Faculty Gallery

Candace Dickinson, soprano, received her Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO where she studied with Julie Simson. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice performance from Converse College where she studied with Dr. Beverly Hay. Candace made her professional debut as Hermione in Strauss’ Die Ägyptische Helena at the Santa Fe Opera in 2001 where she later returned as a guest artist in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. She has worked with such conductors and as Alan Gilbert and Martin Isepp. Her opera roles include Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff, Barbarina in Marriage of Figaro, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, and Lia in L’Enfant Prodigue by Debussy. Her concert work includes being the soprano soloist for Faure’s Requiem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, and John Rutter’s The Mass of the Children. Regionally, she has performed with the Opera Company of North Carolina, the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium, The Greenville Chorale, The Foothills Philharmonic, The Greenville Pops Orchestra, The Augusta Choral Society, and GLOW. In addition to being a singer and a singing teacher, Candace is also a voice for the actor instructor and she studied with Patsy Rodenburg at Michael Howard Studios in New York City where she completed all levels of Shakespeare’s Heightened Language workshops taught by Rodenburg. She frequently performs in recital and in collaboration with other musicians. She serves on the faculty of the Drama Department at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Arts and Humanities in Greenville, SC.

Thomas Azar is an actor, director, and fight choreographer.

Selected acting credits from South Carolina include Harry Clarke, Appropriate, Much Ado About Nothing, and Angels in America: Parts I & II (The Warehouse Theatre); The Scarlet Letter (South Carolina New Play Festival); Identity Crisis and The Fox on the Fairway (Centre Stage South Carolina); John Proctor Is the Villain (Clemson University); This Is How It Goes (Furman University); and The Lifespan of a Fact, Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf, and Barefoot in the Park at Lean Ensemble Theater, where he is an ensemble member.

Elsewhere in the country, Thomas has performed with the Alliance Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, California Theatre Center, Magic Theatre, and Actor's Express. His short film credits include In a Room at the Edge of Infinity and No
Ordinary Love, and he starred in the pilot of “Divided States”.

Thomas's fight choreography has been seen on the stages of Lean Ensemble Theater, The Warehouse Theatre, Centre Stage South Carolina, California Theatre Center, Furman University, and very nearly at Clemson University but for a global pandemic.

He earned his MFA in Classical Acting from the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy at the George Washington University.

At home here in Greenville, Thomas is one half of the parenting duo to an amazing kid and pup.

Anne Kelly Tromsness has worked as a theatre educator and teaching artist for over 20 years.  A veteran actor and director, she regularly works in regional theatre and consults on productions in higher education as well. Anne formerly served as the Education Director at Greenville’s The Warehouse Theatre where she developed and implemented local and regional programming in theatre education, performance, and community engagement, building a nationally recognized Shakespeare touring program. Most recently, she served as the ARMES Drama and Theatre Foundations instructor at the Fine Arts Center, where she was recognized as the SC Theatre Association Outstanding Theatre Educator for 2020, and the 2021-22 District Teacher of the Year for Greenville County Schools. She has taught at Christ Church Episcopal School, SC Children's Theatre, served as lead teacher for the SCGSAH IGNITE program, a summer intensive in creative process for middle school students, and as a teaching artist for the Metropolitan Arts Council's SMART ARTS. She worked with the SCGSAH outreach department and the SC Arts Commission, developing  SPARK!, a program using theatre arts integration to boost literacy in  elementary students in Williamsburg and Jasper counties. In 2020, the program was recognized with a research initiative award through the Arts Schools Network, and has since been expanded to a year-round program in additional districts statewide, as part of the SC Arts Commission's Arts Grow SC initiative. Anne was a founding Co-Artistic Director for The Distracted Globe Theatre Company, in residence for ten years at The Warehouse Theatre. She previously served as the Director of Outreach, and Community Service and Service Learning Coordinator at the SCGSAH. Anne holds a BA in Women’s Studies from the University of South Carolina, and an MA in Arts Administration from Winthrop University. Other areas of special interest include collaborative practice, improvisation, arts integration, and applied theatre. In 2018, Anne completed her teacher certification in the Michael Chekhov Technique for Acting and Directing, through the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the union representing professional actors and stage managers in theatre in the United States. 
 

Ben Weston is a Certified Associate Drumming Instructor with Tam Tam Mandingue Djembe Academy (TTM) Winston-Salem, a branch of the TTM international school of West African drumming. Locally, he runs classes, conducts workshops and presentations, and performs. At the Governor's School, he plays for West African and Modern dance classes.

Over the last 25 years, Alisa Caldwell has created and perfected an amazing blend of African dance, contemporary movements, and creative choreography, performed to the captivating power of drum rhythms. This technique exercises both mind and body, and also feeds the spirit. She has a strong personal and professional desire to share the beauty, culture, and passion of West African dance. In 1988, Alisa began her primary dance training at the Imani School of Dance in Greenville, South Carolina, where she eventually began instructing and choreographing creative and traditional African dance routines. She performed in the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. She also trained with Chris Thompson and the Cultural Ensemble and Nubian Roots Cultural Center under the direction of Gerri Chisolm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Having the desire to perfect her art, Alisa continued her training with The Larocque Bey School of Dance Theatre under the direction of Master Dancer/Drummer Baba Jerome Hunter in New York, New York. Alisa has performed in numerous cultural and international festivals and has served as instructor, choreographer, lecturer, and judge at various dance conferences, workshops, and competitions. Through her extensive experience in African, Creative, and Liturgical dance, she is now a much sought-after teacher, performer, and choreographer.

Jayce is a professional actor, director, playwright, and designer from the Seattle area of Washington state. He came to South Carolina in 1990 and earned his MFA from USC in 1994. While at USC, Jayce studied voice and speech with Ralph Zito. While in Columbia, Jayce was a staff member of TRUSTUS Theatre where he served as actor, director, assistant artistic director, and technical director. He has served as a resident vocal coach at The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, and for the South Carolina Shakespeare Company. Jayce is also a founding member of The We’re Not Your Mother's Players comedy improvisation group and is currently the Co-Artistic Director of the Distracted Globe Theatre Company.