Teachers

(BFA Musical Theatre from Penn State University)
Classes: Musical Theater Instructor

Broadway: School of Rock (Patty u/s, Rosalie), Hairspray (Shelley, u/s Penny/Tracy), Radio City Christmas Spectacular (vocalist) National tours/Regional: Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and Sacramento Music Circus’ Peter Pan (Wendy Darling), Kiss Me, Kate (Bianca/Lois), Rock of Ages (Sherrie), Little House on the Prairie National Tour w/ Melissa Gilbert, Big Fish (Sandra), World premiere of the A or B? at The Garry Marshall Theatre in Los Angeles, Hair (Barrington Stage Company). Pittsburgh native. BFA Musical Theatre from Penn State University.

(BHA Carnegie Mellon University – Drama, Music and Creative Writing, MAPW Masters in Professional Writing Carnegie Mellon University)
Classes: Vocal and Musical Theater

Lisa Marinacci recently returned home to Pittsburgh after performing, writing and producing in NYC, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. She began working professionally at age 5 in role of Gretel in the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera’s production of The Sound Of Music. She spent the next 15 years studying at The Center for Theater Arts and performing throughout Pittsburgh on stage and in commercials, and also alongside jazz guitarist Joe Negri as a featured singer at events such “Jazz for Juniors.” She went on to study drama, writing and music at Carnegie Mellon University where she earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees. While living in NYC, Lisa traveled back and forth to Pittsburgh to co-produce her first album with Joe Negri titled “Waiting For Spring.” She went on to co-produce Snoopy, The Musical!!! in Hollywood, CA, also appearing as Peppermint Patty. During her time in Los Angeles, Lisa created the web series “Welcome to California!” and also began workshopping her original musical, The Devil And Daisy Jane, which received a professional workshop production in Hollywood and went on to win Stage Scene LA’s Best New Musical award. Lisa is ecstatic to be teaching at The Center – a place that always did and still feels like home.

(B.Mus. Duquesne University)
Classes: Accompanist: Voice and Musical Theater

Pittsburgh native, Alex Robertson, has been an active music director and accompanist in the Pittsburgh area since 2007. He has musically directed productions for South Allegheny High School for the past three years. As a touring musician and songwriter, Alex has performed to audiences across the country and been featured in the Vans Warped Tour. His music can be heard on Spotify,105.9 The X, Kerrang Radio (U.K) and Root Sports Pittsburgh.

Classes: Musical Theatre / Special Actors Program 

Lily Junker is a director, educator, and theatre-maker with a fondness for ensemble and movement-based work. Lily spent six seasons as Curriculum & Instruction Manager at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ. In 2016, she received the Theatre for Young Audiences/USA Ann Shaw Fellowship which supported her training at the Corner Stone Theatre Company in Los Angeles. She also traveled to Ferguson, MO as a part of the #Every28Hours Project and was selected to attend the Kennedy Center’s National Seminar for Teaching Artists in 2015. Before starting at McCarter, Lily spent two years at Asolo Repertory Theatre where she worked as a teaching artist for the award-winning Kaleidoscope program serving students and adults with disabilities, developed and directed original documentary theatre pieces about race with the Sarasota and Bradenton communities, and served as interim Education & Outreach Director. Lily is a proud graduate of the University of Pittsburgh where she studied Theater and Writing. She has worked in a variety of capacities for theatre companies throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, and served as Producing Artistic Director of Bakerloo Theatre Project from 2009 – 2012.

Classes: Musical Theater, Performance Workshop, Special Actors Musical Theater

Alexa is currently studying to receive her B.A. in Early Childhood/ Special Education PreK- 4.

She is a very proud Alumni of the Center For Theater Arts. Alexa has performed in many productions throughout her years at CTA. Some of her favorites include, Mamma Mia (Donna Sheridan), Zombie Prom (Featured Ensemble), and Footloose (Featured Ensemble). In addition to performing, Alexa has stage managed at the CTA for various All-School Musicals.  During high school, Alexa was also a member of the Gene Kelly award winning Baldwin High School musicals of Zorro and Big Fish. She also had supporting roles and was dance captain in their productions of Honeymoon In Vegas (Mahi), and Mame (Vera). Alexa is pleased to be given the opportunity to come full circle and teach students, just like she was, here at the Center for Theater Arts. She’s excited to be a part of something that offers students a sense of community and belonging that is so important in our world today.

Classes: Performance Workshop – Junior Division

Hannah O’Toole is a Pittsburgh native and proud alumna of the CTA and is so honored to come back “home”! A graduate of Point Park University, she also serves as Assistant Director and Choreographer for Seton LaSalle High School Performing Arts and Ave Maria Academy in the South Hills. Hannah is beyond grateful for the CTA, a place that sparked and fostered her love of theater, and she is thrilled to contribute to the everlasting impact of the CTA.

