Atlantic Acting School Class
MARY MCCANN - SCHOOL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mary is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company and the Executive Director of the Atlantic Acting School. Recent credits include the role of MaryAnn in Little Children starring Kate Winslet and the upcoming films Choke starring Angelica Huston and Sam Rockwell, Sordid Things and in role of Ruthie Cheals in “The Unit” on CBS and David’s Mom in “The Naked Brothers Band” on Nickelodeon. Mary has appeared in many Atlantic Theater Company productions, including the hit musical Spring Awakening, The Cherry Orchard, The Night Heron, The Hiding Place, This Thing of Darkness, The Beginning of August, Wolf Lullaby, The Water Engine, Edmond, Dangerous Corner and Shaker Heights. Broadway Credits: The Old Neighborhood, Our Town with Spaulding Grey and Search and Destroy. Other Off-Broadway Credits include: Oleanna (OrpheumTheater); Uncommon Women and Others (Second Stage); Boys’ Life(Lincoln Center); and Hot Keys (Naked Angels). American Repertory Theater: Oleanna and Boston Marriage. Film & TV Credits include: “The Unit”, “Law & Order”, “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”, “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”, “Sex and the City”, “Sports Night”, “ER”, “Spin City”, It Must Be Love, Door to Door, The Con, The Spanish Prisoner and Things Change. Producing Credits include the films: Edmond starring William H. Mary and Colin Fitz.
HEATHER BAIRD- Director of Education and Recruitment
Heather Baird is a dancer, film and television casting director, educator, curriculum developer, and performing arts leader. Heather began her career in the arts as a member of American Ballet Theater’s corps de ballet under the directorship of Mikhail Baryshnikov. She has performed at Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera House alongside renowned artists Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova. During her ten years as a casting director, Heather was involved with such noted films as Magnolia,Brown Sugar, Center Stage, and The Hours. Her television work includes HBO’s dramatic series “Oz” and “The Wire.” Her most recent casting project was the search for the lead boy in Billy Elliot the Musical for Broadway. Heather currently serves as Atlantic’s education and recruitment director where she has designed and directed numerous new arts programs and initiatives. Heather has expanded the scope of ATC’s Educational Outreach partnerships with an exciting residency called Staging Success that brings arts into the classroom in a collaborative process with ELA and US History curriculum deeply imbedded in its practice. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and an Atlantic Alumna, Heather trained at George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet and attended Professional Children’s School.
LORIELLE MALLUE- Director of Conservatory Training & Academic Affairs
Lorielle is school associate director and a faculty member. Credits include: SELF: BY ALISON CARSEN (writer/director/actor, Student Emmy, UCLA Directors Spotlight Award), THE WONDER PETS! (writer), I Never Saw Another Butterfly… (producer/director), Lovers (VTA Best Actress Award). Current projects: THIS AMERICAN DEATH (producer), WHAT IF, RIGHT NOW…? Based on the short story “Victory Lap” by George Saunders (writer/director). In LA she worked for six years for Jodie Foster and her Paramount Pictures financed company, Egg Pictures (Meg LeFauve, president) on multiple features and as story editor for projects Egg was developing. BFA (NYU-Atlantic), MFA (UCLA), Ed.M. (Harvard), FIND Producing Lab Fellow.
ALLISON KARMAN - DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AFFAIRS
Allison Karman received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts after semesters at Harvard and RADA. A California native, she can be seen in several films and has performed on stages in both Los Angeles and New York for over two decades. For the past few years she has been busy producing installation and dance events in Los Angeles including Ryan Heffington’s KTCHN and has worked extensively with Nina McNeely, Nathan Kim, WIFE, and Maurice Harris. She is happy to be back in New York serving as The Director of Student Affairs. She continues to produce films and theater in her free time and was thrilled to have her directing debut at the Atlantic Acting School.
BRANDI-LEA HARRIS - DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS
Brandi-lea joined the Atlantic family in 2005 for the Summer Intensive program and was so impressed that she decided to stay for the Full-Time Professional Conservatory program that fall. After her studies, she moved back to Los Angeles where she decided to immerse herself in the business of film and television, in addition to her acting pursuits. She has worked behind the scenes in film production and as a casting associate and casting assistant for several independent films and for the television series CSI:Miami. As an actress, she has appeared in film, television and on the stage in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans.
ALISION BEATTY - SCHOOL ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
As a proud alumna of the Atlantic, Alison Beatty has been the School Artistic Director for the past 3 years, where she is responsible for programming and producing 15 shows a year with students from both the NYU and Conservatory programs, as well as 2 Atlantic for Kids productions. Additionally, she has had the pleasure of directing and/or choreographing several ATC for Kids shows, including: The Hundred Dresses, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Miss Nelson is Missing, No Dogs Allowed, Really Rosie, Strega Nona, The Big Stew, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown. Choreography: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest, Pericles, Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard, and Caucasian Chalk Circle. Directing: Modern Dance for Beginners by Sarah Phelps.
JESSIKA DOYEL - SCHOOL ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Jessika is a freelance director and teaching artist originally hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. She is an alumna of the Atlantic’s professional Conservatory program as well as the Stella Adler Conservatory. Jessika currently serves as the Artistic Associate at Pipeline Theatre Company where she heads up the Pipeline PlayLab which cultivates the new work of seven playwrights through an intensive year of workshops and developmental readings. Past directing credits include the NY Times favorably reviewed Ash Girl with Pipeline Theatre Company and TEN with Partial Comfort Productions as well as numerous short plays with the Atlantic Acting School. Proud member of Partial Comfort and Pipeline Theatre Company.
CECILE ORESTE - SCHOOL MARKETING MANAGER
Cecile Oreste is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. In 2009, she completed an International Internship MBA Program in London and Bangkok through American International College and the Mountbatten Institute. Prior to joining Atlantic Acting School, she held the position of Marketing and PR Manager at Joy of Motion Dance Center, a nonprofit dance organization based in Washington, DC. She also served on the Board of the DC area’s leading modern dance company Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, as well as the DC Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.
TYLER EASTER - EDUCATION ASSOCIATE
Tyler is an educator, actor, singer, designer, and theatre technician. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2009. Tyler began his career in youth development at Harlem Children’s Zone in 2011 as a theatre teaching artist and then a program coordinator. In addition to his work in education, he has performed in Galeotti & Aniello’s musical adaptation of The Notebook, as well as in guest starring roles in One Tree Hill and The Marc Pease Experience. As a designer, Tyler has developed sound and projections for several off-off and Off-Broadway productions.