Staff
Jessica Pantle
Drama Kids Teacher
Jessica Pantle is a Clark County School District kindergarten teacher at Don and Dee Snyder ES. She earned a degree from Rutgers University as well as a Masters in Elementary Education. Jessica has held many leadership roles within her school as well as the district, professionally developing colleagues. She has been teaching for 21 years. Jessica has worked with children ages 3-18 years in many extracurricular activities.
She has been teaching with Drama Kids for the last 17 years. That’s right. 17 years! She was on the original opening team of Drama Kids and has been right there by Drama Mama’s side every step of the way! Jessica loves being part of such a wonderful program that helps build confidence in children.
Celina Speights
Assistant Director/ Director of Musical Theater Programming
Celina is excited about another year of Drama Kids! Being a Navy kid, she grew up in San Diego and Japan but settled in Las Vegas. She studied at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a major in Theatre Studies. Celina used to perform all over the valley with Signature Productions and Super Summer Theatre. Most recently, she was on tour around the country with Feld Entertainment’s Sesame Street Live! Celina’s dream is coming true being able to direct and choreograph with Drama Kids! Her favorite part about teaching is building relationships with her students and watching them grow throughout the years.
Keith Burns
Administrative Assistant & Lead Drama Instructor
Keith Burns was born and raised here in Las Vegas. He has been a part of the Drama Kids family ever since it opened almost 15 years ago. Keith started Drama Kids when he was in 3rd grade and finished his journey as a DK student in the spring of 2018. He played many familiar roles with us; Spider in Storyland Idol, Bobby the Stage Manager in “Mystery Under the Big Top,” Jason in “Jason and the Golden Fleece,” Benny in “Kidnapping of Kitty O’Hara,” Officer Don Dinkle in “Slice of Life” , Reggie Harper in “Murder at Mornington Manor”, Detective Humpty in “Law & Order Fairy Tale Unit”, and Orpheus in “Greek Mythology Olympiaganza,” (and 2 others we can’t recall). He completed 10 years with Drama Kids and was one of our 1st 10-year award recipients.
Keith LOVED EVERY MINUTE of being in Drama Kids and believes our program fueled his passion for the arts. He continues to be part of this wonderful DK family and is honored to have earned a new “role” in the DK family and has joined our teaching team! Keith was also a dancer all throughout high school and enjoys dancing in his free time as well as acting. He began his teaching endeavors with us when he in 2017. Now, in 2022, he not only will he be teaching both Teen Acting Academy and after-school classes, he is also on our office administrative team, as well as the creative team for our musical theater program. There’s nothing that brings him more joy than seeing the Drama kids having fun in class and on the stage. There’s nothing that brings us more joy than knowing that we made a DRAMATIC difference in his life, and now he wants to pass that on to our youth. We are so proud of “Mr Keith.”
Trevor Rounds
Creative Drama, Acting Academy, & Take 2 Musical Theater Instructor
Trevor is so excited to be teaching at drama kids! Trevor has been an actor and director for several years. When he was in middle school, he started acting at Broadway Kids Academy, where he had many roles such as The Beast in “Beauty and the Beast,” Horton the Elephant in “Seussical the Musical,” and performed as Davey in one of the first licensed performances of “Newsies The Broadway Musical.” He’s also been in community theater productions with Signature Productions. At Broadway Kids Academy, he started directing, where he was able to put on “Shrek The Musical,” “Moana Jr,” and was able to be a director for a class doing “Newsies The Broadway Musical.” Drama Kids will be the opportunity to put all experience to work and to learn new things along the way. He’s so excited for a new journey and is so grateful to Tina for the opportunity, to family and friends for the love and support, and to all who have helped along the way.
Madison (Madi) Salvatore
Drama Kids Teacher
Madison, or Madi as many call her, is thrilled to finally be teaching with Drama Kids! She started her Drama Kids and theater journey as a fourth grader and has grown to love the art and company deeply. In her spare time, she likes to take photos, hangout with friends, and babysit the many littles in her family.
On top of her nine years of Drama Kids experience, she graduated from Las Vegas Academy of The Arts as a musical theater major. At LVA she played Mock Mock Mock Turtle, ensemble, and Knave of Spades in the first Las Vegas production of “Alice By Heart”, as well as worked with the her classmates to write their own jukebox musical and create shortened versions of Dear Evan Hansen (Cynthia), Hamlet (Queen Player), Much Ado About Nothing (ensemble), and Seussical (Bird Girl).
At Drama Kids she was in countless shows including “Newsies” (Katherine), “Shrek” (Teen Fiona), “Legally Blonde” (Vivianne), “Xanadu” (Melpomene), and High School Musical 1 & 2 (Gabriella).
Madi can not wait for what this year has in store for her with Drama Kids! She is more then ready to share her love of theater through the same company that shared theirs with her!
Emma Newton
Drama Kids Teacher
Emma is sincerely thrilled for another year of teaching Drama Kids! Emma is a Las Vegas native who has been involved in the theater scene for some time. She has been in a few performances across the valley. She enjoys acting, singing, and dancing, but acting is definitely her favorite!
In terms of teaching, she comes from a long line of educators and is now pursuing a degree in Secondary Education. Emma considers herself clever, witty, and caring.
Thank you Tina and Celina for allowing me to be a part of your amazing team over the last few years! Here we go! *Insert DK “WE ROCK” clap here!