Guest Artists
Meet the guest artists who are teaching, training and growing with us this year!
Shannon Davis, Directing, Acting I, Acting on Camera, and Producer of the Spring '24 senior projects/one-act festival, Director of "The Excavation of Mary Anning" Fall '24
Shannon R. Davis (she/they) is a Bay Area director, storyteller, educator, & community connector originally from Wisconsin. She is Indigenous, Mixed, Queer, a woman, & neurodivergent. She has most recently been: in the Cal Shakes Artist Circle, the Director of Community Connections at American Conservatory Theater, a Guest Artist/Lecturer at UC-Berkeley, and a co-founder of Bay Area Native Theatre Artists (BANTA) as well as the Bay Area Theater Accountability Workgroup. She holds a BA from UW-Whitewater in Theatre and Vocal Performance, and an MFA in Directing & Acting from UW-Madison, specializing in directing intercultural theatre for social awareness. With a foundation in Theatre of the Oppressed, Shannon uses the transformational tools of theatre to endeavor to restructure harmful processes, raise consciousness, and heal community. She is a classics buff who turns traditional storytelling reverentially on its head with devised satire and puppetry. Shannon champions storytelling not normally included in traditional white patriarchal theatre narratives. Shannon strives to create true community through practicing active Decolonization and Anti-Racism in processes she leads. She’s worked with: New Native Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, A.C.T., Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Aurora Theatre Company, Native Writers Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, American Indian Community House, Cal Shakes, Anchorage Opera, Theatre of Yugen, Berkeley Rep, MoxieArts NY, StageWrite, Brava Theater, Theatre Battery, Ohio University- Tantrum Theatre, Ashland New Play Festival, Freestyle Love Supreme, Forward Theatre, UC-Berkeley, Shotgun Players, TheaterWorks, Marin Shakespeare, Renaissance Theaterworks, Playwrights Foundation, & others. www.shannonrdavis.com
Larissa Kelloway, Ph.D., Acting Lab: The Speaking Voice
Dr. Kelloway works as a performing artist, teacher and performing arts researcher with a specific interest on safe, effective and optimized vocal production for Musical Theater performers. Her Ph.D. research is titled “Investigating the Role of Pilates in the Posture and Vocal Production of Singers.” She is passionate about evidence-based research and pedagogical approaches within the performing arts, and believes that high quality research that informs and supports pedagogical practices enhances the student experience, and equips them with the essential skills and more that they will require for a career in the performing arts industry.
Jiwon Chung, Interactive Theatre
Jiwon Chung is a professional actor, director, educator and a key theorist of Theatre of the Oppressed. Grounded in the work of Augusto Boal. with whom he studied extensively, Chung's focus is on theatre as a tool for social and political change. Through Boal's Interactive Theatre, Chung empowers others to challenge, resist, and transform systemic oppression, structural violence and injustice. He is the Artistic Director of Kairos Theater Ensemble and past President of the national organization for Theater of the Oppressed. Chung is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Art and Social Justice at Starr King School/GTU and a Teaching Artist at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre School, though his work as an educator often takes him around the country and across the globe.
Anne Potter, Selecting a Season, Fall '23; Theatre History, Spring '24
Annie holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance from Columbia University. She studies the depiction of history on stage, which she examined in her dissertation, The Musical as History Play: Form, Gender, Race, and Historical Representation. She has taught at Columbia University, Barnard College, New York University, and Ramapo College of New Jersey. Annie has had work published in Studies in Musical Theatre, The European Journal of American Studies, and American Theatre and has presented her research at the American Society for Theatre Research and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education as well as other conferences. She has adapted scripts and librettos for 42nd Street Moon in San Francisco and B8 Theatre in Concord, where she is also a company member. She has an MA from San Francisco State University in Drama, an MPhil from Cambridge in Modern European History and a BA in Drama and History from UC Irvine.
James Ard, Tech Lab: Audio
James Ard is a sound designer, composer and noisemaker with a focus on new works, live experiences, and immersive stage productions. Collaborations with Crowded Fire include You For Me For You, Church, On The Periphery, and Edit Annie. Additionally, Ard’s design has been heard in collaborations with The Public Theater, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Summerhall at the Edinburgh Fringe, Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Aurora Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Cutting Ball Theatre, Shotgun Players, Center Repertory Company, San Francisco Playhouse, Joe Goode Performance Group, American Conservatory Theater, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and the Atlantic Theatre Company.
