Patrice Bailey holds a MFA in Directing from Florida State University and a M.A. in Oral Interpretation of Literature and Speech Communication from Indiana State University. She has been a faculty member at New World School of the Arts for the past nine years teaching Acting, Scene Study, Voice & Diction, Directing and has served as the Dean of the Theater Division for two years. Ms. Bailey has directed over 50 productions including two seasons with City Theater. Her direction of New World Rep’s production of Faith Healer won a Carbonell Award for Best Production of a Play. Previously Ms. Bailey has taught at Florida International University for the Theater and Dance Department and works as a consulate to the Executive MBA and Evening MBA program in the College of Business. In addition to teaching, Ms. Bailey has also worked extensively in television production, specifically as a talent coordinator for the Tony Awards.

Jeff Hess is an Associate Professor in the Theater Division.  He is the music director and vocal coach for both the college and high school programs.  Professionally, he has been music director for the Indiana Repertory Theater, Beef and Boards Dinner Theater and the Civic Theater in Indianapolis.  Locally, he has been music director/pianist for Meshuggah-Nuns at the Hollywood Playhouse, Meet Me at the Pitkin and I Write the Songs at Atlantis Playhouse, A New Brain at the Mosaic Theater, A Stoop on Orchard Street and Cole at Broward Stage Door, Nefertiti at Parker Playhouse and Floyd Collins, Fiddler on the Roof, Five Course Love and Hansel and Gretel at Actor’s Playhouse.  He has worked with Danny Goggin, the creator of the Nunsense musicals at the Meadow Brooke Theater in Detroit.  Mr. Hess has also been music director for Jean Ann Ryan Productions in Ft. Lauderdale and Kings Productions in Cincinnati.  He served as music director for a Kings Productions/Department of Defense USO Tour that sent him to Okinawa, the Philippines, Guam, Johnston Island, Diego Garcia and Hawaii. He has also been pianist for the Indianapolis Children’s Choir and the National Choral Festival at Carnegie Hall.  Mr. Hess is a member of the Florida Theater Association and the Music Theater Educator’s Association.  He is also a popular pianist/singer in South Florida, performing for special events and in regular venues.  Mr. Hess has certification from the Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute, certification in choral music K-12, a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and a Masters Degree in Music Education from Butler University.  Mr. Hess is listed in Who’s Who of American Teachers.

David Kwiat has been a professor in the Theater Division at New World School of the Arts for the past nineteen years.  He is the recipient of an Endowed Teaching Chair and his many performances in South Florida have earned him eight Carbonell Best Actor/Best Supporting Actor nominations in the past nine years; he received the "Best Actor" award for his performance in QED and "Best Supporting Actor" for his work in Dirty Blonde, both at GableStage.  He is also the recipient of the New Times Best Actor Award (2005), Best Supporting Actor (2003) and the Carbonell "Bill Hindman Award for long term career achievement in the South Florida Arts Community."  Professor Kwiat came to NWSA sixteen years ago with an extensive background in professional theater.  He has performed at the Guthrie Theater, Arizona Theater Company, Asolo State Theatre of Florida, Actors Theatre of St. Paul, GableStage, Actors' Playhouse, New Theatre, New Classic Theatre and the Minnesota Festival Theatre.   He authored John Barrymore: Confessions of an Actor, which he has performed at the Edinburgh International Theater Festival, The King's Head Theatrer in London and throughout the United States.  His collection of poetry:  Travelers in Residence was performed at the New Theatre's Miami in the Millennium Play Festival.  David has also been included in the Millennium Edition of Who's Who in America.  He earned his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Acting from Florida State University where he trained with the Asolo Conservatory.  He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota where he graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa and received the Outstanding Actor Award.

