Instructors

NATALIE BERRY

Natalie has been heavily involved in theater since she was a small child, working virtually every job from acting to technical theater. She received her training from the University of North Texas, KD Studios Actors Conservatory and the La Jolla Playhouse Actors Conservatory in San Diego, California where she studied under former Artistic Director and two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff. Some of her acting credits include CITY OF ANGELS and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at FMPAT, THE TEMPEST at Dallas Shakespeare Festival and Teatro Dallas’ THE PRETENTIOUS MAIDENS. She has appeared in NUNSENSE, SWING and WEST SIDE STORY here at Artisan where she received Column Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Lighting Design.

Natalie has also been featured in several independent films and promotional videos. Natalie appreciates the importance of theater arts in a child’s life and has been teaching acting and musical theater classes for youth since 2003. She has served on oral interpretation judging panels for neighboring school districts since 2004 and has taught several high school workshops for junior and senior students.

Natalie came to teach at Artisan in 2008 and is currently working as Artisan Center Theater’s Director of Administration and Development and Director of Artie’s Playhouse.

EDDIE FLORESCA

Eddie received his Bachelor of Music Education from UNT where he studied Choral Conducting and Vocal Performance. He has also been dancing all his life, but never really realized he could perform until he was an adult. At 25, he started working as a Ballroom Instructor at M.E. Dance Studios and taught American Gold Level Standard. A few years later, he started training at Dianne Cole Johnson’s School of Dance where excelled in jazz and ballet. Since then, he has performed in many shows, which included some of his favorites: A Chorus Line, Mame, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Joseph…Dreamcoat, and Will Roger Follies. He is also a recipient of The Column’s Chita Rivera Award (for West Side Story) and has performed in industrials for The Miss Philippines Texas Pageant, Mary Kay Cosmetics, and Ebby Halliday Realtors.

In 2008, he had the opportunity to assist Grover Dale (the original Snowboy) in directing West Side Story at Lyric Stage. This experience catapulted him into choreographing the same record breaking show at Artisan the following year. Other shows he has choreographed for Artisan include The Ark, Cinderella, Oklahoma, Brigadoon, South Pacific, and Joseph…Dreamcoat.

Currently, he directs the Cosmopolitan United Church of Christ Chancel Choir and works part-time at Floresca Associates, Inc., a family owned business specializing in MEP Engineering Designs and focusing on the entertainment industry and non-profit charities/organizations.

MELANIE LEWIS

Melanie Lewis has a BA in Theatre from Texas Christian University. She earned her teacher certification from the Masters program at University of North Texas. Melanie has taught Theatre for 6-12 grades and 7th grade English for 5 years in public and private schools. She could be seen playing Martha in The Promise in Gen Rose, TX during this time as well. After the birth of her first child, Melanie chose to spend most of the day at home with her three kids ages 2, 4 and 5. She’s spent the last 5 years of evenings and summers teaching acting and musical theatre classes in area theatres and after school programs. She has directed a plethora of shows for students ages 2-62 including The Sound of Music, Lyle the Crocodile, Babes in Toyland, Bunniclua, The Little Princess, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Follow that Rabbit, Disney’s Jungle Book Jr. and many more.

JENNIFER LEYVA

Jennifer has been teaching dance for over 15 years beginning in her home state of Oklahoma and teaching all over the US and Mexico. She has trained as a dancer since the age of three in various forms of dance including ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, lyrical, tap, hip-hop, theater dance, improv as well as African, Flamenco and Indian dance. She has studied with artists from all over the world including teachers with Hubbard Street Dance Company in Chicago, Mark Morris Dance Company, Alvin Ailey Dance, Texas Ballet Theater and Ballet Oklahoma.

After studying dance in college, she moved to Maryland to choreograph and perform with Six Flags theme parks. Following many, many theme parks shows, Jennifer and her family moved to Michigan, where they spent seven years managing entertainment and performing at a dude ranch and golf resort. Surprisingly for a dude ranch, the entertainment department was wide and varied and included music and dance revues, children’s theater, improv shows, Wild West Whip Cracking Revues, stunt shows, Dinner theater and so much more.

Jennifer is now so happy to come to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and continue her career as a teacher and performer. She is currently a teacher at Bruce Lea Dance Factory and Arts Fifth Avenue and is so happy to be beginning a dance program with the Artisan where she and her family also direct, choreograph and perform.

WENDY POWELL

Wendy Kay Powell has her Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in Theatre from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Having worked in the voice acting industry for over 12 years for companies like Funimation INC, Okrkatron 5000, Grearbox software, Xbox 360 and Playstation, her most notable role is as a little villain named Envy, on the very popular Cartoon Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood which can be seen on the Cartoon Network. Wendy also plays the characters of Ilena in the cartoon Claymore Miss Merry Christmas in One Piece. Wendy is also known for numerous smaller parts in a multitude of other cartoons in which she usually dies a most painful death. Some of her other credits include: Emi, in Baki the Grappler, Amick, in Blue Gender, the Fever Demon in Shin Chan, Kyo’s Mother in Fruits Basket, Kasuga in Negima, and Paula Lady Death In Trinity Blood. She has also been credited with the voices of many Video Games including: Spikeout, Fullmetal Alchemist, Curse of the Crimson, Blood Rayne, Gun Swinger, Broken Angel and Boarderlands II.

