CSC Teaching Artists
CSC instructors are professional artists from the Greater Baltimore Area. Many have worked with us as actors, directors, technicians, and management and bring their expertise of professional experience to the classroom.
All of our teaching artists hold degrees in higher education or are working towards one, and can also offer insight and advice for students seeking a career in the arts.
Meet Our Teaching Artists
Tina A. Burkhalter is an actor, playwright, director, and poet. She has a Liberal Arts Bachelor’s degree
from LSU and a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre from UNLV, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She
then went on to Cal State Fullerton and received her MFA in acting. Other credits include writing,
producing, and performing her solo shows titled, The Common Denominator and The Truth Is
Stranger than Fiction (My Life in Two Acts when performed together) with The Wayward Artist
Theatre company in Southern California. She has also authored a book of poetry titled, This Is Me,
which can be found on Amazon.com. She has performed with the Storytellers Project, a collaboration
with The Daily Advertiser and USA Today, Final Flight with Acadiana Repertory Theatre,
Counterpoint and Dark and Stormy with Scribe Stages Theatre. She currently teaches theatre at
South Louisiana Community College. If you want to know more about her you can check out her
website at www.TinaABurkhalter.com or follow her on Instagram: @tab1376.
Keegan Cassady has been teaching performance and design concepts for the last ten years. He has taught through Arlington County, the Educational Theatre Company, Young Playwrights Theatre, and the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. When he is not teaching acting or design, Keegan is engaged as a performer. You can see him onstage with Chesapeake Shakespeare or live at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.
Abigail Funk has been a Teaching Artist with Chesapeake Shakespeare Company since 2018. They graduated from UMBC with a B.F.A. in Acting and a Minor in Anthropology and has appeared on the CSC stage and the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory stage. Their passion for Shakespeare came at an early age when their mother read them sonnets as bedtime stories. The rhythm of iambic pentameter has beat in their heart ever since and they are always thrilled for opportunities to share their excitement for the text, their training in physical acting, and their directing vision with the next generation of artists that come through the Studio classes. With the Homeschool Corps, they have directed Julius Caesar, The Tempest, and Moliere's The Misanthrope. In a combination effort with the High School Corps and the Veterans' Ensemble, they directed Much Ado About Nothing.They have appeared onstage at CSC in A Midsummer Night's Dreamand She Stoops to Conquer, and onstage at BSF in A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, and King Lear. https://www.abigailfunkactor.com/
Michael Harris has been teaching and performing with Baltimore Improv Group (BIG) for almost 15 years. In that time, he spent 7 years as the Executive & Artistic Director of BIG, has been an invited performer at Comedy and Improv Festivals from NYC to Austin and Chicago to Philly, and has taught Improv to literally thousands of people from age 6 to 86. Michael is a teaching artist with BIG and with Chesapeake Shakespeare as well as a faculty member at his alma mater, The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in DC since 2010. A member of Actors Equity, Michael has performed locally at The Kennedy Center, Studio Theater, Signature Theater, and Spooky Action Theater amongst others.
Isaiah Mason Harvey is a Baltimore-based actor-playwright and teacher with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Towson University. He carries a specialty in movement, devised theatre and, naturally, Shakespearean text. Isaiah believes that specificity and authenticity are key values in acting and anyone that can connect with those two values can be a compelling performer. Recent credits include Mini Twelfth Night with Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, Squidsbury with Truepenny Collective and Black Superhero Magic Mama with The Strand.
Ron Heneghan oversees education programs for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. More than 15,000 students have attended professional Shakespeare performances in the student matinee program managed by Ron during the last three years. He also supervises the in-school residency program where CSC Teaching Artists embed in English/Language Arts classrooms as a resource for teachers and a learning experience for their students. Ron has taught theatre at Loyola University, Stevenson University, Carroll Community College, Muhlenberg College, Northeastern University, Regis College, PCPA Theatrefest/Allan Hancock College and the MFA program at Trinity Rep Conservatory/Brown University consortium. He is a member of CSC’s Resident Acting Company.
Casey Kaleba is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, and has staged violence for more than four hundred productions in opera, regional, and educational theatre. His work has been seen at the Guthrie Theatre, Spoleto Festival USA, Washington National Opera, Olney Theatre Center, Folger Theatre, Constellation Theatre, and Signature Theatre. He has taught stage combat for the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, and Rorschach Theatre as well as graduate and undergraduate programs along the east coast and as a guest artist in Chicago, Des Moines, Banff, Toronto, and Gothenburg. Casey serves as an audition choreographer for Marvel Universe Live and smashes fruit on the crew for the YouTube series Men at Arms: Reforged. www.toothandclawcombat.com
Emily Karol has been a Teaching Artist with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company since 2016. In that time, she has led School’s Out Shakespeare summer camps at HCAC and the PFI, and spent her Springs in the classrooms of Howard, Baltimore, and Montgomery County schools bringing Shakespeare to Middle Schoolers. She is also Guest Artist at Studio 39, the Performing Visual Arts High School in Anne Arundel County, specializing in Acting. Emily trained classically with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA and holds a BFA in Musical Theater from West Virginia Wesleyan College
Jenny Male is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors and a certified Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors International. She is Resident Fight and Intimacy Director for the Equity theatre Rep Stage in Columbia, Maryland. Jenny has worked as the Intimacy and/or Fight Choreographer for Arena Stage, Rep Stage, Everyman Theatre, Factory 449, Adventure Theatre, Imagination Stage, Maryland Opera Studio, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Ozark Actors Theatre, Tecumseh!, Maryland Lyric Opera, Toby’s Dinner Theatre, and Red Branch Theatre Company. Jenny is Associate Professor of Theatre at Howard Community College and is a member of VASTA, ATME, and SDC. In 2002, Jenny earned her MFA in Theatre Pedagogy with emphasis in Movement & Fight Direction from Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2018, she received the SAFD President’s Award and was elected to serve as the Certified Teacher representative for the SAFD Governing Body.