M. Graham Smith, Director Fall '23 Theatre Production: "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
M. Graham Smith is a San Francisco-based Director, Educator and Producer. He is an O’Neill/NNPN National Directing Fellow, an Oregon Shakespeare Festival FAIR Fellow and a proud Resident Artist at SF’s Crowded Fire. He grew up outside of New York City and has been based in San Francisco since 2004. He spent five years as Producer of Aurora Theater’s new play development program and festival The Global Age Project. He’s directed in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Portland Oregon, Washington DC, and in the San Francisco bay area. He directed the West Coast Premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera and won Bay Area Critics Circle Best Director for Truffaldino Says No at Shotgun Players. Recent productions include the World Premiere of Obie winner Christopher Chen’s Home Invasion, Kevin Rolston’s Deal with the Dragon at ACT & Edinburgh Fringe, Mia Chung’s You for Me for You at Crowded Fire, James Ijames’ White at Shotgun, and Kait Kerrigan's Father/Daughter at Aurora. During pandemic he directed his first full length film, a hip-hop musical adaptation of As You Like It with music and lyrics by Ryan Nicole Austin produced by ACT as well as “hold me the forgotten way’ audio cycle produced by Tigerbear. His latest project is a new musical The Mortification of Fovea Munson at The Kennedy Center.
RECENT GUEST ARTISTS
Amissa Miller, Play Analysis: Modern Drama, Interactive Theatre
Amissa Miller's educational background includes a BA in
Drama and Spanish from Spelman College, an MFA in Dramaturgy and Script Development from Columbia University, and graduate coursework in Educational Theatre at New York University. Professor Miller brings to Saint Mary's extensive experience in dramaturgy, playwriting, and directing. As a facilitator of arts-based programming in youth and community settings, her focus has been on
applied theatre, storytelling, and social justice education. Most recently, at UT Austin -where Professor Miller was an Interactive Theatre Specialist in the Voices against
Violence program - she worked with students to create theatre performances which sparked dialogue about consent, interpersonal violence
prevention, and healthy relationships. Says Miller, "As an artist and educator, I am
dedicated to creating work that strengthens communities through inclusion and access."
Domenique Lozano, Director and Translator of Fall '22 Theatre Production of Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Ms. Lozano is a Bay Area based Director, Actress and Educator. She was a Resident Artist with the American Conservatory Theater, (ACT), for 15 years, where she served as a core faculty member and director in the MFA Program, a director and teacher in the Young Conservatory and Studio ACT Programs, and as the resident director of the main stage production of A Christmas Carol. Other directing work at ACT includes MFA Productions of Fuente Ovejuna, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Sueno, The Skin of Our Teeth, Happy to Stand, Saved, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, as well as productions of Twelfth Night, Othello, and The Comedy of Errors for the Will on Wheels tour; and thirteen graduate showcases. Her work with the Young Conservatory includes the world premieres of Staying Wild book by Janet Allard, music and lyrics by Creighton Irons; Home Front book by Craig Slaight, music and lyrics by Creighton Irons; Tim Mason’s The Life to Come; Sarah Daniel’s Dust and Constance Congdon’s Nightingales; West Coast premieres of Jeffrey
Hatcher’s Korczak’s Children; Wendy MacLeod’s School Girl Figure; and Darling, book by Brett Rybeck, music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver. Ms. Lozano serves on the Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies faculty at UC Berkeley, where she teaches Acting, Acting Styles, and The Power of Language. Directing credits include Tartuffe, Curly Fries -- a 6-episode webisode series, and the 2022 production of Men on Boats.
Translation work includes Schiller’s Don Carlos, which premiered in the 2018 New Strands Festival at ACT, and Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, which premiered at the American Conservatory Theater in 2010. Ms. Lozano was an Associate Artist with the California Shakespeare Theater and has performed leading roles in over 20 productions, as well as serving as Master Vocal Coach on numerous productions.
