Voice Lessons
Sheila Mann
Master Instructor
Sheila McKinney Mann has been in music education for over thirty-five years. A native of North Carolina, she earned the Bachelor of Music in vocal music education from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Her love of sacred music led her to attain the Master of Church Music in vocal pedagogy from Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Her first school position was as adjunct vocal instructor at Gardner-Webb College in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, where she taught private voice, music appreciation, and music education for elementary teachers. Following that, she was music and choir teacher at Whitefield Academy in Louisville, Kentucky. She served as the Greenwood High School choir director for 27 years before retiring in 2012. Mrs. Mann was the music director for many musicals during her tenure at GHS, including The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, Annie Get Your Gun, Footloose, The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, Aladdin Jr., and Annie Jr. She most recently served as the music teacher at St. Boniface Catholic School, directing two musicals each year in addition to her other duties.
Mrs. Mann has served as Director of Music in several churches including Fallston Baptist Church in North Carolina, Fern Creek Methodist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and Greenwood United Methodist Church in Greenwood, Arkansas. Currently she is the Director of Music at Central Presbyterian Church in Fort Smith, where she has served since 1988. Her responsibilities include the direction of the Chancel Choir and Chancel Handbells.
Sheila has been with the Community School of the Arts since the beginning, and at the UAFS Academy of the Arts since 2012, teaching private voice and children’s choirs, as well as serving as music director for musical theatre productions. She met her husband, George, while they were both in graduate school in Louisville & they have been married since 1979.
Cody Walls
Junior Instructor
Cody is an Arkansas based actor who holds his Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Ouachita Baptist University.
Previously, Cody has toured the country with Bright Star Touring Theatre performing roles such as Velveteen in The Velveteen Rabbit. Other roles include Nicely Nicely in Guys and Dolls(Arkansas Shakespeare) Don Jon in Much Ado About Nothing (Arkansas Shakespeare), The Park Keeper/Dance Captain in Mary Poppins (Murry’s Dinner Playhouse), and Dickon in The Secret Garden (Ouachita Baptist University).
Cody would like to thank his family and friends for their love and support!
Emily Dellyn
Junior Instructor
Emily is an actor, singer, and voiceover artist from Hot Springs, Arkansas. She has her BFA in Musical Theatre from Ouachita Baptist University. Since graduating, she’s worked and performed in some varied environments, from a Christmas Fair performer in England, to an Entertainer at a resort in the Florida Keys. Some of her previous credits include The Wizard of Oz, Spongebob Squarepants the Musical, Anything Goes, Suessical, and Sweeney Todd. Emily started doing voiceover as a way of continuing to perform during 2020 and ended up finding another passion doing voices behind a microphone. When not working on whatever project she’s currently involved in, Emily enjoys thrift shopping, road trips, arts and crafts, and playing her ukulele.
Lolly Swicegood
Master Instructor
Laurel Patrick Swicegood began her life in Musical Theatre performance in Community Theatre as well as school in the second grade. After graduating high school from Deer Creek in Oklahoma City she was awarded the Norton Scholarship to study at Texas Christian University. She graduated in 2007 with her BFA in musical theater performance. Lolly, as she’s known, has been fortunate to perform many theatre classics: “On The Town”, “Baby”, “Annie”, “Once upon a mattress”, “Annie Get Your Gun”, “Anything Goes” and “Cabaret” just to name a few. She also was able to study costume history, costuming, makeup and set design while at TCU. Lolly is also a Modern Artist specializing in Acrylic and vinyl on canvas. She has been fortunate to work and record in many recording studios including Waterfront Studios and Blackbird. Her true passion is performing blues, jazz and rock and roll with her best friend and husband Chris Swicegood. Together they write and perform globally in duo ‘Chris and Lolly’.
Rebekah McAllister
Junior Instructor
Rebekah McAllister is a mezzo-soprano, actor, and music educator. An Arkansas native, she earned her Bachelor’s of Vocal Music Education from the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. Rebekah is currently employed at Howe Public Schools in Oklahoma where she co-directs the show choir “The Mane Attraction” with her husband and teaches general music. She also performs with the Grace Community Church worship team. Previously, Rebekah has performed with Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 6, the UAFS chorale, the UAFS Jazz Catz, and the Fort Smith
Little Theatre. Some of her more notable performances include “Carmina Burana” -Mezzo Soprano Soloist
(UAFS Chorale and Symphonic Band), “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” -Mrs.Lovett (UAFS Scenes Program), “Carmen” -Carmen (UAFS Scenes Program), My Fair Lady (FSLT), as well as premiering the piece “Sing Gently” by Eric Whitacre. Rebekah met her husband and best friend of 4 years at UAFS, and they now share a home with three cats and a guinea pig. When not performing or teaching, Rebekah enjoys belting show
tunes with her husband, as well as hiking, knitting, reading, and watching movies.
