Dr. Christine Deitz, Project Director
Dr. Christine Deitz will serve as Project Director. Christine is the Associate Director for the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education and worked for 26 years in public schools. Most recently, Dr. Deitz was the coordinator of gifted services for secondary students in the Little Rock School District. She is an avid supporter of the arts. While in the classroom, her students participated in UA LITTLE ROCK’s annual Shakespeare Scene festival. Dr. Deitz is a HUGE fan of live theater and frequently attends stage productions in New York, Las Vegas, and London.
Dr. Ann Robinson, Jodie Mahony Center Director
Dr. Ann Robinson is the Director of the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education. In addition to Dr. Robinson’s work in the identification of giftedness among low-income students and the evaluation and development of gifted and talented programs, Dr. Robinson also brings a rich background in Drama and Literature to the program, having received both a BA and MA in this area.
Satia Spencer, Student Performance Coach
Satia Spencer is the current elementary music director at Forest Heights STEM Academy. Ms. Spencer has a long and prominent history in performing arts as a choreographer and performance artist. Satia Spencer is mezzo-soprano and a former Marine from DeWitt, Arkansas. Her recent work for Praeclara includes performances as the vampire Lavinia in Dracula Unearthed (2015), one of the conspiring witches in Dido and Aeneas (2015), the role of Monique in Carmina Burana (2014), and an ensemble role in Peter Grimes (2014). Previous opera and musical theater credits include performances in the title role in Carmen, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods, all with the UA Little Rock Opera Theatre. She has also performed the role of Alice’s Daughter in the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s production of Big River and sung as a pit vocalist for the Arkansas Repertory Theater’s production of The Wiz. In July 2014, she played Caroline in The Weekend Theater’s production of Caroline, or Change. Ms. Spencer graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education.
Davis Hendricks
Laura Langley