We build bridges over barriers to provide arts for all.
Our Team
Lindsay Cummings, Executive Director, Mentor & Teaching Artist
Lindsay Cummings is a sought-after voice instructor, teaching artist and musician. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and a Master of Musical Theatre and Opera Performance from Arizona State University. She’s worked in theatre and television throughout the country, but teaching young artists has always been her passion. Lindsay has been seen on stages from L.A. to New York City working in musical theatre and television, and as a vocal coach for "The Voice." She is currently a professor of Musical Theatre Voice at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts, and Loyola University, Chicago. She is one of the founders of Downstage Arts, and is also the President-Elect of The National Association of Teachers of Singing, Chicago Chapter.
Isabella Coelho, Director of Education, Mentor & Teaching Artist
Isabella has proudly worked as theatre-maker and arts educator all over Chicago creating original programming and directing student performed work with organizations including the Chicago Music and Acting Academy where she serves as Director of Education, The Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Creative Root at The Theatre School at DePaul University, Raven Theatre, Filament Theatre, and more. Isabella has served as a resident teaching artist at Free Street Theater since 2013 where she helms the Park Kids program as well has created capsule programming with the Chicago Park District and The Boys and Girls Club of West Pullman. She also leads the Teen Cohort at Downstage Arts, a free program for high school juniors and seniors preparing to pursue performing arts in higher education. As a performer, she has worked with Nashville Children’s Theatre, Broadway in Chicago, Lifeline Theatre, Raven Theatre, Commission Theatre, Cock and Bull Theatre, Filament Theatre, and Birch House Immersive. Isabella is a proud graduate of the Theatre School at DePaul University.
Kara Leman, Program Director, Mentor & Teaching Artist
Kara Leman's passion for storytelling led her to Millikin University where she earned a BFA Musical Theatre degree. While living in New York City, she continued to hone her theatre skills with various directors and began working professionally. Kara is thrilled to have landed back in Chicago and loves teaching students both the art and importance of storytelling.
Victoria Medich, Dance Instructor & Choreographer
Victoria Medich is so excited to be a part of this amazing program! Victoria is originally from Pittsburgh and now attends Chicago College of Performing Arts for a BFA in Musical Theater Dance! Her past choreography credits include: Dreamsters, The Theory of Relativity, Heathers the Musical, High School Musical Jr, Mary Poppins Jr, and The Wizard of Oz. Victoria has also taught/choreographed at Central Illinois Ballet and Maywood Fine Arts.
Aaron Boseman, Mentor & Teaching Artist
Aaron Reese Boseman is an American actor, director, singer, and cinematographer. Boseman is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Direction and Acting. Boseman is co-founder and artistic director of Pulse Theatre Chicago. He has been nominated for a Joseph Jefferson award for acting and several Black Theatre Alliance Awards and Black Excellence awards for his achievements as a director and designer. He is best known for his film work in The Park (2019), Dark County (2018), and Art is Charisma (2017). Boseman is the nephew of the late Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman.
Janine Morita Colletti, Mentor & Teaching Artist
Hailed for her captivating and thoughtful work, Janine Morita Colletti is quickly making her mark in both the classical music world as well as the theatre scene as a unique artist spanning both genre and discipline.
As a performer, Janine has worked with Arizona Theatre Company, Prospect Theatre Company, Arizona Opera, Southwest Shakespeare Company, SongFest at Colburn, and Theater Works. Janine was featured in Southwest Shakespeare Company’s productions of A Christmas Carol and As You Like It, in addition to her role as leading lady in the company’s world premiere of SpellBound! a musical adaptation of the Bard’s final work Cymbeline. She has performed in several productions with Theater Works Live in Peoria, including her critically acclaimed turn as Aldonza in their production of Man of La Mancha. She had the opportunity to work with Arizona Opera as a study cover for the roles of Nanetta in Falstaff and Papagena in The Magic Flute.
Most recently Janine appeared as Hua Mulan/Pocahontas/Princess Badroulbadour in Fairfield Theater Company's production of Disenchanted! where she was able to work with the show's original off-Broadway creative team.
Janine’s work as a director has been seen at the Des Moines Metro Opera where most recently as an Associate Director for their world premiere of A Thousand Acres as well as work with their Apprentice Artist scenes programs. In the world of educational theatre, Janine directed a record-selling production of Grease at Arizona State University, where she also served as the project coordinator for ASU’s New Works Reading Program, directing a staged reading of Babe: An Olympic Musical, and coordinating a workshop reading of Beth Morrison Project’s Prism. Janine's latest solo directorial project was a film version of Michael Ching's Speed Dating Tonight with Arizona State University.
Janine earned her B.M. in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College, and received an M.M. in both Opera and Musical Theatre Performance from Arizona State University.
Janine takes her unique view of the world as a multi-talented, bi-genre, biracial artist and applies that to her work: she believes that effective storytelling remains the same regardless of the genre.
Ashlee Hardgrave, Financial Aid Expert for The Teen Cohort
Ashlee is currently the Senior Associate Director of Admissions, Recruitment, and Enrollment, Master of Science in Law at Northwestern University and has spent over a decade working in the collegiate admissions field. She has a unique connection to the work at DSA as she is also a classically trained vocalist.