Bios

Participants

Adam Susman

“I’m a 27 year old native of Boston Massachusetts with a background in public health and theater. I am, among other things, a political/news junkie, movie nut, would-be international explorer, person watcher, writer, and activist. I’m incredibly excited to have this summer to learn, explore, and create.”

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Alma Martinez

Alma is an actor, director, producer and an Artistic Associate of El Teatro Campesino, the internationally renowned Chicano Theatre company founded by playwright/director Luis Valdez. In a collaboration that has spanned 30 years, beginning with Zoot Suit in 1978, she has been the lead actor in many of Mr. Valdez’s signature plays. She has appeared on and Off Broadway and in regional theaters across the country, Mexico and Europe. Her film credits include leading roles in the films Zoot Suit, Born in East LA, Under Fire, Barbarosa, and Crossing Over. She has studied at the Centro Universitario de Teatro (Universidad Autonoma de Mexico), Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and with Ariane Mnouchkine (Theatre du Soleil), Jerzi Grotowski (Para Theatre Lab), Lee Strasberg, Augusto Boal, and Ana Deveare Smith. She holds a Ph.D. in Directing and Critical Theory in Drama from Stanford University, an MFA in Acting from the University of Southern California, and a BA in Theater from Whittier College and is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Head of the Acting Program at Pomona College in Claremont, CA.

Brandon Spooner

“Laissez bon temps roullez!” “Hey guys, my name is Brandon Spooner and I’m a undergraduate student at the University of California, Irvine. I was born and raised in beautiful and historically enriched city of New Orleans, LA. Growing up in the Big Easy, I enjoy great stories, seafood, music, and time with friends and family! I am truly excited and blessed to have the opportunity to be apart of the institute family and can’t wait to get started!”

Chelsea Gregory

Chelsea Gregory is an Atlanta-born, Brooklyn-based artist, activist and educator who works through the media of theater, spoken word poetry and dance. She recently completed a national tour with We Got Issues!, and is currently touring with The 6 Project, a performance project that explores how race and cultural identity shape our point of view. She has been featured with such performers such as KRS 1, Rha Goddess, Danny Hoch and Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and collaborated with The Urban Bush Women Institute on a piece exploring race in the context of Hurricane Katrina.

Jana Ross

“Hi, I’m Jana Ross. Born and raised in Texas, finished up my undergrad last May in Indiana, just coming off an apprenticeship with a theatre company in Pennsylvania and so, so grateful to be working and playing this summer in California. ‘Home’ is a tricky thing to describe at 23, but I look forward to making you all a part of mine.”

Julia Taylor

Julia is an artist at Appalshop in Whitesburg, KY where she works with the Thousand Kites Project. Julia facilitates theater and writing workshops in a nearby women’s prison and is interested in using art to address the criminal justice system. She originally hails from Chicago and has found that she loves the mountains of Kentucky almost as much as she loves the streets of the city.

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Leah Cooper

“Community engagement is my favorite part of making theater, so I’m very excited to be participating in Cornerstone Institute this year. I’ll be coming from Minneapolis where I’ve lived for the last 11 years after relocating from Los Angeles. Curiosity and restlessness have led me to a wide variety of experiences in life, but currently I work as a freelance stage director and arts administration consultant.”

Leslie Carson

“After 16 years spending 16 hours a day with 16 year-olds (I’m a high school theater teacher), I am looking forward to working with a community of creative adults! I am a Jill of all trades – I paint and design sets, direct, act, set lights, teach, search for challenging material that will meet with the principal’s approval and nag teenagers to hang up their costumes, learn their lines and speak clearly. This week is typical for me – I’m teaching Samuel Beckett to the freshmen, rehearsing Moliere in full 17th century costume with the advanced students, producing our final Theatersports comedy improv show, planning next year’s Shakespeare festival, and oh yes, to keep up my social justice credentials, I’m taking Friday off to spend the day at Chowchilla women’s prison accompanying kids who haven’t seen their mothers in many months. I commute an hour to Saugus High School in Santa Clarita past fields of strawberries and cilantro because I live in the sweet small town of Santa Paula, “Citrus Capital of America.” My 100-year old house always has stray guests. My two daughters are beginning life after grad school. My 60th birthday was last week. And I don’t think it’s too late for me to learn how to become a practitioner of community-based theater.”

