Author: STAGES Youth Theater

Mark is an artist, actor and movie/theater buff who lives in Portland, Maine.

He currently writes and does voice-work for Free Float Media’s Business Pants podcast. Since 2013, Mark has regularly participated in Portland’s fringe festival, PortFringe and from 2014 to 2020, he co-hosted a goofy WMPG FM radio show called The Portland Files. Mark led a weekly art group at the Preble Street Teen Center in Portland for 5 years and prior to that volunteered at The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center.

Mark firmly believes in the Stages mission and is excited to help young people discover how rewarding artistic expression can be.

Mark joined the STAGES team in 2019. He is a Teaching Artist, a scenic painter, and is currently one of the directors for THE HERO’S JOURNEY — the 2023-24 Young Performers Ensemble (an ensemble program which he has co-led since its debut in 2021)!

Stacey is a theater director, designer, playwright, and arts community activist in Portland.

Stacey directed the very first STAGES production – ONCE ON THIS ISLAND JR – in 2007, and directed many STAGES productions, mostly during the early years before STAGES moved to Woodfords corner in 2016. Some of her favorite STAGES directing experiences include EVITA (2010), A MISDUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (2010), and her most favorite – TITANIC THE MUSICAL which she has directed three times at STAGES in 2011, 2016, and 2022!

A set/properties designer and scenic painter, Stacey’s work has been part of many STAGES productions and for many other Maine theaters including American Irish Repertory Ensemble, Dramatic Repertory Company, Lorem Ipsum Collective, Fenix Theatre Company, Lyric Music Theater, The Portland Players, and with the Theater At Monmouth where she spent 15 years designing sets for the summer repertory seasons as well as many educational touring productions.

When not at STAGES, she spends most of her time as a director and designer at her artistic home – Mad Horse Theatre Company in South Portland (where she has been a member of the resident ensemble since 2015). She also directs shows at The Portland Players and at Lyric Music Theater (where is also is a member of the Board of Directors).

A fierce advocate for independent theater artists and collectives, and new original work, Stacey is was one of the co-founders of PortFringe: Maine’s Fringe Festival in 2011. She continues to co-lead PortFringe, has participated as an Artist in many other fringe festivals, and served as the Vice President for the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals from 2017-2022.

Stacey studied theater and communications at Susquehanna University, and worked at many Washington DC theater companies in the late 1990s including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and The Bethesda Academy for the Performing Arts (which later became Imagination Stage). She spent 11 years as a fundraising management consultant for non-profit organizations before co-founding STAGES (with Hollye Seddon) in 2007.

As STAGES approaches a big twenty year anniversary in 2027, Stacey still loves working at STAGES where she can split her time joyfully between managing spreadsheets, developing new dramatic work for young people, and wielding a hot glue gun in the prop or costume shop! She continues to be amazed and inspired by the incredible young people who play at STAGES each year.

As a member of the STAGES Team, Stacey is the Managing Director, a designer and director, a playwright; and was the co-founder (with Hollye Seddon) of STAGES Youth Theater in 2007.

Shannon is a puppet maker, puppeteer, performer and arts administrator! As a former shy kid who was brought out of her shell by theater, Shannon absolutely loves seeing the same thing happen with our students. She is energized every day by hearing young people’s amazingly creative ideas and thoughts on the world, and finds a lot of joy being in constant touch with her inner kid.

Shannon has been lucky enough to teach and perform with arts organizations across the country, including the Yocum Institute for Arts Education (PA), Portland Stage Company (ME), and the Omaha Theater Company at The Rose (NE).

Shannon spends her free time biking, reading, playing board games, and soaking up the sea and sunshine.  

As a member of the STAGES Team, Shannon is the Director of Education, show director, music director, designer, teaching artist, and many other roles!

Hollie has been making theatre in the Portland area since 2014. After getting her B.A. in Theatre from The University of Southern Maine, Hollie joined the STAGES team in the fall of 2018. STAGES has been her artistic home and favorite place to create, play, and educate ever since! When Hollie’s not making magic happen at STAGES, she can be found drinking iced lattes and doing jigsaw puzzles, playing video games, or watching anime while hanging out with her cool cat, Oracle.

Outside of STAGES, Hollie is an Actor, Playwright, Director, and Intimacy Coordinator! Hollie has acted with The Theater Project, Fenix Theater, Lyric Music Theater, Portland Players, Portland Stage, The Maine Playwrights Festival, and, of course, STAGES! As a playwright, Hollie’s plays have been featured winners three times as part of The Maine Playwright’s Festival, in 2021, 2023, and 2025.

