Ray Ficca - President, Senior Faculty
Ray is a graduate of both Georgetown University (BA), The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts (AC), and was a founding member of the original Actors Repertory Theatre. Ray has been acting professionally for 20 years appearing in over one hundred and fifity productions on regional stages nationwide, including; Wayside Theatre, Totem Pole Playhouse, Olney Theatre, Charter Theatre, Theatre on the Hill, Metro Stage, Imagination Stage, and the Hanna Theatre. Ray is the Artistic Director of Totem Pole Playhouse, a professional Summerstock theater located in Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania. Ray is also currently a company member with Wayside Theatre and Charter Theatre where he also serves as Artistic Associate and Vice President. Locally Ray is also a member of the award winning musical improv group Now This! He is a proud member of Actor's Equity Association - the union of professional actors and stage mangers in the United States - and served as co-chair of the Washington, DC Equity Liaison Committee for 7 years. Regional Credits include (partial list): Othello (Iago) Barnum (PT Barnum), No Way to Treat a Lady (Morris), Proposals (Vinni Barvasi)The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), The Odd Couple (Oscar), Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Max), The Cotton Patch Gospel(Matthew et al), A Christmas Carol (Scrooge), Tony n' Tina's Wedding (Tony), Rough Crossing (Gal), Ten Little Indians (Lombard), My Three Angels (Jules), Big River (The Duke), My Fair Lady (Henry Higgins), Greater Tuna (Thurston), Anything Goes (Moonface Martin), and What Dogs Do (Robert). Ray has served as Chair of the Theatre Departments at Calvert Hall College and Iona Preparatory School.
Nan Kyle Ficca - Vice President CFO, Senior Faculty
Nan has been in the business of theatre for 20 years as producer (of over 50 musicals and comedies including Gypsy, Blood Brothers, Peter Pan, Forever Plaid, The Sound of Music, Sweeney Todd, No Way To Treat A Lady, My Fair Lady, The Rink, Songs for a New World, Noises Off, Sleuth, and The House of Blue Leaves (to name a few favorites), casting director, stage manager and company manager. At the Conservatory she continues to develop opportunities for artists to engage in their craft through the Artist's Project which gives free performance space and production support to artists with a vision. Nan served on the board of directors of the Washington Actors' Center for seven years (as president for three years) and enjoyed producing both the Actors' Center Lotter y Auditins and the Actors Expo during her time there. Nan enjoys producing with Charter Theatre - Washington's only professional theatre dedicated to the development of new works for the stage and in the Capital Fringe Festival where she has produced each year since the inaugural festival in 2005. She also serves as a delegate to the League of Washington Theatres. She shares her life and work with her husband of 16 years Ray, who in addition to being president of the Conservaotry is a full-time actor and Artistic Director at Totem Pole Playhouse.
Doug Wilder - Director of Education, Senior Faculty
Doug is a graduate of The National Conservatory and the Conservatory's advanced acting program Actor's Repertory Theatre as well as the artistic director of Charter Theatre's "New Plays for Young Audiences" series. He has been seen in over 45 productions in the Washington DC area as well as in 28 different states in the National Tour of "Tom Sawyer" the musical. He has been seen locally at Charter Theater, Washington Shakespeare Company, Keegan Theatre, Imagination Stage, Theatre on the Hill, Wayside Theatre, and NowThis Improv Company among many others. His credits include the world premieres Late Bloomers and Glory Days (Russ), Heidi (Sebastion/Mayor), Looking for Roberto Clemente (Peter), The Prince and the Troubadour (Prince), KT for Prez (Senator Spin), The Dancing Princesses Apr. 09 (Joe), and The Wakeness Monster (Wakefield), also, Doug has been seen in Forever Plaid (Francis), 1776, (Richard Henry Lee),The Princess and the Pea (The Prince) The Impossible Marriage (Jonesy), The Father (Adolph), The House on Pooh Corner (Winnie), The Imaginary Autopsee (Arlequino), Hamlet (Claudius), Othello (Lodovico), Black Coffee (Inspector Japp), Lying in State (Wally), The Devil and Billy Markham (Narrator), The Author's Voice (Gene), Wind in the Willows (Badger) and many others including over 20 different cabarets. Doug has directed with Actors Repertory Theater, Imagination Stage, Charter Theater, Wayside Theater, and Theater on the Hill, he is a member of the improv and comedy band Silly Songs with Silly Guys, and the improv group The Planeteers. Doug's directing credits include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Beyond the Warp, Echoes of Troy, Pyramid Man, The Author's Voice, Rumplestiltzkin, Princess Peanut's Rainy Day, The Chicken of the Family, How Mulch is Made, the web series Dramaschool, and countless scenes and acts for local cabarets.