Liz Parker

“I am a performer and Applied Theatre student at the City University of New York currently working for a nonprofit using puppets to educate elementary school students about how to recognize, resist and report physical and sexual abuse. Using theatre to address social issues and to foster dialogue and community fascinates and excites me. I also really enjoy hula hooping.”

Marcus Renner coordinates the Fort Lewis College Environmental Center, which provides opportunities for students to take leadership on environmental and social justice issues. Marcus holds an M.S. in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with specialties in community education and youth leadership. His primary interest is in connecting people in meaningful ways with the places they call home. In his vast spare time, Marcus writes stories, poems, and plays and rambles both above and below treeline.

Michele Denise Michael

Michele is a native New Yorker currently residing in the Twin Cities. She’s a professional singer with a curiosity about the inner workings of community theater. Michele comes from a Caribbean large family– her great grandfather had 49 children, Michele’s grandmother was #48.

Morgan Holmes

“Hi, my name is Morgan Holmes and I am from San Antonio, TX. I am a sophomore English major very involved in theater, specifically playwriting and stage managing. My other interests/hobbies include Russian language and culture, volunteering and activism, and dancing.”

Ramy Erletreby

“With degrees in Drama and English from the University of California at Irvine, I’ve been living and working as an artist in Los Angeles for a few years now. My first foray into community-based collaborative theater was as a community participant in Cornerstone’s collaboration with the L.A. Muslim-American community in 2003. I went on to participate in Cornerstone’s Faith Cycle Bridge Show and last year’s collaboration with those dealing with reproductive rights issues in L.A. These days I’m a full-time Cornerstone staff member (as Communications Associate). I am over the moon about being in Eureka this summer and further steeping my relationship with this company! Honestly, community-based collaborative art-making is where it’s at…nothing gives me more artistic satisfaction and pride. I’m also a huge travel buff who has found my way through many different lands across this rich green world, but have only just begun…”

Sage Howard

“Hello! My name is Sage Howard (Helen Sage, but I go by Sage). I am a Montana native, the oldest of four siblings and an explorer. I am pursuing my MFA in Theater (Acting) at University of California at Irvine. I have traveled, lived, and studied in primarily countries that speak Spanish and a bit in Africa as well. I am many things some of which include marathon runner, writer, actress, hiker, canoer, simmer, friend, sister, girlfriend, daughter, artist, dancer, and adventurer. I am so honored and excited to be in Humboldt this summer!”

Stacia Torborg

“I graduated from Reed College about two years ago with an interdisciplinary degree in literature and theatre. Since graduation, I’ve been stage managing and doing some tech work around Portland, OR, but I’m still figuring out exactly where my theatrical talents and passions lie (I’m interested in directing and playwriting). I’m also into photography, bicycles, baking, and traveling. I will turn 24 on July 9th, the first day of the Institute!”

Victor Vazquez

Victor is a fourth year Drama (emphasis in Directing) and English (emphasis in poetry) double major at UC Irvine. He directs, writes, and photographs. Junot Diaz, Richard Siken, Borges, Neruda, Robert Lepage, Emerson and James Franco are some of his favorite men. He is both excited and thrilled to be a part of this year’s Cornerstone Institute in Eureka, Ca because he will use the tools and experiences gathered here to take back to his new and upcoming theater company: Sinequanon Theater Company. Victor will continue to write and direct for theater. Nothing excites him more than new technologies and ensemble based work in theater.

