Teaching Staff

Kerri Shawn has served as Co-Director of the Young REP Summer Theatre Training Program with Jeffrey Draper since 1995. She also teaches classes in Acting, Writing, Improvisation, Building A Character, Scene Study, and Vocal Production for Young REP and The Ballet School Performing Arts.  Kerri is a resident actress with Fantasy Forum Actors Ensemble, and has performed with PlayGround, Marin Theatre Company, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, Diablo Actors Ensemble, Town Hall Theatre Company,  and Center REP over the past four decades. She was an artist in residence for twenty-five years for the Eugene O’Neill Foundation’s Student Days at Tao House and received the Eugene O’Neill Foundation’s Artistic Award as well as nine Shellie Awards for Artistic Achievement in various performances as an actress and supporting actress. Some of her favorite roles include Josie Hogan in Moon for the Misbegotten, Jane in Fallen Angels, Maggie in The Shadow, Cookie in Rumors, Julia Gibbs in Our Town, Hannah Jelkes in The Night of the Iguana, Ann Landers in The Lady With All the Answers, various  roles in Angels in America, Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol and Shirley in Shirley Valentine. Kerri has a BA in Theatre Arts and Speech from San Francisco  State University.

 

Jeffrey Draper has been a teacher and Co-Education Director for Young REP with Kerri Shawn for 27 years. He has been a teacher with The Harker School in San Jose for 22 years. He has been an Education Director for Marin Theater Company and a teaching artist in schools for TheatreWorks, Calaveras Rep, and Utah Shakespearean Festival. Jeffrey's favorite roles include Marley (A Christmas Carol, 18 years), Hamlet, Schmendiman (Picasso at the Lapin Agile), Jud (Oklahoma), and Beverley (The Man Who Came to Dinner).

 

Jennifer Perry has been teaching Ballet and Theatre classes for over 32 years. She was lucky to have studied and trained with her grandmother, Lareen Fender at The Ballet School Performing Arts. Directing Credits Include: MatildaBilly ElliotGypsy (Shellie Award), Joseph and the Amazing..A Chorus Line (BATCCA), OKLAHOMA! (Shellie Award), 42nd Street, and Guys and Dolls all for Contra Costa Musical Theatre. Red Hot and Cole for Role Players Ensemble. Choreography Credits include: Matilda(CCMT) Dancing Lessons (Center REP), Freaky Friday (Center REP), Billy ElliotGypsyThe Music Man (Shellie Award) Les Miserables (CCMT) 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Center REP) Sweet Charity (Center REP), Xanadu (Center REP, Shellie Award) Joseph and the Amazing. (Shellie Award)., Hairspray (BATCCA, Shellie Award) , A Chorus Line (BATCCA), Cinderella (Shellie Award Winner) Disney's Beauty and The BeastAnnieSound of MusicTitanic the Musical and many other original pieces. Favorite roles include: Cassie (A Chorus Line), Frenchy (Grease), Bonnie Jean (Brigadoon), Louise (Carousel), Mary Warren (Crucible), Jennie Mae (Diviners), Ghost of Christmas Past (A Christmas Carol) Shellie Nominee, Suzy Hendrix (Wait Until Dark) and Bonnie (Anything Goes, Shellie Award) Jennifer is a proud member of Fantasy Forum Actor's Ensemble www.fantasyforum.org and is thrilled to be going into her 27th year of teaching for Center REP's Young REP Acting Training Program, where she serves as co-director of the Musical Theatre Program. Jennifer is the Casting Director for Center REPertory Company. Jennifer is the owner and director of Lareen Fender's The Ballet School Performing Arts which is home to the Performing Arts Studio. www.theballetschool.org #LiveJoyCreateHope

 

Michael Wiles is the co-founder and co-director of Young REP's Musical Theatre Program, and has been a proud member of the Young REP Faculty for the past 20 years, teaching Musical Theater, Acting, and Audition classes. As an actor, his work has been seen with American Conservatory Theater, American Musical Theater, Aurora Theater Company, Berkeley Repertory Theater, California Shakespeare Theatre, Capital Stage Company, Center REP, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and Tacoma Actors Guild, among others. He has served as Musical Director on over 120 productions, and received Theater Bay Area Awards and Nominations for his work on PippinDreamgirlsUrinetown, and Avenue Q, all at Berkeley Playhouse where he is the Casting Director & Resident Music Director. BFA in Acting, Cornish College of the Arts.

