Denise Ahlstrom

Gabrielle Aguirre

Gabrielle Aguirre has been with CYT Santa Cruz since it began in 2011. She has performed in 14 productions with CYT before taking her final bow in the spring 2018 production of Tom Sawyer. She has also performed professionally with Cabrillo Stage in their productions of Scrooge, Oliver, and The Addams Family. Gabrielle has been dancing since she was 6 with advanced training in Ballet as well as having studied Jazz, Tap, Modern and more. She has choreographed for many CYT summer camps, CYT showcases, co-choreographed CYT's Lion King Jr., and co-choreographed for Kianti’s Christmas show. Gabrielle is so excited to be coming full circle as a choreographer and teacher for CYT!

Jack Wilkins

Jack Wilkins is an award winning tenor born and raised in Watsonville, CA. He attended the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB, receiving a bachelors degree, with honors, in vocal performance. Jack is a working musician, performing frequently. Jack has had the privilege of soloing in major productions of Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass, Weil’s Down in the Valley, and many musical theater productions. Jack also loves to teach, especially young singers. He frequently vocal directs for Christian Youth Theater (CYT) Santa Cruz, as well as with Monte Vista Christian School, and teaches voice privately.

Marina Hallin

Marina is excited to be joining the CYT family again after years and being in their first production ever, Honk! After studying Music Theatre and Acting at Oklahoma City University, she is back in Santa Cruz teaching as well as auditioning as a performer around the Bay Area. A Santa Cruz Native, she as been seen growing up in the performing at various companies locally. She was last seen in Cabrillo Stage's RENT. She specializes in voice, particularly the pop/rock style. Marina has a heart for working with youth, and helping them bring out their best most authentic & passion-driven self though the stage.

Michele Izor

Nicole McCartney

Nicole is passionate about theatre and CYT. She has been a CYT student since 2013, and since then has taken part in all it has to offer. She has performed on stage in 12 CYT productions and served as Spot Op. for Godspell and Assistant Backstage Manager for The Lion King. Additionally, She has enjoyed working with kids as a CYT camp counselor in the summer. Nicole was part of the 2017-18 Improv Team and competed in the Improvathon at CYT Expo last June. She is currently president of CYT’s leadership team, HYPE. She is thrilled to give back to CYT and share the magic of theatre with the youth in our community in the hopes of raising a new generation of artists! Nicole will be moving to Seattle in the fall to pursue a BFA in Musical Theatre at Cornish College of the Arts.

Rachele Chenowith

Rachele Chenowith started dancing at age four in Oakhurst, California. She danced on a competitive dance team for ten years, working with many different styles, at Velocity Dance Studio in the small-town foothills. She came to Santa Cruz in 2015 and has been apart of the dance program at Cabrillo College since she's started attending. She has choreographed for three of the Cabrillo Spring Dance Concerts and also choreographed a solo for last semesters Cabrillo Fall Dance Concert. Rachele has received both the Tandy Beal and Roberta Bristol scholarships at Cabrillo College, and is preparing to transfer to a four-year dance program in fall 2019. She also co-choreographs in the Santa Cruz community for Kianti’s dining and dancing shows. Rachele has performed in dance companies here in Santa Cruz. In 2017 she danced in Stephanie Emmanuela’s Masters thesis concert work for her company, Agua Done Dance, and continues to dance for Stephanie in the present. Urban Industry is a Hip Hop company that Casandra Hillman coordinated in 2016 that Rachele was apart of as well. This 2019 Winter Session is Rachele’s first time working with CYT and she is very excited to help contribute to the community.

Renée Roberts

Renée has professionally performed and taught theatre for almost 20 years. She taught and directed for CYT-Spokane, Kidstage, & Missoula Children’s Theatre. Renee holds a BA in Theatre from Whitworth University, where she studied theatre, dance, and vocal performance. While at Whitworth, she was honored with the Theatre Limelight Award. Some favorite roles include Sarah from “Guys And Dolls”, Elsa from “Sound of Music”, and Tzeitel from “Fiddler On The Roof”. Fun fact: Renée met her real-life husband while in “Fiddler”; she played Tzeitel and he played Motel. They were married five times a week; five years later they were married in real life. They have two children. Renée loves theatre and loves introducing theatre to the next generation.

Stephen Pickens

Stephen Pickens first fell in love with theater when he played the role of a guard in CYT Santa Cruz’s second ever production, Aladdin Jr. Over the course of his time with CYT, Stephen participated in over 10 shows and helped represent CYT Santa Cruz twice at CYT’s annual Improvathon competition. Stephen just recently finished his undergraduate degree at Northwest University where he studied Marketing and was a member of the on campus improv team for 3 years. Stephen currently works as a graphic designer in Santa Cruz and could not be more excited to give back to the CYT community.