Show Bios for 2019

Treasure Island

SCRIPT & DIRECTION:

Michael Gene Sullivan (Head Writer, Actor, SFMT Collective) has performed in, written, and/or directed over thirty SFMT productions. As an actor Sullivan has also appeared in productions at the American Conservatory Theater, Californian Shakespeare Theatre, Theatreworks, San Francisco Playhouse, Denver Center Theater Company, The Aurora Theatre, The Magic Theatre, The Marin Theatre Company, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Jose Repertory Theater. Michael has been a principal actor in Mime Troupe plays since 1988, performing in Freedomland, Ripple Effect, For The Greater Good, 2012: The Musical, Posibilidad, Too Big To Fail, Making a Killing, GodFellas, Doing Good, Showdown at Crawford Gulch, Mister Smith Goes to Obscuristan, Eating it, Damaged Care, Soul Suckers form Outer Space, Revenger Rat, Escape to Cyberia, Offshore, Social Work, I Ain't You uncle, Back to Normal, Rats, Seeing Double, and Ripped Van Winkle. His directing credits at SFMT include Schooled, For The Greater Good, Red State, Veronique of the Mounties, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, Killing Time, and Coast City Confidential, Michael has also directed for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, African American Shakespeare Company, Mystic Bison Theater, and Circus Finelli. Michael is a Resident Playwright for the Playwrights' Foundation, a 2017 Resident Artist at the Djerassi Arts Center, from 2009 - 2016 he was a blogger for The Huffington Post, and Michael has been SFMT's Resident Playwright since 2000. His scripts for SFMT include Walls (2017 nominee, World Premiere musical, Theatre Bay Area Awards.), Schooled (with Eugenie Chan) Freedomland, Ripple Effect (with Eugenie Chan and Tanya Shaffer), For The Greater Good, Posibilidad, Too Big To Fail (2009 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle), Red State (2008 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle), Making A Killing, GodFellas, Showdown at Crawford Gulch, Veronique of the Mounties, Mr. Smith Goes to Obscruristan, and 1600 Transylvania Avenue. As a contributing writer his SFMT scripts include Eating it, Soul Suckers From Outer Space, Escape to Cyberia, Offshore, and Social Work. His non-SFMT scripts include his all-woman political farce Recipe, (Central Works, winner of the Israel Baran Playwriting Award,) Red Carol (his adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol), the historical drama fugitive/slave/act, and his award-winning one person show, Did Anyone Ever Tell You - You Look Like Huey P. Newton? His critically acclaimed stage adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 opened at the Actors' Gang Theatre under the direction of Tim Robbins in 2006, and has since been performed across Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America, and the United States, and in 2018 will premiere in Amsterdam and Kiev, Ukraine. Michael's 1984 has been translated into Spanish, Russian, Catalan, and Dutch. Michael is also resident teacher of SFMT's Young California Writers Project, and in 2018 begins teaching playwriting for the American Conservatory Theatre. Click here to see a larger bio.

Michael Bello (Composer, Musical Director, SFMT Collective) graduated with honors from the Jazz department at Sonoma Sate University in '06 with a bachelor's degree in jazz and music theory. He has played in clubs, halls and at major festivals touring throughout the US with many projects. Bello is a multi-instrumentalist who has composed and performed with a wide range of groups. Check out some of the current bands Bello is playing with, some require you to bring your dancing shoes and others to bring your dancing ears - Strike Iron! Heavy Afrobeat, Latin Rhythm Boys - Puerto Rican music, Telepathy - boundary pushing original Jazz, Humiors - solid funk and R&B, Ernest Ranglin - reggae, jazz, ska (in the 1950's created ska next to Rico Rodriguez), FogDub - Reggae Dub, Sean Nelson's OMEN: including some projects he is affiliated with on a semi regular basis, Phil Lesh and friends - Grateful Dead, Midnight North - rock, folk.

Daniel Savio (Lyricist, Musician, SFMT Collective) started his professional theater career playing for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, participating in the tours for GodFellas ('06), Making a Killing ('07), Freedomland ('15), and Schooled ('16) and he is delighted to be back in the pit this summer. He was co-composer/lyricist, with SFMT vet Bruce Barthol, of the play FSM ('14, Stagebridge Senior Theater), written by fellow SFMT vet Joan Holden. Daniel has composed the scores of four musicals for young audiences at Stagebridge, all with book and lyrics by Josiah Polhemus. He also composed original music for an early production of Lauren Yee's A Man, His Wife, and his Hat ('11, AlterTheater). Daniel plays keyboards for The 808 Band, winner of the 2011 North Bay Bohemian Award for Best Hip Hop Band, which has backed many hip hop and reggae performers including KRS-ONE, MC Radioactive, and Robert Herrera. He has performed as an improv pianist with the Perennials, the Antic Witties, the Un-Scripted Theater Company, 6th Street Improv!, and the Midnight Matinee. Daniel has a BA in Music from the University of California at Santa Cruz and studies with Bay Area composer Michael Kaulkin.

