rebecca@envisiontheater.com
About Us
Rebecca Lopkin, Artistic Director BS, MA, Educational Theater, NYU
Theater has always been my happy place. From the first time I stepped onto a stage as a young child in a classroom play, to seeing my very first Broadway show, Peter Pan starring Sandy Duncan, I have been captivated. The sights, the sounds, the scents - whether on stage, backstage or in the audience - there is simply nothing like the magic of the theater. My goal is to bring that wonder and magic to our students.
Envision Theater was founded on the principle that all children are natural storytellers with voices that deserve to be heard. Their boundless imagination and creativity, coupled with the skills, confidence and discipline a theater program provides will help any child's success navigating this 21st century world.
At Envision Theater, we are committed to developing performing arts programming with a warm, professional staff of theater artists who are committed to the process as much (if not more than) the product.
Teaching Artists
Daniel Barrett
Daniel Barrett is a New York-based director, educator, teaching artist, and professional actor. Daniel is a member of Actor’s Equity Association and holds a Masters Degree in Educational Theatre from NYU as well as a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Miami. Recent Directing Credits: Matilda Jr., The Music Man Jr., The Laramie Project, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Aladdin Jr., Shrek The Musical Jr., Ensign-Darling New Voices/Vocal Fellowship Concert at The Bushnell Theatre ‘21, ‘22 (Asst. Dir.). Daniel has worked with professional theatre companies all over the U.S. and has served as a theatrical educator, director, and teaching artist for many youth theatre programs over the past 10 years. Some of those organizations include the Queens College Summer Theatre Program, New City Music Theatre, Performing Arts Workshops, PBT Summer Theatre Program, PPT4C Summer Theatre, and The Frost Preparatory Program. Daniel is a 2022 BroadwayWorld Award Winner and is represented for work in Theatre, Film, and Television by Bret Adams Artists’ Agency.
Christine Drayer
Christine has pursued her passion of working with others who love to create for the last twenty years throughout the New York City Metropolitan Area. After graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA, she acted professionally at The McCarter Theatre and various off-Broadway theatres, including working with the legendary Elaine Stritch. She loves actively engaging in the learning process and helping others learn; her directing credits for NYC schools include West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and Romeo and Juliet. As a teaching artist, she devised plays and musicals in collaboration with City Lights Youth Theatre, Sundog Theatre, Inside Broadway, and Hartford Performs. This past spring, she directed Thornton Wilder’s one-act play, “The Happy Journey from Trenton to Camden,” revisiting Wilder’s experimental style with a group of high schoolers. The experience reminded her of her own high school performance of “Our Town,” one of her acting debuts that set her on the theatrical path. Christine is also a vocal jazz musician and loves modern dance as well as her newfound hobby, surfing. A graduate of The Steinhardt School at New York University with a Master’s in Educational Theatre, she is delighted to be on board with the entire faculty at Envision and to reconnect with some fellow alums.
sam funk
Sam Funk is a current second-year candidate for The City University New York School of Professional Studies Master’s in Applied Theatre (CUNY SPS MAAT). From her undergraduate BFA in Theatre Performance, Sam has been interested in using the form of theatre to apply to education and activism work of various capacities. Sam did study abroad applied theatre facilitations in Nicaragua and Argentina, is currently facilitating full-time for a summer contract on Staten Island. Aside from her “on paper” achievements, Sam is passionate about using theatre with young people to help mobilize them to imagine and create the world in which they’d like to live.
Abigail Gabor
Abigail Gabor is a theatre educator, actor, and director. She is currently working towards a Master of Educational Theatre degree at City College, where she also received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. She has experience working with students of all ages and is passionate about access to the arts. Teaching highlights include working as a student teacher at Theatre Arts Production Company School in the Bronx and as a creative apprentice at White Plains Performing Arts Center’s Summer Theatre Academy, where she helped kids put on Broadway Jr. musicals. As an actor, some of her favorite roles include Dull Gret and Shona in Top Girls and the Fool in King Lear. Abigail sees every student’s potential and wants to foster a supportive and helpful environment for them to grow as theatre artists.
jmonet hill
Jmonet Hill is a producer and performer based in New York City. Her passions for music, theatre and performing arts developed during her time training as a choral musician in Georgia. After her time at Columbus State University she expanded her journey up the coast to New York where she graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA). Her degree(s) in Fine Arts & Integrated Musical Theatre provide her with a widespread foundation to assist other creatives on their journeys.
