Musical Theater Camp Faculty
Zeke Blackwell (Director) has been involved in over 80 productions as a director, actor, writer, designer, and technician, and has made theater in Sitka, Fort Worth, New Haven, New York, and Costa Rica, where he directed world- premiere Spanish-language production of Once on this Island! With over a decade of improv comedy experience, he’s performed/taught improv in LA, San Francisco, NYC, Chicago, Austin, Boston, and Washington, D.C, and most recently at the Boston Comedy Arts Festival. His original play, Still Life, was produced in the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. He graduated from Yale in 2013 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science. He served two years on the board of directors for Far Corners Community Musical Theatre, a non-profit dedicated to providing arts opportunities for underserved youth in isolated regions of the world. Once he beatboxed for Lin- Manuel Miranda. Zeke is returning for his sixth season at SFAC as the YPT Director.
Erin Coffey (Choreographer) is thrilled to return to SFAC again this year. She has choreographed both professional and educational productions at organizations across the country and beyond, and she was nominated for the Choreographer of the Year SALT Award for both seasons she spent as Resident Choreographer at Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse, NY. Favorite choreography credits include: Pippin, Hairspray, Kiss Me Kate, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, A Man of No Importance*, Seussical, 13, Big Fish, Dreamgirls*, and Gypsy: A Musical Fable. Favorite performance credits: Crimes of the Heart* (Meg), Cabaret (Rosie), and Carousel (featured soloist) (*Syracuse Area Live Theatre Award Nomination). Also an advocate for arts education, social justice, and accessibility, Erin spent two years on the Board of Directors for Far Corners Community Musical Theatre and has led justice and accessibility initiatives at multiple regional theaters in the US, including at the two-time Tony Award-winning Goodspeed Musicals. In addition to working as a freelance choreographer, Erin is the Manager of Audience Engagement for the Broadway League in NYC and is a key member of the producing team for The Jimmy Awards/National High School Musical Theatre Awards at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway.
Rhiannon Guevin (Vocal Coach) is the Operations Director for the nationally recognized Sitka Fine Arts Camp (SFAC) where she has worked full-time since 2013. In addition to her administrative duties with the camp, which include financial management, program logistics, and grant writing, Rhiannon teaches voice at SFAC's High School Camp and provides vocal coaching for SFAC's Musical Theater Camp. Rhiannon helped to start SFAC's Young Performers Theater program in 2013 and still serves as the program's Music Director during the year. She also teaches private voice lessons to a small studio. Rhiannon has served as an adjudicator for the classical voice sections at Alaska's State Solo and Ensemble Music Festival.
Rhiannon graduated summa cum laude from University of Puget Sound’s School of Music, where she received a BM in Vocal Performance with Honors in Music. During her time at Puget Sound she performed in opera scenes and full-scale productions, including the roles of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Miss Titmouse in Too Many Sopranos!, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. She was the fall 2011 winner of the University of Puget Sound’s Concerto/Aria Competition. Other roles include the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the China Yunnan Opera Festival, Zerlina in Juneau Lyric Opera’s production of Don Giovanni, Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Cathy Hyatt in The Last Five Years, Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family, Woman 1 in Songs for a New World, and Judy Bernly in 9 to 5. Rhiannon has studies voice with Dr. Dawn Padula.
Rhiannon graduated summa cum laude from University of Puget Sound’s School of Music, where she received a BM in Vocal Performance with Honors in Music. During her time at Puget Sound she performed in opera scenes and full-scale productions, including the roles of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Miss Titmouse in Too Many Sopranos!, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. She was the fall 2011 winner of the University of Puget Sound’s Concerto/Aria Competition. Other roles include the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the China Yunnan Opera Festival, Zerlina in Juneau Lyric Opera’s production of Don Giovanni, Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Cathy Hyatt in The Last Five Years, Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family, Woman 1 in Songs for a New World, and Judy Bernly in 9 to 5. Rhiannon has studies voice with Dr. Dawn Padula.
Rebecca Poulson (Set Designer) is a writer and artist who grew up reading and drawing in Sitka, Alaska. She commercial fished and repaired wooden boats before earning an MFA from Tyler School of Art in 2000. She is a printmaker and painter, and publishes "The Outer Coast," a wall calendar of art and poetry. She has illustrated novels for young readers and memoirs for adults, and designed the 2023 Alaska Folk Festival poster art. Her work is in the Alaska State Museum and other collections. She has been practicing her art in a deep dive into the history of the Sheldon Jackson School and College in the context of Lingit Aaní, through oral history interviews, archival research, an upcoming article in "Alaska History" journal, writing at sitkaartblog.wordpress.com, installation, and the collaborative history project "Voices of Sheldon Jackson" (sjvoices.org). She is the recipient of a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award, and of the Alaska State Records Advisory Board Archival Excellence Award for a place-based history curriculum. She is a member of the Alaska Historical Commission and the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society board, and manages historic preservation grants on campus and at the Japonski Island Boathouse. She also has fun designing and building sets, often in collaboration with youth, for theatrical productions and writes and directs radio plays. It is her work with kids in the arts that more than anything has deepened her understanding of what art is and what it can do.
