Jon Swarthout — Founding/Artistic Director
A native of Boise, Jon started acting in local theater productions at age 13. He discovered dance at age 15 and received a full scholarship to study at the Houston Ballet Academy. He danced professionally with Joffrey Ballet, Feld Ballets/NY and Oregon Ballet Theater. In 1996 he returned to Idaho and began teaching dance, acting as the director of educational outreach for the Idaho Dance Theater, and launching an interactive school program for local elementary schools.  In 1999, Jon established Dance Rascals (known as Children’s Dance Institute), a children’s dance enrichment program designed to teach a love and appreciation for the art of dance. Jon received the 2007 Mayor’s Arts Award for Arts Education in Boise and serves as a Guest Instructor for the National Dance Institute (NDI).

Teaching Artists

Leta Neustaedter — Full-Time Teaching Artist
Leta brings an eclectic mix of creative talents to TrICA. She completed the intensive Teaching Excellence training at the National Dance Institute of New Mexico and has decades of performance experience in singing, acting, and dance. She has performed with numerous theater companies in the Treasure Valley and currently sings with the Boise Master Chorale. For the past 15 years, Leta has worked with respected child development programs such as the YMCA and Head Start, and maintains a private practice as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker using creative therapies to empower children and families. She believes that all children should be inspired and encouraged to celebrate life with laughter and creative expression.

Nikki Wilson — Teaching Artist (Apprentice)
While attending Boise State University, Nikki found her calling in serving society- teaching! She graduated from Boise State University this last spring with a bachelor’s degree in Bilingual Education and ESL. Nikki has experience in teaching and assisting in public elementary school curriculums, an after-school program, summer school, and tutoring. She believes in combining the teaching of regular academic subjects with important life issues such as human rights, diversity, community building and conflict resolution to help children become their best "whole" self and become influential, contributing members of society.

Summer Teaching Artists

Tom Nash
Tom is a music instructor for numerous schools throughout the Wood River Valley and also heads the elementary drama program at The Community School. Hailing from the Northeast, he played drums in local bands and acted in productions throughout New England. He also performed on and off Broadway and for local television as both an actor and musician. He left New York for Los Angeles in 1998 to work in film production and there began his music teaching career.

Brooke Herzog
Brooke has a passion for teacher the arts. She works with students from the ages of four to eighteen and shares the exciting elements of theater acting. She hopes to develop a community puppet theater and directed small puppet shows and large cast shows for the past two summers. She obtained her Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana in 2004 and has been acting or teaching theater ever since. She believes that every person should have an outlet for expression and that the opportunities with puppetry are limitless.

Ben Pursley
Instructor, facilitator, performer — and recording artist Benjamin Pursley has been dedicated to the traditional West African music of the Mali Empire for the past twelve years.  With incredible energy and inspiration, he brings the gift of making music together to the local hand drumming community, alongside his regular appearances as a teacher and facilitator in schools throughout the Treasure Valley.  Also educated in western classical music, he is able to integrate the understanding of written notation with the aural traditions of various ethnic percussion based musical ensembles.

Rachel Burke
Dance teacher, and music educator Rachel Burke has been sharing traditional West African Dance through Fort Boise Community Center for the past six years.  As a Music Educator with Foothills School of Arts and Sciences, she strives to connect the joys of dance with the sounds of music.  Her graceful radiance and playful exuberance are inspiring, and easily adopted by her students, as she shares the self-empowering art of traditional song and dance.

Tracy Sunderland
Tracy feels very lucky to live and work in Boise. She currently acts and directs at Boise Contemporary Theater and teaches at Boise State University. She also performed six seasons with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and directed at the College of Idaho. She spent part of the summer of 2004 studying commedia dell’arte in Italy, and hopes to continue her studies in physical theatre this summer with the renowned SITI Company.

Katie Mueller
Katie has been working in theater education for ten years and is thrilled to be working with TrICA for the first time! She has taught kids from kindergarten through high school and is currently working with students in the G.A.T.E. drama program at Garfield Elementary School and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival Drama School. Katie started out as a student with the Drama School, spent two years with them as an apprentice and has been a member of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s acting company for 5 years. In 2004, she toured with the Shakespearience production of Romeo and Juliet where she met her real Romeo, Michael. Just last July, her son Roman made his world debut. Katie received her Bachelor of Arts in Theater Performance from Boise State University.

Michael Mueller
Michael is thrilled to be working with the Treasure Valley Institute for Children's Arts. Over the past few years, his work as a performer, educator, and fight choreographer have been with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the Great Lakes Theatre Festival and Boise Contemporary Theater. Previous credits include the Long Beach Playhouse’s Beyond Therapy (Bruce); the Cleveland Play House’s Pecos Bill (Pecos) and The Red Badge of Courage (Henry); Factor Theater's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (Rosencrantz); Ensemble Theater's The Shape of Things (Adam); Actors’ Repertory Theatre’s Long Days Journey Into Night (Edmund); Powerhouse Pub’s Flanagan’s Wake (Mickey, Brian, Mayor, Mother); and the S. Dayton Dance Theatre’s The Nutcracker (Arabian/Cavalier). Michael earned a BFA from Wright State University and is both a recognized Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and the Editor-in-Chief of their publication, The Cutting Edge.

