The Santa Fe Opera Welcomes 85 Outstanding Apprentice Technicians
The Santa Fe Opera Welcomes 85 Outstanding Apprentice Technicians for the 2025 Season
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Santa Fe, NM — The Santa Fe Opera is delighted to announce the 85 members of its 2025 Apprentice Program for Theater Technicians. Selected from a pool of over 1,000 national and international applications, the class of 2025, including nine apprentices from New Mexico, brings fresh creativity and technical expertise to the Santa Fe Opera and performing arts industry. Each season, SFO’s technical apprentices perform essential backstage functions within one of eight distinct crews: Audio/Visual, Costumes, Electrics, Production/Music Services, Properties, Scenic Art, Stage Operations and Wigs and Makeup. The crews carry out daily changeovers to maintain the season’s repertory schedule and fill positions crucial to the live-running of productions.
Santa Fe Opera Production and Recruiting Coordinator Tracy Armagost facilitates the program, including recruitment, hiring and programming numerous seminars, director/designer presentations and an annual portfolio fair. This year, Tracy traveled over 16,000 miles on 21 planes and drove over 1,500 miles to meet applicants at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festivals (KCACTF) in six regions, the United States Institute of Theater Technology (USITT) conference in Columbus, Ohio, and job fairs and informational sessions tailored to reach tomorrow’s opera artisans and technicians. SFO was represented at recruitment engagements by year-round production staff members Lynae Vandermeulen, Mike Ortiz, Eileen Garcia and Jessica Gilliard-Crossman. To select the class of 2025, Tracy, alongside Production Department leadership, carefully considered and reviewed over a thousand resumes.
Each technical apprentice has the opportunity to work with the company’s production staff of world-class designers, technicians and skilled craftspeople from across the globe. In addition to their involvement in mainstage opera presentations, the technical and singing apprentices will also produce two evenings of apprentice-led programming on August 10 and 17, 2025, at 8:00 pm, during which they showcase their artistry to the public. The popular Apprentice Scenes are reimagined to provide a wider range of performance and training opportunities for tomorrow’s stars. The first performance on August 10 honors the longtime tradition of staged scenes from the operatic repertoire. The second performance on August 17 features the Apprentice singers in a concert alongside the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra conducted by Iván López Reynoso.
2025 Technical Apprentices
*Denotes second-year apprentice
Audio/Visual
Colby Anderson, Logansport, Indiana
Ruby Duka, Cibolo, Texas
Kaelyn Miller, Austin, Texas
Brooke Santiago, Mableton, Georgia
Costumes
Katie Rain Auberle, Warren, Michigan
Morgan Bailie*, St. Paul, Minnesota
Arianna Baird, Livermore, California
Morgan Basile, Martinsburg, West Virginia
Justin Buontempo, Mahopac, New York
Erin Callaghan, Windsor, Ontario
Donna Cantu, Guadalupe, California
Isabella Collins, Santa Cruz, California
Ella Doyle, Los Angeles, California
Gabrielle Farnsworth*, Lubbock, Texas
Travis Gawason*, New Hope, Pennsylvania
Diana Gomez, Los Angeles, California
Abigail Hayes, Las Vegas, Nevada
Lauren Kensley, Aurora, Colorado
Robin Klemaszewski*, Tempe, Arizona
Owe Morris, College Station, Texas
Taylor Needleman, Orange County, California
Codi Rasor, Mt. Sterling, Kentucky
Emily Rosolowski, Chelsea, Michigan
Angelese Sanchez, Bernalillo, New Mexico
Sophie Shahan*, Norwood, North Carolina
Cassie Smith, Arlington, Virginia
Kendall Swartz, Seminole, Florida
Emma Van Horn*, Surprise, Arizona
Mila Livoni Zidel*, Chicago, Illinois
Electrics
Gabriel Almager, Midland, Texas
Ren Aphel Ali, Queens, New York
Zeke Blottner, Richmond, Virginia
Frida Capitán Parra*, Austin, Texas
Ashley Christensen, Portland, Oregon
Avery Cranston, Chicago, Illinois
Spencer Duff, Newark, Delaware
Sam Hutchens, Aztec, New Mexico
Julia Starck, New York, New York
Elisabeth Claire Winston, Kansas City, Kansas
Production/Music Services Crew
Danny De Jong, Ontario, California
Zachary Dukeminier, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Crystal Espinoza, Santa Ana, California
Evelyn Hufstetler, Marietta, Georgia
EJ Larrick, Claremont, Florida
Properties
Adam Behr, Houston, Texas
Emily Bensing, Park Ridge, Illinois
Kayla Cotter*, Springfield, Missouri
Connor J. Daemicke, Downers Grove, Illinois
Annabelle Gauthier*, Dexter, Michigan
Jordan Ingersoll, Charlotte, North Carolina
Theo Kuehn, Fort Collins, Colorado
Bailey Lewis, Wichita Falls, Texas
Monica Moran, Omaha, Nebraska
Griffin O’Connor, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Evan Reinhart, Zionsville, Indiana
Jessica Sanderson, Houston, Texas
Annalee Weydert, Orange City, Florida
