THE HISTORY OF THE ARTS & LEARNING CONSERVATORY

WHAT BEGAN AS JUST A SUMMER CAMP

Coming from humble beginnings as the youngest of seven children, Founder Debora Wondercheck, saw the life-changing impact that music had on her family. Through hard work, and dedication, she and her siblings were able to attend the universities of their choice as string musicians.

Recognizing the profound effect that high-quality arts opportunities had on her own life and those around her, Debora used her passion to establish the Arts & Learning Conservatory (ALC). Inspired by her mother's faith in God, and determination to see that her children would have access to an arts education, Debora embarked on a similar journey to give all children this same exposure to the arts regardless of their background or experience.

What began as a summer camp for just thirteen string musicians and eight actors, has now grown to serve over 1,000 children every year, reaching over 10,000 in audiences annually. Debora's dream of "paying it forward" through creating arts opportunities to help children see and fulfill their potential, was realized and has become the heart of the Arts & Learning Conservatory.

NOW LEADS A LEGACY OF ARTS AND LEARNING IN ORANGE COUNTY

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Carol R. Sudbeck

Executive Vice President &

Chief Administrative Officer

Pacific Life Insurance Company

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Chris Baiocchi

Director of Development

Project Access

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Vernon K. Moses

VP of Business Development

JP Morgan Chase

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Patrice Holloway

Regional Network Director

Health Net of California

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Edward Westbrook

Entrepreneur,

Business Professor Emeritus

Vanguard University

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Ruth DeNault

Philanthropist, Entrepreneur

Board Emerita

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Ramgopal Rao

CEO, LensGen Inc.

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LEADERSHIP

Debora Wondercheck, M.S., ED

President and Chief Executive Officer

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Corbin Jacques

Music Education Director's Assistant

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Edwin Lovo

Music Education Director

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Isaiah Torres

Media Specialist/ Administrative Assistant

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ADVISORY BOARD

TEACHING ARTISTS

Keenah Armitage

Theatre

Keenah was a Broadway actress, musical theatre professor, choreographer, and director. She is now a Success Coach for spiritual-aligned, professional performing artists and the creator of the Thriving Artist Method. Keenah specializes in teaches her clients how to transform their subconscious identity, create clarity & vision, and build brand equity so that they can design a career on their terms while living their desired lifestyle offstage.

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Jolene Automo

Teaching Artist

Jolene Automo just graduated California Baptist University in May 2022 with a B.A. in Theatre
with a concentration in Performance. Some of her past credits include, Dorothy Gale (Wizard of
Oz), Henrietta Leavitt (Silent Sky), Gabriella Montez (High School Musical), Florinda (Into the
Woods). When Jolene is not performing she also enjoys Directing, Writing and Creating original
music. Jolene has work experience teaching kids Musical Theatre Dance, Ballet, Tap as well as
Assistant Directing for several Children’s Musicals. She is so excited to get to know your kids
and have so much fun teaching this course with the Arts and Learning Conservatory!

McKenna Bieger

Theatre

McKenna Bieger is an artist who has recently returned to California after studying at Hunter College. For the last year and a half she has been frequent in the theatrical scene of New York City, and recently was seen performing as Chutney in Legally Blonde at the critcially acclaimed, and Tony Award winning venue, 54 Below. She is a graduate of Musical Theatre at the Orange County School of the Arts, and is now studying Film at Irvine Valley College.

Agnieszka Borzuchowski

Strings Teacher

Agnieszka was born in Warsaw, Poland and has been playing the violin for 21 years. She was trained in Classical violin and is finishing her Master’s Degree in Violin Performance at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music where she held the position a Principle 2nd Violin and Concertmaster. She has been part of the Young Peoples Symphony Youth Orchestra, Berkeley Youth Orchestra, Oakland Youth Orchestra and the University Symphony Orchestra at CSU Long Beach. She has traveled with orchestras and played all over the world including Italy, Poland, Greece, China, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and South Korea. Agnieszka teaches violin to people of all ages, at schools and privately, and is the conductor of the Long Beach Chamber Music Group. She performs with the La Mirada Symphony and the Plaza String Quartet in addition to focusing on her contemporary violin endeavors with the Vicious Kinids. She also plays with the Celtic band Craic in the Stone.

