Sarah Bellamy - Seminar
Seminar is a course designed to challenge students on their ideas about race, gender and class as socially defined terms. Students practice critical thinking about themselves in relation to their culture and the world.

Sarah Bellamy is the Education Director for Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College where she studied creative writing and postcolonial theory. She holds an M.A. in the Humanities from The University of Chicago in Caribbean Studies where she specialized in colonial history from 1400-1800. Since returning to the Twin Cities, Sarah has focused her attention once again on creative writing including short stories, screenwriting and playwriting. Sarah has been commissioned to research and compose contextual essays that accompany the main-stage productions for Penumbra's 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 Seasons.

Terry Bellamy - Performance Element
Performance Element is a course designed for students to put into practice what they learn in other courses. Working with a professional director, students build an original, ensemble and performance piece.

Terry Bellamy is one of the original and founding members of Penumbra Theatre Company. He first set foot on stage at the tender age of six and has been on stage professionally for over 30 years. The sum total of his theatre experience is just a few months shy of half a century. He has had the privilege to learn his craft from such noted professionals as Horace Bond, Lou Bellamy, Claude Purdy, Robert Alexander, David Leong and JoAnne Akalaitis, to name a few. His regional acting credits include the lead in Marion McClinton’s Off-Broadway premiere of Walker's, to working in the best regional houses in the country, such as The Guthrie Theater, The Goodman Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville and many others. Local credits include: The Guthrie, Guthrie II, Penumbra Theatre Company, Chimers, Mixed Blood Theatre, American History Theatre, The Hennepin Center for the Arts, Park Square Theatre, Minneapolis Car Garage and Illusion Theatre Company. His "heart" has and always will remain in black drama. He is structurally familiar with all of August Wilson's Twentieth Century Cycle, and has been involved with his works that preceded that canon. He is equally familiar with the works of Ed Bullins, Lonnie Elder, Louis Edwards, Athol Fugard, and Samuel Beckett. He has been a dramaturge at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, taught advanced acting at the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis and he taught Black Drama at Penumbra Theatre Company in 1990, 1991 and 1994.

Ginger Commodore - Music Element
Music Element is designed to introduce students to the centrality of music as an element that creates, sustains and enriches African American culture.

Ginger Commodore has been a member of the Twin Cities music scene for many years. Her career has taken her down many musical roads. She began her performing as a long time member of the Grammy Award winning Sounds of Blackness, touring across the United States. She was (and remains) an original member of the local female group, Women Who Cook and has performed with The Twin City Gospel Ensemble, The J.D. Steele Singers and a whole host of others. Her theatrical credits include: the World Premiere of Death In The Family with the Minnesota Opera Company, Selma with Penumbra Theatre Company, Black Belts at the Mixed Blood Theatre, Stamping, Shouting & Singing Home with the Children's Theatre Company, Smokey Joe's Cafe at Hey City Theater and most recently Black Nativity (Penumbra).

James Craven - Art With Intent
Art with Intent is a course designed to introduce students to art for social change. Students examine the social responsibility of artists and their impact on a community.

James Craven is a long time Penumbra Theatre company member. Recent Penumbra credits include The Piano Lesson, REDSHIRTS, Get Ready, Zooman and the Sign, and Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers, produced in collaboration with Trinity Repertory Theatre. He also recently performed at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Arizona Theatre Company in their joint production of Jitney. James is a 2005 recipient of the Spenser Cherashore Fund. He used this grant to research Native American culture and the experiences of the Buffalo Soldiers circa 1880s in the greater southwestern United States. This research provided invaluable knowledge that James applied to the creation of his role of Craig Robe in Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers.

Craig Gottschalk - Design Element
Design Element will acquaint students with scene, lighting, sound and costume design helping them to understand the roles these elements play within the context of a production and the development of an aesthetic through an ensemble team of designers working with a director to bring to material life a play.

