About The Artists
Drama, Dance, Mime, Masks, Music & More...
Sandra Hughes - Producing Artistic Director, Writer, Director, Choreographer, Musician, Teaching Artist
Sandra creates original work for live performances, television, video and radio. She's performed and taught in 36 states in the U.S. and 13 other countries. Her video work has been distributed nationally for Public Television with a regional EMMY for "Outstanding Entertainment Program of the Year", showcased at the American Film Institute in LA -- nominated for the Robert Bennett award and been featured on Canadian National Television.
Her radio plays have aired on WABE Public Radio in Atlanta and KSFR Fine Arts Radio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is currently the producer and host of The Writers Space Radio Hour at AM1690 – The Voice of the Arts.
Her stage and video work combine drama, dance, music and visual art with elements of mime, mask theatre and puppetry. Her original works as a writer, director, choreographer and performer are offered to presenters in communities locally, statewide, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Sandra has received an “Outstanding Partner Award” from the City of Atlanta for workshops for at-risk youth, Professional Development Awards from the Ford Foundation through Alternate ROOTS and a National Classic Initiative Award from Young Audiences/NYC to create a new performance work.
The Sandra L. Hughes Theatre collection housed at the Theatre Research Institute at The Ohio State University documents Sandra’s Professional career.
Sandra has also produced and directed for the Young Voices with New Visions National Annual PlayFest in association with the Alliance Theatre and was an ongoing a drama coach (7 years) for Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company’s Annual National August Wilson Monologue Contest. She currently teaches Creative Writing for Senior Citizens at the Helene S. Mills Multipurpose Senior Center, Auburn Neighborhood Senior Center and the Georgia Hill Branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System.
Sandra’s background and training in the arts include: Playwriting: Mark Medoff, August Wilson, Dance: Valentine Litvinoff/Isadora Duncan’s Russian School, Mime: Marcel Marceau, Acting: Stella Adler Acting Studio/NYC Theatre Studies: Ohio University, Professional Acting/Directing Apprenticeship: Cleveland Play House, Music: Erie Conservatory of Music.
Sandra has served as a panelist for Fulton County Arts and Culture, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Georgia Council for the Arts as well as a site visit person for large arts institution for the GCA.
Michael Hickey - Company Coordinator , Mask Carver, Theatrical Designer, Percussionist, Performer
Visual Artist, Performer (Gateway: Resident Mask Maker Theatrical Designer Company Administrator – A company co-founder – Michael has been company administrator for 30 years. During this time he has managed the day to day business of the company as well as booking and scheduling all outreach and touring activities.
He is a principal performer with Gateway performing locally, regionally, nationally and internationally for 36 years. During this time he has performed in 33 states in the United States and 13 foreign countries. International festival performances include Oaxaca, Mexico; Victoria and Montreal, Canada; Bled and Lublijana, Slovenia; Budapest, Hungary, Aeroe Island, Denmark and Amsterdam, Netherlands,
Hickey works extensively in educational theater as both a performer and teacher. He’s been an artist-in-residence at Lake Erie College, Antioch College, Emory University and the Universidad Autonoma de Metropolitana de Ixtapalapa in Mexico City. Hickey has performed and taught at International and Department of Defense schools in Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy and Canada. Since 1977, Michael has performed educational programming for Gateway under the auspices of Young Audiences of Cleveland, Atlanta, New Orleans and New York.
Since 1980, Michael has been the company’s resident mask maker. His mask creations have twice won First Place and Best of Show at the National Maskibition in Eureka, California and have been on exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Iowa State Art Museum, the Art Museum of Arizona State University, Phoenix as well as in galleries in Palm Beach, FL and Santa Fe, NM, His puppet heads are part of a permanent collection at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. He has also designed for the Center For Puppetry Arts, Emory University Theater, Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta Shakespeare Company (all located in Atlanta, Georgia), the Cleveland Orchestra, the Akron Symphony, Daystar Native American Dance Theater and the Galeria de Guadalupana in Chimayo, New Mexico.
His television performing and design credits include Gateway video projects that have won a regional EMMY for “Best Entertainment Program of the Year”, two national CINDY AWARDS for excellence in educational programming and nomination for the Robert Bennett Award at the American Film Institute’s Video Festival in Los Angeles.
His background and training in the performing arts include study in theatre, mime, dance and music with pre-professional and formative training at Ohio University, Equity Apprenticeship with the Kenley Players and four years of training with world-famous French mime artist Marcel Marceau in his Advanced Mime Seminars, mime with Juki Arkin, clown with Jango Edwards, dance training with Jerry Burr of the Netherlands Dance Theatre, and Valentina Litvinoff – the last living dancer from Isadora Duncan’s Russian school.
Jerilynn Bedingfield - Associate Artistic Director, Choreographer, Performer
has performed as a principal performer with Gateway Performance Productions since 1986. She is and has been integral to the creation of a variety of new mask and mime performance works. Her choreographic knowledge of the company’s past and present repertoire is detailed and considerable. Jerilynn has performed for Gateway nationally and internationally and contributed to the development and premieres of new work in Atlanta, Georgia and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Jerilynn has also toured internationally with Several Dancers Core/ Core Performance Group based in Atlanta and Houston and worked as a choreographic assistant for the company in Berlin, Germany. Her professional career has taken her across international waterways with Driscoll's Magic Productions and around the three rings of the Barnum and Bailey Circus on national tours. She’s also appeared in commercials and several art house films.
The performing arts have been part of Jerilynn’s life since childhood. She began at the Pasadena Little Theater in Houston, Texas. Chartered in 1955, it is one of the area’s oldest theaters. She went on to study at the nationally acclaimed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston where she majored in dance.