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Liz Coppin

Theatre

Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Liz grew up watching theater in local community stages. Her mother was a well known community theatre actress in their neighborhood and brought the love of musicals and productions into their home. "On any given day, my mother would be playing Hello Dolly or Evita or Grease, and all 6 of us kids would be performing and singing along," recalls Liz with a huge smile. "It seemed so natural to us. Little did I know, my mother gave us such a gift of music and theatre that would change the trajectory of my entire life."

Liz attended Columbia College with a major in Public Relations and Strategic Communications and a minor in Theatre Arts. "Being first generation Mexican American, I was usually the only Latina auditioning for plays in those years and would come home so frustrated because the directors would never know where to cast me. My parents and grandparents supported me and taught me that, in time, my hard work and discipline would pay off. Within two years, I was able to secure roles like Masha in Checkhov's Three Sisters and Nora in Ibsen's A Doll House." A few years after graduation, Liz moved to Los Angeles and had a successful career in film and television securing roles on popular shows like Days of our Lives, CSI Miami and Disney Channel sitcoms.

Liz is a proud mom to her 18 year old daughter, Samantha, and 8 year old son, Jackson Bear. Liz has continued to pursue her love of acting focussing more on her passion for theatre. She was most recently seen performing at the Long Beach Playhouse's production of Lend Me A Tenor where she played the loud and jealous Italian wife, Maria. Liz is grateful for the opportunity to be a small part of the Arts and Learning Conservatory's mission. She is beyond excited to share her passion for theatre arts with her students and fellow teachers. "I hope to help children realize their full potential using theatre techniques as the tool to begin planting their seeds of confidence as this art form did for me from 7 to 47."

Calista Domingcil

Vocal/Asst. Choreographer

Calista was born and raised in the Central Valley where she found her passion in music, dance, and teaching. Calista has been performing as long as she can remember. She grew up doing competitive dance and singing with her dad. She started choreographing at the age of 16 and still helps with her high school with their annual spring show. She recently graduated from Vanguard University with a bachelor’s in music education. She will be continuing her education at CSU Long Beach to attain her Single Subject Credential.

Eddie Drayton

World Percussionist

Eddie Drayton is originally from Bayonne N.J. and was a snare drummer for seven years with the 3-time DCI champions Bayonne Bridgemen drumline. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1987, Eddie taught high school and college percussion in addition to his position as the Pit Percussion Arranger/Instructor for the Velvet Knights Drum Corps, Anaheim, CA for several years.

Eddie began working in the LA music scene, his work ranging from radio voiceover commercials, drum and dance ensembles, animated kid shows for Saban Entertainment (Battle Tech, Power Rangers, and the Mouse and The Monster), and playing in several of the best house bands in town. His work includes performing and/or recording with such artists and producers as Gerald LeVert, David Rudder, Calypso Rose, Maxx Benitt, Rick James, Gap Band, Ivan Neville, Preston Smith, Robert Grenich, Jeff Kashiwa, Antonio Banderas, Ricky Martin, Charo, Jackie DeShannon, Beth Hart, Antigone Rising, Oliver Leiber, Desmond Childs, and Jerry Goldsmith

Eddie continues to record and perform, recently recording music for MBC comedy “Super Store” and is percussionist on the latest Fdeluxe recording “Am Static” produced by Oliver Leiber. He is also a percussionist for World Ensemble “Panjive”.

Eddie is currently the Director of Percussion at Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, CA.

