Faculty
Sharon North Jones
President and Executive Director - SNJ Studio of Music
Executive Director - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
President and Executive Director of SNJ Studio of Music, Sharon North Jones holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is co-founder and Executive Director of Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts and owner of Diva Productions, a music production company in Chicago, Il and Omaha. Sharon has served as the Director of Contests and for the Society of American Musicians and as a scholarship adjudicator for the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
An accomplished opera, concert and music theater singer, Sharon has performed throughout the United States in such roles as Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Mrs. Nordstrom in Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Sharon has appeared with the Alabama Symphony, Opera di Cornetto, the Chicago Composer's Consortium, Opera Ensemble of Chicago and many others. She also presents concerts of opera scenes for such corporate clients as the Easter Seals Foundation, the Steinway Society, Insignia, ESG, and Harting, Inc. in Hamburg, Germany.
As a music educator, adjudicator and clinician, Sharon brings over 15 years of experience to students of all ages. In addition to teaching privately she has designed several programs for children and adults. Sharon also conducts vocal master classes and audition preparation clinics as well as producing and directing music theater and opera scenes workshops and children's theater productions.
Joel Johnston
Artistic Director/Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Director of Ensembles/Voice Instructor - SNJ Studio of Music
Joel Johnston is a free-lance conductor, presenter, choreographer and adjudicator, with 23 years of experience in music education. He has conducted more than 40 choral clinics and festivals in the Midwest. Joel is currently conductor of the Southwest Iowa Men’s Chorus, as well as the SNJ Studio Singers, a select high school a cappella ensemble, and Center Stage, a middle school show choir. SNJ Singers and Center Stage rehearse at the Sharon North Jones Studio of Music in Omaha, where Joel also teaches 40 voice students.
Joel is co-founder of Performer’s Edge, a performing arts academy designed to help students from Pre-K to grade 12 develop their skills as singers, actors, and dancers. In just two years, more than 400 students have participated in Performer’s Edge academies, ensembles, and camps.
Joel is on staff at the Buena Vista Show Choir Camp in Storm Lake, Iowa, and is Artistic Director for Show Choir Omaha!, a three-day show choir camp at the Omaha Community Playhouse.
Joel served as President of the Nebraska Choral Directors Association, as well as Chair of Choral Affairs for the Nebraska Music Educators Association. He was named NMEA’s Outstanding Music Educator of the Year in 2003. He served as Facilities Chairperson for the 2006 Regional American Choral Directors Convention in Omaha.
Debbie Massey
Dance Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Debbie is a local dancer/musical theater performer with over 17 years of experience in dance instruction. She was awarded the Outstanding Tap Choreographer Award in 2006 and is a two time National Pro Am Dance Winner. She has studied and performed all over the country and her students have won numerous regional and national awards. She spent 15 years as the main dance teacher at the former Brownstone Dance Studio and is currently on the teaching staff of the Omaha Community Playhouse. Debbie is available for private and semi-private lessons and is committed to growing our dance program at Performer's Edge to include a variety of class offerings.
Brandon D Higdem
Acting Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Brandon D Higdem received his Bachelor's of Arts
degree in Vocal Performance from the university of
Arkansas, his Master's of Arts degree in Theatrical
Directing, and did post-grad work from the Actor's
Studio in New York City. He moved here in 1998 on
contract with the Nebraska Theatre Caravan and has
graced the Omaha stages in various capacities from
actor to director to singer to instructor, winning
numerous awards and accolades along the way. When not
singing and dancing, he is the visual manager for
Younkers Oakview. He is extremely excited to a part of
Performer's Edge team!
Jennifer Westphal
Dance Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Jennifer has been an Instructor/Choreographer for the past seven years. She is a member of the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters. Jennifer has taught for the Omaha Community Playhouse as a guest instructor. She has been seen performing at the Iowa State Fair, as an extra dancer in “The Steamroller” Fresh Aire 8 Mannheim Steamroller video, Ak-SAR-BEN Coronation, and with the Creighton Company of Dancers. Jennifer has trained intensively in both Chicago and New York.