Sandra Hughes - Producing Artistic Director, Writer, Director, Choreographer, Musician, Teaching Artist
Sandra creates original work for live performances, television, video and radio. She's performed and taught in 36 states in the U.S. and 13 other countries. Her video work has been distributed nationally for Public Television with a regional EMMY for "Outstanding Entertainment Program of the Year", showcased at the American Film Institute in LA -- nominated for the Robert Bennett award and been featured on Canadian National Television.
Her radio plays have aired on WABE Public Radio in Atlanta and KSFR Fine Arts Radio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is currently the producer and host of The Writers Space Radio Hour at AM1690 – The Voice of the Arts.
Her stage and video work combine drama, dance, music and visual art with elements of mime, mask theatre and puppetry. Her original works as a writer, director, choreographer and performer are offered to presenters in communities locally, statewide, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Sandra has received an “Outstanding Partner Award” from the City of Atlanta for workshops for at-risk youth, Professional Development Awards from the Ford Foundation through Alternate ROOTS and a National Classic Initiative Award from Young Audiences/NYC to create a new performance work.
The Sandra L. Hughes Theatre collection housed at the Theatre Research Institute at The Ohio State University documents Sandra’s Professional career.
Sandra has also produced and directed for the Young Voices with New Visions National Annual PlayFest in association with the Alliance Theatre and was an ongoing a drama coach (7 years) for Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company’s Annual National August Wilson Monologue Contest. She currently teaches Creative Writing for Senior Citizens at the Helene S. Mills Multipurpose Senior Center, Auburn Neighborhood Senior Center and the Georgia Hill Branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System.
Sandra’s background and training in the arts include: Playwriting: Mark Medoff, August Wilson, Dance: Valentine Litvinoff/Isadora Duncan’s Russian School, Mime: Marcel Marceau, Acting: Stella Adler Acting Studio/NYC Theatre Studies: Ohio University, Professional Acting/Directing Apprenticeship: Cleveland Play House, Music: Erie Conservatory of Music.
Sandra has served as a panelist for Fulton County Arts and Culture, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Georgia Council for the Arts as well as a site visit person for large arts institution for the GCA.
Michael Hickey - Company Coordinator , Mask Carver, Theatrical Designer, Percussionist, Performer
Visual Artist, Performer (Gateway: Resident Mask Maker Theatrical Designer Company Administrator – A company co-founder – Michael has been company administrator for 30 years. During this time he has managed the day to day business of the company as well as booking and scheduling all outreach and touring activities.
He is a principal performer with Gateway performing locally, regionally, nationally and internationally for 36 years. During this time he has performed in 33 states in the United States and 13 foreign countries. International festival performances include Oaxaca, Mexico; Victoria and Montreal, Canada; Bled and Lublijana, Slovenia; Budapest, Hungary, Aeroe Island, Denmark and Amsterdam, Netherlands,
Hickey works extensively in educational theater as both a performer and teacher. He’s been an artist-in-residence at Lake Erie College, Antioch College, Emory University and the Universidad Autonoma de Metropolitana de Ixtapalapa in Mexico City. Hickey has performed and taught at International and Department of Defense schools in Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy and Canada. Since 1977, Michael has performed educational programming for Gateway under the auspices of Young Audiences of Cleveland, Atlanta, New Orleans and New York.
Since 1980, Michael has been the company’s resident mask maker. His mask creations have twice won First Place and Best of Show at the National Maskibition in Eureka, California and have been on exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Iowa State Art Museum, the Art Museum of Arizona State University, Phoenix as well as in galleries in Palm Beach, FL and Santa Fe, NM, His puppet heads are part of a permanent collection at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. He has also designed for the Center For Puppetry Arts, Emory University Theater, Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta Shakespeare Company (all located in Atlanta, Georgia), the Cleveland Orchestra, the Akron Symphony, Daystar Native American Dance Theater and the Galeria de Guadalupana in Chimayo, New Mexico.
His television performing and design credits include Gateway video projects that have won a regional EMMY for “Best Entertainment Program of the Year”, two national CINDY AWARDS for excellence in educational programming and nomination for the Robert Bennett Award at the American Film Institute’s Video Festival in Los Angeles.
His background and training in the performing arts include study in theatre, mime, dance and music with pre-professional and formative training at Ohio University, Equity Apprenticeship with the Kenley Players and four years of training with world-famous French mime artist Marcel Marceau in his Advanced Mime Seminars, mime with Juki Arkin, clown with Jango Edwards, dance training with Jerry Burr of the Netherlands Dance Theatre, and Valentina Litvinoff – the last living dancer from Isadora Duncan’s Russian school.
Jerilynn Bedingfield - Associate Artistic Director, Choreographer, Performer
has performed as a principal performer with Gateway Performance Productions since 1986. She is and has been integral to the creation of a variety of new mask and mime performance works. Her choreographic knowledge of the company’s past and present repertoire is detailed and considerable. Jerilynn has performed for Gateway nationally and internationally and contributed to the development and premieres of new work in Atlanta, Georgia and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Jerilynn has also toured internationally with Several Dancers Core/ Core Performance Group based in Atlanta and Houston and worked as a choreographic assistant for the company in Berlin, Germany. Her professional career has taken her across international waterways with Driscoll's Magic Productions and around the three rings of the Barnum and Bailey Circus on national tours. She’s also appeared in commercials and several art house films.
The performing arts have been part of Jerilynn’s life since childhood. She began at the Pasadena Little Theater in Houston, Texas. Chartered in 1955, it is one of the area’s oldest theaters. She went on to study at the nationally acclaimed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston where she majored in dance.
Gateway’s programming is made possible in part by support from the Georgia Council for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulton County Commissioners under the guidance of Fulton Arts and Culture, the City of Atlanta - Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and the City of Atlanta, Power2Give and individual contributors.