JONESBOROUGH REPERTORY THEATRE

Jonesborough Repertory Theatre

Class Instructors

 Janna Browning

Janna Browning received her B.F.A. in Acting from Emerson College in Boston, MA and her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA. She has performed in and directed theatre and film all over the United States. Janna is also a co-founder of ACTUALeyes Productions, a company which uses Transformational Theatre to create stage and screen pieces based on participants' life experiences and, through the creation process promotes emotional growth, self-awareness, and self-expression.

 Kathleen Brannon Buttolph

(Director of Theatre Education) has been directing productions and teaching theatre for over 13 years.  Kathleen served as Artistic Director of Jonesborough Repertory Theatre from 2003 to 2009. She founded JRTs educational programming in 2004 with 11 children. The program quickly grew when she collaborated with fellow teacher and director, Janette Gaines. Kathleen will return to Jonesborough in 2012 as the Town’s Director of Theatre Education. Currently, Kathleen is earning a masters degree from ETSU.  She is, also, the proud co-founder of POP Arts (Power of Performing Arts), an inclusive performing arts program for children and adults with and without exceptionalities. Kathleen considers herself a lifetime theatre student, never knowing what the work will introduce next, thankful for the journey.

 Janette Gaines

Janette Gaines directed her debut show, The Wizard of the Mall, at JRT in the spring of 2004. She has been teaching everything from basic theatre skills to playwriting at JRT for 8 years now. Over the years, Janette has continued to direct shows including All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, James and the Giant Peach, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Charlotte’s Web, Alice in Wonderland, and many more. Janette was inspired by her love for both theatre and American Sign Language (ASL) to found Stage Hands in 2008. This group uses both spoken English and ASL to communicate dialogue while acting out each play. When not teaching theatre, directing or acting, Janette teaches sign language at Milligan College and interprets/transcribes for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students at ETSU.

 Deborah DeGeorge Harbin

Deborah discovered her love for playwriting nearly a decade ago, when her first play, Constellations, won the Marc A. Klein Student Playwriting Award.  She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from the Catholic University of America in 2007.  Since then, she has written in several genres, from theatre for young audiences to sci-fi.  Her recent reimagining of a Karl Capek classic, RUR: Reboot, was performed in February by Run of the Mill Theatre in Baltimore, MD, and her current script, as yet untitled, will be performed at Milligan College in Spring 2012.

Doug Reiser

Doug Reiser attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and studied at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. Doug began his career in New York City appearing on television in soaps such as All My Children and Guiding Light. He has various voice-over and commercial credits on radio and television (Pizza Hut, McDonald's, . Theatre credits include: "Jake's Women", "The Dining Room", "Little Bird", "Hurly Burly", "Criminal Genius". Film credits include: "Mr. Jealousy", "Three Below Zero", "Crocodile". Notable short films: "Drake's Cake", "Wanted: Soulful Energy Exchange" and "The Mountain Man". Doug also served as executive producer of Italian short film "A Pena du Pana" shot in Calabria. He taught acting classes at East Tennessee State University's Communication/Theatre program, serving as graduate assistant to Pat Cronin. Special Thanks to ETSU Theatre/Communication Department for their support and faith in me.

Rachelle Cheeks

RaChelle Cheeks received her degree in Theatre and Dance from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. She is an actress, acting coach, singer and jewelry designer. She has trained in Suzuki, a Japanese theatre movement technique, with the Core Theatre Ensemble based in Norfolk, VA. She has toured nationally with The Bright Star Touring Theatre. RaChelle has been honored to work professionally with The Children’s Theatre of Hampton Roads (Hampton Roads, VA), Carolina Actor’s Studio Theatre (Charlotte, NC), North Carolina Stage Company (Asheville, NC), and The Drifting Theatre Company (Elizabethton, TN). She teaches acting and movement annually with the Drifting Theatre Company. Recent roles include Hagraguard, in Chasing Charming, Mabel in Once Upon a Time, Harriet Tubman in Harriet Tubman, Pinhead in The Elephant Man, and Mara in the New York premier of The Disorientation of Butterflies.