Anna Philipsen

Anna grew up in Portland, Oregon and has been a musician from a young age. At 5 she began playing the violin and continues to play to this day. Throughout high school she performed in several choirs and orchestras, including the pit orchestras for all the musicals at her high school. Anna also took drama classes and was a member of the International Thespian Society. In college she continued to pursue music classes, took vocal lessons, performed improv violin with worship teams, and taught music lessons. Since then, she's continued to perform at events, with worship bands, and in community orchestras. In addition to a love for music, Anna has always had a passion for design. She received a BA in Art & Education from George Fox University. Over the years she has used her gifts in design for developing events, marketing, styling weddings, interior design, and most recently at CYT. Anna lives with her husband Josiah and their three boys, Landon, Dash, and Clay. All three boys are homeschooled and involved at CYT. Anna is continually thankful for how the program has blessed their family and how she can use her passion for design, music, and educating kids at CYT!

Brianna Phelps

Brianna is an 18-year-old college student at George Fox University, studying to receive her Elementary Education Degree and Special Ed Certificate. She is part of a huge family and has always loved working with and being around children. In the past, she has coached boy's 3rd-4th grade and girl’s 5th-6th grade basketball and absolutely loved getting to know each of her players and helping them to grow not only in their skills but also in confidence and good sportsmanship. She has also spent the last year being a T.A. and substitute teacher for a local private Christian school, for all elementary grades. Last summer, she also spent her time being a camp counselor for CYT, and loved it! This led to her helping to paint sets for some of the recent shows, and even to being a volunteer helper for the Dalmatians show. She is excited to continue her work with CYT and see her two sisters in the upcoming CYT shows!

Christopher Benjamin

Christopher Benjamin hails from Portland, OR, though raised a good portion of his young life in Jackson, Mississippi, of which he declares home. Chris is connected to music and drama in many ways. While living in Portland, he sang in the Portland Symphonic choir, one of Oregon's finest classical choirs as both a paid choir member and a soloist. He also participated in the Oregon Bach Festival from 2007 to 2012. Chris has traveled as a professional Tenor & Counter Tenor to perform in California, Washington, and of course his residing state, Oregon, but his personal favorite was to New York City's Avery Fisher Hall where he was the tenor soloist for Handel's Dettingen te deum. His favorite conducted concert was the Vivaldi Master work of Magnificat. Graduate of George Fox University, with a Bachelors Degree in Music Performance, and also received a Masters of Arts in Teaching at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon. During his career in music, he also finds time to teach at his private voice studio, Higher Heights Vocal Studio, which he founded in February of 2014. As for the dramatic side of things, Mr. Benjamin has had leading roles in “Les Miserales” and Val Jean, “ Jekyll and Hyde” as Jekyll and Hyde, the “Golden Compass” as King Iorek Byrnison. The most recent being "Parade" as "Jim Conley” and “Songs for a New World Song Series” as Man 3. Benjamin has also worked as a Special Education Para Professional and girls basketball coach at Rosa Parks Elementary. Along with these things, Chris is the Oregon State Jurisdiction Youth President, he is a Worship Leader for quite a few ministries in Klamath and Pastoral Assistant to his Pastor at, Consumed by the Harvest Family Worship Center, under the leadership of Pastor B. R. Moore, Sr. and Lady D. T. Moore. Mr. Benjamin has now lived in Klamath Falls, OR for 7 years, where he now works as an Elder at Freewill COGIC, and enjoys teaching at Henley High School as the Director of Choirs, where his choir recently won first place at the solo and ensemble competition and fourth place at the OSAA State Choir competition. He is also the Klamath Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director. Chris’ heart is to continue to bring hope, joy, life and love to all through the Arts. His heart is to also plant a seed of love and respect for the arts in the hearts of the next generation! So that it may never die!

Grace Fisher

Hi! I'm Grace Fisher. I grew up in Oregon doing CYT since I was eleven. I have always loved dance and theatre and have been blessed to teach it over the past few years. Since 2021, I have been studying Musical Theatre in New York. I recently graduated with my BFA from Marymount Manhattan College, where I've been gifted phenomenal opportunities to learn from industry professionals. The most important thing to me as a teacher is to create an environment of inclusion and passion so that young artists have room to take risks and make big choices. I cannot wait to work with the students, using our God-given gifts to bring glory to Jesus!

Jay Tatco-Nowak

Jay started at CYT in 2017 as both the musical director for Beauty and the Beast Jr. and a vocal teacher. Since then he has been the musical director for Scrooge, Aladdin Jr. (Vancouver), Peter Pan Jr., and Tarzan. Jay has also continued to teach classes in music, acting, and dance. Alongside teaching and directing, Jay is also a performer. He has performed in Persephone at Bedrock Theatre and in Once at Broadway Rose Theatre. Jay’s background is in Music Performance, with a Bachelors of Music degree from BIOLA University. He also serves as a worship leader/musician at his church and also does film and television acting.