Caren Anton - Faculty
Caren is a native of Chicago who moved with her family to Los Angeles when she was 11 years old, where she spent a couple of decades developing her acting chops in school and community theater. She migrated to Northern Virginia in 1982 and began cultivating dual careers as a professional actor and bookkeeper/accountant for small businesses. She has performed extensively in the Washington, DC area with Horizons Theatre (artistic associate), Theatre J, The Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences, Charter Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Round House; Source Theatre, Rep Stage, Theatre Alliance, Washington Shakespeare Company (former company member), New Works Theatre (founding member), DC Actors Salon, Hub Theatre and others. In 2009 she appeared at the renowned Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, PA. Television appearances include Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire, and a major role in the Lifetime TV movie Queen Sized opposite Nikki Blonsky and Annie Potts. Film credits include The Drowning Pool, The Sentinel, Five Lines and The Possession. Caren has resided in Reston, VA since 1989. When not acting or accounting, she enjoys tennis, cooking, hiking and traveling.
Randy Baker - Faculty
Randy Baker is the co-Artistic Director of Rorschach Theatre and with Jenny McConnell Frederick founded the company in the summer of 1999. With Rorschach he has directed 1001, Monster, Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards, Behold, JB andRhinoceros. He has also directed for Source Theatre, The Inkwell, Young Playwrights Theatre, Wayward Theatre, Cherry Red Productions, Theater J, Woolly Mammoth’s Playground series, The Seattle Fringe Festival and the Washington Theater Festival. Plays he has written and had produced include the full-length plays Dream Sailors andAfter The Flood and the short plays Paolo And Francesca, Beit Jala, Crunch, The Boy Who Knew No Fear, Sam The Prophet, Veronica's Omelet, The Wind at their Backs, Cassandra Dances With The Devil, The Rabbit And The Snake and The Ballad Of St Valentine. Randy is the recipient of two artist fellowship grants and one young artist project grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Under his leadership, Rorschach Theatre has received four Helen Hayes nominations and a Mary Goldwater Award. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and is working on his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Goddard College. Randy grew up overseas, mostly in Malaysia and Singapore and came back to attend the University of Richmond. He moved to Washington DC in 1997 and currently lives in Adams Morgan with his wife, costume designer Debra Kim Sivigny.
Mario Baldessari - Faculty
Mario is a playwright, actor and instructor who lives in Washington, DC. An artistic associate with First Draft at Charter Theater , he is a founding member of the Dropping the Cow comedy troupe. His most recent play, Fat Gay Jew, produced by Charter Theater, was praised by the Post as “an impish blend of smart satire and deadpan wackiness … [with] a script that abounds in droll lines, and revels in dialogue that's funny precisely because it's so excruciatingly tactless or un-PC.” Other plays produced by Charter include Fear Itself, Sacred Cows (which also toured at Cape Fear Regional Theatre in Fayetteville, NC), Wonders Never Cease and The Rule of Three. In 2007, the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts commissioned Mario and playwright Keith Bridges to write a new play for the graduate-level students in its Actors Repertory Theatre and subsequently debuted Our Lady of Sandwich, a funny and thought-provoking comedy about the nature of miracles. This play has enjoyed staged readings at Charter, the Oberon Theater Ensemble in New York and Center Stage South Carolina in Greenville, SC. Many of Mario’s plays have been staged as readings in and around the DC area, including a comic adaptation of Jack and the Bean-Stalk at the 2010 Kennedy Center Page To Stage Festival; Doubting Thomas; and The Thing about My Brother and Fidelity Drumming, both co-authored with playwright Chris Stezin. Mario has served as a corporate trainer on brainstorming and creativity for several PR firms, including Porter Novelli, GYMR and Devine & Powers.
