Lisa Hermanson is a theatre artist, musician, and educator originally from Seattle, Washington. She is currently located in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at New Mexico State University. She holds her MFA in Theatre Pedagogy/Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she was also adjunct faculty in Theatre and Speech, and her BA in Theatre and Music from Seattle Pacific University. Lisa is a music director, director, pianist, vocalist, educator, and composer/playwright. She has worked in theatres across the country, including Virginia Repertory Theatre (Richmond, VA) and the 5th Avenue Theatre (Seattle, WA), as well as multiple years in theatre education in Seattle. Favorite directing credits include The Addams Family (NMSU Theatre), Jesus Christ Superstar (Blank Conversations, NM), Little Shop of Horrors (Theatre VCU, Assistant), 12 Angry Jurors (Meadowdale High School). Favorite music credits include The Sound Of Music and Matilda (Las Cruces Community Theatre), Into The Woods (Theatre VCU, Assistant), Spitfire Grill (Northwest University). Productions local to Las Cruces include composition work for As You Like It, Tomás and the Library Lady and Letters to the Future, as well as music direction of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Godspell, The Prom, and co-director of Broadway On Stage (2020, 2021) and Stay Home For The Holidays: A Holiday Cabaret (2020). In addition to working with published and classic pieces, Lisa also focuses on new work. Her current project is a musical on the question of immigration, the first draft of which was developed and workshopped in Richmond, VA as a culmination of her graduate work. Titled The Golden Door, a song from the show was also performed at Broadway On Stage 2020 (“When I Get To America”). The draft continued development with a second public reading in Las Cruces, NM, as part of the High Desert Play Festival in 2024.

Bryan Berard is a passionate music educator and co-founder of Blank Conversations Theatre Company in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Actively involved in numerous community theatrical productions, he is currently in his second year teaching choir at Camino Real Middle School, inspiring young musicians with his enthusiasm and expertise. Holding a bachelor's degree in Vocal Music Education, Bryan has extensive experience working with students of all ages and possesses deep knowledge in assisting individuals through their vocal transitions.

Originally from Philadelphia PA, Ryan P. McMullen received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance from Slippery Rock University and was awarded: The Excellence in Performance Award and The Excellence in Choreography Award. Ryan has performed choreography by artists such as Rodger Belman, Rennie Harris, Alexandre Munz, Ursula Payne, Jawole Zollar, and more. Ryan received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Performance and Choreography from Florida State University, a three-time recipient of the Men’s Provost Performance Scholarship. In 2022, Ryan was awarded the Rock Alumni 10 Under 10 Award for his professional achievements in dance.

Ryan presented work at Bucknell University, Dixon Place, Dogtown Dance Theatre, Small Plates Choreography Festival, Koresh Dance Company’s Come Together Festival, Gibney Dance Center, NewGrounds Dance Festival, Exchange Dance Festival, and more. Ryan served as the Director of Dance at Louisburg College from 2018-2021, where he was also a company member with Elevate, a dance performance and entertainment company based in Raleigh, NC. Ryan performed with Rennie Harris Puremovement in 2022 in their work: LIFTED! A Hip-Hop Gospel Musical in Pittsburgh, PA. Ryan was a Visiting Professor at Bucknell University in Fall 2021-2022, and Visiting Faculty at Slippery Rock University in 2022-2023.

Ryan is thrilled to be the new Dance Program Director at NMSU and looks forward to creating new opportunities for student dancers and building new relationships with the community of Las Cruces.

The Rio Grande Theatre, originally built in 1926, is a restored performing arts center in the heart of Downtown Las Cruces. It is the only operating 2-story adobe theater in the country and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Theatre is owned by the City of Las Cruces and managed and operated by Visit Las Cruces. The theater features a wide selection of entertainment from local, regional and national recording artists and performing arts, to a classic film series and Saturday children’s matinee program. The theater now serves concessions and refreshments including snacks, soft drinks, beer and wine.

Blank Conversations Theatre Company is a non-profit, 501c3 based in Las Cruces, New Mexico that specializes in presenting affordable and high quality theatre to the community. 

Since the beginning, the team at Blank Conversations aims to diversify the type of theatrical experiences found in Southern New Mexico. No two shows from Blank Conversations are similar in tone, themes, and creative approach, and we champion any person’s creative choice to be big and bold, so long as it’s their own. Blank Conversations’ programming has included musicals (Once, Green Day’s AMERICAN IDIOT, Singin’ in the Rain), comedies (The Importance of Being Earnest, The Complete History of America (abridged), Meteor Shower), dramas (Marilyn/God, What the Constitution Means to Me, The Woman in Black), shadow casts (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Moulin Rouge!, Scott Pilgrim vs The World), and our signature Brews with the Bard (Tanked Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet Get Trashed, A Tipsy Twelfth Night). No matter your creative interests, Blank Conversations has something to see and do for everyone.

Tim Rice has worked in music, theatre, and films since 1965 when he met Andrew Lloyd Webber, a fellow struggling songwriter. Rather than pursue Tim’s ambitions to write rock or pop songs they turned their attention to Andrew’s obsession – musical theatre. Their first collaboration was based on the life of Dr. Thomas Barnardo, the Victorian philanthropist, The Likes of Us. Their next three works together were much more successful – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita.

Tim has since worked with other distinguished popular composers such as Elton John (The Lion King, Aida), Alan Menken (Aladdin, King David, Beauty and the Beast), Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (Chess), and Stuart Brayson (From Here to Eternity). He has also written with Freddie Mercury, Burt Bacharach and Rick Wakeman among others.

Tim founded his own cricket team in 1973, which has now played over 750 matches, and was president of MCC, founded in 1789, in 2002. He crops up here and there in all branches of the media, drawing on his extensive knowledge of the history of popular music.

As an EGOT, he is one of only 17 people in the world to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award, was knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1994, and is the proud owner of a boxer dog and two dozen chickens.

Andrew Lloyd Webber has composed the scores of some of the world’s most famous musicals. From Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1969) to Cinderella (2021), his work has been consistently seen on world stages. Before the COVID pandemic hit, Lloyd Webber had shows continually running in the West End for 48 years and on Broadway for 41. When Sunset Boulevard joined School Of Rock, CATS and The Phantom Of the Opera, he equalled Rodgers & Hammerstein’s record of four shows running simultaneously on Broadway. He is one of the select group of artists with EGOT status, having received Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards.

Lloyd Webber owns seven London theatres, including the iconic London Palladium and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Over the past three years the latter has been completely restored and renovated at a cost of over £60 million. It is one of the biggest projects ever undertaken by a private theatre owner in recent times. His mantra that every penny of profit made from his theatres is ploughed back into the buildings has meant that considerable work has been undertaken across his theatre portfolio during the pandemic, including the complete remodelling and reseating of the Gillian Lynne.

Lloyd Webber is passionate about the importance of musical education and diversity in the arts. The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation provides 30 performing arts scholarships every year for talented students with financial need and supports a range of projects such as the Music In Secondary School Trust and commissioning research into diversity in theatre.

Andrew Lloyd Webber was knighted in 1992 and created an honorary life peer in 1997. To mark his 70th birthday, his bestselling autobiography Unmasked was published by Harper Collins in March 2018.