Sara Peterson
Sara Peterson’s vision and enthusiasm to create more arts opportunities in Kingman is the catalyst that started Kingman Center for the Arts. Sara is a third generation professional artist and art teacher. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in Art from Southern Utah University, she met and married her husband Nate in 2000 while doing her student teaching. Fifteen years, fifteen moves, and seven children later they moved to Kingman, excited to put down some roots and settle for good. While Nate’s military and medical career was taking them from coast to coast, Sara was able to have some amazing opportunities for artistic growth. These included supervising the Art Club at the US Naval Academy, winning a dueling brushes competition in Annapolis, MD, and finishing her Master’s degree in painting from Academy of Art University shortly after her 5th and 6th children (twins) were born. Sara is a creative soul with many talents and more interests than she could possibly pursue in a single lifetime. Some of her current passions are gardening, sourdough baking, classic children’s literature and poetry.
Kristina Michelson
Kristina is an avid participant and consumer of the arts. She has over 30 years of experience as a pianist, both in performing and teaching. She loves to accompany other artists as well as solo. She is also experienced with hand bells, having played in a professional hand bell choir in the Las Vegas area. She claims to have shown Carrot Top how to ring a bell. Other instruments she plays are the saxophone, clarinet and oboe. In college, she was asked to learn the organ for her church’s worship services, a challenging instrument she soon fell in love with. Kristina also has 10 years of experience in community dance programs including tap, jazz, ballet and modern dance. She is the mother of five boys and hopes to bring more opportunities for arts based programs to the city so her boys can share in her passion.
Kingman Center for the Arts Board of Directors
Ryan Dooley, Chairman
Ryan believes that the arts will have a positive and profound impact on our community. He is excited to be a part of this endeavor to bring the arts to downtown and to restore the Beale Street Theater. He developed a passion for theater at a young age. He was involved in school plays and musicals through high school. He competed in Shakespeare and State drama competitions. He met his wife, Krystal, in a college musical. Ryan previously served as a chairperson for the theater department of Lehi City’s Arts Council in Lehi, Utah. Ryan holds a juris doctor degree from the Oklahoma City University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from the University of Utah. He was in private legal practice before joining the Mohave County Attorney’s Office in 2015 and he now focuses on auto theft prosecution. Ryan and Krystal have four children. He enjoys spending time with his family, teaching at Mohave Community College, and being actively involved in his church.
Dr. Ryan Swigert, Vice Chairman
Dr. Ryan Swigert is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon who has practiced in the Tri State area for the past two years. Dr. Swigert specializes in facial trauma and reconstructive surgery as well as dentoalveolar procedures such as wisdom tooth removal and implant placement. He enjoys serving the community with his surgical skills. He is also an avid musician and has played the cello for over 30 years. He graduated Alma Cum Laude from the University of Utah with a Bachelor’s Degree majoring in Music Performance and minoring in Biochemistry. As a youth, Dr. Swigert was extensively involved in music performance–concertizing regularly as a soloist and playing with multiple chamber ensembles including the Orchestra at Temple Square. He has won multiple competitions and was honored at the age of 15 to be the only American cellist chosen to compete in the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians held that year in Sendai, Japan. Dr. Swigert is thrilled to be a part of helping to bring the Arts to Kingman and sharing his knowledge of music with others which can bring the same joy into their lives as it has brought into his.
Pat Evans, Secretary
Pat Miller Evans has enjoyed all forms of art since childhood. Pat holds an undergraduate degree in art and a graduate degree in landscape architecture. She spent three decades of her career working with architects and engineers supporting the pursuit of major national and international public works and infrastructure projects. Closing out her career, Pat served four years as the program administrator for the Claremont Graduate University master of fine arts program where she was responsible for the annual $2 million department budget. Pat retired to Kingman in 2013. Her studio time is currently absorbed by non-traditional calligraphy and book arts. Forty years ago while working with fellow art students, we dreamed of a place where art classes and community activities would be accessible to all . . . participating in the Kingman Center for the Arts is an answer to this lifelong dream.
Cindi McNiven, Treasurer
Delphine Brandt, Director
Delphine was born in France in the beautiful and historical town of Vichy. She was an enthusiastic dancer, in both Classic and Jazz. Growing up she had the opportunity to go to numerous classical and contemporary french theatrical performances with her school. Among her favorites were Moliere’s “The School for Wives” and Feydeau’s “On Purge Bebe”. She remembers the emotions she felt the first time she saw “La Traviata” and knew that, one day she would want her 3 daughters to experience it too. She knows that through the arts, we share and find a universal language which permits communication among all peoples. She believes that Beale Street Theater will increase opportunities for our community to participate in and understand the arts. She trusts that to fulfill this mission, Beale Street Theater will commission, produce, and present performances reflecting the highest standards of excellence as well as the diversity indicative of the world in which we live.
Tyler Palmer, Director
Krystal Dooley, Director
Krystal has been performing since she could walk. She performed in various community plays and high school performances as a young woman. After high school her theater troop was invited to perform at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland performing Comedy of Errors (Luciana). That experience ignited her love for theater in college. She attended Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah where she received a full tuition scholarship in theater performance. There she performed various leading and supporting roles in The Boyfriend, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia), Almost Perfect, The Importance of Being Ernest (Cecily), You Can’t Take it With You (Mrs. Kirby), The Miser (Elyse), a short film produced by professor Teri Petrie, Guaranteed Not to Run (leading role), and a number of student written short plays. She volunteered her time to teach kids theater at a couple of elementary schools in order to promote arts in education. From 2005-2007 she performed as a vocalist in the band Déjà Vu. In 2010 she, along with her husband, joined the Lehi, UT City Arts Council as the theater chairperson. Along with her responsibilities as chairperson, she performed in Arsenic and Old Lace(Elaine) and directed The Importance of Being Ernest. She directed a children’s play, Bugs, and conducted a children’s workshop. In Alpine, UT community she was assistant choreographer in a large community production of Cinderella. In Mohave County, she taught Musical Theater at Spotlight Dance Academy for a short time. Krystal is married to her soul mate, Ryan, and has 4 beautiful children who are amazing and the most important things in her life.