POPS Biographies

Puttin’ On Productions

POPS Biographies

Julia Hayes Mirkovich- Founder/Executive Director

Born in a small town in Iowa, Julia's passion for creative expression started at a very early age. Her love for dance, in particular ballet, grew when she moved to Colorado and trained at Academy of Dance Arts (ADA) under former Gus Giordano dancer Tricia Fastabend Stuercke. At 17 she began her teaching career at ADA. Eventually Julia landed principle roles in such shows as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, La Bayedere, and various other original contemporary works with Rocky Mountain Repertory Ensemble and Youth Ballet Colorado.

While training in dance, Julia also cultivated her talents in voice and theater. She made the decision to move to LA to pursue a professional career in performance arts. Since moving to LA she has acquired bi-coastal representation and has danced, performed and/or choreographed for several dance companies, industrial entertainment groups, film, television and stage. Her performance credits in theater and film include A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, A Christmas Carol, Anything Goes, American Gun with James Coburn, commercials and more. Her industrial credits include Nike, Everlast, and Red Bull, just to name a few. Her choreography, production and youth directorial credits include The Nutcracker, Kiss Me Kate, The Boyfriend, Vaudeville is My Home, South Bay's Most Talented Kids, The Wiz, and POPS on Broadway.

Having a true passion for continuing the art of dance she has maintained a steady teaching career for fifteen years including multiple chorographer awards for her story telling style of choreography and for bringing out the best in her dancers. Teaching children the performing arts is Julia's true calling. Her teaching style is nurturing but strict and helps students reach their fullest potential by creating a supportive and fun learning environment.

Hazel Clarke- Artistic Director

An instructor/choreographer for over thirteen years, Hazel holds a BFA in Dance from San Jose State University and trained with Mary Carbonara, Fred Mathews, Janet Van Swoll, Gary Masters and Robert Moses. Miss Clarke has an extensive experience in a number of dance styles, including Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Lyrical, and Musical Theatre. In the dance competition circuit, Miss Clarke has choreographed for various dance teams in California, including Fusion Dance Team and West High School in Torrance, The School of Dance and Music in Hermosa and Redondo Beach, Redondo High School in Redondo Beach, and Homestead High School in Sunnyvale. Recent awards include Top Choreogapher for Hall of Fame 2009 and Starpower 2009 in California. Musical Theatre choreography credits include Gypsy & TheBoyfriend with Kings & Clowns Theatre Company, Aladdin with Broadway Bound Players, and The Wiz, POPs on Broadway-a Musical Review, Seussical, Aladdin, and Day One, an original multimedia production with POPs Theatre Company. Professional Modern & Contemporary Choreography Credits include Collaboration! Dance & Music at the Cowell Theatre in San Francisco ('07), the Denver Independent Choreographer's Project in Colorado ('07), 10th Annual Dance Under the Stars Choreograhpy Festival in Palm Desert ('07), DanceSpot in Silverlake ('07-'09), Fusion Choreogapher's Showcase in Palos Verdes ('08, '09), The Pasadena Dance Festival ('09), and Floored at El Camino College ('09). Hazel was recently selected as a finalist for the 12th Annual Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival in Palm Desert.

Megan Lyne- Musical Director/Mini POPs Director

Megan Lyne eagerly joined POPS in the Fall of 2009. Her passion for the arts, performing and teaching, is reflected in almost ever

y aspect of her life having stemmed from her musically oriented family. Megan earned her undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance from Carthage College (Kenosha, WI) where she studied with Dr. Richard Sjoerdsma, editor of the National Journal of Singing. She began her singing career with leading roles in musical theater. Some of which include The Music Man, The Fantasticks, Grease, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Schoolhouse Rock. Most recently, Megan has turned her direction towards the world of opera with roles in Die Fledermaus, The Medium, Trial by Jury, Cosi fan tutte, The Mikado, and La Clemenza di Tito. She is currently preparing for the role of Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann (Spring 2010). Megan is earning a Master’s degree at the Cole Conservatory, California State University- Long Beach in Opera Performance where she studies with Shigemi Matsumoto.

Upon returning to California to pursue her career goals as performer and teacher, Megan taught enrichment classes in both public and private schools in Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Westchester, and Hawthorne. She has directed numerous children’s theater shows including Oliver, The Wizard of Oz, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and High School Musical. Megan is proud to have touched the artistic lives of hundreds of children since she began teaching nine years ago and has been blessed to work with groups of inner-city children, home schooled children, as well as privately trained students in her own studio. Some of her students have gone on to major in musical theater, perform the National Anthem at professional sporting events, and win both state and national talent awards.

