Current Students

Geoffrey Barnes

Geoffrey Barnes is a Native of Cincinnati, Ohio and has been a NYC based actor for the past 11 years. Credits include: Sandy the Dandy and Charlie McGee at the IRT Playhouse, NYC, Ishmael and Ahab Mon Amour – Melvillapalooza Festival at the Metropolitan Playhouse, NYC, Henry V, The Winter's Tale, Loves Labour's Lost the Musical and Two Gentlemen of Verona with the American Globe Theater, NYC, A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Storm Theater Company, NYC, She Loves Me and Ocean Drive with The Dorset Theater Festival in Dorset, Vermont, The Tap Dance Kid and Train is Comin' with the St. Louis Black Repertory Company, A Christmas Carol with the Nebraska Theatre Caravan, Return to the Forbidden Planet and Annie with The Hope Summer Repertory Festival in Holland, Michigan, Much Ado about Nothing with the Inwood Shakespeare Festival, NYC, Served Cold/Revenge 2 with The Drilling Company, NYC, Michigan Takedown – Staged Reading with The Ensemble Studio Theatre, NYC, National tours of Peter Pan, and Jekyll and Hyde with Theatreworks/USA. In addition, Geoffrey has served as a teaching artist and company member of The American Globe Theater's Shakespeare for Schools program touring NYC Schools in productions of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. Geoffrey is a former member of a six-part a capella group DUWENDE – Winner of 2005 and 2008 Contemporary a capella Recording Awards for best pop/rock album and song. A member of Actors' Equity Association, Geoffrey received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from Webster University in St. Louis, MO. He is excited to be a part of the M.F.A. program at the University of Texas.

Read Geoffrey's Resumé (Microsoft Word Document)

Nickclette Izuegbu

Liz Kimball

Liz is delighted to be here. A NYC based actress, Liz recently originated the roles of Eija Ritta in the world premiere of Erika's Wall at The Music Theatre Company, and Lisa in Jackson Rep's critically acclaimed 167 Tongues. Other recent roles include Penny in Walnut Street Theatre's Hairspray, and the title role in Coming, Aphrodite! at La MaMa ETC. Additional NYC credits include The York, NYMF, and B.B. King's; regional credits include Paper Mill Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, Weston Playhouse, Marriott Lincolnshire, Florida Stage, and ABT (Zoni Nomination – Best Actress). In the inaugural production of the American Music Theatre Project, Liz played Angel in Kleinbort and Thalken's Was, directed by Tina Landau. A member of Actors' Equity, Liz graduated summa cum laude with degrees in English and Theatre from Northwestern University. This past summer Liz conceived, directed, and choreographed the original musical HappyFoods for The Music Theatre Company, of which she is an original ensemble member. As an educator, Liz has taught theatre and dance at Mount Holyoke College, Northwestern, and to young people throughout the East Coast. Upcoming projects include the title role in Allison Gregory's Junie B. Jones at The Paramount, directed by Steven Dietz, and Polly in Threepenny Opera, directed by Halena Kays.

Visit Liz's website www.lizkimball.com

Download Liz's Resumé (pdf – download adobe reader.)

Jason Ko

Jason Ko was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, where he gradually fell in love with the English language and acting. After his arrival in the United States in 2003, Jason's passion for acting became stronger as he participated in theatre arts classes in Arcadia High School, California. During his undergraduate years at UC Santa Barbara, where he received his B.A. in Theater Studies, Jason worked briefly with the school's acting B.F.A. program and received his on-screen debut as the opportunistic pastor Pat in the independent short film Until the Very Last Minute, directed by Steven Ray Morri. Jason also co-directed the Department of Asian American Studies' performance of Playsia 20 with Professor Ambi Harsha. Recently, Jason made his television debut as a Hong Kong businessman, Chan, in GoToMeeting.com's “Mr. Sushi” commercial, which can be seen on many national television channels, including CNN and ESPN. With many thanks to Fran Dorn, Jason is now a member of the M.F.A. Acting program, and he will continue his journey in the exploration of acting.

Daniel Lendzian

Dan is in his second year in the M.F.A. Acting program at The University of Texas at Austin. Dan's UT credits include Love’s Labor’s Lost, Bacha Bazi, 360 (round dance), The Cherry Orchard, The Threepenny Opera, and Clybourne Park.
 
Other Credits Include: Macbeth and Dracula with FESTA Theatre in Florence, Italy; Much Ado About Nothing with the Frog and Peach Theatre Company; Romeo and Juliet and King Lear at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet with Shakespeare Live!; Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It at Shakespeare in the Valley; Birdgirl with Impact Theatre at HERE Performance Space; Batboy: The Musical at the Weathervane Repertory Theatre; Plain and Fancy at Blatt's Theatre; and Butterflies are Free, The Tempest, and Shipwrecked!: An Entertainment at the Winnipeasakee Playhouse.  In 2011, he was nominated for a New Hampshire Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Shipwrecked!.

