Olivia Skillern
​Artistic Director

Olivia Skillern, Artistic  Director
Olivia is excited to join the talented students and staff at James Clemens High School. A proud graduate of Madison City Schools, Ms. Skillern is thrilled to return to her roots and give back to the community that helped shape her love for the arts.
She earned her BA in Theatre and Marketing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and began her professional career in the Birmingham theatre community, working as a scenic artist, actor, and props master.
Upon returning to Huntsville, she served as a teaching artist with Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theatre and as the Technical Director at Huntsville High School. Most recently, she led both the Theatre and Musical Theatre programs at Grissom High School, where she was proud to help students grow as artists and individuals.
Ms. Skillern is passionate about creating an inclusive, creative, and challenging environment for young performers and technicians. She believes in the power of theatre to build confidence, collaboration, and empathy, and she is thrilled to bring that vision to James Clemens. She can’t wait to begin this new chapter and share her love for the arts with the Jets family!
​

Bryan Comer
​Technical Director

Bryan Comer, Technical Director
Bryan obtained his BFA in directing and performance
at the University of Montevallo in 1994 and went “home” to Atlanta to work as a Crew Chief for the Alliance Theatre, where he worked on the original production of Disney's "Aida" . Later Bryan was Tech Director for The Westminster Schools. He moved to Huntsville in 2001 and began working with Theatrical Lighting Systems as a Rental and Sales Project Manager. While there, he was on the design team for the Theatre at James Clemens. He became Director of Technical Theatre at Lee High School in 2015. He is now proud to be a Jet as the Technical Director for James Clemens High School. He has worked with many local community theatres, meeting his wife Sarah through one such production. He has 3 sons, one of which is a senior in JCTheatre.
​Fun Fact: In his youth, 100 years ago, Bryan was the Joker’s Understudy at “The Batman Stunt Show” at Six Flags over Georgia, where, some days, he would get paid to be beaten up by Batman 6 times a day...in 100 degree heat...wearing a mask and wool jacket...with live pyro and fire all around. 

Our directors
​really embraced
​our production of Romeo & Juliet!