Meet Our Teachers

Sierra School of Performing Arts is proud to contract with some of the finest performing arts teaching artists in Northern Nevada and Northeastern California. If you have any questions about our teachers, please email sierraschoolofperformingarts@gmail.com.

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Janet Lazarus is a co-founder and the producing artistic director of SSPA, and has been directing their musical productions since 2005. She is a graduate of the MFA program in acting at UCLA and has appeared in over 30 productions in such places as New York, Los Angeles, Rome (Italy) and most recently Northern Nevada. She has been directing and teaching theater in Hawaii, Reno and Tahoe schools and arts organizations for over 25 years, including University of  Nevada Reno, Hawaii School for Girls, Lake Tahoe Community College, Arts for the Schools, Bishop Manogue Catholic High School and Sage Ridge School.

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Adam Cates grew up in Reno before launching a 20-year career in New York City as a director, choreographer, author, educator, performer & filmmaker. His Broadway & national tour credits include Anastasia, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, Anything Goes with Sutton Foster & Joel Gray, Doctor Dolittle with Tommy Tune, and The Wizard of Oz, as well as concerts, operas, and television specials at Lincoln Center. He has taught and/or created works for theater, corporations, and television across almost every state in the US, as well as Canada, Spain, Argentina, the Caribbean, and for cruise ships. He is currently on the faculty of Pace University. Adam is the author of The Business of Show (Amazon), co-author of The World According to Snoopy (Concord Theatricals), a member of SDC, The Dramatists Guild, AGMA, and AEA, and is represented by McDonald/Selznick Associates. He holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College and a BA in Theatre from University of Utah. @adamcnyc, adamcates.com  


Abby Rosen is a theater artist and educator currently based in Reno, NV. During the school year Abby works as a teaching artist with the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival where she brings Shakespeare’s works into classrooms all throughout the Reno-Tahoe area. In addition to her work with LTSF, she has the great joy of working with young performers at Take 2 Performer’s Studio, Reno Little Theater, Theater Works of Northern Nevada, and - of course - SSPA. Some of her most recent work includes Sierra School of the Performing Arts’ productions of Into the Woods (vocal Director), Peter Pan Jr. (choreographer) and  All Together Now (choreographer); and Reno Little Theater’s Footloose Jr. (Choreographer). 

 

Michelle Michelsen has been an arts educator and choreographer for 17 years, training, and teaching in styles from Ballet, Jazz, Tap, to the Ballroom, Latin, and Swing dances. She loves working with all ages and levels, offering choreography and coaching prep for weddings, musicals, competition, conventions, and special events. She earned her BA in Theatre and Dance at the University of Nevada, Reno, and has since worked and trained in New York City, Denver, and San Francisco. She is currently working towards her Masters of Interdisciplinary Arts with a concentration in Performance at Goddard College.

JoAnna Hayes Wagner started her professional acting career in 1981, when she was cast as a dwarf at Disneyland. Going to college at Cal State Fullerton during the day and performing at the park at night was fantastic training for this young girl. She was then cast on a National tour for Sesame Street Live and thus began a 30 year career with VEE Corporation. With VEE, JoAnna danced, moved into management, assisted highly respected choreographers and was able to build shows in Australia, Japan, England and Germany. She spent 10 years choreographing, directing and designing shows for the Beaches properties in Jamaica and Turks and Caico properties. One of the biggest highlights of her career was co-directing and choreographing Everyone Makes Music, better known as Elmo Makes Music, which is still touring after 19 years.  
After moving to Reno, JoAnna danced at Lake Tahoe's Horizon and Harrah's. JoAnna now teaches jazz and musical theater at three local studios, including Sierra School of Performing Arts.

Mandy Flocchini has been dancing since she was seven years old.  She grew up in Reno and graduated from the University of Nevada in the spring of 2011 with a BS in chemistry.  At UNR, she performed in and choreographed numerous dance concerts.  Mandy was a member of bellē contemporary dance co. and was privileged to perform with the company at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2012.  She has taught dance classes and choreographed SSPA’s summer musicals since 2013. Her SSPA choreography credits include: Bye Bye Birdie, Fiddler on the Roof, Cinderella, Wizard of Oz, Legally Blonde, and Guys and Dolls.  When she is not dancing, Mandy teaches middle school science.

Tom Ready
Tom Ready has been teaching theatre and language arts for the past 22 years at Lassen High School, Lassen Community College, Chico State, and within the Arts-in-Corrections program at CCC Susanville, and High Desert Stage Prison.  He has worked as a theatre consultant for the California Arts Project, the Northeast California Arts Project, and has presented workshops for the California Reading Association, California Association for the Gifted, California Association of Resources Specialists, and California Association of Teachers of English.  Tom was awarded a national Christa McAuliffe Fellowship for the 1997-98 school year in the areas of drama, literacy, and educational restructuring following which he attended the National McAuliffe Institute in Washington DC as the California state representative.  His first book, GrammarWars, was published in the fall of 2000. The sequel, Grammar Wars II was published in the spring of 2002.