 

Scott Denison has been with Young REP since it's inception in 1973. He teaches Directing and various Master Classes in technical theatre and production management. Coming from a place of “Are you brave enough” Scott's classes and workshops inspire students to explore all parts of the creative process and what it takes to build the “whole” production. Scott has directed several projects at the Lesher Center including Les MiserablesDisney's Beauty and the BeastHairspray,The Music ManRodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and Center REP's A Christmas Carol for the past 22 years. He is also a lighting designer and has designed lights not only for Center REP and other productions at the LCA but also for Aruba Productions out of state and in Canada. He founded and created The Shellie Awards for 41 years, produced the Chevron Family Theatre Festival for DRAA, and is the founder and director of Fantasy Forum Actors Ensemble. Scott recently retired as Managing Director of Center REP and General Manager of the Lesher Center for the Arts serving the Arts for the City of Walnut Creek for the past 50 years. Presently he tours with C.S. Lewis Productions for Aruba Productions all over the United States.

 

Will Springhorn Jr.: MFA Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, BA in Theatre University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. With Young REP since 2018 as an instructor of Acting, Stage Combat, Improvisation and Movement. Will appears regularly in the Bay Area with San Jose Stage Company, SF Playhouse, Theatreworks, 42nd Street Moon, CenterRep, PacRep Theatre, B Street Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, The Magic, Marin Theatre Company, Theatre Rhinoceros, Sacramento Theatre Company and Berkeley Rep. In addition to other film titles, Will appears in Circle of Stone, an action short from Academy Award winner Mark Andrews. Will is an Adjunct Professor of Theatre at Diablo Valley College and West Valley College. Will is a proud member of Actor's Equity Association. www.willspringhornjr.com

 

Lena Hart is a professional Alexander Technique Teacher, Actor, and Coach. She has performed locally at theaters such as Center REPertory, Theatreworks, the Willows Theater, and Gooden Thread. She has performed in numerous productions both off Broadway and regionally, as well as in various films, soap operas, and commercials. Ms. Hart earned her M.F.A in Acting from the University of Tennessee and received her American Society of the Alexander Technique Certification in Berkeley. Lena currently teaches the Alexander Technique and Acting to graduate and undergraduate students at The Academy Art University in San Francisco, and also privately to those of all ages in Walnut Creek.

 

Amanda Leigh is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a B.A in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Acting. Numerous productions at the Lesher Center for the Arts and throughout the Bay Area. Amanda is the Director of Performing Arts Studio at The Ballet School Performing Arts where she orchestrates all the youth, teen and adult theatre classes and theatrical productions. She has been with Center REP's Young REP Training Program for the past 20 years as a student and as acting & storytelling teacher as well as Young REP's Production Manager. Amanda is the proud recipient of the Center REP Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Performing Arts and was listed in Diablo Magazines September 2017 issue of 40 Under 40. She is also a proud member of Fantasy Forum Actors Ensemble.

 

Michael Doppe has been working, acting, and teaching in the Bay Area since 2008. He has taught for Moonschool at 42nd Street Moon, Firehouse Arts Center, Town Hall Theatre, and the Young REP program (since 2017). He currently works as Associate Education Director of Performing Arts Studio in Downtown Walnut Creek, where he teaches Acting, Shakespeare, Audition, Improv, and Combat. "Doppe" is also experienced in sound and projection design, Stage Management, Video Production/Editing, and Direction.