Theatre Faculty Bios

Sarah Day holds a BA in Theatre and Dance from James Madison University. Before Galloway, Sarah was the lead theatre teacher and director at Thomas Dale High School/Specialty Center for the Arts in Chesterfield, Virginia. Before teaching at TDHS, Sarah worked for a variety of regional theatres including Virginia Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and The Studio Theatre in Washington DC. Sarah has completed professional training courses through The Kennedy Center, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Southern Oregon University, and the American Alliance for Theatre & Education.

Antonia Fairchild is a theater educator, producer, director and storytelling consultant. She worked in play development for over a decade in New York City, directed and produced digital learning content for grades 6 through 12 for Duke University’s Talent Identification Program for several years, and has served as a digital producer and consultant at Duke University’s Sanford School since 2020. She holds a B.S. in Radio/TV/Film from Northwestern University and an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater. She is a member of Actor’s Equity Association.

David N. Morgan is an Atlanta-based scenic designer, technical director, and educator. With more than 20 years of experience in professional theatre, David has designed, built, or painted shows across America and has taught at both the high school and college levels in multiple states. David served as the Technical Director for the Murray Arts Center at Mount Paran Christian School in Kennesaw, Georgia for seven years. He holds a graduate degree in Theatre from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is also a proud graduate of the Auburn University Theatre Department.

Liz Whalen A lifelong theatre kid at heart, Liz received her BA in Theatre from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame and her MFA from the University of Alabama in Technical Theatre Production. A Midwest native, Liz has worked with theatre companies across the country including Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Brevard Opera Company, and more.

Misao Cates is a maker. With roots as a visual artist, she begin her artistic career as a graphic designer, eventually discovering working in 3D to be more fulfilling and presently enjoys working with fabric, paper, foam, found objects, and just about anything with interesting color, shape and texture. She has been a participating artist a number of years for Art on the Atlanta Beltline with her site-specific interactive installations. Misao has been a part of the Galloway community for many years as a parent of two “lifer” students, and as costumer with the Galloway Theatre Company where she has designed and built costumes for every Galloway level. 18

Theatre at Galloway

In both middle and upper learning theatre, there are multiple opportunities to explore theatrical performance through productions and curated coursework. With a combination of both exploratory and pre-professional quality theater experiences, students exercise their creative muscles, develop ensemble skills and learn essential performance technique.

Galloway Theater complements The Galloway School mission by training the citizen artist - a student who understands how theatrical tradition, performance and culture, and the skills that accompany these pursuits, develop the whole person creatively, intellectually and artistically. Classes such as Acting, Advanced Acting, Improv, and Public Speaking offer students a holistic approach to performance skills while allowing them to deepen their artistry.

Integral to theater is the Design and Production discipline which works in tandem with the theatre program. In these classes, faculty consult with students during the design phase all the way through production, allowing them to brainstorm and problem solve with professionals and see the process at every stage.

In both Theatre and Design and Production, from middle through upper Learning, Galloway students are deeply invested in the overall production process and ultimately take on leadership roles to run the shows themselves.

Natalie Pitchford’s life is owed to the arts. In the mid-1970s, her father - a guest conductor at Eastern Music Festival - met her mother, a receptionist and pianist at EMF. The rest is history, and Natalie’s earliest memories are made of symphony hall balconies and her dad in tails. Growing up in a home filled with classical music and performing in the Nutcracker, it is no surprise that Natalie has never left the world of the arts. In the mid-90s, Natalie auditioned for her first musical and never looked back. Following a BFA in Musical Theatre from Elon University, a MM in Classical Voice from Southern Illinois University, contracts in professional theatre, and bouncing around between New York City, Perugia, Italy, and more, Natalie met her husband: a professional jazz trombone player who had just finished touring with a pop icon and had settled down with his doctorate to teach at the university level. She joined him, cutting her teeth as an educator with years of professional performance experience as faculty of Voice for Music Theatre at Illinois Wesleyan University in the BFA Musical Theatre degree track. She directed productions, industry showcases, and began conducting - like her father - while at IWU.

A desire to return to the south brought the Pitchfords to the Lovett School in Atlanta in 2016. Natalie assumed the role of Director of the Lovett Conservatory of Music, managing a major-income program with a staff of 25 music faculty and became Musical Theatre Coordinator, directing and managing Lovett’s historic legacy of professional quality musical productions.

In 2020, Natalie made a switch to the Galloway School, directing the Middle and Upper Learning Choral Program as well as Directing and Music Directing productions. In 2022, Natalie began the role of Director of Fine Arts, overseeing the entire arts program from PreK3 through 12th grade. Natalie continues to perform professionally in and around Atlanta and is mother to two Galloway Early Learners, Lucy (8) and Hudson (3).

Music at Galloway

Music at Galloway transforms creativity into sound, draws interdisciplinary connections, sparks harmonious community, and offers students the lifelong gift of musical literacy. In Early Learning, students are exposed to the elements of pitch and rhythm through movement, interactive classroom activities, percussion instruments, ukulele, singing, and recorder. They also begin building a language to discuss instrumentation and contextualize genres.

In Middle Learning, students develop their musical-selves through band, guitar and choral ensembles. Musical literacy instruction guides students to understand what the page of music is communicating and how to execute the artistry. This is paired with technical competency, building proficiency on their chosen instruments or voices. This amalgamation allows pupils to unlock their creative potential, culminating in performances that showcase their work.

In Upper Learning, students work towards mastery of their chosen instrument(s) including voice, brass, woodwind, percussion, guitar, and/or strings. The addition of music theory challenges students to understand the building blocks of melody, tonal harmony, and compositional form. UL students also explore digital music and use industry standard software and methods to develop and analyze a wide array of pieces. Pupils build cultural competency through understanding varied genres and historical context. Upper Learners are empowered to attain musical proficiency allowing independence in their artistry with greater opportunities for performance that showcase our immensely talented Galloway musicians.