In all endeavors from assistant direction to creative development Jmonet aims to achieve a high standard of artistry and collaboration. While creating original theatrical works under Different Bro Productions, which she cofounded, the artist has had several professional and personal ventures into media consultation, social advocacy and culinary arts. With so much love and gratitude, above all she hopes to uplift the communities that have built her up. Black Lives Matter. @jmonethill
elisheva hirsch
Elisheva Hirsch is a theatre teaching artist and actor. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Educational Theatre at City College. Elisheva has taught theatre to students spanning early childhood to high school at various theatre camps and programs across New York City, including Children’s Acting Academy, the Riverdale Y!, and Preschool of the Arts. She also interned for Lincoln Center Education, where her teaching practice and philosophy were influenced by Maxine Greene’s aesthetic education approach. Elisheva’s most recent on-stage credits include Radium Girls and The Mousetrap. She is passionate about theatre’s ability to connect people with themselves and others, cultivating a powerful sense of empathy and joy.
amelia huckel-bauer
Amelia is an NYC based actor and teaching artist. She has a BFA in Acting from Tisch, NYU, where she studied primarily at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute, where she currently teaches Method Acting. While at Tisch, she also studied with Stonestreet Film and TV Studio, Viewpoints with Mary Overlie, Clowning with Christopher Bayes and spent a semester in Dublin. She also has an MA in Educational Theater from Steinhardt, NYU.
Amelia works as an actor and Education Director with Red Monkey Theatre Group in the Bronx, where her roles on the stage have included Hunter in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, Silvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona; Chick in Crimes of the Heart. She is a company member with Emit Theatre, bringing immersive Shakespeare to NYC public schools with roles ranging from Gertrude in Hamlet to Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Other theater credits include Sally in Tally’s Folly with Bagaduce Theater, Beatrice in Measure for Measure at America Theater of Actors and she originated the role of Flannery in Mrs. Schrodinger’s Cat at NYC Fringe Festival. Amelia is producing and acting in an on-going production of John Ford Noonan’s one woman show, All She Cares About is the Yankees, which opened in Maine over the summer of 2022. She lives in the Bronx with her husband and two young children.
nathan kruman
Nathan Kruman has been the musical director of Envision Theater since its inception, and has a rich background in music, stage and film. Nathan has performed as an actor, singer, dancer, pianist, choreographer, and music director in high school, with the University of Pennsylvania’s Mask & Wig and Penn Players ensembles, and more recently with Black Box Studios and Envision Theater. He has directed, created and staged multiple shows and events at schools and colleges in Philadelphia, Boston, and Bergen County. His on-stage credits include Kazablan, Cabaret, Circle Mirror Transformation, Working and his one foray into Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Among his other credits are Aladdin, To Live Another Summer To Pass Another Winter, Annie, Milk and Honey, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and numerous original theatre workshops. His favorite Shakespeare play is King Lear and favorite character, the Fool.
jen lee
Jen Lee is an educator, actress, director and writer. She graduated from NYU Steinhardt with a master’s degree in Educational Theater in Colleges and Communities and was trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute. She also has a bachelor’s degree in Radio and TV Journalism. In the last decade, she has taught drama, literature, and jazz dance classes in both English and Mandarin in New York City, Beijing, and Tianjin, China.Her recent directing projects include Stop Kiss, The Glass Menagerie, Treasure, Hollow Cross (Asst. Dir.), and Seattle Men’s Illustrated Book (Asst. Dir.). Her recent acting credits include leading roles in The Cabin for FLOWFEST 2023 Program in NYC (produced by CHUANG Stage), Seattle Men’s Illustrated Book for Seattle First Chinese Comedy Festival (produced by Three Words Drama Club), The 1.5 Lives of Oliver Peters for Playwrights for Change Festival 2023 for American Alliance For Theater and Education (AATE), and In Between: A Collection of Short Plays for Yun Theatre. Through leadership in the arts and education, she believes art explores humanity's essence and amplifies love.
victoria oltarsh
Victoria Oltarsh has been a professional drama teacher and director for 30 years. She is a Rockland Council of the Arts individual artist recipient and a published lyricist on Atlantic Records with her song, “Lucky Charm.” Her adaptations of classical fairy tales have been performed for school assemblies with the River Light Theater, a touring company of adults. She has previously been employed by Arts in Ed organizations: The Metropolitan Opera Guild, Making Books Sing, Northern Westchester Center for the Arts, Pulse Performing Arts School and Opera New Jersey. She is most recently employed as a Master Teaching Artist at LeAp in NYC, where she teaches story theater, improv and LeAp Onstage, a signature playwriting program, and in-school creative writing classroom literacy residencies. Her teaching experience includes creative movement and mime for actors, original playwriting, lyric writing, and rapid-fire think on your feet comedy style improv.
