Staff
Executive Artistic Director - JoAnne Woodard JoAnne Woodard was appointed Executive Artistic Director of HITS Theatre in June 2008. A teacher, performer, director and acting coach, she has an incredible breadth of experience and depth of knowledge in working with children and young adults. As a performer, JoAnne has appeared in over 200 plays, musicals, television pilots and national commercials. She was also a member of the off-Broadway improvisation troupe, “New Yuk City". As a teacher, JoAnne has taught acting, directing, musical theater, improvisation, and auditioning in public and private schools for the past 15 years. From grade school to middle school to high school, she has directed productions and been an Artist-in-Residence. She has been a Master Teacher at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in the BA, BFA, and MFA programs. She has also been a Master Teacher at the University of Miami in both the Frost School of Music Opera Program with Dr. David Alt, and in the School of Liberal Arts with Vince Cardinal. JoAnne has conducted seminars in acting and auditioning across the country including the International Thespian Festival and the Educational Theater Association of which she is a member. JoAnne spent 6 years as Artistic Associate of “First Stage Theater”, the third largest children’s theater in the country in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, her home town, where she was nominated for the Disney Teacher of the Year. JoAnne is a nationally known acting coach, specializing in preparing high school students for auditions for colleges and universities across the country. She has coached over 100 private students who have been accepted into a selection of over 95 colleges and universities including Yale, the Tisch School at NYU, Harvard, North Carolina School of the Arts, SMU, University of Michigan, Carnegie-Mellon, University of Southern California, and the University of Oklahoma, and the Julliard School. Executi René Zamore was appointed Executive Director at HITS Theatre in November 2010. René come to HITS with a wealth of knowledge in business administration as she was previously executive director of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association (GHRA), the largest hospitality not-for-profit trade association in Houston. While at the association she helped raise more than $370,000, including over $100,000 in annual sponsorship agreements with members. In addition, she significantly increased support for the Texas Restaurant Association. Before joining the GHRA in 2003, Zamore held positions in special events/community relations, development and marketing at the Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County and at the web technology services provider EBlox Inc. in Austin. Outside of the office, Zamore has been active with the Rice Design Alliance, the Lawndale Art Center and Young Texans Against Cancer. She grew up in West Houston and graduated from the University of St. Thomas. She lives in the Houston Heights with her husband Brett and young son. |
ve Director -Miranda Herbert is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC (CPT), Loyola University Chicago (BA in Theater/English), and the University of Houston (MFA in Theater). As an actor, her favorite Houston credits include Rowanne in Buy One, Get Five Free, Mrs. Mi Tzu in The Good Woman of Setzuan, Jane in Free Man of Color, Miss Mackay in the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Lady Anne in The War of the Roses Cycle. Her past teaching credits include work with IMTA-Chicago, San Jacinto College-South, The University of Houston and The Art Institute of Houston-North. She has also been the administrator for several theater outreach programs including work with the D.E.C.K Summer Camp (hosted by the University of Houston & HISD) and The DeLuxe Theater Project (in conjunction with the Fifth Ward CRC). Miranda currently teaches for the Drama Department at Lone Star College-CyFair and leads the Student Affairs Department at The Art Institute of Houston-North.
Tenor Jack Beetle’s stage experience has been diverse: Shakespeare, musical theatre, plays and opera. He was recently in the world premiere of the Car Crash Opera: an animated opera for adults, which was featured in performance at New York City Opera’s VOX Festival. Operatic roles of note include: Il Conte di Libenskof in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, Jim Casy in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath, Pluto/Aristeus in Orpheus in the Underworld, Il Podestà in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, Tebaldo in I Capuleti e I Montecchi. Jack spent three consecutive seasons with the Ohio Light Opera and was featured as King Ouf in L’étoile, Colonel Fairfax in Yeoman of the Guard, Hilarion in Princess Ida, Count Stanislaus in The Birdseller, and Marco in The Gondoliers. Prior to pursuing an operatic career, Jack worked in regional theatres, where he performed in more than forty productions over the course of five years. An active classical and musical theatre voice teacher, he believes in a solid technical foundation that will allow a student to sing at their best. A native of Sicklerville, NJ, he received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston.
Dr. Kyle Kindred is currently Assistant Professor of Theory and Composition at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. A native of Arkansas City, Kansas, Dr. Kindred earned a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance and Theory/Composition at Wichita State University, studying under Walter Mays and Dean Roush. From the University of Texas at Austin, he earned a Master of Music in Composition as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts studying under Donald Grantham and Kevin Puts. Kindred’s compositions have been performed in the US, Canada, Japan, and Europe, having received awards including Best Music at the 2006 Nevada State Marching Championship, a spot in the 2000 National Bandmasters Association’s First Biennial Young Composer Mentor Project, winner of the Claude T. Smith Memorial Composition Contest in 2001, and First Prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs 2001 Victor Herbert (ASCAP) Prize in Composition. For more information, you can visit his website at: http://kylekindred.com
Laura Botkin, soprano, is a recent graduate student of the Shepherd School under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen King. Recent engagements have included Polly Peachem (The ThreePenny Opera) with Rice Theatre in 2009. Rice University’s Shepherd School engagements include Countess Adele (Le Conte Ory) in the 2008 scenes program, Almirena in the fall 07’ production of Handel’s Rinaldo, Rose Maurrant in the spring 07’ production of Street Scene and Serpetta in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera. She has also performed comprimario roles with Palm Beach Opera and in summer productions with the Janiec Opera Company in Brevard, NC. A graduate of the Mercer University Townsend School of Music, Ms. Botkin has performed such roles as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and scenes from Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, and Falstaff. In 2005, she was a finalist in the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition and was 1st place winner in N.A.T.S. Georgia division 2004 and 2005. She currently sings as staff at Houston’s Christ Church Cathedral under the direction of Dr. Robert Simpson and teaches private music lessons.
Matt Hune has taught acting in Houston, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Along with HITS, he currently teaches at The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the Alley Theatre. As an actor, Mr. Hune has been in the regional premiere of Edward Albee's The Goat or Who is Sylvia and Our Town at the Alley Theatre, Dead Man Walking at Houston Grand Opera, Pinocchio 3.5 at Stages Repertory Theatre, Ivan the Fool at Bobbindoctrin, and The Outsiders at Stages Theatre Company (Minneapolis). His Chicago acting credits include the title role in Hamlet, Good Worker (premiere), Locomotive Shark (premiere), A Number, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Living Out, and Iphigenia in Taurus. Mr. Hune is a founding member and co-artistic director of The Back Porch Players where he has performed in Jewtopia, Moonchildren, Balm in Gilead, Waiting for Lefty and Brighton Beach Memoirs. He received the 2003 Award for Acting from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Mr. Hune holds a BFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University.