("West Side Story," "Guys and Dolls," "Cyrano de Bergerac"), Chanhassen Dinner Theaters ("Holiday Inn," "Music Man", "Footloose"), The Ordway ("Smokey Joe's Cafe"), and in several Collide Theatrical's original jazz dance musicals. Andrea has choreographed for several regional theaters and studios across North America and has taught master classes internationally in ballet, contemporary, musical theatre, and Fosse technique (Broadway Across America). She is currently a teaching artist for Twin Cities Musical Theater Training, the Guthrie Theater, Community Movement Collective, and loves teaching company class for Ballet Co Laboratory. A movement mentor, certified in Clinical Somatic Education and Franklin Method, her focus is to guide an embodied and efficient way of moving, facilitating a deeper understanding of movement and dance technique in every style, for every mover.
Michael Gruber (he/him)
Ashley Selmer (she/her) is the Founder and Creative Director of SHAPESHIFT. She is trained in Jazz, contemporary, ballet, hip-hop and African. Ashley’s credits include SHAPESHIFT productions: Grey Skies Blue, XI:XI, XI:XI: The Awakening. Selmer has been hired as Associate Choreographer for hip-hop musical Last Stop On Market Street (Children’s Theatre Company); Associate Choreographer for In The Heights and Jesus Christ Superstar (Ordway Center for Performing Arts) and 2nd Assistant Director for Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Ordway Center for Performing Arts). Her performing credits include The Amen Corner (Guthrie/Penumbra Theater); Ensemble West Side Story (Ordway Center for the Performing Arts); Film/TV credits include: Commercial, MN Zoo, African Penguin Exhibit. Additional credits include performer for J Lo’s Direct TV Now Campaign Super Bowl LII, Official Prince Tribute Concert Xcel Energy Center ( Tori Kelly), The Target National Sales Concert (Willow Smith), Team iLuminate in Las Vegas at the Bellagio (America's Got Talent), and more. In the studio, Selmer draws from life’s real and imaginary experiences to craft stories that emote feelings and reflect diversity & inclusion. She emphasizes technique but prefers utilizing each dancer’s unique and beautiful movements as tools for telling, moving, and interwoven narratives. Selmer earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (emphasis in choreography and performance) from The University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Andy Asong-Morfaw (he/him) is originally from Cameroon and moved to the United States at the age of 14 in September of 2003. His background in dance has been familiarized with the West African style called Makossa which is commonly known back home. He has also adapted other African styles from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and the United States like Ndombolo, Decale, Mapouka, Azonto, hip hop, and the recent one of afro beats. He runs a Health Care Business that facilitates PCA (Personal Care Assistance) and Supplemental Staffing with a Masters’ degree in Project Management. He is currently a dance instructor for Klass Minneapolis and for All Day Studio teaching Jazz funk, a collaboration of hip hop, afro, house, jazz, African, and grooves. He is currently the assistant choreographer of the Timberwolves’ 612 Crew, a choreographer for Mixtape part 3 in 2019, and IV (2021) at the Cowles Center. He has also done some work for “Rooted” and was featured as one of the dancers for Colin Edwards' piece at the Ordway. He have also worked at the University of Minnesota for their dance program in the spring of 2020 and the residency program in the fall of 2020. His dance brand is called AMANIM5 and he creates monthly dance workshops by creating a safe and positive environment for dancers who do not have the opportunity to learn from him during the week and to help better their craft as performers, artists, and students.
Linda Talcott Lee (she/her) is an Emmy award winning choreographer and Broadway veteran. Teaching credits: Affiliate faculty at the U of M and University of St. Catherine’s, BallareTeatro, Guthrie Theatre, CTC, St.Paul Conservatory for Performing Arts, St. Olaf, Steps and Theatre Dance in NYC, Dupree Dance Academy in LA, CorePower Yoga, LifeTime Fitness, Dance Spectrum in St. Paul, Ovations (nationwide Master classes) Choreographic credits: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - Ordway, MULAN, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, CINDERELLA, MATILDA - CTC, ROMEO AND JULIET - Guthrie Theatre HORMEL GIRLS, A SERVANTS CHRISTMAS – History Theatre THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, CITY OF ANGELS, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, VAGABOND KING, VIOLET, CITY OF ANGELS, GREASE, H2$, DAMN YANKEES, 7 BRIDES…, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, ACL, WSS, HSM, SEUSSICAL, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, CINDERELLA, URINETOWN, 45 MINUTES FROM BROADWAY, VIOLET, BROTHER WOLF, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, STREET SCENE AND RIGOLETTO. Performance credits: Broadway: JEROME ROBBINS’ BROADWAY, THE GOODBYE GIRL, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and SEUSSICAL Guthrie: ROMAN HOLIDAY, SHE LOVES ME Ordway: CINDERELLA Chanhassen Dinner Theatres: MARY POPPINS, SWING, WEST SIDE STORY, CATS Fitzgerald: WILD PARTY Regional: WEST SIDE STORY, A CHORUS LINE, JOSEPH AND HIS AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT Linda earned an Emmy Award for her choreographic work in THE COMEDY HALL OF FAME with Jason Alexander.
