New Moon Theater: About Us

Staff & Performers

Julie Kurzava, Executive Director and Founder
Julie is a singer, actor and writer who has performed professionally throughout the Mid-Atlantic, including at Olney Theatre, Cumberland Theatre, American Century Theater, Maryland Ensemble Theatre, Maryland Renaissance Festival and the Annapolis Opera, and is a member of the Actors' Equity Association. A classically trained singer, she received her degrees in Voice Performance from Northwestern University (B Mus) and the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University (M Mus). She has appeared in feature films, independent films, commercials and voice-overs, most recently for Maryland Public Television's Thinkport website. An active church musician, Julie is the cantor at St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore and can be heard on their live broadcast every Sunday on WBAL (1090AM).

With New Moon Theater, she has created and performs three solo folktale adaptations, Minwa, Japanese Folk Tales, Tales from the Good Earth and India Tales. She has also written several original plays The Adventures of the Opera Explorers, The Old Man and the Bay, and with Kristin Barnes, Leading Ladies: Women of Maryland. She is currently working on a commissioned piece for Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore, MD.

As an educator, Julie teaches voice at Loyola University Maryland and the Garrison Forest School. She also lectures on musical history at the Peabody Institute Road Scholar Program (formerly Elderhostel), where she has also developed national curriculum. She also teaches after-school drama at Hillcrest Elementary in Baltimore County. She is a graduate of the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI), both in Arts Residencies (TAI I) and Arts Integration (TAI II). A martial artist for over 20 years, she holds a second degree black belt in Aikido and teaches regularly at the Baltimore Aikido Club.

Thomas Zielinski, Founder
Tom has uplifted audiences with his dramatic baritone voice and extensive acting skills in a wide range of leading baritone roles in opera, oratorio, recital and musical theater both in the US and abroad. A versatile performer and singer, he creates a wonderful rapport with audiences in his solo vocal recitals, which combine his love of both opera and musical theater.

He's performed Mozart's Figaro throughout the United States, but is also known for more dramatic roles by Verdi, Puccini and Rossini, including the title role in William Tell. He's charmed audiences with his musical theater performances in The Fantasticks (El Gallo), South Pacific (Emile), and Merry Widow (Danillo). His Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof was called "marvelous" by the Baltimore Sun.

Tom received his musical training at DePaul University (BM) and the University of Illinois (MM), studying with William Miller, William Warfield and John Wustman. He toured with National Opera, performing and leading workshops in opera in secondary schools throughout the South. He has also performed in schools with Odyssey Opera. Tom is also a certified teaching artist through the Teaching Artist Institute and leads residencies in opera.

Kristin Dabney Barnes, Founder
Kristin is a professional actor, writer, and director who earned her undergraduate degree in Theatre from Towson University. She has served as the Managing Director for Children's Theater Association in Baltimore, MD and City Theater Company in Wilmington, DE. As an actress, she's performed in many productions in schools throughout the Mid-Atlantic. A creative thinker, her own educational theater programs have toured area schools, including solo shows Tall Tales of the Wild West, Tall Tales Return, and Leading Ladies: The Women of Maryland, with co-creator Julie Kurzava.

In schools, Kristin has conducted numerous theater workshops for students in grades 1-12. She has also enjoyed working for the Baltimore Shakespeare Partnership, receiving training from the Shakespeare Folger Library, Theatre Project, Pussycat Theatre Company, and the International Theatre Institute. Kristin has also been seen locally in her original one-woman show Queen Mab Among Us and in Parallel Lives: The Kathy and Mo Show.

Currently, Kristin is an educator with the Baltimore City Public Schools and has recently completed her graduate degree in Education at Johns Hopkins University.

Nora Achrati, Actor
Nora is an actress and teaching artist whose credits include performances at Arena Stage (with their Student Playwrights Project), the Smithsonian's Discovery Theater, the Capital Fringe Festival, and the Maryland Renaissance Festival. She teaches drama with Creative Kids, an after-school reading and acting program for grades K-3, and assists with in-school programs for Young Playwrights' Theater in Washington, DC. Nora is a graduate of the Honors Conservatory at the Theatre Lab in Washington, DC, and has studied and performed with WIT, DC's premier improv training program.

Heather Scheeler, Actor
Heather is a professional performing artist with over 20 years experience in theatre, music and dance with performances throughout the Mid-Atlantic area. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Theater performance from Towson University. H eather has also worked within the arts administration and arts education field as Director of the Holton-Arms Center of the Arts, Programming Director for First Night Annapolis, and Director of World Class Arts, a national children's programming organization. Heather is also a founding member of the acapella group Jazzapella East and performs with multiple singing ensembles. She is still active as a resident artist and director in Maryland schools.

Diane Kinsley, Pianist
Diane earned a Master of Music degree in Ensemble Arts from the Peabody Institute of Music of the Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with Robert MacDonald and Boris Slutsky. Prior to that she was a student of Lee Luvisi at the University of Louisville, where she received a Bachelor of Music degree while studying both organ and piano and performing solo recitals on both instruments. A member of the faculty at Anne Arundel Community College, Ms. Kinsley is also a regular collaborator and performer with Opera Vivente, Annapolis Chorale, Annapolis Opera, and The Young Victorian Theater Company. She maintains a private piano studio and is the principal organist at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church in Pasadena, Maryland. She freelances in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, and performs as soloist and ensemble artist throughout the United States.

New Moon Theater performs throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

We’ve been in public and private schools in:

Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, St. Mary’s, Washington, and Wicomico Counties, Delaware and Virginia.

We’ve also performed at:

• Chesapeake Arts Center Family Concert Series
• Baltimore Museum of Art
• Enoch Pratt Free Library
• Port Discovery Children’s Museum
• Peabody Institute Elderhostel Intergenerational Program
• Howard County Recreation and Parks Summer Camps
• Somerset County Arts Council “Just Folks” Festival
• Artscape 2010
• Maryland Renaissance Festival
• Worcester County Public Library
• Deaf-Blind Camp of Maryland

Staff & Performers

New Moon Theater performs throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

About the Company

History