Meet StagePlay Learning Teachers for Drama Classes & Camps
We’re so excited to meet, teach and help you child grow through performing arts. Each of us have grown up participating in drama through school and various theater groups and are eager to pass the theater and life skills we have learned to your children. It’s our honor to be able to help them learn and grow, to find themselves and explore their imaginations and creativity through our theater programs. Take a moment to learn about each of us.
We’re looking forward to working with your student!
Our Team
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Anna Gallaher
Anna has been teaching acting lessons for over a year. She currently attends SIUE, majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in Vocal Performance and Music seeking an endorsement in Music.Anna’s love for singing & theater began at a young age. Most children would get a bedtime story read to them at night. She got a bedtime story, and together with her father they’d sing many songs before falling asleep. Gallaher fell in love with music at church so much that it inspired her to begin piano lessons at 6 years old, flute at 9, and voice lessons at 11.
Anna is a self-motivated, reliable, responsible, enthusiastic, and hard-working person. She loves teaching children the wonders of music and theater, and seeing them become passionate about it!
She am overjoyed to be a member of the StagePlay Learning team, and ready to help inspire young artist’s in our community.
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Tressel Eckman
Tressel Eckman is a recent graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a BA in Theater Performance. He is extremely excited to hit the ground running as a professional actor and teaching artist.
A few credits he’d like to mention from his time at SIUE include: Vice Principal Panch in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Gary in Thinner than Water, Dwight in Dead Man’s Cellphone, Vanya in Life Sucks, Ensemble member of Black Theatre Workshop 2023 and Leggybones’ Femur Dreams. -
Grace Costello
Grace Costello is a Social Studies teacher in the Edwardsville School District and a 2023 graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She is passionate about education and believes that the arts are a wonderful way to inspire creativity and build community. She is looking forward to combining her love for teaching and theater to support and encourage young artists.
Amy Prince, Owner
I have been performing and teaching dance, voice and acting for decades. I attended College for Musical Theater as a triple threat, and further gained degrees in English Literature with a Shakespeare focus, Music Literature, Vocal Pedagogy and Vocal Performance. I began dance lessons at 6, piano lessons at 9, and voice and flute lessons at 16. I have always loved how being on stage made me feel. I remember as a child thriving when using my imagination to entertain others and make them laugh. As an educator I enjoy bringing people together to create something special. Theater performance can give so much to so many people.
I am thrilled to offer a community for performers of all ages to learn, inspire, and perform together. I feel lucky to be able to offer guidance and technical skill in audition technique and etiquette, in a safe collaborative environment. My directing, adjudicating, choreography, and performance experience has allowed me to gather perspective and hopefully inspire others to follow their passion for the performing arts. I help students find their personal inspiration and use their own creativity to explore their acting abilities. Building confidence to build your own success is an invaluable element of the dramatic arts.