Wilma Bonet (Director) a past collective member, returns to direct the Mime Troupe's summer show Treasure Island, after directing Ripple Effect, 2012 the Musical, Possibilidad or Death of a Worker and Too Big To Fail all written by Michael Gene Sullivan. In the past she has also directed at Teatro Vision in San Jose the following plays: Jose Rivera's School of the Americas, Sandra Cisnero's The House On Mango Street, Milcha Sanchez Scott's Evening Star/Doglady, Eduardo Machado's The Cook, Roy Conboy's Drive My Coche, Octavio Solis's La Posada Magica, and Jorge Gonzalez's Vieques (West coast premiere). Her other directing credits includes: Jeannie Barroga's Walls, for Asian American Theater, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for Women's Will, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit for Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, Fronteras Americanas for TheaterFIRST, Miriam's Flowers for Cal State University Sacramento. She has also directed for TheatreWorks in Palo Alto and Latina Theatre Lab at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.

Lisa Hori-Garcia (Ass't Director, SFMT Collective) has been a principal performer and collaborator for the Troupe since 2004 in such shows as Seeing Red, Schooled, Posibilidad or Death of The Worker, Too Big To Fail and Doing Good to name a few. In 2016, Lisa received a TBA Nomination for Best Principal Actress in a Musical for her performance in Freedomland. She is also the program director and lead teacher of both the Mime Troupe's Youth Theater Project (YTP) and SFMT's summer intensive theater workshop. Lisa also works with other Bay Area companies, such as Cal Shakes, The Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Word for Word and most recently appeared in ACT's Men on Boats and The Great Leap. Lisa is a former Ensemble Member & Production Manager with New WORLD Theater in Amherst, MA and received her BA from Smith College and MFA in Acting from the University of Southern California.

Carla Pantoja (Fight Chorographer) is excited to work with the SF Mime Troupe again! As a fight director she created violence for Too Big to Fail, Posibilidad, and 2012 - The Musical!, and performed for half the season in Posibilidad as an actor. Carla is a certified associate instructor with Dueling Arts International and a founding member of the local chapter, Dueling Arts San Francisco. Past fight direction includes work at Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, Ferocious Lotus, Cal Shakes, and the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival where she is a resident artist.

CAST:

Andre Amarotico (Actor) is thrilled to be returning to the Mime Troupe for another summer. Andre studied theater at Stanford University, where he received the Evelyn M. Draper Prize for Performance and the Muses Prize in the Arts and Classics. Recent roles include Kenickie in Grease (Mountain Play), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Throckmorton Theatre), Smith in An American Ma(u)l (BACCE), Joe in Seeing Red (SFMT), The Baker in Into the Woods (Throckmorton Theatre), John Jasper in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Marin Onstage), Andy in Smut (Word for Word), and the title roles in Hamlet and Macbeth (Stanford). He received a TBA nomination for outstanding featured actor in The 39 Steps (Ross Valley Players).

Lizzie Calogero (Actor) as a former Collective Member, is delighted to be back onstage with the Troupe, having previously appeared in Walls, 2012 the Musical, Too Big to Fail, and Red State. With roots in the United Kingdom, she has performed in plays around the Bay Area, with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre, SF Playhouse, Center Rep, and Symmetry Theatre among others.

Brian Rivera (Actor) is so glad to be back working & playing again with the SF Mime Troupe, along with Doing Good (2005) and Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker (2010). He made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning revival of The King & I at Lincoln Center & subsequently the First National Broadway Tour. Brian's credits include the US Premiere of The Orphan of Zhao at ACT & La Jolla Playhouse. His other Bay Area credits include Major Barbara at ACT, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Yellowjackets, and California Shakepeare Theater's American Night. Brian studied at Oxford University through BADA and earned his B.A. in Drama from San Francisco State University. Many thanks to the Collective, our cast & band, our summer interns, & all those who brave the heat to see our shows! I dedicate my work here to Ben Fenkell, former Parks & Rec Interpeter at Angel Island. Ars Longa Vita Brevis.

