What is your medium/craft?
Theatre: director, actor, playwright, producer
Why are you a teaching artist?
Once I witnessed the power of this art form to serve as a mechanism for community-building, social justice, and equity, I was driven to use theatre as a tool to unlock creative thinking in all fields. My variety of skills as a theatre maker can be synchronized toward a variety of outcomes, and that excites me. No matter what twists and turns my career takes, I’ll be a teaching artist forever.
Thembi Duncan is the Director of Arts Engagement and Education at Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
Her background in the performing arts extends to the Washington, D.C. area where she worked for nearly 20 years as an arts administrator, actor, director, producer, dramaturg, playwright, and teaching artist.
Victoria Pérez is an accomplished theatre artist and teacher. She is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Raíces Theatre Company, the only theatre company in WNY dedicated to developing, nourishing and producing modern and original works dealing with the Latino experience in order to preserve our roots. She serves as Secretary on the Board of the Arts Foundation of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts and is a Committee member and theatrical expressions teacher for the Miss Borinquen Latina Leadership Development Program. Victoria has worked with many WNY theatres including Road Less Traveled, Ujima, ArtPark, Musicalfare, O’Connell and Company, Kavinoky Theatre and Subversive.
She has been nominated 10 times for the Buffalo Artie Awards and won for best actress in a musical for her work in FOUR GUYS NAMED JOSE AND UNA MUJER NAMED MARIA. She was also the program coordinator for MUSE (Musicians United for Superior Education) and for Antecesores, both arts organizations for which she was also a teaching artist specializing in theatre, music, and Puerto Rican folkloric dance and storytelling. She has been involved in the Buffalo’s young Latino community by doing theatre/music and dance residencies at the West Side Community Services, The Belle Center and with Friends of Hispanic Arts at Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy.
She was part of the creative team that was commissioned by the Arts in Education Institute of WNY to create a musical based on the history of Puerto Rico, entitled Mosaico Borincano. Victoria also received the Arts Award from Hispanics United of Buffalo and the Community Arts award from Senator Antoine Thompson. Victoria is a vocalist for the Buffalo Tango Orchestra and a teaching artist at Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
What is your medium/craft?
Acting, Singing, Musical Theatre
Why are you a Teaching Artist?
I'm a Teaching Artist because I enjoy the unique ability that performance creates to provide a one-of-a-kind educational experience.
Jennifer Mysliwy is a Theatre Artist and Arts Educator. Jen has been an arts educator for 20 years, and a theater performer for more! She holds a BFA from Niagara University, and M.ED in Early Childhood from Salem State University. Jen loves to work with kids of all ages and abilities, and teaching theatre arts to the next generation is a true passion! She teaches acting classes and outreach programs for children, teens, and adults, and works with educators to infuse performing arts into classroom curriculums. With over ten years' experience in creating arts based summer camps and directing after school programs, Jen is always innovating and implementing new ways to ignite positive change in schools and communities using theatre arts.
What is your medium/craft?
Theatre/Performance Studies, Directing, Dramaturgy
Katie Mallinson is the Arts Engagement Coordinator for Shea's Performing Arts Center. She's worked in theatre, education, and arts administration for 15 years. Katie is an alumna of Niagara University's Theatre program (BFA Theatre/BA English) and a graduate of the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard (MFA Dramaturgy).