Dan co-founded Playground Drama Day Camp in 2006 and serves as the director of education.  He graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia with a B.F.A. in Acting and a B.A. in English.

Download Dan's Resumé (pdf – download adobe reader.)

Mykal Monroe

Mykal Monroe is pleased to be a member of the UT Department of Theatre and Dance. Prior to enrollment at UT, she toured with Janelle Monáe of The Wondaland Arts Society as a dancer and creative collaborator during her live performances in various national and international concert series. Although she is pursuing her education, The W.A.S. will always be home. Her credits at UT include "Kalina" in The Pain and the Itch, "Dunyasha" in The Cherry Orchard, and "Callie" in Stop Kiss which she also produced. She is thrilled to begin work on the role of "Maria" in her first Shakespeare production, Love’s Labour’s Lost this semester. In her spare time, Mykal enjoys telling jokes that are not funny, reading 17th century French poetry, curating children’s museums on the weekends, and volunteering at the retirement community next door to her apartment complex. One, some, or all of the aforementioned interests are not true. Or are they? Cheers!

Download Mykal's Resumé (pdf – download adobe reader.)

Amanda Morish

Amanda Morish is a first-year M.F.A. in Acting student. Amanda was born and raised in Northern California and completed her B.A. in Theatre (as well as a B.A. in Psychology) at California State University, Sacramento. Prior to moving to Austin, Amanda was involved in numerous regional and collegiate productions, favorites including Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde, Lorca as a Woman in Lorca in a Green Dress and Meredith in Bat Boy. For the latter two, Amanda was nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, part of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (ACTF). The day Amanda made the semi-finals at ACTF, she also got a very special phone call from Fran Dorn in regards to her acceptance and full fellowship to the University of Texas at Austin…that was a very good day! In addition, Amanda is an orignial member of Found Space Theatre Productions, a company of actors dedicated to supporting and raising money the arts. Amanda can be seen in UT's Spring '11 production of The Threepenny Opera as Ginny Jenny and will performing at the Paramount Theatre in early December '10 as Lucille in a production of Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells under the direction of Mr. Steven Dietz. Amanda is represented by Heather Collier at Collier Talent Agency.

Read Amanda's Resumé (pdf – download adobe reader.)

Christopher Reese

Antoinette Robinson

Kyle Schnack

Kyle Christopher Schnack graduated from the Palm Beach Atlantic University with a B.A. in Theatre Arts. He is extremely excited to be continuing his training at the University of Texas at Austin, working towards an M.F.A. in Acting. Kyle has worked mainly in educational theatre, although he has worked on several stages in the professional world as well. Some of Kyle's recent professional credits include performances as Claude in Hair, Julian in The Unexpected Guest, Polixenes in The Winter's Tale, and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Recent educational credits include Cervantes/Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, Jason in Medea, and Fredrick in Enchanted April.

Visit Kyle's website www.KCSchnack.com

Alexis Scott

Alexis Scott comes to Texas by way of Philadelphia and Providence where she has performed as an actor, dancer, and elementary school teacher. In 2004, Alexis received her B.A. in Gender Studies with a focus on Performance and Language at Brown University in Rhode Island. Following her graduation, Alexis remained in Providence where she collaborated as a performer and teaching artist with groups including The Manton Avenue Project, Perishable Theatre, Elemental Theatre, Looking Glass Theatre, The Robin's Egg; she also worked part-time for several years at Trinity Repertory Theatre. Most recently, Alexis lived in Philadelphia where she taught at the Jubilee School and performed with Philadelphia Improv Theatre. Alexis is trained in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and West African dance techniques, speaks Spanish and Italian, writes poetry and creative non-fiction and loves climbing trees.

John Smiley

John is a second year actor in the M.F.A. acting program at The University of Texas at Austin.  He is thrilled to be a member of an exceptionally artistic and talented cohort.  While studying at UT John has had the opportunity to learn from professionally experienced faculty members and guest artists, and to collaborate with various graduate disciplines within the Department of Theatre and Dance.  He has appeared in several UT productions. Performances include: Rivers of January, The Threepenny Opera, Clybourne Park and most recently as "Lopahkin" in The Cherry Orchard.  In the spring of 2012 John can be seen as "Don Adriano de Armado" in Love’s Labour’s Lost under the direction of John Langs.  As a director John’s work was seen this past fall in the performance studio 2.180 at UT with a production of Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Things We Want. He is a native of Syracuse, New York and has been a New York City based actor since 2003.  Regional and Touring credits include: Henry and the Mudge for TheatreworksUSA, Forever Plaid at the New Provincetown Players in Cape Cod, The Full Monty and She Loves Me with the Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company in New Hampshire, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia. John is a proud member of Actors Equity Association, and received a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and English Literature from the State University of New York at Oswego.  

John’s website is currently under construction. Visit johnsmileyii.com and check for updates.

Read John's Resumé (pdf – download adobe reader.)