Zachery Kocurek-Gentry currently serves as the Theatre Director for Wakeland High School in Frisco ISD, after spending the majority of his teaching career at Lubbock High School. As a teacher/director,
Zach is dedicated to nurturing young talent and creating memorable theatrical experiences. Zach has a broad range of theatrical experiences—from musical theatre to one act play!
As a director, Zach had led 3 teams to the 5a UIL State Theatre Competition with back to back 2nd runner up finishes in 2021 and 2022, and an additional appearance at UIL state in 2024.
Zach’s teaching and directing philosophy is simple: #WorkTellLove: work hard, tell your story in an authentic way, and love every moment.
Prior to Barbers Hill, he briefly taught at Del Valle HS in Austin, where he took his first OAP company to State in 1986. Over his 36-year teaching career, Poe’s students and one-act plays competed in 33 Regional and 19 State contests, being named State Champion on five occasions and placing 2nd or 3rd on eight other occasions.
He has directed summer theatre productions for the Friona Fine Arts Council, Keller ISD, China Spring ISD, Gatesville ISD, Texas Tech University, Tal’s Summer Theatre Camp and TAMUCC’s Camp on the Coast.
He currently serves on the Texas Theatre Adjudicator and Officials Standards and Practices Committee and the UIL OAP/Film/Theatrical Design Advisory Committee, having previously filled the offices of Secretary and Chair and is a Past President/CEO of Texas Educational Theatre Association.
Honors include being named McLennan Community College Outstanding Alumnus – 2013; TETA’s Founder’s Award – 2009; Amegy Bank/Baytown Sun Teaching Excellence Award – 2006 and the University Interscholastic League Sponsor Excellence Award – 2002. Poe is a TTAO certified contest manager and adjudicator in addition to serving as a clinician.
A 1999 graduate of Abilene Christian University, “Ms. B” has been involved in every level of the One Act process since her freshman year of high school. Whether she was onstage, backstage, directing, contest managing, serving as a clinician and/or adjudicating, she has loved every part of this process that encourages students as the creative, artistic people they are. Theatre teaches all of us way more than the art of being onstage. What we learn about ourselves and the world around us is just as important as the lines and the blocking.
Ms. Baptiste is passionate about encouraging the growth of students through theatre and loves seeing their courage displayed through storytelling. An actor, director, designer and teacher, Ms. Baptiste loves watching discoveries being made and creativity taking flight. She has a strong belief in the quote from Howard Thurman “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
During her 20 plus years of teaching and directing, Ms. Baptiste made an appearance at State TAPPS One-Act every year for ten years winning back to back titles in 2012 and 2013 and returned as an Adjudicator for State TAPPS One Act in 2023.
Andy Reynolds has been the Head Director for Waxahachie HS for the past 24 years directing over 110 productions. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BFA in Theatre Arts in Acting & Directing. He has brought home 22 District, 14 Area and 8 Regional championships with eight State appearances with four of them placing in the top 3 at the UIL State OAP Contest. He is also a TTAO Certified UIL Contest Manager with over two dozen contests managed.
During the past 14 years, the WHS Musical Theatre Dept. has been nominated for Best Musical at the Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theater Awards (formerly Dallas Summer Musicals High School Musical Awards) ten times, winning the coveted prize of Best Musical in 2016 (SPAMALOT) and in 2021 (MATILDA). He also won for Best Direction in 2014 , 2021, and 2025 In 2019
Mr. Reynolds was the recipient of the first ever DSM Outstanding Educator Award. Mr. Reynolds has also had the great honor of being a guest director at Texas A&M Corpus Christie CAMP ON THE COAST during the summer of 2023, 2024 and 2025. He would like to recognize the love he feels every day from his wife, Melanie and his 3 children, Caleb, Noah and Sophia.
Now retired from public education, Carla continues to support arts education statewide. She serves as Director of Development and Membership for Texas Thespians and as Communications Chair for the Texas Theatre Adjudicators and Officials (TTAO).
Her career has been devoted to championing student success, strengthening arts communities, and promoting excellence in educational theatre
Mandy Conner has been teaching in the Central Texas area for over 30 years. She began her love for theatre while attending McLennan Community College and Texas Tech University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English.
She is currently working on her MFA through the University of Idaho. She has earned 15 trips to the Regional UIL One Act Play Meet (including her original productions of Ago, Should Not Cause Harm, Unclaimed, and 11), and has had nine appearances at the UIL State One Act Play Meet (including her original productions of Lafayette No. 1, Should Not Cause Harm, Rue, and Where the Sky Meets the Sea). She received the 2018 K-12 Educator of the Year from the Texas Educational Theatre Association and the 2020 UIL Sponsor Excellence Award.
In addition to teaching, directing, and writing, Mandy is a motivational speaker and conducts creativity workshops throughout the state. Mandy resides in China Spring, Texas with her husband Chris and two daughters, Edie and Josie.
Stacie Martinsen graduated with a BFA/Theatre from SMU and a Master’s in Education from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. She has been a Theatre educator for 26 years, most notably as the director at Carroll Senior High School, where she was the first high school in the world to premiere Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. She was a two-time regional finalist and first alternate to the State Meet on multiple occasions.
Stacie has worked with the acclaimed Hudson Guild Theatre Company in Los Angeles under the direction of Jack Stehlin, and has appeared on television in “Walker, Texas Ranger” and Lifetime’s “Strong Medicine”. Stacie was in Keller ISD from 2014-2021 as a lead Theatre teacher and District Curriculum Writer. She continued her Fine Arts teaching career in White Settlement ISD and is now teaching secondary Theatre at Westlake Academy in Westlake, Texas.
