Mary Tiballi Hoffman, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, has been an arts administrator for 15 years, specializing in fundraising, event management, board relations, and patron engagement. Previously, she served as the Institutional Giving Manager at Geva Theatre Center, where she managed a portfolio of over $800,000 in foundation, government and corporate contributions each year. Prior to her time at Geva, she worked as a Grant Writer for The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre and as the Academy Ball Coordinator for The Academy of Music and The Philadelphia Orchestra Association. Ms. Hoffman’s passion for arts fundraising is deeply rooted in her experiences as an artist. Ms. Hoffman has performed extensively with Rochester Children’s Theatre, JCC CenterStage and Blackfriars Theatre. Blackfriars audiences will recognize her from Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical (Roberta), Sunday in the Park with George (Dot/Marie), The Little Dog Laughed (Ellen), It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Mary Bailey), and, most recently, 2021’s Silent Sky (Margaret). She spent four years as a performance coach with The Center for Musical Arts in East Rochester, preparing students of all ages for both school and professional auditions. Ms. Hoffman is the former Board Vice President of TheatreROCS and currently serves on the Board of The Friends of Irondequoit Public Library. She is a proud graduate of Nazareth College, where she received her BA in Theatre Arts.

Brynn Tyszka, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, has worked professionally in the theatre industry for over 20 years. Prior to her new role at Blackfriars, Ms. Tyszka has served as the Social Media Manager (as well as teaching artist, director, and performer) for OFC Creations Theatre Center in Brighton and as Director of Education for Actors' Theatre of Indiana, where she also performed as an ATI cast member (A Comedy of Tenors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and a reading of Lindsay Adams' new play, Rattler). Ms. Tyszka served as Acting Department Chair for the Rochester Association for the Performing Arts (RAPA), where she developed and taught several acting classes, including Fundamentals, Scene Study, Characterization, The Art of Comedy, Script Analysis, and Movement for the Stage. Additionally, she taught acting and coached musical theater privately as the founder of BKT Studio for Actors. She has also directed and choreographed several shows for high schools, colleges, community theaters, and semi-professional theaters throughout the Rochester area. A former member of Actors' Equity Association and a proud alum of the Nazareth College Theatre Arts program, Ms. Tyszka has performed nationally on tour with NETworks and ArtsPower productions as well as regionally with Geva Theatre Center, Actors' Theater of Indiana, DEEP Arts, JCC CenterStage, Pittsford Musicals and Playhouse on the Park in Connecticut. Ms. Tyszka's history with Blackfriars began in 2006, when she played Susan in tick, tick ... BOOM! under the direction of Haldoupis. Since then, she has worked and performed several times with Blackfriars, including on Heathers the Musical (Heather Chandler), Beehive (choreographer), and Boeing Boeing (Gretchen), as well as performing in multiple Season Soirées. Most recently, she partnered with Hoskins and Hoffman to conceive, produce, and direct Blackfriars's 2020 digital holiday show, Home for the Holidays. Ms. Tyszka is the first female-identifying Artistic Director in Blackfriars’s 73-year history.

Catherine J. Gregory, SOCIAL MEDIA ASSOCIATE, is a soon-to-be graduate of Nazareth College. She is a musical theatre major with a minor in communications and media. Catherine has worked with the marketing and admissions teams at Nazareth since 2020 and is so grateful for the experiences prior to starting her professional career. Catherine’s dream job is to combine her two loves of theatre and social media and she is thrilled to be able to have her dreams come true here at Blackfriars. Catherine is originally from Jersey City, New Jersey where she started her theatre career at the age of 10, as a fairy in Into the Woods Jr. Catherine has since grown into roles such as: Judy Turner in A Chorus Line, understudied the roles of Chelle and Bunny in Detroit ‘67, and assistant directed Nazareth College’s Into the Woods under the direction of Hunter Foster. https://www.catherinejgregory.com

Mandi Lynn Griffith, RESIDENT TEACHING ARTIST, is a Rochester native with a BFA in Dance. After earning her degree she worked in NYC at The Ensemble Studio Theatre where she interned, studied, and performed improvisational theatre. Soon she went on to own and direct New York Academy of Dance, here in Rochester. She has been involved in the local theatre community as a choreographer, performer, and director for a wide range of organizations, including Blackfriars Theatre where she currently serves on the board of directors. You may have also seen her work at Webster Theatre Guild, Greece Performing Arts Society, Last Fool Productions (co-founder), Monroe Community College, Out Of Pocket Productions, Rochester Musical Theatre Academy and Roberts Wesleyan. In 2022 she originated the choreography for the world premiere of RISE: A New Musical at JCC Summer Stage. Griffith is also a adjunct dance instructor for the Nazareth College Theatre Department, as well as a teaching artist for Rochester Broadway Theatre League.

Danny Hoskins, TEACHING ARTIST, is an actor, director, teacher and playwright, originally from the Rochester area, who has been working nationally and internationally for the past 28 years. He has served as Interim Director of Theatre at Elmira College, taught acting and voice at the University of South Carolina, developed and directed original works for young actors at the Alliance Theatre Company, and co-founded the South Carolina-based company, Pineapple Productions. Mr. Hoskins is currently Assistant Professor of Theatre at SUNY Brockport, where he spent 15 years prior as an adjunct professor of theatre and has also taught at the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology and Nazareth College. He served five years as Artistic Director and Director of Education at Rochester Children’s Theatre and spent seven years as Artistic & Managing Director of Blackfriars Theatre. He has acted at Hartford Stage Company, the Alliance Theatre, Festival Theatre of St. Criox, Kennesaw Stage, The Wings Theatre in NYC, Trustus Theatre and locally with Blackfriars Theatre, JCC CenterStage and Rochester Children’s Theatre. Locally, he has directed with Blackfriars Theatre, JCC CenterStage, RAPA, and Elmira College.

