Brian is a professional actor, director and educator who comes to Portland via New York, London and Minneapolis. A certified teacher in three states, Brian holds a BA in theatre education from Viterbo College in La Crosse, Wisconsin and has further trained with the New England Shakespeare Festival and the Brave New Workshop. Brian is the former head of Drama at Cumberland School in the East End of London and currently is the theatre teacher at the Northwest Academy in Portland and Education Director at Blue Monkey Theater.. Acting credits include the US premiere of Tales of Ordinary Madness.
Todd is a multi-instrumentalist musician and producer from Portland, Oregon. He has performed or recorded with many of Portland's most eclectic luminaries, including Dirty Martini, Crystin Byrd, Tony Furtado, SistersBrother, and the Pete Krebs gypsy jazz project. His writing has been published in the renowned recording magazine TapeOp. His production work with the Young Immortals reached a worldwide audience when their song "The Fever" was included on a Starbucks CD. Todd can be seen performing with Stephanie Schneiderman, Breanna Paletta, and Susie Blue. He also has a keen interest in The Theatah, and he is greatly honored to be involved with Sand and Glass Productions.
Kristen has been seen on stages from a Brooklyn NY Elementary School Aesop's Fables, Young People's Theatre Project, 1995) to Ha Noi Viet Nam (Midsummer Night's Dream, Viet Nam American Theatre Ensemble, 2000). Most recently, she was Helena in Midsummer Night's Dream at Artists Repertory Theatre, a re-production of the aforementioned Vietnamese and American A Midsummer Night's Dream collaboration, which toured as part of the NEA's Shakespeare in American Communities program. Other roles for ART include Serena in Touch, Catherine in Proof, and ensemble in Quilters. Kristen has also acted with Theatre Vertigo, Stark Raving Theatre, NW Children's Theatre, Portland Actor's Ensemble, and Portland Repertory Theatre. Kristen is a PROUD graduate of Whitman College (thank you Jack, Nancy, Pat and Debbie) and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art's one year classical acting program. A very very special thank you and place in my heart for those who gather every other Wednesday to read plays at the Hazel's, and an even bigger thanks and lots of good karma to Dick and Cheryl Hazel. You made theatre fun again! I love playing with you!
Mario is a current company member of Theatre Vertigo where he was last on stage in Where's my Money. He has worked on many Portland productions and films the past few years and will be in the upcoming Profile production of The House of Blue Leaves. Mario is a graduate of the Portland Actors conservatory.
Nathan Julius Carlson is a 2004 graduate of the Portland Actors Conservatory Professional Actor Training Program. Favorite performances include Kimberly Akimbo, The Laramie Project (PAC), Six Degrees of Separation (Profile Theatre), Little One Inch (Tears of Joy Theatre), And Antigone (Blue Monkey Theatre).“ I am excited to be working with such a talented group of local Artists. And appreciate your supporting the arts.”
SEE WRITER'S CREDIT BELOW
Joe Healy is thrilled to be a part of Sand and Glass. While always enchanted with the stage, Joe didn't pick up the acting bug until his early 30's when he took a two year intensive training course with the Portland Actors Conservatory, Class of 2000. Since then, he has performed for several theatre companies. Some of his favorite plays he has appeared in include Pageant and Shopping and F**king for Triangle Productions, You Can't Take it With You and Fuddy Meers for the Portland Actors Conservatory, Amadeus for Lakewood, All My Sons for Profile Theatre, Love of the Nightengale for Theatre Vertigo, and Titus Andronicus & Midsummer Night's Dream for NW Classical Theatre Company where he is a proud company member.
Aubrey Jessen is a founding member of Action/Adventure Theatre, and has a recurring role as Julie in The Fall of the House. Since moving to Portland, she has been lucky enough to work with such companies as 2Boards Productions, Theatre Vertigo, Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon and defunkt. She is delighted to be taking part in this extravaganza.
Lindsay Matteson is excited to be a part of this Sand and Glass production. She holds a B.A. in Literature-Theatre from Reed College, where she played Sarah in The Lover for her thesis production. Other recent acting credits include Blood Brothers (Arts Equity Inc.) and I Have Loved Strangers (Reed College). When not onstage Lindsay also enjoys work backstage, and is currently stage managing for Profile Theatre.
