Meet Our Staff
Judy LB Zanin
Artistic Director
Judy holds her Masters of Fine Arts in Directing Theatre from Syracuse University, a Masters in Theological Studies from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, her NYS teacher certification in Social Studies and Special Education from Nazareth College, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from SUNY Potsdam. She is a member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society), a member of Theatre Communications Group, Judy is currently teaching Special Education at Geneva High School and an Adjunct at Nazareth College in the English Department.
Locally, Judy has directed and assistant directed for Geva Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Syracuse University Drama Department, as well as student productions at local Rochester area schools. This past spring, she directed the film of Geneva High School's musical production, Little Shop of Horrors, on locations around the Geneva area with the videography team of FLX Media. Victor High School's production of Anything Goes received a Rochester Broadway Theatre League's Stars of Tomorrow award for "Best Dance Ensemble" under her direction. Palmyra-Macedon's middle school production of School of Rock was received with millions of social media views and acknowledgement of the production's success by the show's creator, Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber, as well as members of the original Broadway cast. Judy is the recipient of the 2016 Robert G. Boehmier Community Partners for Education Award as well as the Canandaigua National Bank Excellence in Teaching Award in 2006.
In 2017, Judy attended the Broadway Teachers Workshop where she took master classes with directors, stage managers, designers from Broadway's Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Newsies, and more. She worked with Tony nominees and winners: Sheryl Kaller, Marcia Pilgrim Dodge, Seth Skylar-Heyn, and Paloma Young.
Judy has studied and worked closely with theatre legend and director, Robert Moss, as well as directors Timothy Douglas, Mark Cuddy, Skip Greer, and Christopher Gurr. Judy has also had the pleasure of working with Adam Pascal, Hunter Foster, Justin Sargent, Nick DiCola, John Jeffrey Martin, Patti Murin, Gabby Bernstein, Adam Gertler, Michael DiLiberto, and Kyle Louder.
David Curry
Executive Producer
David Curry is an analytical, hands-on executive with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University. He holds a Professional Engineering license and was a scholarship winner in the Simon Games in 2011 from the Simon School of Business in 2013 where he earned his MBA graduating with honors. With an emphasis on technology transfer and new technology commercialization, David has worked with startups through the pre-revenue and early-growth period providing technical guidance, market development, and sales support by bringing an analytical, fact, and data-driven approach to everything he does.
Much of David's telecom background is in industrial and commercial wireless deployments, system integration and optimization. David was part of growing the Wireless Systems Group at Microwave Data Systems acquired by GE from $1.5M to $1.7M in 4 years where he deployed SCADA, microwave and public safety networks.
At Clearwire and Ericcson, he designed and deployed several citywide commercial wireless networks and lead teams responsible for optimizing the nationwide networks for growth. David was successful in technical sales at PAETEC, which was acquired by Windstream, a Fortune 10 company, earning a slot at President's Club and finishing second in the nation for network sales.
As the Chief Technical Officer at OneStream, David oversaw the expansion and upgrade of a unique, global VolP network to support customers in major financial cities worldwide. He increased the network to support customers in major financial cities worldwide. He increased the network resiliency significantly reducing the ticket quantity per revenue dollar and bringing visibility and efficiency to the network. This experience gives Mr. Curry a solid understanding of how to build fault tolerant VolP networks for large enterprises. He has extensive networking and project management training.
Extending beyond telecommunications, Mr. Curry has worked with alternative energy startups to quantify the market impact of their product and their technical success bringing engineering rigor to the process. He is an active member of the National Ski Patrol serving several lead committee positions with the Bristol Mountain Ski Patrol, and the Telecommunications Advisor for the Genesee Valley Region. He is also an instructor and plays keyboards, bass, and lead guitar in the Americana Band, The Revelers.
Joanne Thomas
Business Manager
Joanne brings over 30 years of administrative and theatre-related experience to Studio Z in her role as Business Manager, including 13 years of work for our US government at the Veterans Administration. She has produced many stage shows for adults and children in the community as well as theatre productions for area schools.
In 2003, Joanne founded and produced a fundraising variety show at Victor High School that ran through 2008. In 2005, she assisted in teaching tap to 70 students in a production of Anything Goes at Victor High School. The group went on to win Best Dance Ensemble at RBTL's "Stars of Tomorrow" and took third place after performing on television in 13-Wham's "RocheSTARS" contest.
Additional, Joanne spent several years managing professional dance theatre shows at Great Lakes Productions and also has an extensive background working with non-profit organizations in the Rochester Area and NYC. Currently, she is also the Grading Secretary and Administrative Assistant to the Assistant Principal at Victor High School.
John Kunes
Board Member
John serves as Vice President at WebTitle Agency in Rochester, NY. He is also a local musician, teaching guitar at Northfield Music in Pittsford. He has played numerous Rochester Area performances with Studio Z, Geneva High School, and other area theatre groups.
John is happy to serve on the board with fellow Victor High School alumni, Judy Zanin and David Curry, who he shared the stage with in high school.
Jennie Gilardoni
Board Member
Jennie began performing at age 5. She was most recently seen on stage as "Charlotte" in Pittsford Musical's Cinderella, "Ado Annie" in Oklahoma at the JCC, and at the Highland Bowl as "Julia" in WallByrd Theatre Company's production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Other recent credits include: Little Shop of Horrors ("Chiffon," Dangerous Signs) and Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Ensemble, Webster Theatre Guild).
