2010: Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker - Archived Bios

DIRECTION & SCRIPT

Wilma Bonet (Director) returns to SFMT as director. She was actress/collective member of the Mime Troupe in the early 80's. Recently she directed Jose Rivera's School of the Americas and Sandra Cisnero's The House On Mango Street for Teatro Vision in San Jose. She has also directed Jeannie Barroga's Walls, for Asian American Theater, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for Women's Will, and Milcha Sanchez Scott's Evening Star/Doglady, Eduardo Machado's The Cook, Roy Conboy's Drive My Coche, La Posada Magica, and Vieques for Teatro Vision. Ms. Bonet's other directing credits includes: Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, TheaterFIRST in Oakland, Cal State University Sacramento, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto and Latina Theatre Lab in San Francisco. As actress, Ms. Bonet recently appeared at Marin Theatre Company in Octavio Solis' Lydia, at the Mark Taper Forum in Luis Alfaro's Electricidad and at the Denver Center Theatre Company in Jose Cruz Gonzalez's September Shoes. Her one-person play Good Grief Lolita which toured the Bay Area, is published in Puro Teatro: A Latina Anthology. She has also performed at the American Conservatory Theatre, Campo Santo, California Shakespeare Theatre, Thick Description, El Teatro Campesino, the Old Globe, Dallas Theatre Center and other theater companies in the San Francisco-San Jose-Bay Area. Her television and film credits include What Dreams May Come, 8MM, Underwraps, Jack, Radio Flyer, and Nash Bridges. Awards: Marion Ross Award for Good Grief Lolita, Bay Area Theatre Critics Award, Los Angeles Drama-Logue Award, and Goodman Award for Outstanding Performance.

Pat Moran (SFMT Collective, Composer, Lyricist, Musician) first worked with the Mime Troupe on 2005's Doing Good and he's been hanging around since then. In addition to his work on the summer show, Pat is a teacher with the Mime Troupe's Youth Theater Project, a freelance musician, and a private guitar instructor. He can be seen performing regularly with a number of bands including Lord Loves a Working Man (2009 SF Weekly Best Soul/Funk/R&B Award Winner) and Khi Darag (middle-eastern psychedelic dance party music). Pat was a guest artist composer and sound designer with the University of San Francisco in 2009.

Michael Gene Sullivan (SFMT Collective, Playwright) joined the Troupe in 1988. In 1992 he became a Contributing Writer, and Resident Playwright in 2000. His scripts include Red State (2008 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic's Circle), and Too Big To Fail (2009 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic's Circle.) Michael has performed in, written, and/or directed over twenty SFMT productions. As an actor, Sullivan has also appeared in productions at the American Conservatory Theater, Denver Center Theater Company, Magic Theater, Theaterworks, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Jose Repertory Theater, among others. He is also the author of his award winning one person show, "Did Anyone Ever Tell You - You Look Like Huey P. Newton?", and 1984, the critically acclaimed adaptation of George Orwell's dystopic novel, which opened at the Actor's Gang Theater under the Direction of Tim Robbins. Michael is also a blogger for the political website, The Huffington Post.

PERFORMERS

Rotimi Agbabiaka (Actor) is very excited to join the Troupe this summer. He comes to the Bay Area from the Chicago area where he just received an MFA degree in Acting. Before braving the midwestern cold Rotimi lived in Texas and grew up in Nigeria. He's also spent a summer studying at the Moscow Art Theatre, two summers studying and performing at The Leon Katz Rhodopi International Theatre Laboratory in Bulgaria, and two summers performing with Shakespeare at Winedale in Round Top, Texas. Rotimi is also the author of Homeless, a one person show that he will perform in the San Francisco Fringe Festival this September.

Brittany Berg (Understudy) is a 2009 Theater and Sociology Major from UC Berkeley with a minor in flashdance emulation. Brittany has worked with Three Wise Monkeys, The Cuttingball, and Berkeley Rep in the development of relevant new material, and is thrilled to be involved with more generative work with the Mime Troupe this summer. She spends her evenings in the garage producing heart shaped beats and belting vocal feats for her solo act GLITTEROUS, part of the movement to defeat sexism with spandex.