Andy Noble (Mask Characterization, Actors’ Workshop, Overseas Theatre Study, Introduction to Shakespeare, Introduction to Theatre) is a British actor, director, and teacher, now resident in the U.S.A. Currently an Associate Professor, Snr, at NWSA, he was director of Te Kura Toi Whakaari (The New Zealand Drama School). Educated in England at the University of Birmingham College of Education and the East 15 Acting School (in the methodology of Joan Littlewood), he founded The Orchard Theatre Company, under the aegis of the Dartington Hall Trust/Beaford Centre, which became a model for peripathetic theatre in Europe. He was awarded a Director’s Bursary by the Arts Council of Great Britain. Subsequently, Artistic /Managing Director of The Plough Arts Centre, programming independent and mainstream cinema, theatre (including Royal Shakespeare Company), and art exhibitions. Member,Theatre Panel, South West Arts. In Miami, he was Assistant Director in the Education Depar! tment at Coconut Grove Playhouse, and on the faculty of the University of Miami Department of Theatre Arts. He was named Best Actor in a Play by The New Times for the title role in Brian Friel’s The Faith Healer. Most recently he has played the roles of King Lear and Faust, and directed Goldoni’s Il Campiello, the musical The Mytery of Edwin Drood, and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.

Dorset Noble holds a degree in Theatre from Auburn University and has been Technical Director for the Academy Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia State University, North Shore Music Theatre in Boston, and the Coconut Grove Playhouse and Barry University in Miami. He was Production Manager for Georgia Shakespeare Festival and Production Stage Manager for Actors’ Playhouse. He has designed sets for more than 100 productions at theatres such as the Alliance Theatre, Seven Stages, and Showcase/Atlanta, and was twice nominated for Best Set Design by the Atlanta Circle of Drama Critics. He has designed for several theatres in Miami, and was nominated for the Carbonell award for Best Set design for West Side Story at Actors’ Playhouse. He has also directed over 40 productions, including the Atlanta premiere of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, for theatres such as Atlanta Shakespeare, Shoestring Opera, and Phoenix Theatre.

Jeff Quinn (Scenic and Lighting Designer) has created over 500 live productions. He received his MFA from Penn State University, and studied subsequently with Josef Svoboda. Mr. Quinn is member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829, I.A.T.S.E. and the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology. His works have appeared at the Fulton Opera House, Pennsylvania Festival Theatre, the Hilton Head Playhouse, GableStage, Actors Playhouse, Coconut Grove Playhouse, New Theatre, the New World Repertory Company, Fort Lauderdale Children's Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others. He has also designed lighting for the New World Symphony, the FIU Music Festival, Maximum Dance, Ballet Blue Ridge, Ballet Theatre of Miami, Momentum Dance, Ballet Espanol Rosita Segovia, Duende Ballet Espanol, Freddick Bratcher and Company, and many others.

James has been teaching since 1985 at the University of Florida where he taught Speech, Oral Interpretation and Performance as an adjunct Professor. He has been part of a team who trained Metro-Dade County police officers for undercover police work to stop the citywide assault on tourists and the elderly. He has given seminars in presentation and deportment to law students at the University of Florida. He holds a B.F.A degree from the University of Miami and an M.F.A degree from the University of Florida. Both degrees are in Theater with an emphasis on Acting and Directing. He has also taught at and The University of Miami, trained professional actors as a consultant for the Theatre League of South Florida, and the Acting Studio and was also an Associate Professor of Theatre at Barry University. As an actor over the past 28 years has appeared in over 100 plays, commercials television shows and feature films and is a member of Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. In 1997 he won the Carbonell Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the dual roles of Mr. Lies/Belize in Tony Kushner's epic play, Angels in America, and was also recognized by the New Times as Best Actor in a Comedy for his work as a finicky feline in the inaugural season for City Theatre's series of short plays, Summer Shorts. Some of his directorial credits include directing Porgy & Bess for the Florida Arts Celebration, CO-directing Purlie for the New World School of the Arts 's Rising Stars Festival at the Colony Theater. James has also participated in a series of master classes with internationally acclaimed playwrights Edward Albee, Marie Irene Fornes, Arthur Kopit and Tony and Pulitzer prize winning playwright David Auburn as part of special workshops through The Theater League of South Florida and the Division of Cultural Affairs. James continues to perform in regional theatres throughout the South Florida Community including the title role in Shakespeare's Othello at New Theatre.