Additional Bay Area directing credits include The Importance of Being Earnest and The Comedy of Errors (2022) with Livermore Shakespeare Festival; A One Man Show, part of the History Keeps Me Awake series, The Drawer Boy, Welcome Home Jenny Sutter and the critically acclaimed Orlando, with TheatreFirst; Shakespeare in Love at Las Positas Theatre, The Countess with Center REPertory Theatre; Two for the Seesaw with Marin Theatre Company; and Inspecting Carol and the West Coast premiere of Jane Martin’s Anton in Show Business with San Jose Stage Company. Additional acting credits include work with the American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Center REPertory Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, San Jose Stage Company, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Ms. Lozano has taught throughout the Bay Area at such institutions as UC Davis, Saint Mary’s College, Berkeley Repertory School of Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Las Positas and Solano Colleges.
Kimiya Shokri, Acting for Every Body (Perfa 60)
Kimiya Shokri (she/her) is a Bay Area born and raised Iranian American educator and theatre maker, committed to creating equitable theatre and uplifting the narratives of her students. She is a returning guest artist at Saint Mary's College of California, and she is a teaching artist with American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, and StageWrite, as well as the Development Associate at California Shakespeare Theater. Since graduating from Saint Mary's College of California, she has worked with companies across the Bay Area as an educator, actor, director, writer, and dramaturg.
Daniel Larlham, Director and Playwright of original script for Jan Term '23--Earthchild and the Waking Up: An Eco-Drama for Young Audiences
Daniel Larlham is a performance-maker and scholar with a Ph.D. from Columbia University and an M.F.A. from New York University’s graduate acting program. He taught for five years at Yale University's Theater Studies Program. At Saint Mary's (2014-17, 2021), Daniel taught acting, comedy, voice, and Collegiate Seminar, and directed Dance Nation, The School for Lies, Lysistrata, Twelfth Night, The Good Person of Setzuan, Everybody, and the JanTerm '23 Eco-Drama: Earthchild & The Waking Up.
Sarah Hosner, Stage Management, Production Stage Manager for Spring '23 Senior Project Mainstage Production
Theatrical Stage Manager, Production Coordinator and Educator with a demonstrated history of working in the performing arts industry. Highly skilled in Production Management, Music and Theater History, and Technical Theater. A strong professional with a M.F.A in Drama and Arts Management from the University of California, Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts, a B.A in Theater from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television coupled with more than 30 years of production experience. Sarah taught stage management and was the stage manager for the One Act Plays in Spring '22.
Mike DiSalvo, Senior Capstone Project Spring 23
Mike DiSalvo has been a professional actor for over twenty years. His resume spans Broadway National Tours, Off-Broadway, Regional Theatre, Soap Opera, Episodic Television, and major Motion Pictures. As a playwright, his work has been a semifinalist at the Eugene O’Neill Playwright’s Conference, was a Second Rounder at the Austin Film Festival, has been
recognized by ScreenCraft’s Stage Play Competition, and New York’s Naked Angels. His short film, The Bridge, was the winner of the Sunday Shorts Film Festival in August, 2020, and his screenplay adaptation of James Hawes’s A White Merc with Fins was a semifinalist in the Big
Apple Film Festival’s screenplay competition. His play, Trophy Room, was given a two-week
workshop and staged reading by the Redhouse Theatre in Syracuse, NY. Locally, he has written pieces for Broadway Sacramento’s Camp Music Circus, and Saint Mary’s College senior One-
Act Festival.
Victor Malana Maog, Visiting Professor 2020-22, Director gather 'round, Keepin' It Real; Portfolio Prep, Auditions
Victor Malana Maog was born in the Philippines, raised in the Bay Area, and is a graduate of New York University Gallatin School, with a concentration in Global Leadership and Performance Studies. A highly respected theatre director, educator, and arts leader with more than twenty-five years of experience directing projects, programs, and companies, Victor locates his work at the intersection of world-class art-making, popular culture, and forward thinking community engagement.
Victor’s love for theatre began while watching religious festivals as child in the Philippines. He says, “My grandmother would take me to epic religious festivals - masks, processions, weeping, … it was like a dream to go from the city to this mythical place in the midst of Holy Week. I was fixated and my love of pageantry was born.”
Oskar Eustis (Public Theatre) describes Maog as “one of the leading lights of his generation – smart, talented, capable, and an artist with deep principles and integrity.” Maog is equally at home directing classic plays like The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and Cyrano and musicals like Spring Awakening, Ragtime, and South Pacific. New work creation has taken him from major theatres in New York and Los Angeles to non-traditional projects in Chicago’s South side and Cambodia. From 2016-18 he served as Show Director for Disney Parks Live Entertainment, creating and directing stage shows and large scale events and spectacles for millions of people.
