Cedar Ridge High School Theatre Staff

At CRHS, we are fortunate to have a talented creative team that works with our students on a daily basis. We also have assistance from other faculty to help with specific productions that require their specialty.

Kristie Copeland, Theatre Director

Kristie Copeland has been a theatre director at Cedar Ridge High School since 2010. Prior to starting the theatre program at Cedar Ridge, Kristie was a dance and theatre teacher in Round Rock ISD from 2007 - 2010 at Hopewell Middle School. She holds her teaching certification in theatre, dance and physical education.

Kristie graduated from Abilene Christian University in 2004 with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Theatre with an emphasis in musical theatre. Following graduation from college, Kristie moved to New York City to audition and pursue a career as a musical theatre performer. While in New York , Kristie worked for a children's theatre company. However, in the fall of 2005 she returned to Texas to serve as the associate theatre director at Cooper High School in Abilene.

Kristie has been teaching, directing and choreographing for students of all ages for over fifteen years. She has choreographed and directed musical productions such as Bring It On, Ragtime, In the Heights, CATS, Footloose, Guys and Dolls, Beauty and the Beast, and numerous other musical reviews for school. She has also taught and choreographed for dance studios including the Greater Austin Dance Academy (GADA) in Round Rock. In addition, she has taught dance for the Jewish Community Center summer musical theatre workshops, classes for the Abilene Performing Arts Company, choreographed for the Cooper High School Cougarette drill team spring shows and other school productions.

Julia Smith, Theatre Director

Julia M. Smith is a collaborative theater artist and educator who graduated from Towson University's MFA Theatre program and also holds a BFA from New York University’s Experimental Theatre Wing. Her performance, direction and design work has been seen throughout New York City, Baltimore/DC area, Chicago, New Orleans, Texas and Eastern Europe and has been recognized by The New York Times, The Austin Chronicle, Austin Critic Table Awards, B. Iden Payne Committee, and the Eastern Europe and Slavic Performance Journal. In the past year Julia performed at Lincoln Center in Basil Twist's Rite of Spring, performed for Season 6 of The Good Night Show for the Sprout Network, and has designed shadow puppetry for various shows in Baltimore and Austin.

Cesar Trevino, Theatre & Technical Theatre Director

Mr. Eutimio Cesar Trevino has been a Technical Theatre teacher at Cedar Ridge since Fall of 2023. Prior to that, he has taught at Round Rock High School for one-year, Northeast Early College High School (formally Reagan H.S.) for 7 years, and a combined 7 years as a middle school teacher for Austin ISD, Edinburg ISD, McAllen ISD, and Weslaco ISD.

Cesar graduated from the University of Texas Pan American (now known as the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) in 2003 with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Theatre, Radio, TV & Film; all while working 4 years in the theatrical scene shop building sets for all Theatre productions. 

Shaelin Abbatiello, Technical Theatre Director

Coming soon