Showcase
At the end of the session, each class performs for family and friends.
Professional Teachers
Instructors are qualified in teaching and/or performing, and strive to be excellent role models.
Learn More
At the end of the session, each class performs for family and friends.
Instructors are qualified in teaching and/or performing, and strive to be excellent role models.
Learn More
Andrea Smit brings to CYT her years of experience as an event planner, set dresser, set designer, and props master. While getting her BA in Interior Design, she interned with CBS studios working on the sets of television shows and commercials. During the years she spent with the Foothills Theatre Company, she worked in various positions as a set dresser, set designer, props master, and assisted with costume design. She is currently the Props Committee Chair for CYT Sacramento’s Roseville productions. Her two biggest passions are creativity and kids, and she feels so blessed to have the opportunity to share her experience with the students at CYT.
An English major at William Jessup University, Aubrey Muffett was blessed to be a former CYT student. Performing in two shows, her favorite role was Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast. In 2014, Aubrey was honored with 1st place in the National ‘My CYT Story’ contest at Expo in Houston. She has written several scripts for CYT showcases, taught a script writing class and CYT summer camp, and assisted taught drama and Improv. Aubrey was thrilled to lead Improv Team to 2015 CYT Expo! She has a music background in piano, cello, and some voice. Aubrey served as peer writing coach in Sacramento’s 916 Ink classes culminating in 3 collaborative published books. The 4th child in her own Von Trapp size family, Aubrey enjoys hiking, reading, and naturally – writing.
Austin Mark Nunn is ecstatic to be joining the CYT Sacramento family. He graduated with his BA in Performance and Directing from Vanguard University of Southern California. A few of Austin’s favorite productions as the director and/or choreographer include Kiss Me Kate, Metamorphosis, Dancing at Lughnasa, and The Addams Family. Austin is the resident choreographer for Reality Youth show choir which has performed all over the United States. Austin has performed professionally throughout Southern California and in the greater Sacramento area. Favorite roles include the Baker in Into the Woods, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family, Elton John in The Beat Goes On (a role he originated) and Captain Phoebus de Martin in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. For his performance of First Gangster in Kiss Me Kate, Austin was nominated for the Irene Ryan Outstanding Performance Award by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. He is grateful for the opportunity to share his love for the arts with the students at CYT Sacramento and looks forward to all that God has in store.
Bev Stewart-Short started dancing at the age of 3 at her grandmother’s dance studio in Orange, CA. She has trained at various companies such as the National Ballet School of Canada, the Orange County Ballet Company, and Broadway Dance center in New York. She started her performing career as lead dancer/singer with Royal Viking Cruise Line. Some of her performing credits include “42nd Street” (CT), “No, No, Nanette” (NY), “Ziegfeld, A Night at the Follies” (Harrah’s, NJ), “Hello Dolly” & “Cinderella” (Long Beach CLO). Bev has been teaching ballet, tap, jazz, acrobatics, and musical theatre dance for over 30 years. She has been the Artistic Director of Hawkins Tap Company at Hawkins School of Performing Arts in Folsom where she taught for 20 years. Some of Bev’s award winning choreography credits include “Annie”, “Seussical The Musical”,“Crazy For You”, “42nd Street”, “Chicago”, “Godspell”, and “Swing” and “Guys and Dolls”. Bev is the director of the advanced tap “Ambassador” company (Sophisticated Rhythms) at Northern California Dance Conservatory in Roseville as well as directing her own community performing tap group called “Ignite”. She is also thrilled to be a part of the incredible teaching staff at CYT!! She is a wife and mother of 4 children and she is very passionate about sharing God’s love through performing arts!
Born in San Jose, Caitlyn started dance at the young age of four. After moving to Northern California, she immediately continued her dance classes at a local studio, which ignited a passion and unleashed a gift. She began with ballet and jazz classes. Soon after, she expanded to tap, musical theater, contemporary, lyrical, hip-hop, and eventually pointe. Caitlyn joined the studio’s dance company, including musical theater and began competing at dance competitions. She was invited to perform alongside the Auburn Symphony at local school events to promote the arts, as well as choreograph for a local theater. Among the various dance awards, she was humbled when she was chosen by Stacey Tookey as her Die Hard dancer for the weekend at a convention, out of 500 other dancers. Caitlyn furthered her discipline by training at a private dance studio with dance teachers/choreographers, Keone and Mari Madrid (currently on NBC World of Dance), at Building Block Dance Studio in Carlsbad. She added stage manager to her resume, when she joined the CYT Sacramento family for the production of Little Mermaid Jr in 2015. In the Winter of that same year, Caitlyn had the pleasure of performing in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Being no stranger to the stage, she has since performed in Tarzan, Fiddler on the Roof, Crazy For You and Disney’s Aladdin Jr. One of Caitlyn’s greatest pleasures is to teach others the joy of movement through dance. She is thrilled to be a part of CYT Sacramento, where she can impart her knowledge and love of dance.
Emma Farris has been involved in theater since she was eight years old. Some of these productions include, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Sound of Music, Seussical the Musical, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at Victory Christian School. She was also given the privilege to be the stage manger for Victory's production of Beauty and the Beast. She is currently studying Child Development at William Jessup University. She enjoyed working as a preschool teacher's assistant this last year and hopes to continue in that field when she graduates. She enjoys sharing the love of Jesus to children in any way that she can!
