Conservatory Instructors
Learn from the best at the North Carolina Theatre Conservatory
Ray Walker
Ray Walker
Artistic Director for the NCT Conservatory for the Performing ArtsRay Walker made his Broadway debut as "Marius" in the smash hit musical Les Miserables. Other Broadway credits include "Annas" in Jesus Christ Superstar, "Doody" in Grease! with Rosie O'Donnell and Brooke Shields and "Whizzer" in Falsettos. Ray appeared in the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Whistle Down the Wind directed by Hal Prince and sang with Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford at the London Palladium and on a North Amercian tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Ray received critical acclaim for his portrayal of "Freddie" in the off-Broadway revival of Chess. Other credits include understudying Donny Osmond in the National Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, co-starring with Melissa Manchester in The Music of the Night, appearances in The Radio City Music Hall Magnificent Christmas Spectacular and starring roles in numerous regional theatre productions. In concert, Ray has sung all over the world including a concert tour with Academy Award winning composer Marvin Hamlisch and in concert with the Bolshoi Symphony in Moscow. Ray began his career at North Carolina Theatre and throughout the years has thrilled audiences in NCT productions of Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Chess, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Children of Eden and Evita.
Christine Hunter Heneghan
Christine Hunter Heneghan
Acting InstructorA professional actress with over twenty years experience in Theatre (Off-Broadway/National Tours/Regional Theatre) Film, and Television, Christine holds a BFA from Syracuse University and an MFA from the University of Illinois. She has taught acting and voice/speech at Northwestern University, the University of Illinois and Prairie State College. In addition to appearing in numerous North Carolina Theatre productions, she served as Dialect coach for the North Carolina Theatre Kids on Broadway production of A Man of No Importance.
Heather Patterson King
Heather Patterson King
Director of Outreach, Acting Department HeadHeather appeared most recently in on the North Carolina Theatre stage as “Nancy” in Oliver! She has been a solo performer with the NC Symphony in their Red Carpet and Silver Screen and Peter and the Wolf programs. She has performed with Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy/Theatre Raleigh in Oh What a Night, Violet, and Personals. On the North Carolina Theatre stage, she has been seen in Evita (us/Eva); as Fruma Sarah in Fiddler on the Roof, (opposite Paul Sorvino,); and Glinda in The Wizard of Oz, (directed by Casey Hushion); as well as in Annie (Assistant Directed), Man of LaMancha, and The Sound of Music. She has appeared as Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Meg in Damn Yankees, and Vi Moore in Footloose at Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre, and as Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet on the Indiana Repertory Theatre stage. Other regional theatre roles include Agave in The Bacchae, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Marlene in Top Girls, Eliza in My Fair Lady and Maria in The Sound of Music. She has taught at colleges and universities throughout the country and her directing credits include The Crucible, You Can’t Take it With You, Electra, Noises Off, Macbeth, The Laramie Project, Macbeth, Once Upon a Mattress, Fosse, and School for Husbands. She is the former Director of the ACT Out Ensemble social issue theatre company of IUPUI, and a has taught with the PlayMaker’s Repertory and Indiana Repertory Theatre’s education programs. She is a private acting and voice coach whose students have attended theatre programs at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory, Roosevelt, UNC Chapel Hill, Elon and NYU. She holds a BA in Theatre and Music and an MFA in Acting. She has trained in Suzuki actor work and Linklater vocal work, and as a jazz, operatic and musical theatre vocalist.
Tito Hernandez
Tito Hernandez
Dance Department HeadMr. Hernandez comes to North Carolina Theatre Conservatory with more than 20 years of experience as a professional chore-ographer, actor, dancer and educator. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony award winning musical Jerome Robbins' Broadway. Other credits include Bob Fosses' Dancin', Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, the National Tour of Evita and The Gingerbread Lady starring Oscar winner Shelly Winters. As a choreographer, Tito has worked at Houston's Theatre Under the Stars, The Alley Theatre, Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre and Disneyland. Mr. Hernandez has had a long history with NCT, including choreographing productions of Evita, (starring Ray Walker and Lauren Kennedy), The King and I, (starring Lou Diamond Phillips) and NCT's Summer Theatre Arts School (STAS). He is choreographer of NCT's and BSS's co-production of Disney's High School Musical and the STAS 2007 production.
