2015: Freedomland - Archived Bios
DIRECTION & SCRIPT:
Andrea Snow (Co-Director with SFMT) is a former member of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. During her years with the SFMT, Andrea collaborated on creating shows (scripts, lyrics, and music) and performed: she played the title roles in The Dragon Lady's Revenge and Factperson, as well as many other characters. Additionally she has directed plays for the SFMT, World of Tales, Make*A*Circus, and the Z Collective. The directed the talent for the 10-part children's series, You Can Choose and Stepping On Up. She has also directed solo shows for Terry Baum as well as Keith Terry. Andrea holds Master's Degrees in Theater Arts and in Communicative Disorders.
Michael Bello (Musical Director) graduated with honors from the Jazz department at Sonoma Sate University in '06 with a bachelor's degree in funkology. 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 - Albino! Heavy Afrobeat, FogDub - Reggae Dub, Miles Ahead Group - Miles Davis Tribute 70's, Stacks - Blue Note Jazz 60's, Telepathy - boundary pushing original Jazz, Latin Rhythm Boys - Puerto Rican music, Molly Maguire - Singer/songwriter, David Jeffery's Jazz Fourtet, Sean Nelson's Ecotones: including some projects he is affiliated with on a semi regular basis - Sean Hayes - Singer/Songwriter, Cuban Salsa with Rumbache and Fito Reinoso, Go By Ocean - folky, funky, singer/songwriter rock, Modern Dance with Lisa Townsend, East Bay Brass Band (EB3), Cheap Therapy - rock, funk, folk.
Michael Gene Sullivan (Resident Playwright, 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, Denver Center Theater Company, Theatreworks, Magic Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Jose Repertory Theater. In addition to directing SFMT shows, such as Killing Time, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, Red State, and For The Greater Good, Michael has also directed for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, African American Shakespeare Company, Mystic Bison Theater, and Circus Finelli. In 1992 he became a Contributing Writer for the Mime Troupe, and the Resident Playwright in 2000. His scripts for SFMT include 1600 Transylvania Avenue, GodFellas, Red State (2008 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle), and Too Big To Fail (2009 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle), Posibilidad, For The Greater Good. Non-SFMT scripts include his all-woman political farce Recipe, (Central Works, winner of the Israel Baran Playwriting Award,) his adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, (Open Door Theatre, Sheffield, England,) 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 dystopic novel 1984 opened at the Actors' Gang Theatre under the direction of Tim Robbins in 2006, and has since been performed in Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America, has had several tours of the United States, and has been published in English and Catalan. Michael is also a blogger for the political website, The Huffington Post.
Ira Marlowe (Composer, Lyrist) has been described by The San Francisco Chronicle as: "Berkeley's sweet little secret. ...(He) sold his soul to the devil to develop the sound he continues to perfect." He's won the international "Songs Inspired By Literature Contest", the "Best of the Bay" contest, and -- in his parallel life -- the coveted Parents' Choice Award for his acclaimed series of Brainy Tunes kids' CDs. In 2012 he opened The Monkey House, a private theater in Berkeley hosting intimate performances of all kinds, including his "one-man musical for brave kids and weird adults", Mortimus Greely's Haunting School. Ira is thrilled to be working with the Mime Troupe.
CAST:
Hugo E Carbajal (Actor, SFMT Collective) is a recipient of the 2013 Theatre Bay Area Titan Award and is proud to be the newest member to join the SFMT Collective. He began his involvement with the Mime Troupe as a mask designer for the production of 2012: The Musical! In 2013, he performed in SFMTs Oil & Water. He has performed with Bay Area companies such as Cuttingball, Bay Area Childrens Theatre, Shotgun Players, Stagebridge, Alter Theater Ensemble, Shadowlight, and TeatroVision. He was also a performer with Kaiser Permanentes Educational Theatre, touring the bay area for eight years. A proud member of the Bay Area Latino Theatre Artists Network. Follow onTwitter.
Lisa Hori-Garcia (Actor, SFMT Collective) has been with the troupe since 2004, working on summer shows as an actor and assistant director. She has worked with a wide variety of theater companies such as Marin Theatre Company, Asian American Theater Company, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Womans Will, Impact Theater, and Word for Word. Lisa has been program director and a lead teacher with the Mime Troupes Youth Theater Project and summer workshop. Currently she is a professor in the Drama Department at Los Medanos College. 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.
