Conservatory Teachers

Megan Castleberry
Megan is a junior theatre major at Middle Tennessee State University. She has trained in multiple genres of dance since the age of three and has been teaching on and off for 5 years. The most recent work she has done has been at Tucker Theatre as the Assistant Choreographer for West Side Story and the Choreographer for Peter Pan. She has also worked as a Choreographer at Bradley Academy Elementary School for 2 years. In her free time she enjoys playing ukulele and piano, hiking, and hanging out with her dog, MoMo.

Michael McGee
Michael has been working (playing) with Conservatory since the beginning. He has served as this camp's director, and has taught, dance, acting, and music. This teaching artist has performed, directed, and choreographed productions at several companies and school systems in Middle Tennessee. He currently works with the Tullahoma City Schools system as an E. A. at Robert E Lee Elementary School, and teaches after school musical theatre workshops there and at the other 3 elementary schools in Tullahoma.

Dan Jones
Dan Jones is an Actor, Voice Actor, and improviser based out of Murfreesboro, TN. He has been acting all of his life, and studied Theater while getting his Bachelors in Media Productions at MTSU. Dan's credits include the hit show Nashville, multiple independent films, various radio commercials, over 20 audiobooks on audible.com, and is a founding member and teacher in M-Prov: Murfreesboro's premier improv troupe. This will be Dan's third year teaching at Conservatory.

Teaching Instructors

Cristin Carole
In addition to over fifteen years of teaching experience in Chicago Public Schools, Cristin has developed arts integrated workshops for the Golden Apple Foundation, Hedwig Dance Company, Urban Gateways, and the Chicago Park District. As an Arts Integration Specialist, Cristin has been a faculty member of the City Colleges of Chicago, The College of the Bahamas, and presently serves as adjunct faculty for the Columbia College Chicago's Graduate Program in Education. She has led numerous professional development workshops for teachers on the practical implementation of movement and dance across the curriculum. In 2005, Cristin joined the Education and Community Engagement staff of The Joffrey Ballet as a teaching artist and curriculum development consultant and has been instrumental in the creation of the Bridge Program. Most recently, she has worked as the dance consultant and choreographer for The Court Theatre productions of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Home and the critically acclaimed Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

Michelle Parkins
Chell holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelors Degree in Arts and Sciences from Washington University in St Louis. She has had a career as a dance educator, choreographer, performer and dance scholar that has spanned over 20 years. She has danced with MADCO in Missouri, Steamroller and Bibliodance in California, Forklift Dance Works in Texas, and alongside Jack Black in the film Bernie. Since 1995, her choreography has been featured at Dancers' Footwork and Cell Space in California and in MOMFest, Frontera Fest, Dance Carousel, Coen's New Works Festival, and Big Range Festival in Texas. Chell writes about her experiences in the public school using technology in collaboration with a feminist pedagogy underpinned by tenets of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Her publications include "Dance Media Collaborations:Engaging At Risk Youth" which was published in the June 2016 edition of Dance Education In Practice and "Dancing on the 50-Yard Line: A Feminist Perspective of Drill Team" which will be published in the premiere online issue of Women In Dance. Chell holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelors Degree in Arts and Sciences from Washington University in St Louis.

Kristi Shamburger
Kristi Shamburger has her Bachelor of Music (Music Theatre) from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio and her MFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and joined the MTSU faculty in 2010. She is an AEA performer and has worked in such regional theatres as Skylight Opera Theatre (Milwaukee, WI.,) Lyric Opera Cleveland (Cleveland, OH.,) St. Michael's Playhouse (Colchester, Vt.,) The Odyssey (Los Angeles, CA., ) and more. She taught theatre and musical theatre courses and choreographed for Middle Georgia College, Huntington University and Belmont University before joining the MTSU theatre faculty. Most recently she has directed MTSU musicals: West Side Story, The Drowsy Chaperone, Les Miserables, and Peter Pan. She is currently teaching Musical Theatre Performance, Musical Theatre History, Voice for the Actor and Theatre Appreciation courses.