Emily Funicello
Founding Member/
Director of Dance
Master’s Degree (Ed.M.) Rutgers University - Dance Education Graduate School of Education; recipient of the 2014 Ed.M. Dance Education Excellence Award- Summa Cum Laude - Mason Gross School of the Arts
BFA Dance Rutgers University
Emily has performed with Zella Dance and Hysterika Jazz Dance Companies at venues that include the Dumbo Arts Festival, Dixon Place, Breaking Glass Project (Ailey Citigroup Theater), Boston Contemporary Dance Festival (Paramount Theater), Jersey New Moves (NJPAC), and the NY Jazz Choreography Project (Salvator Capezio Theater). Emily is a full time Dance Teacher for Trenton Public Schools. She was a recipient of the Disney Musicals in Schools programming through NJPAC, bringing musical theater to her students at Fred W. Martin Center for the Arts in Jersey City, NJ. Her students also partnered with the professional dance company, Nimbus Dance Works, to perform the Jersey City Nutcracker. In 2016 she joined the creative team of the nationally recognized Conwell Kidz Drama Program at P.S. 3 school as choreographer. The Conwell Kidz have received top awards at The National Performing Arts Festival in Walt Disney World and The Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, GA. They have piloted musical productions with iTheatrics, Musical Theatre International and Disney Musicals. Emily is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher who has successfully completed the American Ballet Theatre Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-primary through Level Three of the ABT National Training Curriculum.
Nicole Oliver
Founding Member/
Director of Music & Acting
BA Theatre Performance – Fordham University at Lincoln Center
NJ Certified Teacher of Theater and Speech, Vocational Teacher of Theater, Teacher of Elementary Education - St. Peter’s University
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Nicole is currently working in the dual credit college theatre program at the JC Arts High School Program in partnership with NJCU, while also pursuing her master’s degree in supervision. She began her career as a professional actor in regional theatre, educational touring companies, and Theatre for Young Audiences, and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Her passion for teaching was sparked at the Kaleidoscope Festival in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she led a workshop that inspired her to develop children’s programming with The Forum Theatre in Metuchen, NJ.
In 2004, Nicole joined JCPS as a drama teacher at PS#3, where she founded the nationally award-winning Conwell Kidz Drama Program. The program has been featured on ABC, CBS, News12 NJ, NJ.com, and the Jersey Journal, and has performed at major community events including Mayor Fulop’s Inauguration, the All About Downtown Festival, the Hoboken Arts Festival, and the NJSBA Conference in Atlantic City. The Conwell Kidz have earned top honors at The National Performing Arts Festival in Walt Disney World, FL, and The Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, GA. Students have piloted productions with iTheatrics, Disney Musicals, and Musical Theatre International, including the national release of Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Treehouse: Pirates Past Noon at the prestigious New Works Festival in Atlanta. Many alumni continue their craft at institutions such as Hudson County’s High Tech High School, Jersey City’s Performing Arts High School, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Kean University, NJCU, Montclair State University, Wagner College, and Pace and have worked with companies including iTheatrics, MTI, Disney Musicals, Wingspan Academy, TaDa!, and Kidz Theater of NYC.
Nicole Oliver founded the nonprofit City Kidz Playhouse Theatre Academy to address the need for affordable theatre training for students in Hudson County. Since its inception, CKP has provided countless young performers with opportunities to train, supported by scholarships funded through the JC Youth Foundation, the Jersey City Arts and Cultural Trust Fund, and other generous benefactors.
Broadway producer Ken Davenport, remarked in an article highlighting theatre educators that, “The future of the theater is in good hands, thanks to people like you.”
She was awarded the 217-2018 JCPS District Teacher of the year, the NJ Governor’s Award (2019), the Freddie G Teacher Fellowship (2019) through iTheatrics, MTI, Disney Musicals, and Freddie Gershon, where she trained under Broadway leaders such as Jeff Calhoun and Chris Gatelli. Her program also received a $5,000 grant from the Gershons. Nicole was named JCPS District Teacher of the Year in 2016–17, representing the second largest district in New Jersey. She continues to serve the arts community as a member of the Board of Directors for Pushcart Players, New Jersey’s premier Theatre for Young Audiences company.