Michael Murphy lives, works and plays in the city of Portland. He is excited to perform in the premiere of Dietz's A Nice Big Quiet Room and to work with Sand and Glass Productions. Michael likes riding bicycles.
You may have seen Cecily in productions at such companies as: Theatre Vertigo, the late Stark Raving Theatre, Fall Guy, Profile, Oregon Children's Theater, Quintessence...or you may not have. Cecily is a graduate from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA where she double majored in Theatre and Psychology (two practically worthless majors for the price of one!). When not playing an Amazon she is a theater outreach teacher through Artists Rep. and Northwest Children's Theater. Cecily is also committed to her work with PlayWrite Inc. where as a coach she helps marginalized youth find their voice through theater.
Gary Powell has been acting professionally for many years in the Portland area. He last appeared in Profile Theatre's Six Degrees of Separation and will act in Artists' Repertory Theatre's The History Boys this spring. He is also an English teacher in a local high school.
T. Austin Sabel does plays. A founder of The Readings and a graduate of The Atlantic Theater, he blames Steven Dietz for an "incentive" which landed him in the south long ago. He pushed the arts in northeast Georgia for 10 years. In 2002 Sabel dropped an Eric Bogosian grenade, Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead, on an unsuspecting audience. This sent some running in terror ("bless their hearts") but the play sparked an interest for modern theater in small-town America. Sabel and director Lisa Q. Mount were invited to produce a "variety show"; their child, Late Night Off-Center, became a welcome stage for "out there" artists across the south: - actors, crazed violinists, aerial dancers, hip-hop poets, and writer pal Matthew Granberry. Late Night Off-Center continues to this day. With Mr. Dietz coming through on a 14 year-old bargain, Sabel considers retirement. Co-founding Sand and Glass may stave-off such nonsense, y'all.
Dan is a Jesuit alum, has a Theatre Degree from Whitman College, and is a writer/stagehand/performer with The 3rd Floor sketch comedy troupe in Portland. He likes yogurt-covered raisins.
JR Wickman has been doing theatre and film work in and around Portland since 2002. Recently, he has appeared in The Lesser Magoo, at defunkt theatre, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, at Mt. Hood Rep. Favorites include Man of Fury, with Attic Tragedy Productions, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, with defunkt theatre, Chemistry, with Roach Hotel Productions, and Fuente Ovejuna, directed by Daniel Jaquez. He would like to thank the Producers, Tamara, and Amaya.
Amaya Villazan has been living and working in Portland since 2003. Amaya recently appeared as Matilde in The Clean House (A.R.T.), and as Nora in A Doll’s House (Theatre Vertigo). Other Portland credits include Laurencia in Fuente Ovejuna (Miracle Theatre), Marguerite Ida/Helena Anabel in Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights, Prisoner 0004 in in apparati (defunkt theatre), Caroline Cassidy in By the Bog of Cats (CoHo Productions), among others. She is a proud member of Insight Out Theatre Collective and performs with their outreach program in schools around the metro area. Amaya graduated with honors from the Professional Actor’s Training Program at Dawson College in Montreal, QC.
After most recently Assistant Directing and writing for ReTheatre Instrument's inaugural production, Faust, U.S., and before that directing 2 successful seasons of Fall of the House, the late-night improvised serial sensation, Tamara is enjoying the challenge of working with a script again. After many years of stage-managing for such companies as Miracle Theatre, Profile Theatre, and triangle productions!, Tamara is pleased to be stage-managing for CITE Educational Theatre and Oregon Children's Theatre for her day job, leaving her evenings free for directing/producing endeavors, particularly with Action/Adventure Theatre, of which she is a founding member.
Devon "Devo" Granmo is a playwright, actor and musician from Portland, Oregon. He is a founding member of Action/Adventure Theater and plays drums, sax and keyboards in the bands Henry Dark, James and Donna Must Die!, Doom Circus, baines.lorraine and Nanofjord. He received his BA in Theater from Reed College where he wrote his thesis about post-modern tendencies in contemporary realist family dramas and wrote and produced a play, Dirty Water.
Ciji is a playwright and director whose primary focus is new and multidisciplinary work. As a director, she has worked with several theaters in Los Angeles and the Bay Area including the San Francisco Playwrights' Center, The Marsh, The Durham Theater, and The Cast Theater (Los Angeles). As a writer she has had eleven plays produced and several multidisciplinary shorts featured at various raves and nightclubs. She began her theatrical studies at the Los Angeles Theater Academy, received her BA from UC Berkeley, and her MFA from CalArts.
