APSU Theatre and Dance Faculty
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Zakk Mannella Pronouns: He/Him |
Zakk Mannella is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Musical Theatre. Zakk holds a BA
from Marymount Manhattan College (2015), and an MFA in Musical Theatre from San Diego
State University (2024). Zakk is a performer himself, as well as a director and choreographer
who has worked professionally all over the country both on stage and off . The breadth
of the classes he has taught include Dance (Jazz, Tap, Ballet, MT), Acting, Theatre
History, Musical Theatre History, Directing/Choreography, Private Voice, Musical Theatre
Techniques, Scene Into Song, Audition Prep/Coaching, and more. He is proud to be joining
the wonderful faculty and students here at APSU.
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Leni A. Dyer, M.F.A. Pronouns: She/Her/Hers |
Leni is an Associate Professor and Costume Designer in the Department of Theatre & Dance. She received her BA from Kennesaw State University and her MFA from the University of Alabama. Her professional career has taken her all over the United States and the world. She has worked for such theatres as the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA, The Omaha Playhouse in Omaha, NE and Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, MA just to name a few. She also spent time working in the area of costumes on Cruise ships which offered her the opportunity to travel to places such as Japan, China, all of the Virgin Islands and Hawaii. Costume history and research is Leni's strongest interest. She is very active with the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Southeastern Theatre Conference, and Tennessee Theatre Association where she is a past President. In the past Leni had the opportunity to tour mainland China as an Education Delegate with People to People Ambassador Programs. |
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Darren Michael, M.F.A. Pronouns: He/Him/His |
A native Arkansan, Darren V. Michael received his B.A. in Theatre from Ouachita Baptist University and an M. F. A. in Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi. He has training in mask work, the commedia dell’arte and Shakespeare from Bretton Hall College (the University of Leeds) in England, stage combat from the Society of American Fight Directors, and has been a professional actor/director/playwright in commercial, film and stage around the Southeast for nearly three decades now, including work with the Roxy Regional Theatre, Theatre West Virginia, and headlining the historical action/stunt show, Daniel Boone: The Man and the Legend. Other onstage roles include the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko in John Logan’s Red, Roy Cohn in Angels in America, Part 1, the honky-tonk rocker Cowboy Bob in Footloose, Zack in A Chorus Line, and Al Delvecchio in Happy Days the Musical. As a writer, his full-length play Scarecrows Will Never See the Sunset had its world premiere as part of Playhouse Nashville’s 2014 season in the Tennessee capital and is currently available through Steele Springs Stage Rights, and his book Brief Encounters: Short Plays for Beginning Theatre Artists is published through Waveland Press. His short play Imaginary Conversations with My Daughter was part of the 4th Annual New Play Festival at The Puzzle in New York City in July of 2014 and his short works Willie Nelson Ain’t Dead, Feathers, and Lyla Builds a Spaceship premiered in the summer of 2018 at the Madlab Theatre’s Theatre Roulette in Columbus, Ohio. Over recent years, his work, including The Romantic Sway of Near Earth Objects, Masterpiece, and Voice Activated have also been featured at Roxy Regional Theatre here in Clarksville and at various events in Nashville. His latest short play Bun Bun and Honkers is a part of the 2023 8x10 Eileen Moushey TheatreFest at the Weathervane Theatre in Akron, Ohio. He is the Past President of the Tennessee Theatre Association, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and currently the Vice-Chair of the Playwriting Interest Group for the Southeastern Theatre Conference. He is a constant writer, board game fanatic and huge St. Louis Cardinals fan. To view more of Darren’s work, feel free to visit his website: www.darrenvanmichael.com |
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Dale Pickard, M.F.A. Pronouns: She/Her/Hers |
Dale Pickard is a Lighting and Sound designer who has worked in theaters from coast to coast, including California, Iowa, Maine, Virginia, Indiana and Nebraska. Dale has taught at Virginia Intermont College and Christopher Newport University. She graduated with her BA in Theater from Illinois Wesleyan University and her MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Virginia. Dale is an active member of SETC and USITT. She has also spent 5 summers with the American High School Theater Festival (AHSTF) helping high school students from across the country and Canada transplant and perform their productions in Edinburgh, Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. |
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Margaret Rennerfeldt, M.F.A. Pronouns: She/Her/Hers |