James Rocco (he/him) is the co-founder of Thirty Saints Productions, creator of Broadway Songbook®. From 2005-2017, Rocco was the VP of Programming and Producing Artistic Director at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, where he presented and booked the best of touring Broadway (August, Osage County, An American In Paris, Kinky Boots, Les Misérables) and produced or co-produced award-winning theatricals (In The Heights, Love, Janis, Cabaret, West Side Story.) As the Ordway's representative and member of the Broadway League, he was a producing partner and investor in Fun Home, Something’s Rotten, Legally Blonde, The Color Purple, Monty Python’s Spamalot, and others. In 2019, he was recognized by The Broadway League and The Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds for "30 years of dedication, craft, and contribution to the theater" at their annual Broadway Salutes ceremony. Currently a member of NAMT (National Alliance for Musical Theatre), he serves on the Alliance’s New Works committee. Before joining the Ordway team, Rocco was Producing Artistic Director of Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and Interim Artistic Director of Stage One, a theatre dedicated to new musical development. James directed and produced his first show in New York at 16 (Henry, Sweet Henry, at the Mercer Arts Center and the Lamb Theatre). As a performer, he appeared in the original Broadway production of Cats (as the Rum Tum Tugger), the International and TV Ashai Productions of Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies; sang back up for Frank Sinatra and was featured singer for Herbie Hancock and the Super Sounds. He played Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, The Witch in Into The Woods appears on 10 Ben Bagley albums, and his CD, It's Between Us, produced the FMQB Top 40 hit, And The Night Stood Still by Diane Warren. In 2021 Broadway World Minneapolis cited him as Vocalist of the Decade.His freelance work as a director/choreographer includes award-winning productions of 33 Variations (Broadway World, Best Regional Production of the Decade), Grey Gardens, Yankee Doodle Dandy (World Premiere), Sweeney Todd, The Wizard of Oz (with Roseanne, Eartha Kitt, and Mickey Rooney), Chess, She Loves Me, Violet, South Pacific, White Christmas, As Bees in Honey Drown, A Little Night Music, Songs For A New World, Damn Yankees, Pirates of Penzance, Guys & Dolls, On the Town, A Christmas Story, Annie, Jesus Christ Superstar and more.
Renee Guittar (she/her) is a Twin Cities based dancer, actor, choreographer, and dance educator originally from Lincoln, Nebraska. Renee has been a company member of Collide Theatrical Dance Company since 2013 and performed in over 10 productions with Collide. Renee has performed at theaters such as The Guthrie, The Ordway, Chanhassen Dinner Theater, Theater Latte Da and The Old Log Theater and is a member of Actor's Equity Association. Renee choreographed "Footloose" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres which will be showing February 2022-February 2023. Currently, Renee teaches at Ashley Ballet Arts Academy and is a Cowles Center Teaching Artist. Through the Cowles Center Teaching Artist Program, Renee continues to expand her reach to local students of all ages teaching residencies throughout the Twin Cities area and through the Cowles Center Distance Learning Program, where she has taught throughout the country via video conferencing. Renee has presented choreography with Collide Theatrical Dance Company, Young Artists Initiative, the Zenon Dance Zone, and at venues such as Patrick's Cabaret, Chanhassen Dinner Theater, Theatre in the Round, The Ritz Theater, and many local high schools. Renee choreographed for numerous main stage productions at Gustavus Adolphus College and represented Gustavus at the American College Dance Festival, where the adjudicators described her choreography as having “spot on clarity, sensitivity, nuance, and maturity.” Renee co-directed "CLOCKED", a MN Fringe Festival Production that received the "Audience Pick" encore slot at the Rarig Center Proscenium Theater. Guittar Productions has produced unique physical theater and comedic dance performances including an interactive dinner theater show entitled "COOKED" produced in Spring 2014 and "CIRCULATE". From 2012-2015 Renee toured as a dancer, choreographer, and producer with entertainer and illusionist Jared Sherlock.
