PAC Faculty: Nationally Recognized Talent

Get personal. Small classes with accomplished, working theatre professionals means ample one on one attention for each student. Our faculty are award-winning performers, directors, artistic directors, filmmakers, and veteran teachers. We also bring in guest professionals throughout the year, such as artistic directors, agents, professional actors and alumni to share their experiences and insights.

	Beth Harper (Artistic Director, Acting) As the Conservatory’s Artistic Director, she designs the curriculum for both the Studio and Conservatory training programs, teaches several acting classes, selects the season of plays, and directs one of the season's productions. In addition to leading the Conservatory, Ms. Harper has served as an adjunct faculty member at Lewis & Clark College since 1992. An award-winning actor, Ms. Harper has been involved in local, regional and national theatre for the past 20 years. She can be seen in Artists Repertory Theatre's Circle Mirror Transformation in February-March 2012. She has toured Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East with Arts America, and performed in a Northwest tour of Voice of the Oregon Trail. Area directing credits include Drawer Boy featuring William Hurt and Allan Nause at Artists Repertory Theatre, A Piece of My Heart and The Dancers at Lewis & Clark College, Sylvia at Laughing Horse Summer Theatre, and How I Learned to Drive at Artists Repertory Theatre. Ms. Harper did her graduate work in theatre at Portland State University and was a recipient of the 2000 Leslie O. Fulton Fellowship for Artistic Excellence.

	Philip Cuomo (executive director) Philip has performed internationally and directed throughout the country. He is a member of the core company at Third Rail Repertory Theatre and Executive Director of Portland Actors Conservatory, where he teaches Mask, Movement, Improvisation and Voice. At PAC, Philip has directed Reckless, Comedy of Errors, The Blue Room, We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!, Kimberly Akimbo, The Mail Order Bride and assistant directed An Experiment with an Air Pump. He helps create and facilitate clown shows for the December Conservatory Showcases. Elsewhere in Portland, Philip has directed Farm Story in the 2012 Fertile Ground Festival, as well as productions for Oregon Repertory Theatre, Chemeketa Community College and Miracle Theatre (Drammy Award, La Carpa Calavera). He has served as movement coach and choreographer for Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Hand2Mouth and Artists Repertory Theatre with Allen Nause and William Hurt. Teaching credits include mask, movement, improvisation and voice at Imago, Artist Repertory Theatre’s Actors-To-Go Program, Jesuit High School, Portland State University, and Willamette University. As an actor he has appeared at Lincoln Center, The Hartford Stage, The Civic Theatre of Central Florida, Artist Repertory Theatre, Imago Theatre and Third Rail Repertory Theatre. In New York City, Philip taught at The Sonia Moore Studio of Theatre in New York City, Circus Minimus, and the Bronx Arts Ensemble. Philip was an artistic associate with School is Fun Productions in St. Petersburg, Florida, and has adapted and directed shows for The Orange County Historical Museum and The Tampa Historical Society. Philip received a Bachelor of Arts from State College of New York at Geneseo, a certificate from The Sonia Moore Studio of Theatre and continued his actor training with master teachers Ron Setler, Ada Brown Mather, and Bobby Troka. He received his clown training from the master clown David Shiner.

	Jack Featheringill (audition technique) worked in New York theater for fifteen years as dancer, singer, actor, and stage manager for sixteen Broadway productions plus television, summer stock and the film, The Music Man. He served as casting director for Feuer and Martin Productions and for Jerome Robbins on the original production of Fiddler on the Roof. Shifting to education, he worked as Professor of Theater at Portland State University where he directed several productions and taught acting, directing, script analysis, audition and musical theater techniques. The American College Theatre Festival selected three of Jack’s productions for Festival performance at John F. Kennedy Center. As producing director of PSU Summer Players from 1971-1983, he directed over forty productions at the Coaster Theater. He received Portland’s 2004 Drammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

	michael fisher-welsh (stage combat, monologue development) Michael has been on the Portland theatre scene for the last 30 years as an actor, director and fight director. For Artists Repertory Theatre, he has appeared in Ah, Wilderness! All My Sons, Copenhagen, Dinner With Friends, The Crucible, A Question of Mercy, The Normal Heart, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and others. Michael has appeared in Frost / Nixon, The Seagull, Antigone, A Christmas Carol, The Cripple of Inishmann, and Hamlet at Portland Center Stage. Other credits include roles with Tygre's Heart Shakespeare Company, Laughing Horse Theatre, New Rose Theatre and The Musical Company. Michael attended The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

	Brian Demar Jones (Studio program - Acting, Scene Study) Brian comes most recently from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland where he taught and was part of the Acting Company. Originally from New York, he received his MFA degree in Acting from the University of Washington, where he has also taught acting. Brian has worked professionally at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Village Theatre, Taproot Theatre, and theatres throughout the Pacific Northwest. He can be seen in the upcoming production of The Brother/Sister Plays at Portland Playhouse, and all over this year’s Fertile Ground Festival. He has taught workshops and classes in Audition Technique, Suzuki/Viewpoints, Scene Study, Basic and Advanced Acting, and Musical Theatre, among others.

	Connor Kerns (Voice, Styles) Connor has been a core faculty member at PAC since 1994. In addition to teaching, he is a director and a playwright. Connor is the co-Artistic Director of Quintessence: Language & Imagination Theatre, for which he has extensive directing credits in Shakespeare and his own plays. Connor's working methods are significantly influenced by his mentor, Cicely Berry, Voice Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He received Bachelors of Arts in Theatre Arts and English Literature from Carroll College and his MFA in Theatre-Directing from the University of Portland.