Margaret Rennerfeldt, originally from Illinois, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts, and a Masters of Fine Arts, in dance and performance from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and a Masters of Arts in Teaching reading from Rockford College. Ms. Rennerfeldt is a certified Somatic Movement Educator (SME) from the Center for BodyMind Movement and a member of the International Somatic Movement Educators and Therapists Association (ISMETA). She is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) certified through the Foundation for Human Enrichment, Trauma Institute. Her areas of focus are dance technique, improvisation, choreography, somatic movement, anatomy and dance in education. She has studied with many great teachers including Warren Conover, Larry Long, Bella Lewitzky, Peggy Hackney, Janice Meaden, Mark Chandlee Taylor, Ed Burgess, and Janet lily. Ms. Rennerfeldt’s professional performance credits include the Chicago Dance Medium, Akasha Dance Company and Without Shoes Modern Dance Company, which she directed from 1993 to 2001. She has had teaching appointments at Rockford Dance Company, Rockford University and Beloit College. She has presented choreography, master classes and workshops at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Festival Alabama Arts Council, and Tennessee Association of Dance (TAD). Internationally she has taught or had works commission at Театр Танца Возрождение (Renaissance Dance Theatre) and various dance studios in Moscow, Russia, Pontifica Universidad Católica Del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador, Lingnan University Hong Kong, and Seishin Women’s University Tokyo, Japan. In 2012 her choreography “Finding Place” was selected for the Gala performance at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Festival Southeast Region and in 2018 “Gotta Make a Dance, the Last Gasp” was selected for the Gala performance for the (ACDA) South Region. She joined the department of Theatre and Dance Austin Peay State University in 2011. |
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Michael Mason, M.F.A. Pronouns: He/Him/His |
Michael Mason is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Scenic Design. Michael is an alum of Austin Peay's Theatre and Dance Department, earning a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Design in 2015. In the years that followed, he worked with various theatre companies including Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre, Charlottesville Opera, Lexington Children's Theatre, and The Little Theatre on the Square as a technician, painter, and scenic designer. in 2024, Michael earned his MFA in Scenic Design from Illinois State University. |
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Victoria Fowler, MFA Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
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Victoria is best known for playing Elphaba in the iconic musical Wicked. She starred on Broadway as Dyanne in Million Dollar Quartet and reprised her role Off-Broadway and on the Las Vegas strip. She originated the role of Cindy Lou in the Off-Broadway production of The Marvelous Wonderettes, and can be heard on the cast album. Aside from her numerous theatrical credits, Victoria has voiced seven audiobooks, toured nationally and internationally, and once ran away with the circus. She can be seen on streaming platforms starring in the feature film Love Meet Hope, the horror short Crib, and the psychological thriller The Voices. Victoria recently produced the viral horror-comedy film Slotherhouse. She is currently writing the book, lyrics and music for an original musical called The Dropout. Victoria is a graduate of San Diego State University’s MFA Musical Theatre program and is proud to be part of the APSU team! |
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Talon Beeson, MFA Pronouns: He/Him/His
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Talon Beeson is an actor, director, teacher, and writer. On stage Talon has been seen from coast to coast in theatres in Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Ohio. He has been heard on many TV shows, video games, and commercials nationally and internationally including Divorce Court (Daytime Emmy nomination,)GTA V, Call of Duty:Advanced Warfare, and as the voice of Kingsford Charcoal, among others. Talon was also the voice of the hit Swedish and French webshow Extreme Roadtrip. Recently, Talon booked the role of Jitter in the upcoming animated series Bit Wars and the role of Mike Meyhu in Monday Night Meyhu. He has also appeared in several episodes of the three time Peabody Award, and SOVAS nominated radio drama "Suspense!" Recently, he directed and played a lead role in the game "Soteria," which won the Bronze Award at the International Serious Play Awards and the Audience Choice award from Stanford University. Talon can be heard as the narrator of several internationally best selling audio book series including JTF-13, Fae Wars, and IST-1 (nominated for a 2022 Imadjinn award for best narrator). In 2017, Talon was nominated for a SOVAS VAA award for his work in the audio book Wonder. Talon wrote, directed, and starred in the short film "It Was Good" which has been screened at several film festivals. He was also the voice director of the hit TV show "You Live in What" on HGTV. He holds a BFA in Music Theatre from Shenandoah University and an MFA in Acting from DePaul University. He has taught across the nation at the SAG Conservatory, the VO Academy, DePaul University, Prairie State College, and Columbia College Chicago. His best selling first book, "Starting Your Career in Voice-Overs" is available in bookstores everywhere. www.talonbeeson.com beesont@apsu.edu |
