Staff
Paul Pagano (He / Him)
Executive Director, Co-Founder
actorpagano@gmail.com
Paul Pagano, a native of St. Louis, received his BA in Drama from Washington University and Masters in Theatre Education from Fontbonne University. As an actor, Paul has had the opportunity to work with the Guthrie Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Children’s Theatre Company, Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, Hey City Theatre, Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, the MUNY, STAGES St. Louis, HotCity Theatre, and many others. He has worked with Hunter Foster, Kathy Fitzgerald, Peter Michael Goetz, Anne Bogart, and Dan Goggin. Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association since 2001.
As an instructor, Paul has taught at COCA, the Utah Shakespeare Festival Teen Acting Intensive, St. Louis University High School, and STAGES Performing Arts Academy.
When not on stage or in the classroom, Paul’s favorite roles are being a husband to wife, Lori, and father to budding stars, Xavier & Kalia.
Stephanie Fox (She / Her)
Artistic Director, Co-Founder
sfox@gcpastl.org
Originally from Oklahoma, Stephanie graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Music: Music Theatre. After moving to New York, she continued her education privately at studios including Jen Waldman Studio, Kimberly Vaughn: Kimberly Vaughn Performance Studio, Broadway Dance Center, and Steps on Broadway.
Stephanie has choreographed many shows across the country and, as an educator, she has taught dance, musical theatre, song interpretation and audition technique in St. Louis, Oklahoma, and Indiana at studios including COCA, STAGES Performing Arts Academy, ArtWorks Academy, Range of Motion Dance Studio, Round Barn Theatre, On Broadway Productions, Poteet Little Theatre and Oklahoma Children's Theatre. Currently, she is the choreographer for Chaminade College Preparatory School.
A proud member of Actors' Equity (Stephanie Long), Stephanie has performed across the country at theatres including: Insight Theatre Company, The Round Barn Theatre, Mt. Washington Valley Theatre, Shawnee Playhouse, KJK Productions, Cortland Repertory, College Light Opera and Group Theatre Too. Some favorite credits include: National Tour: Junie B. Jones (May); Regional: Company (Amy), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Millie), A Chorus Line (Diana and Maggie), Nunsense (Sr. Robert Anne), Godspell (Robin), Grease (Jan), Titanic (Alice Beane), Pump Boys and Dinettes (Rhetta), and White Christmas (Judy).
Lori Barrett-Pagano (She / Her)
Managing Director, Co-Founder
lpagano@gcpastl.org
Lori Barrett-Pagano earned her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Washington University in St. Louis. She has been teaching voice for over 25 years – currently as an adjunct voice faculty at St. Louis University, privately out of her home, as well as voice and musical theatre classes at GCPA.
Lori enjoys singing numerous styles of music and has performed with musical theatre, operetta, and opera companies. Locally, she has performed with The MUNY, STAGES St. Louis, Union Avenue Opera, Echo Theatre, Spotlight Theatre, MainStage Musicals and SIUE Summer Showbiz. Regional credits include The Minnesota Opera, North Star Opera, Minneapolis Musical Theatre, Theatre in the Round, and The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company.
Her most enjoyable performing is to sing and dance around the house with her actor/singer husband, Paul, and her most precious stars, son, Xavier, and daughter, Kalia.
Ashleigh Blevins (She / Her)
Education Director, Co-Founder
ablevins@gcpastl.org
Ashleigh began her singing career at the age of three, performing for packed stadiums with her father's country western band, and she has rarely been seen away from the stage ever since. She earned a BA in Vocal Performance from Eastern University in Philadelphia, PA, before marrying her pen pal and best friend of ten years and moving to St. Louis. The “Blevinites” have since added two beautiful children and countless canines to their ranks. After a number of years in Salt Lake City, UT, Ashleigh is thrilled to be back “home” in STL and back in the GCPA studios.
Ashleigh has taught voice and theatre for over fifteen years. She has experience and expertise through all ages, levels and abilities, teaching music, language, and theatre at many St. Louis institutions, including South City Community School, Miriam School and Learning Center, and STAGES St. Louis. She has coached private and group voice, held music and theatre residencies in numerous schools in the St. Louis area, and directed/music directed many musical productions. She is a published composer, a recording artist, a proven educator, and a fierce advocate for her students to be transformed and to transform others through the power of music and the performing arts.
Kaleigh Bendoff (She / Her)
Education Manager
kbendoff@gcpastl.org
A St. Louis native, Kaleigh is no stranger to the St. Louis performing arts community. Having once been a student at GCPA herself, she took classes and appeared in The Music Man and Titanic during her high school days. She attended Butler University in Indianapolis and obtained degrees in Youth & Community Development, Arts Administration, and Speech Pathology. While in school, she appeared as Berthe in Pippin, performed with a vocal jazz ensemble, and choreographed for the Butler University Dance Club. She has worked on the Education team for Stages St. Louis and Indiana Repertory Theatre, where she’s helped create materials for different education programs, as well as stepping in to be a teaching artist from time to time. Kaleigh is excited to return to GCPA as a member of the staff.
Tamara Thomas
Administrative Assistant
info@gcpastl.og
Tamara Thomas is a native of Hempstead, Long Island in New York. She attended Fisk University in Nashville, TN, where she received a dual degree in Dramatics and Speech and Psychology. After marriage, Tamara relocated to St. Louis with her husband. She has worked at The New York Times in Manhattan, at Child Center of Our Lady in Normandy, MO as a Residential Therapist, and for the Department of Mental Health as an Habilitation Specialist to intellectually and developmentally disabled men and women. Tamara is now honored to be a part of the GCPA family! Besides her favorite job of being a wife and mom of three, Tamara is the founder of the faith based drama ministry, Shabach Artistic Expressions Ministry.
Carole Ann Miller
Marketing Associate - Youth Theatre Company
cmiller@gcpastl.og
Carole Ann Miller has been working as a professional actor and educator for almost a decade. Carole Ann holds a BFA in Acting and is completing her MFA in Theatre Pedagogy this year. Locally, she has been a part of the Riverboat Cruise Shows at the Gateway Arch, Jest Murder Mystery Company, and the Polar Express, and nationally has been a member of the Victorian Horror Troupe Phantasmagoria since 2019. Phantasmagoria has inspired Carole Ann's love of all things whimsically macabre, and brought this "Halfway to Halloween" workshop to (after)life! Carole Ann will be bringing excerpts from authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Washington Irving, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to explore the spookier side of literature and performance.