Eileen Juric
Eileen Juric
Ballet InstructorMs. Juric was a soloist with the Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet. Under the direction of former New York City Ballet prima ballerina Maria Tallchief, she performed Balanchine repertoire with such notable dancers as Jacques d’Amboise, former NYCB principal, Academy- and Emmy-Award winner, and founder of the National Dance Institute; Hinton Battle, three-time Tony Award winner, the original star of Broadway’s Miss Saigon, and the original “Lion” in The Wiz; Ronald Perry, formerly of American Ballet Theatre and the Dance Theatre of Harlem; and Daniel Baudendistel of the Joffrey Ballet Company. “Miss Eileen” trained on full scholarships at the Joffrey Ballet School and the School of American Ballet (school of the New York City Ballet). She also had the great honor of studying with prominent New York teachers David Howard, Robert Joffrey, Finis Jhung, Maggie Black, Zena Rommett, and Lawrence Rhodes. After her performing career, Miss Eileen returned to the Joffrey Ballet School to pursue a teaching career and train, assist, and substitute teach in the children’s program. She was a faculty member of the Princeton Ballet School (official school of the American Repertory Ballet), and she toured throughout the country on the convention and competition circuit. For fifteen years she owned and operated her own studio, Basically Ballet, in New Jersey. Her students from this school have received scholarships to the famed Joffrey Ballet School; attended the North Carolina School of the Arts; ranked among the top four finalists on an Emmy-nominated dance reality TV show; trained at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles; served on the faculty of the Alvin Ailey School; and started their own companies. For the past several years Miss Eileen has been teaching in North Carolina, and she is enjoying her new-found home.
Mary Adamek
Mary Adamek
Conservatory AdministratorMary is thrilled to be a member of the NC Theatre staff. Mary has been involved in theatre most of her life as a singer/actor. NCT credits include Oliver, Funny Girl, Evita, The Sound of Music (2003 and 2009), Ragtime ,The Full Monty and Evita in 2011. Mary is a former member of the NC Master Chorale. She is now retired from American Airlines where she worked for 25 years and is married with three grown children.
Sherry Lee Allen
Sherry Lee Allen
Dance Instructor
Sherry Lee studied Musical Theatre and earned a BA degree in Dance from Point Park University in her hometown of Pittsburgh. As a performer, Sherry has been a member of Actors Equity for 20 years and has appeared in the National Tour of Evita and the European Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. Locally, Sherry has appeared in NCT's production of Evita and recently in Hot Summer Night's Marvelous Wonderettes.
As an educator, Sherry has been an Adjunct Professor in Dance and Theatre at Grand Valley State University, Aquinas College and Cornerstone University . Sherry comes to NCTC with several years of teaching piano and voice lessons. Sherry was proud to assist good friend, Tito Hernandez in Hot Summer Nights' production of The Great American Trailer Park Musical as well as NCTC's Master STAS productions of Fame and All Shook Up. This October, Sherry Lee will assistant direct and choreograph NCT's production of Evita.
Michael Santangelo
Michael Santangelo
Michael has recently relocated from NY to NC. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Crane School of Music in voice and choral singing. As a musician, he has played for the First National Tour of Disney's High School Musical, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (Branson MO production) and many regional theater productions. Locally, Michael has played in the orchestra's for NCTC's Master STAS production of Tommy, and Hot Summer Nights concert Oh What A Night!
As an educator, Michael has been a teacher in the NY public school system as well as many years of after school and summer theatre programs. Michael comes to NCTC with over 10 years experience teaching piano and voice lessons. At the conservatory, he accompanies Live On Stage classes as well as the Lobby Singers.
