Education Team
Sharon Graci
Co-Founder/Artistic Director
Under her leadership, PURE Theatre has developed into one of the premier theatre companies in the Southeast. Sharon is responsible for programming and producing more than 80 Southeast Regional Premiere productions, and 25 World Premiere productions and for developing multiple PURE programs that heighten PURE’s impact and amplify PURE’s position as a “community building theatre” (Charleston City Paper). Notable initiatives include PURE Lab, the division of PURE responsible for developing new work, and PURE Youth Companies, PURE’s education arm serving students in SC’s Title 1 Middle Schools. She is also responsible for implementing PURE’s industry-leading streaming program, which scales PURE’s work and serves audiences and students locally and throughout SC, the US, and abroad. Under her leadership, PURE was awarded the SC Theatre Association’s 2020 Theatre of Distinction Award for its ability and commitment to continuing to produce theatre and serve audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, many of those initiatives, as well as others resulting from that experience, are the foundation of PURE’s ongoing programming. She is the recipient of the South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship for Acting. She is an alumnus of Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and is a SC Liberty Fellow and a member of the Aspen Institute, and the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She has a degree in acting from Augusta State University and studied acting at Point Park University and the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Theatre.
Rodney Lee Rogers
Co-Founder/Director of Education & New Media
Rodney is a screenwriter, playwright, actor, director, and teacher. His feature film Steaming Milk won runner-up Best Actor and Best Director awards at the 1997 Seattle International Film Festival and was chosen as a Best of the Fest by The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He is a two-time winner of the National/LAFF Screenwriting scholarship and winner of the 2010 Playwriting fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission. His plays, including Sic Semper Tyrannis, The Trial of the Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet, The Tragedian, Killing Chickens, Fairgrounds, What Comes Around, Tell, Cowboys, and Waffle Haus Christmas, have been produced in New York City, Seattle, Charlotte, Charleston and Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Meagan McMahon
Community Engagement Coordinator
Meagan received her Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Arts Management from the College of Charleston. Though initially joining PURE as a stage manager in college, she is now proud to say that she has served as PURE’s Patron Experience and Marketing Manager for over four years. Some of her favorite PURE productions include Atwater, Sweat, and The Royale.
Shivam V. Patel
PURE Core Ensemble/Education & New Media Associate
Shivam received his Masters in Music Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, UK. He has performed all across the East Coast and in the UK with past credits including Disgraced, Septima (World Premiere), Clyde’s, Mlima’s Tale, Working – A Musical, Grace for President (World Premiere), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, Into the Woods, Legally Blonde: The Musical, The Seagull, Next Fall, and many others. Patel is a seasoned educator with experience teaching/coaching for international companies leading their workshops, seasonal camps, and tutoring programs.
Michael Smallwood
PURE Core Ensemble/Lead Educator
Michael is a member of the PURE Theatre Core Ensemble, having joined in 2011. His credits include The Agitators, The Royale, Father Comes Home from the Wars: Parts 1, 2 & 3, Marie Antoinette, Failure: A Love Story, and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, among many others. He is a two-time KCACTF award-winning playwright. His film credits include the Emmy-winning CBS series The Inspectors, the Netflix original movie Naked, and Halloween (2018). Michael is also a contributor to the Charleston City Paper and the Post and Courier.
Anna Lin
PURE Core Ensemble/Artist-in-Residence
Anna was born and raised in Southern California and moved to Charleston, SC, in 2019. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego, with a degree in Human Development. Anna’s experience in acting, improvisation, theatre, and dance, along with her degree, set the perfect stage for teaching performance-based arts to all ages! Since moving to Charleston, Lin has performed in the musical A Chorus Line and was the lead in PURE’s regional premiere of The Chinese Lady. She has choreographed local youth shows, including Legally Blonde (Fame Theatre), Shrek The Musical (South of Broadway Theatre), The Rainbow Fish (East Cooper Montessori) and Godspell (May River High School). Lin is also an improv instructor at Theatre 99 and a dance instructor with Studio Go.
Teaching Artists
Aidan Wunderley
Bea Lemaster
Chris Warzynski
Madeline Hall
Ngaa Magombedze
Zania Cummings
Discover the Power of Theatre Education
PURE Education
Let's Go!
If you’re interested in supporting PURE education programs for next season or finding out more please email us at education@puretheatre.org.
Our mission is to make theatre accessible to all and to ignite joy and creativity in the minds of the next generation. Reach out if you are a student, parent, or teacher looking to get involved!
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