Classes: Intro to Dance – Junior Division; Special Actors Musical Theater 

Melissa is so excited to be back at the Center for Theater Arts – where she was once a student for many years and where her passion for dance and musical theater began – as a faculty member now. A Seton La Salle graduate, Melissa went to Point Park University to receive a BA in Dance. She is a 9-year veteran of the World Famous Radio City Rockettes, bout touring and Radio City Music Hall NYC. She has performed in numerous productions at Pgh Civic Light Opera summer Broadway Series. Other credits include North Shore Musical Theater, Kansas City Starlight, and the European tour of Crazy for You. Melissa has taught dance in numerous studios in the NY and CT areas.

(MA from Boston University-Voice Performance)
Classes: Voice, Performance Workshop, Musical Theater, Special Actors

Jennie has served as a church soloist, musical theater performer, and soloist with the Boston Pops. While in New England, she directed a High School Choir that sang at Carnegie Hall and the 2000 Olympics in Australia.

She has been teaching private voice for 25 years. Jennie taught at Point Park and Trevecca Nazarene University. She served as music director at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church. She has directed numerous musicals, including School of Rock, The Wiz, Descendants, Annie, Footloose, and High School Musical. Currently, she is a musical theater director, accompanist, musical director, group voice instructor, and private voice and piano instructor.

Classes: Acting

Joseph McGranaghan is a Pittsburgh-based actor and educator with a BA in Theater from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. In Pittsburgh, Joseph has worked as an adjunct acting professor at Point Park University since 2019, and as a teaching artist with City Theatre’s Young Playwrights Program, Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s Shakespeare Scene and Monologue Competition, Hope Academy of Music and Arts, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Nursery School. Previously, Joseph served as head of the theatre department at Doane Academy in Burlington, NJ. He has also co-directed/ fight directed productions at the Browning School in Manhattan and the Peddie School in Highstown, NJ. Joseph spent nearly 5 years as a teaching artist at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, where he taught acting, classical theatre, devising, improv, and playwriting. While there, he worked with Tarell Alvin McCraney to devise and present an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra with high school students.

As an actor, Joseph has worked extensively in off-Broadway, regional, and Pittsburgh theatres, including shows with LaMama ETC, Mabou Mines, and SITI Company in New York, two years as an Asolo Rep company member, a national tour with Chamber Theatre of Boston, and four productions at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. Film/ TV credits include: The Lucky 6, Liberte: A Call to Spy, How to Rob a Bank, Hack My Life, American Rust, and Mayor of Kingstown.

Classes: Musical Theater

Olivia Scheimer is a professional pianist, collaborative musician, and music educator based in Pittsburgh. She holds a Master’s degree and an Artist Diploma from Duquesne University and has extensive experience performing, accompanying, and collaborating with musicians of all ages. She also teaches piano and clarinet at the Pittsburgh Community Music School. Olivia is excited to support young performers and bring her musical experience and enthusiasm to the Center for Theater Arts.

Classes: Dance

Heidi Murr is a Pittsburgh-based dance educator and choreographer with experience teaching students from preschool through high school. She holds a BFA in Dance from The Ohio State University and an M.Ed. in Teaching and Leadership from Point Park University. Heidi currently teaches dance at Sewickley Academy, where she develops PK–12 dance curriculum and choreographs for school productions. She has also taught at Westinghouse Arts Academy, The Ellis School, and Shady Side Academy. Heidi is passionate about creating an encouraging and inclusive classroom where dancers can build confidence, creativity, and a lifelong love of movement.

Classes: Voice

Lucas Barkley is Music Director and Organist of Southminster Presbyterian Church, Mt. Lebanon. He is also a vocal coach and pianist on the faculties of West Virginia University and Slippery Rock University. Formerly, he was Music Director and Principal Coach of Duquesne University Opera Theater and Music Director for WVU Mainstage Theater, and he works regularly with local opera and theater companies including Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Resonance Works, and Aria412. Before moving back to the Pittsburgh area, he was a freelance vocal coach and pianist in the greater New York City area and worked with numerous opera companies and summer programs, and was a staff pianist at Mannes College and Rutgers University, and a musical theater coach at Rider University. Lucas holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Duquesne University, a master’s in collaborative piano from Carnegie Mellon University, and is a DMA candidate in collaborative piano at WVU, writing about keyboard continuo realization in the recitatives of Mozart’s operas. In 2022, he won the Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Auditions as part of an art song duo with baritone Alan Cline.

Classes: Acting

Parag S. Gohel (he/him) has been steeped in the Pittsburgh arts community for over fifteen years, helping shape its creative landscape through artist residencies, guerrilla event-making, immersive theater, volunteerism, community engagement, accessibility programs, and arts education. His interdisciplinary journey in performance, sound design, and production fuels a deep passion for both the creative process and the people behind it. He served as the Director of Education and Engagement at the former Pittsburgh Public Theater, where he ushered the beloved Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest into its 30th year, and also as Director of Education at Quantum Theatre. Parag often works with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Arts Education Department, alongside adjunct teaching positions in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh and Point Park University. Parag’s other work has been featured at Pittsburgh’s First Night, Children’s Festival, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Festival of Firsts, and has reached audiences in Philadelphia, New York, and internationally. Parag is proud to be a TCG Rising Leader of Color and is rooted in principles of joyful collaboration and artistic imagination, always holding equity and excellence in the same hand.

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