Sophie has been an acting student of Cafeteria Kids Theater (CKT) since she was 15, when she played Grandma Josephine in CKT’s production of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka. She has been an intern for 3 years and is currently training with CKT as a teaching artist. Other roles include the CKT/NVC Theater Department productions of Shrek the Musical as the Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins as Katie Nanna, and Matilda the Musical as the Magician/Big Kid Ensemble. Sophie has been nominated for Youth Volunteer of the Year Award for The Center of Nonprofit Leadership’s Heart of Napa Awards for her work with CKT. In 2016 she won September Student of the Month for Academic Achievement from the Napa Valley Unified School District Board of Education. A Napa Valley Independent Studies graduate, she is currently attending Napa Valley College majoring in Musical Theater. She is looking forward to continuing her work as a Teaching Artist with CKT.
Tessa Mello Teaching Artist
Tessa started acting with Cafeteria Kids Theater in 2015 and became an intern for them in 2017. She started learning guitar and vocals at 5 years old and started acting at 10. Tessa is a 2020 graduate from Vintage High School and is currently attending Napa Valley College. She spent three years of high school in choir where she had the opportunity to perform at Disneyland and go to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall. She has taken part in dozens of CKT summer camps and classes as an actor and an intern. Tessa has also been in many of the CKT productions including Peter Pan, Shrek the Musical, Mary Poppins and most recently had the honor of playing the role of Miss Honey in Matilda the Musical. She was also an Arts Council Napa Valley’s visual and performing arts (VAPA) student of the month winner for the month of December 2019. Tessa was a lead intern for CKT’s virtual summer, and is excited to continue working as Teaching Artist for CKT!
Huda al-jamal Guest teaching artist
Huda is an artist and community store owner in Marin county. She received her BA from UC Berkeley and MA from Dominican University. Huda began her journey to theater design doing window displays and interior murals in the 1990s. She has been a regular guest artist in the Tamalpais High School district working on such gems as The Addams Family, Into the Woods, Spamalot, She Kills Monsters, and Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play. She has created props, puppets, and costumes for Stapleton theater company, the College of Marin, Cinnabar theater, and Cafeteria Kids Theater. Huda’s work for Cafeteria Kids Theater includes prop and costume work on Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Shrek and production design for the digital production of Beauty and the Beast.
