musical theatre FACULTY
chip gallagher
Department Chair
Chip Gallagher has been a part of The Governor’s School for the Arts for the past 31 years. A published arranger and composer, he has served as director and musical director for Paramount’s King’s Dominion, Virginia Musical Theatre and The Virginia Stage Company. He is currently Artistic Director for Virginia Musical Theatre. Performing credits include King’s Dominion, Walt Disney World, King’s Productions, the 1984 Presidential Inaugural Celebration, and Virginia Musical Theatre’s productions of The Student Prince, Funny Girl, The Boyfriend, Tintypes, Guys & Dolls, Can-Can, Phantom, Bye, Bye Birdie, White Christmas and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Chip teaches Belt Tech, Audition Tech and Musical Theatre Workshop.
jeff warner
Choreographer and Associate Chair
Jeff Warner, first began performing in college with a group called “The New Virginians” at Virginia Tech, where he was an architecture major. Since then, he has been performing professionally for over twenty years for theme park shows, cruise ships, and musicals with regional theaters. Jeff has performed in and/or choreographed over thirty productions with Virginia Musical Theatre and is very proud to have spent the past nineteen years as choreographer and dance teacher for the Musical Theatre Department of The Governor’s School for the Arts. Jeff teaches Jazz, Broadway Styles and Broadway Literature.
Michael Kaiser
Ballet and Music Theory
Michael Kaiser has been on faculty at The Governor’s School for the Arts since 1990. Michael Kaiser studied classical ballet with the Tidewater Ballet and Virginia Ballet Theatre. His professional credits include: The Virginia Ballet Theatre, The Chamber Ballet of Williamsburg, The Wilmington Dance Theater, The Virginia Opera, The Virginia Symphony, The Charleston Ballet and the Tidewater Musical Theatre. Michael has a BA in Music Composition and he is also on faculty at Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University.
Kelley Schlaepfer
Tap
Kelley began dancing at the age of 2 under the direction of her mom, Bobbi Powell, and Helen Allsbrook, founders of Bobbi and Helen School of Dance. She furthered her dance education at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, and various workshops and dance conventions to include instruction by Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio and Wade Robson. At the age of 16 Kelley began her teaching career.
At 19 Kelley changed the direction of her path to pursue a professional performing career. She spent 7 years as a featured dancer, dancing and singing at Kings Dominion and Kings Island and moved on to directing and choreographing shows for the various theme parks within Taft Attractions, Kings Productions and Paramount Parks. In 1989 Kelley was one of six performers chosen from hundreds to perform for our troops in an overseas, Department of Defense USO Show touring Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. Kelley also had the pleasure of performing in several Industrial Shows with such celebrities as Ben Vereen, Tony Danza, Lee Greenwood, Florence Henderson and Nell Carter.
In 1992, Ray Kennedy Entertainment hired Kelley for their cruise line and she traveled the world dancing and singing aboard various cruise ships including the renowned Queen Elizabeth II, the Sagafjoord, the Crown Monarch, the Crown Jewel and the Enchanted Isle. A few of her musical theatre credits include Victoria (The White Cat) in excerpts from Cats, Baby in excerpts from Sweet Charity and Louise in excerpts from Gypsy. After 3 years performing on cruise ships, Kelley moved into a director/choreographer position with Crown and Cunard Cruise Lines.
Janelle Spruill
Jazz
Janelle Spruill graduated from The Governor’s School for the Arts in 2003 and earned her BFA in Dance and minor in Media Studies from Marymount Manhattan College in 2007. While there, she performed works by Twyla Tharp, Doug Varone, Martha Graham and many others. She was a member of the Elizabeth Higgins Dance Theater from 2004-2008. She has been a scholarship student at The Ailey School, The Gus Giordano Dance School, American Dance Festival and Garth Fagan Dance where she also had the opportunity to work and dance with the company. She was a teacher’s assistant at Broadway Dance Center for Shelia Barker and a Rehearsal Assistant for the Richmond Ballet’s production of "The Nutcracker" in 2009 and 2013-2015. She has performed numerous times with the Virginia Symphony and with Lyric Opera Virginia’s production of "La Traviata" as well as "The King and I" as "Angel George" in 2012. She was a dancer in the Virginia Arts Festival’s production of "Leonard Bernstein’s Mass" in 2010. She is Dance Masters of America-certified in jazz dance and has taught at many DMA dance conventions. She has also taught at The Regional High School Dance Festivals Norfolk and at The National High School Dance Festivals in Miami, Florida and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has been on faculty at The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia since 2009 teaching and choreographing for both the Dance and Musical Theatre Departments. Her works have recently been accepted to The Richmond Choreographer’s Showcase and The Regional High School Dance Festival. She has choreographed for The Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Arts Festival "Rhythm Live Project", Norfolk’s Grand Illumination Parade and for Todd Rosenlieb Dance. She was Associate Director of the TRDance Ensemble from 2014-2020.
