Artistic Directors & Administration

Mindy Robbins, Owner & Artistic Director Musical Theatre
Mindy started performing when she was 4, taking private voice lessons at 6, worked professionally at the age of 16, and started teaching voice at 19. Mindy most recently played the role of Miss Honey the 2018 production of Matilda at Tuacahn. She has also played Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins at Tuachan in 2013, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady in 2007, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun in 2002, and Liesl in The Sound of Music in 2001. Previously, Mindy toured with the Broadway Company of Les Miserables, covering the role of Eponine played by Sutton Foster and starring Colm Wilkinson. Other credits include Walt Disney World’s Hoop Dee Doo and Kids of the Kingdom, Tokyo Disney’s Peco’s Goofy, BYU’s Young Ambassadors and Lagoon’s Music USA. She has been a guest performer for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic World Senior Games. Mindy has recorded for Disney, with Mandy Moore, karaoke itunes songs and on numerous radio commercials. She has performed with Colm Wilkinson, Jason Alexander, Sutton Foster and Sam Harris. She has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Lex DeAzevedo’s work, Gloria, The Life of Christ as Mary. Mindy guest-starred on the national television series, Touched by an Angel, and has been seen on national television commercials. She graduated with a BFA in Music Dance Theatre from BYU where she has taught voice in the school of music. She loves sharing her passion for performing with her students. Mindy is an owner of COPA which currently has three locations in Utah and over 750 students. She is a member of the Actor’s Equity Association.

Suzie Balser, Owner & Dance Artistic Director
Suzie graduated from BYU with a BFA in Music Dance and Theatre where she performed as a Young Ambassador and won the Theatre Department’s award for Best Supporting Actress and an Irene Ryan Nomination for Ilona Ritter in She Loves Me. Acting credits include Aheh in Sunfish at the New York ASCAP foundation musical theatre workshop with Stephen Schwartz, Stephanie in the New York production of Katie Thompson and Patrick Livingston’s R.R.R.E.D., Sophie in the Las Vegas production of Mamma Mia!, Nellie Forbush in Tuacahn’s South Pacific, Molly in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Winnie Tate in Annie Get Your Gun, Laurie in Oklahoma!, Maude in Funny Girl, Lorena Bobbit in Odyssey’s Thriller, and Demeter in CATS. In addition to the stage, Suzie can be seen in local and national commercials. In conjunction with performing Suzie has taught music, dance, and theatre around the country. While at BYU, Suzie was a student teacher in the dance department. She has also instructed at institutions such as BYU Childrens’ Creative Dance, Encore Academy, Musical Theater in Las Vegas as well as the West Orange, New Jersey Metrowest JCC Theater Arts Program. Most recently, Suzie has taught as adjunct faculty at Western Wyoming Community College Department of Theatre and Dance where she directed Flowers for Algernon and choreographed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Desert Dance Company. Last summer, Suzie was the Assistant Director of Tuacahn’s production of Grease and was on the creative team for the Nauvoo Historical Pageant in Nauvoo, IL. Suzie is also a member of the Actors Equity Association.

Nathan Balser, Artistic Director & Consultant
Nathan is a graduate of BYU with a BS in Therapeutic Recreation and The University of Utah with a Masters of Fine Arts. He has performed on Broadway in the original cast of Promises, Promises with Kristen Chenoweth, 9 to 5: The Musical with Allyson Janney, Damn Yankees with Cheyenne Jackson, and Legally Blonde. You may have seen Nathan on CBS in the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, 2010, and 2011 honoring Mel Brooks, Jerry Herman, Meryl Streep, and Barbara Cook or on the Tony Awards in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 with Mamma Mia!, Promises, Promises, and Neil Patrick Harris, respectively. He also performed in the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade with the cast of Legally Blonde in 2009 and is on the MTV recording of the same show. He was also in the world premiere of Minsky’s in the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and in Mamma Mia! in Las Vegas. Nathan played the role of Craig in R.R.R.E.D. at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2010 and participated in several workshops and readings in NYC including Promises, Promises with Anne Hathaway, Brigadoon directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford, Ever After with Dough Hughes, and Leap of Faith starring Sutton Foster and Raul Esparza. Nathan also toured internationally with Bianca Marroquin in Solo Pido, and nationally with Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan. Nathan is a member of Actor’s Equity Association and SAG/AFTRA.

Conor Robbins, Owner & Chief Executive Officer
Conor was one of the first visionaries that recognized the passion and talent that wife, Mindy Robbins, showed for developing confidence and talent in youth through the performing arts. With this awareness Conor focused his efforts in helping his wife grow what used to be private lessons around the piano in the home into an organization that now spans musical theatre, contemporary music, dance, acting and songwriting; serving students throughout Utah and Salt Lake Counties. Conor graduated from BYU with a Construction Management degree. He went on to receive a Masters in Real Estate Development from the University of Denver’s School of Business. His background has served him well in guiding the development and expansion of Utah COPA. Conor is the C.F.O. and C.E.O. for Utah COPA. He also manages a private real estate fund. Conor has an appreciation for the arts having grown up performing in California with Performing Groups for Youth. Conor worked in Tokyo, Japan as a model and actor.

Cherie Call, Artistic Director Pop Music
Cherie Call has been writing songs since her early teens. She has released nine full length albums of her own songs. Cherie is a two time finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Newfolk Songwriting Competition. She’s played “in the round” at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Her songs have been featured in independent films, including the Banff Award winning “True Fans”. Cherie’s most recent album is a children’s album called, “The Buddy System”, a collaboration with singer-songwriter Lyndy Butler. From this album, their song, “The Astronaut and The Mermaid” recently won the grand prize in the children’s category of The John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Cherie is a member of the Utah supergroup, The Lower Lights. She teaches songwriting at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah and is the artistic director of the Pop Music Company at Utah Conservatory of Performing Arts. Cherie is married and has four children.

Sherri Holcombe, Artistic Director for CYT
Sherri Holcombe loves the amazing opportunity to work with friends and students at COPA. By day, she’s a Special Education teacher to awesome junior high students and then haunts theaters by night. Her responsibilities with COPA include production stage manager of the Draper and American Fork COPA showcases, and the Artistic manager of COPA’s CYT ( COPA Youth Theatre) program. With too many theater adventures to individually name as stage manager, a few of the most memorable are: Annie Get Your Gun and Twelve Angry Men with her husband, Rob. Sherri also loved spending part of a summer in SanFrancisco, stage managing at the Cutting Ball Theater with Chase Ramsey who was directing there and who is also a former COPA instructor and director.