Meet Our Team
Umbrella Arts’ staff and guest instructors are high caliber, experienced professionals with national and international performance, choreography, directorial, and educational credit and expertise. It is our privilege and passion to provide a unique, unparalleled and elite training experience for our community!
Angela Dennis, Artistic Director
Angela Dennis began her training under Miss Diane Lewis at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance in Rochester, NY.
Miss Dennis is the former Founding Artistic Director of Alchemy Dance Project (est.2003) and youth dance company, Red Stone Dance Initiative (est.2009).
Angela is a former member of Kitchen Sink Dance Company and West Virginia Dance Company.
In addition to creating and performing commissioned works for a wide range of artistic projects, her choreography has been selected to perform at local, regional and national festivals, exhibitions and artistic events since 2001.
Miss Dennis has an extensive catalog of career experience. She has been a staff member and guest instructor at educational dance organizations in Morgantown and spanning the state of West Virginia for over 20 years.
Elizabeth Braithwaite, Business Director, Musical Theater Educator
Elizabeth is pleased to join the Umbrella Arts’ staff as the Business Director.
A graduate of California University of Pennsylvania with a degree in theater and minor in business, she pursued her career in theater with various production stage management projects and ultimately toured with the Missoula Children’s Theater (MCT).
While at MCT, Elizabeth worked as an actor, director and instructor, leading various acting workshops for children ages 5 to 18. She transitioned to the oil and gas industry following her tour with MCT.
Elizabeth started in the oil and gas industry with no previous experience and ultimately partnered with colleagues over the last 10 years to create their own land service brokerages.
Elizabeth is eager to combine her passion and training in theater and music with her real world business expertise to make Umbrella Arts a success.
Rob Summers, Visual Arts Educator
Rob Summers is a West Virginia native and multi-progressive artist.
Creating images from cartoons to fine art, he is constantly evolving into an all-around multi-skilled image maker.
Formal training and years of self-taught experience has created a plentiful portfolio of work.
Rob is an Advertising graduate of WVU Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism with two years of art training and a second concentration in Art History.
He resides in Morgantown, WV and is one of the original administrators for the Artist Collective of West Virginia.
Sam Stebbins, Creative Writing
Sam Stebbins is a poet from Michigan and a current MFA student/Graduate Teaching Assistant at WVU. In the past, she worked with young students at the Creative Youth Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where students participated in a book club and creative writing instruction. She holds a BA in Writing from Grand Valley State University.
Kat Neely, Voice/Acting/Musical Theatre Educator
Kat Neely (she/her) graduated with a BFA in musical theatre and WVU's School of Theatre and Dance. A native to Morgantown, she has grown up being a part of MTC, PopShop, and taking a variety of musical lessons, always participating in the arts community within town. She enjoys being creative in a multitude of ways, as well as sharing that creativity with those around her. Kat is excited to be a part of the Umbrella Arts Team and ready to collaborate with her fellow artists!
Jacob Lambert, Music Educator
Jacob Lambert is an arts advocate, festival coordinator, music educator, and multi instrumentalist from Huntington, WV. Jacob is currently the music teacher at Brookhaven Elementary school in Morgantown, WV where he teaches general music, choir, and Appalachian strings. He is also the President of PattyFest Inc., a local Appalachian traditional music non profit which holds multiple festivals around north central WV. He also is the site coordinator for local and surrounding area Junior Appalachian Musicians programs which provide free/low-cost traditional music instruction to students grades 4th-12th.
Photography courtesy of Moments Captured, LLC
