2014: Ripple Effect - Archived Bios

DIRECTION & SCRIPT:

Wilma Bonet (Co-Director) returns to co-direct the San Francisco Mime Troupe's new summer show after directing 2012 - The Musical!, Possibilidad or Death of the Worker and Too Big To Fall. In the past she has also directed 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, La Posada Magica, and Vieques (West coast premiere) at Teatro Vision at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. Ms. Bonet also directed Jeannie Barroga's Walls, for Asian American Theater, and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for Women's Will. Other directing credits: The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit for Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, Miriam's Flowers for Cal State University Sacramento and Lady From Havana for TheatreWorks in Palo Alto. A professional actress, she has appeared in numerous plays on stages across the country and has appeared on screen as well as television.

Hugo E Carbajal (Co-Director, 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. Hes 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.

Michael Bello (Musical Director, Musician) has been playing and writing music since he was a wee little boy, putting all his heart and soul into it. Eventually Bello graduated with honors from the Jazz department at Sonoma Sate University in '06 with a bachelor's degree in funkology (or Jazz/composition/theory). Being a multi-instrumentalist has allowed Bello to dive deep into the different sounds and emotions music has to offer, along with giving him a color pallet to work with for composing and performing with a wide range of groups like: Albino! Heavy Afrobeat, Fog Dub (Live Reggae Dub), Miles Ahead (Bitches Brew Tribute), Stacks ('60's Blue Note Post Bop Jazz), Ecotones (funky, soul jazz with rock, folk, and jam), David Jeffery's Jazz Fourtet, Sean Hayes, Classical Revolution, Modern Dance with Lisa Townsend, Milly Wandering (folk, singer/song writer), Telepathy (odd meter, through composed, out but in Jazz).

Michael Gene Sullivan (Resident Playwright, Actor, SFMT Collective) 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, Theatreworks, Magic Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Jose Repertory Theater. In addition to directing for SFMT 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 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), and Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker. He is also author of an award-winning one person show, "Did Anyone Ever Tell You - You Look Like Huey P. Newton?", and "1984", his critically acclaimed stage adaptation of George Orwells 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. His all-woman political farce "Recipe," winner of the Israel Baran Playwriting Award, will have its World Premiere at Berkeley's Central Works in October, 2014. Michael is also a blogger for the political website, The Huffington Post.

Eugenie Chan (Writer) has had award-winning work produced or developed at Cutting Ball Theater, the Magic Theater, Thick Description, the Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Houston Grand Opera: HGOco, Crowded Fire Theater, among other venues. Prize-winning films she has written have shown at the Berlin International Film Festival, Mill Valley, Cinestory, DisOrient, and other festivals. She is a Resident Playwright at New Dramatists, Playwright Emerita at Cutting Ball, a member of the playwrights collective 6NewPlays, and an alumna of the Playwrights Foundation Residency. Eugenie teaches at the University of San Franciscos Performing Arts & Social Justice Department. Eugenie Chan Theater is a member of the Intersection Incubator at Intersection for the Arts. Ripple Effect is her second collaboration with the Troupe, after GodFellas.

Tanya Shaffer (Writer) last wrote for the San Francisco Mime Troupe in 1992. Since then, her plays have been produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, TheatreWorks, and the Eureka Theatre, and have toured to more than 40 cities nationwide. Her musical The Fourth Messenger, (with composer Vienna Teng), enjoyed a sold-out world premiere at the Ashby Stage in 2013. Previous plays include Baby Taj (available from Samuel French, Inc.), Let My Enemy Live Long!, Brigadista, and Miss Americas Daughters. She has been awarded Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards and nominated for a National Theatre Critics Association Steinberg Award. Shes also the author of the critically acclaimed travel memoir Somebodys Heart is Burning: A Woman Wanderer in Africa. Her stories and essays have appeared on Salon.com and in numerous anthologies. She recently completed a four-year playwriting residency at Playwrights Foundation.

