Carroll College - Helena, MT

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department faculty

Chuck Driscoll - Theatre


Associate Professor and Director of Theatre, Designer/Technical Director, Chair for Fine Arts Department, earned his M.F.A. Theatre Design/Technology from the University of Washington. He has worked in all forms of theatre, including educational, community and professional. He is a former member of IATSE, the union for professional theatre technicians and currently maintains an active membership in the USITT- a professional organization for theatre technicians and designers. He also serves on the Helena Public Art Committee. During his free time he enjoys camping with his wife and four children, riding his motorcycle, or bicycling.

Courses Taught: Stagecraft, Scenic Art, Stage and Sound, Scene Design, Lighting Design, Advanced Design, Theatre History I, Theatre History II, and Survey of Drama.

Ralph Esposito - Art


Professor, Director of Visual Art, Gallery Director and Curator, obtained his M.F.A. from the University of Puget Sound and B.F.A. from the University of Connecticut. He is a former resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation and has shown his work in the northwest and across the nation. Esposito's artwork has been featured in over 30 national and international competitive juried exhibits. Most recently his work has been shown at the International Festival of Ceramics in Mino, Japan. Examples of various types of his work can be seen on his web page.

He is a member of the Archie Bray Foundation, the Holter Museum and the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts. Professor Esposito is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees for Clancy Elementary School and has been a trustee since 2004. In 2003 he created the Carroll Art Gallery and is responsible for its operation. The gallery presents two exhibits each semester and has recently presented an inaugural summer exhibit.

Recently Esposito was awarded a Fulbright Hayes Seminar Abroad in Greece and Bulgaria. He will be studying the arts, history and culture of both countries for six weeks in the summer of 2008.

Courses Taught: Drawing, Acrylic Painting, Ceramics 1, Intermediate Ceramics and Watercolor Painting.

Nancy Harper - Theatre


Adjunct faculty and Theatre Costumer, Ms. Harper graduated Summa Cum Laude with a fine arts degree from Rocky
Mountain College. She has acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company with Leon Rubin, director, the LA Public Theatre, the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival, and toured with Colorado Chautauqua, as well as performing off Broadway in New York in OUTSIDE THE WALL. She has extensive musical training with Dale Moffitt at SMU, Kiva Lawrence Voiceovers in LA, and Elizabeth Rowan from the MET. Nancy has been a guest soloist with the Helena Symphony for the last 10 years. She was a recording artist in Nashville, and has taught workshops in costuming and musical theatre at numerous theatres across the country such as Belmont University and Colorado Women’s College. She is our full-time liason to The Grandstreet Theatre. She is proudest of the accomplishments of her teen age daughter, Emily.

Courses Taught: Intro to Theatre, Elements of Acting, Costuming, Make-up.

Michael McNeilly - Theatre


Adjunct Faculty & Improv Troupe Director, Mr. McNeilly graduated with a BFA from the Professional Acting Studio at Ohio University. He has been a Guest Artist in Theatre at UCLA, USC, Cal Poly:
Pomona, UC: Santa Barbara, University of Washington and at LSU for over 20 years, to name a few. He spent 17 years as a professional actor in Hollywood acting in over 40 productions, with the Mark Taper Forum, the John Ford Theatre, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Theatre Exchange, and appeared in movies, television, commercials and was a Mighty Carson Art Player with Johnny Carson. His company Mimeprov has performed his original works JUNGLE LIFE and THE LOST JOURNALS OF LEWIS AND CLARK. He is currently writing THE PIRATE PLAY to premier sometime in the near future. For the last 15 summers he has guided fly fishers down the Smith River and lost no one to date.

Courses Taught: Acting: Improvisation, Acting: Advanced Methods, Play Directing

Sallyann Mulcahy -Dance


Adjunct Professor, Artist-in-Residence, has been at Carroll College since 1994 and is the Director of the Artisan Dance Theatre, a professional ballet company that performs in Helena each summer. She has a full range of professional dance training and experience, including ballet, character and a variety of contemporary dance styles. Her list of dance companies includes Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Finis Jhung's Chamber Ballet USA in New York and the New Jersey Ballet. She has also performed in children's theater, musical theater, opera and television. To learn more see her web page.

Courses Taught for Carroll College: Dance I: Elements of Dance, Partner Dancing Through the Ages, Introduction to  Ballet, and Choreography. Sallyann also provides advanced training and coaching to many professional dancers through Artisan Dance Company.

Edward Noonan - Theatre


Adjunct Faculty, AB Speech (Theater) Lewis University, MA Speech (Theater/Film) Ball State University.
Mr. Noonan is the Executive Director of the Myrna Loy Center; and a playwright, winner of Montana Arts Council Fellowship for Playwriting. Mr. Noonan is the Progam Administrator of the Arts Management and Administration Minor for Carroll College.
Courses Taught: Introduction to Arts Management and Administration, History of Film, Playwriting.

Lynn Petersen - Music


Ph.D., Associate Professor of Music, earned a B.S. in Education from Dr. Martin Luther College, a Master of Church Music degree from Concordia College, and a Ph.D. in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Minnesota where she studied with Dominick Argento and Paul Fetler. Some of her compositions are published by Augsburg Fortress, Concordia Publishing House, GIA Publications, and Pelican Music Publishing.  She has received grants and commissions from the American Guild of Organists, Montana State Music Teachers Association, Myrna Loy Center, and Yavapai College. She has also remained active as a pianist and organist, and she sings with the Helena Symphony Chorale.

Courses Taught: Musicianship I, II, and III, Music Appreciation, Sight Singing and Aural Skills, and Improvisation.

Robert Psurny Jr. - Music

Robert Psurny
Associate Professor of Music and Choral Director, Robert Psurny Jr. received his D.M.A. in Vocal Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a student of Irvin Bushman. He has sung and recorded professionally with the Robert Page Cleveland Singers, Apollo's Fire (Cleveland's Baroque Orchestra) and Cantabile, an a cappella men's ensemble formerly based in Charleston, WV.  Dr. Psurny has extensive experience as a professional singer in church, temple, and synagogue choirs, and is a frequent solo recitalist, specializing in complete performances of the song cycles of Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, Fauré, Poulenc and others.

Courses taught:  Carroll College Choir; Voice I and II;
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