Theatre Archives - CreativeSonoma.org

Skylaer Palacios Acting, Audio, Ballet, Choreography, Composition, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Dance, Film, Improvisation, Improvisation, Instrumental, Latin, Media, Modern, Music, Other, Performance Art, Professional Performance, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Technical, Theatre, Video, Vocal Sky is a performing artist who has created a successful career as a singer, dancer, and actress. She was raised in Healdsburg and graduated from Sonoma State with her B.A. in Liberal Studies and Performing Arts. She has worked extensively in the commercial and film industries. For the duration of the ACE fellowship, she will be focusing on releasing new music and creating a community oriented music video that features dancing, youth, and the talent of other local artists.

Brooks Palmer Acting, Children's, Composition, Directing, Fiction, Film Office, Folk Art, Illustration, Improvisation, Instrumental, Literature, Media, Music, Non-Fiction, Painting, Performance Art, Puppetry, Storytelling, Talent, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Theatre, Video, Visual Arts, Vocal I'm a creative artist who loves to work in many fields. I write short humorous stories. I paint surrealistic art. I perform quirky improvisational songs and short stories on stage. I draw funny words-of-wisdom cartoons. I write books of surreal fantasy humor. I perform my As You Are show for eager audiences. I don't question my creativity. When it shows up, which is often, I put it on paper, or record it, or perform it. I love to put what I do out into the world, whether it's on stage, or online, or published as a book, or on a gallery wall. I love to uplift people with my creations. I hope my art makes people feel good about being alive, and inspires them to be creative in their own way.

Bridget Palmer Acting, Arts Administration, Children's, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Dance, Directing, Fiction, Improvisation, Literature, Other, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre Bridget has directed theater projects with youths ages 4 -14 for over 20 years through her programs Santa Rosa Children’s Theater, Show Biz Kidz, A Theater For Children, and her role as a Drama Specialist in Sonoma County schools. She guest directs at a variety of locations and also works for the Luther Burbank Center as a Teaching Artist. Her Residencies include Story Ninjas, Math Dance, Empowering the Inner Hero, Mastery Through Movement, and Eco-System in a Box. Bridget enjoys “play”ing with hundreds of children each year and loves the excitement of performance projects which culminate within 6-10 sessions. She studied Theater Directing at UC Berkeley and completed the LBC’s Kennedy Center Teaching Artist professional training, as well as several other Arts Integration professional development trainings related to Drama, Movement, and Storytelling. Bridget helps children become high performers through acting-based activities. Bridget also loves writing scripts and producing comedy improv. She founded and ran the 6th Street Improv adult troupe from 2008-2013 in Santa Rosa at the 6th Street Playhouse. In 2018, she wrote her first play for children: "Alex & The Magic Staff", with an anti-bullying theme. She is currently looking for a producer for her screenplay, Amazing Grace. Miss Bridget's latest passion is saving Nature. In 2023, she is launching https://wesavetheworld.org, the story sharing platform kids can use to become eco-heroes.

John Partridge Acting, Composition, Directing, Music, Theatre I have been a composer and performer all my life. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with an AB in composition and conducting. I have worked in many forms including chamber music, opera, musical theater, church music and ragtime. I am currently the Director of Music Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church of Napa and Music Director of the Sonoma Hometown Band.

Ron Pawlowski Other, Performance Art, Theatre Ron SonomaMagic is a magician, prestidigitator, and sleight-of-hand artist based out of Northern California. He performs stage magic, close-up magic, and street magic at festivals and events EVERYWHERE!

Steven Radice Composition, Illustration, Instrumental, Music, Other, Painting, Technical, Theatre, Visual Arts, Vocal Are you smiling? Is it fun? That's what I look for in my art, in my life. I want to play. I want to share. In music or visual art, I offer the joy of my heart. And yes, I've won the awards, endorsements, audiences and whatever. That's nice, but Love is what matters. Smile, dance, live the life. Balance. Enjoy.

Julia Richardson Film Office, General Services, Theatre As a professional makeup artist I work in television, series, film, commercials, corporate, documentaries and print; with 17 years experience. Straight, period and effects. My clients include: Bravo, MTV, ABC, PBS, NBC, International commercial photographers and more. National and international credits. Principal locations include Sacramento, San Francisco/Bay Area, Napa and Palo Alto. Reliable, work well with crew and talent.

Mina Rios Acting, Audio, Ballet, Children's, Choreography, Dance, Fiction, Literature, Media, Modern, Other, Photography, Theatre, Video, Visual Arts Driven by a passion for the arts, freelance journalist Mina Rios found inspiration in dance through film and exposure to live performance during her youth in San Francisco. Trained in music, theatre, and dance; followed by Journalism & Mass Communications – Rios’s decade long career path down Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations avenues spanned from 1997 until 2007 – when she found both opportunity and her true calling in arts journalism.