Staff

Nephelie Andonyadis (Scenic Designer) is a theatre artist and educator.  She is a Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Redlands and an Associate Artist with Cornerstone Theater Company.  She has designed costumes and/or scenery at many regional theatres including South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, the Court Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, The Acting Company, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and others.  With Cornerstone Theater Company, she has designed Los Illegals, Boda de Luna Nueva, 3/7/11- A Lincoln Heights Tale, Order My Steps, and Sid Arthur.  She has studied traditional mask carving in Bali, Indonesia and taught mask-making workshops in elementary schools in California. Before moving to California, she was an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and before that she earned her MFA from the School of Drama at Yale University and her BS from the School of Architecture at Cornell University.  She is the recipient of an NEA/TCG Design Fellowship. She is originally from Washington DC.

Alison Carey (Faculty/ Cornerstone’s Co-founder) has written or co-written over 25 of the company’s productions, and been nominated for Emmy, GLAAD and Ovation awards. A member of the Dramatists Guild, she has served on advisory or peer panels for organizations such as The Ford Foundation, Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation, the Mark Taper Forum’s Other Voices Projects, and Arts Midwest. She has guest lectured at universities and organizations around the country, including at Yale, Stanford, and the BAM/CUNY Shakespeare Conference, and taught courses at the University of Southern California and CalState LA in playwriting and community-based theater. Currently she is the Director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle.  Alison and her husband, Cornerstone associate artist Benajah Cobb, have two children.

Sage Alia Clemenco (Company Manager) is a graduate of Cornerstone Institute 4 in Holtville and is thrilled to be returning to work as part of the support staff this summer. Sage graduated from Goucher College in Baltimore Maryland in 2005 with a degree in Theater and has since worked as a teaching artist with the New Jersey Playwrights Theatre, and doing development and outreach with Bond Street Theatre in New York. In July 2008 Sage decided to go back to school to study Bodywork and Holistic Medicine at the Finger Lakes School of Massage. She is currently working as a Licensed Massage Therapist and looks forward to someday bringing her love for dance, movement and bodywork together with her deep passion as a theatre artist.

Jamie Criss (Assistant Company Manager) is a wanderer, poet and actor currently wandering in California.  She is a part of SHIFT Artist’s Collective, The Traveling Neighborhood, and Azusa Renaissance.  She loves George Harrison, owls, red balloons, character actors, writing letters, Brechtian theatre, french films, Meryl Streep, bookstores, leaves, Kerouac, and growing her hair very long.

Peter DiMuro (Guest Artist Faculty) As a director, teacher, facilitator and arts practitioner, Peter DiMuro has woven a career over a thirty year span, bridging classical, post modern, social forms and jazz styles, while splicing theatre and text, image and movement into performance works that reveal extraordinary and humane aspects of the world around us.  Peter’s  facilitation and teaching is informed by three decades of creating performance and dance works involving subject matter of wide ranging social concern and their evolutions over time: the challenges facing families and HIV/AIDS awareness was explored in residency engagement activity and through the repertory of his Boston based company, Peter DiMuro Performance Associates (1990-2000), while an enveloping scope of world-wide communities was investigated through his fifteen-year collaboration  as a performing member of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange (1993- 2008). Peter is currently the director of Dance/MetroDC.  He received an MFA in Dance from Connecticut College under Martha Myers; a BFA in Theatre from Drake University, with continued study in New York, Boston and at the American Dance Festival.  Originally from Round Lake, IL (population, circa 1970: 250),  he is the youngest of three children, the son of the Chief of Police (Dad) and a machinist /gal Friday (Mom).  He has a niece named for the Crayola crayon, Sienna. He lives in Washington, DC.

