Our Students

Liz Gray, 2025 MFA Candidate (Arts Leadership)
Liz attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (Stella Adler Studio, B.F.A Theatre), The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (London), and The Upright Citizens Brigade (NYC). She has performed at The Signature Theatre, UCBeast, New York Fringe Festival, Target Margin Theatre, and on Netflix, ABC, and Showtime. Liz has worked as a theatre teacher, dialect coach, arts educator, and adjudicator in schools and competitions across the country. Most recently, in Durango, Colorado, Liz held the positions of Communications Director and Company Manager for the Merely Players theatre company; and was a Director, Stage Manager, Production Manager, and Covid Manager. Concurrently, she was faculty in the Performing Arts Department at Fort Lewis College, teaching Devised Theatre and Performance Art, Long-Form Improvisation, and Acting II. She is passionate about accessible educational practices, community-building artistic collaboration, and providing platforms for underrepresented work.

Vincent Maluwa, 2025 MFA Candidate (Arts Leadership)
Vincent Maluwa is an Arts Manager from Malawi, Africa. He graduated with B.A.H in Drama from the University of Malawi. Vincent is an Alumnus of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), a U.S. Department of State's premier professional exchange program. For the past 10 years, he has worked in the Arts and Culture sector in Africa in various capacities such as: actor, director, researcher, cultural translator, festival producer, curator and music school administrator. He has also worked with Diplomatic Missions in Malawi. Elated to be at Virginia Tech, Vincent is looking forward to building his capacity in arts leadership and network with like-minded artists. He intends to use the body of knowledge that he will amass to transform and grow the creative industry in Malawi.

Rachel Pottern Nunn, 2023 MFA Candidate (Arts Leadership)
Rachel is from Raleigh, NC where she earned B.A.s in Theatre and English from William Peace University. She loves every aspect of theatre-making, and has experience as an actor, director, arts administrator, educator, stage combatant, singer, and designer/technician. Research interests include community building through the arts, theatre for social justice movements, and anti-capitalist funding models in the arts. She is using her time at Virginia Tech to explore sustainable practices in arts administration as the field evolves through the devastation of Covid-19 and the nationwide calling-in of #BlackLivesMatter, fleshing out her production experience with new trends on the administrative side of the business. Between undergraduate and graduate school Rachel spent five years working in public libraries in youth programming, planning and executing educational programs for infants through teens—an addition to her theatre experience that shaped the way she views the performing arts as a community-building catalyst.

Ashley Pope, 2024 MFA Candidate (Arts Leadership)
Ashley is from Birmingham, AL where she graduated from Samford University with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre. She has previously held positions such as music, voice, and theatre teacher, front desk receptionist, and office assistant for companies such as Red Mountain Theatre, Samford Academy of the Arts, and Mason Music Studios. She has also worked as an actor and host for The Dinner Detective in Birmingham as well as performed in numerous shows within her local community. This past summer, she was an Assistant Business Manager at the College Light Opera Company where she primarily worked in marketing and ticket sales. Ashley is thrilled to be attending Virginia Tech. She wants to gain new experiences and further develop her skills in order to play a vital leadership role in keeping art organizations vibrant and to allow artists to continue to positively impact the world through visual and performing arts.