UMS Artist Facilitators

Meet the UMS Artist Facilitators leading this season’s School Day Performance Plus (SDP+) workshops.

LaDarrel Johnson

LaDarrel “Saxappeal” Johnson is a Grammy nominated recording artist, and former touring saxophonist with R&B Legend, Charlie Wilson, (of The GAP Band), a 2024 Detroit Black Music Awards “Jazz Artist of the Year’ nominee, a 2014 Detroit Music Award nominee for entertainer of the year, a 2013 Crain’s Detroit Business “20 in their 20’s” Award Recipient, Michigan Chronicle’s “40 under 40” Award Recipient, and a “Who’s Who in Black Detroit” Award Recipient, this ambitious young artist has traveled from coast to coast, performing from intimate venues in Detroit, to large scale events in Chicago, Phoenix, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Indiana, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, London, Paris, South Africa, and Trinidad & Tobago just to name a few. His first trip to New York was to perform at the legendary Carnegie Hall at the age of 17. 

Kristina Lakey

Kristina Lakey is a multifaceted creative force, weaving together artistry, storytelling, and leadership to craft immersive experiences that captivate audiences. As the Artistic Director of Wandering Lantern Productions, she has cultivated a reputation for producing captivating events, immersive experiences, and unique on-stage performances. Her background in live performance and musical theatre has honed a diverse skill set, enabling her to seamlessly blend various artistic disciplines. Beyond her work on stage, Kristina is a sought-after panelist and workshop leader, sharing her insights and inspiring others to embrace their own creative potential.

Jaclyn Morrow

A dancer most of her life, Jaclyn Morrow has spent the last 20 years studying and performing modern or contemporary dance and world dance often based in the African diaspora. She is the first trained teacher of World Dance Workout, a dance fitness craze that incorporates her dance world into a fitness format that is easy to follow. She has the ability to break things down in a way that everyone realizes they are a dancer!

As a teacher, Jaclyn is very passionate and engaging. She has taught and performed with many theatre and dance organizations in Southeast MI and beyond, including Wild Swan Theatre, Ann Arbor YMCA, Chelsea Area Players Youth, Tree of Life Cultural Arts, Tableau Cadre Movement Ensemble, Superhero Training Academy, Spinning Dot Theatre, Blue Moves Modern Dance Company, Like Water Drum and Dance, and the Plymouth Community Arts Council Theatre. She values arts integration and engagement in her students. She is mindful of how to create success for every student. She is so excited to be working with the wonderful people at UMS and all the students who she’ll get to create with because of it!

Andrew Morton

Andrew Morton (he/him) is a Queer British immigrant, playwright, and theatre-maker. He lives in Detroit, where he works as a teaching artist and arts consultant with various arts and social service organizations and is the founding producing artistic collaborator at Every Soul Arts, a collective of artists who believe every person deserves access to safe and affordable housing and opportunities to explore and celebrate their creativity. As an artist and educator, Morton was recognized by Kresge Arts in Detroit as a 2020 Kresge Artist Fellow, and in 2021, he received a Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for services to theatre education. In 2024, he was named one of six Detroit theatre workers you should know by American Theatre Magazine. Morton’s plays have been produced across the US and internationally in the UK, Australia, and Canada. His award-winning play Bloom, inspired by urban gardeners in Flint, Michigan, is available through Dramatic Publishing, Inc.

Kat Steih

Kat Steih is an educator, songwriter, vocalist and bandleader who specializes in movement-based music education, vocal training, somatic modalities, electronic music production and neurodiverse student education. She has worked with high school students at the after-school teen center the Neutral Zone in Ann Arbor since 2018 on the music staff, as well as maintaining both her own private teaching practice and her self-named modern rock performance project that mixes interactive performance practices like clowning, dance, and audience participation with prog – punk rock.