A.C.T. at BCT
Our Instructors
Jennifer Stockwell-Fortner
Education Director
js@bctheater.org
208.331.9224 x 1002
An Idaho native, Jen graduated from Boise State University with a BA in performance and continued her education with a season at the University of Wyoming. Her career includes working in both stage and film locally, nationally, and internationally including a TV series about an OBGYN produced here in Idaho called Vagina Town. Favorite play credits include Disenchanted, Pluto, Polaroid Stories, Rapture Blister Burn, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. As Education Director at Boise Contemporary Theater, she directs students to create an original play in approximately 60 class hours, and then they perform it on the BCT MainStage. When not in the theater or on a film set, Jen is camping, hiking, or skiing with her husband, Jeff, their three boys, and two dogs (chickens).
Alyssa Stadtlander
Lead Instructor
alyssa.stadtlander11@gmail.co
208.331.9224
Alyssa is thrilled to be teaching with BCT! An actor, writer, musician, and teaching artist who loves crafting meaningful stories both collaboratively and individually through song, movement, and words, she holds a Bachelor of Music and Theater from Wheaton College (IL). Some of her favorite roles include Clara in 33 Variations, Varinka in Checkov’s Man in a Case, and Margaret in Much Ado about Nothing with Wheaton’s Shakespeare in the Park. She’s also performed with BCT’s Children’s Reading Series, most recently in Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol. She’s a copywriter for the creative consulting agency SolidCreative.Media, and writes poetry and essays for a variety of journals. When she isn’t submerged in words or making plays with kids and teens, she spends her time running along the greenbelt, eating delicious food, and enjoying this beautiful city with her family and friends. You can find more from Alyssa at alyssastadtlander.com or on Instagram @lyssastadt11.
Joe Golden
Joe is thrilled to be back with BCT after serving as the dialect coach for the encore production of All is Calm. Joe will teach the adult acting classes, Exploration of Acting 1 & 2, and Stage Combat 1 & 2. As an actor, he was last seen at BCT in Tiny Beautiful Things, Slow Food, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Other magical BCT experiences include Hand to God and co-writing and acting in The Krumblin Foundation with his Fool Squad partner, Tom Willmorth. Joe is a professor of theatre at The College of Idaho and also narrates audiobooks and voiceovers. JoeGoldenProductions.com
Amelia Gorringe
Amela Karadza
Amela Karadza was born in Bosnia and, at age 5, immigrated to Boise, where she spent many delightful years. She’s a recent graduate of Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, MFA program. Some of her favorite roles include Joan (Vinegar Tom/Theatre C and Rutgers Theatre Co.), Duke of Aumerle (Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London), and #2 (The Wolves/Boise Contemporary Theater). She’s a proud member of AEA.
Jessica Ires Morris
Jessica Ires Morris has been working with BCT for the past five years as a director, actor, and instructor. She earned her BA from Smith College and her MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, where she worked on devised theatrical events and reimagined/progressive interpretations. Jessica was a long-time company member of the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, where she cut her teeth on the classics – from Shakespeare to Austen to Brecht – and won the New Jersey Press’ best supporting actress title for her interpretation of Paulina in The Winter’s Tale. She has performed all over the country, including at the Actors Theater of Louisville, The Hippodrome Theater in Florida, The Texas Repertory Theater, and several theaters in New York City and Los Angeles (she is the recipient of an LA Weekly award). She also worked abroad at the Moscow Art Theater, the Jerusalem Theater Festival, and the Frictions Festival in Dijon, France. She has appeared on camera in Criminal Minds, a handful of web series, and several commercials. Jessica has worked as a voice actor for books on tape, Industrial events, and the widely popular podcast “Midnight Burger.” Jessica is a frequent lecturer at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and taught text analysis, theater history, and acting at CalArts and the University of Florida. She currently teaches Advanced Acting at Boise State University.
Elke Myers
Elke is an actor, singer, director, and teacher who loves to tell stories! She graduated with her BFA in Musical Theatre from Nebraska Wesleyan University in May of 2022.
After graduation, she went on tour with Missoula Children’s Theatre, she is currently teaching kindergarten and first-grade performing arts at Sage International School and she co-teaches the Apprenticeship Program at Idaho Shakespeare Festival.
Elke has played a wide range of roles, but her favorites have been the strong passionate women she has portrayed including Kate in Air Heart (ISF), Philoclea in Head Over Heels (NWU), Janet in Rocky Horror Show (TADA), Beth in Little Women the Musical (NWU), and Mrs. Shears in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (NWU). elkemyers.com
Dayna Smith
Dayna Smith is a Boise-based playwright, dramaturg, and director with a BA in Theatre Arts, Dramatic Writing from Boise State University. Dayna has worked as a playwright and dramaturg at The Kennedy Center; Seven Devils New Play Foundry; Echo Theatre Company; HMBG Foundation’s National Winter Playwright’s Retreat; HomeGrown Theatre; Boise Contemporary Theater; Little Theater of Alexandria; and the Boise State University Theatre Majors’ Association. Her plays have been finalists for Unicorn Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center, and semifinalists for Seven Devils New Play Foundry, Headwaters New Play Festival, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. She has worked for Seven Devils New Play Foundry, The Playwrights’ Center, and Boise Contemporary Theater. Dayna is also a recipient of a Higher Education Research Council Undergraduate Fellowship and an Idaho Commission on the Arts Quickfunds Grant. Additionally, she is the Artistic Director and a co-founder of Boise’s Campfire Theatre Festival.