Gary Hauptman
Lighting Director
Gary Hauptman has been Encore’s resident lighting designer since 2012. His first experiences with lighting were shortly after high school, running spots for community ice shows and for an AC Spark Plug sales convention. Design credits include dance companies, rock bands, cabarets, fashion shows and magicians. And locally, for Teatro de la Luna, Unexpected Stage, Pinky Swear Productions, The Arlington Players, Port City Players, Requiebros and Hexagon. Gary was a founding member and lighting designer for Detroit’s ground-breaking Attic Theater. Gary contends that the most important preparation for working with Encore’s talented young performers and technicians was his time as a counselor at Michigan’s Camp Tamarack.
Megan Hayes
Anna Hollingsworth
2020 Summer Educational Intern
Anna graduated high school in 2018 and is now majoring in theatre as a rising junior at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. She has an older sister in university in Iowa and a younger brother in high school in Vienna, Virginia, where her parents and dog live. Anna is fascinated by all aspects of performing arts from working on the technical parts of productions (lights, sounds, props) to acting on stage herself. Since her first year in high school, Anna has had a passion for helping children discover the arts, especially teaching students with learning differences through theatre. Anna is thrilled to intern with Encore this summer and to monitor some of the Scenes for Tweens camps!
Rachel Hynes
Director, Theatre for the Very Young Performer
Since Rachel started performing with Encore Stage & Studio (then The Children’s Theatre of Arlington) at the age of 9, she’s been smitten with theatre’s power to entertain and transform. Since then, she’s earned her MFA in devised theatre and teaches theatre to students ages 5-105. Her TYA and TVYA works include A Sidewalk Stroll and Circolo/Circle (Encore Stage & Studio), A Lump of Coal for Christmas (Adventure Theatre, Understudy-Performed), The Little Crane and the Long Journey (Crane Fable), and Balloon Plays (Babel Productions). Rachel is a four-time recipient of an Artist Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and is a Producing Playwright with the Welders.
Kristen Jepperson
Technical Director, Set Design & Build
Kristen Jepperson is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, with a BFA in Harp Performance. Since graduation she has toured nationally as a member of the New Christy Minstrels and with Ragtime, the Musical (Emma Goldman). Theatrical credits include: Daisy, The Adding Machine, Studio Theater; Reno, Anything Goes, Olney Theater; Agnes Gooch, Mame, Toby’s of Columbia; Reverend Mother Mary Regina, Nunsense, Toby’s Baltimore. Costuming credits include: Rapunzel, Miss Electricity, The 25th…Spelling Bee at the Workhouse Theater; Pirates of Penzance, Legally Blonde, Encore Stage and Studio. Having gotten her start in childrens theater as a child, working with Encore “on the other side of the table” makes a nice circle.
Debra Leonard
Costume Designer & Build, Make-up Designer
Debra Leonard is designing her 20th season with Encore Stage and Studio. She has designed costumes for many area theatres and film companies, with over 100 productions to her credit. Debra has also designed for American University, Prince George’s Community College, and Allentown College in PA. Additionally, she works as a Special Education teacher with Prince George’s County. Debra is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kalamazoo College, with her graduate degree from American University.
Sarah Markovits
Music Director, Teaching Artist, Private Voice Teacher, Center Stage Camp Director
Soprano Sarah B. Markovits is a versatile performer and instructor, comfortable singing and teaching a wide spectrum of musical styles. Ms. Markovits currently serves as the Upper School Choral Director at Sidwell Friends School, Voice Teacher at Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, and Music Director at Encore Stage and Studio in Arlington, VA. She has been a member of the Voice Faculty at the University of Hawaii, Shenandoah University, and Pierce College, and as Vocal Coach of the Capitol Hill Chorale. Ms. Markovits has also taught courses and lessons at Punahou School in Honolulu and Capitol Hill Arts Workshop in DC. As a performer, her roles have included Blanche in Dialogues des Carmelites, Arminda in La Finta Giardiniera, Laurie in The Tender Land, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, and Grizabella in CATS. She has appeared as a soloist with the Tacoma Symphony, the Seattle Men’s Chorus, and the Rose Consort of Viols. Ms. Markovits is a Candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Washington, having studied with soprano and master teacher Jane Eaglen.
Theresa Molina-Slaiman
Teaching Artist
Theresa is excited to be a part of Encore Stage and Studio for another year! Theater has been a passion of hers for most of her life which began in her hometown of Texas. Being involved in the theater community for over 10 years had given her the experience that she brings to Encore. She especially loves working with the youth because it is pure joy to witness their journey! In Arizona, working for Art and Sol, Children’s theater was amazing because working with the kids on Lion King and Annie was fantastic! As a Teaching Artist, she enjoys the entire process, the auditions, choreography, and the performance! Looking forward to this years summer camp!
Elizabeth Pringle
Director
Elizabeth Pringle is a director, playwright, actor, and arts & media producer/educator. She has written and directed plays, musicals, operas and zarzuela adaptations, and operettas. She has taught emerging playwrights and actors in DC (Theatre Lab, Kennedy Center, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Young Playwrights). Elizabeth was also the founding creator/director of The Shortie Awards: International Film and News Festival, celebrating and promoting youth-made media.
Seth Rosenke
Teaching Artist, Scenes for Tweens Camp Director
Seth Rosenke is a theatre creator and educator who holds an MFA in Acting from The Catholic University of America. He endeavors to pass on stories that, no matter how abstract or subversive or transgressive or flat out weird, seek to find the truth and tell it to the world. He is a member of 4615 Theatre Company, based in Bethesda, MD.