Beth Walter

Beth Walter holds over fifteen years of experience as a teacher, director and performer. She attended Point Park College and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater where she studied dance and theater. She has also studied music and theater at the graduate level at Duquesne University. Ms. Walter has trained with world-renowned dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet and the Vaganova Institute. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature, a Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Higher Education Management and Policy Analysis at the University of Pittsburgh.

Ms. Walter has performed leading roles in several theatrical productions throughout the Pittsburgh area, including appearances in Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, King Lear, and Working. Highlights of her dance career include Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker and Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty. In 1988 Ms. Walter performed the principal role of Swanilda in the ballet Coppelia, under the direction of Nicolas Petrov, the founder of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater.

In l988, Ms. Walter was the recipient of Winchester Thurston School’s Hilda Mesta Willis Arts Scholarship for academic excellence and technical mastery in classical dance. Since then, Ms. Walter has taught dance and music at Winchester Thurston to grades K-5. In 1992, Ms. Walter acted as Interim Director of the Performing Arts Department at Winchester Thurston, and won their award for Outstanding Service. Ms. Walter also spent ten years as the Music Director at Bellevue Central United Methodist Church.

Ms. Walter has been teaching Philosophy and English at the university level since 1997. She has taught numerous courses in Logic, Literature, Critical Thinking, and the History of Philosophy. She has recently developed a new course in the Philosophy of Music for the Philosophy Department at Duquesne University. In 2003, Ms. Walter received the Duquesne University Excellence in Teaching Award.

As President and co-founder of Spotlight, she has directed over two-dozen shows for the Academy including Into The Woods, Les Miserables, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Annie, Damn Yankees, Cinderella, and Kiss Me, Kate. In 2007, Ms. Walter directed Spotlight Performing Arts Academy students as they became the first high school performing group in Pennsylvania to stage a full-length production of Miss Saigon. Ms. Walter’s students have been the recipients of Gene Kelly awards for excellence in Musical Theater, and have gone on to pursue professional careers in dance and musical theater at the college level.