Jenny Sargent Acting, Directing, Improvisation, Other, Performance Art, Theatre Jenny Sargent is a physical theater performer, creator, and director, and has been an arts educator for over 20 years. She has taught physical theater, expressive movement, clowning, puppetry, and circus to students from pre-K through high school, but specializes in embodied creative learning for elementary school ages. Currently on the teaching roster at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, Jenny has experience teaching an enormous diversity of student populations in New Orleans, New York City, Paris, and California. For six years, she was a Teaching Artist for NYC’s renowned New Victory Theater, an incubator for innovative ways of activating creativity in young people. In New Orleans, she taught with Kidsmart and Young Audiences of Louisiana, where she specialized in arts integration teaching and coaching. She was also a full-time Circus Arts Teacher at the International School of Louisiana for two years. For 13 years, she has directed the physical theater company Vagabond Inventions, winner of the CAN Award for Visual Theatre from the Collective Arts Network Journal. Jenny holds a BA from Oberlin College and a post-graduate diploma from the movement-theater school Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France.

Linda Stonestreet Composition, Improvisation, Music, Performance Art, Teacher/Instructor, Theatre, Vocal Linda Stonestreet is the founder of The Sing Project which seeks to seed circle singing groups in the north bay for the purpose of re-building and strengthening community. Born in California, she is mentored by Rhiannon in the vocal river traditions and conducts improvisational circle singing. She is a Singer-Songwriter with 40+ songs published. A former long time civil-servant in the State’s Natural Resources Division (Conservation Corps, State Parks and CalFire) she utilizes her expertise in State government and water issues to grow capacity in rural communities throughout California by her work with Rural Community Assistance Corp.

Kot Takahashi Film Office, Recovery Fund Grantee, Talent, Theatre Kot Takahashi is an Actor, Dancer, and Musician from the Bay Area. His passion for the arts drives him in his life long quest for artistic and personal growth. Kot's recent theatrical roles include: “Romeo” in Romeo & Juliet, “Peter” in Prelude to a Kiss, “Han Solo” in Star Wars - THE FORCE the Musical, “Olivia” & “Sebastian” in Twelfth Night, “Francis Crick” in Photograph 51, and “Juror #8” in 12 Angry Jurors. Kot is currently studying theater, music, composition and many different styles of dance. Kot works as an instructor at Alchemia Day program teaching music and dance to adults with developmental disabilities. Kot also teaches theater at elementary schools is Sonoma County. He is one of the founding artistic directors for the new student theater company "Redwood Theatre Company”. Kot continues to forever be a student of the arts.

Patti Trimble Literature, Mixed, Multi-Media, Other, Painting, Performance Art, Poetry, Theatre, Visual Arts I'm a Marin native, and have been a painter and poet most of my life, exhibiting paintings in galleries and museums and performing lyric poems in theaters, festivals, and other venues, often with music, sometimes with projected images. My work has always touched on wild places and environmental issues, and these days my focus is entirely on climate change and the anthropocene. I think by writing and painting, as wholistically as possible. In my poems, there has always been a freedom to bring themes and styles together. I have been painting a long time, and now I just want to think better about the world and our place in it. In the studio these days sticking to a single prescribed style feels way too limiting. I want wholistic images to appear, images that tell me something new: from gestural abstraction, to realism, science diagrams, words, intuitive and imaginative surprises, appropriation, automatism, surrealism. Poetry and painting are professions, and I have also worked as a National Park Naturalist; as studio assistant to first-generation abstract expressionists (for ten years in New York); as a science and literature writer; and as creative writing and visual art professor.

L. Scott Weiss Acting, Recovery Fund Grantee, Theatre Actor / Voice Actor / Voice-over

Asherah Weiss Arts Administration, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Folk Art, Illustration, Improvisation, Mixed, Multi-Media, Muralist, Other, Other, Other, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Puppetry, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre, Visual Arts Asherah Weiss is an educator, community artist, and organizer. Since graduating from California College of the Arts in 2011, she has helped start many projects that bring people together around arts and placemaking, in Sonoma County and the Bay Area, including the PLACE for Sustainable Living in Oakland, and womb space collaborative arts in Santa Rosa. Her belief in the democracy of the arts has inspired her to bring creativity to people of all ages and abilities, including as a credentialed art teacher at Healdsburg Junior High through the first school years of the pandemic. In 2022, she co-created the globally known project Peptoc, a hotline and series of posters with uplifting messages from kids (call 707-8PEPTOC), and is now continuing the project with Jessica Martin in the form of a book full of young people’s wisdom and humor from around the world. Her excitement lies in what creativity can do for the world— making things more collaborative, sustainable, beautiful and meaningful. Current Projects include:

Co-creator of the Peptoc Project, currently taking submissions for a book of uplifting messages from young people around the world. See peptoc.net
Programs Director at Artstart
Coordinator of Earth Protector Parade at the 1st Climate Fest on April 22nd, 2022 in the Healdsburg Plaza
Artist in Residence at West Side Elementary School

Cynthia Whitman Acting, Audio, Film, Film Office, Folk Art, Improvisation, Literature, Media, Music, Other, Puppetry, Talent, Theatre, Video, Vocal I’m a professional, union voice actor based in Sonoma, with 14 years of professional stage & screen experience. I am available for voiceover work in: - Commercials - Videos - Audio Books - Animation - Podcasts - Corporate Narration - E-learning - Apps - Video Games - Audio tours - Singing - Etc. I have a professional home recording studio with… - Microphone - Røde NT1 - Interface - Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 - DAW - TwistedWave - Computer - MacBook Pro - Headphones - Sony MDR-7506 Or, I am happy to record at any Bay Area recording studio of your choice. I am also a professional high soprano singer, vocal range G3-F6, with experience in musical theatre, light opera, & choral singing. And I am available to work as an on-camera actor for commercials, lifestyle-modeling, or scripted narrative films. I am a member of both acting unions, SAG-AFTRA and AEA.

