Meghan Arnette is a freelance director, actor, singer and educator who has been working in Seattle theaters for over 10 years. She is also the founder and Artistic Director of Live Girls! a theater dedicated to producing and developing new work by women. She holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts.

Ann Marie Caldwell enjoys teaching creative drama classes, acting classes, and residencies in elementary schools. She is excited to set design for YTN's Studio Stage performances and other theatres around town. She has also assistant directed plays for grown-ups and for kids. Her training includes the Teaching Artist Apprentice Program at SCT and a theatre degree from the University of Puget Sound.

Michael Cruz has worked as an actor and teacher with many theaters including The People's Light and Theater Company outside Philadelphia where he was a member of the Resident Company, Mayi Theater (NYC), Playwright's Horizon's (NYC), The Shakespeare Theater (DC), Old Globe Theater (San Diego), The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, The Seattle Rep, and The Seattle Public Theater among others. Michael has also taught and developed residencies in many public, private, and independent schools around the country. Michael holds an MFA in Dramatic Arts from the University of San Diego and a BA in Theater Arts from the University of Puget Sound.

John Faga, originally from the Philadelphia area, is a comedy writer, performer and teacher. John has studied improvisation in Chicago with iO (formerly Improv Olympic) and The Annoyance, and in Seattle with Unexpected Productions. In Chicago, John was a member of multiple Harold groups and performed regularly with the Playground TheatreÕs Big Yellow Bus. In Seattle, John was a member and artistic director of the long-form troupe Sisters of Sal, and co-writer and producer of the popular comedy podcast National Comment Radio. Since 2004, John has been an ensemble member of Unexpected Productions where he teaches regularly and with whom he has had the great pleasure of touring Europe, Canada and the U.S. John can be seen weekly performing Seattle TheatreSportsª and various long-form productions at the Market Theatre in Pike Place Market.

Amy J. Ferguson has been teaching theatre and music in the greater Seattle area for over 15 years. She holds a degree in Music Performance from Cornish College of the Arts where she also certified in Quarterstaff stage combat and trained in unarmed and rapier/dagger combat. In addition to teaching with YTN, she teaches theatre workshops and music classes with the Snoqualmie and Issaquah school districts and in private schools around the area. Amy teaches private music lessons in French horn, trumpet and piano and currently plays principal horn with Seattle Musical Theatre (formerly CLO), and the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society at the Rep. She is also a certified personal trainer and can currently be seen on the small screen in several local Kia commercials.

Ashley FitzSimmons holds a BFA in Acting from Minnesota State University, Mankato. She also brings over 20 years of dance training to YTN. Ashley is a choreographer and dance instructor, as well as a musical theatre performer. Some favorite roles include Cinderella in Cinderella, Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Little Sally in Urinetown, and Aldonza in Man of LaMancha. She has recently been seen as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun at Seattle Musical Theatre presented by Civic Light Opera.

Kate Jaeger graduated with degrees in Theatre and Communications from Whitworth College in Spokane, WA. She is an active member of the Seattle theatre community as an actress, director and educator. Kate has been teaching improv and theatre for over ten years throughout the Northwest. Currently she teaches at Youth Theatre Northwest, the Pacific Science Center and the Seattle Children's Theatre.

Matt Johnston, originally from the sunny tropics of Florida, arrived in Washington in the fall of 2004 and found himself first Working at YTN during the summer of 2005. Since then, Matt has performed numerous shows at YTN and has even taught a few classes. Outside of YTN, Matt performs and teaches as a bassoonist, flutist and pianist around the Puget Sound area. Other hobbies include biking, origami and teaching kids how to properly cut and serve pineapple.

David Orace Kelly has a BFA Performance from Naropa University. Most recently David appeared as Bill Sykes and served as Fight and Dance Captain in Oliver! at Kirkland Performance Center. David performed professionally for ten years as a juggler and director before teaching drama and performance. From 2004-2007, David served as the Managing Director at Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids in Colorado. He has directed and choreographed for over 30 youth productions. He is currently working at Explorer West Middle School teaching drama and technical theater.

Halie Looper is very happy to be teaching at Youth Theatre Northwest for her 2nd year! In addition to YTN, she teaches vocal music, theatre arts, and visual art for the Bellevue School District. Before Bellevue, she taught in Maple Valley and for Seattle Public Schools. Halie is a graduate of Hillsboro High School in Hillsboro, Oregon where she was fortunate to study with Mr. Bernie Kuehn. She has studied voice with Karen Mallory and Cathy Haight. Halie has her BA in Music Education from Seattle Pacific University, a Theatre Arts endorsement from Antioch University, and has over 16 years of choral and theatrical experience. She is currently an alto in the Northwest Chamber Chorus. When she is not teaching, she enjoys coffee, fiction, and the ballet.

