Jim Ackley (Director of Drama) is a graduate of EC Glass and holds a BA in English from Virginia Military Institute. He has also continued his theatre education studies at the University of Virginia, North Carolina School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Ball State University, and James Madison University. Jim was the first secondary school educator to serve as the president of the Virginia Theatre Association as well as to serve on the board of directors of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and he is one of the founders of the American High School Theatre Festival. His students have twice been named national high school theatre champions. Under his direction, the Glass drama department has represented the USA five times at the Edinburgh International Arts Festival Fringe in Scotland, performed four times at the Educational Theatre Association international conference, and been state theatre champions five times. Jim has been a finalist for the “Disney Teacher of the Year” Award and the American Theatre Association’s “Teacher of the Year” award and is the recipient of the Virginia Theatre Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
J.D. Stallings (Technical Theatre Director) is a graduate of Wake Forest University where he was the recipient of the Davis, Caldwell, and Tucker merit scholarships, a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He has also studied theatre and art in England at Wake Forest’s Worrell House and at the prestigious Broadway Classroom in New York City. Before coming to Glass, JD was the Technical Director and Designer at the Parkway Playhouse regional theatre in Burnsville, NC where he also was the Managing Director of their Youth Theatre Institute, teaching stagecraft and acting.