Craig Gottschalk grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for 21 years. I attended Westminster College with a BA in Theatre with a concentration in Performance and a minor in Chemistry. I attended Bowling Green State University from 2002-2004 and was enrolled in their MA/PhD program for Theatre. It was during this time I found my love for technical theatre and design. After designing lights for two productions, Times Square Angel and Antigone, I decided that lighting design was what I really wanted to do. I enrolled in the University of Minnesota Theatre Arts and Dance’s MFA in Design/Technical Theatre program starting in 2004. During my three years at the U of M, I assisted professional designers at the Children’s Theatre Company as well as freelanced as a lighting designer with smaller theaters. I graduated from the program in June of 2007. For the next 5 months I freelanced around town on a few productions. Currently, I am working full time for the Children’s Theatre Company & School as their Assistant Lighting & Video Supervisor. I continue to assist designers on various productions during the season as well as participate in the collaborative effort of producing shows for the company. I still freelance as a lighting designer part time. I am currently working on several projects - one notably the production of King Lear with the Minnesota Shakespeare Project opening in March.

Erinn Huntley - Design Element
Design Element will acquaint students with scene, lighting, sound and costume design helping them to understand the roles these elements play within the context of a production and the development of an aesthetic through an ensemble team of designers working with a director to bring to material life a play.

Design: (as Scenic Designer) Shakespeare on the Cape: Cloud 9; Walking Shadow Theatre: 36 Views; Minnesota Centennial Showboat: Sherlock’s Last Case; Twin Cities Theater Company: The Shape of Things; University of Minnesota: Cabaret, The Pope and the Witch; Guthrie Experience: Bring Love to My Doorstep; Guthrie BFA New Plays Project: Split, Proclivities, Calling All; Ashland Summer Theatre Festival: Lend Me a Tenor. (as Assistant Scenic Designer) Interact Center: Between the Worlds; Penumbra Theatre: Ain’t Misbehavin’. (as Costume Designer) Theatre Pro Rata: Metamorphoses; Shakespeare on the Cape: Cloud 9. (as Lighting Designer) University of Minnesota: Hedda Gabler.
Scenic Art: Jungle Theatre, Penumbra Theatre, Interact Center, Guthrie Theater, Minnesota Centennial Showboat, Vee Entertainment Corporation, Park Square Theatre, University of Minnesota (Charge Painter and Paint Shop Supervisor for 13 productions), Ashland Summer Theatre Festival (6 productions), Muskingum College (12 productions), Arts Center on 7, The Edge Center for the Arts
Training/Education: University of Minnesota: MFA in Design and Production for the Theatre (upon completion of thesis), Muskingum College: B.A. Theatre and English.
Upcoming: (as Scenic Designer) Theatre Mu: Q & A; Walking Shadow Theatre: American Pilot; Red Eye Theater: Have You Seen Steve Steven?; (as Costume Designer): Walking Shadow Theatre: American Pilot.

Tonia Jackson - Acting II
Acting II focuses on ensemble scene work. Students will practice active listening, sharpen their concentration and awareness, increase their creativity, and challenge their ability to stay in character and in the moment.

Tonia Jackson is a proud and grateful Penumbra Theatre Company member. She has worked in several Penumbra productions. Some include Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, For Colored Girls, Shakin' the Mess Outa Misery, Waiting in Vain, Unfinished Women, Seven Guitars and King Hedley II. Other credits include King Hedley II at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre Company in San Francisco, Relativity at Magic Theatre Company in San Francisco, From the Mississippi Delta at Illusion Theatre Company, Amazing Grace at Children's Theatre Company, Darker Face of the Earth at the Guthrie Theater, Grapes of Wrath at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, Furthest from the Sun at Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Point of Revue at Mixed Blood Theatre Company. Tonia just finished an actors showcase at the professional actors studio in Atlanta, Georgia. She is currently filming a television pilot called Yellow Cry where she plays a mother of a troubled son.

Marvette Knight - Jazz and Modern Dance
Jazz and Modern Dance will acquaint students with the development of jazz and modern dance out of the African American roots in vaudeville, swing and other popular dance movements such as the Charleston or the Lindy Hop.

Marvette Knight is a long time Penumbra company member. She is also a full-time member of the Children's Theatre Company. She has also performed with the Guthrie Theater, Park Square and Mixed Blood. As a choreographer, she has worked with these same theatres as well as the La Jolla Playhouse, History Theatre, Zenon Dance Company, The Sounds of Blackness, Youth Movement Company, Steppingstone Theatre and Stages Theatre. Marvette choreographs and teaches dance for several schools throughout the area and the Children’s Theatre Education program. In an international spectacle titled Chatouranga, Marvette choreographed a cast of over 1500 dancers and singers for the production in Fribourg, Switzerland. Select awards include The Critics Circle Kudos Award and The Katherine Dunham Award.