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​Stef hails from Queens, NY and holds a B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Speech & Theatre. As a teen, she performed in musicals before she, along with her family, started The First String Players Community Theatre Group. It was there she acted, directed, and produced multiple comedies. Stef has staged managed community theatre shows such as The Pajama Game and Cinderella. She has also stage managed the Off-Broadway production of The Boychick Affair, as well as Manhattan's A Class Act NY's first Junior production of Into The Woods Jr.
Stef Morisi
Director
Jenna is a teacher at Frank R. Conwell School, P.S. #3. She graduated High Tech High School as a dance major. Through the program she was able to travel to Vienna, Italy and become Ballroom Certified. With such extensive training, she was one of 12 girls from all of New Jersey and New York to earn a spot in the Paul Taylor Professional Modern Dance Company. Year one of teaching, Ms. Van Sant wrote a grant to the Board of Education and created the first dance program in the Jersey City Elementary Schools. Year two, she was asked to become the choreographer of the Conwell Kidz Drama Program. She choreographed "The Little Mermaid in 2023" winning Outstanding Production in Sacramento, California for the JTF and “Finding Nemo”. She is honored to be a part of City Kidz!
Jenna Van Sant
Choreographer
BFA Acting - Rutgers Mason Gross
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Amaya Montañez is a proud Puerto Rican Actor/Poet born and raised in Jersey City, NJ. She was introduced to her passion for performance and collaboration with other artists at a young age. Since then, she has made it her life’s goal to diversify creative spaces. She also wants to remind POC that we are allowed to be Freaks™, Weirdos, Kooky, “too much” and that no form of self-expression is exclusive. Outside of Acting, she writes, coaches and performs spoken word poetry. She is curious about screenwriting and how she can mesh her love for acting with her love for language. Some of her credits include Cleopatra in The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra at The Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London, and LAByrinth’s Barn Series at Cherry Lane Theater.
Amaya Montanez
Teaching Artist/Acting
N.J.C.U. - Musical Theatre Major
Katrina Rada is a proud Filipina American theatre artist who specializes in dance and acrobatics. She has been dancing since the age of three and has followed that passion to this day. Her prior credits most recently include playing Connie Wong in NJCU’s production of A Chorus Line and while attending High Tech High School as a musical theatre major, she performed in Evita and The Drowsy Chaperone. For the past couple of years, she has served as The Artists Avenue’s main dance educator and continues to choreograph for their MainStage productions such as Shrek Jr and Moana Jr. She aspires to encourage younger generations of artists to follow their dreams and provide them with the necessary tools for success in anything they do.
Katrina Rada
Teaching Artist/
Dance & Musical Theatre
B.A. Theater Arts - N.J.C.U
Melissa Jayme began her love of the performing arts in elementary school where she participated in the NYC dance program NDI (National Dance Institute), created by the American Ballet great and Kennedy Center Honors recipient, Jacques D’Amboise. For 3 years she participated in the program performing at
Madison Square Gardens’ Felt Forum Arena and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.
She began her theatre training with stage and film veterans Annette Charles, Marilyn Sokol, and Jim Niesen, earning her Bachelor's Degree in Theater Arts from New Jersey City University (NJCU) in 2001.
After graduation, she became a member of the Actors Equity Union with The Irondale Ensemble Company becoming a performer and teaching artist for the company until 2003. In 2005 she trained in Salsa, Latin Jazz and Ballroom dance, passing with high honors in 2010, the Bronze Level Teacher
Certification exam with DVIDA (Dance Vision International Dance Association) in the areas of Rhumba/Cha-cha, Latin Hustle, East & West Coast Swing, Argentine Tango and Salsa.
In 2004 Ms. Jayme became an Elementary Public School teacher in the Jersey City Public Schools District. While being a classroom teacher, she began coordinating small after school dance and theatre performances for the community. In 2010 she became PS #23’s first Theatre/Performing Arts Teacher,
coordinating larger scale middle school productions such as Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Little Shop of Horrors and The Lion King Jr. Ms. Jayme is entering her 4 th year at PS#20. Her Blue Dolphin productions include The Jungle Book kids, Annie Jr and most recently Into the Woods Jr.
Ms. Jayme is very excited to be part of City Kidz Playhouse Jr. and Sr. Division!
Melissa Jayme
Teaching Artist/PTA Clubs
Dance & Acting