Ryan Peck
Ryan’s musical history consists of song writing for piano and guitar. Most of these songs are written in the third person (Ryan’s personal life is a bit boring).  He has shared the stage with Ben Harper, Aqualung, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Reckless Kelly, Josh Ritter, and most awesomely, Jared Goodpaster (see bio below). In his spare time, Ryan teaches Biology at Boise State University, runs a concert series NPR radio show titled, “Music from Stanley”, and tries to teach his dog Molly not to eat his socks.

Jared Goodpaster
Jared is a teacher, musician and a founder of the Boise Rock School. After years of playing in bands, he decided to yield his rock stardom to a more “enriching” profession: teaching. Jared began teaching English in the Czech Republic and later in New York City. He eventually returned to Boise to pursue a Master Degree in Curriculum and Instruction. On the side, he played bass in a band called the Veltexans. He also worked at Koelsch Elementary school developing tools to promote learning, the virtue of patience, and an appreciation for the creativity that young minds harbor. He and his friend Ryan Peck ultimately decided to teach children how to play in rock bands, and the Boise Rock School was born.

Mark Zimmerer
Born and raised in Billings, MT, Mark Zimmerer has always been interested in both art and theatre. This led him to get undergraduate degrees in both, and he then went on to get his MFA in painting at the University of Oregon in 1991. He later worked as a Technical Director/Designer at several schools in Oregon and Montana, and taught the occasional drawing or painting class. He worked for nearly 10 years as preparator/installation designer at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings.  He continues to create artwork based on various inspirations and interests.

Linda Bucynski
Eight years ago Linda moved to Boise and found the city enriched her life as an arts advocate, community artist and educator. She received her teaching certification from BSU as a K-12 art educator and also took the University’s rigorous M.A. Art Education program. They have invited her to return as an adjunct instructor. Through her art she participates in the connection between people, and facilitates the role that visual arts provide as a language for understanding and interpretation.

William (BJ) Scherrer
For the past eight years, BJ has designed, produced, tailored, and mended all kinds of textiles, learning many skills that he will bring into the Giant Puppetry class.  He is also an active artist in town, performing in circus acts, street performances, and music shows.  After a luckless series of events, he came upon a sewing machine and began making all kinds of bags.  Each one he made was more innovative and beautiful than before. His inspiration continued to grow as he sewed more.  He found that every decision he made about what he was sewing was a reflection of himself - an outward view of what was going on inside - whether it be a frustration over my limits, excitement of figuring out something new, or the joy that comes with completing something that he had felt was doubtful.  Ever since, his sewing work has been one of his greatest teachers. It is through that journey that he has come to share this gift of art with young people.  Through constructive exploration, he hopes to impart the importance of the process itself, and an awareness that every avenue of life is creative.

Associate Teaching Artists

Tracy Straus
Tracy Straus  has directed residencies for children all across America. In 2000, she founded "Celebrate The Beat," a Colorado-based affiliate of NDI which she continues to direct. She is also Co-Founder of the California Dance Institute. Her experience as an arts educator includes joining The After School Corporation, started by international philanthropist George Soros to bring high quality after-school programs into the public school system. As an arts consultant, Ms. Straus has worked to develop multicultural arts programs for schools in the five boroughs of New York City and has trained dance instructors. Ms. Straus began her performing career at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. An actress as well as a dancer, she trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and performed in various off-Broadway venues. She holds a Master's Degree from Bank Street College of Education in early childhood education, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Michigan in dance and literature. She has taught as an adjunct dance professor at New York University and the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Corrine Nagata
Corrine Nagata was born and raised in San Francisco and was inspired through the public education system to pursue dance as a career. She graduated in the Advanced Placement Program from the North Carolina School of the Arts and has danced professionally in California and New York. For the last six years she has taught for Jacques D’Amboise’s National Dance Institute choreographing and leading teacher training workshops. Ms. Nagata has taught at Dance Theatre of Harlem and currently teaches Horton technique at The Ailey School. In addition to the private sector, she runs her own dance program in the public schools. "Nagata Dance" is servicing students in Harlem, Washington Heights and Jamaica Queens.

Jessica Dean — Musician and Composer
Having received her BA in Music from BSU, Jessica is a well-rounded musician teaching private lessons in clarinet, piano, and western & Indian flute. A native of Greenleaf, ID she has resided in Boise since 1999 working as a massage therapist and children’s yoga instructor. In addition to pursuing her musical interests, Jessica avidly enjoys backpacking and rocking climbing in the Boise foothills. She currently plays in Riverwinds Quintet and is the Musical Director for Prairie Dog Productions.

Thomas Paul