Musical Theater Performance Bootcamp

Emi Eiting is a freelance performer, vocal coach, choral conductor, pianist, music director, and choral adjudicator working in Northern Virginia. Emi has music directed and/or conducted numerous shows in Fairfax County including those at Justice HS, Annandale HS, Marshall HS, Edison HS & Woodson HS to name a few. She is also the former choral director at JEB Stuart (Justice) High School. While at JEB Stuart she directed 3 mainstage musicals and 2 in-concert productions.
She has helped to coach, stage, program and/or accompany countless Broadway revue shows throughout FCPS, as well as the annual George Mason University Chorale Broadway showcase. Emi served as Cappies Gala vocal director for the 2019 & 2022 Galas. She is also a teaching artist for the Mason Community Arts Academy, leading their summer Musical Theatre Bootcamp since 2017. During the pandemic she created and taught an 8-week on-line course for MCAA called “Expanding Your Musical Theatre Repertoire.”

Before her career in education Emi worked for many years as an actor, music director, pianist, and stage manager at a number of regional theatres on the East coast, spent some time singing on a cruise ship, and toured the country with The Magic School Bus- Live!. She has performed her solo cabaret show- ‘Standing in the Middle of the Road’ at Danny’s Skylight Room (New York) and Speakeasy Stage Company (Boston). Emi has performed as a solo artist at the Kennedy Center on a concert featuring the music of composer Scott Evan Davis. In New York she has worked with composers Jason Robert Brown, Lance Horne, Bree Lowdermilk and Scott Evan Davis. Emi holds a Bachelors degree in Music Education from George Mason University. She has additional training in Musical Theatre from Interlochen Arts Program in Traverse City, MI. She is passionate about educating young performing artists about the full scope of musical theatre repertoire!

Kaity holds a B.A. in Theater and an M.A. in Arts Management from George Mason University.  Kaity has been a part of the Acting for Young People team since 2008, working as a teaching artist in after school, summer camp, and showcase programs, as well as stage managing for AFYP’s Musical and Advanced Showcase programs. As of 2022, Kaity has moved out of the classroom to fully focus on the day-to-day operations of the organization as the Manager of Outreach and Theater Programs for the Academy. 

Kaity has an extensive background in the arts and education. In addition to her theatrical interests, she enjoys sketching, watercolor, and is an avid reader. Kaity has taught children ranging from early childhood through high school levels since 2008. In her time as a student at GMU, she participated in many stage productions as an actor, stage manager, and technician. Kaity served on the board for GMU’s producing group, the Mason Players, for three years, and co-founded GMU’s chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, the theater honor fraternity. She received the Chris Parsons Achievement Award for her work with the theater department in 2010. Kaity has also worked professionally as a stage manager in the DC Metro Area. Kaity is the mother to twin girls. Kaity is passionate about the transformative experiences provided by arts education for people of all ages.

A graduate of University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Speech Communications, Mary has been working professionally as an actor in the metropolitan Washington-area, Los Angeles, and New York since 1985. She has worked at Washington area theaters including Theater of the First Amendment, Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, and Source Theatre. Television, radio and film credits include ABC’s All My Children, Barry Levinson’s Avalon, Diesel Films’ Dracula’s Mother, the MGM/Lionsgate thriller Hit and Run, and several spots for NPR’s Morning Edition.

Mary founded AFYP in 1997, and has seen the company grow from being its only teacher with a sporadic program schedule in rented spaces to where it is today: a year-round program with a full staff, working in conjunction with Potomac Arts Academy, for which she is Associate Director.

She is a longtime member of Mason’s School of Theater faculty in the areas of Performance and Theater Education. She was named a 2013 “Teacher of Distinction” and was a 2014 TEDxGeorgeMasonU speaker (“Magic Moments: the Transformative Power of  Theater“). She previously taught at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Her professional memberships include The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Actor’s Equity Association, and the Educational Theatre Association.

Mary’s directing credits include An Experiment with an Air Pump and Shakespeare in Hollywood (George Mason University); Still Beating Hearts and A Godless Man (Theater of the First Amendment First Light Festival); Happy Holidays, Charlie Brown, 101 Dalmatians, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play; Willy Wonka, Jr.; Peter Pan, Jr.; A Seussified Christmas Carol; Alice in Wonderland, Jr. (AFYP).