FCPS Theatre Arts Alumni

Becky Ann Baker

West Springfield High School; 1971

Becky Ann Baker is most recognized for her mothering skills, or lack thereof, on two Judd Apatow series, Freaks and Geeks and Girls, where she plays creator Lena Dunham’s mom, and for which she received a Critics Choice nomination and an Emmy nomination. But Becky has appeared on Broadway in both musicals and plays, including Good People, All My Sons, Assassins, Titanic, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Her Off-Broadway credits include: Suddenly Last Summer for The Roundabout; Comedy of Errors, Othello and Two Gentlemen of Verona for New York Shakespeare Festival; Wonderful Town for City Center Encores; The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told for New York Theatre Workshop; Shanghai Moon and June Moon for Drama Dept.; Durang, Durang for Manhattan Theatre Club; To Whom It May Concern and Laura Dennis at the Signature; The Vagina Monologues at Westside Arts; and more. Becky has performed regionally at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she is an artistic associate, the Old Globe, the South Coast Rep, Arena Stage, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey and the Goodman Theater in Chicago.

Film credits include 23 Blast, Hope Springs, Nights in Rodanthe, Spinning into Butter, Stay, The Night Listener, Gretchen, War of the Worlds, Two Weeks Notice, A Simple Plan, Celebrity, Men In Black, In and Out, Sabrina, Unstrung Heroes, White Squall, Lorenzo’s Oil and Come See the Paradise. Other TV appearances include: Gotham, Madam Secretary, Person of Interest, Elementary, The Good Wife, Smash, Black Box, A Gifted Man, Kings, Nurse Jackie, Mercy, Storm of the Century, Soul Man, Ruby Ridge, Frasier, Star Trek: Voyager, Sex and the City, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Oz and Mind Games. She is a member of the Actor’s Studio, Drama Dept. and Usual Suspects –NYTW. Becky’s best and favorite production: Willa, co-produced with actor/director Dylan Baker.

Kevin Clay

Westfield High School; 2011

National tour of the Book of Mormon (Elder Price). Regional: Pittsburgh CLO, Music Theatre Wichita and Wagon Wheel Theatre. Proud graduate of Penn State with a B.F.A. in musical theatre.

Taylor Coffman

Lake Braddock Secondary School

Taylor is a Los Angeles area actress who's credits include ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Flipside. Most recently she’s produced, wrote and acts in the series Ruby & Martin, which was a finalist in the NYTVF Comedy Central Pilot competition.Taylor is currently recurring her role on season 2 of HBO's Silicon Valley, directed by Mike Judge. CLICK HERE to visit her website and find out more!

Chad Dukes

Lake Braddock Secondary School; 1997

A notable radio personality, Chad Dukes is the afternoon drive host of Chad Dukes Vs. The World. WJFK 106.7 The Fan is a sports talk format radio station in the greater Washington D.C. area. He is also a co-host of the Big O and Dukes Show podcast. CLICK HERE to give it a listen!

Lauren Graham

Langley High School; 1984

Lauren is best known for her television roles as Sarah Braverman on NBC's Parenthood and Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls for which she received a nomination for Golden Globe Best Actress in a Television Series, 2001.

Paloma Guzmán

Marshall High School; 2002

Paloma Guzmán is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. She is known for her work in Pretty Little Liars (Jackie), Shades of Blue (Sofia), Person of Interest, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Christina Hendricks

Fairfax High School; 1993

Best known for her role as Joan Holloway in the AMC television series Mad Men, for which she has been nominated for six Emmy Awards, Christina Hendricks began appearing on television in her 20's, landing a recurring role in Beggars and Choosers (1999). In addition to her more famously conventional awards nominations, she also won a SyFy Genre Award in for "Best Special Guest/Television" for her role as Saffron in Joss Whedon's short-lived Firefly (2002). A poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine named Hendricks "the sexiest woman in the world", and In 2010, she was voted Best Looking American Woman by Esquire magazine...a far jump from the bullied high school drama student. John Kelly, a Washington Post columnist explains why the popular star of Mad Men found a home in Theatre in high school: "Actress Hated Fairfax High Then, But She Might Not Hate It Now". CLICK HERE to read the article.

Michael Innocenti

Lake Braddock Secondary School; 2000

Michael Innocenti joined the Keegan Theatre as a company member in 2006 with the U.S and Ireland tour production of Death of a Salesman. Since then, Michael has performed in over 20 productions. In 2007, Michael was the first person named to the newly established Executive Staff as Production Manager and has managed nearly 50 productions since that time. Directorial credits include The Sunshine Boys, Cabaret, and Assistant Director for the musical Working. Lighting Designs include: Love, Peace, and Robbery (D.C./Off-Broadway), A Man of No Importance, Golden Boy, and The Crucible. CLICK HERE to read more about Michael and Keegan Theatre.

