Staff

Lisa Loomis
Drama Teacher

Lisa, is the former Executive Director for Drama Kids of Eastside Seattle. Lisa brings over 20 years of education and drama experience and she has a real passion for making children feel encouraged and confident in themselves through drama.

Lisa’s background includes a Masters degree in business combined with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Dramatic Arts and Interpersonal Communications. She also brings a variety of teaching and organizing experiences, including Professor of graduate courses through DeVry University, Teacher and Organizer of Summer Youth Drama Camp, Elementary Classroom Teaching Assistance, Teacher of Sunday School Programs, Director of Dramatic Arts Programs through a local church and more!

Mary Brown
Lead Teacher

Although Mary graduated from the University of Arizona with dual education degrees in liberal and fine arts, it wasn’t until early 2015 that joining Drama Kids enabled the merging of her two greatest passions: Drama and Teaching!

Mary is an avid proponent of providing fine arts exposure and experience to the youth of our increasingly digital world. She feels that sound social and cultural development necessitates “unplugging” from the cycle of constant input!

Through drama “play,” we encourage our children to explore and express themselves in real-time, fostering genuine social interactions. Mary is grateful that Drama Kids can provide such opportunities, despite diminished political and financial support for the arts.

Her passion for “all things Drama” doesn’t cease at the close of the school week: you will often see Mary working at or performing for various theaters in the Puget Sound area.

Laelia Nguyen
Drama Teacher

Laelia grew up in Southern California where she developed a love of drama in her middle school drama club. She went on to be involved in drama at the community level as well as at her own high school. She studied Drama and Education at the University of California, Irvine, where she was involved with Theatre Woks, a club that worked to bring more Asian representation to the stage. Following graduation, she began working as a fencing coach, teaching a broad range of ages from kindergartners to seniors. Beyond drama, Laelia enjoys all aspects of the arts, including dance, art, fashion, TV and film, and video games.

Aluska Hebert
Administrative Assistant

Aluska Hebert was born in Brazil and became a Seattleite 4 years ago. She genuinely believes that giving children access to different cultures and a safe environment to learn and express their feelings is essential to becoming good human beings. Before working at Drama Kids, Aluska provided support in the sales and administrative fields, helping businesses and small brands expand their digital presence and profit goals. Aluska holds a certificate in Project Management from the University Of Washington.

Tara Cicora
Marketing Manager

Tara Cicora was born in Cleveland Ohio and moved to Seattle in 2006. She majored in communications while at Ohio University and has over fifteen years of experience working in Communications Marketing, Public Relations, and Management; over twenty years of experience in customer service, and ten years of experience in sales. Tara has been offering her skills to businesses of varying sizes in full-time and freelance capacities since college. Tara, an avid show choir singer, dancer, and member of her school’s drama clubs believes that creating a safe environment for children to express their feelings is essential to becoming a productive adults. She has also been training horses (and humans) in dressage and hunter/jumper since she was in college, in what free time she has she likes to read, do yoga and meditate, play with her sword collection (she was on the SCA fencing team in college), her violin and guitar and exercise her dog.

Ethan Penland
Drama Teacher

Ethan Penland has been teaching drama for years, but this is his first year working for Drama Kids and he can’t wait to work with so many talented young students. Ethan has taught Drama Camps for elementary-aged kids at the Stroum Community Center, directing musicals such as “Aladdin”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “The Wizard of Oz”. He has also been teaching and directing High School students for the past 2 years, directing shows such as “Radium Girls” and “Godspell”. Ethan Holds a BA in theater arts as well as a Master’s in education, both earned at Pacific Lutheran University here in Washington state.

Join our team! Drama Kids is seeking dynamic and fun part time teachers to meet our growing class schedule.  Please visit our Contact Us Page and submit your interest.