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:

Velina Brown (Actor, Performance Booker, SFMT Collective) has been a principal actor for the Mime Troupe in such shows as Social Work, Escape to Cyberia, 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, and Showdown at Crawford Gulch. She was Veronique in Veronique of the Mounties, shes played Condoleeza Rice three times, and was both an actor and Contributing Lyricist on GodFellas and Making a Killing. Velinas most recent shows with the Troupe include For The Greater Good: Or the Last Election, Red State, Too Big to Fail, and Posibilidad, Or Death of the Worker for which she won Best Principal Actress by the Bay Area Critics Circle. You may have seen Velina earlier this year in Theatre Rhinos lovely A Lady and A Woman. Other credits include A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Word for Word, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, Thick Description, SF Playhouse, Theatreworks as well as film (Bee Season with Richard Gere, A Many Splintered Thing with Chris Evans and Milk with Sean Penn) and television (Party of Five, Nash Bridges,Trauma, Final Witness). Velina also is the founder and owner of the "Business of Show Biz," which offers career planning consultations and workshops for theater artists. She also writes a popular column of the same name for Theater Bay Area Magazine. In 2012 she was honored as one of the magazines "35 Faces," artists whove made significant contributions to the Bay Area theater community. For more info and to hear some of Velinas music please visit her website.

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 teaching artist with Word for Word. 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.

Keiko Shimosato Carreiro (Actor, 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 also designed costumes for many other Bay Area Theater companies including, The San Francisco Circus School, Berkeley Rep, S.F. Shakespeare in the Parks, The Asian American Theater Company and African American Shakespeare Company. She has directed City for Sale, and Gotta Getta Life for the Mime Troupe, and Cowboy versus Samurai for the Asian American Theater Company. In addtion to designing costumes for the Mime Troupe this summer she is also designing costumes for Crowded Fires production of 410 GONE.

Michael Gene Sullivan (Head Writer, Actor, SFMT Collective) joined the Troupe as an actor in 1988, and has since performed in, written, and/or directed over twenty SFMT productions. In 1992 he became a Contributing Writer, and Resident Playwright in 2000. His scripts include 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), and Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker. As an actor, Sullivan has also appeared in productions at the American Conservatory Theater, Denver Center Theater Company, Magic Theatre, Theaterworks, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Jose Repertory Theater, and has directed for the Mime Troupe, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, African American Shakespeare Company, Mystic Bison Theater, and Circus Finelli. He is also the author of "Did Anyone Ever Tell You - You Look Like Huey P. Newton?", his award winning one person show, and 1984, his critically acclaimed stage adaptation of George Orwells dystopic novel. 1984 opened at the Actors Gang Theater under the Direction of Tim Robbins in 2006, and has since been performed in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and has had several tours of the United States. Michael is also a blogger for the political website, The Huffington Post.

MUSICIANS:

Mick Berry (Musician) "Local phenom" - SF Chronicle, has lived in San Francisco since 1986, after playing on the road "in too many bands to count'. Holding an MFA in acting from UNC Chapel Hill, he has acted and/or played music with The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, The Marin Shakespeare Festival, and California Conservatory Theatre. In addition to accompanying jazz greats Paul Jackson Jr., Eddie Henderson, and Michael Wolff, he has co-authored The Drummer's Bible, and currently teaches private drum lessons to over 40 students each week (Russo Music in SF; Marin Music in Novato). He also performs stand-up comedy, and has written and performed four one man shows, the latest being Keith Moon: The Real Me.

Peter Penhallow (Musician) began fooling around with the piano and imitating Elvis Presley at the age of three, and took up guitar at age nine. In his youth, and beyond, he has had the good fortune to work and play with numerous of his luminous rock and roll idols. In the '80s, Peter (aka the Mr. Cheez Orchestra) was keyboardist for Loose Change, an improv comedy group which was a favorite at the Punch Line and the Holy City Zoo. Peter is the award winning producer of 5 albums for young children, and has been a popular musical director for Children's and Community Musical Theater in Marin County, California, for over 30 years, and has more than 100 productions to his credit. He is also the award winning bandleader of the Liddypudlians, a 30-piece rock orchestra that performs Beatle songs, complete with horns, strings, chorus, and a crack rhythm section (provided by the bay area's premier 60's power trio Revolver), for San Anselmo's annual and widely celebrated Salute to the Beatles. Peter is currently working on an album with his new band Coupla Roommates.

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.