Casey Kaleba

Lake Braddock Secondary School

Casey Kaleba is a 1996 graduate of Lake Braddock Secondary School, where he first started his stage combat career. He was certified by the Society of American Fight Directors before he graduated high school, and has since coordinated violence for opera, television, music videos through more than 500 productions with professional, community, and academic theatres. That work includes arranging fights at the Guthrie Theatre, Spoleto Festival, Folger Theatre, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Keegan Theatre, Wolf Trap Opera, Washington National Opera, Source Festival, Olney Theatre Center, and Constellation Theatre. A company member with Rorschach Theatre and Brave Spirits Theatre, Casey has staged fights for knights, musketeers, princesses, zombies, wolves, pirates, ninjas, and at least one alien tentacle. Recently he served as the audition choreographer for Marvel Universe Live.

A Certified Teacher and Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors, Casey has taught theatrical combat workshops and courses for a wide range of programs including the University of Maryland, Catholic University, University of Mary Washington, Old Dominion University, Chesapeake College, Davidson College, James Madison University, Montgomery College, University of South Carolina, the Virginia Governor's School, and Virginia Theatre Association, as well as scores of high schools, festivals, professional development workshops, libraries, and camps. He has served as a teaching artist for the Shakespeare Theatre, Round House Theatre, English Speaking Union, and Folger Library. He was host and creative contributer to the two time Emmy Award-winning Experiencing Shakespeare through the Folger Library and Alabama Public Radio; he holds an MA in Theatre History from the University of Maryland. He runs the largest DC-based stage combat program through Tooth & Claw Combat Arts, www.toothandclawcombat.com.

Alex Keiper

Chantilly High School

Bio here.

Louisa Krause

Marshall High School

Louisa Krause is known for her work in Billions (Lou), The Girlfriend Experience (Anna), Jane Wants a Boyfriend, and King Kelly.

Paul Lazarus

West Springfield High School; 1972

Paul Lazarus is an award-winning director, producer and writer of film, television, and theater projects. Recently, he completed work on a feature length documentary called “SlingShot” about noted Segway inventor Dean Kamen and his work to solve the world’s water crisis. After appearing in over 40 film festivals and garnering numerous awards, SlingShot is currently available on iTunes and Netflix in fifteen languages. Lazarus directed and produced the feature film, "Seven Girlfriends," starring Tim Daly, Mimi Rogers, Jami Gertz, and Melora Hardin. Produced independently, "Seven Girlfriends" was released by Castle Hill Productions and was featured on HBO and Comedy Central. For Dreamworks SKG, he voice directed the animated musical feature, "Joseph," starring Ben Affleck.

Lazarus resides in Los Angeles where he has been directing many notable prime time television series. Most recently, he directed "Pretty Little Liars” for ABC Family, “Second Generation Wayans” for the BET, “The Middle,” "Samantha Who?" and "Ugly Betty" for ABC, and “Big Time Rush” for Nickelodeon. Past shows include: "Friends," "Psych," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Melrose Place," "Mad About You," "LA Law," and "Dream On.”

For the Hollywood Bowl, he produced and directed the acclaimed 75th birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim. That evening featured the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Barbra Streisand, Warren Beatty, Angela Lansbury, Carol Burnett, Eric McCormack, Jason Alexander and Bernadette Peters among many others. His play, "A Tale of Charles Dickens," co-written with Janet Jones, was produced and recorded for radio by Los Angeles Theater Works in association with the Antaeus Theater Company. Other LA credits include directing John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" and Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" at the Pasadena Playhouse, directing Kristin Chenoweth in her solo concert debut and the world premiere of a new musical, "The People vs. Mona," also at the Pasadena Playhouse. Favorite Los Angeles theatrical projects include directing the world premieres of Mark St. Germain's play "Camping With Henry and Tom" starring Robert Prosky, Ronny Cox and John Cunningham and "The 24th Day" starring Noah Wyle and Peter Berg. "Camping..." received the Outer Critics' Circle and Lucille Lortel awards for best off-Broadway play. "The 24th Day" received six Los Angeles Dramalogue awards including Best Director and four LA Ovation award nominations.

