Director Bios

101 Dalmatians &  Narnia

   John Barthelmes

John has been teaching, directing and performing in Rochester since he moved here in 1996. John spends his time working with professional theatre and dance troups, elementary, middle and high schools across Monroe and Ontario counties and several community theatre groups. John is a regular performer with Nuts & Bolts Comedy Improv, Joey and Maria's Comedy Wedding with Great Lakes Productions and performs in a two-man variety act titled "Solo". He has been featured in productions performing in Montreal, Milwaukee, Las Vegas and New York City and played an old irish lady for awhile at The Downstairs Cabaret.

During the day John is an instructor of Computer Science and Acting at St. John Fisher College where he produces a Festival of One Act plays featuring the talents of local playwrights. John is also the owner and Artistic Director of Spotlight Studios for the Performing Arts in Fairport, teaching all ages of performers, musicians and artists.

John's greatest joy is working with children in theatre. He runs several summer theatre camps and workshops throughout the year. He has directed high school and middle school productions with Greece Olympia, Greece Arcadia, Gananda Middle, Barker Road Middle and T.C. Armstrong Middle Schools. John's Sunday mornings throughout the school year are spent with Sunday School children writing and performing their own musicals. He teaches piano, drama coaching and works with Girl Scout and Boy Scout groups on earning theatre badges.

One of John's goals is to make sure children are having fun on stage while helping them discover and develop their own talents.

John dedicates all his work to his parents who are forever an inspiration to him, especially his mom who never missed a show John was in.

His web site is "http://www.spotlightarts.com".

Kaitlyn Zorn

Kaitlyn Zorn is thrilled to be back to GCYT for her fifth year! She is very excited to be choreographing and stage managing for all three age groups this year! Kaitlyn holds a bachelor’s degree in Arts for Children (Theater, Music, Dance, and Visual Art). She has been seen on and off stage around the Upstate New York Area since sixth grade and has been involved in over 100 shows since 2001 either choreographing, directing, stage-managing, assisting or performing. Some of her favorite performance credits include: Willy Wonka (Willy Wonka), Godspell (Jesus), High School Musical (Taylor), Grease (Marty), and Joey and Maria’s Comedy Wedding (Maria.) Kaitlyn teaches musical theater and dance classes at Spotlight Theater in Fairport and choreographs Middle and High School shows for Brighton, Gananda, Penfield, Pittsford and Greece Central School Districts. She also works for Gates, Victor and Webster Parks and Rec departments directing and choreographing their musicals and workshops. When not doing theater, Kaitlyn teaches at a preschool and loves it.

 Brett Gunio

Brett has been choreographing local youth shows for the past four years.  This will be Brett’s third consecutive season working with GCYT.  He has also choreographed for Gananda Middle School and A Magical Journey Thru STAGES.  Brett has attended the Sandy Stramonine School of Dance for thirteen years, where he has been classically trained in numerous styles of dance.  He has taken part in numerous workshops and master classes held by New York City Dance Alliance, Dance Masters of America, and American Ballet Theatre.  Brett has been blessed with many opportunities to perform on a variety of levels. He was involved with theatre throughout high school and continued to perform locally with the Nazareth College Theatre Department and Rochester Children’s Theatre.  He is currently an entertainment cast member at Walt Disney World where he has been seen as a dancer in Magic Kingdom’s castle show, Celebrate the Season, and a few television filmings, including the 2009 Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade. When he is not performing, Brett attends Nazareth College where he is currently a junior Quad Inclusive Education and Mathematics double major.