mackie saylor
Mackie Saylor is a mission-driven arts educator and administrator who is committed to utilizing the arts to build and celebrate our communities. She has worked as a teaching artist with organizations such as CO/LAB Theater Group, Queens Theater, Broadway Bound Kids, and Opening Act, as well as the Broadway Jr. and Arthur Miller Fellowship programs. Currently, Mackie manages Turnaround Arts: NYC, a program of The Kennedy Center and Exploring the Arts. She is also a collaborator with the NYU Verbatim Performance Lab. Previously, Mackie managed education programs at Notes in Motion and Children’s Museum of the Arts. In 2012, she co-founded Ashworth Theatre Company in her hometown of Waukee, IA. She also publishes a monthly arts education newsletter. Mackie holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University and an MA in Educational Theatre from NYU Steinhardt.
Violet Saylor
Violet is a director, musician, and improviser based in Astoria, Queens. She holds a BFA in Directing from Drake University in Des Moines, IA, and works primarily in community and educational environments, most recently directing Into the Woods at Chestnut Street Playhouse. Previously, she served as a Teaching Artist for the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, visiting colleges and theater programs across the country to teach introductory workshops in Droznin Russian movement, songwriting, and devised theater. In 2012, she co-founded Ashworth Theatre Company in her hometown of Waukee, IA, and later directed the drama club at Findley Elementary in Des Moines, IA as one of the first Turnaround Arts school initiatives in the country. With a deep love of the arts, Violet focuses on helping students build communities and relationships that will last a lifetime through their theatrical experiences, and emphasizes finding joy in the process that precedes a stellar performance.
beth selter
Beth Selter has been working in professional and regional theater for over 30 years. She graduated with a B.A. in Theater Arts from Queens College after performing in Israel while a student at Hebrew University. She then received a post-graduate degree from the New York Academy of Theatrical Arts and interned at the Williamstown Theater Festival. Beth has been directing Youth Theater in New York/New Jersey schools since 1996 and served as Drama Director for the NJY CAMPS at Camp Nesher for 17 years. Additionally, Beth writes and performs her own one-woman Cabaret shows in and around NYC accompanied by the famed Mr. Alex Rybeck. Her shows often explore the challenges of her dual passions for the performing arts and her dedication to living a traditional, Torah inspired life.Beth has also performed with Black Box Studios’ Professional Ensemble group in Teaneck, NJ and the JCC Palisades Players, and she coaches voice, theater and public speaking from her home studio in Wesley Hills, NY.
Daniella Shapiro
Daniella Shapiro is a New Jersey-based teaching artist with a lifelong passion for drama and the arts. Daniella majored in Media Studies with a focus on Film Production at Queens College. From an early age, Daniella was involved in theater and honed her skills through acting and dance training from Broadway professionals at the Dance Art Creative Center. While running a summer theater program, Daniella directed and choreographed productions such as Annie, Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Daniella’s dream is to impart her love of theater to her students, and educate them on how acting can help connect with emotions, enhance creativity, and gain confidence, both on and off the stage.
Shira Stempel
Shira has been participating in theater since she was in first grade. During the curtain call of her first show, she realized the capacity of theater to make people happy, and decided that she never wanted to stop. Show credits include Princess and the Pea, Aladdin, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Once Upon a Mattress, Wicked, Beauty and the Beast, and Newsies. She was in charge of costumes and props for Beauty and the Beast, and directed as well as starred in her school’s production of Newsies. She loves to listen to musicals and Taylor Swift, and at any moment she can be found singing or dancing to whatever songs are stuck in her head.
Marketing Team
SHAY POPPERS (Social Media, website)
Shay is a speculative artist and writer who creates imagery that is representational but metaphorical. They use opposing techniques of anthropomorphization and dehumanization to explore the dichotomy between the objective and subjective body and the line between horror and comedy. You can find their art here.
In high school, Shay participated in Envision Shakespeare, They starred as Brutus in Julius Caesar and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, directed a rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and won an award for their performance of Sonnet 23. College acting credits include Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and various roles in student short films and one-act plays. Shay has also performed as Young Bertuccio in SPRQ Media's audio production of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Outside of the arts, Shay enjoys weightlifting, listening to metal, learning languages and sword fighting.
Tehila Strulowitz (Newsletter)
Tehila Strulowitz grew up performing in both camp and school productions, and eventually she began to take interest in the visual arts. She has done social media and graphic design for summer programs, and digital media for multiple schools throughout the years. When not designing on Canva, she is either working in the classroom as an assistant teacher or pursuing her Bachelor's in psychology. Tehila enjoys playing the drums, telling bad jokes, and trying new things - like hair products.