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 Champion
Assistant Director/ Director of Musical Theater Programming
Celina has been teaching for Drama Kids of Las Vegas for 8 years, and she is so excited for another fantastic year.
Being a Navy kid, she grew up in San Diego and Japan but settled in Las Vegas during High School. 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!
In her free time she enjoys spending time with her husband and their two kids. Whether its going to Disneyland, attending live shows, or playing video games, they are always together.
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
Lead Teacher & Acting Academy 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. Currently, he is currently our Lead Teacher and teaches both Teen Acting Academy and after-school classes. 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
Drama Kids Teacher
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!
Gala Batres
Drama Kids Teacher
Gala Batres is thrilled for her first year teaching at Drama Kids! She’s originally from Zacatecas, Mexico but has been in Las Vegas for about 14 years. She has been in numerous productions around the Las Vegas valley with Las Vegas Little Theatre, Majestic Rep Theatre, and Vibrant Light Theater. She has an Associate of Arts from CSN and is working towards her Bachelors in journalism and media studies. She always looks forward to new opportunities and learning experiences from everywhere and everyone!
Kaila Leary
Drama Kids Teacher
Kaila is ready to rock her third year of Drama Kids!
She is originally from mid-Michigan and has called Las Vegas home for 6 years.
Kaila has tons of stage experience as a choir member and was even a singer in a band in college!
She is married and has six total pets! Three cats and three dogs!
She obtained her Bachelors in Early Childhood Education from UNLV and currently works for CCSD at Snyder Elementary.
Kaila is so excited to be on the Drama Kids team again for Snyder’s lower primary class. We are going to SHINE!
Bailey McGeachy
Drama Kids Teacher
Ms Bailey was born and raised in Las Vegas. Although she is a DK teacher now, she started with DK as a student. She was a student in Drama Kids for 11 years. Some of her favorite roles she has played include Fiona in Shrek, Baker’s Wife in Into The Woods, and Vice Principal Panch in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee! She loves theater and graduated from Las Vegas Academy of the Arts as a theater major. When she is not in DK class or in school/studying, she enjoys drawing, painting, and horseback riding. She is really excited to get back into the act this year!!
Brittany Harris
Drama Kids Teacher
Mrs. Britt is looking forward to her second year teaching with Drama Kids. She is originally from Richmond, KY and has loved everything theater, film and TV for as long as she can remember. She first started her career working tech at the Brown Theater in Louisville, KY. She then moved to Los Angeles, CA where she studied Film and Creative writing at California State University Northridge and worked in development for companies such Viacom, TLC, CollegeHumor and Sony Pictures. When she is not teaching Drama she enjoys spending time with her husband, two kids and furbaby Annabelle. Drama Kids has been a wonderful opportunity to expand her love of teaching and she has witnessed firsthand with her own son how the program builds confidence. She is so excited to start another year and help kids find their voice.