	Jon Kretzu (showcase faculty) Bio coming soon.

	rebecca lingafelter (voice) Rebecca Lingafelter received her MFA in acting from Columbia University, where she worked with Anne Bogart, Kristin Linklater and Andrei Serban. She has taught at The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Classic Stage Company, The Public Theater, and was on faculty at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts where she taught voice and movement. New York acting credits include performances at PS122, The Ohio, The Ontological, HERE, Target Margin Theater, Classic Stage Company, and the Metropolitan Opera. She has performed internationally in Italy, Edinburgh, Germany and South Korea. Commercial work includes national commercials for Pepsi and Kraft. She was co-artistic director of Performance Lab 115, an NYC-based theater ensemble from 2005-2010. She produced and performed over 10 productions with the company and was lead artist for their 6-month residency with Mabou Mines in 2008. Since moving to Portland in 2011, she has appeared on Leverage as a guest star, and performed a solo piece as part of Hand2Mouth’s Risk/Reward Festival at ART. She is a proud member of SAG and AEA.

	shelly lipkin (acting for film) Shelly Lipkin is an actor, director, and playwright. From 2000 to 2003, he was co-artistic director of Cygnet Productions where he co-authored, produced and starred in Vitriol & Violets – Tales From The Algonquin Round Table, winner of the 2004 Oregon Book Award for Drama. His second play, Sylver Beaches, was also nominated for an Oregon Book Award. At Artists Repertory Theatre, Shelly has starred in The Clean House, Blue/Orange and Gross Indecencies; at Profile Theatre he starred in The Price and The Sisters Rosensweig. Other credits include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Santa Fe Repertory Theatre, Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (PCPA) in Santa Maria, and regional theatres across the country. Prior to moving to Portland, Shelly spent 20 years in Los Angeles as a television and film actor. Shelly has taught at UC Berkeley, California Institute of the Arts, Marylhurst University, Lakewood Theatre and Northwest Children's Theatre. Shelly currently teaches at The Art Institute of Portland and Clark College as well as private students.

	Sarah Lucht (Acting, Text Analysis / Acting: act 1 - studio program) Sarah Lucht has served on the faculty of the Portland Actors Conservatory since 1998 teaching Acting, Audition Technique, Breath and Energy for the Actor, Meisner, and Master Class weekend intensives. Sarah has thirty years of experience as an actor in stage, film, television and voice-over work. Local stage appearances include Emilia in Othello, Gilda in Design for Living, Vera in Distracted, Woman #3 in String of Pearls (Artists Repertory Theatre), Mrs. Benett in Pride and Prejudice (Quintessence Language and Imagination Theatre) and Bananas in House of Blue Leaves (Profile Theatre Project). As a teacher, Sarah has taught fundamentals of acting and a Shakespeare intensive for teens at Portland Center Stage; playwriting, scene study and audition technique in area high schools, as well as numerous weekend intensives, master classes, workshops and private study focusing on breath work, advanced scene work, Meisner and ensemble building for actors of all levels of experience. Sarah is a faculty member at The Haven Institute in British Columbia where she leads workshops in acting and theatre arts to non-actors to enhance personal and professional performance and experience. She is also Education Director and an instructor for Portland Shakespeare Project and has unique training and expertise in Reichian and bioenergetic breath work. Sarah received her BA in theatre from the University of Oregon with continued studies in Los Angeles, London and British Columbia. Sarah is a member of Actors Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

	Michael Mendelson (Meisner Technique / shakespeare) is a member of the Artists Repertory Theatre acting ensemble and Artistic Director of Portland Shakespeare Project. Numerous New York and regional credits include Theatre Ten Ten, Lincoln Center/Clark Studio Theatre, The Barrow Group, Paper Mill Playhouse, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Idaho Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival-Portland. He has performed all over Portland, including Portland Center Stage. Directorial credits include Stones in His Pockets, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As Is, and work with Verbatim Productions and Profile Theatre. Michael received a BFA from Wayne State University, as well as an MFA from University of Washington Professional Actors Training Program. He is on the board of the Portland Area Theatre Alliance and a member of Actors Equity Association.

	Cristi Miles (Viewpoints) Cristi was last seen on the stage as Lulu in Miracle Theatre's El Grito Del Bronx. Prior to that, while in Boston she served as Producer for Orfeo Group's Elliot Norton Award winning production of Look Back in Anger, and played the title role in their inaugural production of Marisol. She has directed and taught at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and with numerous regional theatres including the Stoneham Theatre and New Repertory Theatre. She also was a faculty member of The Boston Conservatory. As an actor her credits include: Matilde in The Clean House at New Rep (Elliot Norton Award –Best Production), A Streetcar Named Desire (Mexican Woman/ Nurse) also at New Rep, Buried Child with The Nora Theatre ,The Winter’s Tale (Perdita) with Actors’ Shakespeare Project, A Christmas Carol with New Rep, A Prayer for Owen Meany at Stoneham, Closer (Alice) with The Devanaughn, Hamlet, Our Town, The Glass Menagerie, Macbeth, all with New Rep on Tour. This fall she will appear as Celia in San Jose Rep's As You Like It. Cristi holds an MFA from Brandeis University and is a proud member of Portland Playhouse, Orfeo Group and Actors’ Equity Association.

	Chris Mikolavich (Technical Theatre, Performance Lab) Chris has been with the Conservatory since it’s inception in 1985. He has acted, directed, and stage-managed both locally and nationally. He is a scenic designer, a lighting designer and an award winning sound designer. Mr. Mikolavich is the Conservatory’s resident sound designer and Technical Director. In addition to working for many Portland theatre companies, he has been the Technical Director, Shop Foreman and Facilities Manager for Lewis & Clark College Theatre Department. He has been a casting director for feature films, TV movies and national commercials, and has toured internationally as Lighting Director for major recording artists.