Andrea Nelson is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Drama. She has acted with many groups around Seattle and is currently a company member of Artattack Theater Ensemble. As an educator she has taught conflict resolution, science summer camps and drama, as well as a time spent as a preschool teacher. In addition to her work in the theater, Andrea also works as a Sign Language interpreter. When she gets a (rare) moment for leisure, she loves to write, travel, read, watch movies and hang out with her husband and their two fantastic felines, Franny and Zooey.

Becky Poole is an actor, sketch comedian, voice over artist, and saw player who recently moved to Seattle from Brooklyn. Becky has been performing, writing, and producing sketch comedy and performance pieces around the country and in NYC for the last 10 years. Most of that work has been with the critically acclaimed sketch comedy groups MEAT and Becky & Noelle. She has done voice work for Nickelodeon, Bill Plympton, Discovery Kids, The Cartoon Network and various animated projects. Last summer she worked for the Children's Acting Academy in New York City as a Sketch Comedy and Voice Over Workshop teacher. She is currently a member of Annex Theatre in Seattle.

Ian Schempp is a Seattle-based comedian and voice talent. He has been performing with Wing-It Productions since 2004 in such shows as Jet City Improv, Twisted Flicks, Suave, Election Show, and The Dart-Mondo, among many others. He was also featured in Theater SchmeaterÕs acclaimed production of Adventures in Mating. He was the creator and director of several shows, including 2008Õs groundbreaking Shades of Gray. As a voice talent, IanÕs voice has been featured in many commercials, educational materials, video games and toys.

Sonya Shaw has been working with children in dance and theatre for 7+ years. In addition to teaching, she spent a year as a vocalist/lyricist in Climbing Mt Fuji and 7 years in the band Maximum Coherence- during which time appeared live on radio and television, recorded 3 albums, & performed at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. Prior to MAXCO, she played Victoria in Women and Wallace at the Denver Civic Theatre; worked tech for the Colorado Lyric Festival as well as sang/danced in a number of musicals and operas. Sonya earned a Bachelors of Music in Voice Theatre from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Formal dance training began at age 3, in the disciplines of Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern and Broadway style. Most recently, she has appeared as a guest vocalist on the soundtrack composed by Bret Ellerton for the short film 5 Elements, 5 Buddhas and the childrenÕs album, Ninny Cow Tea. When not writing or recording, she is bouncing about teaching theatre and dance in the Seattle area.

Erin Stewart is an actor, playwright, director and filmmaker in Seattle. She has performed on stage with various theater companies throughout the city, including Live Girls! Theater where her play Whirligig! The Musical was also produced. Her short play Desperate Measures was recently chosen at YTN as part of its fringe program. Children's theater credits include teaching and directing at the Hawaii Children's Theater in Kauai, HI and musical direction of The Odyssey at TOPS Elementary in Seattle. Erin is a member of The Beta Society, a local film collective, with whom she recently performed at the Chicago Improv Festival, creating improvisational short films. Erin is a graduate of Cornish College of the Arts '03.

Rollin Thomas is an artist / designer, author / playwright, and educator with a broad base of experience in both two and three-dimensional projects. For over thirty years, he has worked in visual and interdisciplinary arts. His award-winning designs, including an area EMMY, has brought recognition in both graphics and film. He has designed for over 218 theatrical productions including operas, musicals, plays, puppets, and festivals. Thomas has written or adapted over thirty plays for elementary school performance by children. He has thirty years of teaching arts and design at all levels K-adult, and four years of tutoring art.

Brendan Weinhold, a UW drama alum, helped lay in that beautiful new floor in the blue room. He grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, and had his professional debut in a TV ad for the Wisconsin Education Association Council. He and his father founded the Farmington 4-H Club and the Washington County 4-H Drama Company, and Brendan continues to establish organizations wherever he sees a need. At the University of Washington, Brendan co-founded Why?: Artists Against War and Klichet Dramatic Dance Troupe. After graduating, he was one of the founding members of Random Acts of Theatre (RAT) and BizOur Life. Most recently he brought together the Ray Burley production team, which put up The Tempest in YTN's Studio Space. Favorite roles include D in Polaroid Stories with Fully Committed Productions, God in General of Hot Desire and Young Couple Man in Machinal at the University of Washington, and Clay-boy in The Homecoming at First Stage Milwaukee. In October 2006, Brendan directed Guys and Dolls at International School in Bellevue. Brendan teaches and stage-manages with Youth Theatre Northwest.

Amber Wolfe is a teaching artist and actor. Current programs include: Rainier Valley Youth Theatre's Young Playwrights Program and Summer Arts Camp, Seattle Children's Theatre Outreach. Past programs include: YTN's Outreach Program, Living Voices, Book-It All Over and San Diego's Playwright's Project and Globe Theatres Outreach. As an actor, she has worked with The Empty Space Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Co., Annex Theatre, ArtsWest, San Diego Repertory and workshop productions with Seattle Children's Theatre and Seattle Repertory. She is polishing her stage combat skills with Fight Master Geoff Alm...so eventually she can teach it!