Katelyn MacIntyre, President
As a blind vocalist and speaker, Katelyn MacIntyre enjoys sharing her inspirational life story and dynamic music, which spans many genres, with all audiences. While studying with Maria Spacagna for her Master of Music in Vocal Performance at Carnegie Mellon University, she premiered the opera Cold Hands with CMU and Pittsburgh Opera, soloed with the AIMS Festival Orchestra around Austria, and covered the soprano solos of Mozart’s Requiem with Maestro Manfred Honeck and the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic. She has performed numerous operatic and musical roles including The Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Beth in Little Women¸ Monica in The Medium, and the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. As a featured soprano soloist, she has performed at such notable venues as Tokyo Billboard Live! Japan, sponsored by Fox International; the Völkerkundemuseum Heidelberg, Germany; the Kennedy Center; Union Station, DC; and all across North America. Katelyn received the 2012-13 Presser Scholar Award, won the VSAarts International Young Soloists Award, was a National Federation of the Blind 2014 National Scholarship winner, and has garnered top prizes and scholarships in the US and Canada. Currently, Katelyn teaches voice, piano, guitar, and music theory privately. Other performing arts include acting and competitive ballroom dancing. She has been on this talented board since 2014 and is thrilled to continue raising expectations and increasing opportunities for all blind performers. www.katelynmac.com www.facebook.com/KatelynMacMusic @KatelynMacMusic
Reggie Herbert, Vice President
Reggie is an actor, director, teacher, musician and advocate from Missoula, Montana. His lifelong passion for music saw him playing bass guitar in punk bands starting in his teens, and he continues to play metal and alternative styles of music on guitar and drums. In support of the underground and DIY music ethos, Reggie spent a good portion of his twenties booking local and touring acts at various venues around Missoula and providing a place for touring acts to crash as they drove around the country.
Reggie completed his undergraduate degree in 2016 with high honors, majoring in theatre with a minor in Native American studies. He returned to the University of Montana to earn his Master of Fine Arts in Theatre, where he studied performance and practice. It was here he honed his acting, directing and developed his teaching style. He also began research into the application of disability theory to theatre practice and pedagogy. In 2023, Reggie founded “A Quantum Dream,” a small, non-profit theatre company that focuses on accessibility. AQD provides audio description for live events, provides accessibility training and assessments and produces contemporary science-fiction plays. Reggie is the vice-president of his local chapter and serves as an Individualized Education Plan advocate for blind students in Montana. If Reggie ever had free time again, he would like to return to being a game master for table-top role playing games.
Elizabeth Rouse, Secretary
With a constant drive to learn more and explore outside of her comfort zone, Elizabeth Rouse has been stepping on and off stage since she was little. While her love of theatre has remained constant, she has portrayed a revolving door of characters over the last decade; however, it wasn’t until Elizabeth began college that she found her true theatrical love—stage management. (What’s not to love about getting to be bossy without facing criticism?!). Originally from Iowa, Elizabeth snuck down south to complete the adult program at the Louisiana Center for the Blind in 2021 after both receiving a National federation of the Blind scholarship in 2018 and earning undergraduate degrees in English and Theatre in 2020. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Creative Writing online and would love to talk your ear off about the power of books if you’re interested in listening. During the months of April through October, you’ll be hard pressed to pull Elizabeth away from a radio broadcast of Chicago Cubs baseball, which she loves listening to, preferably while buried under lots of blankets and snuggled up with her cat, Wrigley. If it happens to be the off season, she can be found binge watching Grey’s Anatomy or competitively completing puzzles of all sorts and sizes, including crosswords and sudoku. Elizabeth is a firm believer in Victor Hugo’s notion that "Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances." As this is her first term on the Performing Arts Division Board as secretary, Elizabeth is excited to become more engrained in the division while spending time getting to know its membership. One of her greatest joys is helping others to learn that blindness can be viewed as an opportunity instead of a barrier, and she has been fortunate enough to have many opportunities to share this view with others through her involvement in performing arts. She is thrilled to give back to this community throughout the duration of her time on the Board and encourages you to reach out with questions, comments, and/or new ideas for the division.
Dezman Jackson, Treasurer
Originally from Alabama, Dezman Jackson has lived in Baltimore Maryland for quite some time. By day, he works as a digital accessibility analyst and also contracts to provide rehabilitation teaching and orientation and mobility services. From as far back as he can remember, Dezman has been involved with music in one way or another from playing piano to singing in church choir to his current passion, playing the saxophone. From time to time, Dezman takes opportunities to perform at open mics, weddings and church events. Through his involvement with the division, Dezman looks forward to building a great network and continuing to collectively raise the bar with blind people in all aspects of performing arts.
Kayleigh Joiner, Board Member
Kayleigh Joiner has lived in Texas her entire life. Ever since she was a young child, music has always been a part of her life. She joined her first community choir group at the age of 5, performing at various community events. From middle school all through high school, she was a member of one of the top choirs available. She received many medals for region & Solo & Ensemble competitions. During her senior year of high school, she decided the time was now or never to audition for her school musical, "The Pajama Game." She was selected as a member of the ensemble, and thanks to an amazing choreographer, had multiple opportunities to appear in various scenes throughout the production. Since winter of 2021, she has been assisting with delivering the Division's Singing Telegrams, during the holidays and Valentine's Day. She enjoys getting to brighten folks' day by delivering a telegram to them from a family member or friend. She looks forward to working hard to help the division grow and contributing her talents to future projects.
Julia LaGrand, Board Member
Julia LaGrand is a classical violinist from Grand Rapids, MI. Currently a freshman in the Harvard University/New England Conservatory dual degree program, she studies violin performance with Miriam Fried. She was a winner of the Kennedy Center's 2024 International Young Musicians Competition and the 2020 Bella International Music Competition, and has performed with orchestras including the Kent Philharmonic and Baroque on Beaver Festival Orchestra. Other notable appearances include a performance at the Kennedy Center and 2 performances on NPR's From the Top. Her work with NPRs From the Top creating programming to highlight disabled musicians was featured in the Boston Globe's "10 Memorable Classical Music Moments from 2023." Passionate about access to the arts for all, Julia is excited to be serving in her second term on the Performing Arts Division Board of Directors.
Cierra Theriot, Board Member
Cierra is an actor, singer, dancer and musical theater performer. Some of her roles include mersister Aquata in the little mermaid, ensemble in frozen Junior the musical, ensemble in elf the musical, ensemble in anything goes the musical, ensemble in Scrooge the musical, an angel and caroler in the living Christmas story, and party guest and snowflake in the nutcracker. Cierra always enjoys it on stage, but when she’s not performing, she loves helping out in other ways in the theater such as ushering. Cierra is excited to be on the board in this role as a leader in the performing arts division.
Meet the Board of the National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division!
2022 Meet the Board Video
Ever wonder what kind of performing arts the board members of our division pursue? This video has been a long time coming, but we’re so excited to share a Meet the Board medley where you will hear glimpses of some of our various styles. Thanks to everyone who helped put this together, including voiceover by Sandra Gayer and editing by Kinshuk Tella.