Faculty
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Tymberley A. Whitesel, MFAChair, Department of Theatre Associate Professor of Theatre Design
Tymberley A. Whitesel teaches the technical theatre courses offered at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., with her speciality in scenery and light design, properties and painting. Along with working in educational theatre, Tymberley has a number of professional design credits and has worked for theatre companies such as: The Ohio Light Opera where she was a resident scenic designer for 9 seasons, Utah Shakespearean Festival, The Florence Little Theatre, South Carolina Shakespeare Company, and The Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Tymberley currently spends parts of her summers on Long Island where she serves as the scenic deisgner for the Airmid Theater company. Tymberley received her B.A. in studio art from Goshen College, and her M.F.A. in scenic and lighting design from Illinois State University. Tymberley is also an active member of The United States Institute of Theatre Technology. Some of her favorite designs include: Patience, Dead Man Walking, My Fair Lady, Rose Marie, Flyin’ West, Godspell and The Island of Tulipitan. |
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Edward Cohn, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Theatre
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Ann Fields, BFAAdjunct Instructor of Dance Ann Fields has been teaching ballet for 14 years. She has a B.F.A. in Ballet from the University of Utah. She currently teaches for Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet as well as an adjunct at Messiah College.
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Gregg Hurley, MFAAdjunct Instructor of Dance
Gregg Hurley is a graduate of Hofstra University and the University of Arizona School of Dance MFA program with an emphasis in choreography and performance. Hurley had the privilege of dancing two works choreographed and originally performed by Douglas Nielsen, Make Someone Happy (solo) and Four Bits (duet). He also danced in the reconstruction of Doug Berkey’s trio, Blind Date presented by Art.If.Act. He is a scholarship student of the Harvard Summer Dance Center, studying with Donald Byrd, David Dorfman, Joe Goode, Ralph Lemon, Victoria Marks, Elizabeth Streb, and Lance Westergard. He performed internationally in the musical revue, The Best of Broadway and nationally in the 50th Anniversary tour of the musical, Oklahoma! He spent over eleven years as the resident choreographer and assistant director at Sight and Sound Theatres where he was creatively involved in the premiere productions of Abraham and Sarah, Daniel, Ruth, Psalms of David, In the Beginning, and Voices of Christmas. Most recently, he performed as the Cow Skull in the world premiere production of Georgia O’Keefe: A Woman On Paper. He currently holds dance adjunct positions at Messiah College and Lancaster Bible College.
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Gary Pettit, M.A.Technical Director and Production Manager
Gary Pettit is a native of Michigan and has attended two universities in the south east: Concordia University and Eastern Michigan University. At Concordia University he double majored in Theatre Arts and Communications. He attended Eastern Michigan University for his Masters of the Arts in Theatre. Gary has worked at theatres in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington D.C. and Michigan. Having performed in a number of productions and held a number of technical roles; his education and experience cover many areas in theatre. Gary’s interests tend to lie in classical and neo-classical theatre. He has a strong knowledge of both Ancient Greek theatre and Renaissance theatre, including Elizabethan theatre.
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Richard Sautter, MFAAdjunct Instructor of Theatre
Richard Sautter is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Voice and Speech Trainers Association and the Mid-America Theatre Conference. He holds a BA from Bates College, MA from the University of Exeter, and MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. His performing experiences have ranged from Shakespeare to children’s musicals and include stints in regional theatre, summer stock, fringe festivals and a national tour. He has taught at Penn State Lehigh Valley, Ferrum College and Gettysburg College. Richard has an extensive background in historically-based performance. His two biographical one-man shows have been performed at colleges, theatres and libraries in several states. In addition, he has served as a historic interpreter in numerous locations, and has trained living historians for Historic Philadelphia Inc. and for the Pennsylvania Past Players. He has been accepted by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council as a Commonwealth Speaker for 2012-2013, on the subject of the American Theatre during the Civil War. |
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Valerie Rae Smith, Ph.D.Professor of Theatre
Dr. Valerie Rae Smith is Professor of Theatre at Messiah College. She received her BA in Theatre/Education from Taylor University, her MA from Miami University in Oxford Ohio, and her Ph.D. in Theatre from Tufts University. In addition to teaching theatre at Tufts and Boston College, Smith served as Artistic Director for Circles of Girls, a pilot performing arts program for at-risk adolescents in Boston. At Messiah College Smith teaches theatre history, theatre and social change, and acting. Recent directing credits include Dead Man Walking, Nickel and Dimed, Noises Off, and Romeo and Juliet. Smith continues to perform and direct professional theatre and is a past member of the Boston chapter of AFTRA. She recently appeared as Lisa Kron in the Open Stage of Harrisburg production ofWell, as Ivy in August : Osage County, and played a variety of roles in the Vagina Monologues for Harrisburg's WomenSpeak Festival. Smith created her one-woman-show, Between 2 Chairs, at Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem, PA and performed it as part of Harrisburg's Flying Solo Festival in 2009. Between 2 Chairs was published by Johns Hopkins Medicine. Smith is currently working on an original play about human trafficking entitled But What Can I Do? This theatre project is part of the global movement to end modern-day slavery. |