Octavio Campos teaches movement and creative process at the New World School of the Arts theater division. He is a performing artist and choreographer that has been collaborating with Theater, Dance, Music, Television, Film and fine Art for the past 15 years with over 50 professional credits. After attending the University of Miami for Music Merchandising he continued his studies at The State University of New York at Purchase with a major in Composition Music and Dance. His studies continued at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary dance, Folkwang Tanzstudio in Germany under the direction of Pina Bausch and most recently at the Lincoln Center Directors Lab in New York City. His work has been seen in many theaters and Opera Houses throughout Europe, North and South America. He was artistic director of Bolschoi Berlin, an experimental Music theater company in West Berlin and co-founder of The Next Stage Miami. He has given master classes and workshops at the Florida Dance Festival, German State Theaters in Münster, Konstanz, Frankfurt and Darmstadt (Germany), Catholic University, (Belgium), I.A.L.S. Institute (Rome), Centro Cultural Lima (Peru), New World School of the Arts and Florida International University (USA). As a commercial Artist and Producer of Corporate Entertainment he has worked for Sony, IBM, Coca Cola, Loreal, Virgin Atlantic Records, Donald Trump, Celine Dion, Donna Summer, The Commodores and Slick Rick a.o…He was most recently honored at the Berliner Theater Treffen 2001 with an honorable mention award for his choreography. He has collaborated within the works of Robert Wilson, Vivienne Newport, Birgitta Trommler, Jorge Guerra, Leslie Neal, Philip Glass and Bebe Miller. Currently he performs with Circ X, an interactive underground theater troupe in Miami. Outside of teaching at New World, his original performance concept Physical Realism tm , is being developed and implemented at the Broward Correctional Institute for Women, The African-American Cultural Arts Center and the Wreckio Theater Ensemble, New York. His creative writings and essays based on his original contemporary performance forms are published monthly by the Sun Post, Miami Beach.

William Carney is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Mannes College of Music. He has toured the United States, Europe, and the Far East with numerous vocal ensembles, including the Gregg Smith Singers, Robert de Cormier’s Festival of Song Quartet, and Steamboat Gothic. A specialist in character tenor roles, he has appeared with Florida Grand Opera, Larry Island Opera, Bel Canto Opera, and America Opera Project. He has been a member of the voice faculty at MDC since 1994 and at NWSA since 1999. Mr. Carney has also taught voice at Barry University and is currently tenor soloist at Trinity Cathedral in Miami.

Ron Headrick holds a BFA in Theater/Dance from Texas Christian University and a MFA from Florida Atlantic University in Directing. He has directed and choreographed over one hundred musicals in stock, regional and dinner theaters. In 1995, he went to Russia to teach music theater technique. He is recipient of three Artist-in-Residence grants from the state of Florida.

At the invitation of the Ukraine Ministry of Culture, Rafi recounts the honor of having performed a principal role in first American contemporary ballet presented at the Ukrainian Opera & Ballet House (Kiev), as one of his most treasured moments. Some of his stage experience includes working with Minnesota Dance Theatre, Ballet Arts of Minnesota, Ballet of the Dolls, The Boston Dance Company, American Dance Company, and numerous guest appearances. His training began in San Juan, Puerto Rico where he also performed with Ballets de San Juan, and Ballet Concierto. In addition he has received full scholarships and apprenticeships to Fort Worth Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and The Boston Conservatory. However at home Rafi feels on stage, his true passion lies in teaching young talent. He has taught upper level dance at California University of Pennsylvania, University of Nebraska, Summit Dance Studios, Midwest Youth Dance Company, and Metro Dance. Over recent years, Rafi has been busy building a list of choreographic works, and has recently been awarded a commission to build an original symphonic Latin ballet for national touring.

Elizabeth Malm is a native Miamian. She graduated from New World School of the Arts where she was featured as a soloist in a work by guest choreographer Michael Uthoff of the Arizona Ballet. She has danced with companies such as Momentum Dance and Karen Peterson and Dancers and is currently a company member with Ballet Theater of Miami. This has been her fifth year performing in the Florida Dance Festival and the International Ballet Festival. She has choreographed many music videos, danced, and toured with artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Ricky Martin, Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, Beastie Boys, Lil’ Romeo, Jay-Z, Baha Men, Carlos Ponce, Jaime Camil, Tito Puente, Sam Beam and Kevens. She has also choreographed many commercials and television shows for Samsung, Lays, Herbal Essence, Pollo Tropical, “Truth”, MTV, BET, CBS, Telemundo and Univision.

