Instructors and Staff

Lisa is the Executive Director and Founder of Theater Steps and TSTSociety providing the stepping stones and platform for students to foster music education and performance. Ms. Casia also currently serves as the Auditions Director of the Music Educators Association of NJ and the NJ State Festival Chair of the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC). Ms. Casia also serves as the Online Video Submissions registrar for both organizations. In addition for NJFMC, Ms. Casia also runs the Junior Composers Competition and co-chairs the Fall Piano and Vocal Competitions. Ms. Casia is also an active liturgical musician and serves as the Music Director at St. Nicholas Church in Jersey City. She is Cantor Colleague Certified by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians and teaches cantors and choir members on her free time. Ms. Casia is a graduate of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts with a concentration in Vocal Performance and Music Education. She is a proud member of the following organizations: National Association for Music Education (NAFME), American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).

Ms. Casia is a public-school certified music teacher for Grades K-12 where her teaching expertise ranges from Kodaly and Orff general music activities to advanced music theory. She has extensive experience in vocal and piano pedagogy where she teaches workshops as well as private one on one classes. Ms. Casia’s experience in teaching spans the youngest musicians to adult performers in vocal and piano technique as well as chorus and hand bell ensembles. Ms. Casia was recognized with the Certificate of Music Excellence award given by Governor McGreevy for her record of excellence as one of the New Jersey’s top 100 music teachers in music education. Today, Theater Steps is recognized as one of the top three music schools by Three Best Rated.

Alongside Ms. Casia’s teaching career, she is an accomplished performer being a member of Actors Equity Association (AEA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). She performed in the New York City premiere of Noli Me Tangere the Opera and continued touring with them at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She has traveled throughout North America and New Zealand performing with various shows ranging from Miss Saigon, CATS, Cinderella, Godspell, South Pacific, Viet Rock, Junie B. Jones, and Disney’s Aladdin. She is no stranger to New York City’s Off-Broadway scene performing the title role in Naughty Marietta and more recently as Peony in Shanghai Lil’s. She has sung classically in concerts at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with Gospel singer, Sandi Patty and Broadway star, Ann Hampton Callaway. On T.V. she played multiple characters on CBS’s Guiding Light, Blue Bloods, and WB’s Gossip Girl.

Currently, Ms. Casia enjoys teaching her private students the techniques of voice and piano and watching their successes grow. Ms. Casia’s students have their own success stories landing them leading roles in Broadway’s Frozen National Tour and Sesame Street. Her students actively audition and compete in local but nationally recognized festivals. They also participate in local community theaters such as Tada! Youth Theater, Kidz Theatre in NYC Manhattan, as well as City Kidz, and Skyline Theater in NJ as well as everyone’s school shows. Ms. Casia promotes vocal health with innovative pedagogy exercises to keep each individual engaged. She not only stresses the importance of a proper foundation but also provides the service of a coach to bring out the total performer in everyone. Her coaching techniques assist even the youngest performer in focusing their energy and delivering the message within each musical selection.