Marion McClinton - Creative Writing
Creative Writing will acquaint students with the creative and mechanical aspects of writing.

Headshot and bio coming soon!

Leslie Parker - African-based Movement
African-based Movement is a high-energy workout! Students learn basic gestures, expressions and techniques in traditional West African forms and explores the connections between body, spirit and community.

Leslie Parker, a St. Paul, MN native, holds her B.F.A in dance from The Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University with an emphasis in choreography. She worked as a dance instructor for the Minneapolis and St. Paul Public School Systems as well as teaching Afro-modern & West African dance for multiple summer and spring sessions at Zenon Dance Company and School in Minneapolis. She has led many workshops and residencies for community service programs including The Agape School for pregnant teens and has taught Afro-Modern dance at various community centers in the Philadelphia community. Her extensive study of African derived dance forms has influenced her eclectic dance style. Her work has been presented at Penumbra Theatre and The Pillsbury House for The Late Nite Series in Minnesota. She has performed as a guest artist with Chuck Davis’ African American Dance Ensemble (NC), Reggie Wilson’s Fist and Heel Performance Group (NY), Tania Isaac Dance (PA), and also as a member of The Spirit of Ase’ Multiple Performance Group in Minneapolis, MN, Kariamu & Company: Traditions and Underground Dance Works in Philadelphia, P.A. Currently she is an apprentice for Urban Bush Women in NYC, NY.

Kalere Payton - Design Element
Design Element will acquaint students with scene, lighting, sound and costume design helping them to understand the roles these elements play within the context of a production and the development of an aesthetic through an ensemble team of designers working with a director to bring to material life a play.

Kalere A. Payton is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design/Technology at the University of Minnesota. Her design credits include The Arabian Nights, The Wiz and Uri Sands' dance piece Happy for the University of Minnesota Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. She served as the Assistant Costume Designer for Penumbra's Get Ready and REDSHIRTS. In the Fall of 2006, she assisted Mathew J. Lefebvre, Costume Designer for Two Trains Running (Lou Bellamy, Director) at the Signature Theatre Company in New York.

Dominic Taylor - Arc of Theatre
Arc of Theatre is a course designed to give students a diverse and general overview of theatre history. Students look at African American theatre today within a larger framework.

Dominic Taylor has been a practicing theatre artist for the past 20 years, recently relocating from New York to Saint Paul. He has directed a variety of theatre projects and musicals including the new opera Fresh Faust at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and the cantata The Negro Burial Ground at The Kitchen in New York City. He has worked with Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, The Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Crossroads Theater, Rites and Reasons Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, and Ensemble Studio Theatre among others. He holds both a Bachelors and a Master of Fine Arts from Brown University. He has been appointed Assistant Professor in Directing at the University of Minnesota and is the Associate Artistic Director at Penumbra Theatre Company.

Harry Waters, Jr. - Acting I
Acting I is a course designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of acting including vocal projection and communicating emotion to the audience and to other actors.

Harry Waters, Jr. - Originally from Denver Colorado, he has been extremely busy in the Twin Cities over the past few years. As a member of the Theater and Dance Department at Macalester College, Professor Waters' most recent project was directing a minimalist production of Romeo and Juliet for the BFA/Guthrie Acting Program. Prior to that, he staged a wonderful production of Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches at Macalester College to unanimous acclaim. His directing work there has been evident in sterling productions of Proof, Runaways and an originally conceived piece called The Family (Re)Union Project. Locally he has directed one of the weeks of Suzan Lori Parks' 365Plays 365Days for Thirst Theater in January of last year. Directing and acting with Pillsbury House's Chicago Avenue Project is one of his ongoing commitments. This fall he will be directing a production of The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe at Macalester College to coincide with a curated art exhibit called Beyond the Colored Museum with local artist Ta-Cumba Aiken. His acting talents have been seen locally with Ten Thousand Things Theater, Mixed Blood, The Guthrie and Penumbra Theatre. He is excited as well about the classes created at Macalester for his acting, directing and community based theater students, many of whom have participated in Penumbra's Horace Bond Ambassador Program.