Dr. Philippa Kelly, (Perfa 30-01) Foundations I, Spring '22
Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her) is Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, Resident Dramaturg for Remote Theater, and Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters. Philippa moved to the Bay from Australia in 2002. She has been awarded fellowships from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Awards, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books, 48 internationally peer-reviewed articles, and 52 playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Her Run the Canon series at Cal Shakes presents original 12-minute video talks on Shakespeare’s canon https://calshakes.org/cal-shakes-online/run-the-canon/. She is currently in the third week of Shakespeare In-Depth With Philippa Kelly, a lecture series on the Cal Shakes platform that can be joined in on at any time. (https://calshakes.org/learn/shakespeare-in-depth-with-philippa-kelly) Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory, Visiting Professor of Theatre at San Jose State University, and Visiting Professor of Theatre at Sanit Mary’s College of California.
Karen Ann Daniels, Composer/Writer Spring '21 Musical Theatre Experience: gather 'round
Karen Ann Daniels is the Director of Mobile Unit at The Public Theater in NYC. A native San Diegan, she is an accomplished actor, director, vocalist, and musician. In her prior role as the Associate Director of The Old Globe’s Arts Engagement, she program managed community partnerships and piloting and implementing key programs: Globe for All (the biannual tour of free plays across San Diego,) coLAB (devising original performances with community,) Community Voices (playwriting for new writers) and Reflecting Shakespeare (teaching Shakespeare in corrections facilities) across communities. She joined the Globe in 2013 after working in the technology sector and as a teaching artist and director with Studio East’s ArtsReach! program in Seattle. Karen Ann created marketing and event programs including large-scale trade shows, networking, and national recruiting events for Xbox, Halo, Windows Phone, Hardware, Server and other Microsoft Entertainment clients as well as for private entities, non-profits, and advertising clients. In 2019, her new musical, The Ruby in Us premiered as part of The Old Globe’s coLAB project, which was co-created with the Fourth District Seniors Resource Center in San Diego. Ms. Daniels served as a chair for the City of Chula Vista’s Cultural Arts Commission, held a seat on the Leadership Committee and was co-chair of Learning for the New California Arts Fund representing the future of community engagement for a cross-section of California arts organizations, via the James Irvine Foundation. She holds a B.A. in Art History from UCLA, an M.F.A in Musical Theatre from San Diego State, and a certificate in Shakespeare from the British American Drama Academy.
Antonio Brown, Choreographer gather 'round, Spring '21
Antonio Brown is the artistic force behind AntonioBrownDance, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, where he began his dance training at the Cleveland School of the Arts and received his BFA from The Juilliard School. While there, he had the opportunity to perform works by Jose Limon, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Eliot Feld, Aszure Barton, Jessica Lang, SusanMarshall, Larry Keigwin, among others. Mr. Brown has also worked with many companies and artists throughout New York City including Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Malcolm Low/Formal Structure and Sidra Bell Dance New York, among others. After performing with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company for 11 years, Antonio continues to grace the stage with The DASH Ensemble and his own company AntonioBrownDance. Mr. Brown has choreographed works for Verb Ballets, The Juilliard Dance Ensemble, MOVE(NYC), August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble, Jacksonville University, Cleveland State University, Hunter College, Cleveland School of the Arts, Stivers School for the Arts, Perry Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp, Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange LVDE, Theatre Askew, The Arden Theater Company’s production of The Bluest Eye and most recently for Drama League DirectorFest, Earl Mosley’s Dancing Beyond and is currently the movement director for The Public Theater’s Shakespeare Initiative and Associate Choreographer for upcoming Broadway musical Black No More. Antonio teaches regularly in New York City and at various schools and intensives across the country. He is always so grateful to be sharing his gifts and talents around the world.
Kari Barclay, Foundations II
Kari Barclay (they/them or he/him) is a theater maker, educator, and researcher based at Stanford University's PhD in Theater and Performance Studies. Originally from Washington, DC and Durham, NC, he loves advancing democracy and telling human stories of sexuality.
