Who's Teaching my Residency?

Ciara Shabree is a Chicago native and currently Houston based actor with her BFA in musical theatre from Sam Houston State University. Some of her recent credits include; 4th Wall Theatre: Fairview. AD Players: Miss Maude, Apollo 8, No One Owns Me. Stages: Panto Hansel and Gretel. Bayou Theatre Company: For Colored Girls. She has always had a strong passion for teaching and performing, so she is super excited to be able to help introduce young students to the arts and hopefully ignite that same spark in them.

Lee O. Barker is a professional set designer known for creating environments that serve the director’s vision. Prior to pursuing a career in set design, Lee’s interests were divided between Architecture and Mechanical Engineering. He holds an MFA in Theatre – Design and Technology from UMKC and currently works as a Scenic Designer in Houston, taking on fabrication jobs and commissions to support their burgeoning design career. He also serves on the faculty at Lamar University.

Brendan Bourque-Sheil’s plays include Sunrise Coven, Dogrose Patrol, The Book of Maggie, Between Two Caves, Secret Menu,The Sparkle Wars, and The Midnight Shakespeare Club. In Houston, where he’s based, his plays have been produced at Stages Theatre, The Landing Theatre Company, San Jacinto College South and Alley Theatre’s Education and Community Engagement programs. He’s also been produced in New York City, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Ann Arbor. He has been named a finalist for the National Playwrights’ Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, the Reva Shiner Comedy Award, and Southwest Theatre Productions’ “Plays With a Strong Female Lead” Competition. He has received writing fellowships from James Madison University’s New Works Lab and The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. He has told stories on World Channel’s Stories From the Stage and CityCast Houston, and he recently collaborated with visual artist Laura Spector on Burnout: The Music and Picture Show. For eleven years, he has worked as a teaching artist for Alley Theatre and the Kinder High School of Performing and Visual Arts.

Austin Brady is a Houston based actor and teaching artist. He is currently a member of the Drunk Shakespeare Society at The Emerald Theatre. His work in Houston includes productions at The Alley Theatre (The Servant of Two Masters, Oskar), AD Players (The Christmas Play That Goes Wrong) Creative Movement Practices (Gideon: And the Blundersnorp) and Main Streets Theatre for the Youth.

Emily Buesing holds a degree in Theatre and Dance with an emphasis in Acting. Some of her favorite performance credits include The Importance of Being Earnest (Cecily), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Judy), Luna Gale (Cindy), The Birds (Julia), and more recently, her role as Shelby in The Garden Theatre’s production of Steel Magnolias. Emily has also had the pleasure of working as a teaching artist, choreographer, assistant director, and director with multiple children’s theatre companies in Houston and surrounding areas. She loves helping foster kids’ imaginations through the art of theatre and is excited for the opportunity to continue this with the Alley.

Earlyssa Cooper (Earl the Poet) is a dynamic poet, educator, and community advocate. She was the first Poet Laureate of Huston-Tillotson University (2018-2020) and has since shared her love of poetry with students and community across southeast Texas. She also served as a Teaching Artist at Tyler Junior College and Willowridge High School in Houston – contributing to the growth of aspiring poets. Earl holds a Mass Communication degree from Huston-Tillotson University and expanded her horizons by studying international business at Heilongjong University in Harbin, China. She is a published author, with the release of her book “Wounds of a Warrior” in 2021. She is also active in the slam community and can be seen performing her Slam Poetry across Houston. After many years of mastering how to suffer in silence this 26 year old Houstonian has made it her personal mission to heal out loud with her tribe of warriors. Giving them the courage and the platform to share their wounds openly and creating the safe space for them to do so. Passionate about all things mental health, motherhood, and poetry related – this young woman is a force to be reckoned with.

Melanie Flanagan is a musical theater teaching artist who loves to combine music and movement to create stories with aspiring artists of all ages. From imagination play with kindergarteners, to teen conservatory acting classes, to choreography with senior citizens, Melanie delights in sharing theater arts with anyone who’ll say “yes, and…” She’s been teaching with Theatre Under The Stars in their engagement and conservatory programming since 2019, and developed and leads an ensemble class for students with disabilities through TUTS’ River program. She also leads the early childhood music program for Vivaldi Music Academy when she’s not tutoring middle school math and science. Recent credits include composing and choreographing two original plays with the Houston Community College Performing Arts Program. Before she moved to Houston in 2018, she worked with Lincoln Center and The Little Orchestra Society in New York City, creating and managing interactive theatrical experiences for a variety of audiences. She has produced and directed performances across the United States, collaborating with opera singers, movie stars, aerialists, giant puppets, and marching bands.

Eric Powell Holm is a theater-artist and musician from Brookings, South Dakota. He trained as an actor with the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA program in Minneapolis, and as a director with Columbia University’s MFA program in NYC. He was a curator and producer at the multidisciplinary art-space Cloud City in Brooklyn from 2014-2019, and has co-founded several theater/performance ensembles, including The Strange Capers, The Wild Plan, and the BREAD Arts Collective. He makes original music for young people, as Teacher Eric, and for grownups, making ‘radical queer country music.’ Holm is a Teaching Artist with the Alley Theater and a theater professor at the University of Houston.

