Academy SRT Instructor Bios
James Yeargain
Instructor: Acting Through Movement
James Yeargain is an award-winning actor who received his BFA in Acting from New York University and his MFA in Acting from the University of New Orleans. He has taught Intermediate Acting classes at the college level and currently enjoys working with local theatre company The NOLA Project, of which he is a member. Teaching credits include Hammond, Louisiana, at Performance Labs in Pennsylvania and currently as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology and Fine Arts at Our Lady of Holy Cross College.
Joanna Russo
Instructor: Scene Study
Joanna Russo is a performer, director and writer hailing from NYC. NY directing credits include: Dialogue at the American Theater of Actors, Alice in Bed at the Juilliard School and Watbanaland at the Susan Stein Shiva Theater. Locally, Joanna has performed in The NOLA Project's How to Draw the Sun, NEW NOISE's Vigils and Sound Off! and this year's State of the Nation Festival. She is a founding member of NEW NOISE and directed their most recent production, Maybe You Can't Tell, at the Old Ironworks. This fall, Joanna will be collaborating with theatre companies Mondo Bizarro and M.U.G.A.B.E.E. on developing a new theatrical event and community dialogue entitled Race Peace.
Holly-Anne Ruggiero
Instructor: Stories Alive!
Ms. Ruggiero is the Artistic Director of imPULSE Theatre in New York City and a theatre educator for children, young adults and working theatre professionals worldwide. As an educator, Holly-Anne has worked with a variety of national and international programs with many skill levels ranging from young beginners to working theatre professionals. University teaching credits include master classes at Columbia University, New York University, Pace University and Fordham University – Lincoln Center, of which she is an alumnus. Holly-Anne has been on staff for seven years at Broadway.com’s Inside The Broadway Classroom program serving elementary through college level students, teaching introductory courses to musical theatre and acting. Working with anywhere from 5 to 250 students at a time, the classes are geared towards a greater appreciation for theatre and the role in which art can play in a young performer’s every day life. She has also been on the Acting staff at New York City’s Broadway Artist Alliance (Students Ages 10-25), Camp Broadway (Students ages 3-18), TVI Studios, The Actors Connection and The Performing Arts Institute of Orlando, FL.
Julie Faust
Instructor: Once Upon a Stage!
Julie Faust has been involved with the education of children for 10 years, both with a variety of summer acting camps and in home-schooling her own children. She is the Vice President of Productions at Slidell Little Theatre and serves as Liaison to the Board of Directors for Young Actor's Theatre. As well as acting herself, she is the owner of Diameter X Productions and co-owner of Cutting Edge Theatre. Introducing children to the wonder of theatre is one of her passions!
Mike Harkins
Instructor: Audition Workshop
Mike Harkins holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the University of New Orleans and is a founding member of InSideOut Productions. Directing credits include Balcony Scene, Lonestar, Steel Magnolias, and Big Easy Award nominee Sideman at Le Petit Theatre. Mike has been seen in Three Days of Rain, A Waltz Between, Our Country’s Good, Fuddy Meers, Get Flannigan, and at Columbia University and Manhattan Rep in New York. Mike is currently an adjunct instructor at Delgado Community College and The University of New Orleans.