Nasia Thomas
Guest Artist
Gabriela Gomez
Guest Artist
John Leggio
Guest Artist
amber romano
Amber Romano, native of Rhode Island, received her early classical ballet training at Festival Ballet and Heritage Ballet. She spent summers training at prestigious schools such as Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She began her professional career with the Nashville Ballet in Tennessee. For four years, she had the opportunity to perform in countless productions, her favorites including George Balanchine's Serenade and a demisoloist role in Waltz of the Flowers in The Nutcracker. In 2016, Amber moved to Norfolk, Virginia to join the TRDance and Virginia Ballet Theatre companies. Amber first began teaching ballet in Nashville and has found a passion in sharing her experience and love of dance with students of all ages.
patrice covington
Patrice Covington is an Emmy award-winning actress, singer, author and model. She is best known for her role as Squeak in the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple, National Geographic’s Genius: Aretha as Erma, and Amazon Prime’s A League of Their Own as Gracie. She has traveled the world providing background vocals for legendary performers like Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera, among others. Since 2020, Patrice consistently lights up the holiday charts with her soulful rendition of “My Favorite Things”. Off stage, she serves as a celebrity ambassador for Kids in the Spotlight and provides performance education and coaching through her program, The Galaxy Method. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Patrice’s motto is "Don't be a star...be a galaxy.” Follow her at @patricecovington.
patrice covington
Patrice Covington is an Emmy award-winning actress, singer, author and model. She is best known for her role as Squeak in the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple, National Geographic’s Genius: Aretha as Erma, and Amazon Prime’s A League of Their Own as Gracie. She has traveled the world providing background vocals for legendary performers like Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera, among others. Since 2020, Patrice consistently lights up the holiday charts with her soulful rendition of “My Favorite Things”. Off stage, she serves as a celebrity ambassador for Kids in the Spotlight and provides performance education and coaching through her program, The Galaxy Method. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Patrice’s motto is "Don't be a star...be a galaxy.” Follow her at @patricecovington.
Nasia Thomas
Guest Artist
Gabriela Gomez
Guest Artist
John Leggio
Guest Artist
DEON RIDLEY
Deon Ridley is an alum of GSA and joins the Musical Theatre Department. He has performed both on and off Broadway. His Broadway Credits include The Lion King and A Christmas Carol, starring Frank Langella at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden, and Chicago the Musical! In 2001 Deon performed with the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, at Madison Square Garden along with a line of celebrities including Whitney Houston, Usher, Jill Scott, Mya, Missy Elliott, Monica, Al Jerau, Deborah Cox and Gloria Gaynor for Michael Jackson’s 30th Anniversary Celebration. In 2003, Deon was featured as leading dancer and Dance Captain for Grammy Award Winning Legendary singer Celine Dion in her Las Vegas premiere show A New Day at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. His most recent credits include Guys And Dolls at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Maltz Jupiter Theatre and the world premiere of Secondhand Lions the Musical at 5th Ave Theatre in Seattle. His work as a choreographer includes several music videos for recording artists in the entertainment industry and most recently, Hairspray the Musical for Maltz Jupiter’s Conservatory for the Arts and for events throughout Las Vegas, such as opening night gala for Michael Jackson’s This Is It movie premiere at the Palms Casino. Deon can be seen as a dancer for Netflix’s original musical series The Get Down. His other television appearances include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and Westworld on HBO.
patrice covington
Patrice Covington is an Emmy award-winning actress, singer, author and model. She is best known for her role as Squeak in the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple, National Geographic’s Genius: Aretha as Erma, and Amazon Prime’s A League of Their Own as Gracie. She has traveled the world providing background vocals for legendary performers like Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera, among others. Since 2020, Patrice consistently lights up the holiday charts with her soulful rendition of “My Favorite Things”. Off stage, she serves as a celebrity ambassador for Kids in the Spotlight and provides performance education and coaching through her program, The Galaxy Method. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Patrice’s motto is "Don't be a star...be a galaxy.” Follow her at @patricecovington.
TANYA ROLLINS SHADLEY
Tanya Rollins Shadley has been captivating audiences since the age of 5. Her journey began with a breakthrough role in "Black Girl" at 8, mentored by DeShera "Sunshine" Rainey at Norfolk State University's NSU Players. This pivotal moment set the stage for her involvement in the SEVAA summer arts workshop. A standout at The Governor's School for the Arts, Tanya graduated with honors from both The Governor's School and Maury High School. At Old Dominion University, she delivered a riveting one-woman show as Billie Holiday, earning her Theater degree with honors. With a decade of teaching at SEVAA and a Theatre Director role in local schools, Tanya has nurtured countless young talents in grades 6-12. Her artistic journey spans acting, writing, directing, and stage management. In 2014, she launched TRS PRODUCTIONS, Broadway in V-A. Building on that success, she founded TRS Kids in January 2020, a Children’s Performing Arts company focused on quality training and future opportunities for young performers. With over 30 years of experience, Tanya is passionately building her artistic empire and is excited to join the Musical Theatre Department.