Instructors
TOPHER WARREN:: EDUCATION DIRECTOR
A native of Gulf Breeze, Florida, Topher has been performing on the Pensacola stage for over 20 years and is even an alumnus of PLT’s education program from the early 2000s. After graduating from Pensacola State College and the University of West Florida with a BFA in Musical Theatre, Topher toured with the Missoula Children’s Theatre, performing and teaching children all across the United States and Canada. Topher servers on the Artistic, Treehouse, and Studio 400 Committee. He is also a member of the Florida Association for Theatre Educators (FATE) as well as the American Association of Community Theatre. Topher is thrilled to be back in Pensacola after working as a Director, Actor, and Teaching Artist in Atlanta, GA. Some of his favorite stage credits include The Gryphon (Alice in Wonderland), Charlie Brown (Snoopy the Musical), Mr. Hart (9-5), Lancelot (Spamelot), The Cowardly Lion (Wizard of Oz), Toad (A Year with Frog and Toad), Nick Bottom (Something Rotten), Mal Beineke (The Addams Family) and directing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr, and the musical [Title of Show], the People’s Choice Award winner for Studio 400 in 2014.
Benjamin Haupt:: BROADWAY Theatre intensive
Benjamin is a graduate of The University of Alabama’s Department of Theatre and Dance. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a concentration in Musical Theatre, he moved to New York City and began working professionally. Regionally, Benjamin was seen as a dancer and u/s King Triton in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (Red Mountain Theatre Company), Dean in All Shook Up (SummerTide Theatre), and was featured in the dance ensemble of Salgado Production’s Ragtime, which played a limited engagement at The Axelrod Performing Arts Center with Revolución Latina. In New York City, Benjamin was a member of the Original Cast of the Off-Broadway Production of Frankenstein: The Musical. Following his NYC departure, Benjamin has been seen locally as Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl (Pensacola State College) and Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein (Stagecrafters Community Theatre).
Kayla Phillips:: ALL abilities music and movement, Broadway Theatre Intensive, musical theatre for kids and Broadway babies
Kayla has been performing in the Pensacola area for the past 8 years. She has most recently served as Assistant Director for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr., performed in Unrequited at Pensacola Little Theatre, and was the Assistant Choreographer for Company at Pensacola State College. She currently works as a Teacher Assistant in a varying exceptionalities classroom in Escambia County School District. Kayla previously assisted in teaching a middle school acting class at Pensacola Little Theatre and is so excited for the opportunity to teach more classes.
Anna “AJ” Johnson:: Acting for kids and broadway babies
Anna “AJ” Johnson graduated from Samford University with a BFA in Theatre for Youth. She has taught theater and dance in the United States, Haiti, and Taiwan. Her work in nonverbal storytelling was featured in the BroadwayWorld blog. Growing up in Pensacola, AJ danced at Ballet Pensacola for nine years, which led to her love of dance and focus on movement-based acting and nonverbal storytelling. In addition to teaching, AJ is a performer and a writer. She has appeared in several Pensacola Little Theatre productions (A Chorus Line, Cinderella, and The Cat’s Meow). Her original scripts have won several awards (Love isn’t Real, “Original Script of the Decade” from BroadwayWorld Birmingham 2020; Lost and Found, “Audience’s Choice” from the Samford Theatre Short Film Festival 2020). When she isn’t teaching, dancing, or writing, AJ is a Research Coordinator at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. She has a passion for encouraging and educating young artists.
Julia Banta:: Musical Theatre for kids, and Broadway Theatre intensive
Julia has been performing throughout Pensacola for the last 15 years. She began performing in 2010 with the Pensacola Children’s Chorus and was a 10-year member. Her past credits include Wednesday Addams (The Addams Family), Margot (Legally Blonde), Snow White (Snow White and the Prince), and Portia (Something Rotten). She currently teaches musical theater and improv at Pensacola Little Theatre, and she co-directed Disney’s Frozen Kids this summer. Julia recently graduated from the University of West Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies. In her year off before law school, she has been pursuing her passion for performing.
BRANDI HICKS LANE :: THE plt ACADEMY
A native of Pensacola, Brandi has been active at Pensacola Little Theatre since her debut as one of the 3 Blind Mice in Mini Masquers Babes in Toyland in when she was 5. After high school, she realized that working behind the scenes was where her interests actually lie, and has been mostly in backstage roles since then. She has directed and stage managed for all 3 of PLT's series, most recently directing Puffs. When she's not at PLT, she's a Supervisor for the Healthy Families program at Children's Home Society.
Kylie Branch :: Musical Theatre for kids | Broadway theatre Intensive
Kylie joined the PLT community when she was 5 years old by taking a theatre summer camp. After that, she took every summer camp and every class she could at PLT, until she left for Florida State University. While pursuing her degree in Music Education, Kylie was involved in many productions around the city of Tallahassee, both onstage and as a music director. Kylie returned to Pensacola in 2021 and began instructing classes and camps at PLT, with an 8 month hiatus to teach English in France. Kylie loves her job as the music teacher at Holm Elementary, and is so happy to end her days teaching at PLT.
Prayer Palau :: acting for kids
Prayer recently moved to the Pensacola area from Winter Haven, Florida where she worked with Theatre Winter Haven for a good part of her youth. Coming from a family with a deep-rooted theatre background, she began working both onstage and off when she was only 6 years old. Over the years, she has been in countless musicals and plays. She has also participated in theatrical outreach opportunities such as The Penguin Project, a program that encourages children with disabilities to thrive in their creative talents, as well as DramaTime: LIVE!, a partnership between Theatre Winter Haven and the Polk County School Board to promote literacy. With over 10 years of training under her belt, she is so excited to have this opportunity to teach at PLT. As the oldest of seven kids, Prayer understands the desire for individuality and strives to help each child in her classes to find their own, unique voice. The stage is what brought her out of her shell as a child; it gave her a place of belonging and a creative outlet. She hopes to foster those same feelings in her students at PLT