Meet our Team
Min. Taniel Bennett
Founder & Executive Director
Taniel Bennett is an arts leader, minister, and community advocate dedicated to expanding access to high-quality performing arts education for youth across Central New Jersey. A native of Trenton, New Jersey, she resides in Westampton and brings over 15 years of experience using the arts as a vehicle for empowerment, mentorship, and personal development.
Taniel has led arts ministries and programs for various organizations, including her local church, The Salvation Army, and Youth Turn. Under her leadership, communities have experienced original musicals, one-woman shows, puppetry, and pantomime productions designed to engage, inspire, and uplift. She also serves as a licensed minister at Next Dimension Family Church, further extending her impact through faith-based leadership. She is a former board member of the Ewing Arts Commission.
Her combined expertise in the arts and marketing led her to Open Arts Performing Arts Center in Bordentown, NJ, where she advanced from Marketing Director to Executive Director. In this role, she was instrumental in securing 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and expanding programming to include multiple Broadway Jr. productions and comprehensive acting and vocal workshops for youth.
In 2022, Taniel founded Central Jersey Performing Arts Academy (CJPAA) in Ewing, NJ, with a clear mission: to make arts education accessible and affordable for all. Through CJPAA, she has created a structured environment where students develop not only performance skills in acting and voice, but also critical life skills such as confidence, teamwork, and public speaking.
Reflecting on her journey, Taniel shares:
“I remember being in a school play in the 5th grade. I did so well that the principal, Mr. Hodges, came to my class to tell me how much he loved my performance and that I could be a star one day. Raised by my grandmother alongside my two brothers, I couldn’t afford lessons, and I didn’t know of any arts schools in our community. I often wonder how many other talented young people are out there who, like me, just need someone like Mr. Hodges and a pathway to success.”
Through her work, Taniel continues to build those pathways—ensuring that the next generation of artists has access, opportunity, and a stage on which to grow.
Emmanuel Bonilla-Acosta
Artistic & Music Director
Emmanuel Bonilla-Acosta is a lyric tenor, educator, and arts leader based in New Jersey. He serves as the Artistic Director of Central Jersey Performing Arts Academy and Director of Choristers at Grace Church in Newark, where he leads a Royal School of Church Music–affiliated Choir School dedicated to cultivating young singers through rigorous musical training and a deep engagement with the Anglican choral tradition.
A graduate of Westminster Choir College with a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, Emmanuel has performed a wide-ranging repertoire spanning opera, oratorio, and concert works. His performance credits include appearances with the Princeton Festival, where he has been featured in works by Wagner, Mozart, Gershwin, Britten, Puccini, and Adams. He has also performed with Boheme Opera New Jersey, making his debut as Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor, and appearing as the Messenger in Verdi’s Aïda, a role for which he was praised for his “appealing lyric tenor voice.” Additional roles include Matteo Borsa in Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial.
As an educator and arts administrator, Emmanuel is deeply committed to expanding access to high-quality arts education. Through his leadership at Central Jersey Performing Arts Academy, he has directed numerous youth productions and developed programming that emphasizes both artistic excellence and personal growth. In his work at Grace Church, he is actively rebuilding the Choir School program—reestablishing a consistent rehearsal and performance schedule, implementing the RSCM “Voices for Life” curriculum, and expanding community outreach to engage young singers from underserved communities.
Emmanuel’s teaching philosophy centers on the belief that music is a transformative tool for discipline, creativity, and self-expression. Whether on the stage or in the rehearsal room, he is dedicated to fostering an environment where students are challenged to grow, collaborate meaningfully, and discover their unique artistic voice.
Dara DeVito Gutin
Assistant Director & Dramatic Coach
Dara DeVito Gutin is an honors graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned a double major in Acting and Directing. She is the former Artistic Director of Yellow Kitchen Productions, a non-profit theatre company that staged original works at the Kraine Theatre in New York City’s West Village. Productions of note include “Sunday in the Shower With Seymour” and “Scratch’s Last Lament”.
Dara’s passion for performance began at just three years old, when she started dancing at Glen Roc Dance Shoppe in Ewing, NJ. She went on to train at Princeton Ballet and Pennington Dance, and by age ten, she was cast in her first musical—sparking a lifelong love of singing and acting. Throughout middle and high school, Dara studied opera at Westminster Choir College while performing in numerous school and community productions. Her notable roles include Marian the Librarian in “The Music Man”, Miss Mazeppa in “Gypsy”, Florinda in “Into the Woods”, Meg in “Damn Yankees”, Maggie in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, and May in “Fool for Love.”
Today, Dara’s children, Rocco and Sofia, have reignited her joy for the stage as she watches them discover and grow within the world of theatre. She is honored to serve as Assistant Director and Dramatic Coach for CJPAA and hopes to inspire in her students the same enduring love of theatre and community that has shaped her own life.