Vincent “Blackbluez” Johnson is a writer, poet, and actor who has been performing poetry in Houston since 2002. He was introduced to slam poetry competitions in 2007 and has been on more slam teams than anyone else in Houston, TX. He created his own “chap book” and recorded an album of his poetic offerings. Next, he became the primary director and stage manager for JalaWorld Productions. He began coaching critically acclaimed and rewarded slam teams in 2016. Shortly after, he became a Slam Poetry and Creative Writing Teaching Artist. In 2023, he released a book of poetry entitled, “A Coward’s Funeral” and has been lighting stages up with dynamic performances of his new collection.

Original Las Vegas company of Jersey Boys (Lorraine); NYC Credits: ABBA’s Kristina (pre-Broadway workshop), Joy (Off-Broadway); Regional: Beauty and the Beast (Belle), Mack and Mable; TUTS: Anything Goes, Cats, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Camelot, Man of La Mancha, Spamalot, A Chorus Line, Elf, Hands on a Hardbody, Sweet Potato Queens, All Shook Up, The Ugly Christmas Sweater Musical; Alley Theatre: Cowboy Bob, A Christmas Carol, Sherlock Holmes, Toward Zero, Quack, The Three Musketeers; Catastrophic Theatre: Small Ball; 4th Wall Theatre: The Father; Teaching experience: St. John’s School (Houston), The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Houston), The Professional Performing Arts School (NYC); First Place both as Presidential Scholar In the Arts and NFAA.

Daniel Laverde brings a wealth of leadership and mentorship experience to his work in theatre education. After serving a decade in the U.S. Navy as a Program and Project Manager, where he trained over 150 sailors and led high-stakes engineering teams, Daniel transitioned his passion for guiding others into the arts. Currently finishing a BFA in Theatre at the University of Houston, he combines technical precision with creative expression to help students grow as performers and collaborators. Beyond the classroom, Daniel has spent years mentoring youth through leadership programs and church ministries, fostering confidence, teamwork, and personal growth. His approach to teaching emphasizes discipline, creativity, and the transformative power of storytelling.

Mayra Monsivais is a Houstonian who studied acting at the University of Houston. Credits include Stories of Us (TEATRX), Oskar vs. Thingamabob (Alley Theatre), Oskar and the Last Straw Tour (Alley Theatre), Inner View (Sin Muros: A Latinx Theater Festival. Stages), Sonia Flew (TEATRX), El Huracán (Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company). Oskars Not So Simple Comeback (Alley Theatre), La Vida Es Cortos/Life Is Shorts (TEATRX), O: A RHAPSODY IN DIVORCE! (Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company). Mayra is also a working actor in TV and film, including commercials, TV roles, and music videos. She had been with the Alley as a Teaching Artist since 2019 and looks forward to many more.

Gabriel Regojo is excited to be back at Alley Theatre. Previous Alley credits include: Jane Eyre (St. John Rivers), Sense and Sensibility (Male Swing). Additional credits include: Classical Theatre (Company Member): War of The Worlds (George), R.U.R. (Alquist), Nevermore (Actor 1), Lysistrata (Cinesias); Catastrophic Theatre (Core Ensemble): Eddie goes to Poetry City (Eddie), The Blackest Shore (Stuart), Bootycandy (Actor 5); Stages Repertory Theatre: My Mañana Comes (Jorge), Water by the Spoonful (Elliot); Rec Room: Sender (Jordan), Exit Strategy (Luce); Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company: Dry Land (Victor). Gabriel is also a current Teaching Artist with Alley ECE and Voice Actor with over 40 credits in anime and video games.

Michael Leonel Sifuentes, is a Latin-American actor based in Houston, and a graduate of the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance B.F.A Program. Most recently they appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom) & Romeo and Juliet (Capulet) with the Houston Shakespeare Festival, Escobar’s Hippo (Narrator) at the Stages’ 2024 Sin Muros Festival, ConcertiaHTX’s production of Cloud Tectonics (Nelson), and Measure for Measure (Duke Vincentio) and The Tempest (Gonzalo) with The Prague Shakespeare Company. Michael has also appeared in Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage (Rafael) at the Ensemble Theatre. Aunt Julia & The Scriptwriter (Genaro) with Main Street Theater, and Shakespeare in the Shade’s Henry V (Exeter). Other credits include Rumpelstiltskin (Uta/Guard), Henry V (Gower), Middletown (Cop), The Orestia (Chorus D), and Kid Simple (Foley Artist/Radio Announcer) at the University of Houston.

Sarah Sneesby is a Director, Choreographer, Movement Director, Teacher, and Movement and Intimacy Practitioner in theatre for the stage. She strives to bring equity to the rehearsal room through empowering the actor to take an embodied, collaborative ownership of both the creative process and the final product. She holds an MFA in Movement: Directing and Teaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Gabrielle White is a Houston-native playwright, poet, and actor with a BFA in acting/directing from Sam Houston State University. After participating in the Alley Theatre’s HYPE program as a teenager, she has been inspired to create scads of differing plays ever since – one of which was showcased as part of SHSU’s 10-minute play festival in 2020.  As a credited educator with a published anthology of poetry in 2021, as well as a completed American Sign Language and Interpreting program under her belt, she finds herself especially eager to blend her range of skillsets and experiences in varying ways as a teaching artist. She hopes to lead by example in the promotion and importance of theatre arts (and artistry as a whole!) in everyday life.