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Theatre Arts Faculty
PETE PARKIN has been teaching at Los Angeles Valley College since 1970. Currently the Department Chairperson, he was originally hired as Tech. Director, and has taught everything in the curriculum except Theater History and Costuming. Currently he is focused on the directing and playwriting program. He studied in the theatre department in the early 60’s with the likes of Tom Sellick, appearing together on our Lab Theater stage in Tennessee Williams, The Long Goodbye. After graduating from the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts with an MFA he was hired in the mail room at NBC for $85 a week. Who says that a graduate degree is not worth anything? “The Theater Department at Valley College is one of the best places for a young person interested in Theater to begin serious studies. There is nothing that a student can not do. Act, Write, Direct, Design. You name it”
CATHY SUSAN PYLES has been a member of the Los Angeles Valley College Theatre Arts faculty for the past 7 years. She received a BFA in acting from West Virginia University and an MFA in scenic art and design from the University of Minnesota. She also studied for a year at Alvescott College in Oxford, England. In addition to being on the theater faculty at Rockford College in Illinois, and California State University at Northridge, she has spent the better part of her adult life schlepping suitcases throughout the USA while performing in the National Tours of The Woman of the Year (with Lauren Bacall), CATS, 42nd Street, and Crazy for You. She played Anytime Annie in the Broadway company of 42nd Street. Her hysterical performance in the long running San Francisco production of COLE! won numerous awards including the prestigious Bay Area Critics’ Award and a Dramalogue Award for best actor. Local theater audiences may have seen her in a variety of roles from South Coast Repertory to the Los Angeles Theater Center. Television audiences might not remember her various appearances on Murder She Wrote, Hunter, The Young and the Restless, Family Matters, Weird Science, and numerous commercials. For Los Angeles Valley College she has directed Dames at Sea, Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, Annie, and Lucky Stiff. Born and raised in wild, wonderful, West Virginia, Cathy now lives in Los Angeles with her two beautiful daughters Alexi, and Maddie. ART BRICKMAN is a professional Stage Manager who met Pete Parkin, then Technical Director and now Department Chair at LAVC’s Theatre Arts Department, while working on Gaslight, an Equity show in Hollywood. A few years later, Art was hired to fill Valley’s temporary technical theatre position for the final six weeks of the fall semester. That was the fall of 1985…. Now in his 24th year, Art still makes time to stage manage, and relies on his experiences and contacts to help students find jobs in the technical and stage management fields. Art is the Resident Production Stage Manager for Musical Theatre Guild, and has served as Stage Manager and audition volunteer with Cabrillo Music Theatre in Thousand Oaks. Other credits include being the premiere Stage Manager for Havok Theatre Company on their critically acclaimed production of Thrill Me at the Hudson Theatre, a member of the Stage Management staff for The Lion King at The Pantages, Menopause, the Musical at the Coronet and both The Marvelous Wonderettes and The Winter Wonderettes at the El Portal. Most recently he debuted as a member of the Stage Management staff at the Hollywood Bowl for their concert version of Les Miz. Additionally… and more importantly… he is married to Tara Sitser, a former Pete Parkin tech student and veteran of many Valley productions as choreographer. Art and Tara met while working on A Chorus Line at Long Beach Civic Light Opera. They live in Encino with their feathered and furry children, ToQer and Mickey.
CHRISTOPHER CODDINGTON did his undergraduate and graduate work in theatre at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and has taught, directed, and performed in professional and academic theatres from sea to shining sea--serving as Chair of the Theatre Department at the University of Michigan-Flint; Founder and Artistic Director of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival; Founder and Artistic Director of Thornbrake Theatre in Manhattan; and Artistic Director of the Buckham Alley Theatre in Michigan. Christopher’s directing credits include productions of Camino Real, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?, Harvey, The Tempest, Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Three Penny Opera, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Hair, Equus, Bus Stop, Way of the World, As You Like It, and Macbeth. As an actor, Chris has appeared in such roles as Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit, Falstaff in Merry Wives of Windsor, Brian in Joe Egg, Henry in The Fantasticks, John Barrett in Dangerous Obsession, Ali Hakim in OKLAHOMA, Birdboot in The Real Inspector Hound, Edward in The Cocktail Party, Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, Marcus Lycus in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Satan in Hell, and Prince Eddy in The Jack The Ripper Revue. Chris now makes his home in a suburb of Los Angeles, in a 1920-era bungalow which he shares with his wife Roberta Wall, her daughter Grace Ann, and three poodles.
JUDY ASHTON began sewing at the age of four. In her twenties, she began to create wardrobe for her own dance shows. Since 1984 she has been a member of the Society of Creative Anachronists, a Medieval Living History group. Judy has always loved costumes. This is her twentieth year at Valley College. She has costumed over 75 shows for the department.
Reservations (for all department performances): |
Theatre Arts Department, Los Angeles Valley College, 5800 Fulton Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401
Info: 818-947-2786, Email: theatre@lavc.edu, Design: the Way Home media
Department Chair
Full-Time Faculty
Performing Arts Technician
Full-Time Faculty
Costumer