Drama Director/TC Advisor/
VAPA Department Chair

Ms. P is the Drama Director and Department Chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department here at Keppel, where she has been teaching for 21 years. She teaches Beginning Drama, Advanced Drama, Honors Theatre (a weighted course), and team teaches Tech Theatre with Mr. Gillette. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she also directs all of our shows.
Theatre has always been her passion and she feels very privileged to be able to share that passion with her students. She respects and admires her students for their willingness to take chances and their advocacy to make the world better than they found it by believing that all the world IS their stage.

Technical Director

Mr. Gillette teaches Tech Theatre and is the technical director for all our productions. He is also the Stage Director for all of the outside User Groups that want to use our space.
Mr. Gillette had a quality Tech Theatre training program in high school and decided to minor in theatre in college. He continued working in Tech Theatre while pursuing his History degree at Pomona College of The Claremont colleges. He also received his masters degree in education at Pomona and earned his teaching credential there in 2005. He is committed to the training of our students with the same expertise and rigor in which he was trained. In addition to teaching Tech Theatre and being our Technical Director, Mr. Gillette is also the Department Chair of the Social Sciences Department here at Keppel.

Musical Directors

Marcelo Martinez

Justin Lee

Musical Director

Mr. Lee has been the Director of Instrumental Music at Mark Keppel High School since 2016. He graduated from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education.

Vocal Director

Originally from Baldwin Park, CA, Marcelo Martínez Marroquín is currently the director of Choirs at MKHS. He has taught in full time in the public school setting for 15 years. In addition to teaching, he previously served as music director at Shepherd of the Life Lutheran Church in Whittier, CA. He is a former member of the Long Beach Camerata Singers and has performed with the Pacific Symphony, Pacific Chorale, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Marcelo has served as Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir Vice-President for the Southern California Vocal Association (SCVA). He is also an active member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a music fraternity. His earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music with a vocal emphasis in Southeastern Idaho. His course work for his teaching credential and Master of Music in Choral Conducting were earned at California State University, Fullerton. In addition to music, Mr. Martínez loves to cook, garden, crochet & knit, and walk his two dogs Cooper and Paco.

Choreographer

Mrs. Testa is an elementary Drama teacher at Baldwin and Ramona schools. She became the dance instructor at MKHS in 2023 during The Addams Family! Getting to work with students of all ages has been such a joy for her. After taking dance classes while in school and graduating from NYU with a degree in Drama, Mrs. Testa pursued acting for a few years before becoming a teacher. When she's not at school, you can find Mrs. Testa at the movie theatre or on her couch watching movies with her dog.
"Integrate what you believe in every single area of your life. Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too."
- Meryl Streep

Meet Our Staff

Theatre Directors

Page Phillips

Tim Gillette

Drama Director/TC Advisor/ VAPA Department Chair