Membership Spotlight – February 2026

A current passion project is supporting, designing, and teaching the 2nd year of CTM’s arts integration residency at Samuel L. Gompers Elementary School in Madison. I have been having a blast working with Gompers teachers and students to explore topics such as Weather, Paleontology, and Animal Adaptations through creative drama! Whether in role as “Dr. Frankie Bones” with 2nd graders, or offering professional development in arts integrated math activities, working with Gompers is always an inspiring example of arts integration in action.

As a host site for AATE’s Young Playwrights for Change competition, CTM has received hundreds of scripts responding to this year’s theme: Widening Our Circle of Compassion. Reading these scripts and connecting with these middle school playwrights has been deeply inspiring, reminding me of the power of youth voice in the TYA space.

I am excited to be working on CTM’s production of Disney’s Newsies this spring as a performer (a childhood dream come true)! There is something that feels immensely powerful about sharing stories of revolution and bravery with young people at a time where we are seeing more and more young people using their voice to stand up for what they believe is right.

I choose to work in Theatre for Young Audiences because TYA holds a beautiful balance of deep impact, and deep joy. TYA approaches storytelling in a way that offers an invitation for audiences to imagine, hope, and delight. This is not only crucial for young people, as they develop their understanding of themselves and the world around them, but for adults alike. TYA speaks to our innate desire for curiosity, and to feel deeply. It invites us to learn and consider new perspectives, and think about our own place in the world. At the same time, TYA is silly, playful, and joyous. Magic exists in this work. How cool is that? I am grateful to engage in work that holds both impact and joy so dearly, and I am better for having spent my life here.

It is a joy of my life to collaborate with my dear colleague and friend, Erica Berman-Thompson, Director of Education and Community Engagement at CTM. Erica is an inspiring artist, educator, and administrator that I am grateful to work with and learn from every day. In addition to working together to support education programs at CTM, we are excited to co-present at the TYA USA National Conference this May! Another loving shout out to Jen Lennon, Director of The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza last holiday season. Being on Jen’s team as Choreographer and Young Company Coach was a dream come true!

I am truly the luckiest to have had so many impactful people touch my path! Special love and gratitude to Jeff Schaetzke for showing me that this path was possible, Andrew Steeves for teaching me how to tell a good story, and the theater faculty at North Central College (namely Laura Lodewyck and Cynthia Hartigan) for encouraging me, challenging me, and providing endless opportunities to grow. I am a walking love letter to arts education and a proud alumni of the arts spaces that raised me- First Stage, Oak Creek High School, Young Dance Academy, and North Central College.

I would love to meet you! You can connect with me over email at lgleason@ctmtheater.org, find me on LinkedIn or connect with me on Instagram @lrgonstage!

I teach Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) to undergraduate theatre majors in acting, musical theatre, and theatre education. This spring, our program will mount Gimme Please, a Theatre for Very Young Audiences (TVY) production developed at the Alliance Theatre. The production will be directed by Sam Provenzano, a University of Northern Colorado alum and current Resident Artist and Teen Programs Manager at the Alliance Theatre, who will return to Colorado to lead the project. The production will tour throughout Northern Colorado, with performances at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Boulder Ensemble Theatre.

The Denver Art Museum’s current Pissarro exhibition has been a quiet refuge for me. In a chaotic world, being surrounded by his brushstrokes and softened color palette felt grounding—soothing my spirit and even inspiring a long-dreamed-of trip to Paris this spring.

Lately, my favorite escape has also been Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang. In a parallel universe, my Chicago years centered on improv rather than theatre, and Amy and I became best friends. Listening now, it feels as though we’ve known each other for decades. I especially love hearing about the Parks and Recreation cast’s shared joy—like their ongoing joke about a fictional show called Philly Justice. That sense of play, trust, and affection is deeply familiar. It’s a reminder of why the performing arts community so often becomes a chosen family—part collaborators, part confidants, and part lifelong “church-giggle” friends who understand the joy of making something together.

