On this page, we have brief bios of the performers and crew of "Hotel Tapifornia." This page is still in progress.
(alphabetized by last name)
Jaclyn Anderson (Lieutenant)
Jackie recently rejoined the Tapitalists after a six-year tap hiatus. Though she is just five minutes away from the Tap With Howard studio, she still manages to show up late for class and groan about doing improv exercises. Both Jackie and her fellow tappers are thrilled about the reunion! Jackie's non-tap time is largely devoted to consumer class action lawyering and doting over her rescue pup, Ethan.
Amy Blume (Lighting booth)
Amy saves the world one kilowatt at a time as a Director of Energy Efficiency programs at ICF. She plays bass guitar and run lighting for tap programs as her side hustle when she isn’t rescuing cats.
Karla Blume (Chief)
Karla is a singer, dancer, actor, music composer, guitarist and pianist. When not performing, she masters digital tv and film content for Disney. In the previous show, “TAP-water, she played the villain Secura. She is also a younger sibling of Howard Blume and is a very, very silly girl.
Sam Campbell
Sam is a Los Angeles native and student at Cal State L.A. where she is studying mass communications. A purveyor of the arts since childhood she decided to begin tap in 2021 after exposure to it in her high school theater program. When she's not tapping she enjoys advocating for equitable access to arts education, spending time with her dog, and eating sour candy.
Callan Farris
Callan will be seen in Hulu's horror movie, Grimcutty, and is the lead of the pilot episode of a new anthology series, “Zone,” for Apple TV - both of which will be out this year. In his six years as an actor, Callan Farris has played a wide range of film and television roles, from comedy to drama. Callan recently wrapped two projects that will premier in 2022. His first film role was in “Kings.” Callan can be seen in his second season as series regular Jeremy, a shapeshifting alien, in Disney’s single-camera sci-fi comedy “Gabby Duran & the Unsittables.” He voiced the series regular role of Mitesh "Tesh" Cheena during the two-season run of Disney Junior's Emmy-nominated animated series "The Rocketeer” and sings the song "Fast" on the series soundtrack released on Disney Junior Music. Callan played the recurring role of Kazim in ABC's "Roseanne" and "The Conners." Callan loves to read fiction and history, play piano and drums and saxophone, sing, tap dance, and spend time with his motley trio of dogs.
Isla Farris
Isla played Winta, Grogu's best friend in the village, in "Star Wars: The Mandalorian." She's guest starred in numerous projects including "Alexa & Katie" on Netflix, "Future Man", "Grey's Anatomy" and she has a recurring role in the animated series "Stillwater" on Apple TV.
Noelle Hall (No. 2)
Noelle is originally from Pennsylvania and moved to L.A. two years ago. She started dance as a child and mainly pursued theatre in high school. Now she has rediscovered her joy in tap dancing. She will be directing her own play this June for the Hollywood Fringe Festival. A drama called “A Day With my Mother” centers on the struggles of being out of control of your own truth and memories. Tickets here: hff22.co/7527
Henry Mantel
Henry is a Los Angeles native and an eviction defense attorney. He recently rediscovered his love for tap dancing and is thrilled that Hotel Tapifornia is his first-ever performance.
Kirk Luetkehans (Charlie/Trumpeter)
Kirk is a semi-retired pediatrician with bad knees who credits Howard and The Tapitalists with reigniting a thing he had with tap in his early childhood…and with helping his knees survive to dance another day.
Megan McLaughlin (Amanda, co-dance captain)
Megan, a Los Angeles native, has been a dancer since she was seven years old. Her career involved 12 years as an Irish step dancer, competing on a local, regional and national level. Coming out of dancing retirement, she joined Tap with Howard almost three years ago and has enjoyed the process of honing a new dance craft. She hopes the audience will experience as much joy watching the show as the dancers have experienced preparing for it!
Katharine Miller
Katie started tapping when she was 16 years old because she wasn’t a strong enough singer to be cast in the school musical without some other talent. She was immediately hooked. She was fortunate enough to study under Jennifer Bishop and many other amazing teachers at The Rhythm Room in her hometown of Vancouver, Canada. Her highlight of moving to Los Angeles was finding Tap with Howard and a wonderful new tap community to call home.
John “Rusty” Proctor (Maitre D)
Rusty is originally from Washington, D.C. where he began his love of theatre and dance doing his first play in 2nd grade. He moved to California in 1984 to continue his pursuit of a career in the entertainment industry. Among other accomplishments, he has toured nationally as a dancer, had a lead role in an off-Broadway play (Caught in the Middle…) and worked for several years touring with Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre department in S. Cal before hanging up his dance shoes and going into the corporate world. After a more than 20-year hiatus, he is happy to have the opportunity to perform again with Howard Blume and the Tapitalists! Actors Access link JOHN RUSSELL PROCTOR - Resume | Actors Access IMDB link https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm3416742?s=ecc02043-af95-f748-a0da-9c7e45d319a4&site_preference=normal
Aileen Rabina
Aileen returned to tap classes after a 30 year absence and loves every minute of it. When not tapping, she teaches English and Computer Science at a local middle school and practices her shuffles and flaps when students aren't looking.
Megan Ritchie
Megan hails from Minnesota and works in Hollywood. She'd like to thank her family and friends for coming to see her perform from far and wide, and Howard -- who during her first tap lesson had to remind her she does indeed know how to walk -- for teaching her absolutely everything she knows about tap dancing.
Aricia Skidmore-Williams
After watching a 10-second tap routine in a production of A Christmas Carol last year, Aricia promptly pulled up her phone and googled tap classes in LA. Howard’s studio came up and that weekend, she attended her first class and hasn’t looked back since. When she’s not tapping (or telling everyone about her tapping), she can be heard as host of the weekly show Even the Rich and the daily show Rich and Daily, both from Wondery. She’s very excited for her tap debut and is looking forward to finally nailing those cramp rolls!
Rachel Theios (Amanda, co-dance captain)
Rachel is originally from Napa, California, and has been dancing (mainly ballet) since she was three years old. She holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Caltech, and, while there, taught beginner and intermediate level ballet classes to Caltech students and community members. Rachel rediscovered tap in 2019, just in time to perform in the Tapitalists’ previous production, Tap-Water, and is excited to be able to perform again in Hotel Tapifornia.
Kimiko Warner-Turner
Kimiko has been involved in the arts since childhood, introduced to tap and other forms of dance and theatre arts as a 4-year-old. She currently brings the Liberation Arts, Aesthetics of the Oppressed, and movement art techniques to secondary schools, colleges, and community organizations both locally and nationally. Kimiko is a Master Teaching Artist and Symposium Instructor for the Music Center Education Department, Co-Director for Shakespeare & Social Justice at Shakespeare Center of L.A., in conjunction with the SPLC and Shakespeare organizations across the country. She teaches acting in the arts as faculty at the LACHSA and at CASA010 in Boyle Heights. She received an M.F.A. at USC in Applied Theatre Arts. Additionally, she trained with Theatre of the Oppressed founder, Augusto Boal at CTO-Rio in Brazil, Sanjoy Ganguly at Jana Sanskriti - Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed! in Badu, India. Kimiko has been the Creative Director for Changing Ways – a program for ex-incarcerated men released from prison and was the Theatre Arts/Client Manager in Pasadena Unified School District for Friends Outside in Los Angeles. Kimiko shares that none of this would be possible if it weren’t for the amazing support of her husband and daughters whom she loves very much. And anyone can dance! https://kimikob1.wixsite.com/kimiko-warner-turner