Our Mission Statement
Traveling Theatre is a nonprofit, educational, arts enrichment organization located in Providence, RI. Our mission is to create a community of highly qualified teaching artists who travel throughout the state, providing artistic experiences for youth that strengthens creativity, literacy, problem solving, cooperative learning, self confidence, and the life skills necessary to face everyday challenges.
Our Staff
Elizabeth C. Cunha, Artistic Director, is the founder of Traveling Theatre. She has a BA in Theatre and received her Master of Fine Arts from Rhode Island College with a concentration in Performance and Society. She has been seen performing on a multitude of local stages from Barker Play House, Pawtucket Community Players, Mill River Theater and Rhode Island College. Her passion for teaching The Arts to students of all ages and abilities led her to develop the concepts and curriculum for the workshops provided by this theatre company. She has studied under such greats as Jennifer Mudge, Bob Colona, Fred Sullivan, Jr., Wendy Overly and P. William Hutchinson. Elizabeth’s greatest desire is to establish an accredited public school in Rhode Island that focuses on educating the whole child, leaving no subject behind at the elementary and middle school levels.
Vanessa Miller, Director of Education, Curriculum and Assessment, grew up with an artist in the family, her father, who exposed her to theater and arts throughout whole life. She enjoyed seeing plays in New York, helping her father build, paint props and sets at his place of work, Costume Armour. While attending the University of Rhode Island, she studied Elementary Education, English Language arts and participated in the University Chorus. Upon graduation she spent her first year as the Director of Education at a Sylvan Learning Center, in Wakefield, Rhode Island. Realizing education was her passion, she found herself at the Sage School in Foxboro, MA, an independent Elementary School servicing the needs of gifted and talented children. Here she had the immense pleasure of directing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Phantom Tollbooth. She recently finished her newest degree from The University of Connecticut, a Masters in Educational Psychology: with a focus on Gifted Education and Talent Development.
Kevin M. Cunha, Managing Director, is the Sr. Mechanical Design Engineer at Interplex Engineered Products. There he oversees the conception, design and fabrication of manufacturing equipment, machines, drive systems, material handling equipment, electroplating devices.and is in the process of merging his degrees, certifications and current licenses' into a degree in Electro-Mechanical Design Engineering. Kevin is an affirmed industrial artist who creates artwork using metals, glass, plastics and stone. His passion for various art forms lead him to start Traveling Theatre with his wife, Elizabeth, four years ago with the hopes of providing quality arts education to the children of Rhode Island and abroad. He uses his talents in engineering and design to build scenery and set dressing for productions. Using Traveling Theatre as a platform, Kevin looks forward to the opportunities of sharing his talents for many years to come with students eager to learn about the various aspects of technical arts and theatre.
Barbara Caron, Costume Designer has loved creating costumes for as long as she can remember. Her work has been seen on several stages throughout New England from Case High School, Swansea MA to Trinity Repertory in Providence, RI. She has been with the Traveling Theatre since its inception in 2004. Her favorite designs include Cinderella, Elephant Man, Beauty is A Beast, Holka Polka a Fairytale Mystery and A Christmas Carol.
Sarah G. Cadieux, Assistant to the Director of Education and Internship Coordinator, recently graduated from Emerson College in Boston, Mass. with a bachelor’s degree in Theater Education, and is thrilled to have found Traveling Theatre! While at Emerson, Sarah served as President of "Kidding Around," Emerson's only children's theater organization and was a member of the student organization "AIE: Arts in Education." She got her start in theater as an apprentice for New Bedford Festival Theater at the Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford, Mass. Show credits include High School Musical (Brookline Public Schools), Carousel (Emerson Stage), Annie, Oklahoma!, Peter Pan, Chicago, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Jekyll & Hyde (NBFT)
Steve Hayes, Teaching Artist, is an artist and a teacher who has worked throughout New England. He received a double Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in both Painting and Art Education from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Scenic Design from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Since moving to Rhode Island he has taught several Fine Arts courses with the Rhode Island School of Design’s Continuing Education Department and Fine Arts and Performing Arts courses with the SMARTS Collaborative in Attleboro, Massachusetts. For the past two years he has also been the Scenic Designer and Technical Director for the All Children’s Theater.
Charles Lafond, Teacher Assistant, is a student at Rhode Island College working towards a degree in Theater Performance. He has worked as an actor, educator and Entertainer at Roger Williams Park Zoo and is looking forward to working with Traveling Theater. Charles’s focus for the future is to get a master’s degree in Theater Direction and Education.
Jeffrey Rosenweig, Teacher Assistant, A graduate of Providence College, with a BA in English, has been living in the city for six years. He volunteered throughout college at an after school program called "Garden Club," a class in growing and cooking vegetables, run by the non-profit South Side Community Landtrust. He worked with middle school aged youth during the summer before his senior year at a sleep away camp in Wakefield, RI. More recently, he spent his post-graduate year volunteering full-time at the Bailey Elementary School in South Providence for Americorp, through the RI Children's Crusade. He is ecstatic to have found this opportunity to further my education and experience in both teaching enrichment as well as the theatre arts.
