Meet the 2024 Guest Faculty
Claudia Benack – Associate Teaching Professor, Voice, Carnegie Mellon University. Claudia received both her BFA and MFA degrees in Vocal Performance from CMU’s School of Music where she studied voice with Beatrice Krebs and Opera Workshop with Mildred Miller. She continued her vocal studies with Ellen Faull of the Juilliard School, the late Margaret Hoswell of the Manhattan School of Music, and Gary Race, formerly of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Iowa. Benack is a member of NATS, Sigma Alpha Iota, and has served as Vice-President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of NSAL. As a performer, Benack is comfortable in a broad range of settings. In the operatic genre, she is an award-winning lyric soprano: MTNA National First place winner in Voice (1983), NSAL Regional winner and National semi-finalist (1987) and recipient of the Minna Kaufmann Ruud Fund grant. She was a leading soprano for twenty years with Pittsburgh Opera Theater, and performed frequently with Pittsburgh Opera, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Pennsylvania Opera Workshop, and other regional opera companies. Benack also boasts an impressive array of musical theater credits. Favorite productions include BABY (Arlene), THE SOUND OF MUSC (Maria), Guys and Dolls (Sarah), OKLAHOMA! (Laurey), A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (Charlotte), OF THEE I SING (Benson), and MY FAIR LADY (Eliza). Benack is a true advocate and promoter of healthy singing through solid vocal technique and training and continues her studies in vocal teaching by attending singing workshops throughout the country and working with numerous vocal therapists and throat doctors. She also maintains her own thriving private studio. Benack’s favorite part of her career has become watching and enjoying former and present students appear in countless national tours and regional productions. Broadway shows that presently have or have had her students as cast members include 42ND STREET, JERSEY BOYS, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, MARY POPPINS, WICKED, 9 TO 5, DRACULA, FLOWER DRUM SONG, RENT, THE PAJAMA GAME, GOOD VIBRATIONS, ALL SHOOK UP, THE PRODUCERS and PACIFIC OVERTURES.
Jessica Bogart – Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre, University of Michigan. Jessica is a theatrical director, teacher of many disciplines, and actor who served as an associate artistic director at Chicago’s Apple Tree Theater. She has played leading roles on Broadway in LES MISERABLES, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, RENT, OKLAHOMA, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, BOEING BOEING, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, IN MY LIFE, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, and performed with NYCO in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at Lincoln Center. She has rehearsed and collaborated on creating new works with some of the most brilliant artists of our time including Andy Blankenbuehler, Sam Mendes, Stephen Sondheim, Trevor Nunn, and Tina Landau. Additionally, she has shared the stage with greats like Mark Rylance, Zoe Caldwell, Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, and Whoopi Goldberg. Jessica has directed award-winning regional theater productions in Chicago, Raleigh, and New York. She holds a B.F.A. from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music where both she and her husband Matt Bogart have been honored as distinguished alumni. She also holds an M.A. from New York University in Educational Theatre. She previously lived in New York and is the mother of two sons, Tru and Easton.
Kevin Covert – Director of Musical Theatre and Assistant Professor of Theatre, Shenandoah University. As an Actor, he has been seen in the Original Broadway casts of SPAMALOT, MEMPHIS (Fred Astaire Nominee 2010), and most recently the hit revival of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING starring Daniel Radcliffe, Darren Criss and Nick Jonas. Kevin can be heard on the Original Broadway Cast Albums of all three. He has toured the country with SOUTH PACIFIC, CATS, GRAND HOTEL, and the 50th Anniversary production of OKLAHOMA!. In addition to being a Broadway Actor, Kevin also serves as one of Tony Award Winner Christopher Gattelli’s (NEWSIES) associates, working with him on the Broadway revival of SOUTH PACIFIC as well as the World Premier of EMMET OTTER at the Goodspeed Musicals. He has directed and choreographed all across the US. Kevin has studied with Jose Quintero, Craig Carnelia and Fred Chappell. Kevin is a proud BFA Music Theatre graduate of Florida State University.
Raymond Sage, Professor of Voice and Music Theatre, Indiana University. Raymond received a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Baylor University and a master’s degree in vocal performance from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), followed by doctoral and post-graduate work also at CCM. Before joining the musical theatre voice faculty at Penn State, Sage was on the voice and musical theatre faculties of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts’ prestigious musical theatre conservatory, Collaborative Arts Project 21, Inc. (CAP 21). He remains on the voice faculty of the CAP 21 Professional Musical Theatre Summer Institute. His students have been seen in many Broadway productions, such as FOLLIES, TITANIC, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, STEEL PIER, HIGH SOCIETY, CATS, SCARLET PIMPERNEL, and many more.
As a performer, Sage appeared in the Broadway and national touring productions of CAMELOT, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, AND TITANIC, as well as in regional theatres across the country, such as Paper Mill Playhouse, Sacramento Theatre Company, and Dallas Summer Musicals. He has made television appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, The Howie Mandel Show, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sage is also a founding member of Monday Off, a jazz vocal quartet specializing in vocal jazz with a Broadway flair. Monday Off often appears at Carnegie Hall with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops Orchestra and at many other concert halls and jazz clubs across the United States.
Tom Delbello – Co-Head of Musical Theatre, Texas State. Tom is a Co-head of Musical Theatre: Head of Production and New Works. They hold a Masters in Directing from Texas State University. At TXST, Tom has directed Spring Awakening, Guys & Dolls, Cabaret, Hair, Speech and Debate, the New Musical workshop of Dylan Spencer’s Cat Obedience School, and many other new works. In Texas he has worked as an associate director at regional theatres such as The Zach Theatre in Austin, and Theatre Under the Stars in Houston. Select acting credits include, the world premier and Toronto companies of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Boys in the Photograph and the North American tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat. He has performed at regional theatres across North America and cruised the high seas as a lead vocalist with both Disney Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises.
As a multidisciplinary theatre-educator, he encourages students to use theatre as a tool to question and reveal the complex emotions surrounding identity, generational gaps, race, and class.
Pete & James – Development of a new musical. Selected as Semifinalist National Musical theatre Conference for 2023 – Moving to Finals April 2023. Director and Co-Producer – Selected and hosted by Theatre 4the People to complete a 10 day workshop at “The Barn” Summer 2022. Selected to have a second workshop at TXST.
Co-Founder of Lavender Public Production Company – Researching and exploring Intergenerational works by Queer artists in several mediums.
Icons – Co-creator and writer. Television pilot based on the way Queer Icons have and continue to impact the lives of Queer people in the USA. Co-wrote an episode based on the music of Brandi Carlile. In the pitch phase currently.
Lori Leshner- Adjunct Professor of Theatre Dance, Marymount Manhattan. Lori has performed and choreographed in theatres all over the country. She toured nationally and internationally with WEST SIDE STORY. Some of her favorite choreography credits include GUYS AND DOLLS, ANYTHING GOES, KISS ME KATE, ON THE TOWN, BRIGADOON, MAN OF LA MANCHA, and many more. Lori spent 9 summers at the Merry Go Round Playhouse as Director of Dance where she choreographed over 15 productions. Her previous teaching credits include Yale School of Drama, New York University, and AMDA. She currently teaches at Marymount Manhattan College, and CAP21.
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