Joey has been teaching, acting in, and directing theatre for young people throughout Tompkins County since 1993. He received his BFA in Acting from Ithaca College. Over the years, he has directed musicals and plays at Ithaca and Dryden High Schools, Dryden, Boynton, and Dewitt Middle Schools, for the Northern Lights Learning Center, and the Hangar Theatre's Kiddstuff series. Joey has taught acting at Ithaca College, Cornell, SUNY Cortland, the Ithaca Youth Bureau, and Hangar Theatre's Next Generation program. He is frequently seen at area elementary schools as an Artist in Residence or leading afterschool enrichment theatre programs. As an actor, Joey is a familiar face on the stage of the Kitchen Theatre, having appeared in many Mainstage and Family Fare shows, often with his wife Erica.
Ross Mizrahi, Resident Musical Director
Ross has been active in music in the Ithaca area for over 10 years. He has taught general music and chorus at Lansing and Dryden Middle Schools, and acted as Music Director for over 10 musicals at the middle and high school level. He was a founding member of the a cappella group Sons of Pitches, performing at sold-out venues, including three capacity crowds at Ithaca's Historic State Theatre. Ross wrote and arranged much of the Sons of Pitches music, and the group sold over 35,000 albums. They enjoyed years of performing in the greater Northeast, opening for groups like The Temptations, The Four Tops, Little Richard, and Orleans. He was also the Educational Coordinator for the group and led hundreds of workshops and assemblies in over 150 schools. Ross currently resides in Ithaca with his wife and frequent accompanist, Kerry, and will be receiving his Masters in Music Education this summer.
Todd Peterson, Resident Choreographer
Todd has been performing and instructing professionally for over 20 years. A former Broadway performer, Todd was trained locally and in New York City. His instructional and choreographic genre include ballet, jazz, tap, modern, lyrical, and acrobatic forms of dance. While training and performing in NYC Todd attended the Henry Le Tang and Broadway Center for performing arts. Among his list of accomplishments, Todd is a previous Dance Educators of America Performing Arts Champion, featured dancer for the Miss Black America Pageant, Showcase performer for the Frank Hatchett, Gregory/Maurice Hines Dance Center in Springfield Massachusetts, director/choreographer for The Peace Child Foundation's production of "City of Peace under the mentorship of Shakespeare in the Park creator Arthur Lithgow. Todd was ranked 5th nationally in men's solo baton twirling at Americas Youth on Parade in South Bend Indiana. While attending America's Youth on Parade he also was ranked #2 in the international Drum Major Contest. Todd is an inductee in the Twirlers Hall of Fame. He also opened for the Bob Hope thanks for the Memories tour in Utica New York. Locally he was the co-founder/director of Ithaca's Thunderbolt Parade and Show Corp, co-founder of the Boynton Theatre Project, Dance instructor for CSMA, and SUNY Cortland. Todd has choreographed for SUNY Cortland, Cornell University, Boynton and Dewitt Middle Schools, and Ithaca High School. Currently, Todd is an Educator with the Ithaca City School District as well as the proud director of the Ithaca Youth Bureau's Stewart Park Day Camp.
Gail Belokur, Executive Director and Resident Producer
Gail has directed, taught, and worked with young people in the performing arts in Tioga, Broome, Delaware and Tompkins Counties for over 20 years. Her directing credits include over 15 plays and musicals for middle and high school students as well as Assistant Director at Ithaca College for The Count of Monte Cristo. As founder and artistic/managing director of the New Vine School of the Arts in Tioga County, Gail taught acting workshops, directed, and developed arts programs for theatre, dance, music and the visual arts. She has also stage managed, designed, and served as props master at Binghamton University's Summer Youth Theatre Program, dance studios and community theatre companies. A proud alum of Ithaca College’s Theatre Arts program (BA Drama), she recently returned to serve as Production Stage Manager for their dance show. Besides typical Executive Director duties, Gail is also intimately involved in the artistic life of the company and coordinates mentoring for stage management, tech, and design.