Michelle Akeley- Producer/Director
Michelle Akeley is thrilled to be a member of the POPs community. A native of Hermosa Beach, Michelle discovered the performing arts at a young age taking ballet in preschool and playing a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. When she was 9 years old she decided she wanted to be a singer and started to take classical voice lessons with the well-accomplished Rhona Klinghofer. She was highly inspired by Julia Hayes Mirkovich and Hazel Clarke with her dance training. She also participated heavily not only in Julia’s dance company but in her high school (Mira Costa) drama department. From there it only made sense for her to audition for college musical theater and she was accepted into the esteemed Ray Bolger Musical Theater Department at UCLA and will graduate in June 2010. There she has had the pleasure to work with wonderful voice and performance coaches such as Jeremy Mann, Mary Jo Duprey, Evelyn Halus, Time Battles, Dan Belzer and Linda Kerns. She has been fortunate to receive dance training with Nicholas Gunn, Christine Kellogg, Bill Szobody, Lynne Dally, Peggy Hickey, and Benedicte Schoyen. She has also received expansive acting training from Joe Olivieri, April Shawhan, Marilyn Fox, and Scott Conte. She has been in numerous productions such as Chicago, West Side Story, The Who’s Tommy, Kiss Me Kate, and Into The Woods.

Mike Walker, /Musical Director /Orchestral Conductor

Mike Walker has enjoyed a long career in the entertainment field. He has worked as a singer, pianist, actor, director and conductor in the United States and in Europe since 1984. His acting experience encompasses film, television and stage. As a musician, he has worked as a solo artist and has also backed several name acts. Mike’s credits as Musical Director include: You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Smile, Hello Dolly!, Bye Bye Birdie, Rent, Anything Goes, Gypsy, Urinetown, Into The Woods, Seussical and many others. Directorial credits include Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, Les Misérables, Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, Children Of Eden and Oliver! Upcoming projects include another production of Charlie Brown… and the El Camino College production of Godspell. Mike is a proud member of S.A.G, A.F.T.R.A. and B.M.I.!

Susan Leilua, POPs Stars Director
Susan joined POPS as Musical Director just in time for Seussical in late 2008 and the improvements were immediate, astounding and amazing! She has also directed the music for POPS original multi-media production of Day One and Mini-Pops summer production of Aladdin Jr., as well as for POPS's spectacular staging of "Grease."Susan Leilua grew up accompanying and singing in church with her four younger sisters since the age of 10. Susan accompanied and assisted her choir director, Mr. Don Ladin, all four years of high school and directed the youth choir at church. Shortly after graduating Susan’s musical career took off. She accompanied and directed the music for productions such as Fame, Once Upon A Mattress, Guys & Dolls, Phantom, My Fair Lady, Kiss Me Kate, Into The Woods and Grease with Inglewood’s Summer Youth Theater Employment Program (SYTEP), Hawthorne and San Pedro High Schools. Susan assisted South Bay Conservatory’s (SBC) Music Director, Mr. Tim Battle, with his original production of Rumplestiltskin's Daughter in November of 2007. She then became the Music Director for SBC’s production of Once Upon A Mattress in May of 2008. More recently, Susan directed her first show “Cinderella” with Mini-Pops in December of 2009. She has been working with “The POPS Performance Troupe” as they’ve had many performances throughout the Hermosa Beach community over the holidays. Susan is currently a middle school music teacher at Century Community Charter School in Inglewood and a Music Education major at Cal State University Dominguez Hills. She has taught piano privately in her home for eight years and is a full-time mother of two dynamic children, Isaiah and Naomi.

Mark Mirkovich, Co-founder

Mark comes to us with an extensive background in music and entertainment. He comes from a very large family that roots themselves in the entertainment industry, so it’s no surprise that he has spent many years working as a professional vocalist, song writer, and performance coach. Mark has worked as a professional session vocalist with some of the industries top producers including The Underdogs (responsible for hits for artists such as Justin Timberlake, Jordan Sparks, Jennifer Hudson) and the Track Kingz (responsible for hits from Usher, Ludacris, Rubin Studdard). His session vocals have also enabled him to work on radio and tv jingles aired world wide. Additionally, Mark has released records globally as a solo artist and also as part of a group, and has logged thousands of hours of studio recording and stage time. He is thrilled to be a part of POPs as it grows and is excited to pass along anything he can to add to the development of our young stars!

Main Navigation