Meet Your Core Faculty

As of this writing, you are scheduled to work with twenty one instructors and four accompanists during your time at Overtures. At the heart of your work at Overtures is your core faculty, a group of 5 instructors that you will work with regularly throughout the process. This core faculty will be there from beginning to end of your Overtures journey, helping you set goals and giving you the necessary tools to achieve those goals.

Today, we thought we'd take a quick moment to introduce you to your core faculty. We can pretty much guarantee that you will love working with them.

Angie Benson

(Showcase Music Director) is a music director and musician in the DC area. Signature performing credits include Pacific Overtures, Which Way to the Stage; Into the Woods; The Color Purple; We Shall Someday; She Loves Me; RENT; Midnight at The Never Get; Ol' Blue Eyes; Frank Sinatra; Assassins; Grand Hotel; Girlfriend. Her National Tour credits include A Chorus Line; and Barry Manilow’s Copacabana. Her DC Area credits include Olney Theatre Center. Regionally, her work has been seen at Playhouse Square, Northern Stage, Stoneham Theatre, Kansas City Starlight, West Virginia Public, Utah Musical Theatre, Musical Theater Heritage and New Theatre.

Matthew Gardiner (Showcase Director) is Signature's Artistic Director and has directed and/or choreographed more than 25 productions at Signature Theatre, including HAIR, Ragtime, No Place to Go; She Loves Me; RENT; A Chorus Line; West Side Story; La Cage aux Folles; Jelly’s Last Jam, and The Threepenny Opera, as well as several world premieres including Really Really, Soon and Midwestern Gothic. With Signature’s special commitment to producing the work of Stephen Sondheim, Matthew has directed and/or choreographed many Sondheim musicals including Into the Woods, Passion, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Sweeney Todd and the world premiere of

Simply Sondheim. Outside of Signature, Matthew has directed and/or choreographed at the Washington, DC theaters Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Studio Theatre. Matthew has also worked abroad, choreographing Titanic and directing and choreographing Doctor Zhivago for OD Musical Company in Seoul, Korea. Matthew is the recipient of three Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Director of a Musical and has been honored with more than a dozen nominations.


Tracy Lynn Olivera (Voice Instructor) is an actor and instructor in the DC area. Signature performing credits include Assassins; Simply Sondheim; Signature Vinyl; A Little Night Music (Helen Hayes award); Titanic; The Fix; Gypsy; Company; Hello, Dolly! (Ford’s Theatre co-production); The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; Brother Russia; The Hollow; The Boy Detective Fails; Les Misérables (Fantine, Helen Hayes nomination); ACE; The Happy Time; Merrily We Roll Along (Helen Hayes nomination); Allegro (Helen Hayes nomination); Follies; Side Show; Sweeney Todd and countless concerts and cabarets. Tracy appeared on Broadway in the 2009 revival of Ragtime. In the DC area, she has performed in Ragtime (Ford’s Theatre and the Kennedy Center); Sunday in the Park with George (Kennedy Center); Passion (Kennedy Center); Merrily We Roll Along (Kennedy Center); Candide

(The Shakespeare Theatre); Liberty Smith (Ford’s Theatre); 110 in the Shade (Ford’s Theatre—Helen Hayes Award); Meet John Doe (Ford’s Theatre); Shenandoah (Ford’s Theatre); Comedy of Errors (Folger’s); Closer Than Ever (MetroStage); The Last Five Years (MetroStage); Cinderella (Olney); On the Town (Olney) and Bachelorette (Studio Theatre). She has taught at Signature, Adventure Theatre, BAPA and The Theatre Lab. Tracy received her training from Catholic University and is an adjunct professor in the musical theatre department there.

Lizz Picini (Dance Instructor) is an educator, actor, and choreographer. Representation CESD Talent Agency. Recent television performance credits include: The Warner Brother’s MACY’s Day Parade performance of Wonka; Kennedy Center: Guys and Dolls; The MUNY: Sister Act, Chicago, Singin’ in the Rain; Regional: A Chorus Line, Anything Goes, Oklahoma. She has been an Assistant / Associate Choreographer for Denis Jones, Ricky Hinds, Parker Esse, Al Blackstone, Rommy Sandhu.

Holly Twyford (Acting Instructor) is a DC-based actor and director. Her directing credits include Signature: The Upstairs Department; Escaped Alone; Theater J: Becoming Dr. Ruth; Adventure Theatre: A Lump of Coal; Studio Theatre: Edgar and Annabel; Mary Kate Olsen is in Love; Factory 449: The Amish Project (Helen Hayes Nomination); and No Rules Theatre Company: Stop/Kiss. Her Signature acting credits include Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity; A Little Night Music; The Little Dog Laughed (Helen Hayes Award); A Fox on the Fairway and Twentieth Century. Her awards include Emery Battis Award for Excellence in Acting; Lunt-Fontaine Fellow; five-time Helen Hayes Award Winner. She is a member of the Studio Cabinet and is a Ford’s Theatre Associate Artist.