Traysie Amick [VIDEO: MEET TRAYSIE]
Traysie serves as SCCT’s Principal Teaching Artist. She received her B.A. in Theatre at Winthrop University and studied directing with Omaha Magic Theatre. In college, she designed a children’s program for Rock Hill Community Theatre. As a youth, she got her start in camera work and participated in the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities theatre program. She was a founding company member of the improv and classical comedy group, The Distracted Globe; and she is seen regularly at the Café & Then Some. She received the 2017 Carl R. Blair Award for commitment to arts education from Metropolitan Arts Council. Since 1999, Traysie has contributed many hours to SC Children’s Theatre projects in the field as a teacher, program developer, playwright, director, and performer.
Betsy Bisson
Betsy is the Education Director for SCCT and has been here for more 15 years. She is responsible for creating all the educational programming for the theatre and also teaches Studio level classes! Betsy has been working in educational theatre since 1992 when she began to develop the award-winning YouTheatre program for Flat Rock Playhouse (now called Studio 52), the State Theatre of North Carolina. She has also worked regionally as a director and professional actress and stage manager. She was awarded the Southeastern Theatre Conference Sara Spencer Child Drama Award in 2011, named to Who’s Who Among American Teachers in 1998 and 2000 and recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in 2000. In 2015, she was nominated for a Tony for Excellence in Education. Her directorial credits (over 100 productions) range from children’s theatre to musicals, from farces to dramas, from original works to classics. She was also SCCT’s Artistic Director from June 2008-February 2021. Member of AEA.
Anna Bowman
Anna is the Education Associate at SCCT. Her goal in the classroom is to make an environment where her students can be playful and take creative risks. She is originally from Nashville, TN, and moved to Greenville after graduating from Furman University with a B.A. in Theatre and English. She’s also studied devised theatre at Double Edge Theatre in Ashford, MA. She recently acted in The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show (Various) and Wake Up Brother Bear (Brother Bear) here at SCCT and Late, a Cowboy Song (Mary), On the Verge (Mary), The Wolves (#25), and The Diviners (Norma) at Furman University . Other credits include Love and Information (Assistant Director/Stage Manager) and Do You Feel Anger? (Dramaturg) at Furman University and 5 Beauty Queens Walked into a Bar (Assistant Director) at Proud Mary Theatre.
Andrea Azumendi
Andrea is the Box Office Manager at SCCT. She enjoys playing and experimenting with a variety of makeup and is excited to be able to teach Stage Makeup this summer at SCCT! She has been involved in theatre from a young age. She started off on the stage but more recently has worked crew, prop design, scenic painting, and designing stage makeup. She graduated from USC Upstate with a BA in Theatre Communications, where she designed and assisted with makeup and wrote her Senior Thesis seminar on creating affordable designs and makeup hacks. This isn’t her first teaching rodeo, she has also taught a stage makeup class for Spartanburg Youth Theatre.She is a Spartanburg resident and has most recently designed the make up for The Addams Family Musical at Spartanburg Little Theatre last fall and plans to design the makeup for The Lion King at Spartanburg Youth Theatre next spring.
Joanna Burgess
Joanna started working for SCCT as the Scene Shop Manager in November of 2022 after graduating from Wofford College with a B.A. in Theatre and a B.S. in Physics. During her time at Wofford, she acted in many shows with her most recent credit being Pride and Prejudice (Elizabeth Bennet). She also had the opportunity to work in the scene shop at Wofford all 4 years while working as a set and lighting designer on a few shows. After graduation, she worked as Technical Director for the summer dance project “The Tangle” and worked for Spoleto Festival USA as Venue Carpenter. She’s passionate about lighting and set design, stagecraft, acting, and all things technical theater. She has had an incredible time getting to build for SCCT and is so excited to be able to teach such a fun craft to the students here!
Molly Grey Davis [VIDEO: MEET MOLLY]
Molly Grey Davis grew up in the Theatre community of Raleigh, North Carolina and received her BFA in Acting from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After graduating in 2011, Molly toured in children’s theatre productions all over the East Coast. From there, she spent some time working in Theatre and Film/TV in New York City. Molly joined the SCCT Family in 2016 and has been a proud Actor and Teaching Artist ever since. The passion and drive that young artists bring to their work, whether in rehearsal or in class, is so powerful to witness. As an actor that is always growing, Molly is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to guide young artists to achieve where they desire to be in their training.
