KIDZ KONNECTION SHORELINE THEATER ACADEMY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Additional Staff Member
- Music Director / Private Voice Instructor
Job Titles:
- Additional Staff Member
- Dance Instructor
Keturah Murnane grew up in New York where she had the privilege of studying dance, acting and voice from the age of two. Keturah has trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical and Ballroom. At five, she was cast as Gretl in The Sound of Music and she was hooked. She was blessed to have had a childhood full of theatre and dance under the direction of wonderfully talented professionals. Throughout her career, Keturah has continued to study dance, acting, and voice from coast to coast at places such as The Academy of Performing Arts in San Diego, HB Studios in NYC, Tom Todoroff Studio in Los Angeles, STEPS on Broadway and more. Some of her favorite roles include: A Chorus Line (Val/ Dance Capt.), Cabaret (Rosie/Dance Capt.), Hello Dolly (Minnie Fay/Dance Capt.), and Crazy For You(Patsy/ Dance Capt.) While in LA, she had fun working in film and television, but theatre has always been her passion. Keturah has been teaching dance for most of her adult life and has had the privilege of directing and choreographing for schools and theaters in NY, CT, and CA. Keturah is currently a dance instructor and competition coach in Mystic CT. where she lives with her husband and three children.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Executive Director
- Founder
- Owner
- Founder, Producer, Artistic Director, Advanced Level Acting Training, Director of Dramatic Theater
Laura Attanasio has over 30 years of experience teaching theater to young people in non-profit agencies that include the YMCA and public schools in Minnesota, New York, and Connecticut.
After graduating from New York University's, Tisch School of the Arts, Laura moved to Minnesota where she began employing her passion for theater as a means to fundamentally alter negative pre-conceptions of individuals not accepted into the mainstream of society.
Co-Founder of Interact Theater Company, Minneapolis, MN, Laura developed successful strategies integrating adults with developmental disabilities into professional, critically-acclaimed performance opportunities.
Laura then applied similar strategies when working with young people and created programming that was disseminated throughout Minnesota to cultivate self-empowerment and leadership skills among at-risk and vulnerable youth. Laura's custom curriculum incorporates literature, history, and world affairs into stimulating movement-based theater designed to encourage our youth to prosper in school. She taught drama in the CT YMCA's, directed high school productions for 3 years at Valley Regional High School in Essex and was the Drama Teacher for the New Haven Public Schools at Worthington Hooker Middle School for 7 years.
In 2006, Laura founded Kidz Konnection in Clinton Connecticut as a place to empower young people to become leaders through the performing arts. In 13 years, Laura has produced over 75 shows for ages ranging from 4 to adult. She continues to pursue her dream of providing a safe, happy environment for young thespians to gain self-empowerment by offering the widest range of arts opportunities on the shoreline.
Job Titles:
- Additional Staff Member
- Administrative Assistant
- Marketing Director
Maddie Wensel is a high school senior and has been with Kidz Konnection for four years. She has performed since she was eight, and has since fallen in love with the stage! She has been involved with almost every aspect of theater, on stage and off. Some of her favorite roles were Mortimer Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace, The Inspector in The Play that Goes Wrong, and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She is also an athlete, aspiring author, classical guitarist, and artist.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Resident Choreographer / Musical Director / Dance Teacher / Assistant Director
- Resident Choreographer, Musical Theater Director, Dance Instructor
Maria Teresa Lonetti began performing at 3 years old at Dale Dance studio in East Haven Connecticut. Her first role was in kindergarten in The Grinch who Stole Christmas and has been performing ever since. She has over 32 years of experience in the performing arts with a focus on competitive dance and theater.
After graduating high school she studied theater at the American Musical Dramatic Academy and The New School and studied abroad at Santa Reperata in Florence, Italy. Maria studied dance under Lindsey Chambers (OBC Cats), Ramon Galdino (Broadway Cast Cats), and Harry Wooliver (OBC My Fair Lady). Maria also received professional training in stage combat, improvisational acting, Shakespeare, on camera acting, character development and advanced acting technique. She holds a degree in Theater and a Bachelors of Science in Liberal Arts with a focus in performing arts therapy.
Job Titles:
- Additional Staff Member
- Counselor
- Summer Program Director / Sound and Tech Staff
Job Titles:
- Additional Staff Member
- Voice Coach / Private Voice Instructor / Opera