Elisa Carlson is a professional voice and dialect coach, actor and director. Her 200+ coaching credits include productions Off-Broadway at The Mint and New Dramatists, and at premiere regional theatres including the Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis), Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Alley (Houston), American Player’s Theatre (WI), The Children’s Theatre (MN) and the Resident Ensemble Players (DE). Elisa coached dialects and historic voices for all actors in Ava DuVernay’s Best Picture Academy Award nominee Selma and in Damien Chazelle’s critically acclaimed First Man with Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy (Golden Globe nominee). Other film coaching includes Baby Driver (Golden Globe nominee Ansel Elgort), Burden, The Good Lie, Coat of Many Colors and HBO’s Stranger Things. She was text consultant for Campbell Scott’s highly regarded film of Hamlet and had a featured role in the film.
Acting credits include the Guthrie (lead in world premiere of Shadow Language), The Shakespeare Theater (D.C.), StageWest (MA), Alliance Theatre, Georgia Shakespeare, Theatre-in-the-Square (Suzi Bass Award nomination for Best Actress in Ghost Writer), Theatrical Outfit (Suzi Bass nomination for Best Ensemble in The Book of Will) and “Woman” in Aris Theatre’s Woman and Scarecrow. She is a narrator of more than 20 books for Audible.
Elisa directed the Reiser Award-winning Moxie and The Guys (featuring Jasmine Guy) at Theatrical Outfit. As a resident director/actor for GTA she has staged or acted in multiple productions, some favorites being A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Glass Menagerie, Antigone, Much Ado About Nothing and Men on Boats. Other directing credits include Theater Emory, Working Title Playwrights and the Guthrie Theater’s BFA Actor Training Program. She has been on the faculties of the University of Minnesota and Emory University, and taught in the post-graduate professional programs at the Guthrie, American Player’s Theatre, Alliance and The Children’s Theatre.
Larry Cook has worked with GTA for close to two decades. He started his theatre artist journey as an actor but after performing in over thirty different productions chose to work backstage. He earned an M.F.A. in Theatre, Design and Technology, at The University of Georgia in 1992 (where he also taught from 1993-1999) and a B.S. in Speech and Theatre at Troy State University, Troy, AL in 1988. Larry has worked extensively in film, television and theatre production. Larry has attended Master Classes with theatre professionals such as Jules Fischer, Freddy Wittop, and Jay Glerum. He also has extensive experience in the construction trades and is OSHA ten-hour certified in safety. Larry has trained with nine of the eighteen Fight Masters in the SAFD college of Fight Masters and is certified in unarmed, rapier and dagger, broadsword, and firearms. He is a member in good standing of The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, The Southeastern Theatre Conference, and the Society of American Fight Directors. Larry is primarily a scenic designer and carpenter but has experience in nearly every area of technical theater. He primarily teaches Stagecraft, Scenic Design, and Drafting. 
Zack Bennett is an Assistant Professor of Sound Design & Engineering at UNG and the Resident Sound Designer and Sound Supervisor at GTA. Zack earned his MFA in Sound Design for Performing Arts at Purdue University after completing his BA in Theater at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Zack previously taught at Purdue University and Johnson University before joining UNG and GTA in 2022. Zack has Sound Design experience in regional through Broadway and corporate theatre. Zack has also worked as an A//V Consultant and Engineer.
Jacob Squire is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at GTA and thrilled to be teaching acting and movement courses. After earning his BFA in Theatre Performance from Utah Valley University, he spent time performing reginoally in musical theatre around Utah, Montana, and Idaho until the itch to teach came back and he found himself at Michigan State University. There he earned an MFA in Acting with an emphasis in Directing and Movement direction. He holds a teaching certificate in the Michael Chekhov technique from the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium and has a passion for integrating technique and imagination in theatre education. Jacob has also done fight direction for theatres in Utah, Michigan, and North Carolina and looks to become a certified fight director in the future.
Rick Gomez auditioned in 11th grade for his first musical. That year, North Shore High School in Glen Head, NY, chose Carnival as their summer production and cast Rick as Marco the Magnificent. Lo and behold, a career was born. 35 years later, he is an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Brenau. Along the way, Rick has performed as a crossover artist with the Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Theatre Factory of St. Louis, and Deep Ellum Opera in Dallas, TX. He’s also held Assistant Professorships at The University of Tulsa, North Carolina School of the Arts and Shorter College. He’s out of breath, and determined to call GTA his last stop.