Kari Wishingrad Acting, Artisan, Fiber Art, Film, Film Office, Improvisation, Media, Talent, Theatre Growing up in New York City, Kari began her performing career at an early age influenced by attending a performing arts grammar school near Lincoln Center as well as by Joseph Kipness, a close family friend who was a Broadway Producer. She was four years old when she saw her first Broadway show “I Had a Ball” starring Buddy Hackett. When Karen Morrow took the stage and sang, Kari knew then and there that she wanted to perform. Kari has acted in plays, mostly musicals, throughout grammar school, high school and college at SUNY New Paltz. During her sophomore year abroad she joined an English language theater group in Besançon, France. Kari continued performing in theater when she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area landing a role in “Tokens: A Play on the Plague”. Produced by Whoopi Goldberg, written by David Schein, and directed by Robert Ernst. “Tokens” ran for 32 extended performances at Theatre Artaud and won eleven Bay Area theater awards. In 2002 Kari turned her focus to film, voice over, industrials, television, print, regional and national commercials. She has acted in dozens of features and short independent films, many of which have been in the festival circuit and may be seen on DVD via Netflix and Amazon.com. Kari is currently producing a film based on the “SHE” that celebrates the women of the Beat generation. She continues expanding her talents while enjoying living in Northern California’s wine country.

Rachel Wynne Acting, Ballet, Choreography, Dance, Improvisation, Modern, Other, Other, Performance Art, Professional Performance, Teacher/Instructor, Theatre Born in Ireland, Rachel Wynne moved to New York City in 2004 to continue her dance studies at Dance Space Center. In 2016 she moved to Sonoma County and has choreographed, taught and performed locally since. Choreographing professionally from the age of 18, she has received grants, commissions and awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, Irish National Dance Awards and LD Dance Trust. In 2005 she founded expandance, a cross-Atlantic dance theater company with members based in New York City and in Ireland. expandance has produced professional performances in both countries, some simultaneously, with audiences in two cities able to connect during performances. Rachel is a performer, but her big love is choreography, and bringing heart-felt, intelligent, emotionally engaging dance to new audiences. With her work, she aims to demystify contemporary dance, making it more accessible and fun for all. She also teaches modern, contemporary, ballet, choreography skills, performance etiquette, and the expandance technique to all ages. If you're a fabulous, open-hearted, creative dancer in Sonoma County who wants to create stuff, she definitely wants to meet and work with you. Rachel holds a Joint BA Hons in Contemporary Dance & Theatre from De Montfort University (U.K.) and further training from Dance Space Center (NYC) and Tanz Atelier Wien (Austria) as well as others. She has trained, taught, and performed in Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Austria, India, Costa Rica, and both US coasts.

Yuka Yu Audio, Design, Film, Film Office, Graphic Design, Media, Multi-Media, Multimedia, Music, Other, Production, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre, Video Hailing from Taipei, Taiwan, a city with a thriving nightlife that goes until the wee hours of the morning, Yuka grew up with the birth of the electronic music scene in Asia in the late 90s. Taiwan is a renegade democratic island that become independent from China. With a mix of Taiwanese, Dutch and Japanese, Yuka began DJ’ing while living in London in Camden Town, training under the London Sound Academy. “We need music so we don’t forget that there are places in this world that aren’t made out of stone. Like the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China, like the Berlin Wall between West Berlin and East Berlin, music has the ability to transcend any borders.” Yuka said. Her musical style is influenced by acid, psychedelic tunes and oriental rhythms. Immersed in a multi-cultural and conflicted atmosphere, her experience in Eastern and Western culture inspires her creation of music. Her first vinyl she bought in Berlin feature the 'jahyu', a tribel flute, where the string melodies slide effortlessly amongst a powerful roots-based dubstep beat, creating a unique sound full of flavour. While living in London, her musical career has brought her many gigs in London and Berlin, such as DJ’ing at Ministry of sound, The Cause, RoadTrip and The Workshop, Number 90, Factory 45, White Post, Vortex, Cafe 1001, Troubadour, Humboldthain Club, and Kaffee Burger. She has also performed at the One Love Heart Festival in Santa Rosa, Reeferpalooza in Sacramento, Thumpty in New York, and in New Orleans with the Dohm Collective. Yuka currently resides in Sonoma County and performs regularly in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, and Sebastopol. She aims to build a global community, a Yutopia, welcoming people of all background, nationality, color, gender, sharing music and inspiration.

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