Julie Florin
Julie A. Florin teaches theatre and chorus at Greenville High School. Julie’s musical direction and piano accompanying include—The Warehouse Theatre, Centre Stage, The Market Theatre, Mill Town Players, South Carolina Children’s Theatre, Clemson Little Theatre, and Electric City Theatre in SC; Burning Coal Theatre Company, Deep Dish Theatre, EbzB Productions, Raleigh Little Theatre, and NCSU University Theatre in NC. She is excited to work with young artists and SCCT again.
Lauren French
Lauren is a South Carolina-based actor, director, and teaching artist. She received a BA in Performing Arts – Theatre from Clemson University. In addition to teaching at SCCT, Lauren is also the ARMES (Arts Reaching Elementary and Middle School) Theater teacher through the Greenville County School District and a Teaching Artist with the Warehouse Theatre (WHT). Lauren has performed in four Shakespeare Educational Tours (WHT), performing and teaching all over SC. Inspired by her Physical Theatre training and work in restaurants, Lauren created her solo show, “Intimate Dinner; or ‘Tap Water Is Fine’,” which she has performed at Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston, the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival in North Carolina, and the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C. Lauren has trained with The Humanist Project, The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and Accademia dell’Arte in Italy. She is thrilled to be returning to SCCT as a Teaching Artist for her second Summer!
Genesis Garza
Genesis has over 30 years of experience in technical theater ranging from stage management, scene shop foreman, building scenery, scenic painter, rigger, master electrician, and much more. He later went on to get a MFA in theater design, with an emphasis in Lighting, Scenic, and Video design at Michigan State University. While designing for productions at Equity, regional, and community theaters around the country, He taught college students serving as the head of the design, tech, and management programs at Saginaw Valley State University and North Greenville University. He is now the Technical Director here at South Carolina Children’s Theatre finding a home where his deep experience in tech, design, and education can merge and be utilized on a daily basis.
Hailie Gold
Hailie Gold is a senior Theatre major with a focus in Directing at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. She is proud to say she’s been involved with SCCT since 2006 and has grown from student to stage manager, actor and teacher. Hailie has been working at the Children’s Theatre since 2018. Her most theatre credits in the upstate include Pride and Prejudice (stage manager), The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (director), Twilight Bowl (Clarice) and writing original play for performance, US-1.
Brandon Higginbotham
Brandon is the resident audio engineer at SCCT. Brandon studied audio engineering and music at Middle Tennessee State University and has worked in audio and recording for over 25 years as an in-house composer, studio and live sound engineer, and freelance music composer. Brandon currently owns and operates 864 Sound, providing live sound, studio recording and music production. From his studio in Greenville, SC, Brandon creates world-class music in multiple styles and genres. He has provided music for full-length feature films as well as some of the world’s leading brands. Brandon loves mentoring the next generation of audio and music professionals.
Lauren Imhoff
With a BFA in Musical Theatre from Elon University, Lauren loves teaching musical theatre, performing, choreographing, and directing for SCCT. She recently assumed the position of Director of Dance at Anderson University where she specializes in teaching jazz, tap and musical theatre dance styles. Lauren’s recent credits include: Seussical (AU- Choreographer), Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (SCCT-Choreographer), The Sound of Music (SCCT- Choreographer), Spookley the Square Pumpkin (SCCT- Director), Fiddler on the Roof (CCES Upper School, Choreographer). Member of AEA.
Rachel Johnson
Cole Kittredge
Cole Kittredge graduated from North Greenville University with a BA in Music Education and is now the music/chorus teacher at Polk County Middle and High School, where he is starting a new 7th and 8th-grade choral program and growing the chorus and music program at both schools. Cole grew up doing improv and musical theatre and always enjoys the opportunity to do more music.
Chelsea LaCourse [VIDEO: MEET CHELSEA]
Chelsea LaCourse has taught musical theatre classes at SCCT since 2014. She loves teaching all ages and is so excited to be back for another year! Chelsea holds a Bachelors of Arts in Voice Performance from North Greenville University. While in school, she competed and advanced to Regionals for the Mid-Atlantic division of NATS. Since graduating, she has completed certifications from the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University and Somatic Voicework – The LoVetri Method. Chelsea enjoys working with singers from all genres and runs a voice studio from her home here in Greenville. Every now and then, she gets the chance to music direct a show at SCCT – most recently, she worked on Cinderella. Some of Chelsea’s favorite performances have been Sister Berthe (The Sound of Music, SCCT), Mrs. Potts (Beauty and the Beast, SCCT), Gasparina (Haydn’s La Canterina at NGU), and the soprano soloist for The People Sing – Messiah at First Presbyterian Church, Greenville.