Evan Casey - Faculty
Evan is a professional actor and teaching artist based in the DC area. He has worked locally at the Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Rep Stage, Everyman Theatre, Studio Theatre 2ndstage, Theatre of the First Amendment, and Imagination Stage, among others. Some credits include "Orin and Everybody Else" in Little Shop of Horrors at Ford's Theatre, "Mordred" in Camelot at Olney Theatre, "Jack" in Lord of the Flies at Round House Theatre, "Dead-Body Boy" in tempOdyssey at Studio 2ndStage, and "Judd" in Ten Unknowns at Signature Theatre. He and his fellow cast members were Helen Hayes Award Nominees for Best Ensemble for Dog Sees God at Studio Theatre 2ndstage, and he was named one of Broadway World’s "Best of Baltimore" for his performance as “Charlie” in Tintypes at Rep Stage. Additionally, his work has been seen at the New London Barn Playhouse in New Hampshire, the TBG Theatre in New York, and in theaters across the country as a member of The Capitol Steps, a political parody group that has been a Washington, DC institution since its creation in 1981. Other work includes a variety of commercials, voice-over recordings, television and internet, and short and feature films. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from The Catholic University of America with a BM in Musical Theatre, and received additional study at the Marymount-Fordham London Dramatic Academy. During his time at Catholic University, he was the co-founder of CUA’s first improv group Impulse Control, an organization that still exists today. He has taught acting for the Educational Theatre Company's Shakespeare in the Schools Program, Howard Community College, and the Round House Musical Theatre Performance Camp, as well as private coaching for professional, student, and amateur actors. Evan is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.
Rex Daugherty - Faculty
Rex has been seen off Broadway in Disco Pigs and was recently nominated for a Helen Hayes award for Best Ensemble for his work in Disco Pigs, despite that ensemble consisting of only 2 performers. Locally, Rex has appeared at The Shakespeare Theatre Company (Love’s Labor’s Lost, Hamlet), Rorshach Theater, Forum Theater, Imagination Stage, Journeyman Theater, Solas Nua, Washington Shakespeare Company, and at Charter Theatre as an actor, and music director. His regional acting credits include - Wayside Theatre: Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Cricket, Murry Duetch), A Christmas Story (Ralph), Black Coffee (Edward Raynor), Othello (Roderigo); Masterworks Theatre Festival: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theseus/Oberon); Merry-Go-Round Playhouse: The Paper Bag Princess (Prince Ronald), The Fisherman and his wife (The Fisherman), There Once Was A Longhouse (Tanawadeh); The Actor’s Speak Easy: Lonestar (Cletis T. Fullernoy); Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lysander/Snug), Hamlet (Player Villain), Twelfth Night (Curio); Ohio Outdoor Historical Drama Association: Trumpet in the Land (Strong Rock), The White Savage (General Hand). Rex has also directed several plays, including The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Fat Pig, The Perfect Ending, Waiting for Lefty (assistant director) and Stones In His Pockets (assistant director). Rex is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University, where he received his B.A. in Theatre. He has also studied the Michael Chekhov technique at the Moving Dock Theatre Company in Chicago. Rex is a proud member of the musical-comedy band Silly Songs with Silly Guys.
Ricardo Frederick Evans - Faculty
Ricardo graduated from the ART program at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in 1998. He went on to apprentice at the Actors Theatre of Louisville after which he toured the country on two childrens theatre projects with the National Theatre of the Performing Arts. He served as resident stage manager for Twinbiz Productions for many years working in New York, Los Angeles and the National Black Theatre Festival in North Carolina. He appeared as a guest artist at the Conservatory in ART productions of (A Broadway Cavalcade) directed by Jack Lee and (North Shore Fish) directed by Steven Scott Mazzola. His theatre credits include work with: Totem Pole Playhouse (45 Seconds from Broadway, The Complete History of America Abridged); Studio Theatre, (In the Red and Brown Water); Imagination Stage (Mulan, Ferdinand the Bull, The Borrowers, Charlotte's Web, Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans, The Voyage of the Jumblies, Abiyoyo); Young Playwrights Theatre, (Express Tours, New Writers Now!); Horizons Theatre (Unspoken Prayers); Theatre on The Hill (Peter Pan, Rumplestiltskin); Woolly Mammoth/Serenity Players (The Other River); Shakespeare Theatre (The Oedipus Plays); Georgetown Theatre Company (Agamemnon); African-American Collective Theatre Company (Best Man for the Job, Auld Lang Syne, Heartbeats). He served as co-producer and actor in the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival (Nights at St. Januarius) and as an actor in two 2009 Capital Fringe Festival productions (Skywriter, GS14). Since 2008 Ricardo has worked as a teaching artist with the Folger Shakespeare Library's educational outreach program (Bill's Buddies). Ricardo is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association. He has numerous industrial and short film credits: (Treasure Hunt) by Celeste Ward; (The Delivery) by Anthony Brenneman; and (tHERAPY) by Kelley Slagle for which he won the best actor honorable mention award in the Washington, DC 2010 48 hour film project.
