About Us
The Stapleton School, Marin County’s largest non profit performing arts institution, offers high quality, affordable programs in three divisions:
The Ballet division, offering over 50 classes per week during the school year; Summer workshops, intensives and our own Fantasy Ballet Camp; and two full-length productions per year, Nutcracker and a spring show.
The Theatre Arts division, featuring the Stapleton Theatre Company, produces an annual musical production of A Christmas Carol and a fully-staged multi-generational musical theatre production each May, directed by resident director Bruce Vieira with Musical Director Judy Wiesen and choreographer Jenny Rand.
Our newest division, Mind, Body & Spirit, offers Tai Chi/QiGong and daily Jazzercise classes at our beautiful facilities, taught by experienced and qualified independent contractors.
Faculty
Virginia Stapleton — Artistic Director/Founder
Virginia received her professional dance training at the San Francisco Ballet School, under the tutelage of American ballet pioneers, Willam and Lew Christensen. She began touring with the San Francisco Ballet Company and the San Francisco Opera Company in 1961, performing in such works as Swan Lake, Symphony in C, Connamore, Caprice, and Concerto Barocco. Eventually switching focus from performance to instruction, Virginia embarked on an extensive teaching career, instructing advanced and master classes for Jane Stamps Studio in Albany and the Petaluma Ballet, and eventually developing a dance program for the San Anselmo Recreation Center. In 1988, Virginia founded the Stapleton School of the Performing Arts with the unique mission of providing professional dance training, while incorporating a compassion for students as whole individuals. Since the inception of the Stapleton School, enrollment has grown steadily, and currently over 500 students are enrolled in the Ballet Division. In 1998, Virginia developed the Stapleton Youth Company to provide a semi-professional experience for the school's advanced students helping to bridge the prep-professional to the professional level.
Sharon Burns — Managing Director
Sharon joined the organization as Managing Director in January, 2006. Sharon has been associated with Virginia Stapleton / The Stapleton School for over twenty years. Sharon grew up in New Jersey and attended St. John’s University, majoring in communications. In 1984 she was hired as Office Manager of The Loric Corporation, a national direct mail catalog house, which was subsequently named one of INC Magazine’s “500 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies”. In 1988, when the corporation moved to San Rafael, Sharon agreed to relocate for a one-year contract to assist with the transition. She fell in love with Northern California and never went back to New York City (although she frequently visits). As Managing Director Sharon manages the school's business affairs, including programming, communications, marketing, finance and production management. Sharon’s extensive management experience also includes fifteen years in the public sector, most recently as Recreation Supervisor for the Town of San Anselmo. Sharon's arts management experience includes eight years as Executive Producer of the award-winning community theatre group, The Town Players, now known as The Stapleton Theatre Company.
Charles Torres — Ballet Master/Instructor
Charles was born and raised in Mesa, AZ, where he began his ballet training at age 12. He continued on to The School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, Cleveland Ballet School, Royal Danish Ballet School workshops and Arizona State University, all on full scholarships. He has been a principal dancer with Sacramento Ballet (and ballet master), Smuin Ballet, Ballet West Arizona, and as a principal guest with the San Francisco Opera Ballet; dancing all the full-length ballets and various contemporary repertoire. Charles has worked with some the greatest coaches of our time such as Jorge Esquivel, Violette Verdy, Henry Berg, Stephan Wenta, Malcolm Burn, and Mikhail Lavarosky of the Bolshoi Ballet. Charles has been associated with Stapleton for over ten years; teaching, choreographing and coaching, from Ballet 2 to the Advanced levels. He has choreographed Footloose, Oklahoma and The King and I for the Stapleton Theatre Company. Charles returned to school and in 2008 earned his Master Degree from St. Mary's College in 21st Century Leadership. He has also earned his Level I certification from Values Tech, and has recently consulted for Alameda County Sheriff's M.O.M.S. program. He also consults for numerous dance schools, companies, and fellow artists as a mentor within the field of dance.
Megan Cherry — Instructor, Lower Division
Megan is a native of Marin County. Megan began her training with Virginia Stapleton at age 4. While dancing with Stapleton School of Performing Arts for 14 years, Megan performed in 11 Nutcrackers; La Fille Mal Garde, Coppelia, David McNaughton’s Tom Sawyer, and numerous repertory pieces. She later returned to perform with the Offspring Company. Megan earned her BA in dance in May 2004 from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. While at Denison, she received training in classical ballet as well as contemporary dance. Megan performed in various repertory pieces and danced in a collaborative performance with Bobby McFerrin. She was a teacher and director of the Creative Movement Program at Denison, introducing dance to children ages 3-8. Megan began her teaching career with Stapleton in fall 2004. In 2005, she received her CMT license at The Institute of Conscious BodyWork in Corte Madera. In addition to teaching and massage she has most recently created her own business, "Miss Megan's Ballet Birthday Parties."
