Archive

Sammy Grob (he/him) is a composer, music director, performer, and teaching artist. Recent projects: The Butcher Boy (orchestrator/arranger; Irish Rep), The Best We’ve Ever Made (composer/lyricist; Brooklyn Children’s Theatre), The Myth of the Mountain (music director; NYU), and Wake (composer/orchestrator; Emerging Artists Festival). Sammy teaches and performs with many amazing arts organizations in NYC, including: Brooklyn Music School, Kidz Theater, New York City Center, Bank Street School of Education, and CO/LAB Theatre Company. He's a recent graduate of Yale University (BA in Psychology and Education), where he spent a year touring with The Whiffenpoofs, America’s oldest collegiate a cappella group. He’s currently co-writing a chapter on educational theatre in the upcoming Oxford Handbook of the Disney Musical (2023). He loves riding his scooter, doing crosswords, and searching for great restaurants. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner and their dramatic cat (Misty)....

Born and raised in Washington D.C., Sam Sherman (they/he) is an actor, director, poet, and teaching artist. While studying acting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Sam served as a member of ArtistCorps, an initiative of UNCSA’s Office of Community Engagement, where they provided arts instruction, integration, and exposure for students attending Title I schools in the Winston-Salem area. After graduating with a BFA in Acting in 2020, Sam moved to New York in order to complete a Kenan Fellowship with Lincoln Center Education, where they continued to develop their own approach to teaching artistry and devised theatre. His recent projects include Variations on a Blueprint, an original devised performance created in collaboration with LCE, that addressed the nature of large, well-funded cultural institutions and how their resources might be redistributed to further equity among the city’s marginalized populations. Sam also briefly returned to Washington to assist Carey Perloff in directing Home?, a new play by Hend Ayoub and produced by Voices Festival Productions, which illustrated the life of a Palestinian woman and her journey to become an actor whilst facing discrimination.  Sam is dedicated to deconstructing the arts as we know them, building community through theater,...

Madeline Barr has a BFA in theater from NYU Tisch and is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company. She has taught theater at Denver School of the Arts, Dora Moore Elementary School, and the Denver Center for Performing Arts. She currently teaches creative writing through the TEAK Fellowship and Improv at Rahway Youth Arts. She also developed her own after school devised theater curriculum which she has taught to kindergarten-sixth graders in various after school programs. She is currently developing plays with Dramatic Question Theater and LAByrinth Theater....

Jess Mount (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator living in New York City and is filled with gratitude to be a part of the BAL team. She believes the arts are essential to the emotional and cognitive growth of all people and accessibility is her driving force. Jess holds a BA in Theatre and Psychology with a minor in Social Justice from Bucknell University. She values empathy, celebration, collaboration, exploration, consent, and belonging within and beyond the classroom. Jess is drawn towards work that cultivates limitless, neuro-inclusive arts opportunities and community access points. She recently served as the Summer Programs Coordinator with Theatre Aspen where she Choreographed Bright Star and creatively directed “Storytime.” As an Apprentice with Portland Stage Company, in addition to supporting all education programming, she performed and taught with the Director’s Lab educational tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In addition to BAL, Jess works with Girl Be Heard, New York City Children’s Theater and Actionplay. As a performer, Jess has trained with the Atlantic Conservatory and Stella Adler Studio of Acting....

Ernest Allen (They / Them) was born and raised in Harlem, NYC. They graduated in the class of 2022 having studied Musical Theater with a minor in A&E Management at Pace University. With great pride in their Black, Queer, and Non-Binary identities, Ernest hopes to be of part of the push for a more inclusive, all-encompassing theater world....

Emory Kemph (she/her) is an educator, performer, and theater-maker based in NYC. She holds a BFA from NYU Drama, where she studied at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School and Stonestreet Studios. Emory teaches at Brooklyn Acting Lab, the Brooklyn Green School, and other organizations around the city. Select acting credits: GEORGIA ROSE (winner of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival), A CHORUS LINE (Edinburgh Fringe), REGENERATION (Repro Freedom Arts), and the NYU REALITY SHOW (Barclays Center). She loves comedy, puppets, and theater that sparks joy and invites questions....

Cherise K James is a performing artist; Actor, Singer, Dancer, and Writer from Miami, FL. She has been teaching in various areas of Performing Arts for over 6 years. She received her Bachelors in Fine Arts for Acting from University of Central Florida and has been performing with various companies throughout New York, Florida, Georgia, and Virgina in classical, modern, contemporary, and musical performances. She is an artist who loves to share light  and truth through storytelling....

Catherine Bloom is an actor, comedian, and playwright whose work has been featured via Ars Nova, Second City, iO Chicago, Williamstown Theater Festival, and The Fisher Center. She is a ‘22-‘23 CAMP resident at Ars Nova where her two person show “the care n keeping of you” will be premiering in May 2023. Catherine is also 1/2 of the comedy duo “MA’AM” (Frigid NYC, NYC SketchFest), that will be premiering a new play “Spirit of Life” at “?!” Festival at The Brick Theater in June 2023. BA in Theater & Performance Bard College 2018....

Anna Lettera is a New York based actor, improviser, and comedian who recently graduated with a BFA in Theatre Arts with a focus in performance at Hofstra University. Anna has been studying and performing improv and acting since high school in her hometown of Kansas City, MO, and found special interest in comedy, film, and the works of Shakespeare while at college. At Hofstra she served as president of long form improv troupe, Tequila Mockingbird, and was a member of short form troupe, Critical Fail, where she encouraged a great deal of ensemble building within the troupes. Off the stage Anna spends her time teaching improv to STEM students as a part of Irondale Theater’s STEM to STEAM program in Brooklyn, NY. In her spare time Anna enjoys writing sketch comedy and short plays as well as creating visual art. Through her experience leading troupes and directing she has found great importance in building a strong ensemble and active listening, and she is so excited to be working with Brooklyn Acting Lab, and to offer her knowledge of acting and improv to future artists!  ...

Alice Khekht (she/her) is a singer/songwriter and actor from Brooklyn, NY. She is currently studying musical theatre at the State University of New York at Fredonia. She is well versed with the performing arts and has immense training in all areas of voice, acting, and movement. Her recent theatre credit includes The Hunchback of Notre Dame playing the role of Esmeralda at Main Street Studios in Fredonia. This is her first summer working with Brooklyn Acting Lab and she is beyond excited and can’t wait to work with the wonderful faculty and children!   ...