Biography

Rotimi Agbabiaka is an actor, director, writer, and teaching artist who has performed at Playwright’s Horizons, Yale Rep, Folger Theatre, A.C.T., CenterREP, Magic Theatre, and Cal Shakes, among others. He recently directed “Romeo and Juliet” (Stanford University), “The Tempest" (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival), and “The Red Shades: A Trans Superhero Rock Opera” (Z Space). His solo shows, “Type/Caste” and “MANIFESTO,” have toured the nation, and he teaches acting and solo performance at Stanford University.

Biography

LeeAnn Dowd is a Bay Area–based artist, creative producer, and organizer whose work centers on live performance, meaningful gatherings, and collaborative processes. She has worked as a freelance arts administrator and casting director with organizations including A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, SF Playhouse, Shotgun Players, and Festival Napa Valley, and previously served as Artistic Producer at California Shakespeare Theater. She holds a BFA in Theater Performance from Chapman University.

Biography

Wesley Guimarães is a Brazilian-born stage actor, director, and writer. Recent credits include A Noise Within, Rogue Machine, the Geffen Playhouse, and the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. Additional regional credits include: A.C.T, Berkeley Rep, and the Huntington Theatre in Boston. A graduate of the MFA Program at the American Conservatory Theatre, he has had his work on film featured at festivals in the US, Brazil & Italy. Wesley is also on the faculty at Fullerton College and Pepperdine University.

Biography

Mark Jackson is an award-winning theater maker whose work in theater, dance, and performance has been seen in the Bay Area at the American Conservatory Theater MFA, Art Street Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Cutting Ball Theatre, Encore Theatre Company, EXIT Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Potrzebie Dance Project, San Francisco International Arts Festival, SF State University, Shotgun Players, and Z Space; Nationally at The Studio Theatre (Washington D.C.), The Catamounts (Denver), and Hunger & Thirst (NYC); Internationally at Arts International Festival IV (Japan), Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Bread & Roses Theatre (UK), English Theatre Berlin and Deutsches Theater Berlin (Germany). Three volumes of Mark’s plays are published by EXIT Press, as well as his book Playing Hamlet Roulette: Failure, Expectation, Possibility & Democracy. In addition to teaching in the STC and SFS Programs, Mark is the Director of Studio A.C.T. markjackson-theatermaker.com

Biography

Jeremy Kahn is an actor, educator, and facilitator from Oakland, California. His work spans professional theater, higher education, and applied performance, with a focus on ensemble-based learning, inclusive pedagogy, and the role of the arts in fostering empathy, connection, and civic engagement. He has taught and facilitated workshops in conservatory, university, healthcare, and corporate settings, drawing on a career that bridges artistic practice and experiential learning. 

As an actor, Jeremy has performed with American Conservatory Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Company, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Center Repertory Company, Magic Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, San Francisco Playhouse, Capital Stage, Ensemble Theatre Company, and Shotgun Players. His film and television credits include Looking (HBO), Unleashed, Love Is Love Is Love, The Etruscan Smile, and Dirt. He has also worked as a motion-capture artist on several releases of the NBA 2K video game franchise. Jeremy is a member of Actors' Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA.

Jeremy's teaching and research explore the intersection of actor training and applied performance, with particular interest in how theatrical practices can support communication, collaboration, and community building. He holds an MFA in Performance Pedagogy from the University of Pittsburgh and a BFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Biography

Larissa is a conservatory trained performer, director, vocal director and performing arts teacher, specializing in singing voice, bodywork & performing arts health. She equally balances her working life between performing contracts and teaching.  She completed her PhD, titled “Investigating the role of Pilates in the posture and vocal production of singers,” in which she researched how vocal production can be supported by posture and strength. Credit highlights  include Director: Pippin (SMC), Bridging Turtle Island (ATE), Jekyll & Hyde (Town Hall), Little Women (Town Hall); Vocal Coach: |:Girls:||:Chance:||:Music:| (ACT); “Sally Cato” in Mame, “Electra” in Gypsy, “Dogberry” and “Antonia” in Much Ado About Nothing, “Mrs Lancaster” in Groundhog Day: The Musical, “Marion” in The Boy From Oz, and ensemble roles in 9 to 5: The Musical, and Mamma Mia. Cabarets credits include Always Something There to Remind Me - Love as Portrayed by the music of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, The Ladies Who Lunch, and About Damn Time. Alongside her artistry, she is passionate about performing arts research and teaching, believing that high quality research supports pedagogical practices, enhances student learning, and champions career longevity. In her teaching, she seamlessly blends together her broad knowledge base, and aims to provide artists with the tools that will enhance their performance skills, vocal production and quality, movement efficiency, injury prevention and maintenance, and instrument optimization.

