2026/27 Season | Tickets | Subscriptions | Donate
Our Teaching Artists
Anthony D’Juan
Anthony D’Juan is a Sacramento based director-playwright who has been active since 1996. He was assistant and protégé to Ed Claudio, and is currently an Adjunct Professor for the Los Rios Community College District. His playwriting credits include: MEN IN RIFFS, THEORY OF THE DREAM, THE PURVEYORS, SAFE AT HOME: THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY, 3:BLACK GIRL BLUES, THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED, DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE, BIRDMOCKING, ANY/PERSON, US & THE REST OF ‘EM, EXIT, THEATER OF LIGHTS, LIVE LIKE YOUR FATHER’S DEAD and SUPERIOR CALIFORNIA. His stage directing credits include: SUBURBIA, ENDGAME (best drama 2004), A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (THE MUSICAL), TOPDOG/UNDERDOG (2007), THE MOUNTAINTOP, BOOTYCANDY (nominated best director), SKELTON CREW, PASS OVER, THE ROYALE, DIRECT FROM DEATH ROW:THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, FATSO (with Logan Heller – 2023 revival), PAPI ME AND CESAR CHAVEZ, CLYDE’S, ROBIN HOOD (world premier), THE GOAT OR WHO IS SYLVIA? (nominated best director), FAIRVIEW (nominated best director), FENCES, WATER BY THE SPOONFUL, TWELFTH NIGHT and OUR TOWN (2026).
Classes: Prepare To Direct
Alissa Doyle
Alissa Doyle is an actor and theatre artist, based in Sacramento. Acting credits include FAIRVIEW, PREDICTOR, and THE BEHAVIOR OF BROADUS at Capital Stage, GRAPES OF WRATH at Sacramento Theatre Company, and DANCE NATION at B Street Theatre. With more than four years of teaching experience at B Street Theatre, Alissa is thrilled to bring her classes to Capital Stage.
Classes: Building Blocks of Acting
Andrew Fridae
Andrew Fridae is an actor, director, musician, playwright, and former apprentice and employee at Capital Stage. Recent credits include GEORGIANNA & KITTY: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY and THE LEHMAN TRILOGY at Cap Stage, WAITING FOR GODOT at The Stage @ Burke, and TWELFTH NIGHT with Janis Stevens and Happy Hour Theatre. Andrew takes a special delight in teaching theatre and craft, having served as former performer and teaching artist at both Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre and The Northwest Children’s Theatre in Portland, OR, as well as four-time teacher and director with the Winters Shakespeare Workshop.
Classes: Verse with Verve, The Motives of the Puppeteer
Carrie Hennessey & Ellen Garavatti
Carrie Hennessey is a wayfinder through the deep, healing and full expressions of the voice. She has created a wildly unique career path in theater, opera, symphony work, recital, and education, wearing with pride the hats of trauma-informed teacher and facilitator. Ms. Hennessey found her true voice coming back to opera singing post sexual trauma by building a more connected and compassionate relationship with her own body through what we now know as somatic practices. She has guided her private voice students for over a decade to create that same inner trust in order to bring more authenticity and full expression to life and their art.
Ellen Garavatti (CA LMFT #140938) is a compassionate and curious traveler of the human experience, and advocate of emotional connection. Deeply inspired by the growth and healing through nature, animals, imagination, creativity, and relationships, Ellen is committed to bringing these avenues to the forefront of our wellness, both as individuals and a community.
In seeking a sturdier confidence in her voice, Ellen serendipitously found herself in Carrie’s voice studio in June 2022, and this dynamic duo has been scheming and dreaming since that exact day. It is their shared fascination with somatic awareness, communication, and emotional processing that they mash their passions together to create custom play-shops for any and every group curious & courageous enough to take the leap.