Keiko Shimosato Carreiro (Actor, Writer, SFMT Collective) was born in Cambridge Massachusettes. Keiko holds a BFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and an MA in Multimedia from the University of Iowa. She arrived in San Francisco with the Horse Drawn, Caravan Stage Company of Canada. She has been an actor, designer and director for the Mime Troupe since 1987. Keiko has designed costumes for many Bay Area Theater companies including, Berkeley Rep, S.F. Shakespeare in the Parks, The Asian American Theater Company, African American Shakespeare Company, Crowded Fire and Custom Made Theater as well as the Mime Troupe. She has appeared in many productions at Bay Area Theaters including, Berkeley Rep, The Aurora, The Magic Theater, Center Rep, ACT, Life on the Water, and of course the Mime Troupe. She directed City for Sale and Gotta Getta Life for the Mime Troupe, and Cowboy versus Samurai for the Asian American Theater Company. For her portrayal of Grace in Philip Kan Gotandas' The Sisters Matsumoto at Center Rep she was nominated for a Shellie Award as best actress in a leading role. In 2018 she received an award for Meritorious Achievement in Costume Design from the ACTF Theater Festival, for Three Sisters at St. Mary's College.

Michael Gene Sullivan (Head Writer, Actor, SFMT Collective) SEE ABOVE.

MUSICIANS:

Dylan Jennings (Musician) is a multi instrumentalist woodwind musician who plays an eclectic assortment of music with bands all across the Bay Area. He grew up in ska, punk, and jazz music and found his way to San Francisco hailing from Riverside 6 years ago to further expand his musical experience and skill as a musician. He currently plays in groups such as Lagos Roots Afrobeat Ensemble, Bicicletas por la Paz, Sapphire Lung, and other notable groups in the Bay.

Chris Lauf (Musician) grew up in Canberra, Australia where he studied drum set and percussion under Colin Hoorweg and Gary France. After moving to the US in 2002, he studied jazz drums at UC Santa Cruz under George Marsh. Chris keeps busy around the Bay playing progressive rock, jazz, indie/folk, funk, and more with bands like Inner Ear Brigade, Trouble Ensemble and Wolf and Crow. Chris brings groove, sensitivity, excitement, and delicious sonic textures to whatever musical context he finds himself in. He has also played with many Bay Area musical theater companies including The Speakeasy SF, 21 Elephants, and Pied Piper Productions. Chris is a huge fan of the SF Mime Troupe and is thrilled to be playing in the 2019 Summer Production: Treasure Island!

Daniel Savio (Lyricist, Musician, SFMT Collective) started his professional theater career playing for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, participating in the tours for GodFellas ('06), Making a Killing ('07), Freedomland ('15), and Schooled ('16) and he is delighted to be back in the pit this summer. He was co-composer/lyricist, with SFMT vet Bruce Barthol, of the play FSM ('14, Stagebridge Senior Theater), written by fellow SFMT vet Joan Holden. Daniel has composed the scores of four musicals for young audiences at Stagebridge, all with book and lyrics by Josiah Polhemus. He also composed original music for an early production of Lauren Yee's A Man, His Wife, and his Hat ('11, AlterTheater). Daniel plays keyboards for The 808 Band, winner of the 2011 North Bay Bohemian Award for Best Hip Hop Band, which has backed many hip hop and reggae performers including KRS-ONE, MC Radioactive, and Robert Herrera. He has performed as an improv pianist with the Antic Witties, the Un-Scripted Theater Company, 6th Street Improv!, and the Midnight Matinee. Daniel has a BA in Music from the University of California at Santa Cruz and studies with Bay Area composer Michael Kaulkin.

PRODUCTION TEAM:

R. Black (Poster Designer), originally from San Diego, got his start there 19 years ago doing local underground club fliers and rock posters. The underground years gathered the attention of Dark Horse Comics to publish is first art book in 2004. 2011 saw his return to San Diego becoming the first poster illustrator for the San Diego Opera for a three year run. That year also gave him national attention with the posters he did in support of the Occupy movement. Those posters are currently on display in many national and international galleries. R.Black is currently the artist in residency for the Shotgun Players a national critically acclaimed theatre company in Berkeley, Ca. You can see his murals monthly on the Ashby Stage and around the Bay Area.