Rachel Solomon, TEACHING ARTIST, is an educator, director, and performer based in Rochester, NY. She received her Bachelor's degree in Music Theatre from Nazareth University. Rachel went on to receive her Master of Arts in Theatre Education from Emerson College, and has directed, taught, and performed in New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, including teaching at Actors' Shakespeare Project (Boston), Boston Latin School, SUNY Geneseo, and Nazareth University. She has trained with Maureen Shea and Melissa Healy (Linklater Voice technique), with The Ume Group and Cass Tunick (physical theatre), and with Theatre of the Oppressed and Theatrical Intimacy Education. She is very excited to be teaching at Blackfriars Theatre! 

Lindsay Warren Baker (she/her), TEACHING ARTIST, is a consent-forward, multi-hyphenate artist with a passion for all things big “T” Theatre. She works as a freelance stage director, intimacy director/choreographer, writer, and teaching artist across a wide range of genres. In Rochester, she has collaborated with many local companies, including Blackfriars Theatre, where her credits include The Wickhams and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, The Wolves, and Ordinary Days. She co-facilitated the BT Conservatory’s Intro to Intimacy Direction and Intimacy in Practice workshops with Sara Bickweat Penner and will serve as intimacy director for In the Next Room this fall. Her work also includes projects with JCC CenterStage, Penfield Players, Rochester Community Players, DVC, Pittsford Musicals, and Geva Theatre Center. Lindsay has also worked on university productions for Eastman Opera Theatre, Nazareth University, SUNY Brockport, and SUNY Geneseo. She is the Instructor of Opera and resident Intimacy Director at the Eastman School of Music and an adjunct theater faculty member at Nazareth University. Lindsay is excited to kick off the 2025 BT Summer Conservatory by playing with the intersection of physical theater and the work of Anton Chekhov.

Nathaniel Niemi, TEACHING ARTIST, is an actor, director, clown, puppeteer, and theatre educator. Nathaniel has been an Education Associate at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Education Director for the Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center, Resident Director for Significant Productions and Artistic Associate of Honolulu Theatre for Youth. Directing credits include Leaf (Lifeline Theatre) Pinocchio, You and Me and the Space Between (HTY), A Murder of Crows, The Cat in the Hat, The Thin Man on the Ladder (University of Hawaii at Manoa) and Pippin, Cabaret, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, La Cage Aux Folles, These Shining Lives, The Cake, Urinetown, Company, Neighbors: A Fair Trade Agreement, Assassins, 9-5, Ada and the Engine (The Studio Theatre Tierra Del Sol). Nathaniel holds a BA in Theatre from East Texas Baptist University and an MFA in Theatre for Young Audiences (Directing) from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. He is a recipient of the Stage Directors and Choreographers National Directing Award through the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and is an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Jessica Ann Best, TEACHING ARTIST, is a diverse cross-disciplinary artist, performing nationwide in opera, musical theater, concert, oratorio, recital, and jazz. Premier roles: Mrs. Otis and Madeline in Gordon Getty’s The Canterville Ghost and Usher House at LA Opera; The Stepmother (Lady Swanwhite, Opera Tampa), the International Carol Suites (soloist) at Carnegie Hall; Bessie and Mary Rivers (Jane Eyre), Mrs. Foster (Shot, Nickel City Opera), Alice (Alice Ryley, Savannah Voice Festival), Madeline (Three Decembers, Buffalo Opera Unlimited). Ms. Best made her debut as Carmen in Carmen with Salt Marsh Opera in 2021; reprised with Buffalo Opera Unlimited. Other credits include: featured artist, Buffalo Philharmonic, Maestro John Russell & Maestro JoAnn Falletta; mezzo-soprano soloist, Garcia Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the New England Symphonic Ensemble and MidAmerica Productions; featured artist, The Savannah Music Festival and the Savannah Voice Festival; guest artist with The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, The Santa Fe Opera, Opera Tampa, Gotham Chamber Opera, The Helena Symphony, Nickel City Opera, and Finger Lakes Opera; featured artist, recording of Louis Karchin’s Jane Eyre on the Naxos Label. Ms. Best served for two years as the Artistic Director of Opera and professor of voice at Nazareth University, where she toured with the opera students, performing Carmen and Rosina, in Muzyczny Festival, Filharmonii Podkarpackiej, and the Academy of Music In Krakow. She holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Literature from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Literature from Nazareth College. Ms. Best is a proud member of AGMA and The Actor’s Equity Association.

Kerry Young, TEACHING ARTIST, is a local actor, director, writer, educator, and producer. She was last seen on the Blackfriars stage in Barbecue (Barbara), Silent Sky (Williamina Fleming), The Flight Before Christmas (writer, Carol), Heathers (Ms. Fleming), and Annapurna (Emma). Other recent writing/performing endeavors include Band Geeks, an original play with music, Dashboard Dramas, & Bushwhacked Cabaret of Destiny for the Rochester Fringe Festival. Favorite acting roles include Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein & Barbara in August Osage County at JCC CenterStage, and the one-woman/24 characters of The Syringa Tree at Shipping Dock Theatre. Ms. Young’s favorite directing credits include POTUS, Next to Normal, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, & When We Were Young and Unafraid at Blackfriars, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Nazareth College, and amazingly enough, a middle school production of Xanadu, Jr. She is also a founding member of Unleashed! Improv, and Bushwhacked Improv.