Paula Donnelly (Institute Director) I began working with Cornerstone in 1998 as a stage manager and joined Cornerstone’s Ensemble in 1999. I stage managed a bunch of Cornerstone community-collaborations including Los Biombos in Boyle Heights, AKA in Beverly Hills, For Here or To Go?, a city-wide bridge show, at the Mark Taper Forum, Peter Pan in Cleveland, and Crossings at St Vibiana’s Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles and the Festival of Faith. I was the SM for Cornerstone Ensemble shows Foot/Mouth (produced in multiple malls around Southern California) and Erik Ehn’s Mary Shelley’s Santa Claus. As a stage manager I worked on a variety of productions with Taper, Too, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, PCPA TheaterFest and other regional theaters. I was able to make the transition out my SM career to the never-boring job of planning implementing the various programs of Cornersone’s Institute.  In teaching about Cornerstone, I’m always learning about inspiring work happening in the world and meeting excellent, interesting people.  Some of my communities: 2nd gen Angelinos, Oregonians, travelers, beer drinkers, AEA, book addicts,  excellent drivers.

Mieke D(uffly) (Altvater Fellow/Institute Associate) was there for CTC’s second Summer Institute, and now she’s back for more!  She has done some interesting things since I-2, including studying in Mexico, organizing in East Harlem, writing and directing her own play, and completing her BFA at NYU.  Mieke D can currently be seen in Room for Cream, a live lesbian soap opera in NYC, and ABORTOS! , an ever-evolving dance-act-duo of original and stolen choreography, mythology, and joy without apology. She’s also developing an art curriculum for pre-schoolers with the Asian-American Arts Center in Chinatown, and learning from George Emilio Sanchez at the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics.  The search for truth and justice never ends!

Marcenus Earl (Ensemble Actor) M.C. first came to Cornerstone as a community member back in 1993 during the company’s Watts Residency when he appeared in Love of a Nightingale and Break Plates. Other community collaborations M.C. has appeared in include Broken Hearts, For Here or To Go?, For All Time and the ongoing Beyond the Diagnosis, Cornerstone’s partnership with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to promote HIV/AIDS awareness through theatre. M.C. is a graduate of USIU San Diego’s BFA Acting Program.

Kerry Farmer (Production Manager) Kerry joined Cornerstone in 2005 and his first project was the Faith-Based Bridge Show, A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters. Prior to joining Cornerstone Kerry held similar positions with Willy Bietak Productions, Walt Disney Entertainment, Encore Attractions, NetWorks Productions, Renaissance Entertainment and the German production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express. Most recently he has been involved with creating seasonal ice rinks and Production Managing the national tour of Broadway on Ice. In addition to his work with Cornerstone, Kerry is a Lighting Designer and Technical Director for the LA-based, site-specific performance group Collage Dance Theatre. He is the proud father of two adorable and talented children, Kristy Lynn and Ronald Richard who wish he still had his old job as Jungle Boat Cruise Guide at Disneyland.

Marisa Fritzemeier (Stage Manager) hails from Kansas. She graduated from Emporia State University in 2007 receiving a BFA in Theater. She has worked as a stage manager in Kansas; Kentucky; and California. Currently she is beginning to wonder if she will ever be hired in states that don’t begin with the hard K sound. This will be her third year with the Institute and she looks forward to working with all the fabulous people that will make up I-6.

Michael John Garcés (Artistic Director) came to Cornerstone after having been a freelance writer, director and performer for over sixteen years. In his initial season as Artistic Director, Michael wrote the first play of Cornerstone’s Justice Cycle, Los Illegals, in residence with undocumented day laborers and domestic workers. For the company he has also directed Someday by Julie Marie Myatt, which explored reproductive rights, the most recent Cornerstone Institute production, attraction by Page Leong, in the downtown LA Arts District, and co-directed The Falls by Jeffrey Hatcher with Bill Rauch (at the Guthrie Theater).  Other directing credits include, most recently, the break/s by Marc Bamuthi Joseph which co-premiered at the Humana Festival (Actors Theatre of Louisville) and the Walker Art Center, was recently presented at the Under The Radar Festival at the Public Theater in New York and Yale Repertory Theatre, and which will be presented by REDCAT here in Los Angeles in April. Other theatres he has worked at include Hartford Stage Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Woolly Mammoth, Second Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Florida Stage, The Cherry Lane, The Atlantic Theater Company, Repertorio Español and The Huntington Theatre. He has twice been in residence with a consensus-run collective, Sna Jtz’ibajom, in the highlands of Chiapas Mexico, collaborating closely with the extensive Mayan community there. Other plays include points of departure (INTAR Hispanic American Arts Center), Acts of Mercy (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), audiovideo (Drama League Directors Project), tostitos (Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon of One Act Plays), and he wrote the text for the oratorio Stations, a collaboration with composer Aleksandra Vrebalov, which premiered at the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, and will be performed at in Novi Sad, Serbia in April. His solo performance piece, agua ardiente, as part of “Dreaming in Cuban and other works,” ran Off-Broadway at The American Place Theatre, and he recently performed in and wrote for heartsong which was presented at the Cultural Center of the Philippines as part of “The Borges Project” for the 31st World Congress of the International Theatre Institute (UNESCO). Michael is a recipient of the Princess Grace Stature Award, the Alan Schneider Director Award, and a TCG/New Generations Grant. He is a resident playwright at New Dramatists.

