Meet Our Teachers:
Our camp and class directors are highly qualified teachers with years of professional experience in theatrical performance, directing, and design. All directors are cpr/first aid certified and Arizona fingerprint clearance card holders.
Looking for a director or instructor for your school's drama club? Please email to inquire!
First Spotlight Director/Acting I
Polly Schlitz
Intro to Acting/Acting III
Alex Totillo
Improv Instructor
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Polly Schlitz received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from New York University, and trained professionally in New York City for two years at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting, directly under Stella Adler herself. Polly also studied commercial acting under Joyce Barker at the Joyce Barker Studio of Commercial Acting. As a SAG / AEA actress - under the name of "Polly Bourke" - she has performed opposite such notables as Elizabeth Ashley, Matt Dillon, Anne Archer, and Sandy Dennis. Polly has been teaching youth acting classes and directing since 1978. In 2009, she founded the Imagination Institute™ -a broad arts company dedicated to fostering and manifesting creative visions. She also launched the company's publishing and production company, Draw Me A Sheep Productions, and the company's performance venue and performing arts education division, the Tubac Performance Studios. Polly founded the Tubac Community Theatre on behalf of the Tubac Center of the Arts, and dierected their productions; “Love Letters”, “Art”, “Girl in Blue Armchair.” Polly wrote & directed the play, “Beatrice and Blakelock" and "A Charles Poston Christmas", and "The Bottom of the Bottle". Ms. Schlitz also directed the production “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” for The Community Performing Arts Center (CPAC) in Green Valley, AZ.
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Carrie has been a dance and theatre educator for over twenty years. Carrie has worked with Troubadour Theatre as First Spotlight director, as well as choreographer and Acting I instructor since 2013. Carrie holds a BA in Theatre Arts with a minor in Jazz Dance from the University of Arizona. Carrie has worked as adjunct faculty of dance at Pima Community College, director/choreographer at Live Theatre Workshop, director/actor/writer at Arizona Onstage, Strata Theater company (Formally Beowulf Alley), Roadrunner Theatre Company, and Stories That Soar. Carrie is the Ballet Director at Centre Stage Dance Studio.
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Alex has been active in the local theater community for 16 years, and an instructor with Troubadour Theatre since 2013. She is an actor, director, and freelance dramaturg with a background in improv. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in psychology and minors in Theatre Arts and French. While in school, Alex was president of Students on Stage, which produced original student-written work, and the Sabino improv club. Theater credits include Annelle in The Arizona Rose Theater’s production of Steel Magnolias, and dramaturg for Arizona Repertory Theater’s production of Epic Proportions.
Jace Hampton
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Jace is a drummer who has been active in the southern Arizona music scene since 2010. His various projects throughout the years have led him to play alongside acts such as Badflower, Agent Orange, Ottto, Eric Wilson of Sublime's Spray Allen, Potty Mouth, and more. With Troubadour Theatre, he's been the drummer for all Broadway Bound productions since 2015, and is an instructor for the Rock, Roll, and Repeat camps. Additionally, he is the drummer for the punk/metal band, "Brace Yourself", as well making music with fellow Troubadour instructor Jacob Walters in the indie-pop duo "Midcentury Architect". His previous endeavors include work with "Creating The Scene" (later known as "Idle Lights"), "Soakset", and regular guest appearances with "30yr Itch" and "Thunder Mountain Band".
Rock Instructor/Drummer
Kris Hoffman
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Kris has been taking dance since the age of seven and has been teaching dance since sixteen. Kris has been choreographing musicals with Troubadour Theatre since 2010. She earned her BA in Performing Arts from Oklahoma City University and an MFA in Theatre Arts with a dance emphasis from the University of Arizona. She has worked for Stiletto Entertainment and Holland America Cruise Lines as a dancer and for Les Folies Bergere at the Tropicana, as well as the Theatre Technical Director for the University of Arizona School of Dance.
Choreographer
Alex Greegaard
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Alex has nearly twenty years of experience in acting, design, directing, and composition for the theatre. He is a humanities teacher at Khalsa Montessori and earned his MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. Alex has acted and composed musical scores for productions at Live Theatre Workshop, Top Hat Theatre Club, Comedy Playhouse, El Rio Theatre Project, and Beowulf Alley Theatre Company. Alex founded Troubadour Theatre back in January of 2007 with the goal to provide quality performing arts education to children in Tucson in a time where many no longer had access to it through their school or could not afford it.
Educational Director
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Kristen Wheeler
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Kristen is a University of Arizona graduate with a BFA in Theatre Production and has been working professionally in Tucson theatre since 2006. Kristen is a community leader and advocate for youth theatre education and has directed and designed for Troubadour since 2007. Her theatrical designs for Arizona Repertory Theatre, UA Dance, Top Hat Theatre Club, and Beowulf Alley Theatre Company have been critically acclaimed. She has worked on costumes for Arizona Theatre Company, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, UA Presents, Artifact Dance Project, and currently is the full time Costume Director for the University of Arizona School of Dance.
Artistic Director/Acting II/Improv
Jake Walters
Jake serves as music director for both Troubadour Theatre and Gaslight Youth Theatre. Jake has performed in countless musical theatre productions including Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods, Charles Strouse’s Bye Bye Birdie, and various roles in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at The Comedy Playhouse. He has appeared in several University of Arizona Opera productions, such as L’Aumônier in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Orpheus in Orphée aux enfers by Offenbach. Jake also took part in Lawrence Opera Theatre’s 2016 & 2017 Seasons, playing “First Sailor” in Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and covering “Monostatos” in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Mr. Walters was also recently awarded 2nd place in the 2018 NATS competition, and also tied for 2nd place in the 2018 Amelia Rieman competition. Jake also writes, produces, and performs his own music and has performed in numerous music venues across AZ, both as a solo artist, and with his band, Creating the Scene. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music, having the privilege of studying under the direction of soprano, Yunah Lee, as well as Dr. Hugo Vera, who previously performed with the Metropolitan Opera.
Music Director/Musical Theatre