Kimberly Clark-Kaczmarek
Acting Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Kim Clark Kaczmarek possesses a B.A. in theatre from Nebraska Wesleyan University and Masters in Theatre from the University of Nebraska Omaha. She is very involved in the Omaha theatre community including working with the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Omaha Theatre Company for Young People, Omaha Community Playhouse and the Great Plains Theatre Conference. Kim and her husband, Anthony, are co-founders of the Living Picture Project: a local theatre company. During the day, she works as the Adoption and Foster Care Outreach Coordinator for Child Saving Institute.
Melanie Walters
Dance/Acting Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Melanie Walters is a freelance choreographer for award-winning high school show choirs located throughout Nebraska and Iowa, as well as a regular in the Omaha theatre scene. Favorite roles include Velma Kelly (Chicago), Aida (Aida – Theatre Arts Guild Best Actress Nominee), Eva Peron (Evita – TAG Best Actress Nominee), Cassie (A Chorus Line – TAG Best Actress Nominee), and Little Becky Two Shoes (Urinetown). She most recently played the role of Gloria in the Omaha Community Playhouse production of Thoroughly Modern Mille. Melanie finished fourth in the 2000 American Traditions National Vocal Competition in Savannah, GA, and is a past winner of the senior musical theatre division at regional NATS competitions.
Roxanne Nielsen
Dance Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Roxanne is Choreographer and Director of Education and Outreach
for the Omaha Community Playhouse.
Roxanne has received numerous awards for choreography and
performance and has worked at many local theatres and schools.
She has over 20 years teaching experience and has taught for
UNO, Creighton University, Contemporary Dance Omaha, Omaha
Dance Teachers Association, The Moving Company, Omaha Dance
Project and Omaha Theatre Company for Young People. Roxanne
trained in local studios and schools and continues training
regularly in New York City. In the summer of 2004, she completed
teacher training with the National Dance Institute. Other
teaching credits include Alzheimer's and the Arts, Boys and
Girls Clubs of Omaha, Omaha Public Schools, Camp Fire Inc.,
YMCA, and other local organizations.
Vincent Carlson
Acting Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Vincent graduated in 2004 from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a Bachelor of Arts Degree; acting/directing focus. He has taught and directed at Gretna, Blair, Bryan, Westside High School, Iowa Western Community College, UNO, the Rose Theatre, and the Omaha Community Playhouse. Vincent also works as a professional fight director and actor. He has worked onstage for the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival since 2002, as well as Shakespeare Unbound (the educational touring wing of NSF) since 2005. He also toured with the Nebraska Theatre Caravan’s professional tour of A Christmas Carol.
In 2004, Vincent co-founded and runs a theatre ensemble that is now heading into its third season. This devised-theatre troupe has produced eight shows in the past two years that appear as the Witching Hour late night series at the Blue Barn Theatre, in addition to making a handful of appearances in the Omaha area: The Holland Center, The Qwest Center, The Omaha Lit Fest, Arts Analog Festival.
Vincent’s first play, Curio and Valentine Are Pissed, was selected and read as part of the Great Plains Theatre Conference led by internationally renowned playwright Edward Albee. In the fall of 2006 Vincent appeared on the Blue Barn main stage in their production of Pillowman and also played Petruchio in the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival’s first annual tour of The Taming of the Shrew.
Jackie Adams
HipHop and Jazz Instructor - Performer's Edge Dance Studio
Dance Instructor - Performer's Edge Academy of Performing Arts
Jackie is an accomplished dancer, teacher, and performer. She appeared as a dancer in the 2005 production of Swing! at the Omaha Community Playhouse, as well as the 2006 production of Chicago with the Ralston Community Theater. Jackie has expertise performing and teaching in the areas of ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, pom, hip hop, ballroom, modern and swing. Jackie has been a member of the Omaha Dance Project since 2004. She was also a teacher in the Dancing Classrooms program, the pilot program of a national project designed to bring ballroom dancing to elementary students in the Omaha Public Schools. Jackie has been an assistant at Entenman’s Studio of Dance since 1998.
PE Faculty (from left) Linda Meuret, Marketing Director, Vince Carlson,
Acting Instructor, Sharon North Jones, Executive Director and Joel Johnston, Artistic Director at one of our many Showcase Performances!
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