Acting Program

Lee Eskey

Professor and Chair of Acting

Prof. Eskey is a professional actor, director and teacher for 20 years. Worked at The Folger Theatre, The Denver Center Theatre Company, the Kentucky and Virginia Shakespeare Festivals and The National Players, as well as The Actor's Playground, a Los Angeles theatre company which he co-founded with Rick Wasserman.

He incorporates Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body (TOB) into his work with artists and he is currently completing requirements for certification from the Theology of the Body Institute.

Monique Gaffney

Adjunct Professor of Acting

Prof. Gaffney is one of San Diego’s most admired actors and playwrights.

She has an MFA in Acting from Columbia University; New York, and a BA in Theatre from the University of California, San Diego.

She has performed in shows such as Disgraced and Clybourne Park at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, and she is a resident artist of Cygnet Theatre where she performed The Piano Lesson and The Wind and the Breeze.

Rebecca Huber

Adjunct Faculty for Vocal Performance

Prof. Huber is a licensed speech-language pathologist and vocal music director with rich clinical experience, energy, and passion for her work.

She holds a Master’s degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology from California State University, Los Angeles, a Bachelor's degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology from San Jose State University, and a current license.

She has a special interest in Voice and Voice Science and has a rich background in music and vocal singing.

Dr. Robert Giracello

Adjunct Professor of Music

Prof. Giracello is an award winning composer, performer, and educator.

He has appeared throughout the United States and Europe, most notably in a special audience for Pope John Paul II, at the United Nations UNESCO concert in Paris, and at a special anniversary celebration in Cologne, Germany.

He received his PhD from the University of California, Riverside where he specialized in the theatrical works of Stephen Sondheim, the compositions and writings of Arthur Farwell, and electronic music composition using ChucK music programming.

Steven Kramp

Professor & Chair of Theology and Humanities

Prof. Kramp is a published poet, theologian, and musician.

He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the renowned program at University of Iowa, in addition to a Masters in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville.

He is currently concluding work on two books entitled The Lion’s Mouth, a lyrical memoir, and Holy Saturday, a large-scale poetic work based on the Triduum and the Stations of the Cross.

His diverse experience includes being an impassioned educator and mentor, a committed literary artist, a performing musician, and a youth minister and high school teacher

Paul Rugg

Adjunct Professor of Acting

Prof. Rugg is a writer, producer and voiceover actor who has worked with Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, Disney, Warner Brothers and Cartoon Network. He has received three Emmy Awards; two for his work on Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs and another for his work on Steven Spielberg Presents Freakazoid. He was recently featured as the voice of Artephius The Alchemist on Dreamwork’s The Adventures Of Puss And Boots.

Kathryn Smith-McGlynn

Adjunct Professor of Acting

Prof. Kathryn is an actress, writer, and producer. Her body of work includes notable performances across multiple mediums including theatre, television, film, video, print, and radio. She has appeared on the television series such as Deputy (FOX), Better Call Saul (AMC), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), Friday Night Lights (NBC), Hysteria (Amazon Prime) and others. She also has appeared as a co-star on Mazerunner: The Scorch Trials.

She raised millions of dollars in NYC as a former fundraising consultant and executive. She studied at the famed Moscow Art Theatre and hold MFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon University.

Courtney Moorehead Balaker

Adjunct Professor of Film and Acting

Prof. Balaker is an award-winning filmmaker, theatre director, and co-founder of Korchula Productions. Courtney wrote, directed, and produced Little Pink House, an award-winning feature film about Susette Kelo’s historic fight to save her home and neighborhood. The film stars two-time Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener (Get Out) and Emmy nominee Jeanne Tripplehorn (Grey Gardens). It has won a variety of awards including the HBO Audience Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival and the Vail Film Festival Audience Award. Additional film and television credits include Can We Take A Joke?, The Coddling of the American Mind, and America in Primetime, an award-winning PBS documentary series including interviews with Ron Howard, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Alec Baldwin.

She began her film career at Neo Art & Logic, a feature film production company with an overall deal with Dimension Films where she developed new screenplays and went on to serve as Vice President of Development. She spent five years in New York City directing Off-Broadway plays, working with actors such as George Morfogen (HBO's Oz) and Joseph Gorden-Levitt (Inception). Her theater credits include works at SoHo Playhouse, Ensemble Studio Theater, and Theater for the New City.

Courtney holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Colorado at Denver and a master’s degree in theatre directing from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and King’s College London where she received classical acting and theater directing training under the leadership of Fiona Shaw and Lord Richard Attenborough.