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Meet
Tom Amen | Martie Ramm | Tim Mueller | Rory Cowan | Amanda Martin | Amanda Zarr | Michon Gruber | Leslie Bitong | Collette Hausey | Dawn Brooks
With a BA in Acting from the University of California, Irvine and an MFA in Directing from the University of Utah, Tom began his career as a theater director and educator over 30 years ago.
Currently celebrating his 26th year as a professor in the Theater Arts Department at Golden West College, Tom was nominated as Teacher of the Year during the 2014/2015 and 2019/2020 academic years and was nominated for a Faculty Excellence Award in the Spring of 2022.
As an educator, Tom is committed to helping students succeed; the privilege of mentoring students through the process of discovering and developing their own unique intellectual and creative strengths continues to drive Tom’s work as a teaching artist.
As a theater director, Tom has staged over 90 productions in California and Utah, and over 50 productions at Golden West College. Favorite GWC directing credits include: The Nether, Every Brilliant Thing, The Exorcist, Inventing Van Gogh, On the Exhale, The Pillowman, Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, Playing With Fire: After Frankenstein, Dracula, The Glass Menagerie, Never the Sinner, Waiting for Godot, Quills, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Turn of the Screw, 1984, Moby Dick, A Streetcar Named Desire, Doubt, Othello, Proof, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Rashomon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, A Few Good Men, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Of Mice and Men, Medea, The Grapes of Wrath, The Crucible, and Dancing at Lughnasa.
Future GWC directing projects include The Diviners by Jim Leonard Jr. and Eight Seconds by Tim Mueller, both of which will open during the 2025-2026 GWC Theater Season.
In addition to his work as a professor and director, Tom remains engaged in several ongoing playwriting projects, including adaptations of plays by Strindberg and Pirandello, and an original play, Lunger: The Last Days of Doc Holliday.
Away from campus, Tom is an avid traveler, surfer, snow skier, sailor, and deep-sea fisherman. He and his wife Nina are also the proud parents of three big beautiful dogs: Thunder, Stormy, and Sundance aka “Sunny”.
Tom encourages anyone with an interest in theater to get involved in the exciting and welcoming Theater Arts Department at Golden West College!
Martie Ramm
Email: mrammengle@gwc.cccd.edu
Martie Ramm is an award-winning director and choreographer and has directed professional theatrical productions throughout the United States including A Little Night Music, Murder on the Orient Express, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Shop of Horrors, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (as a guest artist at Cal State Fullerton), Monty Python’s SPAMALOT (2 productions), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Sister Act, Evita, Hairspray, Macbeth, Mary Poppins, A Piece of My Heart, Boeing-Boeing, Romeo & Juliet, Noises Off, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Legally Blonde, Crazy for Love (a world-premiere musical revue), A Chorus Line (4 productions); NINE (3 productions), Don’t Dress for Dinner, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Grease, The Secret Garden, A Streetcar Named Desire, Guys and Dolls, The Children’s Hour, Beyond Therapy, The Laramie Project, The Fantasticks, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Sound of Music and many musical revues…just to name a few.
Martie has appeared on Broadway (Evita), in London (A Chorus Line), in several national tours of the US (A Chorus Line, Annie, Show Boat), and in many regional theater productions including twice as Charity in Sweet Charity and starred in productions of I Love My Wife, They’re Playing Our Song, The Mikado, Murder by the Book and as Joan in The Guys. Most recently, Martie co-starred as Muriel in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and as “A” in Famous for What?
Martie performed for Disneyland and Walt Disney Productions for many years, then became an Associate Producer and Manager of Special Projects for Walt Disney Theatrical Productions where she supervised the US National, Japanese, and Australian productions and served as production manager for the Los Angeles company of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
Martie also spent many years managing and directing special events including the opening of the J. Paul Getty Center in Brentwood and the re-opening of the New Amsterdam Theater in NYC.
Currently, Martie is Chair of Theater Arts and Dance and a Professor/Director/Choreographer in the Theater Arts department at Golden West College, Huntington Beach. She was GWC Acting Dean of Arts & Letters from 2022-2024. She has a BA in Dance from UCLA, a MA degree in Theater Arts from CSULA and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and Alpha Phi sorority.
