Brenda C. Eppley is the Department Chair for Communication, Humanities and the Arts and a Senior Professor of Theatre. She received her MFA in Acting from the University of North Carolina, and a BFA in Acting from West Virginia University. As a Fulbright Scholar, she directed and taught acting and American dialects at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Brenda presented at the national Association for Theatre in Higher Education conference in Chicago, “Fulbright Scholars in Theatre: Envision Your Impact, Expand Your Reach, Enhance Your Pedagogy.” She currently serves on the Fulbright National Screening Committee, and is a Regional Communication Officer for ATHE.

Representative roles include: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (Barbara), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Martha), Lysistrata (Lysistrata), Titus Andronicus (Marcus), A Skull in Connemara (Mary Johnny), Steel Magnolias (Ouiser), Mr. Hobb’s Vacation (Mrs. Gabrielson), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Maggie), The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Stevie), Les Liasons Dangereuses (MME De Tourvel), Lion in Winter (Alais), Dancing at Lughnasa (Maggie). Staged Readings: Merry Christmas Georg Bailey, 8, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, Rhinocerus, Tartuffe. In addition, she has directed more than 60 productions. Brenda teaches courses in acting, directing, dialects, theatre makeup, and theatre history.

Paul R. Foltz has been part of the HACC Theatre creative team for the past twelve years as the Resident Costume Designer and Adjunct Instructor for Costuming and Theatre History. Recently he has taken on the directorial duties of the annual New Works Festival as well as directing some of the other productions during the academic year. Paul is even more recognizable as the Resident Costume Designer for Theatre Harrisburg where his work has graced their stage for the past 40 years. A graduate of St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, Paul did his post graduate studies at the Drama Studio, London, England, and began his professional career at the Byre Theatre in St. Andrew’s Scotland. Although the primary focus of his career has been as a costumer whose work has taken him from summer stock in Bucks County PA to Children’s Theatre in Baltimore to The Roundabout Theatre Company in New York, Paul has continued to work professionally as an actor, a director and for almost twenty years, the the Artistic Director and Lead of Lily White and Company, a transgressive performance troupe whose mission was the raising of funds for AIDS patient support. Recently Paul was honored with a retrospective exhibit of his costume work at the Historic Harrisburg Association in conjunction with an exhibit at the LGBT Center of the work of Lily White and Company.

Lori Friedlander is the Technical Director for the Rose Lehrman Arts Center in addition to being the Resident Lighting Designer/Instructor for HACC Theatre. Lori has a BFA in Design and Technical Theatre with an emphasis in Lighting from the University of New Mexico, where she also became immersed in the world of Flamenco. Lori is the inventor of the Image Multiplexer™, an award-winning lighting effects lens which is manufactured and distributed by City Theatrical, Inc. Favorite shows she has lit include Spring Awakening, 1984, PA Regional Ballet’s Spring Concerts, and all children’s theatre shows.

Jay Kirssin is a long time east coast music and production veteran with 40+ years in the trenches. He is perhaps best known as bass player/arranger/engineer for area bands such as Everyday People, Rosey and the Naturals, Switch FU, and the [SUM], as well as frequently working with the Bare Bones Theater Ensemble. He is also the founder, owner, and operator of Downtown Sound, a central PA based provider of production solutions, project management and design/build/repair services for educational, theatrical, and house of worship sound, video, and control installations. He recently composed, performed, and recorded music for HACC’s Theatre for Young People production of “James and the Giant Peach” and is composing music for Theatre Harrisburg’s presentation of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime”. Jay is also on staff at Progressive Enterprises Sound Studios in Elizabethtown as a producer and recording engineer.

Michele Mulkey is an adjunct instructor of Theatre and teaches SFX Makeup for Film & Television, and Airbrushing for Film & Television. She has been a Special Effects Make-Up Artist and Prop Maker for 20 years, working in Los Angeles, New York City, Canada and the United Kingdom. Starting her career in Los Angeles, Michele honed her skills working both in house and on set for many Special Effects shops including Keith Vanderlaan’s Captive Audience, Crisis FX, Film Illusions, Alterian, Inc., Global Effects and Unit 7. Now based on the East Coast, Michele continues her work as a Special Effects Make-Up Artist and Prop Maker for film and television as the owner of Michele Mulkey FX Studio. In addition to her entertainment career, Michele has taught advanced SFX classes for Makeup Designory LA and NYC, Harrisburg Area Community College and QC Makeup Academy, Canada. She has also been a featured presenter of SFX Workshops at various conventions including Otakon, Zenkicon and IMATS Toronto. One of the proudest moments in Michele’s career came when she was approached by Academy Award Winning Makeup Artist Mindy Hall and asked to personally contribute to The Makeup Artist Handbook: Techniques for Film, Television, Photography, and Theater (Book by Gretchen Davis and Mindy Hall) by writing the section on professional Bald Cap application. Throughout her career, Michele’s skill and talent have been used to create various makeup looks and custom props for many celebrities including Thora Birch, Christine Lahti, Denzel Washington, Brittany Snow, David Rasche, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Michael Urie, Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Colm Feore, Alan Cumming, Jamie Kennedy, Ben Stein, Jason Patric, Jennifer Tilly, Pat Morita, Hunter Tylo, Robin Riker, Karalyn West, Christopher Atkins, Richard Brooks and Dennis Haskins. Her professional credits have a combined total of over 33 feature films and television shows including Petunia, The Last Samurai, The Chronicles of Riddick, Venom, Constantine, Son of the Mask, Sin City, Disney’s The Haunted Mansion, The Alamo, Seed of Chucky, Deja Vu, The Passion of the Christ, Blood Junkies, Charmed, C.S.I. Miami, Joss Whedon’s Firefly, Without A Trace, Black. White., Bold and the Beautiful, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and multiple shows for the ID Channel. Michele’s work has also been seen in dozens of commercials including Verizon, Old Navy, AARP and Jack In The Box. And her SFX work was solely featured in the music video for “Soul Meets Body” by Deathcab For Cutie.

