Theatre Faculty

Moimusa Ahmadu
Moimusa Ahmadu

Conditioning Coach

Moimusa Ahmadu is the sole proprietor of Guts Pilates and Sports Medicine. He is also currently the Assistant Athletic Trainer in the SportsMedicine Department at The Landon School for Boys.
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Tonya Beckman

Part-Time Professor of Theatre

Tonya Beckman is an AEA/SAG-AFTRA actor and dialect coach.
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Lisa Beley
Lisa Beley

Voice & Speech, Classical Acting Program

Lisa Ann Beley is head of Voice and Text at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. She obtained a BFA from the University of British Columbia and as an actor worked in theatre, film and television as well as established herself as one of Vancouver’s top voice-over talents.
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Christopher Cherry
Christopher Cherry

Alexander, Classical Acting Program

Christopher Cherry is the director of Studio 2C, a studio for the performing arts and the Alexander Technique, where he focuses his Alexander practice exclusively on helping performing artists attain greater freedom, grace, clarity, and skill.
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Dody DiSanto
Dody DiSanto

Mask, Clown, Classical Acting Program

Dody DiSanto trained in Paris and is an esteemed teaching protégé of the late Jacques Lecoq, whose teachings she carries forward. She is also on the faculties of The Catholic University of America and the Center for Movement Theatre, and has recently been a Guest Artist for Cirque du Soleil and The Yale School of Drama. Read More  


Holly Dugan
Holly Dugan

Program Head, Theatre & Dance

Holly Dugan’s scholarship focuses on the role of literature as an archive of the past, especially in terms of histories of embodiment, theater, and early modern English material culture. She is working on two book projects: Shakespeare and the Senses, which explores the sensory aspects of early modern performance, and “The Famous Ape,” which traces the role of animal actors from the Renaissance to the modern era.
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Ed Gero
Ed Gero

Archetypes, Acting, Classical Acting Program

A 32-season veteran of the Washington Theatre community, Ed Gero is a fifteen-time nominee of the Helen Hayes Award and four-time recipient.
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Carl Gudenius
Carl Gudenius

Professor, Theatre and Dance Professor

Carl Gudenius is the Program Head of Theatre & Dance. In addition to teaching scenic and lighting design at GW and directing its Graduate Production Design Program, Professor Gudenius is an active professional designer.
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Jennifer Hopkins

Visiting Professor of Theatre, Theatre & Dance Program

Jennifer J. Hopkins is a performing artist who spends her free time teaching fitness.
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Robb Hunter
Robb Hunter

Combat, Classical Acting Program

Robb Hunter is a member of AEA, SAG/AFTRA, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and is a Certified Fight Director and Teacher of Stage Combat for the Society of American Fight Directors. Read More  


Leslie Jacobson
Leslie Jacobson

Topics, Classical Acting Program

Leslie Jacobson has been nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Direction. She has written scripts for the Helen Hayes Awards Ceremonies and the script for Arena Stage’s 40th Anniversary Gala. In 1989, she was selected by the U.S. Senate to write, direct, and produce a play commemorating its bicentennial. Theatres around the country have produced her scripts, and a television script was nominated for a Washington, D.C. Emmy.
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Emma Jaster
Emma Jaster

Movement for the Actor, Classical Acting Program

Emma is a performer and generative artist. She has been called a “splendid mover” (The Washington Post) and “a master of her craft” (Baratunde Thurston). She strives to create original, physically compelling theater that directly engages the audience.
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Sigrid Johannesdottir
Sigridur Johannesdottir

Associate Professor of Costume Design & Technology, Theatre & Dance Program

Sigridur is a costume designer who specializes and focuses her teaching on reproducing historical costumes based on research as well as dance costumes. She is the resident costume designer for Washington Stage Guild (DC), Ambassador Theatre (DC), and MetroStage in Alexandria VA.
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Lisae Jordan
Lisae Jordan

Stretch, Classical Acting Program

Lisae Jordan is originally from upstate New York, where many small towns have ballet schools as a result of the Ford Foundation’s support for George Balanchine and his efforts to establishing regional professional ballet companies and training for American dancers.
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Jodi I. Kanter

Professor, Theatre; Advisor, Classical Acting

As a scholar, she has been trained to apply the theoretical lens of performance to everyday practices and so, while her methodology is consistent, the subjects of her work vary wildly—from, for example, end of life health care to contemporary dramatic literature to the American Presidency.
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Bess Kaye
Bess Kaye

Assistant Stage Combat Instructor and Resident Intimacy Choreographer, Classical Acting Program

Bess is a Fight Director and Intimacy Choreographer for stage and screen in the Washington, DC area. She is an Advanced Actor Combatant and Associate Instructor with the Society of American Fight Directors having taught stage combat and intimacy best practices at regional workshops across the nation. Read More  


Bill Largess
Bill Largess

Adjunct Professor of Theatre, Theatre & Dance Program

Bill Largess has been a theatre artist in the Washington area for over 40 years. He is a founding member of The Washington Stage Guild, a professional theatre in downtown DC and has been artistic director since 2008. Read More  


Isabella Matousek
Isabella Matousek

Academic Program Administrator for Theatre & Dance

Isabella Matousek is a Pure Barre Teacher.
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LeeAnet Noble
LeeAnet Noble

Shakespeare and the History of Black Actors, Classical Acting Program

LeeAnet Noble graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University and is certified in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion from Purdue University.
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Allyson Currin Stokes

Regular Part-Time Professor of Theatre, Theatre & Dance Program

Professor Stokes is the writer of numerous original plays, which have premiered on stages around the country such as, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Signature Theatre, Mosaic Theater of DC, WSC Avant Bard and many others.

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John Traub
John Traub

Associate Professor, Production Management & Technology

John is an Associate Professor of Production Design at the George Washington University, where he teaches courses in Design and Management and serves as the Technical Director for the Corcoran Theatre & Dance Program.

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Emily Vallozzi
Emily Vallozzi

Instructional Costume Lab Associate for Theatre & Dance

Emily Vallozzi is a Washington D.C.-based costume designer, wardrobe stylist, and seamstress who has been working in the field since graduating from Point Park University in 2007 with a BFA in Technical Theatre and Design. Read More  

Craig Wallace
Craig Wallace

Monologue, Scene Study, Classical Acting Program

Craig Wallace is an actor, director, and teaching artist as well as an affiliated artist with the Shakespeare Theatre Company and an associated artist at Ford's Theatre. Craig's training includes a BFA from Howard University, an MFA from Pennsylvania State University and The Royal National Theatre, London. Read More  


Tanya Wetenhall
Tanya Wetenhall

Assistant Professor, Design History

Tanya Wetenhall teaches costume and textiles as material and visual culture. With a focus on object-based teaching and learning, her courses encompass fashion and costume history, fashion in art, world dress practices and the cultural histories of the theatre and ballet design. Read More  


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Alec Wild

Program Head, Classical Acting Program

Alec Wild was Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning Folio Theatre in Chicago, and Founder/Producing Director of the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Minnesota.
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Sidney Monroe Williams
Sidney Monroe Williams

Assistant Professor of Theatre, Theatre & Dance Program

Sidney Monroe Williams (they/them) is a community-based theatre artist whose work is situated at the intersections of race, gender and class.
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Travis Xavier

Adjunct Professor of Theatre, Theatre & Dance Program

Travis Xavier, is an actor and hip hop artist. Born in Baltimore, MD and raised in Tampa, FL.

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