As a director, Hollie has worked with The Theater Project, Mad Horse Theater Company, Fenix Theater, Lyric Music Theater, The Portland Players, The Maine Playwright’s Festival, and, of course, STAGES!

Hollie has worked as an Intimacy Coordinator and Consent Educator since 2020, and has worked on many productions for Portland Stage, Mad Horse, Lyric Music Theater, The Portland Players, and with countless college programs and high schools, empowering and educating actors and arts leaders throughout Southern Maine.

Hollie is the STAGES program director, and also serves as a director, choreographer, designer, teaching artist, and TYA performer! She also provides intimacy direction/consent education in support of our productions!

Megan Tripaldi (She/Her/They/Them) is an actor, bi-coastally produced playwright, and educator living and working in Portland, ME. They graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a BA in Theatre in 2012 and are currently in pursuit of their Masters Degree in Playwriting at Goddard College.

They have had plays produced in Maine, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Washington, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California. They love performing with their company, Polyphonic Theatre Ensemble (now a federal non-profit!) and creating new and exciting pieces for PortFringe – Maine’s Fringe Festival every year. 

STAGES has always held a special place in their heart and they are so excited to be a part of the team!

Megan has worked in some capacity at STAGES since 2012 – including directing, costuming, scenic design/painting, and serving as a teaching artist for online programs taking place during the first COVID pandemic years. They also spent time on the STAGES staff, contributing to programming management and building partnerships with community organizations.

Since my first days of singing with the Boy Singers of Maine back in 1998, to my performances across Europe, to Marketing and performing for opera companies in Brooklyn and on 42nd st, the thing that has kept me going is my passion for music.

Growing up in Maine, my options for musical training were limited. Both my parents being working class people with very little musical background, they gave me as many opportunities as they could, but I knew if I wanted to make a life out of this I would have to seek training elsewhere. I auditioned for several conservatories around the country, and was fortunate to be accepted into the Opera program at SUNY Purchase. I had never even heard an opera before I made my decision to go there, but I knew the training would be top notch, and the experience would be priceless. 

I instantly fell in love with the classical style of singing. The idea that we can train our bodies to produce a sound louder than a full orchestra was enough to send shivers down my spine. But as I continued through the program I also became addicted to the poetry, the history, and the culture around classical music. 

After leaving college,  I spent several years performing around Europe and Manhattan. Each new role I learned brought with it new challenges, but equally as many lessons. I was privileged to work with incredible directors and conductors throughout this time, and I will never forget those opportunities.

After moving back to Maine, several months prior to the covid pandemic, I found a new passion in songwriting. I explored many new genres of music trying to find my personal sound. I’m still looking for it, but what it has shown me, is that music has power in all styles. We have all heard a piece at a moment in our lives when we truly needed it and it built us up, or made us reflect on moments in our lives we missed. Through music, we are able to portray emotions that we do not have words for. We are able to share experiences, feelings, dreams, through a language that speaks universally to the soul.

It really seems wild that when I break down what I do, in basic terms, it’s breathing in and yelling in pretty tones. But I know the emotions, passions, and love I have experienced throughout this journey would not have been possible if that was all it was.

Now that the world has paused, and the pandemic has shuttered performance halls around the world, I find myself often wondering why music is important. Why should I continue to focus on something that no longer seems viable as a means to support myself? The short answer is that it is what I have done my entire life, it is what I have dreamed of doing ever since I first set foot on Lyric Music theater’s stage as a Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz over twenty years ago. Why would I do anything else? 

Music can be a healing tool, it can bring joy even in the darkest of times. Singing, is just another way of accessing that universal language that connects us all. My hope is that as we move forward as a society, we all get a chance to make a little more music.

As a member of the STAGES Team, Colin is a music director, a sound/music recording engineer, a teaching artist, the voice instructor in the private lessons studio, and many other roles!

Rebecca spent most of high school telling her parents that she didn’t want to play piano professionally. She now plays piano professionally, and is sure that “I told you so” passes through her parents’ heads every time they see her.

Rebecca started taking piano lessons when she was about 8, but has been surrounded by music since birth – both her parents play piano, and she’s just one in a line of generations of musicians on her dad’s side of the family. Her interests and career goals have gone through several transitions – when she was little, she wanted to be a dancing farmer – but she played in her first theater orchestra when she was sixteen and got hooked.

Nowadays, Rebecca is a full-time music director, pianist and teaching artist. She travels around Central and Southern Maine, working with all ages in schools, community choirs, and theaters. She especially loves getting young people excited about the arts.

A member of the STAGES team since 2015, Rebecca is a music director, director, choreographer, teaching artist, the piano instructor in the private lessons studio, and many other roles!