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Creative Team
Faculty & Directors
The educators and artists behind MAC Theatre's extraordinary productions.
Current Faculty
Leo Arteche Arencibia
Theatre Director (2015-Present)
Leo Arteche Arencibia is in his sixteenth year as Theatre Director at Miami Arts Charter School, making him MAC’s longest-tenured teacher. He has spent his career building one of the top theatre programs in the state of Florida. At MAC, he teaches across all disciplines of the theatre arts (acting, musical theatre, and technical theatre), directs one mainstage production every year, and leads Thespian Troupe 7590. This fall, he directs The Addams Family.
Under his direction, MAC students have earned 80 Critics’ Choices and Top Honors, 413 Superior ratings, and 25 Senior Scholarships at the Florida Thespian District and State Festivals. They have also received national recognition through YoungArts, the Silver Knight Awards, the Carbonell Scholarship Awards, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative. Many alumni have gone on to professional careers in theatre, film, and television, including on Broadway and in Hollywood.
In 2025, Mr. Arteche was among a select group of South Florida educators invited to help bring the Arshties to the region. The Arshties are Miami’s own high school musical theatre awards and a pathway to the national Jimmy Awards. At the first-ever ceremony in May 2025, he was named the inaugural recipient of the Inspiring Educator Award, honoring his outstanding dedication and mentorship to high school theatre students in Miami. That same season, MAC’s In the Heights received three nominations.
“We’re not just a troupe, we’re a family” has been his guiding principle from the start, and the foundation on which everything else has been built.
Under his direction, MAC students have earned 80 Critics’ Choices and Top Honors, 413 Superior ratings, and 25 Senior Scholarships at the Florida Thespian District and State Festivals. They have also received national recognition through YoungArts, the Silver Knight Awards, the Carbonell Scholarship Awards, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative. Many alumni have gone on to professional careers in theatre, film, and television, including on Broadway and in Hollywood.
In 2025, Mr. Arteche was among a select group of South Florida educators invited to help bring the Arshties to the region. The Arshties are Miami’s own high school musical theatre awards and a pathway to the national Jimmy Awards. At the first-ever ceremony in May 2025, he was named the inaugural recipient of the Inspiring Educator Award, honoring his outstanding dedication and mentorship to high school theatre students in Miami. That same season, MAC’s In the Heights received three nominations.
“We’re not just a troupe, we’re a family” has been his guiding principle from the start, and the foundation on which everything else has been built.
Dayana Corton
Theatre Teacher (2022-Present)
Dayana Corton is in her fifth year teaching at Miami Arts Charter School, where she teaches high school acting and middle school theatre. A proud MAC alumna from the Class of 2012, Ms. Day trained as a student under Ms. Perkins and Mr. Arteche before returning to the program as a member of its faculty. She graduated from the University of Miami with a BFA in Musical Theatre and has performed in a range of stage productions and short films, including Prime Time.
At MAC, Ms. Day has directed Peter and the Starcatcher, The Game’s Afoot, Rumors, Mean Girls, and The Children’s Hour. She also directed MAC’s In the Heights, which received three nominations in the inaugural season of the Arshties, Miami’s high school musical theatre awards. This spring, she will direct the Miami theatre premiere of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
At MAC, Ms. Day has directed Peter and the Starcatcher, The Game’s Afoot, Rumors, Mean Girls, and The Children’s Hour. She also directed MAC’s In the Heights, which received three nominations in the inaugural season of the Arshties, Miami’s high school musical theatre awards. This spring, she will direct the Miami theatre premiere of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Samantha Palomino
Technical Director, Middle School Theatre Director
Samantha Palomino is in her tenth year teaching at Miami Arts Charter School, where she serves as Technical Director for all high school mainstage productions and teaches the high school technical production class. A proud MAC alumna from the Class of 2014, Ms. Palomino trained as a student under Ms. Perkins and Mr. Arteche and served two terms as president of the theatre department. She graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre.
Ms. Palomino has been part of the production team for MAC’s high school mainstages, including The Addams Family, In the Heights, Little Shop of Horrors, Mamma Mia!, Into the Woods, The Game’s Afoot, The Children’s Hour, and Rumors. She also directs MAC’s middle school productions, including Agatha Rex, Mill Girls and Orphan Trains. She'll be direcitng a Voice in the Dark this spring.
In 2019, Ms. Palomino founded MAC’s Junior Thespian Troupe 89683. Under her direction, its students have earned 101 Superior ratings, 25 Top Honors, and 10 Critics’ Choices at the Florida Junior Thespian Festivals. Her middle school program is where most MAC Theatre students first learn their craft, and the training, discipline, and love of theatre they build there is the foundation for the high school program’s success.
Ms. Palomino has been part of the production team for MAC’s high school mainstages, including The Addams Family, In the Heights, Little Shop of Horrors, Mamma Mia!, Into the Woods, The Game’s Afoot, The Children’s Hour, and Rumors. She also directs MAC’s middle school productions, including Agatha Rex, Mill Girls and Orphan Trains. She'll be direcitng a Voice in the Dark this spring.
In 2019, Ms. Palomino founded MAC’s Junior Thespian Troupe 89683. Under her direction, its students have earned 101 Superior ratings, 25 Top Honors, and 10 Critics’ Choices at the Florida Junior Thespian Festivals. Her middle school program is where most MAC Theatre students first learn their craft, and the training, discipline, and love of theatre they build there is the foundation for the high school program’s success.
Faculty Emeriti
Michele Perkins
Theatre Director (2012-2022)
Michele Perkins joined Miami Arts Charter School in 2010 and served as its Theatre Director from 2012 until her retirement in 2022. At MAC, she taught acting and musical theatre and directed fifteen mainstage productions.
Ms. Perkins trained at the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York and performed with companies including Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts, Red Bull Theater, the Gallery Players, the Granbury Opera House in Texas, and Miami Shakespeare. She held a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Florida Atlantic University and a Master of Arts in Musical Theatre from the University of Central Florida.
Over her career at MAC, Ms. Perkins laid the foundation for the program as it exists today: its standards, its training, and its sense of family. Under her direction, MAC students earned 31 Top Honors and 239 Superior ratings at the Florida Thespian District and State Festivals. She mentored a generation of young artists. Even after retiring, she kept returning to MAC to lead workshops and coach students’ competition pieces.
Ms. Perkins passed away on October 29, 2026, after a courageous battle with cancer. Her legacy lives on at MAC in the three current members of its theatre faculty, all of whom were once her students; in the alumni who came through the program; and in the program itself, which she built during MAC Theatre’s first years.
Ms. Perkins trained at the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York and performed with companies including Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts, Red Bull Theater, the Gallery Players, the Granbury Opera House in Texas, and Miami Shakespeare. She held a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Florida Atlantic University and a Master of Arts in Musical Theatre from the University of Central Florida.
Over her career at MAC, Ms. Perkins laid the foundation for the program as it exists today: its standards, its training, and its sense of family. Under her direction, MAC students earned 31 Top Honors and 239 Superior ratings at the Florida Thespian District and State Festivals. She mentored a generation of young artists. Even after retiring, she kept returning to MAC to lead workshops and coach students’ competition pieces.
Ms. Perkins passed away on October 29, 2026, after a courageous battle with cancer. Her legacy lives on at MAC in the three current members of its theatre faculty, all of whom were once her students; in the alumni who came through the program; and in the program itself, which she built during MAC Theatre’s first years.