In the early 90s, he served as the Artistic Director of the historic Pasadena Playhouse. Lazarus has directed over ninety plays and musicals in such prominent theaters as The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, The Manhattan Theater Club, Circle Rep, The Actors Studio, La Mama ETC, and The Goodspeed Opera House, to name a few. Highlights include: receiving a Drama Desk Nomination for directing the hit Off-Broadway musical, "Personals," which was written by David Crane, Seth Friedman and Marta Kauffman and composed by Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken; directing Anouilh's "Antigone" for the Lincoln Center Institute; serving as associate director for the celebrated concert version of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" starring Carol Burnett, Lee Remick and Mandy Patinkin; and staging the premiers of Jon Klein's drama, "Life Class," for the Art Institute of Chicago; David Crane and Larry Coen's comedy, "Epic Proportions" for the Manhattan Punch Line; and Mark St. Germain and Randy Courts' AT&T award-winning musical "Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller" for the George Street Playhouse.

Early in his career, he produced and directed "A Stephen Sondheim Evening," which starred Angela Lansbury, George Hearn and Mr. Sondheim. That evening was recorded by RCA Records and received a Grammy nomination. He produced and hosted "Anything Goes," an award-winning radio series celebrating the American musical theater past, present and future for WBAI-FM in New York and National Public Radio. For many years, he has served on the Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Lazarus apprenticed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England.

Sara Joy Lebowitz

Hayfield Secondary School

Sara Joy Lebowitz is currently the Theatre Arts Teacher at Mark Twain Middle School and has been teaching there since 2007. She received a BS in Management with a minor in Theatre from The Pennsylvania State University in May 2000, her teaching license in both Theatre Arts and Math in April 2007, and a Masters of Art in Theatre Education from Catholic University in 2013. She has performed in, produced, stage managed, worked backstage, and written numerous plays in the Northern Virginia/DC area.

Emily Peachy

Lake Braddock Secondary School

Emily Peachey is known for her work in The Fault in Our Stars (Monica), American Pastoral, and Abduction.

Kat Purgal

Lake Braddock Secondary School

Kat Purgal is a Los Angeles based actress who's credits include the hit NBC series, Heroes, as well as music videos by Flight of the Conchords and Plain White T's. She was honored to be a part of the 2010 Sundance Director's Lab, working with Uzbek director Saodat Ismailova and acting alongside Tantoo Cardinal and Irene Bedard. More recently, Kat played a small-town girl on Touch (FOX) and a different small-town girl for the NBC Diversity Showcase. Luckily, she's been able to spice it up by providing voice-over for an evil, harpy vampire on several episodes of Marvel TV's Blade: Anime (G4) and for several ditzy girls on Family Guy (FOX) and American Dad (FOX). CLICK HERE to visit Kat's offical website and learn more!

Molly Rumberger

South County High School

Molly Rumberger is the Theatre Arts director at South County High School. She has been a Theatre Arts teacher with FCPS for the past four years. She is a proud graduate of South County High School and is thrilled to have the opportunity to teach at her alma mater! When she is not teaching or directing numerous productions throughout the school year, Mrs. Rumberger also loves to be on the stage. Recent credits include Big Fish at Keegan Theatre, cabarets at the Workhouse Arts Centers, and several readings at Signature Theatre. UPCOMING: Julia in The Wedding Singer at NextStop Theatre Company.

While she lived in Los Angeles, Mrs. Rumberger acted in numerous commercials, a Lifetime film, and performed with Disneyland. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Virginia Tech and a Graduate Certificate in Teaching Theatre Pre-K-12 from George Mason University. When she is not teaching, Mrs. Rumberger loves spending time with her husband, going to Orange Theory, journaling (SHE LOVES HER HAPPY PLANNER), reading plays, and running.

Stephen Sanow

Oakton High School; 2010

Stephen Sanow is a recent graduate of Syracuse University's BFA Drama program. He has worked at various regional theaters including The Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Syracuse Stage, along with numerous professional Film, Television, Industrials and Commercials. In addition, he wrote and produced "You, Me, and That Guy" as part of the Araca Project's new season Off-Broadway. For more information about Stephen, CLICK HERE.

Tori Socha

Lake Braddock Secondary School; 2000

Tori Socha is a Vice President in charge of original programming at Spike TV. Prior to joining Spike, Socha served as Director of Alternative Programming at Syfy, and before that, Manager of Development for TLC.

Scott Zeigler

Chantilly High School

Scott Zeigler has been studying and performing theatre all his life. That is until he started teaching. Graduating with a BS Theatre Performance degree from Greensboro College North Carolina, Scott was able to live out of his car and tour the nation. Eventually becoming so broke that he needed a better paying job, the wonderful Ed Monk suggested he become a teacher and the rest is history.