About Us

Alison Schiller - Student Choreographer

Alison has been performing since the age of 5 and has been part of Encore since the very beginning. While performing has been a passion, she also spent 11 years as a competitive gymnast prior to devoting her spare time to choreographing. Some of her favorite past roles include Belle (Beauty & the Beast), Peter Pan (Peter Pan) and her all-time favorite, Eponine (Les Misérables). She sings with the South Bay Children’s Choir and studies private voice with Anne Walsh as well as studying ballet, jazz and lyrical dance at Dance 1 and El Camino College. Recently Alison had the opportunity to perform with Broadway legends Sutton Foster, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Kerry Butler and Karen Olivo in Broadway Memories, a benefit concert for the Alzheimerís Association. This is Alisonís second year as an Encore Student Staff Choreographer. Although, she has been assisting with choreography for the past three years, and assisted on Safety Kids, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, How To Eat Like a Child, and Seussical. Last summer, she worked as the lead choreographer for Encore’s Summer Junior Drama Program production of Willy Wonka. This year, she will be working as the co-choreographer with Ms. Jen on both Joseph and Annie, as well as directing and choreographing Encore’s Charity Outreach student assembly production Safety Kids.

Belle Dunn - Student Assistant Choreographer

Belle started performing in musical theatre at the age of 12 and has loved it ever since. Before she got into theater, she was a competitive gymnast for 11 years. Since her retirement from the sport, she has been working as a coach for 2 years at Studio West Gymnastics in Torrance. She coaches girls from ages 6 to 13 and loves her job and her girls. Since starting theater with Encore, Belle has been able to enjoy playing roles such as: Little Red (Into the Woods), Narrator (Joseph), a Wickersham brother (Seussical the Musical), and her favorite, Adelaide (Guys and Dolls). Belle takes private voice lessons with Ann Walsh and has a passion for dancing. She is currently taking classes Tap III, Ballet III, Jazz IV/V and Lyrical at Dance 1 in Redondo Beach. This is Belle’s 2nd year as Encoreís Student Staff Assistant Choreographer. Last year she had the opportunity to work with the kids in Encoreís Summer Junior Drama Program of Willy Wonka helping them learn the choreography. This year she canít wait to assistant direct one of Encoreís first Student Directed One- Acts (This is a Test) with Alec Reed, and work with the kids in Encoreís Annie and the Summer Junior Drama Program of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.

Tennessee Mills - Student Stage Manager

Tennessee is a graduate of Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA) Integrated Arts Conservatory with an emphasis in Theater and Film. She has been on stage with ENCORE since the 2008 production of Peter Pan and has made her home there ever since! Her favorite shows with ENCORE include Quilters (Granddaughter), Les Misérables (Lovely Lady), and all time favorite, Beauty and the Beast (Silly Girl and Belle u/s). Other productions on stage have been Street Car Named Desire (Blanche), Once Upon A Mattress. She was also a featured performer in OCHSA's Annual Integrated Arts Showcase, and annually in OCHSA's winter and spring fashion shows. Tennessee studies voice with Mike Walker and tap with Rashida Khan. She is just as comfortable backstage as on it. She has worked crew on many shows in high school and in youth theater productions around the South Bay including Oliver!, The Music Man, Willy Wonka, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, and Joseph. In addition, she has written and directed her own plays and short films. Tennessee often finds herself working with her mother, Wyndi, painting sets. There is nothing she enjoys more than sharing the joy of theater with her friends, family, and younger students!

Claire Griswold - Student Assistant Director

At almost twenty shows, Claire is slowly but surely becoming a well seasoned actor. She's been a regular on the ENCORE stage, and has been seen in almost all of their productions. She started at the very beginning with Joseph! (Dreamcoat Dancer), and continued on to do it again this year (Wife and understudy Narrator). She got her first taste at a supporting role in ENCORE's production of Guys and Dolls as Sister Alice Abernathy, a role she will always remember fondly, and continued on to play some of her other favorite roles in Beauty and the Beast (Mrs. Potts), Seussical the Musical (Mrs. Mayor) and Les Misérables (Lovely Lady, Ensemble). She also was fortunate enough to play her all-time favorite role: Sarah in ENCORE's Outreach production of Quilters. She loves to sing, and performs with Mira Costa's Advanced Women's Choir. These last two years have provided her with another role, and she is extremely proud to say that this is her second year as ENCORE's Student Staff Director. She has been a part of both of ENCORE's Summer Junior Drama Programs, and was the Assistant Director of the production of Willy Wonka. This year, she will be helping Ms. Summer with many of the directing aspects of both Joseph! and Annie, and plans to work the on the Summer Junior Drama Program again.

Kieran Lorenzen - Student Producer

Kieran is no stranger to the stage. She has been performing since the age of 9, has been playing piano since age 13, currently studies vocal music at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, and is a professional jazz singer. Kieran sings with the LACHSA concert choir, gospel choir, and chamber choir, the Coast Music Conservatory jazz ensemble, Storeytime, and is the singer for the Manhattan Beach Jazz Quartet. Past musical theatre credits include Anne of Green Gables (Josie Pye), Peter Pan (Peter Pan), and Into the Woods (The Witch). This will be her second year as student producer and she is looking forward to learning as much as she can.

Gannon Tanji - Student Technician

Gannon is relatively new to the realm of musical theater. His first performance was in Encore's 2010 Les Miserables (Joly), and he recently performed the lead role in Encore’s 2011 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Gannon has assisted with painting sets for Encore’s productions of both Beauty & the Beast and Les Misérables. He served as a Student Technician during the summer of 2010 for Willy Wonka with Encore and RVL SCORE’s production of Oliver. During the Fall of 2010, he worked at El Camino College on their Student Directed One-Acts, as well as their production of Dark of the Moon. He has recently become a part of the technical theatre department at El Camino College with hopes of one day becoming a Lighting Designer. He is glad to have this opportunity to work on the technical side of theatre.