Junior Department:

 Sarah Bradley

Sarah joined the HPAS in 2010 and is qualified from the Irish board of Speech and Drama (Diploma of Associate). Sarah is currently working on her licentiate and is furthering her theatre studies at Trinity College, Dublin. Sarah received a scholarship for a season to study with Walnut Hill Performing Arts School in Boston. She also attends the Royal College of Music for singing.

Sarah has been involved in Drama all her life. She was with RTE Cor na nOg Choir. She has preformed many musicals including Annie, The Wizard of Oz and Hello Dolly (National Concert Hall), and Bugsy Malone (Olympia). She has won many prizes for poetry and drama in the Feis Mathiu.

 

 

 

Singing Department:

John Keegan

 

 

Founder and managing director of Habemus, artistic director of the Habemus Chamber Choir and co-founder of the HPAS, John has widespread experience in the music industry having studied under Dr. Kenneth Shellard, Ms. Ite O’Donovan, Dr. Joe Ryan, Ms Orla Barry, Mr. Desmond Earley and Mr. Colin Mawby.

John has recorded and performed to vast audiences in Ireland, the UK, Italy, America and Canada with the Palestrina Choir, the Lassus Scholars, the award winning UCD Choral Scholars, and as a soloist. John was honoured with a singing scholarship in University while completing an Economics degree, a Business Hdip and a Masters in Strategic Management and Planning. John has performed as a frequent soloist with many of Ireland’s top musicians and with vocal groups in RTE, BBC and Lyric fm. Having founded the Young Irish Scholars, John arranged their ‘Movie Hits’ track for the debut performance in Dublin’s Point Depot. With the Habemus Chamber Choir, John has performed for prestigious guests in Ireland, the UK, Rome, Spain and the Czech Republic, promoting Celtic music throughout Europe.

As well as being a singing teacher with the Starstruck Stage School from 2003 – 2006, John also gave supplementary workshops and courses on vocal execution, harmony and performance techniques to US stage school 'Influenza', UK stage school 'Arts in Motion', Irish theatre group 'Impurito', to the ‘Genesis Gospel Choir’ from Canada and to the up-coming Swedish girl band ‘Frosted’.

 

 

 

Colm Keegan

 

Starting in the Palestrina Choir under the direction of Ms. Ite O’Donovan and Comdt. Joseph Ryan, Colm became a regular performer in Dublin’s National Concert Hall, and a soloist in prestigious venues worldwide. Colm then joined the esteemed Piccolo Lasso and with Mr. Ken Shellard as his vocal trainer, Colm won several highly acclaimed Feis Ceoil competitions in Dublin’s RDS.

Colm performed the lead role of ‘Sky Masterson’ in Frank Loesser’s celebrated ‘Guys and Dolls’. With the Habemus Chamber Choir, Colm has performed as a lead soloist to many audiences in Ireland, Spain and the Czech Republic. Colm has just returned from a tour in Rome performing in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and for the Pope in St. Peter’s Basilica. A member of the Scholarship group in Dublin Choral Foundation, the Lassus Scholars and the scholarship group in UCD, under Mr. Desmond Earley, Colm is currently completing his Music and Irish degree in UCD.

Featuring in the Celtic Woman ‘Songs from the Heart’ CD and in the production of the DVD currently on sale around the world, Colm has performed with Ireland’s Peter Corry in The Helix, with ‘The Priests’ in the O2 and with Gary Barlow’s new signing Camila Kerslake on RTE’s, The Late Late Show. Assistant-director for the production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Pirates of Penzance’, Colm is currently working on a production of HMS Pinafore. Colm is a gifted musical composer and is delighted to share his work with the HPAS students.

 

 

 

Acting Department

Carl Shaaban

 

As a director and co-founder of the HPAS, Carl brings rich experience to the HPAS staff. After quickly becoming one of the Ireland's top male models, Carl has appeared in numerous leading fashion shows and campaigns, such as Harvey Nichols, Brown Thomas, Arnotts, John Rocha, and Marc Jacobs. Carl has also travelled abroad for modelling campaigns in Madrid, London, New York and Los Angeles.

Carl went on to study acting with the renowned former MGM coach Vincent Chase in Los Angeles in 2006, and The Abbey school of Drama in Dublin. He was cast in the Figgis Bros' film '3Crosses', and also starred in the feature film 'Christian Blake' the short film 'The Mysterious Salter Case', and 'All The Little Things'. He has also been featured on the RTE show 'Republic of Telly' in which he was impersonating the shows presenter, and can be seen in some of todays leading TV commercials. Since his film debut, Carl has gone on to produce music video's for the band 'The Television Room', and the Habemus Chamber Choir and also co-wrote and produced the documentary 'The Fashion of Modelling' - an hour long film looking at modelling and photography in the Irish Fashion Industry which was picked up by RTE. Carl has just finished co producing the up and coming feature film 'A Christmas Carol' and is in the post-production stages of the feature film 'Meeting on the Stairs'. Carl has also produced the short movie 'Traces of Memory' and has written another short to be shot later this year.

Carl has also got a rich business background having completed his Honors Degree in Business and also completed his Masters in Strategic Management.

 

 

 

Jason Figgis

Award-winning director of October Eleven Pictures, Jason Figgis has an extensive background in the entertainment industry, having worked creatively on two seasons of Murakami Wolf's hugely successful TV animated series 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'. He went on to work for the 'Roger Rabbit' creator Richard Williams on the cult feature 'The Thief and the Cobbler' - featuring the voice talents of horror legend Vincent Price and Sean Connery and for Steven Spielberg on Amblination's 'American Tail 2 - Fievel Goes West', - featuring the voice talent of Hollywood legend James Stewart, where Jason created special effects for key scenes.

Since directing ‘Live Action’ in 2002, Jason directed the double IFTA award nominated and critically acclaimed 'The Twilight Hour' and the award winning 'Cursed'. Jason’s repertoire also includes feature documentaries for Sky One, Discovery Channel, SVT (Sweden), RTE Network 2 (Ireland), KSM (Germany & Switzerland), Spentzos Films (Greece & Cyprus) and Sky Arts.

Currently Jason is in Post Production on his debut dramatic feature film '3Crosses'. Jason's recently directed short films 'Jo Jo' and 'Friends Like These' feature music contributions from acclaimed musicians Damien Dempsey and Moby. Jason is also a director of photography and an editor and member of the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland and can be found in the members section of www.sdgi.ie

 

 

 

 

Dance Department:

Eric Richardson

Dance Masters Irish Choreographer Of The Year 2009 and one of the most sought after Hip Hop teachers in the country. He has recently been signed to AMCK, the UK's biggest dance agency.

 

Eric's dance career took off when he appeared on a dance talent search series 'Chance To Dance' shown on Ireland's premier television channel RTÉ One in 2005.

 

From there Eric has gone on to work with up and coming Irish artists directing and choreographing their opening shows for the O2 Arena,Dublin and Oddessy,Belfast legs of the Chris Brown & Rihanna Tours.

 

He was also a Panel Judge and Hip Hop Choreographer on RTE's 'Ballet Chancers', alongside Monica Loughlin in 2009 and took part in the Xposé Live Fashion Show at the RDS 2009 where his choreography was featured throughout the show.

Eric's style is Newschool Hip Hop and is as fresh and as fluent as the LA scene.