David Elias - Faculty
David is an actor, stage manager, and voice-over specialist. He was Assistant Stage Manager of Ford's Theatre's The Grapes of Wrath, and Production Stage Manager of Wayside Theatre's My Way, and Cotton Patch Gospel. His stage appearances include Matt Friedman (Talley's Folly), Don Quixote (Man of La Mancha), Ira Stone (Laughter on the 23rd Floor), Polpoch (Marat/Sade), Friar Peter (Measure for Measure), Frederik Egerman (A Little Night Music), Assassins, King of the Jews, Moby Dick Rehearsed, Jean-Paul Sartre (Shooting Simone) and many others at venues such as Olney Theater, Theater J, Cumberland Playhouse, The Theatre at Lime Kiln, Wayside Theatre, Washington Shakespeare Company, The Other Opera Company, Signature Theatre, The American Century Theatre, The Theatre Conspiracy, and others. On the voice-over front, he narrates books and magazines for the Library of Congress, and does many voices and accents for industrial training films. He also acts in, and facilitates, ethics training for Continuing Legal Education courses, government agencies, and private industry, combining his current career with his former one: a lawyer. David is a member of Actor's Equity Association, and the Screen Actor's Guild.
George Grant - Senior Faculty
George has been a professional actor in radio, film, and theatre for 30 years. He has been seen at The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC in The Tempest, Othello(w/Patrick Stewart) Peer Gynt and The Merry Wives of Windsor, and at The Washington Shakespeare Company, Catalyst Theatre, The Goodman Theatre in Chicago and The Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, among many others. He was last seen in Catalyst Theatre's critically acclaimed production of Cloud Nine playing Harry and Martin. His directorial work has been seen at Charter Theater in the renowned Am I Black Enough Yet, Gordon Productions, Actors Repertory Theater, The Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival and at the Washington Shakespeare Company. Mr. Grant recieved a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Lawrence University and a Master of Fine Arts from The Academy for Classical Acting.
Michael Harris - Faculty
Michael is the Artistic & Executive Director of the Baltimore Improv Group (BIG) as well as a performer with their troupes: Evan the Loyal, Plan B, and Gus. Michael has performed locally at Studio Theater, In the Red & Brown Water (O Li Roon & Man from State); Doorway Arts Ensemble, Endgame (Clov); as a performing understudy at Signature Theater, Dirty Blonde (Charlie and other characters) and has written and performed in several shows with the Stoop Storytelling Series (Live performances at Centerstage, rebroadcast on NPR.) Regional theatre credits include The Miracle Worker, Twlefth Night, I Hate Hamlet, Moon Over Buffalo, The Rose Tattoo, The Water Engine, amongst others. Michael is a graduate of the Conservatory. He began his career as a performer as a member of Haverford College’s Lighted Fools.
Marni Penning - Faculty
Marni is a Northern Virginia native who began working with Shakespeare when she was 8 years old, and has appeared in 53 productions of 24 of Shakespeare's plays in her professional career, most recently in repertory as Ophelia in Hamlet and Helena in All's Well That Ends Well for Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Marni also toured the US and UK for three years with Shenandoah Shakespeare Express (now known as the American Shakespeare Center), then moved to the midwest and co-founded Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, for whom she performed over 35 roles, including Juliet, Kate, Rosalind, Beatrice, and Hamlet.