Meghan E. Healey (Costume Designer) Most recent work includes the world premiere of Someday (Cornerstone Theater, Los Angeles), Max and the Truffle Pig (NYMTF, dir. Erica Gould), Prelude to the First Day (dir. Sturgis Warner, Twilight Theater Co.) and a Spanish language production of Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Boundless Theater Co.). She is the recipient of the 2007 ACE Award and the 2007 HOLA for Best Costume Design for Zanahorias (Duke Theater). Her other work includes: the American Premiere of Lars Norén’s WAR (RPT, dir. Anders Cato), and world premieres of Rob Handel’s The Knights (Target Margin, Aristophanika Festival), Milk-n-Honey (Lightbox Theater Co., dir. Ellen Beckerman), Week 52 of Suzan Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays for the Public Theater (dir. Joanna Settle), Greenzone by Rob Handel (Lincoln Center Theater Director’s Lab, dir. Alec Duffy), points of departure (dir. Ron Daniels), Kissing Fidel by Eduardo Machado (dir. Michael John Garcés, INTAR), and Blues for a Grey Sun with Nilaja Sun (dir. Louis Moreno, INTAR).

Peter Howard (Playwright) is a founding member of Cornerstone Theater Company. Born and raised in Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard College with a degree in English and American Literature and holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Department of Drama of the University of Virginia. With Cornerstone, Peter has performed in, written or otherwise collaborated on scores of productions in Los Angeles and around the country. As a playwright, his Cornerstone credits include Zones (an original, audience-interactive play exploring interfaith themes), an American Muslim adaptation of You Can’t Take It with You (the first adaptation ever approved by the Kaufman and Hart estate) and a bilingual adaptation of Lorca’s Blood Wedding (Boda de Luna Nueva: New Moon Wedding, created for the small California agricultural communities of Western Stanislaus County as part of the company’s 2005 Summer Institute). His regional theater work includes productions at the Mark Taper Forum, Williamstown Theatre Festival, American Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf, and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Peter has served on staff of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), working as a facilitator, playwright and director in a variety of youth arts programs that use theater as a springboard for dialogue on challenging human relations topics. He has directed the participatory youth script development and performance programs of a number of regional theatres including the Mark Taper Forum (The Speak to Me program) and Shakespeare Festival/LA (Will Power to Youth). Peter is also the author of three plays (collectively known as the Compassion Plays series) now touring southern California high schools, colleges and community groups through ENCOMPASS, a youth development organization based in the San Gabriel Valley: Wheels explores youth attitudes toward immigration; Kick explores the Native American mascot issue in high school sports; Horizon Line explores the root causes and impact of bias-motivated crime.

