Portland Actors Conservatory

Portland Actors Conservatory Faculty

Harper, Beth
Beth Harper founded the Portland Actors Conservatory in 1985. As Artistic Director of the Conservatory, Beth 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, she is currently an adjunct faculty member at Lewis & Clark College. An award-winning actor, Ms. Harper has been involved in local, regional and national theatre for the past 20 years. She earned a Willie Award for her acting in The Rainmaker at Sumas Theatre and a Drammy Award for A Texas Romance at Artists Repertory Theatre. 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 with Ross Productions. 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. At the Conservatory, she recently directed acclaimed productions of Two Rooms, A Piece of My Heart, and Fuddy Meers. 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.

Bement, Jane
Jane earned her MFA in Theatre from the University of Portland. She has been seen on numerous Portland stages since 1980, including roles in "Side Man" at Artists Repertory Theatre, "A Chorus Line" and "Harvey" at the Portland Civic Theatre, "Angry Housewives" at Storefront Theatre, "Mrs. California" at New Rose Theatre, "Riches" at the Oregon One-Act Festival, "Cabaret" and "Chicago" at Lakewood Theatre, "First Couple" at Triangle Productions, "You Canít Take It With You" and "The Memory of Water" here at PAC, plus numerous staged readings.

Cuomo, Philip
Philip Cuomo has taught movement for the Bronx Arts Ensemble, clowning for Circus Minimus, and acting for the Sonia Moore Studio of Theater. He is a founding member of the modern commedia troupe Lick the Spoon and currently works and tours with Imago Theater. Philip appeared as Puck in Artists Repertory Theatre’s multi-cultural production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Hunt, Barry
Barry Hunt has a 12-year history teaching acting and filmmaking. He has been an actor for 30 years with credits on stage, film and television. Mr. Hunt trained in the Meisner Technique at the William Esper Studio in NYC as well as the Circle Repertory Theater Lab, Robert Ravan Studios and the Indiana University Theater Program. For the past 15 years Mr. Hunt has been an award winning producer and director in his role as Artistic Director of the Sowelu Theater Ensemble, he developed new acting methods derived from his Meisner work, an emersion into methods of physical theater born from the psychophysical work of Michael Chekhov and theater work born from modern dance including Viewpoints and Suzuki with The SITI Company. Mr. Hunt is the 2005 recipient of the Ilene Fulton Fellowship through the Portland Civic Theater Guild.

Kerns, Connor
Connor received BAs in Theatre Arts and English Literature from Carroll College and his MFA in Theatre-Directing from the University of Portland. He is currently Artistic Director of Quintessence: Language and Imagination Theatre. He primarily directs classical drama and original work and is a frequently-produced playwright. He has taught acting at PAC since 1994, teaches Shakespeare locally, and is a private acting coach.

Kusnetz, Sam
Sam Kusnetz is a designer, composer, stage manager, and theatrical problem solver with over 150 productions to his name. He has toured nationally and internationally with Do Jump! and Imago Theatre’s Frogz and Biglittlethings as Production Stage Manager and Lighting Director. His Off-Broadway credits include sound design for Dames at Sea, Doña Rosita, Arms and the Man, and Small Craft Warnings at the Jean Cocteau Repertory. Regional credits include the world premieres of A Girl Called Dusty at the Provincetown Repertory, and One: The Musical with the Insight Out Theatre Collective in Portland. He has composed scores for numerous shows at his alma mater, Brown University, including King Lear, Marisol and Macbeth, and designed sound for many others including the world premiere of Kid Simple. He spends his summers as head sound designer and production manager at Buck’s Rock Camp, a visual and performing arts camp in Connecticut, where he has designed sound for Amadeus, The Serpent, The Tempest, Metamorphoses, Urinetown, and many others. He is a founding member of the Anonymous Theatre Company and a designer-in-residence with Insight Out Theatre Collective.

Lucht, Sarah
Sarah Lucht has been performing in Portland theatre for almost twenty years. Favorite roles include: Paulina in "A Winterís Tale", Celia in "As You Like It", and Beatrice in "Much Ado About Nothing" (Tygreís Heart Shakespeare Company); Liz in "Present Laughter" (Artist Repertory Theatre); Harper in "Angels in America" (Triangle Productions); Sylvia in "Sylvia" (Laughing Horse Summer Repertory); Masha in "The Seagull" (Cygnet Productions); Ensemble in "Jeffrey" (Triangle Productions), for which she won the Drammy for Best Supporting Actress. Sarah appeared in "Gypsy" for Portland Center Stage, where she also works with ìVisions and Voices,î a program that teaches playwriting in Portland high schools through PCSís educational outreach department. She received her degree in Theatre from the University of Oregon and has also studied in London and Los Angeles.

Mikolavich, Chris
Chris Mikolavich was the Production and Facilities Manager of the Conservatory from its inception in 1985 until 2005. An Equity stage manager, Chris has also served as sound designer, lighting director, technical director, rigger, master electrician, boom operator, musician and actor for many theatres and film production houses in the region, as well as for national touring companies. He was Sound Designer at Artists Repertory Theatre for Picasso in the Back Seat and How I Learned to Drive. Chris received a Drammy Award for Sound Design for Coyote Ugly. Chris still serves as Sound Designer for the Conservatory Season.

Porter, Maureen
Maureen Porter’s credits include Emma in Betrayal at Imago Theater (for which she won a Drammy Award for Outstanding Performance), Mom in Number Three (a new work by writer Ebbe Roe Smith) with Third Rail Repertory, Mae in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Portland Center Stage and Mary in The Thugs, Mom in Number Three and Claudia in Anon for the Portland Center Stage JAW/West Festival. Rachel in The Sea, Susannah in A Question of Mercy, Ensemble in Nickel and Dimed and BarbWiggin in Owen Meany at Artist Repertory Theater. New York Credits include Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, Laura Lucretia in The Feigned Courtesans, Angelica in The Rover, Lady Sneerwell in School for Scandal, and Kent in the workshop performance of King Lear (The Queen’s Company). She played the title character in Wet, Or, Isabella the Pirate Queen in New York’s Summer Performance Festival and toured with the National Shakespeare Company performing in As You Like It and Macbeth as well teaching workshops on language, movement, stage combat and improvisation. She is a founding member of the New York based Commedia Del’ Arte troop Lick the Spoon and performed in several original pieces including Columbina in Pantalone’s Dungeon. Other roles include The Girl in Hermes Mother (Doppelganger, NY), Mistress Paige in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Inwood Shakespeare Festival, NY) Olivia in Twelfth Night, Kate in Taming of the Shrew (Sterling Festival, NY), Hermione in A Winters Tale, Audrey in As You Like It (Tygres Heart Shakespeare, Portland). Maureen is a graduate and faculty member of the Portland Actors Conservatory.

Skelton, Buck
Buck Skelton received an MFA in Directing from the University of Texas. He has directed or acted in over 40 productions in Texas, California and Oregon. He attributes his 20-year career in film and television, which included an Emmy nomination, to a solid background in theatre.

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