Guest Artists

The range of talented artists working with Schenectady's students in the Blue Roses Theatre Company illustrates one of the organization's greatest strengths. Writers, actors, designers and musicians all share their experiences and talents in cultivating an environment where young artists can both observe and learn by doing.

Some of the artists who have worked with the BRTC include:

Guy Lee Bailey is a costume designer who recently designed Eleemonasary and Rupert's Birthday at The Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, FL. Locally, you may have seen Guy Lee's work at The Theatre Barn where he designed Sweeney Todd, Company, Once On This Island and Little Mary Sunshine, among others.

Patricia L. Culbert is a Guest Artist in Residence at Union College where she teaches in the Performing Arts Department.  Ms. Culbert is also on the faculty at Skidmore College where she teaches and coaches vocal production for actors in the Theatre Department.  She has served as vocal coach to many area theatres and college theater departments.  Her work has been "heard" at Capital Repertory Theatre, Home Made Theatre, Siena College, Union and Skidmore Colleges.  She is a member of the Saratoga Shakespeare Company, a professional outdoor theater company performing in Saratoga's historic Congress Park.  Prior to moving to the Capital District, Ms. Culbert worked in Boston area theatres as a director, actress and/or vocal coach, including the Huntington Theatre Company, Lyric Stage, Nucleo Ecclettico Theatre and Playwright's Platform.  She also directed children's theatre productions for the award winning Boston Children's Theatre. She is a graduate of Tufts University and holds an M.F.A. in Directing from Boston University's School of Fine Arts.

Denise Dygert is the Resident Costume Designer and Costume Shop Supervisor for Capital Repertory Theatre. Credits there include Inherit the Wind, Always Patsy Cline, Old Wicked Songs, Grace and Glorie, Forever Plaid, and Skylight among others. Last season she designed The Santa Land Diaries and Woody Gutherie's American Song. She has designed for Nebraska Rep, Penguin Rep, Hamilton College, St. Lawrence University and London's Kingshead Theatre. Locally her work has been seen at Union College, Steamer 10, The Theatre Barn, Albany Civic Theatre, The Puppet People, and Actors' Collaborative, where she is also an instructor in their Summer Stageplay program.

Chris Foster holds an MFA in Theatre Performance from Penn State. He is an Adult Education Guidance Counselor for Rensselear-Columbia-Greene BOCES, helping people achieve their academic and employment goals. Chris also teaches a course in acting at SCCC, and would eventually like to do that full time. His numerous theater credits include work with NYSTI, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Grove Shakespeare Festival, Roadshow Productions, Penn Theatre Festival, The Publyck Theatre, The Queen's Theatre, Theatre Voices and Actors' Collaborative, Inc. He also directed Someone Who'll Watch Over Me for Schenectady Civic Players, The Baltimore Waltz for ACI, and Terra Nova and Getting Out for Albany Civic Theatre.

William E. Fritz has been the Technical Director at Home Made Theater in Saratoga Springs for seven seasons. He is a graduate of Fredonia State with a degree in theatre design and production. Bill's credits at HMT include set design for The Glass Menagerie, All My Sons, Plaza Suite, and The Deal, the puppeteer in Little Shop of Horrors, and sound design for Noises Off. Bill also works with A.C.E.S. (American Concert and Entertainment Services) as a lighting designer for The Guess Who, Starship, C & C Music Factory and Rob Base, and construction of concert touring cases.

'Azzaam Hameed is a pianist, vocalist and composer who has been performing throughout the Northeast since 1974. Mr. Hameed is the pianist and organist at Friendship Baptist Church in Schenectady, NY, with over fifteen years in this capacity. 'Azzaam Hameed is an alumni of Union College where he studied musical theory and he is currently the Musical Director of the Berkshire Boys Chorus. Mr. Hameed also teaches piano to various students in the Capital District.

Brad Korbesmeyer's theatrical credits include Open Window, which received the New Harmony Project Playwriting award and its world premiere in 1994 as a joint production of Connecticut Repertory Theatre and Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Boston. His one-act play, Incident at San Bajo, won the 1988-89 Heideman Award from Actors Theatre of Louisville and has received over 50 productions in the U.S. and Canada.

Deryle McCann is a choreographer who began dancing when she was five years old with Ruth Williams Dance Studio in Harlem, New York. She has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Theater, and Lincoln Center. Deryle studied theater at City College of New York along with her major in psychology and sociology.

John Miller has been the Lighting Designer and Technical Director for the Performing Arts Department at Union College since 1987, as well as Guest Designer for Siena College and Resident Lighting Designer for several regional theatres in New York. John has lit over a hundred productions in dance, drama, musicals and concerts. Recent credits include Our Country's Good, which was recognized as one of the best productions by the American College Theatre Festival, The Shadow Box, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Nunsense at Siena College, Norman, Is That You? for the Curtain Call Dinner Theater, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Wizard of Oz, Picnic and Corpse for Home Made Theater, Camelot at Park Playhouse in Albany, The Government Inspector, Metamorphosis, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Tales of the Lost Formicans at Union College. John resides in Schenectady with his wife, Linda Dott, and their four children, two of which, Alyssa and Kristen, are in this production. About theatre, John says, "Theatre is a great educational experience. The process teaches us what we can accomplish through cooperation, collaboration and leadership, and it teaches us respect and trust for ourselves and for others as we work together."

Terry Rabine has appeared onstage as Milo Tindle in Home Made Theater's production of Sleuth, Off-Broadway in Beirut and in Capital Rep's critically acclaimed production of Glengarry Glen Ross. He has also appeared with the Lake George Dinner Theatre, The Boston Shakespeare Company and The New Federal Theatre in Manhattan. Directorial credits include Marvin's Room, The Diviners, Write Me a Murder, Eastern Standard and Corpse! at Home Made Theater in Saratoga and The Merchant of Venice, Distant Fires, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Foreigner, the World Premiere of Alice In Ireland and Buried Child at Siena College, where Terry is a member of the Creative Arts faculty, and Biloxi Blues at the Leatherstocking Theatre Company in Cooperstown.

Christopher St. Hilaire's past sound designs include Fully Committed, Song of Singapore, A Raisin in the Sun, Woody Guthrie's American Song, The SantaLand Diaries, The Diaries of Adam and Eve, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Gifts of the Magi, Nixon's Nixon for the American première and original cast album of Unforgettable: The Nat King Cole Story. In addition, he has design the sound for StageWorks' Brutal Imagination, 10 by 10 and PlaybyPlay. A Capital Region native, St. Hilaire has been a professional musician, producer and sound engineer for over 14 years. As a freelance engineer, he has worked with numerous performers and companies around the country including: George Clinton and the P Funk All Stars, Marky Ramone and the Intruders, 9th Wave Productions, C.I.S. Productions, Dalbec Audio Lab, Sonic Foundry, and hundreds of local, regional and national acts.