Classes: Somatic Vocal Workshop for Performers
Caleb Jones
Caleb Jones (he/him) has been involved in theater and carpentry for over ten years. He currently works for Capital Stage as its Technical Director, constructing each and every show for the theater since he started with the company in 2023. He also stage designed two shows (“Cry It Out,” 2024, and “English,” 2025) for Capital Stage. His experience prior to Capital Stage included working as a carpenter for other theaters in Fresno and San Diego counties, as well as at cabinet and closet installation companies. Caleb is excited to teach classes on woodworking with a theatrical yet practical flare, so that the craft of carpentry can be something people of all identities and walks of life can feel comfortable learning about and exploring for themselves with either a production context or a hobbyist mindset. In his spare time, he builds furniture and art pieces for his partner and his loved ones, and he strives to teach others the craft so they can do the same.
Classes: Beginning Carpentry, A Theatrical Approach
Jamie Jones
Jamie has been an acting coach and teacher for 13 years. Her recent credits include Mary Stuart (Davis Shakespeare Festival), Marjorie Prime (Capital Stage & American Stage), A Moving Day (B Street Theatre) and Luna Gale (Aurora Theatre Company). Other regional theatres include: American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Musical Theatre, Center REPertory Company, Encore Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, Sacramento Theatre Company, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Z Space. New York theatres include: The Connelly Theatre, Theatre at St. Clements and the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab at HERE Arts Center. Television credits include: Law and Order and the mini-series Gone But Not Forgotten. Jamie is a member of the B Street Theatre Acting Company and an Associate Artist at Capital Stage. She holds an M.F.A. from the American Conservatory Theatre.
Classes: Acting, Scene Study, Audition Techniques
Dena Martinez
Dena Martinez has worked as an actor and director for Capital Stage. She directed The Roommate and two seasons for Playwrights Revolution, and played the role of Church Lady in Between Riverside And Crazy, Karen in August Osage County, and Maria in Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play. Directing credits elsewhere include: La Pastorella, at the Crest Theater for Latino Center for Art and Culture; Manzi, The Story of Cesar Chavez, The Bay Area Childrens Theater; The Praying Mantis, City Lights Theater; and directed over many years for The Marsh and Vector Theater Co. She was part of the Directing Team for Love is a Dream House in Loren with Shotgun Players and Marcus Gardley. She has also directed 16 years at the Sierra Institute for Arts and Music where she runs the theater arts program and was Artistic Director of Latina Theater Lab in San Francisco, which she founded. Dena Martinez was a Casting Director for The Speakeasy SF, the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, SF Playhouse, Cal Shakes, The Jewish Theater of SF and for Shotgun Players. She has worked both on camera and on stage and has voice over experience with such names as Pixar and Zoetrope/Coppola Studios. She has toured nationally, with The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Culture Clash, and with the acclaimed El Teatro Campesino. Her many theater credits include: leading roles at Arizona Theater Co., Denver Center Theater Company, St. Louis Rep., Marin Theater Company, San Jose Rep., San Jose Stage, B Street Theater, Magic Theater, Theaterworks, Pacific Rep and Shotgun Players. Dena Martinez is a Talent Agent with Cast Images Talent Agency.
Classes: Casting for Actors
Carissa Meagher
Carissa Meagher is an actor, director, playwright, and theatre instructor. Some of her recent acting work includes An Octoroon and Anna Karenina (Capital Stage); The Little Prince, Tartuffe and Henry IV (The Theater at Monmouth in Maine); Steel Magnolias and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sacramento Theatre Company). As a playwright, Carissa has been featured at Capital Stage, The Lir Academy, in the Dublin Fringe Festival, and, most recently, her adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey opened Sacramento Theatre Company’s 75th anniversary season. She holds a BFA in Acting from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and a MFA in Playwriting from Ireland’s RADA affiliate school, The Lir Academy. There she studied playwriting under the instruction of Graham Whybrow (Royal Court Theatre), Marina Carr, Conor McPherson, Mark O’Halloran, Deirdre Kinahan, Mark O’Rowe, David Ireland and many more. Carissa teaches private students each week as well as group writing and acting classes for teens and adults. She has been a guest instructor at several schools and theatres, including Capital Stage where she ran their Youth Theatre Program. This spring, Carissa will also teach acting classes for teens and young adults with Young Actors Stage.
