Who We Are
Sierra Scott, Artistic Director/Choreographer:
After earning a BFA in Theater Arts from the Conservatory at Webster University in St. Louis, Sierra worked throughout the country as a professional actor and member of the Actors' Equity Association in touring and regional theater productions including the revival of Oklahoma! (1st national tour), Cats (Prather Productions), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Gateway Playhouse), Anything Goes (St. Louis Repertory Theatre), and Titanic (Maine State Music Theatre). She then moved to Los Angeles where she worked in casting for feature films, television shows, and pilots. Sierra was an Associate Casting Director with Emmy award winning Ulrich/Dawson/Kritzer Casting and cast projects for Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Sony, NBC, ABC, CBS, TNT, and the CW. Favorite projects include The 15:17 to Paris and American Sniper (Warner Bros) with director Clint Eastwood, X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Marvel Ent.), Emerald City (NBC) and Major Crimes (TNT). Through her casting credentials, Sierra earned membership into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. After 5 years as the Grants Director at the Nevada Arts Council, Sierra recently took on the new role of Arts & Culture Supervisor for Carson City. Sierra is also a guest lecturer for the University of Nevada, Reno and has taught master classes and workshops in acting and dance for studios in both Los Angeles and New York City.
Tara Burke, Technical Director/Marketing Manager:
Tara, has a BA in Advertising from the University of Nevada, Reno and has worked behind the scenes in community theater for over 30 years. Tara started in the spotlight booth at age 12 and worked with her father, Jeffrey Scott, to learn lighting design and operation. As theater has progressed Tara has also taken on the task of creating video backdrop projections and is the video editor for all the Virtual Choir presentations for Wild Horse Theater and Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company. Some of Tara's favorite shows to create the lighting design for and/or video projections have been Heathers The Musical, Newsies, Frozen Jr., The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Hairspray, and Aladdin. Tara is the owner and graphic designer for the award-winning Computer Artistry Graphic Design in Minden, Nevada and she is the graphic designer for six local theater companies including Wild Horse Productions, Western Nevada Musical Theater Company, the Brewery Arts Center, and the Carson Valley Community Theater.
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Marshall Jones, Music Director:
Marshall holds a BM in Vocal Performance, a BA in dance, and a BA in Theatre, all from the University of Nevada, Reno and has been teaching and performing multiple styles of music for over 20 years. When living in California, Marshall toured with the Sacramento Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps for four years before joining the United States Marine Corps, and worked with numerous music and dance ensembles such as Fred C. Beyer High School, Ustach Middle School, Thomas Downey High School, Grace Davis High School, Live Oak High School, Los Banos High School, Granite Bay High School, Sheldon High School, Elk Grove High School, Fairfield High School, Sacramento State University, Precision Percussion, and Vanguard Winter Percussion, and Mandarins Entertainment. He then moved to Reno to attend UNR and has since then worked with the University of Nevada, Reno, Brüka Theatre, Reno Little Theater. Marshall currently works with Damonte Ranch High School as a music and dance instructor for the marching band and winter percussion, and is the musical director for Wild Horse Stage Company. Marshall is passionate about educating the next generation of musicians and currently has a private voice studio in the Northern Nevada area.
Anthony Mendoza, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Consultant:
Anthony Mendoza has been involved in theater in the Reno area for nearly a decade. Primarily an actor, he has also been involved in directing, sound design and producing. He is currently producing Perspectives: a multicultural playreading series with Reno Little Theater. Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) work within the theater community has become a passion and he currently serves as the chair of the IDEA Committee at Reno Little Theater. He is excited to work with Wild Horse to advise on community outreach and casting with a focus on the principles of IDEA.
Thomas Rao, Intimacy Director (Spring Awakening):
Thomas Rao is an actor, improviser, and intimacy choreographer. He recently graduated from UNR with two bachelor’s degrees; Theatre and Gender, Race, and Identities. In addition to his university education, Thomas attended workshops from Theatrical Intimacy Education to learn the foundations around intimacy choreography. He recently worked with Good Luck Macbeth on their production of Evil Dead: The Musical as their Intimacy Director. Hoping to continue in theatre, Thomas plans to move to Chicago and get involved with Second City Improv while working as an Intimacy director.
Choreographing intimate moments on stage is very important and precise work. Ensuring that there is a comfortable and equitable space for all actors is the main goal while creating choreography. While implementing choreography, Thomas makes sure that all actors are fully informed so they know precisely what they are consenting to do on stage. This is done through a series of boundary check ins with the actors in a very collaborative and open process. Thomas is very excited to be the intimacy director for this production of Spring Awakening at Wild Horse Stage Co. https://thomasrao810.wixsite.com/actor
Carol Scott, Executive Director Wild Horse Productions
Carol Scott holds a BA Degree in Arts Management from SUNY. Carol has been involved with different aspects of the arts and arts education for over 30 years. She has acted, directed, produced, designed, and managed over 300 productions. For the past 11 years, she has been Executive Director for the nationally award-winning children’s theater company, Wild Horse Children’s Theater, in Carson City, NV. Carol has founded and been Executive Director of two other non-profit children’s theater companies: BAC Stage Kids in Carson City, NV and Little Tomato Children’s Theater in Ontario, Canada. Over the years Carol has spearheaded many new artistic and educational programs and was a teaching artist in the Learning Through the Arts Program through the Royal Conservatory of Music in Ontario, Canada. Carol also served as Program Director at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City, NV and was recognized in 2018 as one of Northern Nevada’s Most Powerful Women.
Michelle Van Geel, Executive Producer Wild Horse Productions
Michelle grew up in Gardnerville and received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and her Master’s in Public Administration and Policy from the University of Nevada, Reno. She spent 25+ years working for the Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau in various roles, including policy analysis, project management, and managing budgets. Michelle began volunteering with Wild Horse Children’s Theater in 2009 when her youngest daughter began performing with them, which introduced the entire family to the amazing and magical world of theater. Michelle has served as a board member since 2011. She lives in Carson City with her husband, John, and two daughters, Nicole and Christina (both of whom will be off to college soon).
Wild Horse Productions Board:
Rachel Bennett
Belina Holub
Stephanie King
Scott Moore
Hilary Reynolds
Sierra Scott
Baylee Spear
Nicole Tradup
Michelle Van Geel
Wild Horse Stage Co Advisory Committee:
Jessica Grimaldo
Anthony Mendoza
Hilary Reynolds
John Paul Rivard
Baylee Spear
Trevor Young
“I love it when you go to see something, and you enter as an individual, and you leave as a group. Because you've all been bound together by the same experience.”
― Tom Hiddleston