Peter Allas (Teach) born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and then in New York City, where he acquired his love of the theatre. Mr. Allas began formal studies at Boston University School of Fine Arts Program and received his degree from Fordham University at Lincoln Center. He burst onto the New York Theatre scene in the 1984 revival of William Mastrosimone’s “The Woolgatherer” as “Cliff at the Phoenix Theatre.

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Allen Barton has been a student of the Beverly Hills Playhouse Acting School since 1990, and has served as its CEO/Executive Director since 2003. He has been involved in BHP management since 1996, and has been on the teaching staff since 2002. He was the editor of both of Milton Katselas' books, Dreams Into Action (1996) and Acting Class (both the 2001 and 2008 editions). Allen held a very close working relationship with Milton, and over the last 18 months of Milton's life, was granted the privilege of teaching alongside him in the Advanced level acting classes, which Allen now teaches.

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Art Cohan is an accomplished award-winning actor and director who has worked extensively for over 25 years in New York and Los Angeles in theater, film and television. Some of his film and television credits are available on IMDB. Art first started his studies with Milton Katselas in 1987 in a workshop in New York and has been attending classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse since 1992, where he is currently Director of Student Affairs.

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Born and raised in New York, Howard Deutch attended Ohio State University and began his career in the entertainment industry at United Artists, becoming director of advertising and was responsible for all marketing. Eventually he formed his own firm, KMD, which specialized in trailers and created the campaigns for a host of iconic films including APOCALYSE NOW, ROCKY, ANNIE HALL, and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST.

Deutch began his directing career with music videos for an assortment of top recording artists including Billy Idol and Billy Joel. In addition, he became one of the most respected commercial directors in the industry, having helmed numerous spots for a wide range of products.

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Mark is an actor, writer, director and producer who began studying at the Beverly Hills Playhouse in 1999. He was fortunate enough to stage manage over 20 scenes directed by Milton Katselas for the Master Class. Mark co-created and starred in the award winning web series/feature film The Bannen Way for Sony Pictures Television, opposite Academy Award Nominated actors Robert Forster and Michael Lerner and Emmy Winner, Vanessa Marcil. He is currently a series regular on a television series in Canada called Bluff.

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Gary is a 22 year member of the BHP, and is currently Producing Director for the school, a member of its teaching staff, and Artistic Director for the Katselas Theatre Company. He has produced over 200 stage plays, including over 50 world premieres. Among his other celebrated productions are Romeo & Juliet (3 LADCC Awards), AIDS Us (3 LADCC Awards), Dylan (3 LADCC Awards), Lone Star, Balm and Gilead, Four and Visions and Lovers.

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Melissa Hayden was nominated twice for an Emmy Award and won for her role in Guiding Light. In addition, she has won both the Soap Opera Digest Award and Young Artist Award. Melissa has been a series regular on: Almost Grown, TV 101, and Kids for Kids. She guest starred on Hunter, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Love American Style. Melissa appeared in the Movies of the Week: Silence of the Heart, Not My Kid, and Tattletales. She was in John Huston's Annie, Herb Ross' Pennies From Heaven, and on the cutting room floor of David Seltzer's Punchline.

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After earning a BA degree in Theatre from the University of New Hampshire and studying Shakespeare in Performance at Cambridge University in England, Alex studied professionally with Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.  Since, he has enjoyed an extensive career as a stage, television, and film actor before turning his passion towards directing.

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Actor, musician, writer, and producer, Michael Petted studied with Milton Katselas in his master class for many years. He was directed by Milton in the play Tea and Sympathy, which he considers one of his most formative artistic experiences.

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Rick Podell has spent his career in all areas of the business - actor, writer, producer, director, and teacher at The Beverly Hills Playhouse. Rick's theatre career began by being hired by Andrew Lloyd Webber to be the original narrator in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Rick went on to do such Broadway shows as Evita, Company, Two by Two, Sugar, The Fantasticks, Chapter Two, and most recently co-starred as one of the original Broadway cast members of Sunset Boulevard, opposite Glenn Close and Betty Buckley.

Rick has starred in over 75 episodic television shows, including a year on Days of Our Lives, and has co-starred in movies opposite such stars as Anne Archer and Melanie Griffith.

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Cotter Smith began his acting career in New York in 1978, studying with Stella Adler and at the Actors Studio. He first worked in Los Angeles in 1982 at the Mark Taper Forum, which lead to his being cast to star as Robert Kennedy in the mini-series BLOOD FEUD. That was the project that began his career in television and film and introduced him to Milton Katselas, with whom he studied for over 20 years. Cotter was privileged enough to not only study with Milton over such a long period of his career, but also to be directed by him in two of Milton’s most acclaimed productions - as Mercutio in ROMEO AND JULIET and Trigorin in THE SEA GULL.

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Leila Vatan has been a student of the Beverly Hills Playhouse since 2002.  While completing a doctoral degree she began pursuing the art and career of acting.  Through Milton’s teaching of Acting, Attitude and Administration she has developed her dream of living her life as an artist.  She believes that the artist must truly be the one to lead the way and can also earn a living doing so. 

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