Britta Ollmann (she/her) Credits include work on Broadway, and with the Guthrie, Ordway, Asolo Rep, Theatre Latté Da, The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, The Old Globe, FreeFall Theatre, Old Log Theatre, and Children's Theatre Company. Britta holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from New York University and a MA in teaching from Hamline University.
Rush Benson (he/him) is an actor, dancer, teacher, musician, and choreographer originally from Minneapolis, MN. After graduating with degrees in Theatre and Dance from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2013, Rush toured with the Flying Foot Forum and performed internationally as choreographer and director for “The Folded Paper Project” in Hong Kong with Kanta Kochhar. Rush has worked as an actor, dancer and choreographer at numerous professional theaters around the Twin Cities area including The Guthrie, The Ordway, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Park Square Theater, Artistry Theater, and The Old Log Theater. At the Ordway, Rush performed in the “tap dance extravaganza” 42nd Street with new choreography by Broadway Phenom Jared Grimes and performed his favorite role as Action in West Side Story with the original Jerome Robbins Broadway choreography. In film and commercial work, Rush has had the pleasure of working with Jamal Sims (Choreographer from the Step Up film series), performed on Lady Dynamite (Netflix), and in Split Rock Shuffle with the Flying Foot Forum. In 2015, he co-founded CABARAVE with Rathaus Productions, an immersive dance, circus, and visual art experience that has produced over ten shows in the Twin Cities and been featured in “Star Tribune Variety Best Of The Week.” With Rathaus Productions, Rush has written and starred in four music videos with original music and choreography. Rush has performed with several dance companies in the Twin Cities including Collide Theatrical Dance Company, James Sewell Ballet, and Keane Sense of Rhythm Tap Company. Rush is a teaching artist with The Cowles Center, The Ordway, and The Guthrie Theater and has taught at dozens of schools around the country in person or via video conferencing. He enjoys a solid jam session, freestyle rap, dance ciphers, animals, nature, and the feeling you get from a deep intellectual discussion.
Patrick Jeffrey (he/him) started his professional dance career with Black Label Movement in Minneapolis, MN. The high intensity, athletic and raw aesthetic of Carl Flink called to Patrick’s animal within. Patrick was fortunate enough to join Zenon Dance Company where he performed with the Minnesota Opera, traveled to France to create a piece and went to Cuba to perform in Havana. He has been a company member with Collide Theatrical for several seasons playing the roles of Romeo and Gatsby. He transitioned to musical theater for a short time performing in the ensemble at The Ordway, and with Carnival Cruise Lines.
William Wesbrooks (he/him) College training in psychology, music, and theatre provided the foundation for William Wesbrooks’ 40-year career as an actor, director, playwright, and teacher. He served as the Director of the Program in Vocal Performance in the Steinhardt School at New York University for fifteen years where he taught and oversaw the training of singers earning both undergraduate and advanced degrees in Music Theatre, Classical Voice, and Vocal Pedagogy. Among the many productions he directed at NYU were The Man of La Mancha, Carousel, Fiorello!, The Most Happy Fella, Candide, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Ragtime, Street Scene, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well …, and The Merry Widow as well as the gala performance of King David at which the authors — Alan Menken and Sir Tim Rice — were inducted into NYU’s Music Theatre Hall of Fame. Professional directing credits include the Off-Broadway musical revue The Water Coolers and the critically acclaimed Tallulah, Hallelujah! – written by and starring Tovah Feldshuh and named by USA Today as one of the ten best productions of 2000. Regional credits include My Fair Lady starring Gary Beach and Maureen Brennan, My One and Only starring Jodi Benson and Hinton Battle, Peter Pan starring Judy Blazer, Gypsy starring Dolores Gray, and Shenandoah starring John Raitt as well as Private Lives, The Pirates of Penzance, A Chorus Line, The Secret Garden, and It’s a Wonderful Life. He staged the musical numbers for Sarah Miles' one-woman autobiographical musical, Sheba, and has directed national tours of West Side Story, Gypsy, Brigadoon, The Sound of Music, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. As a playwright Mr. Wesbrooks has been awarded a CAPS Fellowship and a Ludwig Vogelstein Grant for Beulah Land as well as a development grant from the Pilgrim Project. With composer Ronald Strauss he co-wrote the libretto for Barbary Keep, a ballad opera that received a 1994 development grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in collaboration with Maury Yeston he wrote the book for History Loves Company and directed its world premiere in Chicago. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild, Actors Equity, and The Society of Directors and Choreographers. His book on acting for singers – Dramatic Circumstances: On Singing, Acting, and Living Inside the Stories We Tell – is available on Amazon.