He has made work regionally and in New York at venues including the San Francisco Mime Troupe Studio, Round House Theatre, and Manbites Dog. Past directing credits include Can I Hold You? (the first full-length piece about asexuality performed in the U.S., which enjoyed a sold-out run in San Francisco and workshop in New York), The Bull City Dignity Project (a documentary theater production with Durham, NC teenagers about civil rights history, gentrification, and LGBT+ politics), and Peter Brook's The Man Who (a play about disability, neurological disorders, and the role of medicine), among others. Kari holds a BA in theater studies and political science from Duke University, where he was an Angier B. Duke Merit Scholar and recipient of the Samuel DuBois Cook Award for social justice and racial equity work. Kari is a Carl Weber Memorial Fellow, Humanity in Action Fellow, and recipient of the Sudler Award in the Arts.
When he’s not directing or teaching, Kari researches and publishes on the intersections of theater, sexuality, and politics. His most recent project, “Directing Desire,” examines histories of theater directing in the U.S. in light of the #MeToo movement and suggests avenues for theaters to normalize consent in the rehearsal room, inspired by the emerging field of intimacy direction. He has trained with leaders in the field including Tonia Sina, Claire Warden, and Chelsea Pace and has developed original techniques for directors and performers to analyze the role of eroticism in play scripts.
Lauren English, Directing: An Introduction
Actress Lauren English earned her M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts, where she trained with Mark Wing-Davey and Zelda Fichandler. While in New York, she worked at The Public Theatre, The New York Times Theatre (Off Broadway), Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark Theatre, Playwrights Realm, and others. Her Bay Area acting credits include roles at Berkeley Rep, Aurora Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theatre, and the Magic Theatre, in addition to over 25 productions at SF Playhouse. She is a two-time Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle award winner and a three-time Dean Goodman Award recipient. Since returning to the Bay Area, Lauren has broadened her focus to include teaching and artistic leadership. She is a founding member of The San Francisco Playhouse and currently serves as both Artistic Associate and Resident Casting Director there. In addition to private coaching, she is a teaching artist on the faculties of American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Rep School, San Francisco State University, and San Jose State, among others.
Susannah Martin
Award-winning theatre maker Susannah Martin has worked as a director and teaching artists with companies across the Bay Area, among them Shotgun Players (where she is a company member), California Shakespeare Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, and Marin Theatre Company. For five years, she was Joint Artistic Director of Paducah Mining Co., an acclaimed San Francisco-based ensemble that produced devised original pieces on domestic terrorism, spousal abuse, and poverty in America. Susannah received her BFA in Theatre from NYU, and her MFA in Directing from UC Davis.
Scott Wallin, Acting I
Scott Wallin has a Ph.D. in Performance Studies and a M.S.W. from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as an M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University. His research merges contemporary theater and disability studies and builds upon a background in directing for the stage and psychiatric social work. He has also worked internationally in community development and conducted research in social practice and Caribbean performance. Scott's teaching and research interests include critical reading, writing and research, performance theory, postdramatic theater, disability studies, mad studies, 20th and 21st century avant-garde, social practice, affect studies, theories of directing and acting for the stage, and critical race and performance.
Jon Tracy, Cabaret Guest Director, Spring 2019
Jon Tracy works internationally as a director, playwright, designer, educator and facilitator. He is the Artistic Facilitator for TheatreFirst, an innovative small professional company based in Berkeley, and Co-Artistic Director of Groundswell: The International Theatre Intensive.
Jon's artistic work has been widely recognized: with a Kennedy Center Meritorious Achievement Award, fifteen North Bay Arty Awards, a Sacramento Elly Award, two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, a Theatre Bay Area Award, and Solano College's Theatre Alumni Award, among others. He has received grants from Theatre Bay Area, Shotgun Players’ Bridging the Gap and the National Endowment for the Arts. Jon is a proud member of SDC, the union of professional stage directors and choreographers.
Dave Maier, Fight Director
Dave Maier is the president of Dueling Arts International where he is recognized as a Senior Instructor and Senior Fight Director. In addition to St. Mary’s, Mr. Maier has taught at Stanford University, UC Santa Cruz, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Studio ACT and Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. He is the resident fight director at Cal Shakes, SF Opera and Shotgun Players where he is a proud company member. Mr. Maier has over 200 professional fight direction credits and has won several awards for his work including the 2017 Theatre Bay Area award for Outstanding Fight Direction.
