Brooke Novak has been an actor, coach, teacher and director in the Bay Area, San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York. She has performed under Tony award winning directors on some of the most acclaimed regional theatres in the country. She has received nine nominations for her directing work and multiple awards (including “teacher of the year”) while at Valley Christian High School. Brooke’s passion is bringing what she has learned to young people, helping them combine excellent training with their faith! Brooke is a graduate of Occidental College (BA), the USD Old Globe/Professional Actor Training Program (MFA), and a proud member of Actor’s Equity.

Hey dancers, my name is Patrick! I'm a bay area native who started dancing at the age of 10 at Elaine's Dance Studio on Soquel. My stage career began in Cabrillo Stage's "CHICAGO" and "Beauty & the Beast" staring as the iconic dancing salt shaker. After highschool, I moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Music and Dramatics Academy, studying music theater. I recently moved back to SC after being in New York City the past four years doing stand up comedy and continued my training. I'm overjoyed to be teaching dance classes this Fall!

Hey y’all! I’m Erin, and I’m thrilled to be working with CYT again. As the child of a musician/performer in Nashville TN, I fell in love with the stage at a young age. My high school had an excellent musical theater program where I found a sweet community to grow. I continued training at Belmont University where I earned a Dance degree. I moved to Santa Cruz at 23 and, a couple years later, thankfully found CYT Santa Cruz! My first show was The Addams Family. This lead to other opportunities to teach class, help with camp, and finally, choreographing with Alice in Wonderland and James and the Giant Peach. Most recently, I assisted with Beauty and the Beast and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and that musical theater bug bit me again! So glad to be back.

Zina Urquhart has a long history working in the performing arts world of Santa Cruz County as a performer, music director, and vocal coach, most recently as Vocal Director of Shrek with CYT (Summer 2025) and performing in A Year With Frog and Toad with Scotts Valley Performing Arts (Winter 2024). Zina has taught choral music and vocal jazz in Santa Cruz County Schools since 2002, and musically directed youth theater with All About Theater, Kirby School, and Santa Cruz High, more recently working on a few adult theater productions with MCT (Evil Dead, Fall 2024), and Renegade (Heathers, Fall 2024). She has performed with Opera San Jose, Cabrillo Stage, Scotts Valley Performing Arts, West Coast Voices (Cabrillo), and independently. She currently runs her own voice studio, Soula Vocal Studio, offering voice lessons, coaching, workshops, and masterclasses to children, teens, and adults, and has recently expanded into the Healing Arts as a Sound Practitioner and Facilitator-offering sound baths, workshops, and retreats with an emphasis on the healing properties of voice and vocal empowerment.