The best thing about being a designer in the entertainment industry is that you get to tell stories. Instead of using words, we use color, line, texture, mass, proportion and other elements to elicit an emotional response from the audience. Tim Mueller has been designing and fabricating scenery, props and other decor for the past 30 years, creating just over 1000 projects in that time. In 1996 Tim started Gothic Moon Productions, a professional design and fabrication company which, in 17 years, grew into the largest scenic shop, sound stage and prop rental house in Orange County with a facility of over 35,000 square feet. Tim closed Gothic Moon at the end of 2012 to travel, pursue photography and other creative endeavors. Combined with his professional experience, Tim has been teaching design, fabrication, scenic painting, lighting and other technical theatre crafts for more than 20 years at Vanguard University, Concordia University, Orange Coast College and now, full time here at Golden West College where he looks forward to helping to tell many, many more stories.
Rory Cowan has been an educator in theater arts for over 25 years. He has been teaching at Golden West College since 2005. Rory holds an MFA in Theater Arts from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), where he was a member of the California Repertory Company. He earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Southern California. From 2004 to 2014, Rory was an instructor in the Music & Theater Conservatory at the Orange County School of the Arts. Additionally, he is a company member of the Garage Theatre in Long Beach. Some of his most notable productions include Witch, Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Misery, Killer Joe, The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot, Lucia Mad, and The Shape Of Things.
Amanda Martin has been a Costume Designer for several years and worked in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Texas. She graduated from CSULB with her Masters in Costume Design and Technology. Some of her credits include The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Pirates of Penzance, Playing with Fire (After Frankenstein), Arsenic and Old Lace, Pride and Prejudice, Old Clown Wanted, Big Fish the Musical, Polaroid Stories, Taming of the Shrew, Metamorphosis, Stop the World I Want To Get Off, and Good Boys and True. She is beginning her second season as resident costume designer at Golden West College.
Amanda Zarr: professional actor, director, and adjunct theatre professor. BFA from Chapman University, and MFA from the PATP program at the University of Washington. She directs and teaches at Chapman University and The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Member of Chance Theater and Shakespeare Orange County, a guest artist with Ophelia’s Jump, Pensacola Shakespeare Company, ACTC, Need Theater of Los Angeles and Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Notable acting includes Hamlet, On the Exhale (Golden West College), Fiona (In a Word), Margie (Good People). She won the Orange Curtain’s best actress for 2022 (Lina in Cry it Out, Chance Theater).
Michon is excited to be teaching at Golden West College. Michon has worked in the entertainment field for many years. She is a member of the IATSE Make-up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Local 706. She has worked at the Ahmanson Theatre for the World Premier of Soft Power, Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella, and Indecent. She is the wig designer and make-up artist for Musical Theatre West, she has designed the productions The Little Mermaid, Oliver, Bright Star, Mary Poppins, and many more. She is also the House Head of Hair and Make-up at Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theater. She had designed Peter Pan, South Pacific, Beauty and the Beast and many more. Michon is a past cast member of Disneyland where she worked in the Hair and Make-up department. She had the pleasure of working the Red Carpet event for the grand opening of Carsland. She worked on well known movie and television stars as well as the dignitaries. Michon is a license Cosmetologist and has taught at the community college level for many years.
The Golden West College Dance Department welcomes dancer/choreographer Leslie Bitong to the department beginning in Fall 2019. Leslie will teach modern, contemporary, ballet, strength & stretch and choreography. She will also teach “Viewing Dance” online.
As a professional dancer in both the concert and commercial dance sectors, Leslie has performed repertoire by Mia Michaels, Martha Graham, and George Balanchine, and has appeared in commercials and industrials for Mentos, Admiral’s Club, ASIA, and Sepideh.
Leslie has also served as an adjunct professor at several colleges and universities including: UC Irvine, Moorpark College, Cerritos College, and Saddleback College. She has taught master classes and shown her choreography worldwide, reaching LA, New York, China, Germany, London, and Italy, and served as the head Jazz Dance Instructor for the Professional Dance Academy of Stuttgart, Germany.
Leslie received her BFA from the University of Arizona School of Dance, and her MFA from the University of California, Irvine. She has developed a body of work that has been selected for national and international festivals, competitions, and invitationals. She was chosen as a finalist at the Capezio A.C.E. Awards and for events such as the Arizona Jazz Dance Showcase, Carnival Choreographer’s Ball in Hollywood, Theaterhaus in Stuttgart Germany, and many more.
Leslie has had successful residencies teaching dance at several universities including the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Rome, Tor Ve Gata. A passionate educator, Leslie teaches many different genres and styles of dance, as well as its theory and history. Her emotional and dynamic choreographic aesthetic incorporates elements of hip-hop, modern, ballet, jazz, and contemporary, displaying intricate musicality and technique. Leslie is making her mark on the world of dance and dance education by bringing an innovative and experimental, yet academic and historical point of view to choreography and pedagogy.