Marie Cartier (Scenic Artist, Props Master, Writer, SFMT Collective) has been working with the Mime Troupe since 2012. A native San Franciscan, her theater practices encompass a variety of roles. She created props for the Mime Troupe shows Seeing Red, Walls, and Schooled and has taught with the Troupe's Youth Theater Project since 2016. Marie completed the Emerging Artist in Residence program at SFMT in 2017, by co-writing and performing her original work, Yesterday is Tomorrow. She has written, co-produced and performed in the original circus cabaret, Saturnalia: A Raunchy Circus Christmas at Shelton Theater in 2017 and 2018, and has served as a technician/board operator for more shows than she can count. Marie is a founding member of Bow & Arrow: A Circus Theater Collective. She is also a visual artist and has displayed her paintings and mixed-media pieces at Farley's, Alamo Square Grill, Brainwash, Tea Roots and the Sherwood Gallery.

Marissa Ellison (Tour Manager), born and raised in Wisconsin, Marissa has been a theater-lover since her 3rd grade debut as an orphan in Annie. Her relationship with the Troupe began in the summer of 2017, when she spent her summer as a workshop student with the Troupe. Marissa graduated with her BA in Theatre - Performance from Marquette University. Since then, she has had the opportunity to perform in the Bay Area with Ross Valley Players and Landmark Musical Theatre. Marissa is always excited to spend time at the Mime Troupe and be involved with such passionate theatre professionals!

Robert "Bo" Golden (Scenic Designer, Technical Director) first professional job in the theatre was Playing Berger in the show Hair for the 1969 Chicago production, then on to play the same role on both Broadway and the National tour. He went on to do much more as an actor/singer, Director, scenic and sound design, as well as scenic painter. He has been singing and playing guitar in the Bay Area, as well as Designing, building/painting sets for various theatre companies ever since moving out here from NYC. His sets have been nominated three times for best scenic design. This is his 3rd season with the SFMT and is happy to be back working with such great down to earth creative folks.

Taylor Gonzalez (Sound Designer/Operator, SFMT Collective) has been working with the Mime Troupe since he was 16 years old. His work began with the Youth Theater Project as a student. Since then he has taught as well as designed lights and sound for the youth program. This will be Taylor's fourth full summer with the Troupe. While not working with the Troupe Taylor spends his time as a studio and live audio engineer for local bands, as well as a sound designer for various theaters around the bay area. Recent work includes Paradise Square with Berkeley Rep, Violet the Musical with BAM (Bay Area Musicals), The View Upstairs with NCTC (New Conservatory Theatre Center).

Merissa Mann (Costume Designer) lives and works as a costume designer and artist in the Bay Area. She graduated with Honors from UC Berkeley with a degree in Practice of Art and the first Certificate in design Innovation. Ms. Mann combines her love of art and theater to create costumes that function as wearable art. She is an associate designer at both Broadway by the Bay and Marin Shakespeare. Ms. Mann is honored and excited to be making her debut at SFMT! When she's not crafting, Ms. Mann can be found in her studio reading a book with her two maine coon cats.

Kyndall Rhaney (A2 Sound) was born and raised in Maryland. Kyndall has been learning and advancing their sound skills since their collegiate years. Graduated from St. Mary's College Of Maryland, '18. Majored in theatre with a minor in music and film and media studies. Kyndall is a learning of all things theatre, singing, acting, directing and tech. Kyndall's been working with the Mime Troupe since summer of 2017 as the sound intern. They are excited to be working once again for amazing theatre professionals!

Karen Runk (Production Stage Manager, Web Programmer) moved to SF with the intention of only staying for a few months. Over two decades later she's still here! This is largely due to the talented folks at the Troupe. Runk first experienced the Troupe by stage managing two 97 youth projects, Revenger Rat Meets the Merchant of Death and Inside Out. After which she ran screaming into the arms of the Magic Theatre and there she stayed, contently for two years. The Troupe then wooed her back for their 99 Summer Production City For Sale. Still under the Troupes wooing spell she's stage managed a plethora of their summer shows and has only managed to escape, successfully, one full summer back in 02 when she worked with SFShakes.

Claudio Andres Silva Restrepo (Carpenter) is a director, actor, stage manager and designer originally from Santiago Chile. He studied at Loyola University Maryland, and spent three years teaching and working at StarStruck Theatre & Academy in Stuart, FL before moving to San Francisco. He would like to thank SFMT for the opportunity to be part of this production. Thanks to his family, friends, and theatre community in Florida for all their support. Previous Credits include: Champagne (Stage Manager), How to be a White Man, (SM/ Lights) La Posarela (SM/ Lights,) Waiting for Godot (Estragon) The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), Two Rooms (Michael), Death and the Maiden (Director), Fiddler on the Roof (Set & Sound), Into the Woods (Set & Sound).