Wendy’s first love is the Theatre (although Anime is quickly catching up!!!), and she works in many local theatres in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro Area as well as giving voice acting lectures in local high schools and universities around the country and making commercials and voice overs for radio, television, and film. She is currently a Middle School theatre teacher in Dallas ISD, where her students won 2nd place in their district UIL One Act Play competition. Currently, her most important role is as wife and mother to her 4 month old son, Charlie. She is honored to be able to work with the people of Artisan Center Theatre. Happy Voice Acting!

HOLLY SCHRIEFER

Holly has been involved with the performing arts most of her life, from a pre-school production of “The Gingerbread Kids” to numerous live music performances as an adult. In high school she received numerous awards for her parts in UIL One Act Play competitions, as well as acquiring starring roles in several musical theater and choral productions. After graduating in 1998, she briefly trained in both set construction and costume design at Stephen F. Austin University and put her skills to work as the lead dresser for all stage productions at Six Flags Over Texas (2000-2001). For many years after she continued her onstage career as a singer/songwriter, performing her original music before live audiences in many small venues throughout the DFW metroplex. Holly has also worked as a voice-over artist, once known as “the voice of CitiGroup” and heard in dozens of online virtual tour videos for Western Rim Property Services.

Holly believes that making guided performance an early part of a young person’s life is essential to developing important skills such as self-awareness, responsibility, and teamwork. Her teaching philosophy is centered on the principal that everyone has a performer inside him; it just takes love and practice to bring him out. She joined the Artisan team in 2011 with the goal of bringing the fun and life-affirming gifts of performance to new generations, and with the hopes that each class will bring her students closer to knowing and growing themselves in confidence.

DON SHOOK

Don Shook is a multi-talented actor, director, producer and author who has award-winning scripts, television shows, and theatrical productions in his bag of credits. Formally with NBC in New York, where he also performed at Carnegie Hall in Tom Booth’s opera “Gentlemen In Waiting”, he announced on air for WNBC and was part of  “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.  For five years he was a resident performer at Casa Manana Musicals in Ft. Worth and has appeared as an actor in theatres across the country. He and Geno Galantay wrote the musical “A Thorn In The Thicket”, selected for presentation in New York at the ASCAP Outstanding New Musical Showcase and produced twice in Dallas.

Locally, his “Heritage Park CC” won the Crystal Award in 1988 as The Outstanding Drama on Public Television. He has appeared on local television as host of “The Don Shook Show” and “Southwest Showcase” and as a reporter on “The Stock Market Observer”. Working with such stars as Dick Clark, Cybil Shepherd, Debbie Reynolds, John Gary, Betty Buckley and Sid Caesar, he has performed in theatre, film, and television across the country. Recently he was a producer and featured actor in the film “Scandalous Behavior” with Shannon Tweed and James Hong, and was a featured soloist in the musical “Follies” with the Lyric Theater in Irving, Texas.

His Actors Workshop has fostered talent for television shows such as “All My Children”, “Family Law”, “The Drew Carey Show”, and “The Bold And The Beautiful”. He also worked with Mari Lyn Henry in Southwest Casting for ABC Daytime Television.  Mr. Shook has written three novels, four screenplays and over a dozen teleplays and was principal writer for the “Mrs. America Contest” at the Plano Arts Center. His compilation of various short scenes and one-act plays “Women And Other Strange Beings” was produced recently at KD Studio Theatre in Dallas.

JENNY TUCKER

Jenny Tucker is has been performing in and around DFW for the past 15 years most recently with Casa Manana, Stolen Shakespeare Guild and Artisan Center Theater. She studied vocal performance and piano at UNT and Dallas Baptist University. She is currently looking to perform in and around DFW and is continuing her education in dance and acting. She hopes to build the artistic community by encouraging students in music and the visual arts. She serves on the board of the Grapevine Art Project as their Public Arts Awareness Chair and acts as the gallery wall broker for Buon Giorno Coffee House in Grapevine, Texas.

VICTORIA WALKER

Victoria is thrilled to be joining the teaching staff at Artisan.  She received her BFA in Music Theatre and minor in Dance from Elon University in North Carolina.  Choreography credits include Guys and Dolls, Curtains, The Wedding Singer and A New Muse.  Performance credits include Seussical (Mayzie), Godspell (Gilmer), Best Little….. in Texas (Angel), Damn Yankees (Gloria), Lion in Winter (Alais), Fiddler on the Roof (Tzeitel), Annie Warbucks (Mrs. Pugh) and she was a dancer in George M!, Wizard of Oz, Children of Eden, and many  more. Victoria lives in Saginaw with her amazingly talented husband, Jason Walker and her 3 precious angels, Aubree (6), Elijah (4), and Elliot (2).

TONYA WILSON-BROWN

Tonya Wilson-Brown has been an actress in the DFW area for 10 years and is represented by Linda Mcalister Talent. Her stagework includes: Claire in PROOF at The University of Texas at Arlington, Lisa in PRIVATE EYES at TCC NE Campus, and Jenny in DEATH OF A SALESMAN at Fort Worth Community Arts Center Theatre. Her film and print work includes: A Half Price Books public service announcement on literacy, National voice-over work on the program “Zola Levitt Presents,” playing “Mom” in the recent national Hidden Valley Ranch Web Banner, and print work for a worldwide Playskool ad. Tonya has had experience teaching to children and young adults at The Rose Marine Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Madison, and TECO theatrical productions. She is currently pursuing a degree in Theatre Arts/Nonprofit Management with a focus on Grant Writing. She is also the doting mother of her 15-month old son Vince. Tonya is excited about creating an impact in the lives of children through performance classes!