PJ Barnes

Dance, Acting, & Musical Theatre Teacher

New York born actor PJ Barnes, like most, started performing early in his life. From putting on shows for his family, he eventually stumbled onto the wonderful world of Theatre in middle school, where he first took the stage. Always driven by his obsessive creativity, PJ is noted for writing most of the material he appears in. A huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and comic books, PJ was determined to stretch the borders of reality in his work, putting his characters in incredible situations. When PJ was in high school, he choreographed his first ever dance number for his spring musical Footloose. Since then, PJ has explored the stage either by acting, or dancing, and has enjoyed doing both in order to express himself in front of a live audience. Leading into his senior year of college, PJ and friend, Keith Welborn, started the company “ScrewUp TV”, which started as a sketch comedy series, and quickly evolved into something much greater. In 2011 PJ produced his first ever feature film, The Screw. PJ more recently wrote, directed, and produced Ogden, a mystery comedy series you can find on Amazing Prime.

At The Academy, PJ has led choreography workshops as well as directed several of our SHINE Musical Theatre productions including High School Musical JR, Legally Blonde, and The Addams Family young@part. We love PJ’s welcoming and enthusiastic directing style!