Our Mission

Our Staff

• P.Shane Mitchell, Artistic Director
• Erin Dagon, Associate Artistic Director
• D. Wayne Mitchell, Education Director
• Megan Bladow, Associate Education Director
• Eric Brown, Technical Director
• Andrea Egger, Managing Director

Staff Bios

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P. Shane Mitchell
Artistic Director

Shane holds a Masters Degree in Theatre Communications from Wichita State University. He toured professionally for a number of years before returning to Anchorage in 1997 to benefit the community he loves.

As a playwright Shane has three published plays and has had nearly fifty original works and adaptations produced all over the United States. He received a Panelists Choice Award at the Edward Albee Theatre Conference for his work Fractured and a Bard Fellowship for his work A Card For Mr. King. His original work The Resurrection of Humpty Dumpty was one of the first Alaskan plays ever to be selected for the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival in New York. He is a frequent contributor to the Alaska Overnighters 24 hour play series and the Don't Blink One Page Play Festival.

As a performer Shane is the veteran of over 200 productions. He received Best Actor Awards at both The University of Alaska Anchorage and Wichita State University. He is the recipient of two Patricia Neal Acting Awards and is known as one of Alaska's most eminent and critically acclaimed artists. He has toured nationally and internationally and was an American Arts Representative to the 2000 Olympics and World Voices Concert in Australia. He made his New York debut in Alitia Jones' Grand Central and 42nd.

As an arts educator Shane brings over twenty- five years of experience to TBA. He has taught theatre at every level from pre-kindergarten through college. Shane has lead intensives, residencies and workshops all over the United States and in several international venues and is in constant demand with many youth programs such as Campfire Boys and Girls, Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, and Boy and Girl Scouts, not only working with young people but to train adults to work with young people. He serves frequently as an acting coach for The Anchorage Opera and Laura's Model and Talent Agency. In 2008, the UAA Alumni Association honored him with their Community Service Award for his work with TBA.

Mr. Mitchell is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Andrea Egger
Managing Director

The action behind the scenes is often as exciting and demanding as the performance onstage. From her early training as a stage manager and technician, and as the manager of a busy 5-plex movie theater, Andrea discovered joy in coordinating the myriad elements of theatrical production. Her work experience includes serving as the Production Assistant for the Three Barons Renaissance Fair and a Production Runner for Clear Channel Communications providing local support for over 20 major concert tours including N'SYNC, Harry Connick, Jr., Linkin'Park, David Copperfield, and the WWE (RAW). Add to that a B.A. in Economics and Political Science, and seven years as a Trainer for Borders Books & Music, where she honed her skills in Customer Service, Marketing, Inventory Management and Bookkeeping, and she was ready to put her training & passion to work "backstage" for her community.

Andrea first met the crew of TBA Theatre when she began volunteering as a stage manager in 1999, eventually serving for 3 years on local stagings of "Frog & Toad," "Curious George," "Into the Woods," "The Death of Edgar Allan Poe," and many others. Their talent and single-minded dedication to the mission of serving young people inspired her to pursue a full-time career in youth theatre at their side.

Erin Dagon
Associate Artistic Director

After graduating from the University of Alaska in Anchorage in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, Erin worked professionally as a director, actress, stage manager and make-up artist for such companies as Anchorage Light Opera Theatre, Jan-Dar Productions, Magic If Ensemble, Valley Performing Arts, Alaska Stage Company and Alaska Festival Theater and was a founding member of the UAA Theatre in Your Schools (TIYS) program.

In 1992 she returned to school at Wichita State University (WSU) in Wichita, Kansas. After graduating magna*censored*laude with a Masters in Theatre and Communications, she lectured for the Department of Theatre at WSU as well as acted, directed and taught around the country for the Wichita Children's Theatre, Wichita Summer Rep, Bend Theatre for Young People and Kokopelli Productions.

As an actress Erin has appeared in such varied roles as Kate Keller in The Miracle Worker, Nora Flood in Dark at the Top of the Stair, Titania and Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream, and Frenchy in Grease. Recently she has appeared as the title Role in MOther Goose on the Loose, Fiona in The Daemon of Darby Castle, and Mrs. Fessiwig in The Christmas Carol. She is a recipient of the Patricia Neal Panelist Chioce Acting Award from the 2002 Last Fronteir Theatre Conference. As a director Erin has enjoyed many accomplishments including critically acclaimed productions of Into The Woods, Blithe Spirit, Dracula, Cotton Patch Gospel, The Big Slam, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Batboy:The Musical, Sweeny Todd, The Boyfriend, Between Daylight and Boonville, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,and A Year With Frog and Toad. Her production of Should Old Acquantancewas selected as a special performance for the KC/ACTF, and her production of Soapy Smith's Alaskana Extravagnza was featured at The Olympic Arts Festival in Sydney, Australia.

