AFYP Faculty and Staff

Mary Lechter

Mary has been working professionally as an actor in the Metropolitan Washington area, Los Angeles, and New York since 1985.

A graduate of University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theater and Speech Communications, she has worked at Washington area theaters including Theater of the First Amendment, Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, and Source Theatre. Television, radio and film credits include ABC’s All My Children, Barry Levinson’s Avalon, Diesel Films’ Dracula’s Mother, the recent MGM/Lionsgate thriller Hit and Run, and several spots for NPR’s Morning Edition.

Mary is Founder, President and Director of A Class Act – Acting for Young People & Adults, Inc. (AFYP). Founded in 1997, the program provides professional-level acting training for students of all ages. She is also Artistic Director for AFYP’s new sister organization, AFYP Stages. The new company is dedicated to producing plays for young audiences and their families. She is also a proud member of George Mason University’s faculty, in the Department of Theater and School of Music.

Applying acting skills in the business world, Mary’s corporate training clients include D.R. Horton Realtors, The D.C. Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, The D.C. Life Underwriters Foundation, and the Law Firm of Weiner, Rohrstaff & Spivey.

Mary is a member of The Screen Actors Guild, The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Actor’s Equity Association, The American Association for Theater Educators, Americans for the Arts, and the Educational Theatre Association.

AFYP Summer Arts Camp Staff 2011

Patrick Magill

Patrick is currently a DC area resident working as a stage manager, director, and actor. Recent stage management credits including: Washington Shakespeare Company’s Every Young Woman’s Desire and Camille: A Tearjerker, No Rules Theatre Company’s Some Girl(s), The American Century Theater’s Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and the 2010 Source Festival’s Artistic Blind Dates. This summer he had the opportunity of directing Public Seed Theatre Company’s sold-out run of Lysistrata…The Musical! in the 2010 CAP Fringe Festival. He also spent last season at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company as the Assistant to the Production Manager. Upcoming assistant stage management work includes Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s House of Gold, Studio Theatre 2nd Stage’s Mojo, and Theater of the First Amendment’s 24, 7, 365.

He also teaches children’s drama and musical theater classes with A Class Act-Acting for Young People and Adults, Inc based out of Fairfax, VA. With AFYP Stages, the sister company to AFYP, he is their Resident Stage Manager and he is also a member of the AFYP Stages Acting Company, where he performs the role of the Narrator et. al in Street Smart: The Adventures of Polly Pedestrian.

Candice Carter Cooper

Candice Carter Cooper is proud to be a part of the Acting For Young Peope (AFYP) family since 2008. Candice is the Director of Touring Programs and Outreach, as well as a faculty member of AFYP. In the past, she worked for four years with Virginia Stage Company (VSC), LORT, as the Education Associate and Tour Manger. Candice has served on the faculties of Imagination Stage, Educational Theatre Company, Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre and Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts. Also, she has worked at several professional theatres up and down the east coast from her hometown in Alabama to New York as a director, stage manager and educator. Out of the numerous productions Candice has worked on, some of her favorites include Wiley and the Hairy Man and The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi (VSC), The Big Bad Musical, Snow White the Musical and The Adventures of a Comic Book Artist (AFYP). This fall, Candice will be touring The Fisherman and his Wife to local schools with AFYP! Candice holds a BA in Theatre from Jacksonville State University.

Lisa Nanni-Messegee

Lisa Nanni-Messegee, Resident Director & Playwright, is founder of Lucy 8 Productions, and has written and adapted several plays for young audiences. In addition to Street Smart: The Adventures of Polly Pedestrian, Lisa wrote and directed DOISTER 2000 and Radio Vega, presented in Mankato , MN and most recently, locally with AFYP. Other works include The Mystery of the Dancing Princesses and Campfire Tales: Jorinda and Jorindel, based on Grimm’s fairy tales. Lisa was the Resident Director and Playwright for the Beechwood Theatre Company in Newport , RI . There, she developed a Victorian murder mystery play for the company called Fall from a Height, which ran for two seasons under her direction. Lisa is also an actor who has performed throughout the United States , and has extensive television and film experience from her time in Los Angeles . She has a B.A. in Theatre from Western Illinois University , an M.A. in Acting from Kansas State University and an M.F.A. in Directing from Minnesota State University in Makato. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and The Dramatist Guild of America.

Dannie Snyder

Dannie Snyder is a producer, director, and writer for both the stage and screen. She is currently in production for her first feature film The Long-Term Side Effect with her company LIV Creations LLC. Part-time she teaches with AFYP both Acting for the Camera during the summer and the Film Showcase offered in the fall and spring where her students get to actually act in a ten min film. She also volunteers with a non-profit company Peripeteia Productions that uses the power of theatre to help at-risk teens.

Mark Ormesher

Mark Ormesher is a Designer and Technician from Petersfield, UK. His current work with AFYP includes the technical aspects and graphic design, as well as managing and training the camp interns.

His work has included work with George Mason’s Green Machine as photographer; Northwind Films as the writer of the 48 Hour Film Project: A Fine Mess; NVCC Manassas as Sound Designer and Publicist; and with Robinson Theater Department as an Actor, Publicist, Writer, Director and Stage Hand.

Work at George Mason theater department includes The Exonerated, Sound Designer; Room Service, Master Electrician; tempODYSSEY, Assistant Stage Manager; TMPF, Light and Sound Designer; Kimberly Akimbo, Stage Manager; Something to Hide, Lighting Designer; The Elephant Man, Sound Designer; Absolution, Director.

Mark recently worked with Theater of the First Amendment on the production of Can't Scare Me, the Story of Mother Jones as the Projections Designer.

Mark also works at the Hylton Performing Arts Center as the Audio Engineer.