Sandra Portal, a native of Miami, began her training with Madelyn Alfonso at the Mirochnik Ballet Institute. Later, she trained intensively in the Vaganova Tech. with Ballet Master Vladimir Issaev. Under Issaev's direction with the Arts Ballet Theater of South Florida, she performed as soloist in The Nutcrazker, Le Corsaire- Pas de Trois, Ballet Concerto, and Suite of Waltzes, No.1. Ms. Portal received her A.A. in Dance from New World School of the Arts/MDCC and her B.F.A. in Dance and minor in Mass Media from Florida State University. Sandra has danced with Momentum Dance Co. and Ballet Theater of Miami. She has worked with numerous artists including Suzanne Farrell, Michael Foley, Gerri Houlihan, Ronald K. Brown, and Fernando Bujones. Additionally, she has danced for Carlos Ponce, the SuperBowl, Sabado Gigante, and Republica Deportiva. Sandra has appeared in local and regional commercials including Mervyns, Eastern Financial Bank, Bealls, and has done voice-over work for TV. Ms. Portal recently completed her training in the Gyrotonic Expansion System and is now an Apprentice Trainer. This is her first year teaching dance for the Music Theater Division.

Edward Rozinsky obtained both his BFA and MFA degrees from a prestigious Leningrad Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography (Soviet Union). Invited to teach at the same Institute, Mr. Rozinsky did so up to 1979 when he immigrated to the United States. During his work in the Soviet Union Edward Rozinsky Directed and produced numerous plays and TV shows as well as established and lead a Mime/Clown Company “LITZEDEI” that later became internationally acclaimed group. Since in the United States, Mr. Rozinsky taught Stage Movement and Acting in University of Miami, Florida International University, New World School of the Arts and Barry University. He directed and produced plays at the Chamber Theatre, a theatre for children in Coral Gables that he established and lead for two years. Mr. Rozinsky is the author of a book “Silent Art” published in Russia and of numerous articles published in Russia, the US, England and Poland.

Chesne Ryman was born in Sydney, Australia of a Scandinavian family. After studies at the Conservatorium of Music, she joined the Elizabethan Trust Opera, the forerunner to the Australian Opera Company. After four years at the opera and Williamson’s Music Theatre Company, she moved to London, England. She continued studying and performing in England, Austria, Germany, Switzerland before returning to Australia to sing at the Royal Performance opening of the Sydney Opera House, performing the role of the “Queen of the Night” in The Magic Flute. She returned to Europe and Scandinavia to continue her opera and concert performances which took her to Israel, Italy, Finland, among other places. She was head of the Vocal and Opera department at Nordic Music Conservatorium in Stockholm for 10 years before she was recruited by John De Lancy, then dean of music at the New World School of the Arts in 1988, where she taught voice in both the Music Division and the Music Theater program in the Theater Division. She was also vocal coach, music director, and conductor for various performances. Ms. Ryman held this position for 11 years and has now returned as an adjunct voice teacher. Chesne still visits Sweden each year to sing and teach master classes.

Helena Thevenot (b. Nicaragua) is an educator in the fields of butoh and movement therapy and a contemporary choreographer and performer based in Miami. Ms. Thevenot holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in dance from the University of Maryland and is certified in the Topf Technique since 1997. Her eclectic background can be traced to renowned artists that include among others, Eric Hawkins, Kei Takei, Nancy Topf, Maureen Fleming, Akira Kasai, Diego Piñon and Butoh founder Kazuo Ohno. Since her arrival in Miami in the mid-eighties, she has emerged as a solo artist with a unique vision, often incorporating original music and visual imagery from artists such as composer Gustavo Matamoros, composer Jon Gibson, composer/violinist Alfredo Triff, VJ Benton Bainbridge and sculptor Lonne Sherbill-Weinstein. Ms. Thevenot has received numerous commissions, grants, fellowships and honors for her work. These grants have allowed Ms. Thevenot to create and perform in Germany, Poland, Mexico, Nicaragua and Japan. In addition, her work has been commissioned by Tigertail Productions, Miami Light Project, Artemis Performing Network, Tigertail Productions and was produced by Dance-Network's New Visions: American Butoh program of the San Francisco Butoh Festival '02 and by Celcit in Nicaragua's IX International Theatre Festival '03. Most recently, she was one of three artists who received the first Choreographer's Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs' Dance Miami Fellowship Program 2002 - 2003 for the development of new work. Ms. Thevenot maintains a private movement therapy practice and is currently adjunct faculty of Movement at the New World School of the Arts Theater Division. Additionally, Ms. Thevenot has guest lectured and taught Topf and Butoh movement workshops at festivals, colleges and universities nationally and internationally.