Ryan Fredericks

Director

Ryan Fredericks has been directing and teaching all over Orange County for the last 6 years.
Some of his credits include Addams Family, High School Musical Jr, Alice Jr and Singing in the
Rain Jr. He also just came off directing Shrek this past spring/early summer. Besides directing,
he also is a seasoned performer with over 75 credits to his name. He graduated from AMDA LA
with a Bachelor’s Degree in Acting. Directing and teaching have become a huge passion of his.
He loves to help people of all ages find a love for acting and to come alongside and help
people find their characters in an authentic and truthful way. He is so excited to be a part of
ALC and can’t wait to see what’s in store!

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Andrew Gonzales

Band Instructor

Andrew was born and raised in corona where he started on trumpet in elementary school. For high school he went to Santiago High School. There, he performed at Carnegie Hall and The Rose Parade. He also made various honor bands like SCSBOA's All Southern and All State. He eventually went to college at California State University of Fullerton as a Music Education major studying under Sycil Mathai who is a Juilliard Alumni. Currently, he is still working towards his bachelors degree.

Andrew mainly focuses on Classical music playing pieces like, Hummel Concerto, Grand Russian Fantasia, and many more. But he as well has a fair amount of experience with jazz and improvisation.

He has many years with trumpet but currently his main focus is on conducting. He found his love for conducting after conducting a quartet and hasn't stopped since. He is currently studying under Kimo Furumoto for conducting.

Luma Haidous

Theatre

Luma Haidous is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton with a Bachelor’s degree in Cinema & Television Arts and an emphasis in Screenwriting. Her first love in life was movies, the catalyst for studying her craft for over a decade. As an aspiring actress and screenwriter living in Los Angeles, she continues to explore the passion of her love for creating cinema. She is overjoyed to be leading our youth in a conservatory class for script and screenwriting, hopeful to ignite the same excitement she felt as a child upon first interacting with scripts.

Evie Halopoff

I love to perform and I love to teach. I've been fortunate enough to spend most of my life doing both. As a performer I have traveled the world singing and dancing in shows such as West Side Story, where I played the role of Anita. I performed as a dancer and singer with Disney's "Kids of the Kingdom," touring and performing in their theme parks. I performed with the world famous Young Americans as well as with many famous artists such as Bob Hope, Donald O'connor, Crystal Gayle, and many more. My experiences as a singer have crossed over many musical genres from Broadway, Big Band Jazz, Top Forty, to Opera. I worked for Opera Pacific singing Puccini & Verdi operas. All of which have been wonderful, but my love of teaching tops them all. I have been teaching and sharing my passion for the arts for 30 years. I have directed many plays and musicals like The Diary of Anne Frank, "The Music Man," "Aladdin Jr.," "Beauty and The Beast," and "Mary Poppins," to name a few. I have directed award winning Concert Choirs and Show Choirs. My groups have been invited to perform at Disneyland, Knott's Berry farm, The Marion Geddes Concert Hall and New York's Carnegie Hall. I feel extremely blessed to be able to take my past experience as a performer and teacher and now direct "Annie Kids " this summer with "The Arts and Learning Conservatory." I'm looking forward to an amazing summer working with the ALC Kids!

Elizabeth Hayashi

Director

Elizabeth Hayashi is an actor and director, recently graduated from the Vanguard University Theatre Department. Elizabeth remembers when the theatre first inspired her as a child. And now, having acted in several short films and theatre roles, Elizabeth loves sharing her passions with other young students. Elizabeth is big into laughter, creative thinking, and impossible dreams. And the theatre is where stuff like that happens! So she is super excited to partner with Arts and Learning Conservatory to bring theatre to the schools of Orange County and keep the impossible happening!

Arts & Learning Conservatory is a 501c3 Organization. EIN: 73-1724164

THE HISTORY OF THE ARTS & LEARNING CONSERVATORY

WHAT BEGAN AS JUST A SUMMER CAMP

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

LEADERSHIP

ADVISORY BOARD

TEACHING ARTISTS

Arts & Learning Conservatory is a 501c3 Organization.
EIN: 73-1724164