Emma “Em” Cunningham (They/She) recently graduated with a BA in Theatre Performance and American Sign Language Interpreting from William Woods University. This fall they will be move to New York to work as an ASL Interpreter while attending evening conservatory classes at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. They have recently been an associate teaching artist with KC Repertory Theatre's Summer Youth Theatre Ensemble (SYTE) and are looking forward to coming back to their roots at The Coterie! They grew up attending workshops and camps at The Coterie, so they are very excited to get to work with a new generation of theatre artists.
Lacy Cunningham is a teaching artist, director, teacher, and playwright. Lacy can be seen facilitating and coordinating arts programming for The Coterie and Kansas City Young Audiences. She graduated from Kansas State University in 2007 with a BA in Theatre and also holds a MA in Education through Avila University. Lacy has been coaching, directing, choreographing, and designing productions for middle and high school theatre for years; her greatest passion is to hep develop a creative spark in youth of all ages. In her free time, she loves to explore improvisational acting, write one-act scripts, and do yoga.
Rebecca Dahl graduated from California State University Fullerton earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre with a directing emphasis. As well as filling the shoes of a teaching artist for The Coterie, she is a board member for the Bell Road Barn Players. She has worn many hats over the years including actor, set designer, costume designer, casting and director. She loves teaching, directing, singing, kids, cats and dogs. Someday she says she is going to grow up but not right now.
Michael DeCoursey is a Kansas City based actor, teacher, and theatre practitioner. He has performed in theatre productions and workshops around the country from New York to San Francisco and Kansas City to Dallas. Some of his favorite roles include The Nine Who Dared: Courage In Little Rock (here at The Coterie), Finian's Rainbow (Spinning Tree Theatre), Into the Woods (PFAMily Arts), and South Pacific (Garland Summer Musicals). In 2017, Michael graduated from the Summer Training Congress at the prestigious American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and he holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Texas Christian University. He is also an accomplished commercial actor and has appeared in spots for major corporations such as Sprint, Cerner, and Tropicana. As a teacher, Michael has staffed public schools throughout the metropolitan area and teaches acting classes privately. He specializes in teaching actors to eliminate performance anxiety in actors of all ages, teaching his methods to young actors at the Kansas Thespian Festival and Jr. Festival in Wichita and he's taken his workshop to Upstate New York as well.
Aaron Ellis made his debut as fifteen year-old Martin Luther King Jr. in The Coterie World Premiere of Becoming Martin. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, the production was Aaron’s first at The Coterie and in Kansas City. Other credits include The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins at The Rose Theater, and Heathers with Bluebarn Theatre.
Bailey Ellis first stepped onto the stage when she was 11 years old and never looked back. She is a graduate of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota with a BA in Theatre and Marketing. Bailey has worked with multiple theatres in Kansas City and is a company puppeteer for StoneLion Puppets. When she isn’t teaching at The Coterie, Bailey works as a local Makeup Artist. Bailey has fallen in love with KC and enjoys finding new coffee shops, going to markets, and walking her dog around the beautiful parks with her husband.
Jazlyn Epps is an actor, singer, songwriter, and teaching artist who first stepped on stage when she was 9 years old and never looked back. Jazlyn is a graduate of Avila University where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre. When she is not on stage performing or doing concerts of her own catalog, she is somewhere spending time with her Pomeranian Eazy, drinking coffee, reading, or singing karaoke. Jazlyn is extremely passionate about sharing her love for the arts to all ages and educating others on mental health awareness. Jazlyn is anxious to make her mark here in Kansas City on the stage and in classrooms.
Ray Ettinger has worked with The Coterie Theatre for many years. He appeared on The Coterie stage in such shows as The Seven Dwarfs, Wind in the Willows, and 101 Dalmatians. He also taught the Musical Theater Skills class for several years. He has played the piano for School House Rock, Live and other shows, and accompanies Coterie musical classes.
Andrea Fantauzzi is an actor (SAG-AFTRA), producer, director, writer and teaching artist. She is a graduate of The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, The Second City, and is the owner and founder of the production company Fanta-Zee, LLC.
Her professional debut came at the age of 12 in The Wizard of Oz at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City. Having originated multiple roles, she's most well-known for originating Teen Fiona/Peter Pan in the Theatre for Young Audiences version of Shrek the Musical at The Coterie and Ann – 18 in And Other Fairy Tales premiering in New York. Kansas City knows Andrea best for her work as Susan Pevensie in Narnia the Musical presented by Starlight Theatre and performed at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts.
In 2014, she received critical acclaim for her title performance in the coming of age drama Adira, which was selected by Project Greenlight in 2014 as one of the top 200 Indie Films in the United States. Fantauzzi is also notable for her work in Quality of Life sharing the screen with Kim Rhodes (Supernatural; The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) along with her upcoming series regular role of Sarah Ellington in the dystopian drama, Black Zone.
Her directorial debut came with her very well received film Letters from a Father, which premiered at the Kansas International Film Festival back in 2017. Shortly after, Andrea became a multi-award winning director with dozens of awards and nominations in various categories. She began her production career at 19, with the creation of the Custom Reel Division of Breakthrough Reels, with her colleague Chris Bylsma, where she performed as a Co-Director along with being Lead Writer. She later worked on Season 4 of both NBC’s The Blacklist and FXX’s The Americans while attending The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. Other shows include: NBC’s The Voice and MTV’s Broke A$$ Game Show.
Brad Foster is an accompanist and Musical Director with more than 25 years of experience. His local credits include accompanying productions such as Mary Poppins, Pippin,and The Sound of Music with Liberty Public Schools, working as a Teaching Artist for Take-A-Bow and Stars of Tomorrow summer camps with Starlight Theater, playing keyboard in the Blue Star Awards ceremony band, and most recently, acting as Musical Director and Pit Director/Musician for Starlight Express with Spinning Tree Theater. He is excited to be joining The Coterie family
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