• Photo of Stephen Kaplan
     
    Stephen Kaplan
    Acting I & II Theatre History II, Directing, Director
    Lead Teacher, Academy for Visual and Performing Arts
    Contact: stekap@bergen.org,  201-343-6000 (ext 2314)

    Prior to teaching at BCA, Stephen served as the Assistant Principal/Chair of the Theatre Department at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (the "Fame" school), was on faculty at the Professional Performing Arts School in New York where he headed the playwriting and directing programs and taught in the musical theatre program, The Actor's Institute where he taught musical theatre performance, and also taught theatre studies at California State University, Northridge and at California Lutheran College.

    Stephen grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles and wrote his first play, And Jack Came Tumbling After (Old Globe Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre and HERE and Lincoln Center Theatre’s American Living Room Series) when he was 15. The play won the California as well as Blank Theatre Company’s Young Playwright’s Contests and led him to write his next play, Self Addressed, which was produced by the Blank in addition to being presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Since then he has written Branwell (and the other Brontës): an autobiography edited by Charlotte Brontë (Semi-Finalist: O'Neill); Community (Semi-Finalist: Premiere Stages Play Festival, Readings: Bay Street Theater, Luna Stage, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey); una casa/a home (Finalist: Landing Theatre’s New American Voices Reading Series; Route 66 Theatre’s New Play Development Program); For Unto Us (Barrington Stage Company, Luna Stage, Storefront Theatre, Stage Q, OnStage Atlanta, Lionheart, Exit 7, Players Guild of Leonia, Theatre Southwest and Winner: MiniFest, Acadia Theatre Company); In Mrs. Baker’s Room (Theatre Southwest; Commission: Abingdon Theatre Company, Winner: Father Hamblin Award for Outstanding Playwriting, Center for Spiritual Living Playwriting Festival); A Real Boy (59E59 Theatre; This Is Water Theatre; Semi-Finalist: PlayPenn, Dayton Playhouse FutureFest; Ashland New Play Festival, MTWorks’ Newborn Festival); Exquisite Potential (Winner: NJ Playwrights Contest (w/production), Dezart Performs’ Reading Series (w/production) and Across the Generations New Jewish Play Festival, Finalist: Woodward/Newman Drama Award; Semi-Finalist: Seven Devils Theatre Conference); When the Mayonnaise Goes Bad (written with Will Nolan – The Vital Theatre Company); The Book of Daniel (Winner: New American Comedy Showcase Award); Tim Eless, Private Eye (with Noah Wyle @ Blank Theatre Company, Seoul Players); Dreams of Reason (Northwestern University); Oh, Happy We (The Theatre-Studio); and Six Seniors in Search of an Ending (a special commission written for President Bill Clinton). Many of his plays are published on Indie Theatre Now.  Additionally, Stephen was the assistant to the writer on Broadway’s The Scarlet Pimpernel and Saturday Night Fever.

    Currently he serves on the National Council for the Dramatists Guild of America.

    Stephen earned his BFA from NYU (Playwrights Horizons and CAP21), holds a Masters in Theatre Studies from Montclair State University, a Masters in Educational Leadership from Mercy College, and MFA in Writing for Screen and Stage from Point Park University.

    photo of Victoria Pero
     
    Victoria Pero
    Acting III & IV, Voice & Speech I & II, Theatre History I, Director
    Contact: vicper@bergen.org,  201-343-6000 (ext 2311)

    Off-Broadway & NYC Directing: Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Story, starring Leslie Uggams for Amas and Manhattan Theatre Club. Adapted/directed MasterBuilder: REBUILT featuring Okwui Okpokwasili. Prodigal, a new Australian musical with Alison Fraser, Kerry Butler and Cristian Borle at The York. The Strange Case of Mary Lincoln, a new musical, with Barbara Walsh for Women’s Project. Pre-Broadway workshop of The Alchemist featuring James Stovall. David Rodwin’s one-man opera Trippin’ at LaMaMa. New musical Consumer Behavior for FringeNYC. David T. King’s Big Cactus. World premiere production of Caryl Churchill’s The After Dinner Joke (Top Ten-In Theatre Magazine, OOBR award). Regional: Scenes and Revelations for SUNY Purchase. Adapted/directed Ibsen’s A Doll House, and Eric Coble’s multi-award winning Bright Ideas, Bob Clyman’s The Appointment, and The Guys, for Twelve Miles West. Ron McLarty’s Sandpilot at Luna Stage. Victoria has worked at The Royal National Theatre in London, The Guthrie, The Cleveland Playhouse, The York Theatre, The Pearl, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Expanded Arts in NYC and The American Stage Company. She has produced for The Spoleto Festival, The Drama League and Circle In The Square. Graduate of Northwestern University, Ohio University (MFA), and LAMDA. Victoria is featured in the 2008 Who’s Who for American Women. 

