Kyle Norris

He’s toured and performed all across the U.S from Broadway to Las Vegas. He holds Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Theatre from the University of Alabama and a Master’s degree in Film Scoring from Berklee Online.

Kyle’s Broadway credits include School of Rock, Rocky (w/Andy Karl), Pippin (w/John Rubinstein, Annie Potts), First Date (w/Zachary Levi, Krysta Rodriguez), and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (w/Ashley Judd, Jason Patric). He’s conducted the Broadway first national tours of If/Then (w/Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, LaChanze), Legally Blonde (w/Michael Rupert), and West Side Story (w/Grant Gustin). His Las Vegas credits include Spamalot (w/John O’Hurley), Hairspray (w/ Harvey Fierstein), Avenue Q (w/ John Tartaglia), and Mamma Mia.

He’s remained active in educational theatre working with such institutions as the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, NYU, Marymount Manhattan, Univ of Nevada Las Vegas, West Texas A&M, The University of Alabama, Stillman College, Shelton State, the Governor’s School for the Performing Arts, and numerous other high schools across the United States. Some of his former students include Adrienne Warren (Tony winner for Tina!), Emmy Raver-Lampman (original cast of Hamilton), Jen Perry (original cast of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark), and Elijah Lyons (original cast of Illinoise). He’s also an active composer and currently has a new musical in development and several films that he’s scored being released in 2024.

With his experience covering a wide range of musical styles, he developed a strong ability to embrace worlds of diverse characters and communicate their stories through music. As a composer for film and stage, his music has been performed around the U.S and featured on NPR.​

Mark Hanson

Mark Hanson joined the UWSP Theatre and Dance Department in 2013 as Assistant Professor of Musical Theater. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Minnesota at Duluth and a Masters of Music in Music Theater Conducting from Arizona State University in Tempe. He comes to Stevens Point from the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lived for 22 years and taught and conducted in the music and theater departments at the College of San Mateo, Foothill College, University of San Francisco and Lick-Wilmerding High School.

Mark’s regional conducting credits span over 200 productions, including The Will Rogers Follies at American Musical Theater of San Jose, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at Contra Costa Musical Theater, Miss Saigon at Broadway By The Bay, Man of La Mancha at Musical Theater of Arizona, Beehive at San Jose Stage Company, Spring Awakening at Foothill Music Theater, Carousel and Barnum at Oakland’s Woodminster Amphitheater, My Fair Lady at Minnesota Repertory, Big River at Iowa’s Way Off-Broadway Theater, Peter Pan at Albuquerque Civic Light Opera, The Desert Song at Boston Concert Opera and Candide at Monterey Opera.

As a graduate student at ASU, Mark was selected as the Musical Director and Conductor for the second revision of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. Working directly with Mr. Sondheim, book writer George Furth and director Randall West, Mark collaborated in shaping and orchestrating the new material into the version of the show that is licensed today.

He has worked with theater, film, and television legends such as John Cullum, Rita Moreno, Harve Presnell, Nancy Dusault and Theodore Bikel, including a 2012 masterclass with Glee star, Darren Criss.

Mark has worked on several national tours, including Spamalot, Legally Blonde, Cabaret, The Will Rodgers Follies and Les Miserables.

In his spare time, Mark likes cycling, reading biographies and watching classic movies.​