After moving again to New York 10 years ago, she began performing steadily on New York and regional stages, including Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, American Century Theater, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Georgia Shakespeare, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Rep Stage, Human Race Theatre, Wayside Theatre, and Totem Pole Playhouse. She also studied at NYC's premiere improv school, Upright Citizens Brigade, appeared on Saturday Night Live, Guiding Light, All My Children, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos, and Mona Lisa Smile, as well as appearing in several independent films. Now back in her native DC, Marni is thrilled to be teaching at NCDA, and continues acting and directing, as well as being a private Shakespeare coach, a playwright, a professional Sarah Palin impersonator, and her character "Fannie Mae Feelgood" doles out "Feelgood Tips" for surviving in this hard economy on iget2work.com. More info at http://www.marnipenning.com.
Sarah Melinda - Faculty
Sarah is an Actor, Singer, and Fight Choreographer in the DC Metro Area. As an actor she has performed with Charter Theatre, Wayside Theatre, Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, Theatre at Lime Kiln, St. Croix Festival Theatre, Journeymen Theater Ensemble, Tanglewood Family Entertainment, Adventure Theater, Virginia Shakespeare Company, Maryland Renaissance Festival, The Black Box Theatre, and Cherry Red Productions. Her work as a Fight Choreographer has been seen in Sweeney Todd & Company (The Kennedy Center: Sondheim Festival); 110 In The Shade, What The Butler Saw & The Gospel According to Fishman (Signature Theatre ); I Love You (Charter Theatre); Central Park West (Theatre J); A Christmas Story (St. Croix Festival Theatre); and Night of January 16th (Actors Repertory Theatre). Sarah's on camera credits include stunt work for America's Most Wanted, The Learning Channel, and The Discovery Channel. She has also appeared in local commercials and industrial training videos. Sarah is a performing member of the musical improv troupe NOW THIS!. She is a member of the Society of American Fight Directors and Dueling Arts International. In addition to being a faculty member at NCDA she is also a 2000 graduate from the NCDA ART Program.
Hope Lambert - Senior Faculty, Education Director Emeritus
Hope is an actress and teaching artist in the Washington DC metro area. Her stage credits include: MonkeyBoy by Keith Bridges, Chris Stezin, and Richard Washer at Charter Theatre; Building a Boat by Helen Hayes nominated playwright, Peter Coy, at Charter Theatre; The Early Miracle by Lew Holton also at Charter Theatre; Fallen from Proust by Helen Hayes award-winning playwright, Norman Allen, at Signature Theatre; MacBeth at The Folger Shakespeare Library; The Road to Mecca at Olney Theatre; Little Women at The Kennedy Center; Translations with Keegan Theatre; Twelfth Night, Pericles, and Taming of the Shrew at Washington Shakespeare Company, where she is a former company member. In New York, she appeared at New York at Cherry Lane Theatre (Cherry Lane Alternatives), The Bank Street Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Source, and Stage Door Acting Ensemble. A proud member of both Actor’s Equity Association and the Screen Actor’s Guild, Ms. Lambert has appeared in several government industrial films as well as independent features and NYU student films. Recently, Ms. Lambert completed a feature film called Sleeping and Waking, which is currently making it's rounds at film festivals internationally. As founding company member of Educational Theatre Company, she has been teaching theatre arts classes to youth and adults for over 10 years. She is a graduate of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.
Matt Basset - Faculty
Since relocating to the DC area from his native Tennessee in 2010, Matt has appeared locally with The Bay Theatre (Wit – Jason), The Hub Theatre (The Clockmaker – Pierre), with Washington Stage Guild (Magic – Rev. Cyril Smith) and The Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences on Tour (Knuffle Bunny – Dad understudy). He has assistant-directed for Roundhouse Theatre (A Wrinkle in Time) and is currently directing and devising an original theatre piece for 0-5-year-olds with his lovely wife, actor Tia Shearer, to premiere in 2012 with Alexandria-based company Arts on the Horizon. Regional performance credits include The Clarence Brown Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Lexington Children’s Theatre, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, People’s Branch Theatre and Tennessee Stage Company. Regional directing credits include a dream once lost, a world premiere collaboration with Tia Shearer that opened at the 2007 Philly Fringe and Matt and Ben, a Tennessee premiere with People’s Branch Theatre. Matt is a proud member of Actors Equity Association, a company member with The Hub Theatre in Fairfax, VA and a teaching artist with Compass Rose Studio Theatre in Annapolis, MD.
