Faculty

Improv & Auditioning

Denzel Belin

Denzel Belin is a Minneapolis-based writer, director, actor, producer, and improviser. Belin is a longstanding cast member and writer at The Brave New Workshop and a staff writer for AWF magazine. He serves as the Artistic Director for Threshold Theater, whose mission is to "produce fresh LGBTQ works." He currently writes and performs for “Queer Window,” an all-queer sketch show based in New York City.

Denzel has appeared on TPT Almanac and created work for the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus and Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. He presented a longform collection of solo sketches and storytelling, “With Love, From Washington” for the Blackness Is… Festival in Minneapolis. With Threshold Theater, he is currently leading a play reading series that will provide playwrights the opportunity to workshop their play with a director and team of actors that concludes with a staged reading that is open to the public.

Movement

Rush Benson

Rush Benson is an actor, dancer, teacher, musician, and choreographer originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. After graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College, Rush toured with the Flying Foot Forum and performed internationally as choreographer and director for The Folded Paper Project in Hong Kong with Kanta Kochhar. Rush has worked as an actor, dancer, and choreographer at theaters including the Guthrie, the Ordway, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Park Square Theater, Artistry Theater, and The Old Log Theater.

In film and commercial work, Rush has worked with Jamal Sims (choreographer from the Step Up film series), and performed on Lady Dynamite (Netflix) and in Split Rock Shuffle with the Flying Foot Forum. In 2015, he co-founded CABARAVE with Rathaus Productions, an immersive art experience that has been featured in Star Tribune’s “Variety Best Of The Week.” With Rathaus Productions, Rush has written and starred in four music videos.

Rush has also performed with Collide Theatrical Dance Company, James Sewell Ballet, and Keane Sense of Rhythm Tap Company. Rush is a teaching artist with The Cowles Center, the Ordway, and the Guthrie Theater, and has taught at schools around the country. He enjoys a solid jam session, freestyle rap, dance ciphers, animals, nature, and the feeling you get from a deep intellectual discussion.

WELL-BEING, ACTING BUSINESS, & PUBLIC SPEAKING

Tiffany Cooper

Tiffany Cooper is an American Broadway and film actor, singer, dancer, and educator whose career spans more than 30 years in the entertainment industry. She is also a certified Life Coach Practitioner and Executive Speech Coach. Tiffany was in the original cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony-nominated musical Bombay Dreams on Broadway. Other performance highlights include Mamma Mia!, In The Next Room, or the vibrator play, The Audition (world premiere), Clybourne Park, Jesus Christ Superstar, Guys and Dolls, The Tempest, When Shakespeare’s Ladies Meet, Fences, Cinderella, South Pacific, The Buddy Holly Story, and Porgy and Bess. She appears on the cast recordings of Grease Das Musical and Guys and Dolls (50th anniversary). Television credits include appearances on ABC, NBC, and public TV networks. She recently appeared in the upcoming feature film Emma Was Here, and produced a debut solo recording Satin Mood as a tribute to Julie London. Her multi-media solo work Black Thread premiered at the Blackness Is… Festival presented by the Guthrie Theater and MN Black Circle Theatre. She has also adjudicated national and regional talent competitions including the Miss America Scholarship pageant in Alaska, and currently volunteers for Sing For Your Seniors. Her life’s mission as a storyteller is to use the arts to create social change and build community.

Singing & Vocal Technique

Jared Mikach

Born in San Diego, California, Jared Miller discovered his passion for collaboration while participating in his high school choirs. He graduated from St. Olaf College with a B.A. in Music and an Asian Studies concentration studying with Dr. Ananda-Owens, and recently finished a Master’s Degree in Collaborative Piano and Coaching at the University of Minnesota with Dr. Lovelace. At St. Olaf, he worked extensively with the vocal, choral, lyric opera, and theater departments. During his time at the U of M, he played for the University Singers, opera scenes, and a production of Menotti’s The Consul, under Lara Bolton.

As a freelance pianist in the Twin Cities, Jared has worked with groups and organizations such as Border CrosSing, South Metro Chorale, Schubert Club, Mississippi Valley Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Mill City Opera, AOT, Journey North Opera Company, and OOPS MN. One of Jared’s musical passions is in studying and performing the music of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. 

Singing & Vocal Technique

Natalia Romero Arbeláez

Originally from Colombia, Natalia Romero Arbeláez is an experienced performer, educator, and musician. As an educator, she thrives in the intersection of contemporary music education and culturally relevant teaching. She is passionate about equity and access in her performing practices and strives to bring that into any collaborative space she is involved in.

Natalia's strength lies in her ability to connect and engage learners across all settings, although she is particularly fond of working with and learning from teenagers. Natalia works full time as the Choir Director at Harding Senior High School (located in Saint Paul, Minnesota) but freelances around the Twin Cities as a soprano and music director with youth theaters.

Natalia is an active performer. She can be found singing with the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, and Border CrosSing, where she also directs a bilingual community choir called Heritage Choir. Natalia holds a Bachelor of Music from Saint Olaf College and is currently pursuing a Master of Music Education at the University of Saint Thomas.