In the next academic year, the University of Northern Colorado will produce the new Theatre for Young Audiences musical Spells of the Sea in collaboration with Megan Ann Rasmussen, former President of TYA/USA. I have followed the project’s evolution from podcast to stage, and I am eager to see how students engage with the process of developing a new musical. I am equally excited to experience how families and young audiences respond to the show’s characters, music, and richly layered themes.

Awe. Discovery. Joy. Authenticity. Honesty.

These words define every audience of young people. They do not know—or care—about the unspoken rules of traditional theatre, and their responses are entirely honest, both the applause and the silence. Because of this, Theatre for Young Audiences demands a higher bar for engagement, creativity, and truthfulness. There is no fooling these audiences.

Young people want to be challenged. They want to laugh. They want to feel something deeply. Each performance is unpredictable, and I can never fully anticipate how an audience will respond. But when a room full of young people is completely engaged—leaning forward, reacting together, fully present—there is nothing like it. That is why I make theatre for young audiences.

My favorite collaborator is Sam Provenzano. Our work together began when she was an acting major at the University of Northern Colorado and was unexpectedly cast as the lead in Tomato Plant Girl during her sophomore year. It was only my second year at UNC, and witnessing the Theatre for Young Audiences spark ignite so vividly for a young artist was unforgettable.

By her senior year, I invited Sam to collaborate with a playwright to develop a new TYA work for our touring program, and her creativity, generosity, and emerging strength as a director were immediately clear. She later continued her training at my alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, in the Drama and Theatre for Youth program.

As our collaboration continued, we shifted into Theatre for Very Young Audiences, where Sam has since become one of the leading creators of TVY work at the Alliance Theatre and nationally. During my sabbatical, we collaborated on All Smiles, and this spring she returns to UNC to direct Gimme Please.

Sam is one of the most imaginative artists I know, and collaborating with her continues to challenge, inspire, and reaffirm why I do this work.

One of the reasons I feel so deeply connected to the TYA community is our shared commitment to authentic, transformative mentorship. At the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Coleman Jennings modeled what it meant to love this field—not only through his encyclopedic knowledge of every TYA play written in the U.S., but through his tireless passion and unwavering belief in the work. Suzan Zeder brought a spark of creative electricity into every room she entered; her wit and insight could move you to tears from laughter or meaning. (I still remember her saying in class, “When I finished that play, I felt like I finally took off a pair of tight pantyhose.”) She showed me how brilliance and playfulness can coexist in the creative process. And Joan Lazarus revealed the power of balancing process and product—how the journey of making theatre is inseparable from the art itself.
My dad once joked that I earned my MFA at UT Austin and my PhD at People’s Light and Theatre, and in many ways it’s true. Under former Artistic Director Abbey Adams, I saw what long-term, meaningful relationships with youth and community could look like in a professional theatre setting. She didn’t just believe in the work—she embodied it. Nancy Shaw pushed me to articulate the impact of theatre through my writing and teaching, while David Bradley taught me how to engage youth and community around truly big themes. He encouraged us all to grapple with complexity, to lean into the hard questions, and to believe in the possibility of making unlikely dreams happen.

At UNC, Connie Bethards became a co-conspirator in the work of equity and justice in the arts. From the moment we met, it felt like we had been working side-by-side for years. Her leadership in visual arts education deepened my understanding of the purpose of arts learning and renewed my belief in its power to make the world—quite literally—a better place.

gillian.mcnally@unco.edu, https://www.unco.edu/employee-directory/gillian-mcnally/

​​I’m really excited for the upcoming premiere of “DIG UP! A Dinosaur Expedition”. It will be the third show from my theater company STEMmersive  which creates immersive, interactive theatrical experiences for young audiences and their families.