    Victoria was founding artistic director of The Shakespeare Summer Arts Institute (2001 to 2010), where she and her team educated children from ages 10-18 in the works of Shakespeare. The summer-long intensive commissioned adaptations of full-length Shakespeare plays; rehearsing and presenting one-hour wacky versions for free to hundreds of families in NJ, NY and Vermont at libraries and art centers. She co-produces the podcast Coaching Shakespeare https://www.coachingshakespeare.com with her former students Amanda Whiteley and Marissa Ferrara.

    Victoria has recently returned to acting, most recently playing The Friar in Romeo and Juliet and Claudius in Hamlet for Spokehouse Productions and Marina Abromovic, BBC Reporter, A Bacchus and Vanessa in Elektra for the Columbia MFA directing students. Her voice will be featured in June as Marmee in an audio production of Little Women.

    Victoria co-founded the Bergen Mask Task Force at the height of the pandemic with four other women, organizing over 400 volunteers from NY and NJ to create and deliver over 43,000 PPE to area hospitals, schools and homeless shelters. 

    Educationally, Victoria has been a Performing Arts teacher and sustainability advisor at Bergen County Academies High School in New Jersey in their nationally recognized Performing Arts Academy since 2004. Teacher of the year in 2011. She teaches Acting, Voice & Speech, Stage Combat, Stage Make-up, Theatre History, Stage Management, Accent & Dialects, Costume Design, Devised Theatre, Design For The Theatre, Scenic Painting and Sewing & Fashion Design. Victoria has directed more than 30 productions at BCA including an all-female Romeo&Juliet, Cymbeline, Macbeth and the award-winning devised pieces, DOXXED and LLF: Don’t Trust The Boyz!.  She has, with the EarthKnights club, created the school recycling program and been an annual recipient of the BCUA grant award for sustainability more than 8 times. Her EarthKnights were featured on “Our Thirsty Planet” for Nickelodeon highlighting their efforts at creating a plastic bottle-free campus. She is the 2015 recipient for the Japan-US Fulbright for Educational Sustainable Development.

    Victoria published an iBook in 2012 entitled sMASHinFASHin’ and began presenting free workshops on fashion upcycling in libraries and art centers. She co-founded Stubborn Jeans, LLC with her 16-year old daughter – a company creating one-of-a-kind hand upcycled signature clothing pieces at affordable prices. Victoria founded and ran a Project Runway-style summer fashion design camp, Chic Squad Fashion Camp (2010 - 2021), for 8-13 year olds. She has three children and is married to sci-fi/fantasy/comic artist Peter Scanlan. 

    Photo of Laurie Crochet-Hyslop
    Laurie Crochet-Hyslop
    Dance I, II, III and IV, Choreographer
    Dance Electives (Ballroom, Dance Fundamentals, Beginning Modern, Stretch/Pilates, Dance Performance)
    Projects – Creative Dance, Broadway Choreographers Project 
    Contact: laucro@bergen.org,  201-343-6000 (ext 2239)

    Before becoming a dance teacher, Laurie, a member of Actors Equity Association, worked as a professional dancer under many different union contracts. She performed on Broadway as a Kit Kat Girl in Cabaret starring Joel Grey. She was also seen on Broadway as a Hollywood Blonde and swing understudy in Gypsy starring Tyne Daly. Laurie was cast as a dancer in the Broadway show, My Fair Lady, starring Richard Chamberlain. She was a swing and Cha Cha understudy in the Rosie O’Donnell version of Grease, The Musical!  Laurie also toured the entire United States except for Idaho, Hawaii, Alaska, New Mexico and West Virginia, in the Broadway touring companies of Evita, Zorba, Cabaret and My Fair Lady. Laurie has worked in regional theatres as well. At Papermill Playhouse she danced in Evita. At Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia she was a Hot Box Girl in Guys and Dolls. She danced as Princess Samaris in the Baltimore Opera’s production of Kismet. Laurie was cast as Tzeitel in Ogunquit Playhouse’s Fiddler on the Roof. She has worked in numerous summer stock stages in the Northeast and has danced in many Industrial shows. Laurie also worked for four seasons at Radio City Music Hall as a Rockette  as well as a Singer/Dancer/Swing in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.  In addition to performing, Laurie also dance captained and assistant choreographed many productions.

    Laurie grew up in the bayous of south Louisiana and got her BFA in dance from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.  While at Stephens College, she worked as an apprentice in the Harriet Ann Grey Modern Dance Company. Laurie also has a MA in Individualized Study with emphasis in Dance, from the Gallatin School at NYU. She continues her study of dance by taking classes and workshops in NYC.

    Laurie has taught in the NYC public schools for American Ballroom Theater’s Dancing Classrooms. She has taught in the educational programs for the Nai Ni Chen dance company.  Laurie has also taught for the Morristown Community Theater Performing Arts School. She has also taught at Dwight Morrow School in Englewood, NJ. Laurie has choreographed shows for BCA, Dwight Morrow High School and Tenafly High School.