As a youth performer, her stage credits included over 30 productions, such as Winnie the Pooh ("Christopher Robin") at Rochester Children's Theatre at age 12, and Cinderella (Ensemble) at Blackfriar's Theatre at age 15. Other favorite credits include Annie ("Annie," Brighton Summer Theatre), Peter Pan ("Peter Pan," Pittsford Summer Enrichment Institute, Fame ("Carmen Diaz," Pittsford Summer Enrichment Institute), Into the Woods ("Little Red," Spotlight Summer Stage), Bye, Bye Birdie ("Kim MacAfee," Victor High School), Anything Goes ("Reno Sweeney," Victor High School), and Fiddler on the Roof ("Bielke," Niagara University). At age 9 Jennie recorded the title track on WARM 101.3's "See My Spirit Soar" charity album, and began working professionally in Great Lakes Productions dinner theatre show, Joey & Maria's Comedy Wedding in a role which was written for her.
In 2005, Jennie served as student choreographer for Victor High School's production of Anything Goes, for which she and her 70 cast-mates won Best Dance Ensemble honors at RBTL's "Stars of Tomorrow" ceremony. Other choreography credits include STAGE summer theatre, serving as co-captain of the Niagara University Dance Team, and Palmyra-Macedon Middle School productions of Schoolhouse Rock, LIVE, Jr., High School Musical, Jr., Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber's, School of Rock, and Palmyra-Macedon High School's Bye, Bye Birdie.
In 201, Jennie attended the Broadway Teachers Workshop in New York City where she participated in theatre classes with Broadway choreographers and actors like JoAnn Hunt and Patrick O'Neill (School of Rock), Morgan Marcell (Hamilton, Bandstand), Connor Gallagher (Elf, National Tour), and Jenn Colella (Come From Away, If/Then, Urban Cowboy). She currently studies voice with Diane Abrahamian.
Artists in residence
JUSTIN SARGENT
Broadway/TV Actor
BROADWAY: Peter Parker in Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, Drew in Rock of Ages, and Bonnie and Clyde. TV/FILM: Jesus Christ Superstar: LIVE on NBC, Law &Order: SVU, Mr Robot, Royal Pains, Big Exit, Stormchaser, and more! Justin has also performed across the country singing the music of "Queen" with a live symphony.
LAUREN MILLS
Actor/ Director/ Choreographer
Cohosts a weekly arts radio-show/podcast called "Chew the Scene with Lauren and Danny" a talk-show airing weekly on Thursdays from 1-2 PM ET on Homegrownradionj. A casual sit-down with artists of all types, from Broadway to books and beyond. Lauren has the "gift of gab" and knows how to keep a conversation moving forward! She has been fortunate to interview luminary artists in the business such as Broadway legend Len Cariou, Broadway Spiderman Justin Sargent and star of TV and Stage Dan Lauria. For Lauren's interviews, go to YouTube Lauren Moran Mills
TYCE GREEN
Actor/Recording Artist
Tyce Green is an actor and recording artist who tours regularly and has opened for mega-hit bands: Heart, Air Supply, and Berlin. He is currently playing "Annas" in the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. Tyce is also a runway model and can be seen on Season 18 of Project Runway on Bravo. Other theatre credits include: Spring Awakening ("Moritz"), Hands on a Hardbody ("Chris"), Rock of Ages ("Franz"), Ragtime ("Younger Brother"), and more.
In 2018, he was featured in the first round on the brand new Season One of American Idol (ABC), with judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan. He has also collaborated with Grammy Award-nominated songwriter Desmond Child (Livin’ On a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name) and Grammy-Award winning songwriter Holly Knight (Love is a Battlefield, The Best).
He is best known for working with legendary Grammy Award-winning songwriter Jim Steinman (Bat Out of Hell, Total Eclipse of the Heart, It’s All Coming Back to Me). His debut album, Hero, is written and co-produced by Steinman. Tyce is the first male vocalist to record with Steinman since Meat Loaf. Hero is currently streaming on Spotify (Warner Bros./ Rhino Records).
In 2016, Tyce collaborated with YouTube star Nick Pitera on a special Ariana Grande/ Hamilton mashup of Dangerous Woman/ Burn (single on Spotify, video on YouTube). He also appears on the 2017 world premiere recording of Monstersongs, a new graphic novel rock album by composer Rob Rokicki (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical).
TIM SWISS
Theatrical Lighting Designer
Tim has been a professional Lighting Designer for over 20 years. He graduated from Syracuse University with a concentration in Lighting Design. He has worked at Arena Stage, The Shakespeare Theater, Bay Street Theater, Syracuse Stage, Pennsylvania Center Stage, The Washington Ballet, RedCat and Celebration Theater. Tim has designed over 200 professional productions in New York, Maryland, DC, Virginia, and California. He is a certified rigger for IATSE. He has been nominated for several Ovation Awards and won the LA Weekly award for Lighting design. In addition to his professional work Tim is an educator. He has taught lighting at Penn State University, California Institute of the Arts, and Saddleback College where he has been for 15 years.
SAMANTHA GEFFEN
American Sign Language Interpreter
Originally from Los Angeles, Sam recently moved to New York City to combine two of her favorite things: theatre and deaf culture. She has been working as a sign language interpreter for the last nine years, with some of her favorite jobs including interpreting for the touring production of Hamilton in Rochester, Shakespeare's First Folio Exhibition: Visual Shakespeare Festival at Gallaudet University, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. While living in California, she was able to work in the office at Deaf West Theatre which was a great first exposure to Deaf theatre. In Rochester, she was a member of Dangerous Signs (an ASL performance group) which provided the opportunity to learn the many facets of theater and develop important skills for the future. One highlight of her time with Dangerous Signs was auditioning for America's Got Talent in 2015. She is currently a grad student at NYU working on her Masters degree in Performing Arts Administration.