Kenny Gannon
Kenny Gannon
Acting InstructorKenny Gannon is the former Chair of the William Peace Theatre and Musical Theatre Department at William Peace University. Recent directing projects include “Cabaret,” “Godspell,” “Circle, Mirror, Transformation,” “Jane Eyre,” and “Stop Kiss.” Future directing projects include “Chicago” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”
Dan Sipp
Dan Sipp
Summer InstructorDan Sipp began improvising in 1988 with Transactors Improv Company and has taught improvisation for 15 years. In 1998 he moved to Chicago where he studied, performed and directed for eight years. He is a graduate of The Annoyance and The iO (formerly ImprovOlympic) training centers and has studied with such improv luminaries as Paul Sills, Del Close, Charna Halpern, Mick Napier, Joe Bill and The Second City. He ran the Worx Training Center in Raleigh for four years and now teaches at Raleigh Little Theater and throughout the Triangle.
Paul Geldston
Paul Geldston
Paul Geldston is originally from New York City. Since moving to North Carolina in 2003, he has taught and directed the tap dance program for Triangle Academy of Dance in Cary, NC. Prior to that, Paul taught for a variety of New York City schools, including Broadway Dance Center and Steps On Broadway, and also directed tap music CD's with David Howard and pianist Joe Cross for Roper Records.
Paul has performed and choreographed for various musical productions over the years, including Equity Showcases of "Forty Second Street", and "Anything Goes," summer stock including "The Music Man," "Evita" and other musicals, and various concert dance companies, i.e. DancEllington, directed by Mercedes Ellington, and the Jeff Edmond Dance Theatre. Most recently, he choreographed tap for Panther Creek High School's production of "Anything Goes."
Paul studied tap with various teachers, including Bob Audy, Jerry Ames & Henry LeTang. He also studied Ballet, Jazz and Modern, and was a scholarship student at the David Howard Dance Center.
Paul also holds a master's degree in teaching from NC State University, and is a certified teacher.
Tatiana Guy
Tatiana Guy
Summer Instructor
Tatiana Guy has been teaching musical theatre, drama and voice for over a decade. She currently teaches music and drama at The Magellan Charter School and volunteers as music and drama director with S.T.A.R (Special Theatre Arts of Raleigh). Tatiana is no stranger to the NCT stage. Favorite productions include “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Fiddler On The Roof”, “The Secret Garden”, La Cage aux folles”, and “Wizard of Oz”.
Outside of the classroom, Tatiana works as a professional voice-over artist for radio, television and film. For the past 15 years, She has lent her voice to numerous local,regional and national commercials and can be heard as the voice of the mother in the holiday animated film “An Elfʼs Story” based on the book “An Elf On The Shelf”.
Paul Paliyenko
Paul Paliyenko
Film Acting Instructor
Paul Paliyenko is a professional actor and director who has performed on various Triangle stages and on stage, screen and radio in Boston. Notable local stage performances include Theatre Raleigh-Hot Summer Nights' August: Osage County (Eric Woodall) and Barefoot in the Park (Richard Roland) and Burning Coal Theatre Company's To Kill a Mockingbird (Randall Curtis Rand), Way to Heaven/Camino al Cielo (Matthew Earnest) and David Edgar's The Prisoner’s Dilemma (Jerome Davis). Paul is also an award-winning freelance producer-director of hundreds of film, video and audio programs. He taught casting and auditioning workshops for the Boston SAG Conservatory as well as film production at Boston University and Emerson College. Paul trained with Michael Shurtleff (Acting) and Keith Johnstone (Improv).
Private Instruction
The North Carolina Theatre Conservatory also offers private lessons in the following areas. Please contact the teachers below for more information.
Private Voice Instructors:
Sherry Lee Allen: 616-901-0070
Mary Kathryn Walston: 919-345-7862
Monique Gannon: 646-648-0865
Heather Patterson King: 919-855-0015 x203
Michael Santangelo 631-553-3033
Private Piano Instructors:
Sherry Lee Allen: 616-901-0070
Michael Santangelo 631-553-3033
Private Dance Instructors:
Sherry Lee Allen: 616-901-0070
Tito Hernandez: 919-271-8580
Private Acting Intructors:
Heather Patterson King: 919-855-0015 x203