Tinamarie Ivey (Community Liaison/Advisor) is a member of the SSDC (Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers) and received both a Master and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Theatre Arts. She has trained in the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique, and a member of MICHA (Michael Chekhov Association); her training also includes voice and movement with David Smukler, (former student of Edith Skinner and Kristin Linklater), and founder of the Canadian Voice Intensive.  As a performer, she has appeared in numerous venues with favorite roles including: Claire in Fuddy Meers, Sextuplets in Wonder of the World, Mrs. Bramson in Night Must Fall, Mommy in American Dream, Pantalone in A Christmas Commedia, Claire in Rumors, Woman in Rockaby, Polly in Three Penny Opera, Rizzo in Grease and the role of Nellie in the production of South Pacific with Hollywood actress Dorothy Lamour.  In addition, Tinamarie is certified in Children’s Theater, has taught Creative Drama for the Classroom at Humboldt State University California and has been teaching for over ten years as a resident artist in over twenty schools.  She also trains educators and artists in the skills of placing the arts back in the classroom through both arts education and curriculum based lesson plans.

Geoff Korf (Lighting Designer) Geoff has worked professionally as a freelance lighting designer for the past twenty-five years. His designs have appeared on Broadway as well as at many regional theatres including The Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory, The Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Long Beach Opera, The Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, and The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Geoff first came to Cornerstone as the lighting designer for Rushing Waters in 1992. Since then he has designed more than 30 Cornerstone productions including: An Antigone Story, Los Biombos/The Screens, and For All Time. Geoff serves as Head of Design at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he has taught since 2001. He is a native of Southern California, and a graduate of California State Univ., Chico, and the Yale School of Drama.

Leo Korf (family in residence) is 13 years old and was born into a theatre family. He has grown up watching plays in performance and watching plays being made.  He was a part of Cornerstone’s I- 2 in the Central Valley, where he performed in the ensemble of  Boda  de Luna Nueva.  He has traveled extensively in Greece.  He loves computer games, books and cats.

Andres Munar (Ensemble Actor)  Like a good sake on a cold winter’s day, Andres has been known to create warm, fuzzy feelings from here to Budapest, to his native Colombia, and back. Previously at Cornerstone, Andres was part of the amazing ensemble of Los Illegals, directed by Shishir Kurup and penned by Michael John Garcés. Theater credits include: Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Lark Play Development Center, NYTW, INTAR, The Cherry Lane, Hip Hop Theater Festival, Edge Theater Company, NAATCO, and HERE Arts Center. Andres has been very funny in TV dramas that aren’t supposed to be, sad in commercials that are, and is excited but ever-so nauseous about his debut on the big screen in 2008, in Steven Soderbergh’s Cuban Revolution biopic, The Argentine.  I-6 in Eureka will be his second Cornerstone Institute ummer.

Tali Pressman (Faculty) is Cornerstone’s Managing Director.  She joined Cornerstone’s Ensemble this year after joining being on staff since summer 2007. Most recently she was the Special Projects Director at Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) where she was responsible for strategic outreach to twenty and thirty-somethings, branding and major public programming. In 2003 while at PJA Tali created and secured funding for the Jeremiah Fellowship, a year-long program that educates and trains emerging Jewish social justice leaders. She helped expand the Jeremiah Fellowship to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006. In June 2007 she was awarded The Mark Meltzer New and Innovative Programming Award from the Jewish Communal Professionals of Southern California for her creation of the Jeremiah Fellowship. She also produced PJA’s annual event Vodka Latka: Festival of Rights that brought together culture and social justice through musical performances and a candle lighting with local activists, politicians and artists. In 2005 Vodka Latka was produced in San Francisco, New York and Boston. Prior to PJA, Tali was the Director of Yiddishkayt Los Angeles where she created and spearheaded the AVADA Initiative, an innovative project to engage people under 35 in Yiddish language and culture. Her 2003 screening of The Dybbuk at Hollywood Forever Cemetery attracted more than 800 people. Tali is a participant of Reboot, a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring contemporary Jewish culture. A graduate of University of California at Santa Cruz, she studied theater and Modern Literature. She has studied writing, acting, and directing for years.