Biography

Peter J. Kuo (Director of the Conservatory, Director of A.C.T.'s San Francisco Semester) is a director, producer, writer, and educator focused on raising the visibility of marginalized communities. He is an alumni of the First Stage Residency at The Drama League and was named one of Theatre Communications Group's Rising Leaders of Color in 2018. Previously, he was the social justice programs coordinator at The New School, where he founded the NSD: Affinity Groups program and was involved with several equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. He taught the class “Acting Beyond Marginalization” at HB Studio, and has directed students in productions at the Atlantic Acting School and Redhouse Arts Center. Kuo previously worked as an art administrator at South Coast Repertory, East West Players, Soho Rep., and LA STAGE Alliance. He is the co-founder of Artists at Play, a Los Angeles Asian American Theatre Collective. As a director and assistant director, he has worked at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Play Company, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, East West Players, South Coast Repertory, Geffen Playhouse, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Leviathan Lab, Ma-Yi Theater Company, and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, among others. He holds a BA in drama with a minor in business management from UC Irvine and an MFA in directing from The New School’s School for Drama. 

Biography

Jenny Nguyen Nelson is an actor, writer. She was born and raised bay area and is thrilled to be back after completing graduate school. She has trained with MFA Brown Trinity Rep (Acting), PCPA Pacific Conservatory Theatre two year Certificate (Musical Theater). Jenny has also studied with Second City Chicago as part of their Comedy Studies program where she learned Improv, Sketch Comedy writing, Standup, and clown. Bay Area credits include ACT, Theatreworks Silicon Valley, SF Playhouse, Cal Shakes, and Killing My Lobster. New York credits include Clubbed Thumb and Ars Nova ANT Fest. She has also worked on several new plays through Playwrights Center, ACT, Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, and Ojai Playwrights Conference. Her play and movement mentors include Shura Baryshnikov, Mycah Hogan, and Dean Evans. For more adventures look to her website jennynguyennelson.com or check out her instagram @Bratwurst_Banhmi to follow her adventures with her dog, Doc Brown and husband Ian (both of her beloveds albeit in no particular order)

Biography

R. Réal Vargas Alanis (Tlahualil Dancer) is an interdisciplinary and multimedia artist working at the intersection of art and social justice, a Tángurhiti, bridging peoples’ together across turtle island, merging high-caliber multi-media events with radical community organizing, with joy and liberation at its core. R. Réal is a stage director, live events producer, published playwright (Concord Theatricals) member of the Dramatist Guild, Casting Society (CSA) casting director, and proudly serves as the Co-Director (students) and Casting Faculty for the Summer Training Congress at the Tony Award-winning American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). Réal’s expansive career bridges major regional houses, elite academic institutions, and vital grassroots talent pipelines. They are also the founding Artistic Director of the Sacramento-incorporated nonprofit IN THE MARGIN (ITM), where they champion national and international, radical community organizing and immersive, intersectional storytelling. They are part of the Latinx Theatre Commons Advisory Committee, part of the National New Play Network's Producing Cohort, and was a former core leader of Alternative Theater Ensemble (ATE). Réal has taught at major institutions such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Princeton, Yale, NYU and UCLA.

Selected Credits: RAGE: A Maladaptive Daydream (Co-Lyricist and Composition by Avi A. Amon; Native Writer's Theater, Artist Disruptor Awardee, recipient of Candela Playwright Fellowship on Broadway) | Directing Fellow Finalist – Alicia Key' Hell's Kitchen on Broadway | Playwright - What Fools / Que Tontas (co-written with Lauren Gunderson) | Associate Director – Between Two Knees by the 1491s (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre) | Casting Director - Play That Goes Wrong (SF Playhouse - Winner of Best Ensemble in a Comedy, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, 2024-2025) | Casting Director - Exotic Deadly or the MSG Play (Nominated Best Ensemble - Comedy, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, 2025-2026) | Casting Director Theatre Bay Area General Audition | Director – La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca (CSU Stanislaus — Award-Winning Production, Kennedy Center ACTF Region 8) | Director (World Premiere) – Exhaustion: Arroyo by Fran A. (Cutting Ball Theater & ITM) | Playwright (with archivist Margarita Alanis Cacho) – La Demanda: A Call to Action (In The Margin, B Street Theatre, National New Play Network, Drama League's Beatrice Residency Finalist, Artist Disruptor Awardee) | Playwright & Associate Director – Braided (Theatre of Yugen, ITM, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Cal Shakes, Bindlestiff Studios, NEA Awardee) | Assistant Director (World Premiere) – The Copper Children by Karen Zacarías (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) | Creative Producer – Encuentro de las Américas  (Latino Theatre Company) | Associate Stage Director – Missing (Anchorage Opera) | Actor – La Comedia of Errors (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) | Actor – RPG: Video Game Play by Reynaldo Piniella (San Diego Rep's Amigos del Rep) | Executive Producer international residency ITMéxico (ITM, California Arts Council Impact Project Awardee), Executive Producer - Bridging Turtle Island (ITM, ATE, California Arts Council Creative Youth Development Program Awardee) | Resident Bilingual Teaching Artist – Oregon Shakespeare Festival