Dave Olmsted is the Theatre Program Lead and an Assistant Professor of Theatre. He holds an MA in Theatre from Villanova University and a BA in Communications/Theatre and Film Production/Direction. Dave has worked as a professional actor on stage, TV, radio, and film and continues to direct and design throughout the region. He teaches courses in acting, movement, scenic design, theatre history, and playwriting. DIRECTING: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Whipping Man, Spring Awakening, 1984, Lend Me a Tenor, Leading Ladies, Mister Roberts, The Dining Room, Dracula, Merry Christmas George Bailey, Mr. Hobbs’ Vacation, The Diary of Anne Frank, Reasons to be Pretty, Godspell, Lord of the Flies, Veronica’s Room. ACTING: Angels in America 1&2 (Joe Pitt), August: Osage County (Lil` Charles), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Ray Dooley), Greater Tuna (Thurston, et.al.), Great Expectations (Pip), The Importance of Being Earnest (Jack), The Lion in Winter (Richard), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Danceny), A Few Good Men (Sam), The Heidi Chronicles (Scoop), The Sisters Rosensweig (Geoffrey), The Glass Menagerie (Jim), Burn This (Burton), When She Danced (Sergei), Gross Indecency (Lord Alfred Douglass), All My Sons (Chris/George-ACTF Award Nomination), Damn Yankees (Joe Boyd), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lysander), Romeo and Juliet (Paris).

Benjamin Roberts is an adjunct instructor of Theatre and teaches acting, voice, movement, theatre history and literature. A proud alum of HACC, he received his BFA from West Virginia University and his MFA from the University of South Carolina. Ben acts, directs, and teaches workshops throughout the region. Workshops include: Introduction to Suzuki Training for the Actor and A Physical Approach to Performance.

Representative roles include: Three Penny Opera (Mr. Peachum), Translations (Manus), Three Musketeers (Athos), Our Town (Simon Stimson), I Hate Hamlet (Andrew Rally), Krapp’s Last Tape (Krapp), Arsenic and Old Lace (Mortimer Brewster), The Tempest (Antonio), God of Carnage (Alan Raleigh), The Cherry Orchard (Yepikhodov), Upside Down; A Clown Morality Play (Denis the Clown), The Crucible (Reverend Parris), Platonov (Platonov) Buried Child (Tilden)

Lisa Lutton Weitzman is an adjunct instructor, teaching Intro to Theater history and Improvisation. She holds an MA in drama from Villanova University and a BS in education from Penn State. Lisa has over thirty years’ experience performing and teaching in the Harrisburg and Philadelphia areas. For sixteen of those years, she was the theater teacher/director at the Capital Area School for the Arts in Harrisburg. In her long career as an actor, she has graced the stages of Gamut Theatre, Theatre Harrisburg, Open Stage of Harrisburg, PA Renaissance Faire, as well as stages in Philadelphia. Representative roles include: Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst, Lennie in Crimes of the Heart, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Calpurnia/ ensemble in Julius Caesar, Ida in The Cemetery Club, Ella in The Curse of the Starving Class and Jeannette in Last of the Red Hot Lovers. Lisa is a co-founding member of Wow! Theatre in Education and Coffee with Crones, a comedy sketch company which explores the ups (and downs) of aging. She is a former member of the TMI (Gamut) and No Artificial Sweeteners improv troupes.

Currently, Lisa is an improviser with Open Stage’s resident improv company, Scenery. She can also be seen playing on several teams at the Harrisburg Improv Theatre. This past year, Lisa has become an active player in the Harrisburg Vidjam community.

Terri Mastrobuono is an adjunct instructor of Theatre and teaches Voice and Movement. She previously taught for Elizabethtown College for 22 years, and is a director, writer, and Equity actress. She has performed regionally with theaters in Harrisburg, Lancaster, Reading, and Philadelphia. Terri is also known for writing and performing in her own original theater pieces, which have toured the East Coast, and is a specialist in Commedia dell' Arte.