Meet the Education Department
Rob Zellers has been the Education Director at Pittsburgh Public Theater for 23 years. Over this time he has created numerous theater education programs and worked with thousands of students in acting, playwriting, and technical theater, bringing the work of Pittsburgh Public Theater and its many fine artists together with the community. As a playwright, he is the co-author of The Chief which premiered at Pittsburgh Public Theater in 2003 and became the most successful box office play in The Public's history and has recently been made into a movie, and Harry's Friendly Service which was an Edgerton Award winner and debuted at Pittsburgh Public Theater in 2009. His other plays are Safekeeping which was an O'Neill Theater Conference semi-finalist and first runner-up at the Virtual Theatre New Play Contest and The Red Cat which was a finalist in the 2008 Reva Shiner new play contest.
Ruthie Snoke is the Education Department Intern at Pittsburgh Public Theater. She is a recent graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, where she studied English with a minor in Theater. She was an active participant in Wheaton’s Arena Theater, and as part of the “Workout” troupe she performed in Joan Holden’s Nickel and Dimed (Joan), and stage managed for Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice. In addition, she served as the president of the campus student-run theater company Jukebox Theater, where previously she had directed Horton Foote’s The Prisoner’s Song and performed in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Miranda) and Sandy Wilson’s The Boyfriend (Faye). She is a native of Pittsburgh and has participated in the Public’s Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest and studied at the Pittsburgh CLO Academy.
Teachers
Lisa Ann Goldsmith holds an M.F.A. in Acting from Point Park Conservatory, where she taught acting and dialects. She can be seen in the upcoming films The Next Three Days and Love and Other Drugs. Lisa Ann has also taught acting at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh CLO, and was a private acting coach in New York City, where she has coached her students literally to jobs on Broadway, TV, and major films. Lisa Ann is also a professional dialect coach with many productions to her credit. Directing credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Tulsa Shakespeare in the Park); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Public Theater's Summer Shakespeare Intensive). Acting credits include: Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Human Race Theatre Company); Violoa in Twelfth Night and Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Tulsa Shakespeare in the Park); Dr. Martha Livingston in Agnes of God (Queens Theatre in the Park). The Courtesan in The Comedy of Errors (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Bertha Rochester in Jane Eyre, Caroline Bingley/Mrs. Cardiner in Pride and Prejudice and Arte O'Neal in The Shaughraun (PICT).
Amy Landis has been a resident Teaching Artist with the Pittsburgh Public Theater since 2005 as a coach and adjudicator for the Annual Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest, Instructor for the Scene Study and Shakespeare Intensives, and the Apprenticehsip program. Amy is also a professional actress with over 25 years of experience. Her recent performance as Anne Warwick in The Queens (Pittsburgh Playhouse REP Company) earned her a 2010 "Best Actress" honor in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's "Best Performances of 2009." In New York City, Amy has performed at Lincoln Center Salon, Watermark Theatre Co., The Ohio Theatre, New York Playwright's Lab, and regionally at some of the nations most renonwend theatres including the American Repertory Theatre, Meadow Brooke Theatre, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, and the Fulton Opera House. Other regional credits include: The Independent Eye, Actors' Company of Pennsylvania, Gretna Playhouse, Seven Angels Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, and others. Amy's Pittsburgh credits include: Death of a Salesman and the world premiere of Eastburn Avene (The Playhouse REP Co.); The Comedy of Errors and The Bird Sanctuary (cover for Hayley Mills, opposite Elizabeth Franz, Pittsburgh Public Theater); Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Dolly in Anna Karenina (Quantum Theatre); Frances in Racing Demon ("Best Acting Duo," Pittsburgh City Paper, PICT); Carnegie Mellon Festival of New Plays and the Public Exposure Series. International: Arezzo Festival (Italy); Townley Cycle of Mystery Plays (Toronto, Canada). Recent feature film: Adventureland dir/Greg Mottola (Miramax Films). TV: "As The World Turns." Amy is also a veteran voice over artist working regularly in radio and television. She holds degrees in Acting and Drama from the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University, The Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University and Chatham College. She has taught at the CMU School of Music, CMU School of Drama, CLO Academy, and Point Park University.