Will Huddleston, Miss Nelson is Missing, Jan Term 2019
Following the success of The Adventures of Pinocchio (2016) and Goodnight Moon (2017) Will Huddleston returns to Saint Mary’s to direct his third Jan Term Children’s Show, Puss n' Boots. For many years the Resident Director of the California Theatre Center, Will wrote, directed and performed in more than 100 productions there. He has also been Artistic Director of the VITA Shakespeare Festival and Resident Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As a professional actor, Will has performed with the American Conservatory Theatre, the Intiman Theatre(Seattle), and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among many others. His plays for young audiences have been performed at the California Theatre Center as well as the Seattle Children’s Theatre, South Coast Rep, Honolulu Theatre for Youth and the Commonweal Theatre in Minnesota.
Julie Douglas, Character Creation Lab
Julie Douglas is an actor, theater-maker, teaching artist and clown. She has trained and performed internationally in Italy, Russia, and Bali, as well as with Bay Area companies such as Impact Theatre, SF Shakespeare, Shotgun Players, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Julie also gets silly on a regular basis as a hospital clown with The Medical Clown Project. A regular faculty member of ACT’s MFA and Studio programs, Julie teaches students of all ages for a range of theatre companies, schools, and community groups, from San Francisco Shakespeare and Cal Performances to Stanford Live and Contra Costa Civic Theatre. She holds an M.F.A. in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre from Dell'Arte International School, and she is a certified instructor of the Michael Chekhov Technique.
Lauren English, Performance Lab - Professional Issues
Actress Lauren English earned her MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts, where she trained with Mark Wing-Davey and Zelda Fichandler. While in New York, she worked at The Public Theatre, The New York Times Theatre (Off Broadway), Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark Theatre, Playwrights Realm, and others. Her Bay Area acting credits include roles at Berkeley Rep, Aurora Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theatre, and the Magic Theatre, in addition to over 25 productions at SF Playhouse. She is a two-time Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle award winner and a three-time Dean Goodman Award recipient.
Since returning to the Bay Area, Lauren has broadened her focus to include teaching and artistic leadership. She is a founding member of The San Francisco Playhouse and currently serves as both Artistic Associate and Resident Casting Director there. In addition to private coaching, she is a teaching artist on the faculties of American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Rep School, San Francisco State University, and San Jose State, among others.
Lisa Marie Rollins, Distinguished Artist in Residence, Spring 2018
Lisa Marie Rollins is a playwright, poet, freelance director and dramaturg. Her acclaimed solo play, Ungrateful Daughter: One Black Girl’s Story of Being Adopted by a White Family…That Aren’t Celebrities, has been performed in festivals, universities and academic conferences across the US. Most recently she co-directed Young Jean Lee’s, The Shipment (Crowded Fire Theater), and a reading of Tearrance Chisholm’s Br’er Cotton (Playwrights Foundation).
As a poet, Lisa Marie's writing has been published in Other Tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out, River, Blood, Corn Literary Journal, Line/Break, As/Us Literary Journal, The Pacific Review and others. She was Poet in Residence at June Jordan’s Poetry for the People at U.C. Berkeley, and a CALLALOO Journal London Writing Workshop Fellow. Her new collection of poems, Compass, received the 2016 Mary Tanenbaum Literary Award from SF Foundation. Lisa Marie is a Lecturer in San Francisco State's Department of Race and Resistance Studies, and a Resident Artist with Crowded Fire Theater. She holds degrees from The Claremont Graduate University and UC Berkeley.
Matt Stines, Sound Design
Matt Stines is a San Francisco-based soundman whose creative work extends to theatre, music, performance art, sketch comedy, and self-storage management. He began at Shotgun Players in 2009 with Mark Jackson's Faust Pt. 1 and has continued to source recycled equipment for the Ashby Stage ever since. Others with the company include The Coast of Utopia, Bonnie and Clyde, Eurydice, Hawkmoon, and Caught. Additionally to theatre, his work has also been seen and heard with the Prague Quadrennial 2011, Soundwave ((5)), KQED, and SF Sketchfest. He has taught theatre sound at SF State (BA, 2009) and currently teaches the same at St Mary's College.