Erin has nearly thirty experience as an artist and educator in Alaska and around the country.

D. Wayne Mitchell
Education Director

Wayne was raised in Alaska and discovered a passion for theatre in Junior High School. He continued his theatre studies throughout high school and college and earned his BA in Theatre from UAA. He later went on to earn a Master of Arts in Theatre Communication from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. While at WSU Wayne was the Director of the Theatre and Dance Department's theatre education outreach program and was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student Award for 1994.

Following his graduate studies Wayne worked as the tour manager for Wichita Children's Theatre's professional touring company as well as directing WCT's ongoing teen production program, Center Stage. In 1996 Wayne founded and served as Artistic Director for the Bend Theatre for Young People in Bend, Oregon until he moved back home to Alaska in 1999.

Since that time he has worked as a performer and educator for UAA's Theatre in Your Schools in addition to acting, directing and teaching for such companies as Eccentric Theatre Company, Brown Eyed Girls, The Alaska Overnighters, Bright Night's Summer Theatre and Three Baron's Renaissance Festival.

In the last few years Wayne has won several awards and honors including two Last Frontier Theatre Conference Patricia Neal Acting Awards, a letter of Commendation from Governor Tony Knowles for his work on the seventh annual State of the Child event, a nomination for the 2002 Anchorage Concert Association Outstanding Arts Education Award and several Certificates of Recognition from the Anchorage School District Gifted Mentorship Program. IN 2010 he was honored by the UAA Alumni Association with their Community Service Award for his work with TBA Theatre. Wayne has taught residencies and intensives in grades K-12 throughout Alaska in such varied subjects as physical comedy, variety performance, stage combat, acting Shakespeare and play production. Currently Wayne is a Mentor for Alaska Pacific University's graduate program in theatre education.

Megan Bladow
Associate Education Director

Born and raised in Anchorage, Megan left the state after high school to receive her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. At Willamette, Megan served as the founding Artistic Director for Razzamatazz Rascals Children's Theatre, where she developed a theatre in the schools program for elementary schools in the Salem area. RRCT toured the show Razzy Rascal's Story Smorgasbord to the schools, and followed the production with a series of workshops involving theatre games and acting exercises to develop and enrich the student's theatrical experience, socialization, and teamwork abilities. She also earned a Meritorious Acheivement Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for her set deisgn for Willamette's world premier production of Selling It by Scotty Iseri, and were you in Salem in the fall of 2002, you may have seen her return to the stage as Goldie in The Diviners.

Megan is a director (The Count of Monte Cristo, Treasure Island, Alaska Overnighters), actor (favorite roles include Sister Mary in Madeline, the tap-dancing Old Mother Hubbard in Mother Goose on the Loose, and the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet), choreographer (Moveable Feast, 100 Years of Broadway, Treasure Island, Hello Dolly, The Boy Friend, South Pacific) and award-winning designer and seamstress (Selling It, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde). She also designed the costumes and appeared as Earth for TBA's production of The End at the 2008 Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska.

Over the past 15 years, Megan has had the privilege of working with a variety of theatre companies and schools throughout Alaska, including Cyrano's Theatre Company, Anchorage Community Theatre, the Wendy Williamson Auditorium, Brown-Eyed Girls, EagleCrest Academy, Bartlett High School Drama, Dimond High School Drama, West High School Drama, and the Three Barons Renaissance Fair.

Eric Brown
Technical Director

Eric Brown has worked as a technical director and scenic designer since 1991. He designs or builds more than twenty productions every year and has trained dozens of students in the many aspects of modern technical theatre. In 1997 he received his BA in Theatre from the UAA Department of Theatre and Dance.

Eric has also worked as a professional technical director, scenic designer, carpenter, sculptor, scenic painter, stage manager, properties master, light and sound board operator, and running crew for such companies as; Perseverance Theatre, Eccentric Theatre, Kokopelli Theatre, Juneau-Douglas Little Theatre, Anchorage Community Theatre, Juneau Light Opera, UAF Summer Fine Arts Camp, We Call it A.R.T., Theatre in The Rough, Off the Wall Productions, Juneau-Douglas High School, UAA Mainstage and Second Stage Theatre, Lyric Productions, Out North Theatre, Anchorage Classical Ballet, the Alaska Shakespeare Festival, Theatre in Your Schools, Brownhoun’ Designs, Dodger Designs, LIPS Photography, Anchorage Community Theatre, Juneau Light Opera, Special Olympics Alaska, and the Three Baron's Renaissance Fair.

In 2001 Eric started and taught a Venture Troop with the Boy Scouts of America that focused on theatre and received an award for venture crew advisor of the year.

Eric also served as the Artistic Director of the Three Baron's Renaissance Fair from 1998 to 2002.