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Theatre Faculty
Theatre Faculty
Guinea Bennett-Price
Director of the Theatre Conservatory
Guinea Bennett Price is a proud graduate of The Booker T. Washington High School of the Performing and Visual Arts (Class of 1989) and holds a BFA in Theatre from Howard University in Washington D.C. She is a co-founder and Artistic director of Soul Rep Theatre Company where her acting and directing credits include The Freedmans, Her Stories, Spunk, In the Blood, Once on this Island and Dreamgirls.
Ms. Bennett Price has had the pleasure of directing Most Valuable Player and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry at the Dallas Children’s Theater and the honor of portraying Calpurnia in To Kill a Mockingbird, Mrs. Slocum in Best Christmas Pageant Ever and the title role in Senora Tortuga. She works continuously as a teaching artist with various organizations including The Dallas Public Library, Dallas Theater Center, West Dallas Community Centers, Big Thought, Junior Players and the Bermuda Union of Teachers.
Her transition as a full-time educator at the Wilmer Hutchins Performing Arts High School in 2004 led to five successful years at Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy and four years of innovative arts integration at George Washington Carver Creative Arts Learning Center. She welcomes the opportunity to continue the standard of excellence in arts education by joining her esteemed Alma Mater as a staff member in the Theatre Department.
gubennett@dallasisd.org | 972-925-1291 | Room 180
Lisa Cotie
Assistant Director of Theatre Conservatory / Plays and Playwrites / Acting Problems / Comedy / Senior Directing
Lisa has been fortunate to spend her years working alongside some of the best Regional Theatre directors, actors, and educators in the nation. She has been actively involved in the DFW Theatre Community for over twenty five years. After graduating with an extended major in theatre, she served as directing intern at Theatre Three under Jac Alder and Larry O'Dwyer. Lisa was part of a small group of theatre artists that worked through the 1990s and early 2000s to re-establish the fractured theatre community in the Dallas area. For many years, she was Artistic Director of small, but highly revered theatres, a freelance director and choreographer, receiving numerous Directing Awards.
Lisa began teaching in 2000, and has been an integral component of the Tony Award winning and National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award winning Dallas Theatre Center's Education Department ever since. In 2006, she received the Bayard H. Friedman Award for Theatre Education.
Within Dallas ISD, Lisa is a Distinguished Teacher and A Master Mentor Teacher. She has spent her teaching career working to break down foundational acting methodologies into digestible pieces for beginning actors, emerging artists, and budding collegiates and professionals. "I want to ignite a fire for theatre in my students that will burn brightly throughout their lives; whether they pursue a career in the arts or become lifelong patrons..."
lcotie@dallasisd.org | 972-925-1268 | Room 246
Charlton Gavitt
Assistant Director of Theatre Conservatory / Introduction to Plays and Playwrights / Stage Combat / Skokos Acting Lab / Theatre Technology / Advanced Lighting I-II
cgavitt@dallasisd.org | 972-925-1270 | Room 272
Renee Jones
Costume Construction I-III / Intro Technical Theatre - Costumes / Beginning Design / Intermediate Design Advanced Design I-II
renjones@dallasisd.org | 972-925-1273 | Room 174-176