Velina Brown (SFMT Collective, Actor) Velina has been a principal actor for the Mime Troupe in such shows as Social Work, Knocked Up, Escape to Cyberia, Gotta Getta Life, Coast City Confidential, Soul Suckers from Outer Space, Killing Time, Damaged Care, City for Sale, Eating It, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan, Showdown at Crawford Gulch, she was Veronique of the Mounties, and was both an actor and Contributing Lyricist on GodFellas and Making a Killing. She has appeared onstage at A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Word for Word, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, Pacific Jewish Theater, Thick Description and Theatreworks, as well as film, TV, and commercials.

Lisa Hori-Garcia (SFMT Collective, Actor: July-Sept.) joined the Mime Troupe Company and Collective in 2004. Originally from California, Lisa moved to Massachusetts where she received her BA from Smith College. Upon graduation, Lisa landed her first professional theater job as an ensemble member/Production Manager with New WORLD Theater in Amherst, MA. Since moving to San Francisco in 2002, she has worked exclusively as a theater artist, performing with Asian American Theater Company, Magic Theater, Woman's Will, Impact Theater, and Word for Word to name a few. For three years, Lisa was the program director of the Mime Troupe's Youth Theater Project. This past fall, she moved to Los Angeles to attend USC for graduate school.

Maggie Mason (Actor) is very excited to be a part of the SF Mime Troupe. Though she is originally from England, she decided to make the drastic choice of coming to California and has never looked back. Maggie studied Drama and English at Stanford where she co-founded the Stanford Shakespeare Society. She's been acting in the Bay Area for the past few years and has managed to work at such theatre companies as Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks, Pacific Rep, Theatre FIRST, and Stage Werx. She loves acting, creating art, and working with talented people, and she is incredibly happy with her life right now.

James Mitchell (Musician) is new to the Mime Troup this year. This Napa Valley native plays piano as well as bass, trombone and tuba. Jimmy's career in music blossomed at an early age. By age 15 he was gigging on a weekly basis at several different clubs and wineries with a jazz band that he would later lead. At 17, his band performed in London at the Boar's Head and Wimbly Hall. After high school he toured for several years with Bumble, a San Francisco based punk/ska band. In 2006, he received a B.A. in music from Sonoma State University. As an accomplished composer, performer and an educator, he is an integral part of the bay area jazz community.

Carla Pantoja (Actor: Aug.-Sept.) is a Bay Area actor but this will be her Mime Troupe acting debut. Last year she worked with the Troupe as the fight director and she is excited to be working with SFMT again. Carla has worked on stage with Crowded Fire, Shotgun Players, Teatro Visión, Cal Shakes, TheatreWorks, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Playground, and Woman's Will to name a few, along with some tv and commercial work. She also teaches Stage Combat through the association Dueling Arts San Francisco and is a member of Dueling Arts International and Theatre Bay Area.

Brian M. Rivera (Actor) is happy and honored to back performing with the Troupe again since Doing Good in 2005. He first started performing onstage with the Sinag-Tala Theater Ensemble in Sacramento and has been pursuing his love of the performing arts ever since. Brian earned his B.A. in Drama from SF State. He has acted with numerous theatre companies around Northern California including Berkeley Rep, Campo Santo, Sierra Rep, Sacramento Theatre Company, The Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, Shotgun Players, Teatro Ng Tanan, Teatro Visión, Theater of Yugen, and Thick Description. Brian has also toured throughout California and France through Word for Word's Immortal Heart. His favorite roles include Benedick, Macbeth, Chandebise/Poche from A Flea in Her Ear, Tajomaru from Rashomon and Oscar Wao from Fukú Americanus. Ars Brevis Vita Brevis

Michael Gene Sullivan (SFMT Collective, Head Writer) joined the Troupe in 1988 as a replacement actor. Began writing for the Troupe in 1992 (Social Work), directed his first SFMT show in 1995 (Coast City Confidential), and became headwriter for the Troupe in 2000. In the last twenty years Michael has performed in, written, and/or directed over twenty Mime Troupe productions, including Offshore (actor/writer), 1600 Transylvania Avenue (writer/director), Mr. Smith Goes To Obscuristan (actor, co-writer, co-director), Showdown at Crawford Gulch (actor/writer), GodFellas (actor/writer), and most recently Making a Killing (actor, writer, co-director). Other work includes performances with American Conservatory Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company, the Magic, Eureka, and Lorraine Hansberry Theaters, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Theatreworks, and the Berkeley and San Jose Repertory Theaters. Michael is the author of the award winning one person show, Did Anyone Ever Tell You - You Look Like Huey P. Newton?, which he performed in New York, Vancouver, and San Francisco, and is the author of 1984, the critically acclaimed stage adaptation of George Orwell's dystopic novel. The play, directed by Tim Robbins, opened at the Actor's Gang Theatre in Los Angeles, has been performed in Europe and Asia, and has had several American tours.