Dan Stone (Community Liaison/Advisor) is a director, writer, teacher and the founder of the Original Play Festival at CSUSB, Off the Cuff, a Los Angeles based improvisational troupe and co-founder of Sanctuary Stage.  He has directed productions from classic greek to traditional Nigerian folk stories and has been a director/videographer for numerous television affiliates and production houses. Dan’s training includes work with Mabou Mines and the American International School of Commedia dell’Arte based in Philadelphia and the International School of the Comic Actor in Reggio Emilia; he is also personally trained by world renowned Italian artist, Maestro Antonio Fava. Also, Dan’s work in experimental theatre and developing original plays was fostered by Dr. Ron Argelander, former chair of the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University. In addition to his physical theatre training, Dan has been teaching Chinese martial arts, philosophy, and culture since 1996, is a member of the Tai-Mantis Kung Fu Association and the Martial Arts Teacher’s Association.  Dan is a disciple of and a certified ‘Sifu’ by Sifu Don Newton, and Sigung Liang Kam Yuen, former technical director of “Kung Fu” the television series and founder of the Yuen Method, holistic healing process. Dan received his MFA in Directing and BA in Acting and Dramatic Literature and is the chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department at St. Bernard’s, a college preparatory institution located in Eureka, CA.  He also serves as the Artistic Director for the Eureka Theatre, Film and Concert Center located in Old Town Eureka, CA.

Jeffrey Wells (Associate Institute Director) is a Minneapolis-based dance/theater creator, performer and director.  He is a co-founder of the contemporary performance ensemble SuperGroup and has performed with SuperGroup at various venues around Minneapolis.  SuperGroup’s new contemporary musical Shouldwetitleitnoworwait? will be premiering in early 2010.  Aside from SuperGroup, Jeffrey has performed in Minneapolis in Chantal Pavageaux’s The Love Party at the Red Eye Theater and the Bryant Lake Bowl, and co-directed and performed in Bright Eye Production’s collaborative project Future/Now at the Bedlam Theatre in 2007.  Jeffrey attended NYUs Tisch School of the Arts where he studied musical and experimental theater.  While at NYU Jeffrey also received a minor in applied theater, which lead him to Cornerstone.  Jeffrey was a student in the first institute in Lost Hills, CA and has returned every summer in the role of Company Manager.  He feels so lucky to be able to attend this summer’s institute in Eureka.

Laurie Woolery (Director) is the Associate Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater Company. As a director and playwright, she has collaborated on many new works including the Justice Cycle production For All Time, A Holtville Night’s Dream written by Alison Carey and the people of Holtville, California as part of the Cornerstone Institute Summer Residency, 3/7/11: A Lincoln Heights Tale written by Jose Cruz Gonzalez and the students of Loreto Elementary, Nightingale Middle School and Lincoln High School as part of Cornerstone’s first youth community collaboration. Cornerstone commissioned her solo play Salvadorian Moon/African Sky for its citywide Festival of Faith. Several of her plays, including Scouting Reality, Bliss, The Hundred Dresses and Orphan Train: The Lost Children, have received world premieres at South Coast Repertory. As a director, playwright, educator and actor, Laurie has worked at South Coast Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Ricardo Montalban Theatre, Deaf-West Theatre, fofo Theatre, Highways Performance Space, A Noise Within, Sundance Playwrights Lab as well as the Sundance Children’s Theatre. Ms. Woolery worked with Bill Rauch on the world premiere of Lisa Loomer’s Living Out at the Mark Taper Forum and SCR’s Lovers and Executioners. She directed Amor Eterno – Six Lessons in Love (an anthology by six Latino playwrights) for the grand opening of the Ricardo Montalban Theatre. She also directed Bryan Davidson’s Reflecting Back at the Los Angeles Central Library as part of the National Tour of the American Originals exhibit and Richard Coca’s solo piece The Day I Flipped Off Jimmy Carter for SCR’s Hispanic Playwrights Project. She is a long time artist with the Virginia Avenue Project and artist-in-residence for Hollygrove Children’s Home. Laurie on faculty at California Institute of the Arts, Citrus College and Glendale College and serves on the Board of the Network of Ensemble Theaters.