George P. Scott (Actor) is grateful to be joining the SFMT this year. As an actor he has performed in the Bay Area for the last 6 years in productions at Altarena Playhouse, S.F. Playhouse, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Broadway by the Bay, Teatro Zinnani S.F., Berkeley Playhouse, Alter Theatre Ensemble, and 6th Street Playhouse. Other theaters include, P.C.P.A. Pacific Conservatory Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Missoula Children's Theatre and The COLORed Cabaret. As a Puppet Designer he's had the great privilege to work with Taylor Mac on the epic tale of The Lily's Revenge at the Magic Theatre and A Quarreling Pair at American Conservatory Theatre. Much peace and love!
Michael Gene Sullivan (Resident Playwright, 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, Denver Center Theater Company, Theatreworks, Magic Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Jose Repertory Theater. In addition to directing SFMT shows, such as Killing Time, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, Red State, and For The Greater Good, Michael has also directed for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, African American Shakespeare Company, Mystic Bison Theater, and Circus Finelli. In 1992 he became a Contributing Writer for the Mime Troupe, and the Resident Playwright in 2000. His scripts for SFMT include 1600 Transylvania Avenue, GodFellas, Red State (2008 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle), and Too Big To Fail (2009 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle), Posibilidad, For The Greater Good. Non-SFMT scripts include his all-woman political farce Recipe, (Central Works, winner of the Israel Baran Playwriting Award,) his adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, (Open Door Theatre, Sheffield, England,) 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 dystopic novel 1984 opened at the Actors' Gang Theatre under the direction of Tim Robbins in 2006, and has since been performed in Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America, has had several tours of the United States, and has been published in English and Catalan. Michael is also a blogger for the political website, The Huffington Post.
MUSICIANS:
Ray Fernandez (Musician) has played professionally for 35 years as a Musician/Bandleader. Fernandez has played and toured with The Mad Maggies, Sonic Strut, Trousers, The Overcommitments, Macy Blackman, Club Ed, Beat Freaks, Bohemian Luv Jones, Kings Hat, Spare Parts, Action Jackson, Party of Five, Stiff Upper Lip, All the Kings Men, Joyce Rooks, Rudy Chalard and Blue Light Revue. Steeped in r&b, soul, funk, rock and jazz Multi-instrumentalist Ray Fernandez always brings it from the heart.
Aaron Kierbel (Musician) is an in demand drummer percussionist and educator from Oakland. He is a formative member of the internationally touring, genre smashing band Rupa and the April Fishes. He enjoys finding the rhythm in everyday life, the percussive potential in every objects like type writers and egg beaters. He plays with many local groups, such as Adam Theis, Mercury Falls, View From Bernal Hill, Emily Afton, The Gonifs and many others. He is a passionate teaching artist who believes in the healing and community building power of music. Working with Performing Arts Workshop, LEAP and Bread and Roses, he teaches rhythm and movement classes in juvenile detention centers, homeless shelters and schools through organization.
Daniel Savio (Musician) started his professional theater career playing for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, participating in the tours for GodFellas ('06) and Making a Killing ('07), and he is delighted to be back in the pit this summer. He recently 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). Currently he is beginning work on a musical to be produced by the Kaleidoscope company of Northern Ireland. 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. Since 2008 he has been musical director of Sharon Boucher's children's theatre companies in San Rafael, Pied Piper Productions, Young Actors Theater, and North Bay Rep, where he has put on West Side Story, RENT, A Chorus Line, Les Miserables, and many other shows. Daniel has a BA in Music from the University of California at Santa Cruz and currently studies with Bay Area composer Michael Kaulkin.
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Maurice Beesley (Technical Director) was tricked into auditioning for the Senior Class play in 1961. Since then he has built scenery for A.C.T., S.F. Opera and Berkeley Rep., and others of fond memory. He has been a member of the stage crew of nearly every theatrical venue in San Francisco and has supervised tours around the West and to Hawaii. Maurice has been a proud member of Local #16, I.A.T.S.E. for over thirty years.
Devon Labelle (Props Designer) is a multidisciplinary artist with emphasis on vivid visual and special effects components. She is the Production Manager of Just Theater, Props Master of Contra Costa Civic Theater, and a Resident Artist with both Crowded Fire Theater and Theater FIRST. She has curated properties for over 60 productions and is thrilled to be designing for SF Mime Troupe. Special thanks to Sam and Josie.
