Heather is from Cleveland, OH. She moved to Asheville to attend UNCA where she played soccer (Go Bulldogs!) and graduated with honors with a BA in Psychology. Heather started the Asheville Performing Arts Academy in 2009 in order to bring theatrical training to the children of the Asheville area. Since then she has directed over 100 productions and won many awards including the Freddy G. Award for Teaching Excellence. Heather has also been Irish Dancing since the age of 4. Her Irish Dance program is a part of the award-winning Carpenter Academy of Irish Dance.
KURT CAMPBELL
Music
Kurt Campbell has been working with the Asheville Performing Arts Academy on and off since 2007. He has music directed shows like Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Once on this Island, Chorus Line and many more. He is a 4th grade teacher at Rainbow Community School. He is the proud dad to two kids, Amethyst and Jack, and his dog, Chance.
AMANDA HAMEL
Business Manager
Amanda has been with the Asheville Performing Arts Academy since 2012. She started off as an Academy student during her sophomore year of high school and then became the technical theatre intern from 2013-2015. While the intern, Amanda stage-managed the Academy and Youth Community Theatre shows. She graduated from the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance where she received her BFA in Design and Production with a concentration in Stage Management and received her MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises from Northwestern University. In addition to being apart of the APAA family, Amanda is currently teaching elementary school in Asheville Catholic School.
MARY KATHERINE O'DONNELL
Acting
Mary Katherine is a working actor who started out as a student at the APAA herself!
Since graduating from the APAA in in 2010, she has attended Greensboro College for Acting Performance where she received training in Fitzmaurice technique, Alexander Technique as well as a firm foundation in classic, contemporary and musical theatre. Some of her favorite theatre roles include Nora in the world premiere of DOLL, Rifkele in INDECENT, Thomasina in ARCADIA and Marianne in the world premiere of WAKE-WALKING.
From there she has worked on National television shows such as SALEM (wgn) YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE (IG network) as well as film with GOOD THINGS DEVILS DO, LUKE AND JO, NIGHT OF THE WILD, BRUISER and festival award-winning shorts BLOOD SPOOK and THE UNBEARING.
In between acting for the stage and screen, she has been teaching and directing at the APAA. She hopes to not only encourage each performer to reach their full potential, but help them discover a love of theatre and the joy of expressing themselves freely.
JEANNIE REGAN
Technical Director
Jeannie is from Hong Kong and made a long detour to Australia before moving to North Carolina. She completed her BFA majoring in Sculpture and has worked in major events and media. Jeannie's family joined APAA in 2018, enrolling her daughter Harriet in Prep Academy. Since then, Jenanie has worked on countless APAA productions. In her professional career, Jeannie works at UNCA Asheville's STEAM Studio as a Program Director where she supports middle and high school girls learning how to make cool things.
ERIN ULMAN
Dance
Erin Ulman (she/her) is a multi-hyphenate performer and teaching artist. She grew up as a child actor in Dayton, OH, and at the age of 17, won the Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre Scholarship Competition. Erin then earned her BFA in Musical Theatre with a Minor in Dance from Otterbein University. After college, Erin moved to NYC and interned with the Broadway casting office Tara Rubin Casting and was lucky enough to get to work with Andy Blankenbuehler and Andrew Lloyd Webber on the Broadway Revival of CATS. Erin has worked as a performer at Regional Theatres, National Tours, Off-Broadway, Film, and TV. Some of Erin's favorite roles include Chloe (Bubble Boy The Musical, NYC Off-Broadway), Maureen (RENT), The Witch (Into the Woods), and Blanche Devereaux (That Golden Girls Show! A Puppet Parody). She is also a puppeteer who has been featured on multiple TV and Film projects including a show on Adult Swim. Erin lives in Asheville with her Fiancé and their Dachshund, Poppy.
LAURA WILLIAMS
Voice
Mezzo-soprano and Singing Voice Specialist Laura Williams is a passionate and active professional singer and teacher based in Asheville, NC. She holds degrees from the University of Colorado-Boulder, (Masters of Music, Vocal Performance) and from Brevard College (Bachelors of Music, VP). She was recently on the UNC Greeley and CU-Denver voice faculties where she primarily taught courses in Musical Theater, Vocal Pedagogy, worked with Singer-Songwriting majors and directed Songs for a New World.
After studying with the National Center for Voice and Speech, Laura’s other passion is as a Vocologist, where she habilitates singers with injured voices. Laura has combined her life as a musician and love of traveling and was recently on the faculty at the International College of Beijing and has sung with the International Bachakademie in Stuttgart and the Weimar Bach Cantata Academie under Helmuth Rilling, Hans-Christoph Rademann and Kathy Romey, where she toured in Germany, Chile and Tunisia. Recently, Laura has performed as both a soloist and choral member with the Oregon Bach Festival, Colorado Bach Ensemble, the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and as an alto with the Charlotte Bach Festival Cantata Choir, The King’s Counterpoint and the Charleston Symphony.
Laura teaches voice and piano lessons at her local studio and she and her husband Tyler live in Asheville with their very sassy Westie, Harvey.
HEATHER GALLAGHER