Ben Plont is a founding member of Sand and Glass Productions, he has been working in Portland theatre for 10 years. For Theatre Vertigo he directed Prague-nosis, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, and Where's my Money? For defunkt theatre he helmed The Hyacinth Macaw.
SEE ACTOR'S CREDIT ABOVE.
Portland Theater Credits for Matt Deegan include: Randell James, aka The Tune, in Spirits to Enforce (Bluestockings, Portland); coach and performer with PlayWrite Inc; member of the Liberators Improv Workshop. Plays written and produced include: Songs from the Pac-Man (dir. Jimmy Maize, the Bureau, Brooklyn); Termen Vox Machina (dir. Max Truax at Sacred Fools Theater, Hollywood); Hysterex (dir. David Schweizer, CalArts, L.A.); Whatever Happened to Little Albert? (Whitman College, Walla Walla) Received BA in Theater from Whitman College; MFA in in Writing for Performance from CalArts. Termen Vox Machina, based on the life of Leon Theremin, will be performed in Chicago this summer (go to myspace.com/radioplay).
Steven Dietz's recent plays include the Pulitzer-nominated Last of the Boys, seen at Steppenwolf Theatre; the award-winning Off-Broadway play, Fiction; and the Edgar Award Winning Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure. Mr. Dietz divides his time between Seattle and Austin – where he is a professor of playwriting at the University of Texas.
Jeff Goode is the award-winning author of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues and the creator of Disney's animated series American Dragon: Jake Long, as well as many other plays, musicals, and television shows. He is a founder of the original No Shame Theatre, and founding artistic director of No Shame Los Angeles.
Matthew Thomas Granberry grew up in the theatre, and began writing his own material for the stage four years ago. His performances have covered a variety of topics, from cannibal zombies to man-eating pornography. He recently wrote, produced, directed, starred in and catered his first full-length production, Splitsville, which had it's world premiere at the Center Theatre in Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia on March 6th.
Hunt Holman's plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver BC, Seattle, Roanoke VA and, as of this spring, Philadelphia. This production marks his Portland debut.
Dano Madden was recently named by The Dramatist as “One of “50 playwrights to watch”. Plays: In the Sawtooths, winner of the Kennedy Center’s 2007 National Student Playwriting Award; Beautiful American Soldier received second place in the University of Tulsa’s 2007 Plays for Women contest; The Wealthy Life of Sam Tyler (Stanford University Playwright’s Workshop); The Save (Mile Square Theatre); The Raccoon (Idaho Theatre for Youth); The New (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Drop (SAMUEL FRENCH, Inc), winner of the Kennedy Center’s 1997 National Short-Play Award. MFA in playwriting, Rutgers University.
After a 10 year hiatus from her long and checkered theatrical career, jb is delighted to be doing it in PDX, most reacently with Public Playhouse and Pavement Productions! By day, jb is a user experience professional who consults with high tech clients to improve their web sites and software products. Ms. Booth has an MFA in theatrical design, over 100 lighting designs up and down the East Coast, a stint at teaching scenic design and stage management at the Interlochen Arts Academy, and five years as a graduate professor of theatre at West Virginia University (go 'eers!) where she worked with IATSE 578 schlepping meat racks for rock and roll shows.
Michael's theatrical journey began in 1993 in West Jordan City, UT, where he took to the stage as an actor portraying a kid that huffed paint… After a few years in the limelight he decided that it was the technical, production, design, and playwrighting aspects of theatre that held his interest. With a new goal in mind, he and a friend set out to create a radio play called Silver Knife. They wrote, designed, produced, and performed the piece in front of a live studio audience. The piece was well received by the community, but unfortunately the duo got caught up in trying to make a living and had to put their creativity on the back burner. In 2001, after a few years of trying to figure things out, Michael moved to Portland and got his feet back in the theatre community. He has had the pleasure of stage managing for Theatre Vertigo, E3 Productions, Cardboard Box Theatre, Stark Raving Theatre, Willie Works, and Fall Guy Theatre. However, he has retired from stage management in an effort to get back in touch with the creative elements of theatre that he found so appealing during his beginning years. He is a founding member of Sand and Glass Productions. He is Shirley Manson's biggest fan.