Jeff Miller specializes in making discoveries about plays through exploration of the text. While his primary focus is on Shakespeare, he has studied works by ancient story-makers such as Homer to modern playwrights like Sarah Ruhl. Most recently, he puts his analytical powers to work for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company as a teaching artist, helping his students unlock insights about character and theme within the language of the play. He also works as an actor and director with a multitude of theatres through the Maryland area including Cohesion Theatre, Drama Learning Center, Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, and Children’s Theatre of Annapolis. Jeff holds a B.F.A. Degree in Acting from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Séamus Miller is a DC-based director, actor, and filmmaker. He directed CSC's first Student Matinee production of Macbeth in 2018, as well as the 2020 remount of our flagship matinee program, Romeo & Juliet. As an actor, he has recently appeared in Measure for Measure, Henry IV 1&2, and Red Velvet, in addition to over thirty other professional productions at Chesapeake and around the DMV. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association--and has been a proud CSC Company Member since 2014. www.seamusactor.com
Molly Moores is a CSC Company Member and CSC Teaching Artist. She has appeared with CSC in A Christmas Carol (2014-2019); Macbeth (movable 2019); Macbeth (student matinee 2019); Romeo and Juliet (student matinee 2015-2020); Henry IV Parts 1 and 2; A Midsummer Night's Dream (2018 and 2011); The Winter's Tale; Julius Caesar; Anne of the Thousand Days; The Three Musketeers; Macbeth (2016); Much Ado About Nothing; Richard II; The Taming of the Shrew; Antony and Cleopatra; Pride and Prejudice; Romeo and Juliet (2012); and The Merchant of Venice. www.mollymoores.com
Laura Rocklyn is a Teaching Artist and Resident Acting Company Member at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company where favorite roles have included The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol, Jane in Wild Oats, Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Dramaturg/Period Style Coach on Anne of the Thousand Days. She is based in DC where she has performed with companies including Round House Theatre, Folger Theatre, Arena Stage, Annapolis Shakespeare, and Synetic Family Theatre. Laura toured with Olney Theatre Center’s National Players, and has performed with regional theaters across the country including Kentucky Shakespeare, Richmond Shakespeare Festival, Adirondack Shakespeare Company, and Shakespeare in the Valley. Laura received her MFA in Classical Acting from The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University, and a Shakespeare Certificate from The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her first play, Clover, was produced in Washington by Ally Theatre Company in the fall of 2017, and she has published two articles of literary criticism in Brontë Studies. Laura also writes and performs one-woman historic character portrayals for educational groups up and down the East Coast. www.LauraRocklyn.com
Caitlin Rogers has been a CSC Teaching Artist since 2017, mainly working with the High School Ensemble and Corps programs. She graduated from Salisbury University (2016) with a Bachelor's in English Literature. She currently spends her academic year in Special Education as a Paraeducator for Howard County Public Schools. She is also a Teaching Artist for special needs programs through Parks and Recreation. Most recently, she performed as Edwin Drood in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." She hopes to get back onstage soon and absolutely loves Chesapeake Shakespeare and their welcoming environment. She primarily focuses on inclusive Theatre opportunities for students and understanding text/story.
Gerrad Alex Taylor is an actor, director, and educator based out of the DMV region. He is an Associate Artistic Director and oversees all programming in The Studio at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore, which offers classes year-round for area youth and adults. Gerrad also teaches in the theatre departments at UMBC and George Washington University. He holds a BA in Neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has worked with theatres and educational institutions across the country including the Great River Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Pacific Conservatory Theatre-PCPA, Everyman Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Mosaic Theatre Company, and Washington Stage Guild. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and the Society of American Fight Directors.
Quincy Vicks has been a CSC Teaching Artist since 2016. Acting credits include the Fools and Madmen Hip Hop Much Ado about Nothing (Claudio), and the title role in Hamlet, and Asagai in A Raisin in the Sun with Arena Players. Iron Crow's The Mystery of Love and Sex (Jonny), Red Branch Theatre's Curious George (Phinneas), and Morgan State's Sesquicentennial Celebration production of The Wiz (Scarecrow). Quincy is a Member of Building Better People Productions, an ensemble that performs a production about the importance of empathy and anxiety for children at elementary and middle schools. He holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Morgan State University.