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Eboné Camille Amos is a Visiting Professor of Dance in the Dept of Theatre and Dance at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN where she focuses on Afro-aesthetics within contemporary dance techniques, dance history, improvisation (the embodiment of culture) and multidisciplinary approaches in dance composition and solo practices. She received a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Dance Education from the University of Memphis and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Dance: Performance and Choreography at the Florida State University. As an MFA student, Eboné had the honor of performing her own choreography We Carry it Everyday in the COCO Festival in Port of Spain, Trinidad. She also premiered her thesis work Let The Church Say in Thomasville, GA. In addition to works in the University, she premiered her first contemporary ballet loose with the Tallahassee Ballet in the Evening of Music and Dance: Gershwin and Bernstein in Tallahassee, FL. As a performer, she has danced with Debbie Allen, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Millicent Johnnie and Josephine Girabaldi. Before moving to Tallahassee, Ebone’s love for her community spanned over a decade of teaching over 2,000 children in her hometown of Memphis, TN. For 3 years, she spearheaded and developed a thriving dance program at Hickory Ridge Middle School. She also served as Resident Choreographer with the Young Actors Guild under the direction of Chrysti Chandler, an instructor at the Playhouse on the Square Summer Conservatory, and the Resident Ballet and Creative Movement Director at Briarcrest Christian School. In Memphis, Eboné was introduced to musical theatre. In 2010, she played Lorraine at Playhouse on the Square’s production of Hairspray. She went on to perform in A Chorus Line (Theatre Memphis), Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Footloose, Ragtime (Playhouse on the Square) and Legally Blonde and Singin’ in the Rain (Merry Go Round Playhouse). Eboné’s research includes multi-disciplinary solo practices (writing, sound score, voice), the body as politics and creating work that fosters the cultural advancement and empowerment of the black community. Her pedagogical practice stems from the importance of accessibility within the performing arts. As she considers her non-formal training to serve as the ultimate foundation of her current artistic practices, she uses this platform to help students explore their “mother tongue/that ‘you’ only ‘you’ can do” that isn’t necessarily found standing at the barre. “My movement aesthetic derived from family barbeques and church picnics. From playgrounds and middle school dances. I enjoy tapping into that ‘untrained’ part of me, the mother-tongue. The part that hasn’t been told it is right or wrong, it just is. I find this way of moving supremely special; highlighting the raw and uncut uniqueness found in us all; in the way we walk, the way we stand, the way we maneuver through life. I prefer this way of moving finessed with a technical prowess that enhances the line, shape and form of what our bodies do naturally. The way I move naturally is rhythmic, gestural, full of drops and swings and shifts and always grounded into the earth. I start with that and see where the rest takes me.” |
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Rafael Tillery, MFA Pronouns: He/Him/His
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Rafael Tillery is a Chicago-born dancer and choreographer who works across multi-disciplinary performance, teaching, spoken word, and art activism. Rafael received a bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Dance from Austin Peay State University and an M.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from Florida State University. Rafael’s choreographic work has been adjudicated to the American College Dance Association (ACDA), the Tennessee Association of Dance (TAD), and the Saint Louis Arts Alliance. He served as director of the middle school dance program for KIPP Liberation College Preparatory in Houston, TX, he has also choreographed and taught for performance studios and dance companies within and around the Saint Louis, MO area including Consuming Kinetics Dance Company, Patzius Performing Arts, Kirkwood Dance Center, Michelle's School of Dance, and Karlovsky and Company Dance. Tillery’s choreographic work has also been presented at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts. Rafael danced pre-professionally and professionally with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II (Dayton, OH) under the direction of Shonna Hickman-Matlock as well as the Modern American Dance Company (Saint Louis, MO) under the direction of Stacy West. He has worked with notable choreographers such as B.B Miller, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Ronald K. Brown, Molissa Fenley, Debbie Blunden-Diggs, William B. McClellan, Jr., Nejla Yatkin, Ronin Koresh, Joanna Kotze, and more. He has had the opportunity to perform as a guest artist alongside Shen Wei Dance Arts, Garth Fagan Dance Company, and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (1st company). Rafael’s creative and scholarly research focuses on the intersections of identity and interdisciplinary performance as well as the utilization of dance as a modality through which to excavate various ontologies around Blackness and Queerness |