Emma Weiss (Music Director) is a music director, educator, and pianist from New York City. Emma has music directed productions, concerts, and cabarets in New York at Radio City Music Hall, Joe’s Pub, Feinstein’s 54 Below, The Django, The Duplex, and The Tank. She has worked as an Associate Music Director regionally at the Weston Playhouse and Seattle Rep, and as a Music Director at the Parallel 45 Theater Company in Traverse City, Michigan. As a private coach, Emma enjoys teaching performers of all ages and abilities and has particular strength preparing performers for auditions, coaching dynamic, nuanced, and connected musical interpretations, and choosing new rep for students. As a passionate educator, Emma has music directed productions and classes at The Dalton School, The Studio School, Horace Greeley High School, Cap 21/ Molloy College, The Merry-Go-Round Theater Festival, FrenchWoods Festival, Applause New York, Actors Technique NY, and Child's Play NY. Emma is the recipient of the Periclean Scholar Award for her music direction and conducting of Sweeney Todd at Skidmore College. Emma received her BA from Skidmore College and her MA in Musical Theater Music Directing at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Susan Wingrove-Reed (Pianist) enthusiastically embraces any and all opportunities to collaborate with singers and instrumentalists. She plays piano and harpsichord with the Anchorage Symphony, the Alaska All State Mixed Honor Choir and regularly works with the West High School and Romig Middle School choirs, the Hiland Women’s prison orchestra, countless solo and ensemble festivals/competitions and on occasion with the Alaska Chamber Singers. She has been the resident music educator (pre-concert lectures and program notes) for the Sitka Summer Music Festival and the Anchorage Symphony for over thirty years, sharing stories about composers, music and history. Reed is a passionate advocate for performances by women composers. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and a Master of Arts in Teaching at Indiana University before returning home to Alaska to work with Anchorage Opera and the Alaska Repertory Theatre. She also taught choir and drama at Bartlett High School. She has played in or directed over thirty operas and musicals throughout Alaska and received an Alaska Governor’s Award for her contributions in arts education. Reed also does community outreach performances with cellist Zuill Bailey, Artistic Director of the Sitka Summer Music Festival. She performed in several works at the 2017 SSMF, including two works by iconic American composer Amy Beach and a collaboration with Zuill on his 2017 Grammy- award-winning “Tales of Hemingway” (by Michael Daugherty). She was the recipient of the 2016 Alaska Music Advocate of the Year award from the Alaska Music Educators Association.
Claire Shea Duncan (Costume Designer) (she/her) is an interdisciplinary designer and creative from Granville, Ohio. She aims to collaborate with a guiding framework of cultural humility and empathy. Claire has a strong interest in the intersection of art, linguistics, and education and she believes the convergence of these concepts is storytelling. She received her BFA in Costume Design at Carnegie Mellon University with an additional major in French and Francophone Studies. This is Claire’s first summer in Sitka and she is thrilled to join such wonderful artists in such a beautiful landscape.
Alicia Jeffrey (Stage Manager) (she/her) is based in Northern California, and is a music and vocal director, pit musician, and theatre producer. She is also the Executive Artistic Director of Broadway by the Bay in Redwood City, California. Her work as a music director and director has been recognized by Theatre Bay Area as a finalist for both Outstanding Direction and Music Direction for Million Dollar Quartet (Theatre Bay Area finalist for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Music Direction) and Godspell (Theatre Bay Area Award nominee for musical direction). She has cast, produced and artistically guided over 50 full-scale musicals over the last decade. She also proudly serves as the President of the Board of Directors and Festival Director for the Lenaea High School Theatre Festival based in Sacramento California, inspiring the next generation of theatre artists over the past 68 years. She has worked on the creative staff of numerous community and regional theatre companies, and is also a former board member and producer for Contra Costa Musical Theatre, and a founding member of “OMG, I Love That Show!” Productions.
Jake Berran (Assistant Music Director) is a composer, pianist, conductor, singer, percussionist, and aspiring educator from Minnesota. Currently, he is pursuing a B.M. in Composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a B.A. in Mathematics at Oberlin College. To him, music is uniquely captivating, potent, and ambiguous—it brings powerful communal experiences while inspiring self-reflection and self-discovery. Most of Berran's work is for chamber ensemble, solo performer, orchestra, voices, electronics, or musical theater, though he will readily write for any situation. His goal is to learn, take risks, and grow, so each piece is different from the last—perhaps theatrical, microtonal, interactive and electronic, harmonically unfamiliar, big, weird, or vulnerable. That's how he is finding his multifaceted yet personal style. Berran's music has been performed by groups such as the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Oberlin College Choir, Unheard-of//Ensemble, White Snake Projects, and Minnesota Sinfonia.
Joe Burck studies History Education for grades 5-12 with a minor in Theater Arts at Augustana College. Originally from Aurora, Illinois, Joe started learning about technical theater as a middle school camper at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp and is eager to return to Odess Theater and the Sitka Performing Arts Center. In his time at Augustana, Joe has worked on productions such as Macbeth (Assistant Sound Designer), Threepenny Opera (Sound Board Operator), Cabaret (Sound Designer), most recently Nine (Sound Designer), and currently works as a Scene Shop Supervisor in charge of managing set production. In the summers of 2022 and 2023, Joe worked at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp as the Technical Theater Intern, the Assistant Technical Manager, and the Technical Director. Joe collaborated on the 2022 SFAC production of Mamma Mia as the Pit Sound Board Operator and on the 2023 SFAC production of Cinderella as the Technical Director.