Rebekah Willey, Tehachapi, California
Scenic Art
Abby Bilson, Buffalo, New York
Elizabeth Vice, Aurora, Colorado
Isla Hofmann, Indianapolis, Indiana
Stage Crew
Anthony Cabrera Arzate*, Santa Ana, California
Liz Baker, Forrest City, Arkansas
Yassiar Brown, Columbia, South Carolina
Matt Carroll*, Aldie, Virginia
Eva Cullen, Las Cruces, New Mexico
Lauren Custer, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Sydney Elliot, Raton, New Mexico
Alyssa Eppler, Omaha, Nebraska
Gus Gustafson, Sorrento, Maine
Maia Harris, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Aspen Knight, Cincinnati, Ohio
Toni Kooharian, Boston, Massachusetts
Turner Laxson*, Fort Worth, Texas
Aiden Meagher, Naperville, Illinois
Cameron Rhode, Canton, South Dakota
Zachary Sharer, Sugarland, Texas
Reid Stadelman*, Beloit, Wisconsin
Nicholas Thomas*, Emporia, Kansas
Dameon Vasquez*, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Robert H. Webb III*, Thomson, Georgia
Wigs and Makeup
Sarah Burstock*, Leesburg, Virginia
Courtney Horry, New York, New York
Katherine Polgar, Coral Springs, Florida
Araceli Sias, Corrales, New Mexico
About The Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Program for Theater Technicians — Established in 1965, the Apprentice Program for Theater Technicians has provided intermediate and advanced instruction and practical experience to young technicians in elements of stage operations. Among the first of its kind in America, more than 4,100 aspiring technicians have participated in the internationally recognized program. Former Technical Apprentices have progressed to careers as professional technicians and designers for stage and film work; others work in production at opera, theater and ballet companies worldwide.
About The 2025 Season — The 68th Festival Season will showcase 42 debuting artists, 33 returning artists, the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and more than 120 skilled singers and technicians from the opera’s renowned Apprentice Programs in works by Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Britten and Wagner. Opening Weekend centers on a new production of Puccini’s La bohème directed by James Robinson and a remount of 2021’s beloved production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro directed by Laurent Pelly. From July 12, the company presents a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto by Director Julien Chavaz in an international co-production with Irish National Opera and Opera Zuid. Opening July 19 is Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, staged by Louisa Muller in a Canadian Opera Company production originated at Garsington Opera. Rounding out the season on July 26 is Wagner’s masterpiece Die Walküre, presented by the company for the first time in a new production by director Melly Still.
Says General Director Robert K. Meya, “Now more than ever people are seeking new and memorable experiences. A night at the Santa Fe Opera offers first-time visitors and longtime patrons just that. From live performances to the fun of tailgating, Preview Dinners, Tours and free Prelude Talks, we have something for everyone. I hope you will join us for a sensational summer of open-air opera!” First-time visitors and long-time patrons can also look forward to offerings evocative of the singular Santa Fe Opera experience including tailgating, Preview Dinners, Tours, free Prelude Talks and much more. Individual tickets and subscriptions are on sale now at santafeopera.org.
About The Santa Fe Opera — Recognized in 2022 as “Festival of the Year” at the International Opera Awards, the Santa Fe Opera annually draws 85,000 people from New Mexico and around the globe. Nestled atop a mountain vista in northern New Mexico, the company’s iconic Crosby Theatre is open on three sides, allowing visitors to enjoy performances complemented by the elements. Since 1957 the company has presented over 2,000 performances of 180 operas by 92 composers spanning five centuries of opera, creating a legacy of 45 American premieres and 19 world premieres.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility at the Santa Fe Opera — Opera has the power to speak truth, broaden perspectives and invite empathy. The Santa Fe Opera is committed to the continuous work of becoming an antiracist and anti-oppressive organization and incorporating the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility. Our goal is to create a joyful and engaging environment in which a diverse community of artists, staff, volunteers and audiences alike belong.
The mission of the Santa Fe Opera is to advance the operatic art form by presenting ensemble performances of the highest quality in a unique setting with a varied repertory of new, rarely performed, and standard works; to ensure the excellence of opera’s future through apprentice programs for singers, technicians and arts administrators; and to foster an understanding and appreciation of opera among a diverse public.