Gabrielle Dominique (she/her) A South Minneapolis native, Gabrielle graduated from St. Olaf College where she earned her B.A. in Dance & Theatre. She has worked with the Guthrie Theater, Ordway Center, the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, and the Children’s Theatre Company, among others. When she isn’t kicking up her heels onstage, she enjoys choreographing and teaching dance across the Metro. Gabrielle was last seen onstage in Theater Latté Da’s production of Jelly’s Last Jam.
Julia Ennen (she/her) is a Twin Cities-based actor, singer, and voice teacher. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Race & Ethnic Studies. She studied classical voice, sang roles in several operas, and taught musical theatre workshops. After completing two years of AmeriCorps service, her journey took her out to NYC where she earned a Master of Music in Music Theatre and Advanced Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy from New York University. She served as an Adjunct Instructor of Voice on the NYU Faculty for two years. Julia is happy to call the Twin Cities home again where she works actively as both an actor and voice instructor. Julia’s goal is to help students develop beautiful, sustainable vocal technique and become the best version of themselves as artists. While she teaches across genres, her speciality is musical theatre, including both legit and contemporary mix/belt styles. She enjoys creating a positive, thoughtful, and safe environment where students are free to ask questions, explore, make mistakes, and try new things with fearlessness.
Pascal Pastrana (he/him) made his Broadway debut in Mean Girls. Other recent credits include Nathaniel in Paint Your Wagon at the St. Louis MUNY, Danny Zuko in Grease, Sky in Mamma Mia!, Jesus in Godspell and Enjolras in Les Miserables.
Jennifer A. Crist (she/her) is a professional dance instructor & choreographer in the Twin Cities & West metro. She specializes in dance technique, training and education, musical theatre choreography, and competitive studio work. Jen earned her B.A. in Public Relations & Theatre from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, and was a member and captain of the UWEC Dance Team, a member and choreographer for the UWEC Orchesis Dance Company and founder of the Eau Claire community arts outreach in dance education. Jennifer is currently the Resident Choreographer at Minnetonka Theatre, and a member of the competitive teaching staff Glen Lake Academy of Dance. Minnetonka Theatre recent choreography credits: Chicago (Fall 2021), Something Rotten (Spring 2021), Chaplin The Musical (Fall 2019), Bright Star (Fall 2018), Mary Poppins (Spring 2018). Dance Training & Education: Toni Poll-Sorenson (ballet), Marcia Keegan (ballet), Julie Kerr-Berry (modern), Ronn Tice (ballet), Dan Stark (modern, improvisation). Jennifer’s recent performance credits include Minnetonka Theatre, Pacific Midwest Ballet, and the Minnesota Fringe Festival. www.jenniferacrist.com
Kayla Jenerson (she/her) Broadway workshops: The Karate Kid the Musical. National tours: A Bronx Tale the Musical (Jane), Motown the Musical (U/S Diana Ross), Legally Blonde the Musical (Pilar). Selected regional: West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Chorus Line, Violet, White Christmas. Proud graduate of UW-Madison.
Tony Vierling (he/him)
JOY HANSON (She/Her/Hers)
Joy Hanson is an English teacher at Eastview High School in Apple Valley, MN. She received her Bachelor of Arts and her Master of Education, with an emphasis on Secondary English Education, from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.
Ms. Hanson has been teaching Advanced Placement (AP) English Language and Composition for over 20 years, and she has taught a variety of other English courses, including on-level 11th grade, honors 9th grade, and mythology, to name a few. Her experience scoring the national AP English Language & Composition exams has allowed her to see examples of the most effective elements of writing from students all across the country.
Ms. Hanson encourages students to trust in their own unique stories to create effective, powerful responses to those challenging college application essay prompts. Working with 11th graders for over 20 years has allowed her to work with many students as they write their application essays. She not only provides editing and revision tips but also helps writers to discover the essential message of their essay.
Outside of the classroom, Ms. Hanson works with students in the GSA (Gender & Sexuality Awareness) Club. She is an avid reader of both fiction and nonfiction, and she is a relatively decent cook and gardener.
LAUREN ROSENBERG (She/Hers/Her)
Lauren is currently a senior studying business management at Gustavus Adolphus College, where she actively participates in the Gustavus choir and greek life. She has been studying voice since 2011, when she first joined her middle school choir and quickly discovered her love for all things singing and performing. She spent the majority of her high school career either rehearsing with show choir, or participating in theatre year round. Though she isn’t formally studying music during her time at Gustavus, her passion for music is still well and alive. She hopes that her musical background and learned expertise in the field of business will eventually lead her down the path of music business. Whether that be through management, publicity, or digital marketing - Lauren hopes to always be surrounded in a creative environment that allows her to feel energized and motivated.