Theatre Faculty

Priscilla Hummel is a producer, director, choreographer, and educator. In addition to being the STC Faculty Director she is a proud Ithaca native who is the founder and producing artistic director of Walking on Water Productions (WoW), a nonprofit musical theatre company rooted in Tompkins County. After obtaining her MFA in Acting with a directing concentration from Regent University and her BA in Theatre with a dance minor from Brenau University, Priscilla spent nine years in Chicago working as a director, choreographer, education director, teaching artist, on-camera actor, and dancer. Chicago directing credits include The Magic Paintbrush (Theatre Building Chicago), Heidi , Matthew Three Horn , The Wizard of Oz, Jack and the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Pinocchio, Camp Super Friend, and New Girl ( Provision Theater); Snoopy! The Musical and Rumplestiltskin ( Northbrook Theatre); and A Musical Theatre Revue (Trinity Christian College). Ithaca area directing/choreography credits include Godspell, The Fantasticks, Katrina A New Musical , A Virtual Cabaret , parts 2 and 3 of the virtual production of Comfort Food, Now. Here. This., and The World According to Snoopy!!! (WoW); and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Wells College). Additional choreography credits include Alice In Wonderland, Seussical Jr., and Mary Poppins Jr. (Hangar Theatre); Once Upon A Mattress , Mamma Mia!, Bye Bye Birdie, and Matilda (Lansing High School). Priscilla has been teaching in higher education since 2015 and has taught theatre and dance courses at SUNY Cortland, Wells College, Western Carolina University, and Trinity Christian College. She has also taught group fitness and physical education courses at Cornell University and Island Health & Fitness. She is thrilled to be a part of the faculty within the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Ithaca College!

New York City dance artist and educator Daniel Gwirtzman is known for his blend of technically challenging choreography and charismatic performance. He celebrates twenty-seven years as a New York City choreographer and company director. He danced with the internationally-renowned companies Garth Fagan Dance and Mark Morris Dance Group before co-founding Artichoke Dance Company in 1995 and Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company (DGDC), a performing and teaching nonprofit, in 1998. His repertory has earned praise for its humor, musicality, stylistic diversity, and accessibility. “Mr. Gwirtzman does know that in dance less can be more” writes The New York Times. The New Yorker describes him as a choreographer of “high spirits and skill.” DGDC has been committed to education since its inception, operating with the philosophy and programming that everyone can join the dance. He has been awarded commissions, residencies and fellowships nationally and abroad. His most recent creation, a digital educational resource, Dance With Us, received leadership support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The online platform showcases his decade-long practice as a filmmaker working in the dance for camera genre. Daniel joined IC’s Department of Theatre Arts faculty in 2019, where he teaches an array of dance courses and choreographs productions. 

Cynthia Henderson is a Professor of Acting in Ithaca College's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, in the Department of Theatre and Dance Performance. A professional actor, director, and the author of The Actor's Landscape , and Beyond the Studio: a Conversation about Acting , Cynthia's artistic and educational work has been experienced in the U.S., Europe, South America, Asia, and on the African continent. She is the founder of Performing Arts for Social Change. Her work in the area of social justice has earned her the CSPA of New York State's award for "Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice." She was also cited at the NYS Women's Expo as one the "20 Outstanding Women You Should Know" in Central NY. Her directing credits for Ithaca College include: Rent, Newsies, Everybody, Plumfield Iraq , The Exonerated, Burn This, The Colored Museum, and other explorations. She has also directed for the professional arm of the Roy Park School of Communications, Park Productions. Cynthia is a member of Actors' Equity, the National Alliance of Acting Teachers, an IC Dana Fellow, and a Fulbright Scholar.

Jennifer Herzog is an actor and educator originally from New York City. She has taught acting at Ithaca College since 2010. She has also taught acting at Binghamton University, Ithaca College's Summer Music Academy, the Hangar Theatre, and via private coaching.