Jinnae Stuckey holds a BA in theatre from California Baptist University and a MA in Education from University of Southern California. She started dancing at the age of three and danced her way all the way through high school. During her college years she worked on plays and musicals in every capacity possible, from house managing to choreographing to being on stage. Since graduating she created a theatre program for the Boys and Girls Club of Auburn, worked as the theatre director and teacher for Horizon Charter Schools, and currently teaches dance at the Conservatory of Dance as well as being the Visual and Performing Arts Specialist at Community Collaborative Charter School in McClellan Park. The opportunity to be a part of CYT Sacramento is something she loves and cherishes!
Kathryn Peperkorn has had music as part of her life from the beginning. Starting at a young age with singing in church choir and taking piano lessons. In high school it was musical theatre, to graduating with a undergraduate degree in Music Education and on to Masters Degree in Vocal performance. Her musical experiences have crossed from band and choir to musicals to opera, and to teaching directing and conducting. Her favorite roles have been The narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Anna in Anna Bolena, Norma in the opera Norma, Marguerite in the opera Faust and Mimi in La Boheme. She loves teaching in her home studio, Peperkorn studios, whether it is singing or piano. Mrs. Peperkorn also enjoys teaching at Natomas Charter School everything from choir to guitar and violin. She is thrilled to be a part of training young voices to reach their potential and explore new horizons. When not making music Mrs. Peperkorn loves to do English Country dance, go camping, lift weights, read books, and play board games.
Kylie (Ehlert) Raby was one of the two students in CYT Sacramento’s first graduating class in 2013. Since then, she had taught at two summer camps, helped choreograph for Charlie Brown and Little Mermaid Jr., and taught the Stomp! class in Spring of 2015. Mrs. Raby just recently coordinated the most recent summer camp, and will be Stage Managing for Into the Woods this Fall. She just graduated in May with a BA in Music Education from Fresno Pacific University, with an emphasis in Percussion and Conducting. Recently married, Mrs. Raby moved back into town and is now living in Citrus Heights with her new husband. She will be credentialing at Sacramento State in Fall 2018 and hopes to be the Director of Bands at a high school. Her passion is to educate students in music, and hopes to pursue this in both band and theater.
Whether on stage or behind a microphone, Susan has been a part of Sacramento’s theater and broadcasting community for over 25 years. During her acting years in high school and as a theater arts scholarship major in college, favorite roles included Madame Dubonnet in "The Boyfriend", Gwendolyn in "The Importance of Being Ernest" and Sophie in "The Star Spangled Girl"....yup, always loved the accents! Which led naturally to her subsequent career spent primarily in "theater of the mind" - the radio and voiceover industry. She has been on the air at a variety of Sacramento radio stations through the years including Gold Country (KRAK), pop (Y-92) and Smooth Jazz (KSSJ). She also worked as a news anchor and traffic reporter with Metro Networks in Sacramento and Atlanta, Georgia - including a stint broadcasting daily morning and afternoon reports from a traffic plane! She did step out from behind the microphone to serve as a regular pledge drive host for KVIE public television with one of the highlights there being co-host to John Tesh on the taping of his "One World" national PBS music special. Susan now divides her time as a freelance voice actor/producer and part-time multimedia news and public affairs producer for KLOVE/Air1 Networks. The “productions” she is most proud of are her 4 great kids who have all inherited her love of music and the theater.
Susie was born and raised in the Bay Area. She received her BA in Child Development and has performed as an Assistant Director and a Program Coordinator of child education for USSA. She has enjoyed several years teaching preschool and working with school-aged children.
Her own dance and theater experience started as a young child. Susie and her husband Rand are busy parents to their active children Drew, Zoe and Avery. She is a dedicated Girl Scout Leader since 2010. She is an avid supporter of her children’s sports, church and creative arts development as well as a weekly volunteer at their local elementary school. Susie has a love for CYT and has happily been involved since 2013.
Violet is blessed to be a new teacher at CYT. She has been a student of the program since 2012, earning the Decathlon award last year. She has also participated in every CYT Sacramento (Roseville) show, either as a performer or a volunteer. Violet began dancing at the age of 3, starting her training at The Conservatory of Dance in Rocklin, and transferring to Northern California Dance Conservatory in 2016. Beginning with ballet, she has since studied jazz, contemporary, modern, tap, and musical theatre. After recently working as a CYT choreographer for their show Into The Woods, she is beyond excited to be joining the teaching staff, and can’t wait to glorify God through this experience.
Wendy Hoover has worked professionally as a singer, actor, and violinist for more than 20 years. A proud member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actors’ Equity Association, Wendy’s love for the theater was sparked when she first took to the stage as one of the original students in the founding years of CYT San Diego. She co-founded CYT Sacramento in 2012 and has enjoyed directing, music directing, teaching classes and choreographing in CYT’s Roseville and Auburn Chapters. Beyond CYT, Wendy studied at the University of New Mexico, where she earned a degree in Music with an emphasis in voice. After gaining experience in dinner theater, cabaret, musical theater and opera, Wendy returned to Southern California and went on to play lead and supporting roles in theater, television, and film. Some highlights of Wendy's career include roles in the Hallmark Movie, Santa Jr., the world premiere of Current Nobody at the La Jolla Playhouse, Alice in Alice in Modernland at Sledgehammer Theater and Christine in The Phantom in Concert, at the Santa Fe Music Hall. She starred in the one woman show, Marilyn...Sleepless Nights, playing Marilyn Monroe, at the American Theater in Kansas City. She has also worked as a principal actor in a number of national, regional, and local commercials. As a violinist, Wendy played for I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change for productions at San Diego Repertory Theatre and Starlight, and also for several productions of A Christmas Carol at The Rep. Wendy moved to the Sacramento area in 2010 and is excited to bring her love of the stage and passion for developing character to a new generation of aspiring actors.