Our Instructors

Jaelyn Silvey

Jaelyn Silvey is a Bozeman-based theater director, performer, and all-around theater-maker. She believes wholeheartedly in the magic of storytelling and the community it forges. Having worked locally as a teacher and director for the past seven years, Jaelyn is excited to be expanding her horizons and taking on new projects.

Previous favorite credits include Fuddy Meers (Director), F*cking A (Director), Into the Woods (Director) Once Upon a Mattress (Princess Fred), The Revolutionists (Charlotte Corday), and Middletown (Female Tourist/Woman on Date). She looks forward to studying Theatre Directing at the New International Performing Arts Institute in Berlin, Germany.

A picture of Jaelyn. She has brown blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles. She is wearing a blue shirt with a grey blue background.

Kate Britton

Storytelling is vital for Kate. She believes that is how humans find and make meaning in their journey through life. Theater is a tool for that journey. Like all art, it is absolutely necessary. Kate has been involved with theater nearly all her life. She has been teaching for over twenty years, and worked professionally as an actor for seventeen. She has worked on many projects over the years as an actor, writer, and collaborator, in many areas of the country, and several outside of the country. She is passionate, joyful, and happiest leaping around on stage with a group of students. When not teaching, she can be found playing on the river with her wonderful family, instructing yoga, or blissfully digging around in her garden. www.kate-britton.com

A picture of Kate. She has long blonde hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a green shirt with a warm brown background.

Jenna Ciralli

Jenna is originally from Great Falls and is an award-winning actor, writer, producer, and teaching artist with 13 years of experience in the New York City scene. Jenna has taught at the Seattle Children's Theater, and professional theater George St Playhouse in NJ and piloted the drama program at Missouri River Dance in Great Falls. She received her BA in Theatre Arts - Acting, with Honors, at Willamette University in Salem, OR, and studied under the mentorship of master NYC Meisner Technique teacher Terry Knickerbocker in his Professional Actor Training Program. Her award-winning short film "Willow Creek Road" and upcoming "Homestead" are Big Sky Grant recipients from the Montana Film Office. Jenna is also a co-creator of the 2017 Webby Award Honoree Viral Video "Casting Call | The Project": www.jennaciralli.com

A picture of Jenna. She has brown hair and light brown eyes She is wearing a cream shirt shirt with a dark yellow background.

Isabel Shaida

Isabel is a movement artist and community organizer. Isabel is a company member of Nervous Theatre, devises original works and has performed with Monica Bill Barnes & Co. and Double Edge Theatre. She continues to train in a variety of movement practices including Suzuki Method of actor training, Six Viewpoints, and somatic embodiment. She believes that through bringing more awareness to our body experience, we can learn to care for ourselves and each other, live in interdependence, and create true structural change. www.isabelshaida.com

A picture of Isabel. She has brown blonde curly hair and grey blue eyes. She is wearing a white shirt and is outside with a green background of the forest.

Emma Rathe

Emma Rathe holds an MFA in Acting from The New School and a BFA in Musical Theatre from Missouri State University. She was last seen in Arcadia with Bozeman Actors Theatre and You Can’t Take It With You at The Ellen Theatre. She has written, directed, and performed in two one-woman cabarets, perFectly imperFect and Fishhooked, in Chicago and New York. She has produced, written, directed, and acted in two short films, On the Rocks and It’s That’s A Wrap, which have been selected for various film festivals. She has also worked as a Co-Director for Once at The Blue Slipper and as a Dialect and Vocal coach for various productions. Other stage credits include Avenue Q, The Cherry Orchard, and Arlington. Emma previously taught in Chicago and New York and currently teaches private lessons and classes here in Bozeman! emmarathe.com

A picture of Emma. She has copper hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a patterned blue, purple shirt with a turqoise background.

Tessa Welsch

Tessa is a director and intimacy coordinator. She grew up watching plays with jaw dropped and wandering art museums eyes wide. Such a passion was fed by attending Marymount Manhattan College and studying Theatrical Directing and Art History. She earned a BFA in Theatre Arts, Directing and was awarded the Gold Key. Post-education, Tessa worked with new playwrights on the festival circuit in New York and is now a proud member of Bozeman's theater community. She believes that through empathy, grounding and structural change, art can become less intimidating while still maintaining its boldness. tessawelsch.com