Jenny Rand — Instructor, Lower & Upper Divisions/Administrative Services
Jenny began her ballet study at The School of the Sacramento Ballet and went on to perform professionally as a member of the company. Jenny performed for fifteen years in Sacramento Ballet's production of The Nutcracker as well as ballet favorites Romeo & Juliet, La Fille Mal Gardee, and Don Quixote. Nationally she performed in DanceAspen's production of Balanchine's Serenade and studied under scholarship at San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and School of American Ballet. After career-changing spinal surgery, Jenny shifted her focus toward Musical Theatre and graduated in 2003 with a B.A. in Musical Theatre from California State, Chico. She has performed professionally and regionally throughout Northern Californian, most recently in a leading role in the 2010 "Best of Festival" award winner at the San Francisco Fringe Festival. As well as instructing ballet at SSPA, she acts as choreographer for the theatre division.
Ashley Brown — Instructor, Upper Division
Ashley Brown is originally a South Florida native, but has adapted to life on the West Coast. She began her training at the age of seven with the Academy of Ballet Florida and summer programs with Houston Ballet and Orlando Ballet, among others. After her traineeship with Ballet Florida, Ms. Ashley decided to go back to college and receive her degree in performance art from the LINES/Dominican BFA program. During her experience as a professional dancer she has worked with many choreographers such as Gregory Dawson, Ben Stevenson, Val Caniporoli, and currently Sarah Berges. Ms. Ashley is very excited to share her experience and knowledge with the Stapleton School and its growing family.
Miriam Rowan — Instructor, Lower Division
Miriam Rowan hails from New York, where she began her dance training at Northern Westchester Center for the Arts and the Isadora Duncan Youth Ensemble. At the age of eleven she was accepted into the School of American Ballet, where she trained on scholarship for seven years. As a child she appeared in performances with the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and the Kirov Ballet. In 2002, the School of American Ballet Directors awarded her the DANCE (Danish American Nationals Cultural Exchange) Scholarship to train with at the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen.
Miriam did her apprentice year with Carolina Ballet before joining the San Francisco Ballet's corps de ballet. During her six years with the San Francisco Ballet, she performed in numerous works in ballets classics Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Don Quixote, and Romeo and Juliet. Miriam's repertoire also includes George Balanchine's Jewels, The Four Temperaments, Who Cares?, Symphony in C, a Midsummer Night's Dream; Jerome Robbins' Glass Pieces and West Side Story Suite; Christopher Wheeldon's Carousel and The Leaves are Fading; Anthony's Tutor's Lilac Garden; William Forsythe's Artifact Suite; and James Kudelka's The Ruins Proclaim the Buildings Were Once Beautiful for the New Works Festival (2008).
Miriam's international touring includes performances in France, China, Iceland, and Paraguay. She has also performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, New York City Center, the New York State Theatre, the Harris Theatre in Chicago, Orange County Center for the Performing Arts, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2007 she was featured on PBS's "Dance In America: San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker" in 3 roles.
Miriam received her Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts at Saint Mary's College of California and is currently working on a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium, where she intends to pursue her interest in child development, clinical, and sport psychology. She is a certified Gyrotonic(R) Instructor and studied choreography with Joe Goode at UC Berkeley.
For the past three years, she has been teaching beginning, intermediate, and advanced ballet, as well as pre-ballet at The Ballet Studio, Presidio Dance Theatre, and Stapleton Ballet.
Bruce Vieira — Resident Director, Stapleton Theatre Company
Bruce Vieira, a California native, started his acting training at the College of Marin. He continued his studies in acting at the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York City. After several years acting in Chicago, Vermont and Denver, Bruce returned to school at the University of Iowa to study directing and acting. In 2001 he returned to Marin County where he has appeared in many productions including several Mountain Plays and numerous performances with the Ross Valley Players. Along with acting and sound design, in 2006 Bruce returned to directing with a production of I Hate Hamlet at the Ross Valley Players and again in 2010 with RVP's production of The Miser. In 2007 he directed his first production with Stapleton Theatre Company. As of 2012, Bruce has directed eight productions with Stapleton including Hairspray, A Christmas Carol, Willy Wonka and The Music Man.