The GWC dance department is happy to welcome Leslie Bitong and look forward to having her share her talents with our students.
Dr. Collette Hausey is Professor of Music, Director of Bands & Applied Music Studies at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California. She is an internationally recognized conductor, composer, arranger, bassist, and percussionist, and is well-known throughout the United States as an adjudicator, clinician, guest conductor, and honor band conductor. She has conducted small ensembles, wind band, orchestra, opera and musical theater.
Dr. Hausey was elected to membership in the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) after two of her compositions were premiered at the famed Carnegie Hall in New York. Her works span a wide range of genres including concert band, orchestra, marching band, mixed ensembles, and instrumental solos. Her compositions and arrangements are in high demand, and have been performed in the United States, Europe, and Japan by middle school, high school, college, university, professional, and U.S. military ensembles.
Dr. Hausey has composed music for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade and has arranged music for the opening television segment of the Hollywood Christmas Parade. The Disneyland brass quintet, The Bell Hops, have performed several of her brass quintet arrangements at the Disneyland Resort, and her pep band arrangements are frequently heard on nationally televised NCAA basketball games. Six of her many commissioned works are marches: Marsche Minor (2003), Eagle, Globe & Anchor (2008), The Irish Brigade (2011), The Army and Navy Forever (2012), Pride of the Eagles (2013), and Volunteers of the Union Army (2013). The 1st Marine Division Band (USMC) includes Eagle, Globe & Anchor in its concert, ceremonial, and parade repertoire.
Dr. Hausey has served in various leadership roles and committees at Golden West College including Chair of the Music Department, Academic Senate Vice President, Academic Senate Representative for Music, Chair of the Online Instruction Committee, Council of Chairs & Deans, Council for Curriculum and Instruction, and Departmental Committees for Program Review and Program Vitality Review.
Dr. Hausey earned a Bachelor of Music (Composition) from San Diego State University in 1993, a Master of Music (Conducting) from SDSU in 1995, and was awarded her Doctor of Musical Arts (Wind Conducting) from the University of Arizona in 1997. She is a member of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association (SCSBOA), the National Association for Music Education (MENC), the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Film Music Institute, the College Music Society, the National Music Honor Society of Pi Kappa Lamda, and the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.
Dawn Brooks graduated from California State University, Long Beach with Bachelor and Masters degrees in Vocal Performance and a DMA in Choral Music from the University of Southern California. She has studied conducting with Lynn Bielefelt, Bill Dehning, David Wilson, and Magen Solomon and was a voice student of Marvellee Cariaga and Mary Rawcliffe Fairbanks.
Dr. Brooks joined the faculty of Golden West College in 2019 and teaches voice and choir classes, as well as private voice, music history, piano, and music theory. At GWC she has conducted concerts of classical, jazz, pop, and world music with the Golden West College Chamber Singers and students in the vocal program. She performed several solo recitals on campus, including “Beau Soir: An Evening of French Music” which featured early 20th Century French chanson paired with art projections and “The Song is You: A Tribute to Singer of the Great American Songbook.”
Dr. Brooks was formerly the Supervisor of Vocal and Choral Studies at CSU Dominguez Hills, where she was the conductor of the CSUDH Chamber Singers, an auditioned ensemble that performed traditional choral music, including works by Britten, Schumann, Debussy, Vaughan Williams, and Pergolesi. She conducted this ensemble in choral/orchestral performances of the Bach Ascension Oratorio, Lord Nelson Mass by Haydn, Requiem in D by Mozart, Carmina Burana by Orff for two pianos and percussion ensemble, and Requiem by Brahms. Dr. Brooks also directed the University Chorus, a pop choir that performs with a live rhythm section, performing music by The Beatles, Prince, Michael Jackson, Queen, Coldplay, and Stevie Wonder, as well as jazz and Broadway favorites. She co-directed the Early Music Ensemble with Dr. Scott Morris and Dr. Rik Noyce, coaching the vocalists on performance practice for music from Antiquity to the Baroque.
As a contralto soloist, Dr. Brooks has performed at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, and the John Anson Ford Theatre, as well as with the USC Early Music Ensemble and the professional chorus Zephyr: Voices Unbound. Her musical theatre and opera credits include The Pirates of Penzance, Sweet Charity, HMS Pinafore, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Dido and Aeneas, and several Broadway revues. She is the Director of Music at Riviera United Methodist in Redondo Beach, where she directs the adult and handbell choirs, produces a yearly fine arts concert series, and founded the Redondo Beach Baroque Festival.