Our shows combine STEM exploration with imaginative play, leading audiences through pre-show hands-on learning activities and 360-degree performances featuring original music and puppets. While the show is intimate—taking place inside a 25-foot inflatable planetarium dome that seats fewer than 50 people—the production itself is truly epic. In this particular story, the dome serves as our “Cave Rover.”  So far it has also been a “Space Shuttle” and “Submarine”.

In “DIG UP!”, the audience acts as a group of young researchers entering a cave in search of a specific fossil. The expedition is led by a Geologist and Paleontologist, played by Brittanty Parker and I. During the journey, something goes wrong, leading to an accidental time-travel adventure. SPOILER ALERT: We see dinosaurs!

I am an educator and a clown so the show naturally has a healthy mix of humor, wonder and verifiable facts.

We are thrilled to premiere the piece in Maine this May, with performances presented by both The Rockland Strand Theatre and Portland Ovations. Following the premiere, we hope to continue touring and are currently exploring ways to adapt the show for proscenium stages.

I’m honestly not over Benito Bowl! The energy, the visuals, the storytelling, the positive messages and the cultural pride were all so inspiring! When Bad Bunny pointed into the camera, during his Superbowl halftime performance, and said  “If I’m here it’s because I never stopped believing in myself. You should believe in yourself too”– I took that personally.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about Bill Nye the Science guy. Yup, that show from the 90’s.

Something else I’m looking forward to this year is performing at Penn Live Arts and returning to Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods this summer with my original show, “Alphabugs.”

The show combines content from my book, “Insects & Me A to Z”—which features bug facts, strength-based affirmations, and a diverse cast of characters—with music by the Philadelphia-based duo Ants on a Log. The Ants on a Log are Julie Be (they/them) and Miles Crabtree (he/him), their award-winning music centers on positivity, social justice, and silliness.

“Alphabugs” developed organically during a summer tour I did with the band a few years ago. Since then, it has grown into a standalone project performed at museums, schools, and libraries across the Northeast. We are currently revamping the production to include new songs and large-scale insect puppets. Exciting stuff!

I am passionate about creating work for young audiences because not only are they the most honest audiences, they have an ever-present sense of wonder and silliness as a shared virtue.

I recognize that having the attention of children is a gift that comes with lots of responsibility.  In a media-saturated world, I want to provide nourishing entertainment rooted in the belief that children deserve protection,  respect, and that their voices are important. This is a philosophy I carry into the classroom, my artistic process, my performances, and my daily interactions.

It also brings me much joy and makes me feel like a magician to create  moments where grown ups can have a mutually engaging experience with their child!

Shout out to my best friend and collaborator, Brittany Parker! She is my STEMmersive co-conspirator and actually came up with our company name. We met over ten years ago when I answered a casting call for a mime on a project she was developing, and we hit it off immediately.

We’ve been creating and performing together ever since. Brittany is such an advocate and a cheerleader. I’m so lucky to have her in my corner and by my side. For instance, she convinced me I could learn to play the bass guitar, which led to me joining her band, Bee Parks and the Hornets. I played with the band for a summer residency, have gone on tours, and became a contributing writer for the band. We’ve collaborated on web series, short films, library programs, you name it!  She is truly amazing.

Miss Susan is a retired librarian from Mount Desert Island, where I spent a few summers circa 2015-18 working with an Arts Collective. Miss Susan is so creative and caring and really wanted dynamic programming at her library branch. She made space for creativity and also suggestions for programs that we could create for the community. I workshopped my very first solo clown piece for families, The Magician’s Assistant, at her branch and tested lots of other material and concepts with that community as well. In fact she commissioned the virtual program that eventually led to the creation of the STEMmersive company!  Knowing Miss Susan gave me  newfound appreciation for librarians and helped me see library spaces in a new light. These days libraries are one of my most frequented performance venues!

To learn more about STEMmersive – you can check out our website STEMmersive.com or @stemmersive on Instagram and Facebook. And my personal Instagram @melismithme is where I post all of my other project  updates. If anyone wanted to get in touch, they could reach me there or by email melissa.noname.smith@gmail.com.