    Laurie is married to David Hyslop, who is the production stage manager for Chicago on Broadway. They have one son and a big dog. 

    Steven Danieli
    Auditorium Manager/Technical Director 

    Steven Danieli has been the Auditorium Manager/Technical Director at Bergen Academies since 1984. An accomplished artist who grew up in a theatrical family, he received his early training as a classical ballet dancer studying under his father, Fred a former dancer with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet. Steve also studied at School of American Ballet and became Associate Artistic Director of The Garden State Ballet. Mr. Danieli left performing and returned to the theatre working as an electrician/light board operator on Broadway’s Kiss of the Spiderwoman. He has also worked on network television and was part of the lighting team that won an Emmy for outstanding lighting design for the soap opera Guiding Light. Steve’s other television credits include The Sopranos and Spin City.     

    A 26 year member of Local 21 IATSE he has worked at Paper Mill Playhouse scene shop in the automation department, NJ State Opera as Master Electrician on Magic Flute and Head Electrician on Howard Stern’s New Year’s Eve 1994 pay per view event. Steve is also a member of Local 52 IATSE and has worked on numerous feature films including Batman, Sex in the City and The Departed. Under Steve’s direction and expertise, the theatre at Bergen Academies has achieved recognition as one of the premier theatrical venues in Northern New Jersey.

    Guest Teaching Artists

    In addition to working with Academy Theatre Arts Faculty AVPA: Theatre students have the exceptional opportunity to work with many guest teaching/artists from the artistic community.

    Jennifer Carr: Production Supervisor
    Ms. Carr has worked most recently as an electrician for Lincoln Center Theater on numerous Broadway shows including Twelfth Night, It Ain't Nothing But The BluesParadeMarie Christine, and Contact. She spent several years as the head electrician for American Ballet Theater doing national and international tours and NYC seasons at the Metropolitan Opera House.  Her other credits include The Grapes of Wrath (B'way,) The Martha Graham Dance Company, Bryant Park Fashion Week, and Phuket FantaSea in Thailand. Television work includes Politically Incorrect, MTV, VH-1, and Sesame Street. Ms. Carr has BFA in theater from the University of Illinois, and is a member of IATSE local #1.

    Terry Thiry: Costume Designer
    Ms. Thiry has been resident costume designer for Garage Theatre Group in Teaneck where she has designed costumes for both the Professional Company and the Youth Conservatory.  Her desighns for Garage has included Footloose, Into The Woods, Pirates of Penzance, A Touch of Spring, Afghan women, Happy Days, among many others.  She has also designed for Bergen County Players, Clarkstown Summer theater Festival, Rockland Community College and The State University of New York - Genesco.  Terry Thiry was nominated for a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star award for her designs for Bergen County Academies' production of The Secret Garden.

    Janet Adamo: Costume Designer
    Janet Adamo has worked in the costume industry for the past eight years as both an independent designer and mechanic. She has designed costumes for The Garage Theatre and is currently resident costume designer/consultant for Orange County Dance Theater and Warwick Dance Company.

    Sarah Brett England: Accompanist/Vocal Coach
    Music Director, Accompanist, Arranger, Sarah Brett England’s New York credits include Shanghai Lil’s at Pan Asian Rep., Halloween Hullabaloo at the Laurie Beechman Theatre and Something Better Than This for Dancebreak 2010. She was the rehearsal Accompanist for American Dance Machine for the 21st Century. Regionally Sarah has brought her talents to Barrington Stage, River Valley Rep., New Harmony Theatre and numerous productions at Surflight Theatre. Sarah holds a BA in Music from The College of William and Mary.

    Sam Gordon: Lighting Designer
    Sam Gordon is a freelance lighting designer and is pleased to be a guest artist at Bergen County Academies. Recent projects include Evita (Bergen County Academies), Since Africa (Red Fern), Academia Nuts and Deployed (NYMF), Driving Miss Daisy (Harbor Lights), and The Heroine (GTTP). When not designing Sam programs lighting at Good Morning America, and for Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center. Thank you to Victoria and Stephen for this continued opportunity for collaboration and art. Member of United Scenic Artists 829, and IATSE Local One.  www.samgordondesign.com

    Kyu Shin: Scenic Designer
    Kyu Shin is a NYC based Scenic Designer for Theatre, originally from South Korea. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Design and Technical Production from Brooklyn college.

    He has designed sets for Gruesome Play Injuries (New Workshop Theatre), The Rimers of Eldritch (Whitman Theatre) and Clybourne Park (Whitman Theatre), The Tuotors (Kraine Theatre), Unmentionables (Theatre 54), Paisieu (Connelly Theatre) , Acappella-NYMF (The Pearl Theatre Company), Baltimore Waltz (New Workshop Theatre) and more. He also has assisted designers; Marsha Ginsberg, Justin Townsend, Timothy Mackabee and Andrew Boyce. www.kyushindesign.com