Lawton Lovely (Sound Engineer, Poster Designer, SFMT Collective) is a 2012 graduate of Miami University in Oxford OH where he received a BA in Theatre and a minor in American Studies. He spent his first summer in the Bay Area in 2010 working for the San Francisco Mime Troupe. In 2012 he became an Emerging Artist in Residence with the company; in 2013, a Collective Member; and in 2015, a member of the SFMT Board. He has constructed puppets, designed posters and taught in the SFMT Youth Program. He is an avid juggler as well as the in-house sound engineer for the Troupe. All this troupe activity hasn't prevented him from doing work elsewhere; Marin Theatre Company's It's a Wonderful Life; Radio Play; the California Shakespeare Company's A Winter's Tale; Z Space with Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra in the world premiere of Be Bop Baby: A Musical Memoir; The Bengson's, who won the TBA for Best New Musical, Hundred Days; Fat Mike, Jeff Marx, and Goddess Soma in the first staged production of Home Street Home. He has recently stepped into the pool of Sound Design with Carl Djerassi's, Ego and Insufficiency, Joan Holden's Free Speech Movement, Foolsfury Faulted, The Douglas Morrisson Theatre's Hank Williams: Lost Highway. His projection and video designs have been seen in Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's The Totalitarians at Z Space. He really enjoys using sound and visual arts to construct stories that educate and stimulate the audience. Many of the things he has had the opportunity to create with the Troupe have been larger than life, which add fantasy to the stories and stimulate the imagination. Lawton looks forward to the challenges, adventures, and message that the San Francisco Mime Troupe has to offer year after year.
Dorothy Martinez (Costume Designer) began her designing vocation at an early age. A self motivated individual, Martinez began designing original pieces for the world renowned Chicano theater company El Teatro Campesino at 19. Aside from such works at La Pastorela and La Carpa de Los Rasquachis, her most recent designs with El Teatro can be seen in the three part Cosmic Pageant Trilogy: Heart of Heaven, The Story of Seven Macaw, and The Magic Twins. Her creative constructs for this trilogy were based on the Maya Quiche book of POPOL VUH and first emerged in 2010 (exploratory session) with follow up 2011, 2012 and 2014 seasons. Martinez will continue her work on Popol Vuh: Heart of Heaven for the 2015 summer/fall production collaboration with El Teatro Campesino and Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles. Other costuming credits include the theater workshop presentation of OLLIN at Stanford University's Drama Department under the direction of Singer-Songwriter Daniel Valdez, plus, the world premiere of The Fifth String: Ziryab's Passage To Cordoba by Golden Thread Productions. Her creative eye also turned to the big screen as she expanded her wardrobe/costume credits to include Indie films such as: The Crumbles (winner of the Audience Award at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival) in 2012. Martinez' capabilities also include designing select set pieces for numerous productions, interdisciplinary shows featuring theatre groups, bands, poets, and visual artists. Martinez currently resides in San Francisco and works at Live Oak School. Additionally, she is acting manager and costumer for Indigenous Chaos, a family collective composed of three generations of her family. Email Dorothy.
Karen Runk (Production Stage Manager, Web Programmer) moved to SF with the intention of only staying for a few months. Nearly 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.
Keiko Shimosato Carreiro (Scenic Designer, 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 other 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 San Francisco Mime Troupe. She has directed City for Sale and Gotta Getta Life for the Mime Troupe, and Cowboy versus Samurai for the Asian American Theater Company. Though sad not to be acting on the Mime Troupe stage this summer, she is very happy to be taking on the challenge of designing the set.
Junelle-Johannah Taguas (Tour Manager, SFMT Collective) became a Collective Member in 2013. She started at the Mime Troupe as a tech intern and summer workshopper in 2008 and remained involved with the Troupe filling various positions: Assistant Stage Manager, Production Assistant, YTP Stage Manager, and YCWP Stage Manager. Junelle is an Equity Membership Candidate Stage Manager. Companies she has stage managed for include: Central Works, Golden Thread Productions, Transient Theater, Symmetry Theatre, RasaNova Theater, OutLook Theater Project, Climate Theater, and the University of San Franciscos PASJ department. She has a B.A. in Drama from the University of Portland, OR. Aside from theatre, Junelle is a NIC Pre-Certified ASL-English Interpreter. She is graduating from 2-year Interpreter Preparation Program at Ohlone College this spring.