Red Accordion Studios is a professional regional theatre presenting plays, musicals, and providing theatre arts education opportunities. By starting from the inside (the actors) out (the audience), we will influence generations, inspire creativity, infuse purpose, and ignite passion through live theatre.
Our offerings include live musicals and plays, workshops in the theatre arts, and cabarets and concerts.
Our Mission: To influence generations, inspire creativity, infuse purpose, and ignite passion through live theatre.
Red Accordion Studios was founded in 2017 and officially became an LLC in 2019…but the story goes back a few more years. The red accordion in the photo below was a wedding gift from a groom to his bride on one hot August Sunday, sixteen years ago. The bride, an instrument loving actress, was learning to play the accordion when she met her groom. He, also an actor and lover of music, decided the unique and quirky gift would be perfect for his bride. He was right.
In the photograph below, the daughter of the founders sits on a chair that belonged to the great-great aunt and uncle of her father, while wearing a dress made by her great-grandmother for her grandmother as a toddler, and, of course, she holds the accordion that her father gave to her mother on their wedding day.
Love. Family. Tradition. Creativity. Uniqueness.
All qualities that represent Red Accordion Studios and the reasons behind its inception.
Red Accordion Owner:
Jennifer Lynn Felty
Jennifer, a Lancaster County native, had a love for musical theatre and sports at a very young age. She spent her childhood on the stage, the soccer field, the volleyball court, the basketball court and behind a piano or cello. Despite the pleadings of her coaches and directors, she never gave up on either sports or music. Jennifer excelled at soccer in college where she gained All-American status her senior year.
Jennifer has a Bachelor’s Degree in vocal performance from Houghton College, NY, a second Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Bible from Lancaster Bible College, and a Masters’ of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Penn State. She has performed in numerous musicals as well as opera productions. Her Regional favorites include Smoke on the Mountain (Denise), Sanders Family Christmas (Denise), My Fair Lady (Eliza), Carousel (Carrie), Pirates and Pinafores (Mabel and Yum-yum), and singing while playing the banjo, fiddle, and upright bass at the Grand Ol’ Opry and accompanying tv program Opry Backstage. Jennifer originated the role of Dorothy Norman in the world premiere of Georgia O’Keeffe: A Woman on Paper, a new musical. And a few years ago, shared the stage with her hubby and son for the first time in Riverside Theatre’s production of Les Miserables.
Most recently, Jennifer has been focusing on directing shows and growing Red Accordion. She has directed/music directed the following: Smoke on the Mountain, Pirates of Penzance, Seussical the Musical, Hello, Dolly!, Anne of Green Gables, Fiddler on the Roof, A Year with Frog and Toad, Peter Pan, HONK!, All is Calm, and The Three Little Pigs.
Jennifer, a proud AEA member, has also taught voice as an adjunct professor and maintains a private studio. Her voice students can be seen on television, Broadway, National Tours, college stages, as well as local theatres: Fulton Opera House, Dutch Apple, and Sight and Sound. Her absolute favorite role is that of wife to David and mother to Noah and Bailey.
Red Accordion Guest Instructor:
David Michael Felty
David was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in Hershey, Chocolatetown, USA. He attended Grove City College where he threw javelin, majored in religion, and fostered his newfound love for singing. After college, David moved to Nashville. He tried his hand at country and contemporary Christian music, but soon realized a love for musical theatre.
David’s Broadway and National Tour credits include: Frank Wildhorn’s The Civil War, Schonberg and Boubil’s Les Miserables (Jean Valjean), and American Rhapsody: a Gershwin review. He has appeared on Star Search in two categories and was a guest on Nashville Now on CMT. David has done various recordings and TV appearances. You may have seen David on stage at Sight & Sound Theatre in Lancaster, PA. There he appeared in Ruth (Boaz), In the Beginning (Lucifer/Satan), Daniel (Nebonidus), and Miracle of Christmas (Mary’s father).
In addition to playing Valjean all over the country, Canada, China, and South Korea, David has played Jean Valjean for FUSE Productions in State College, Riverside Center in Virginia, Riverside Theatre in FL, and Actor’s Playhouse in FL. (David was nominated for a Carbonell award for his appearance as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables at the Actor’s Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Florida in 2009.)
David taught in and spear-headed the musical theatre major at Lancaster Bible College for 7 years and grew the program exponentially. He produced and directed many concerts and musicals, including the first Sight & Sound musical to be performed by an outside theatre: RUTH.
David is currently the Director of Performing Arts at Family Life.