As Technical Director at Gannon’s Schuster Theater, Angela designs, builds, teaches, advises, and directs. Her life is lived in theaters: from Schuster Theater to the Erie Playhouse to the Disney Dream, she has worked backstage and onstage in nearly every role the theatre has to offer.
At Gannon University, she graduated with a degree in Theater and minors in Leadership Studies and Fine Art. She then earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theatrical Design with a concentration in costume design from the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
Upon graduation she accepted a Professional Internship as a Costumer in Creative Costuming at Walt Disney World. She continued her job with Creative Costuming, part time, for several years. Her job slowly evolved into creating Disney presentations on various aspects of costuming for the USITT annual conferences.
Having decided to return to her hometown of Erie, PA, she returned to work as the Costume Designer at the Erie Playhouse; one of the longest running community theaters in the country. (100+ years and going strong.) During her five years at the Erie Playhouse, she designed well over 50 shows, including Les Misérables, Shrek the Musical, Legally Blonde, Spamalot, Disney’s Tarzan, Disney’s Mary Poppins, and Disney’s The Little Mermaid. She also designed The Spirit of Erie, an original pageant to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie.
In a surprise turn of events, Angela’s next adventure was aboard the Disney Magic, then Disney Dream, where she worked as an actor in Youth Activities. She performed approximately 60 shows over her 2 years at sea. She played dozens of characters while entertaining children from 3 to 17 years old. Some of her favorites include Corporal Green in Toy Story Boot Camp, Super Fan in Experience the Force: Jedi Training, Beverly in Once Upon a Time, Chef La La Marie in Anyone Can Cook, Lavern Ramona Make-o-Mess in Super Sloppy Science and Bubbles Plunderloot on Pirate Nights.
In between her education, designing, and floating around on a ship, Angela has worked with the YMCA Art Club and Library for over a decade. She taught art and ran the Future Stars theater program. She now teaches art in the newly reimagined Dafmark Creative Arts Center at the same location.
When she isn’t working, Angela attends as much local and regional theater as possible. She is an avid horseback rider and yogi, enjoys scrapbooking and cake decorating, and she loves to paint and garden.