Classes: Playwriting Workshop
Matt K. Miller
For over thirty years Matt has made a living as a professional actor in every aspect of the art. His acting resume includes several TV shows, voice-over work, and various theatrical productions locally, across the country and internationally. Having been an acting coach and teacher for many years, Matt’s credentials include adjunct professor of Theatre Arts for the Los Rios Community College District; an instructor for the Arts Guild of the Rio Valley Charter School and past camp director for the Capital Stage Company and Sacramento Theatre Company’s theatre programs. He has also been a Master Teacher for the Sacramento Theatre Company’s Young Professionals Conservatory where he also served as director, playwright and artistic director. In addition, Matt offers one-on-one coaching for actors of all levels.
Classes: Shakespeare for Actors, Scene Study
Elyse Sharp
Elyse Sharp is an actor, director, dramaturg, and podcast producer. At Capital Stage, she has performed in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Georgiana & Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley, The Real Thing, Macbeth, and is a former Capital Stage apprentice. Recent acting credits in Sacramento also include Prince of Lighting: The Story of Young Nikola Tesla, Boy Genius and Winnie the Pooh at B Street Theatre, where she also directed the staged reading of Below Zero during the 2023 New Comedies Festival. Her podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? makes Shakespeare easier to understand–minus the bardolatry–and is one of the top Performing Arts podcasts in the United States (and other countries) and one of the top 5 Shakespeare podcasts according to Feedspot and myShakespeare. For more visit www.elysesharp.com or follow @elysesharp on Instagram.
Classes: Unlocking the Play: Intro to Script Analysis, Introduction to Acting, Shakespeare
Janis Stevens
Janis has been working with Capital Stage on a regular basis since 2006. After receiving her MFA from Ohio University’s Professional Actor Training Program, she began her professional career at the Old Globe in San Diego and went on to work in the English-speaking theatres of Vienna, Austria for the next ten years. Upon returning to the States, her work has been seen in regional theatres across the country, including the Idaho Shakespeare Festival; Lost Nation Theatre, VT; TheatreWorks, Silicon Valley; the Magic Theatre, San Francisco; Sierra Repertory Theatre, Sonora, CA and local Equity companies in Sacramento. Janis is a 2006 Drama Desk Nominee for her portrayal of Vivien Leigh in the off-off Broadway production of Vivien, a role for which she also received the Bay Area’s Dean Goodman Choice Award for Solo Performance. She is a Resident Company Member of the Theater at Monmouth in Maine where she directs and performs during the summertime. As well as teaching in the Theatre Arts Department at American River College, Janis conducts classes for the CapStage Apprentice Company and offers private coaching throughout the year. Her work as a director has also received much acclaim across the country. She is extremely proud to be a member of Actors’ Equity and of the Capital Stage Company.
Classes: Acting, Scene Study, Audition Techniques, Monologue Study
Jarod Wiggins
Jarod Wiggins is a local performer and Fight Choreographer as well as an Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. As a Sacramento State graduate and a former Capital Stage apprentice, Jarod looks forward to helping progress the Sacramento theatre community in any way possible. They hope to instill the importance of violence in storytelling, and help people perform it in a safe and creative way!
Classes: Stage Combat
Naomi Williams
Naomi J. Williams is the author of the novel Landfalls (FSG), long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Award, and numerous short stories and essays that have garnered a Pushcart Prize and honorable mentions in Best American Short Stories and Best Horror of the Year. A biracial Japanese-American, Williams was born in and partly raised in Japan, and educated at Princeton, Stanford, and UC Davis. She has taught creative writing at UC Davis, Saint Mary’s College, Sacramento Community College, Davis Arts Center, and the low-res MFA program at Ashland University in Ohio. She lives in Midtown Sacramento and is co-director of CapLit, a nonprofit literary organization that offers staged readings and community workshops in California’s capital. www.caplit.org
Classes: Listening to the Sounds Inside Creative Workshop