Jennifer Angus

Jennifer is a mother of 2 kids who love CYT! She has performed in the Singing Christmas Tree at the Keller Auditorium and at various church productions for Easter & Christmas. The Celebration Community Choir is where she is currently using her talents. When not singing, she enjoys spending time with her family, especially at Disney World!

Jessica Hays

I have been involved in the arts in some capacity for the majority of my life. After serving on the costume team for several shows, I am excited to join the teaching team and teach others how to sew. I live in Sherwood with my husband and three kids. When I'm not sewing costumes for a show you can find me outdoors, hiking to some mountain peak.

Kiersten Krajcar

Kiersten brings over 20 years of teaching experience in class settings and church kiddo instruction and homeschool spaces to CYT's excellent learning community. As a lifelong appreciator of musical theater, she deeply believes that we are all created by a Creative creator with hearts for creating! Drama is a great venue for us as storytellers (with a wonderful story to tell!) Patience and enthusiasm with a sprinkling of joy describes Kiersten's teaching approach. The classroom is a community and when we all bring our best and respect each other well, it opens the doors to learning. Kiersten and Tim are homeschooling Sophie and Anya and nary a day goes by without music and worship in the Krajcar home. It's a delight to connect with other creative souls in CYT!

Lisa Allison

Lisa has been dancing and performing since she was very young. She received a BA in theatre performance and theatre administration from Whitworth University. She has studied numerous styles of dance including ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap, hip-hop, swing, ballroom, and latin. Since graduating, she has been active working with professional and community theaters in the Portland and Salem area stage managing and choreographing. She believes we were all made with the ability to dance, and with a little practice and instruction, we can create something very beautiful through movement. For Lisa, dance is a joyful expression of the soul, and she is excited to share that joy with others. When not working on a production, she enjoys going on adventures with her husband, Kyle, and their children Lexie, Marcus, Jinora, and Ezra.

Megan Toews

I got bit by the theater bug when I was very young, performing in church and school productions. In high school I not only spent lots of time onstage but also backstage. I learned to create and inspire through many aspects of technical theater. I have continued to enjoy being involved in community theater and recently have had the pleasure of teaching kids theater classes and being involved in CYT productions. I have spent my adult life working with kids to educate, encourage and help them find what makes them special. Theater has taught me to push myself further than I thought I could and I hope to inspire kids to find that passion in themselves.

Sandy Shaner

Sandy Shaner has been involved with the performing arts for 40 years. She studied both Dance and Early Childhood education at PSU, in addition to her training through multiple dance academies, including The Portland Dance and Northwest Dance Academies. Sandy has been an instructor of both drama and dance and is currently in her 21st year at Lake Oswego Academy of Dance. She also enjoys choreographing musical productions for schools in Portland, but most of all she loves being a part of the CYT family, where her dance background and her love of Jesus come together.

Sara Stanton

Sara is a mom of four, three of whom are in CYT. She trained in various styles of dance in her youth and throughout college, and was blessed to teach jazz, ballet, and tap at her church's dance studio in Sacramento. She was also part of the dance ministry and loves to worship God through dance. She is delighted to teach kids in CYT dance fundamentals.

Sta'Cee Godard

For Sta'Cee it all began with a small part in a church play as a young kid, and slowly developed into a true excitement for drama and theater. Since then Sta'Cee has had the opportunity to be on the stage and behind the scenes in numerous productions. But her favorite roles in life include being a wife to her husband and mother to her 4 precious kids. She has worked with youth of all ages in church ministry for 25 years and has found that no matter the age group; drama and role playing have served as incredible tools for teaching. She truly delights in helping kids experience and understand God's love in such a fun and creative way.

Suz Ruddock

Susan Ruddock began dancing at age 16, taking an Interpretive Dance class from Sr. Jeanine Therese. She found her passion & escalated her talent by taking thousands of diverse dance classes: modern, ballet, tap, jazz & musical theatre. Tap dancing so fascinated her that she dedicated 35 years to The Skylark Tappers dance company, retiring in Dec 2018. In 2010, Suz was chosen as a local Rockette to open the Radio City Rockettes’ show in Portland. Over the years, Suz honed her tap skills by interacting with taps masters Cholly Atkins, Brenda Buffalino, Honi Coles, Linda Sohl-Elison, Fred Strickler, Portland’s own Terry Brock & countless other tap masters. Suz enjoys engaging in theatre as an actor, singer, dancer, choreographer or assistant director with over 40 shows to her credit. A recent venture was choreographing Disney’s The Lion King for Kids.

Tim Krajcar

Tim’s love of the theater started early - as a winsome young lad, he stoutly refused to go on stage and audition for a community production of The Music Man out of sheer terror. Luckily, he has since conquered his fears, but still finds more than 75 trombones in one place unnerving. These days he prefers a warm & cozy tech booth, doing the sorts of jobs that nobody ever thinks about until it all goes terribly wrong. As a long-time professional musician and production engineer, he has a deep understand of dramatic arts and even more dramatic people. His main interests are drinking coffee, following his wife around, parenting two starry-eyed CYT tweens, and writing bios that are pretty funny, but not too funny.

Tina Boulade