FACULTY

KATHI CHAPLAR & BRENT BEERMAN          
           
 

A native of La Crescenta, Kathi graduated with honors with a BA in English and Music from Boston University . There, she was a soloist and section leader with the University Singers, and was the musical director for productions of Sondheim’s Assassins and Sunday in the Park with George. She also starred in an original musical review, Baby, We’re Closer than Ever.

 

    Since then, Kathi has directed all ages in a variety of plays and musicals. Currently she teaches English and Theatre at Crescenta Valley High School with her husband Brent Beerman, and is the musical and artistic director of their mainstage performances. Their productions include Little Shop of Horrors, The Wiz, Bye Bye Birdie, The Pajama Game, Music Man, West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, Fiddler on the Roof, and Grease. She recently collaborated with Julie Kay during the last two productions, Guys and Dolls and Crazy for You.
   

Kathi has performed soloist roles from coast to coast. She was featured in Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, and has sung with the Pasadena Pops under the direction of Rachel Worby. She has also soloed with the Occidental Foothill Chorale under the direction of Jeffrey Bernstein. Currently, Kathi is training for the soprano role in a new opera, Tikvah.

    Kathi has been called a renaissance woman by many. In addition to voice, she has studied concert piano since the age of four. She was the rehearsal accompanist and vocal coach for a summer theater in Mammoth. Kathi is also a talented visual artist, and has training in set design and construction and lighting design. In 2001, Kathi was named by the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce as Educator of the Year.
     
    Brent has been the director of theater at Crescenta Valley High School for the past 14 years. He teaches the advanced, intermediate, and introductory theater courses, as well as, the stage arts class. Together with his wife Kathi Chaplar, Brent directs the school's musicals and plays. Their musical productions include: Little Shop of Horrors, The Wiz, Bye Bye Birdie, The Pajama Game, The Music Man, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and Kiss Me Kate. They recently teamed with Julie Kay to produce Guys and Dolls and Crazy for You.
     
    As an actor, Brent has worked in regional theaters across the country in such plays as As Is, Arsenic and Old, and The Boys Next Door.
     
    After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts Degree from UCLA, Brent has worked in the literary department at IRS Film Studios, and he has formed his own production company, Pathway Productions. The company focused on bringing together professional actors, writers and directors with theater students. PathWays sponsored national playwriting contests, and it produced the winners during summer festivals. PathWays also successfully produced Oh Dad Poor Dad featuring a professional director and actors working directly with high school performers.
     
    Brent has written numerous full-length and one-act plays that have reached national acclaim. His play A Dull Pained Turned Sharp was a National Finalist at the Actor's Theater in Santa Cruz , and it also was the winner of the Moxie Films New Century Writer's Award. As a result, it was featured at New York City 's HOWL festival. His play, Gabriel’s Rapture, won the Corner Stage National Theater Contest, and the one-act Millionaires played in a New York City off-Broadway house. Also, Dancing in the Shadows won the Pacificus Foundation of Los Angeles Literary Award, was featured in the Los Angeles Playwright’s Festival, and it received a staged reading at the Moving Arts Theater in Los Angeles . In addition, Brent was commissioned to write a modernization of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for the Toledo Repertory Theater, an Equity house in Toledo , Ohio . Finally, his play Lemon Squeeze was produced at the Hong Kong Youth Theater.
     
    Brent is the father of two, and has grown up on the stage. His father is a professional composer and musician, and his mother is a dancer. They have toured Europe during the summer premiering new work and performance art that moves beyond traditional theater. Recently, they were featured on CNN for the multimedia opera Jesus’ Daughter in which Brent wrote the book. They have also collaborated on an interactive-video performance art piece called Womin, which premiered at the Bowling Green Music Festival and toured the country.