Neil Wadhawan (Musician) has a diverse background in performing and teaching. He recently relocated to the Bay Area from Minneapolis where he was very active teaching and performing everything from metal to Burlesque to Indian Fusion. Neil's unique ability comes from his knowledge of both Western music and Eastern music, namely Indian Classical. Neil has taught Drum Set, Tabla and rhythm theory privately and has taught as a guest lecturer at The University of Minnesota. Neil has led many drum circles and drum groups and has held many workshops and lecture demonstrations at various art festivals and private events. Neil has an extensive performance history which includes performing with renowned World Guitarist, Bush Grant Recipient and author of Hal Leonard instructional books, Greg Herriges. Neil has performed on drum set with some of the Midwest's biggest names in Modern Jazz such as, Chris bates, Michael Lewis, Paul Metzger, Adam Linz etc. Neil has been a devout student of Tabla learning some of the greatest living Tabla masters such as Pandit Anindo Chatterjee and Ustad Shabbir Nisar. Neil is especially interested in the similarities and differences between western music and Indian Classical music and advanced rhythm theory. Neil is very passionate when he plays or teaches music.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Nina Ball (Scenic Designer) recent design credits include The Floating Light Bulb for A Traveling Jewish Theatre, Old Times for TheatreFIRST, On Golden Pond for Willows Theatre Company, Rabbit Hole for Town Hall Theatre, Macbeth for Shotgun Players, Abundance for St Mary's College, Sound of Music and West Side Story for Musical Theatre Works, and The Karamazovs and Don Juan at San Francisco State University. She is currently working on an adaptation of Animal Farm (sets and costumes) and Three Penny Opera for Shotgun Players and Barefoot in the Park for Willows. She is also a scenic artist and has painted for Berkeley Rep, Cal Shakes, Lorraine Hansberry and beyond.

Emilica Sun Beahm (Costume Designer) is excited to be working with SFMT for the second time. Since moving to the Bay area four years ago Emilica has received her B.S. in Apparel Design and Merchandising from SFSU, and begun working on productions in the bay area. Recently she finished designing and building Star Drek for Lamplighter's Musical Theater, the Tales of Hoffman for Berkeley Opera Co, and has worked with various musical groups helping to design stage costumes and memorabilia.

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 thirty years.

Ellen Callas (Additional Dialogue) in 1976 co-founded Hit and Run Theater, a political sketch comedy troupe that toured rural northern California for many years. Since joining the Mime Troupe in 1986, she has worked as a writer, actor, director, teacher, production, company & stage manager and project director/teacher for the company's ongoing Youth Theater Project. Ellen also continues her long career as an improvisational theater performer.

Will McCandless (SFMT Colective, Sound Engineer/Designer) is the most recent addition to the San Francisco Mime Troupe artistic collective. Will began with the Troupe in 2006 as the sound engineer for the California tour of Godfellas. Since then, Will has been the Troupe's sound engineer as well as the sound designer for the SFMT Youth Theatre Project. During the off-season, Will designs sound for several Bay Area Theatres - Magic Theatre, Center REP, Marin Theatre Company, Solano College Theatre, A.C.T. Conservatory, Alter Theater, Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, and Ben Levy Dance Company.

Favianna Rodriguez (Poster Designer)

Karen Runk (Stage Manager, Web Programmer) moved to SF with the intention of only staying for a few months. Thirteen years later she's still here! This is largely due to the talented folks at the Troupe. Doing the math you'll discover she 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 Troupe's 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.

Daniel Yelen (Props Designer) began his performance career in the Bay Area with the Temescal Gay Men's Chorus, Pacific Chamber Singers and Oakland Opera. In 1987, he joined Lamplighters Music Theater, where he also served as prop master for five productions. In 2006, he furnished props for Merrily We Roll Along produced by Altarena Playhouse, and has subsequently done set and costume design for San Francisco Free Civic Theater productions, including Judgment at Nuremberg, The Visit, and All's Well That Ends Well. Recently he appeared as Mr. Crabtree in SFFCT's The School for Scandal. Since 2003, he has designed properties and set pieces for thirty-one productions by Donald Pippin's Pocket Opera. In addition, he designs props for the San Francisco Opera Guild's Opera á la Carte educational program, and is the set dresser for the Gilbert and Sullivan Scenes program offered by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

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