Kelsey Olivia
Kelsey is so excited to be on the SCCT teaching team this summer! Kelsey is a recent graduate of the South Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Musical Theatre. She is excited to be finally stepping out and teaching theatre after 4 years of discovery. She has had the honor to play roles like Gertrude Mcfuzz (Seussical), Kira (Xanadu), and Lucy Grant (Bright Star). All of these characters have allowed her to grow and appreciate every aspect of storytelling. Kelsey is so excited to work alongside young people to help them grow into everything they want to be!
Mia Phillips [VIDEO: MEET MIA]
Mia Phillips has been with SCCT for over 27 years. A Director, Stage Manager and Teaching Artist throughout this time, Mia has enjoyed working with all ages of students from preschool to adults. Mia attended Universite de Stendhal in Grenoble, France, before returning stateside to complete her majors in French and English at Wofford College She received her Master’s in Theatre from USC. Mia has worked on touring shows, outdoor dramas, taught multiple courses at USC and Greenville Tech, and Public Speaking and Theatre in the Lifelong Learning courses at Furman. Additionally, Mia worked as the Drama Teacher at Stone Academy for five years before embracing more outreach opportunities with SCCT including: teaching for 17 years at the Marshal I. Pickens Residential Treatment Facility, multiple community centers, working with the Bullying Prevention Program for Middle Schools in Greenville County, and currently teaching Preschool Story drama in CDC’s around Greenville County. Mia recently worked with ARTS GROW and the SC Arts Commission- first as a project manager in the early stages of developing Arts Industry Credentials, and most recently developing Arts Literacy Kits for distribution around the state of SC- bringing arts to more children in SC. Check out our website for more information on these literacy kits. Mia and her husband are the proud parents of two amazing young women.
Jesse Siak
Jesse Siak returns to Greenville after spending 10 years in Charleston where he served as Associate Director of Education at Charleston Stage Company. During the pandemic, he shifted gears to become an elementary school drama teacher before returning home to be closer to family. Jesse received his BA in Theatre Education from Catawba College and has taught, directed, and acted all over North and South Carolina. He specializes in Elementary education, but spent seven years as the TheatreWings High School program coordinator at Charleston Stage as well as the lead middle school teacher. Thanks to SCCT for the opportunity to come back home!
Claire Simpson
Claire Simpson has worked professionally as a director, teacher, stage manager, and scenic artist for 18 years. During the school year, Claire teaches Theatre and Chorus at West Lincoln High School in North Carolina. She loves mountain living but is happy to be rejoining the awesome team at SCCT this summer. In addition to teaching with SCCT, Claire has worked at Flat Rock Playhouse, UNCG, Horn in the West, and Florida Repertory Theatre.
Jessica Smith
Jessica is thrilled to be teaching at the South Carolina Children’s Theatre! Jessica grew up performing at Barter Theatre and Lees McRae Summer Theatre. At the age of 16, Jessica received first place in NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) musical theatre in the southeastern region. You may have seen her as “friends” with Tinker Bell, Alice in Wonderland and Wendy from Peter Pan at Walt Disney World. She was in an equity contract as Casey in Disney Junior Live on Stage at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as well. One of her favorite roles was Cindy Lou Who in Grinchmas at Universal Studios. Jessica lives in Greenville with her husband, precious son Charlie and their two dogs Coco and Spunky. Teaching theatre is the perfect combination of her love for teaching children and her love for theatre.
Lauren Wilson Stewart
After “growing up” at the South Carolina Children’s Theatre and learning from Miss Mia and Miss Traysie, Lauren is so excited to give back to the program and to have the opportunity to teach your young star! Lauren received her Bachelor’s in Theatre Performance from College of Charleston. She has travelled all over the United States and Canada teaching theatre, and she also has appeared onstage in many regional productions. Lauren is a film actor and she does voiceovers. Children’s theatre is where her heart is and she is thrilled to share her joy of theater with you and her new son Avery.
Lexie West
At the age of 3, Lexie took her first class with Miss Traysie and Miss Mia here at SCCT and soon caught the theatre bug. She is over the moon to have this full circle moment to be teaching after 20 years of SCCT memories! Lexie received M.A. in Theatre Education from The Catholic University of America and her B.A. in Performing Arts-Theatre from Clemson University. She has worked on shows at theaters across the upstate including SCCT, The Warehouse Theatre and The Brooks Center for Performing Arts. A class with Miss Lexie will be filled with imagination and creative freedom for students to learn and grow together.
SCCT staff photos by Escobar Photography
