LEIGH HIGH SCHOOL THEATER ARTS
Staff and Coaches
Jonathan Yani
Theater Arts Director / Thespian Troupe #7618 Director
Jonathan Yani is a graduate of San Jose State University with a Bachelor of the Arts in Technical Theater, and a Minor in English Literature.
He has been passionate about theater (especially the tech aspects) from a young age. After working as an extra-curricular coach he decided to pursue his credential to be able to work with the passionate youth at Leigh. He is looking forward to continue to develop the department that has given him so much.
In the past he's appeared as Moises Kaufman in "The Laramie Project", and Thurio in "The Two Gentleman Of Verona." He draws on his love of theatre history (dramaturgy) to allow students to explore the many different styles that originated with the Greeks and continues to evolve through the modern age.
While he enjoys acting he found himself drawn to the dark side of theater. He's passionate about set design, and costuming, and is proud of his students that have decided to pursue theater post-graduation from Leigh.
In his free time (what little there is) he enjoys going to Disneyland and chilling with his cats, Baloo, and Shere Kahn.
Amanda Borges
Scenic Painting Coach
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Amanda is a graduate of Santa Clara University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art and a minor in Theater Art. She began her professional work as a scenic artist for Great America’s Halloween Haunt in her early 20’s. Several years later she earned her teaching credential at San Jose State then quickly began work as an art teacher at Leigh High School. Amanda has assisted Leigh’s theater in every production and haunted house since 2015 as their scenic painting coach. In her spare time she performs as a spoken word artist in downtown San Jose’s Live Literature scene. Amanda very much enjoys working with the students at Leigh and her favorite productions so far have been Anything Goes and Noises Off. Leigh’s theater has been a second home to her as she feels free to share her creativity, passion, and quirky sense of humor with an amazing group of students and an endearing, clever staff every year.
Sue Howell
Costuming Coach
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Sue returned to college in 2000 to study Technical Theater at Foothill College and Cañada College. She first started sewing in during the summer before 6th grade and sewed her first costume for a production of Camelot that she was in at fifteen. Sue began her costuming career as a Costume Designer/Coordinator for Roberta Jones Junior Theater in 1999. In 2004 Sue started working for Ballet San Jose as an overhire stitcher, she continued to work in the Costume Shop as a stitcher until 2013, which is when she became Company Shoe Manager. She has also worked at Theatreworks and Opera San Jose in their costume shops. In 2006 Sue started working in Community Theater, primarily for Broadway by the Bay and West Valley Light Opera (WVLO) as a Costume Designer/Costume Coordinator. She has also worked for Sunnyvale Community Players and Presentation High School.
Sue is excited to be working with Leigh High School Theater Arts Department and be able to mentor students in Costume Design and sewing. Ask her students about the vinyl covered candy wrapper zippered pouches!
Sue also works at Downtown San Jose venues as an usher and a Uniform Room Attendant for Ushers at SAP Center. She likes to SEW in her free time! She make clothes for her granddaughter, quilts, zippered pouches and items on the embroidery machine. She also likes to travel, do genealogy research and watch SJ Sharks and SF Giants games.
Amanda Ku
Vocal Trainer / Vocal Director
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Amanda is a collaborative pianist, theatre musician, and music director in her native San Francisco Bay Area. She made her vocal directing debut at Leigh High School with Big Fish in 2019. Community theater music directing credits: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Foothill Music Theatre); Flower Drum Song, A Christmas Story: the Musical (Palo Alto Players); Peter and the Starcatcher (Hillbarn Theatre); Bullets Over Broadway (West Valley Light Opera). She enjoys playing piano for musical theater auditions, rehearsals, and pit orchestras across the South Bay and Peninsula; memorable scores to play have included Seussical, In the Heights, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In addition to her musical theater work, Amanda is the staff accompanist for Cantabile Youth Singers and Los Altos High School choirs, and is active in the choral community.
Mason Mateus
Production Manager
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Mason is an alum of Leigh High School, where he trained in the technical theater program. His emphasis was in audio and tech directing. His favorite shows at Leigh were "The Lady Cries Murder," and "Freaky Friday." Theater was a safe space for him in high school and he is looking forward to being able to lend his talents towards making the Theater program a second home for others. Mason is excited to continue working in the Theater Program and shifting his talents from actively working productions to mentoring and training the next technicians that will run the shows.
Alyx Michele
Choreographer / Dance Coach
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Alyx is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a Bachelor's in Psychology and is now in a Master's program at Cal State San Bernardino (online currently) for Clinical and Counseling Psychology. She has performed in a variety of musical theater productions, with her favorites being Chicago (Hunyak), You're a Good Man Charlie Brown (Snoopy), and a dance version of Alice in Wonderland (Alice). She has been dancing, teaching and choreographing various styles for years and has been working with Leigh's theater program since Fall 2018. She enjoys exposing students to a variety of dance styles to provide at least a foundation of movement to help promote the importance and opportunity-expansion of being a well-rounded performer. In her free time, she enjoys traveling the world, going to Disneyland, and visiting with family and friends.
Christine Ormseth
Makeup Coach
Christine graduated from Sonoma State University in 2011 with her Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts. She is a freelance Hair and Makeup Designer for musical theatre in the Bay Area and a Preschool Teacher at Children’s Corner in Los Altos. She has performed in numerous shows but prefers designing and has designed hair and makeup for 20+ shows. She has been working at Leigh for 4 years and loves teaching about theatrical makeup! She is so grateful that she’s able to do what she loves to do and will keep doing so! Much love to her friends and family!
Annalisa Penhollow
Audio Coach
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Annalisa Penhollow is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in Recording Industry with a focus on Audio Production and a Minor in Music Theory. She also has an Associate of Arts degree in Music Performance from Delgado Community College.
She had been in love with music and sounds all her life, but discovered the technical side in middle school. Mixing sound and producing high quality audio have been her passions ever since.
Her background is in studio work, with such places as New Orleans, Nashville, and Los Angeles. She started coaching at Leigh in 2017 and really enjoys working with the students each year.
In her free time, she enjoys finding new (to her) hidden beaches along the coast and catching all the new release movies.
Samantha Schroeter
Lighting Coach
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Samantha is a graduate of San Jose State University with a Bachelor of the Arts in Theater. They have been involved in theater from an early age. They have done many aspects of theater ranging from being on stage to designing lights for their first show in Spring of 2020, though most of the time they are running lights at The Luci Stern Theater in Palo Alto.
In their free time, they enjoy going to Disneyland and working on their fiber arts business.