Recent film credits include the supporting lead role in the distributed feature film NO CHOICE, which held its world premiere in June 2025 at L.A.'s esteemed Chinese Theatre during Dances wIth Films, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. It is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Recent local theatre credits include: Sherlock Holmes in MS. HOLMES & MS. WATSON, APT 2B (by Ithaca College theatre alum Kate Hamill) and AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY at the Hangar Theatre; premieres of THE SAINT and WHAT HAPPENS NEXT (by Professor Saviana Stanescu) at the Cherry Arts; and CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION and FIRST DAY: SUITE FOR FOUR ACTORS AND PERCUSSIONIST at the Kitchen Theatre Company. Off-Broadway/NYC credits include: Hero in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING with Gorilla Rep; Jessica in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Sister Mister in THE CRADLE WILL ROCK, and Eliante in THE MISANTHROPE, all at Jean Cocteau Repertory; the world premiere of YENTL in Yiddish (directed by Robert Kalfin) with the Folksbiene National Yiddish Theatre; and productions with companies including La MaMa ETC, Abingdon Theatre Co., Prospect Theatre Co., Theater For The New City, and many more.

As a producer, Jennifer helped build two different Ithaca-area non-profit theatre companies from the ground up: The Cherry Arts, and Civic Ensemble, a company she co-founded in 2012. She served as Associate Artistic Director for each company for three years.

Jennifer holds a B.F.A. in Acting from Ithaca College, and she has been a proud member of Actors' Equity Association for a quarter of a century. www.JenniferHerzog.com

Amy O'Brien is a teacher and an artist who is inspired by the pure quality of movement and clean lines of the ballet technique. The implementation of ballet vocabulary and responsible professionalism when taking a class is a part of my ballet curriculum for all levels. My hope for students is that they gain a better sense of who they are by their exploration in strength building, stretching, and understanding their body alignment. I feel energized by those who decide to dedicate their whole mind and spirit to an art form that has no boundaries. Creating an open space for students to take risks and travel on their own path is deeply rewarding.

             When I create movement for a piece, I work from an internal emotional state which creates a more meaningful story. I appreciate a collaborative rehearsal and learning environment and process, which invites the dancers and me to find energy in the sense of community building. My ballet training is innate in me and gives stability and value to my dance making.  Like the structure of the body, my choreography uses contemporary ballet steps but explores movement through the expansiveness of structure, organized patterns, and behaviors.

            I invite students to take on challenges and embrace changes to provide growth in their personal and artistic endeavors. The gift of movement and creating dance is to be cherished, and I find for students to begin to understand this, they must be willing to fail, and try again. Listening to ones’ authentic body creates awareness and openness to trust in the learning process both personally and in each other. I believe in developing a community of dancers who support, encourage, and listen to each other, which means I instruct depending on the needs of each student. My goal is for each student to feel that they have been recognized, given validation, and guided in a way that they have material to work and develop on their own. I encourage students to identify and celebrate the process, over the result.

Aimee Rials is a choreographer, performer and teacher.  Her choreographic work is an intersection of emotional, personal and physical ideas.  It is not only visual but a visceral exploration, organically derived from and inspired by her company of dancers, creating work that is soft and striking, simplistic and strong.  Delving into the dynamics of relationships, personal history and her own journey with her androgynous nature.  

As an educator, it is important for Aimee to create an environment that is supportive of strong technique while also encouraging exploration and collaboration.  It is essential to help develop students' ability and confidence to think critically in regards to movement.  She believes it is important for students to build strong technique in many styles of dance.  It allows the dancer more freedom in the process of exploration.  Whether their goal is to dance professionally or for the joy itself, diversity of movement leads to versatility as a performer.  Aimee wants her dancers and students to walk away from the studio feeling stronger, motivated and creatively awake.

Paula Murray Cole is an associate professor of acting, voice and movement in the Department of Theatre Arts. Her professional work is centered on the development of rasaboxes, a suite of exercises devised by Richard Schechner. Based on a combination of performance theories, practices and contemporary emotion science, rasaboxes trains emotional awareness and expressivity through the use of breath, body, voice, and sensation. 

Her research interests include ongoing research and development of rasaboxes; comparative studies in emotional and psychophysical techniques in actor training practices; the study of contemporary emotion science about the brain, body, and senses relevant to the practice of acting and theatre making. She is currently pursuing teacher certification in the Alexander Technique at the Philadelphia School for the Alexander Technique.

She holds her MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University and her BFA in Drama from Ithaca College. She is a member of Actors Equity Association, The International Society of Researchers on Emotion, Alexander Technique International and is a Licensed Massage Therapist in New York State.