Sarah Edkins (Scenic Designer) first set design job was in 1983, here in San Francisco, with The San Francisco Repertory Theater. In 1984 she moved to NYC to attend NYU's Graduate Design Program. She has been primarily designing in the New York City area since (over 60 productions). Sarah has just finished working on a mural for The Chinese Children's Book Garden in NYC. Recently she helped the Robert Wagner School of Arts and Technology's drama program with their musical version of The Tempest. She collaborated with Jay Stern (who she worked with as production designer on his movie, The Adventures of Paul and Marian) and Anny Levy on their devised pieces: Latvia/Latvia, at Access Theater, NYC. Sarah designed the first staging of the operatic piece, The Snow Queen, with text by Barbara Wiechmann, directed by Jeff Mousseau. Sarah participated as design consultant in The World-Wide Lab, in Brooklyn, NY with directors from around the world, acting in each other's pieces and presenting works-in-process in quick succession. She welcomes this opportunity to work in San Francisco again, especially with The Mime Troupe!

Nina Grosser (Poster Designer) was born in Ontario, Canada in the mid-1980s. Even as a child she was very artistic, and through home schooling was able to explore her creative nature. After finishing high school in 2004 with an Artist of the Year Award and an art scholarship for university, Nina started her Fine Arts Degree at Colorado State University. She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in painting, an English minor, and a Women's Studies Certification in 2009. In 2011, Nina was accepted as a graduate student of painting at the prestigious Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts located in Krakow, Poland. She graduated in the summer of 2013 with an Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in painting and moved to California. Nina is currently exploring new media and pursuing a career as an emerging Fine Artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She enjoys exploring different artistic techniques and is passionate about art, vintage swing dancing, activism, cooking and international travel.

Heidi Leigh Hanson (Costume Designer) is a costume designer working in theatre, television and film. Recent projects Coast of Utopia: Salvage at Shotgun players, Jacob Marley's Christmas at Marin Theatre Company, Sidewinders at Cuttingball as well as four operas with La Musica Lirica's traveling opera in Italy (assistant designer). Other Projects include Netflix's Arrested Development (set costumer), the film of the musical Lucky Strike (assistant costume designer) directed by Christopher Ashley, and Steel Magnolias directed by Jenny Sullivan at the Laguna Playhouse. Heidi holds an MFA in costume and set design from the Yale School of Drama, and a BA cum laude in theatre from California State University Long Beach.

Lawton Lovely (Sound Engineer, SFMT Collective) is from Camden, Ohio. Hes a 2012 graduate of Miami University in Oxford, OH where he received a BA in Theatre and a minor in American Studies. He had 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 and later in 2013 he became a Collective Member. He has constructed puppets, designed posters, taught the youth, is an avid Juggler, as well as an in-house sound engineer. However, this hasnt prevented him from doing work elsewhere. Youve heard his mixes at Marin Theatre Companys Its a Wonderful Life; Radio Play, at the California Shakespeare Companys A Winters Tale, at Z Space with The Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra in the world premier of Be Bop Baby: A Musical Memoir, and most recently with the musical group The Bengsons and their world premier show Hundred Days. He also is an aspiring sound designer in the Bay Area. Lawton looks forward to the challenges and adventures that the San Francisco Mime Troupe has to offer year after year. Hes very proud to wear his star and to be apart of such a wonderful artistic family and community.

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.

Junelle-Johannah Taguas (Tour Manager, SFMT Collective) started at the Mime Troupe as a tech intern and summer workshopper in 2008. She remained involved with the Troupe filling various positions: Assistant Stage Manager, YTP Stage Manager, YCWP Stage Manager, and Production Assistant before becoming a Collective Member in 2013. 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. Junelle is currently in the middle of a 2-year American Sign Language/English Interpreter Preparation Program at Ohlone College.

Daniel Yelen (Props Designer), returning for a sixth Mime Troupe show, simultaneously serves as props master for a twelfth season of Donald Pippin's Pocket Opera. He has performed and designed for Lamplighters Music Theater since 1987, recently appearing in Iolanthe, The Gondoliers, and their 60th Anniversary Gala. He designed Merrily We Roll Along for Altarena Playhouse, Judgment at Nuremberg for San Francisco Free Civic Theater, The Diary of Anne Frank for Custom Made Theater, and Henry V for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Perennial affiliations include San Francisco Opera Guild's Opera á la Carte educational program, and the Gilbert and Sullivan Scenes program offered by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His costume handiwork has graced the boards of Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, Curtain Theater, Masquers Playhouse, Multi Ethnic Theater, Pocket Opera, SF Free Civic Theater, and Mountain Play productions of The Music Man, The Sound of Music, and South Pacific