Tanya Anderson
is a graduate of
Trinity Repertory Company's MFA acting program. Prior to this, she received
her BFA, with honors in acting, from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She performed on Trinity Repertory Theatre's main stage in Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? and The Cider House Rules, Parts I & II, and
also in The House of Yes, at Boston's Coyote Theatre. She
does commercial and voice-over work. As a resident artist for
Brown University's Arts Literacy program, she takes her skills into
public school classrooms.
Jill Blevins
is an actor, director, teacher, and nanny living in
Providence, RI. After earning her B.F.A. in Theatre at URI, she has gone on
to appear and direct at the Gamm, Perishable Theatre, Elemental Theatre
Collective, and the Artist's Exchange. Jill has taught and directed at All
Children's Theatre, the University of Rhode Island, and New Hope Arts.
She also served as a dramaturge and literary intern at Philadelphia's
InterAct Theatre and PlayPenn.
Angela Brazil
is a member of Trinity Repertory Company's resident acting
company, appearing in shows like The Clean House, A Delicate Balance,
Cherry Orchard, The Long Christmas Ride Home, All the King's Men, and
The Receptionist. She has also worked in several regional theatres and
festivals around the country. She is a teaching artist with Brown
University's ArtsLiteracy program, working in local area high schools and
middle schools, and teaches acting at Perishable Theatre. Angela has
an MFA in Acting from the University of Iowa.
Ivy J. Brunelle
is a graduate of the Trinity
Repertory Conservatory and holds an MA from Rhode Island College in Theatre.
She has performed in Providence theatre since 1988, working at Perishable
Theatre, Alias Stage (The Gamm), Newgate Theatre and Trinity Rep. As a solo artist, she
has produced and performed in her
original productions of Waking the Witch and The Shapes of Things,
which combine acting, dance and music to tell her stories.
Over the years, she has performed in half a dozen RISD films. She is a Reference and
Research Librarian
with a Masters in Library and Information
Science from URI with an interest in local history and women's studies.
Sharon Carpentier
 has worked with Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (Alias Stage),
Newgate Theatre, Perishable Theatre, The Players at Barker Playhouse and
Looking Glass Theatre. She also has worked with the Manton Avenue Project, a
local model of the 52nd St. Project in New York that features plays written
by 8-10 year olds from the local community. She has toured with the National
Theatre of the Performing Arts and has performed numerous voice-overs for
commercial and industrial venues throughout New England.
More about Sharon
Nehassaiu de Gannes
is a graduate of Brown University (MFA in
Creative Writing, Poetry) and Trinity Rep Conservatory, where, as a student
and member of the resident acting company, she performed significant roles
in several Trinity Rep productions including A Preface To The Alien Garden,
The Cider House Rules, Skin of our Teeth and Proof. In 2003, she was named
Trinity Rep Co.'s Peter Kaplan Fellow. Other acting credits include work at
Perishable, Providence Black Rep, The Gamm, National Black Theatre Festival,
Shakespeare & Co. and Toronto's Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People.
Passionate about teaching even before her collaboration with Brown
University Graduate Playwrights led her to a life in the theatre, Nehassaiu
has taught Poetry Workshops, English Lit, African American Studies and
Theatre Appreciation at Philadelphia's University of the Arts and Temple U.,
Moses Brown School, RISD, RIC and Providence ¡City Arts!. Her awards include
The Providence Athenaeum's Philbrick Poetry Prize, a Perishable Theatre
International Women's Playwriting Festival Prize, a Rhode Island Foundation
New Works Grant, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Individual Artists
Grant, and a commission from Rhode Island's All Children's Theatre. In
February 2006, Nehassaiu premiered her one-woman show, Door of No Return, at
Rites & Reason Theatre.
Elizabeth Anne Keiser
is an Artist in Residence with the ArtsLiteracy Project
through Brown University. She has performed and worked with both
ArtsLit and with the Providence Black Repertory Company for more than 4
years. She has worked in hundreds of schools and with more than 20
educational theater companies (including the 52nd Street Project and MTC in
New York). Her plays for children and adults have been performed in New York
and Providence. She has two literacy shows that tour to area schools,
including Reading Changed My Life, a testimonial packed with 103 ways (one
for every year of a 103-year-old reader's life) in which reading can change
one's life. Elizabeth is a member of AEA , SAG and NYTW (New York Theater
Workshop). Most recently, she performed with the Manton Avenue Project, her
play was performed at the Carriage House, and a student-written fable
project was performed at the Blackstone River Theater as part of a grant
through RISCA.
Hurtis Mitchner is currently employed as a Program
Manager for the State of Rhode Island where a co-worker, Sandy Crowe,
referred him to LIVING LITERATURE. Two years ago, Hurtis took a voice-over
class that reignited an interest that lay dormant since achieving a
Bachelor's degree in business. "It is my 'presence' that motivates me to
pursue my interest in acting/storytelling, and I look forward to a lasting
experience with LIVING LITERATURE as I pursue this interest."
Mark Peckham a native Rhode Islander, was
co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Wickenden Gate Theatre in Providence.
As an actor, he performed in Providence and Boston at Alias Stage, NewGate
Theatre, Boston Playwrights', The Nora Theatre Company, and New Theatre,
Inc. Mark spent three years running a violence prevention theatre program in
Central Falls with "at risk" children for Rhode Island Youth Guidance. He
has worked in Cranston middle schools on a drug and alcohol awareness
program, and currently teaches at The All Childrens' Theatre Ensemble. Mark
also tours middle and high schools performing the Rhode Island Legacy series
for RICH.
Hope Pilkington, a retired Providence elementary school teacher with thirty years
of service to the Providence school department, has performed in Rhode
Island theatres for the last twelve years. She has performed with Alias
Stage, NewGate, Cumberland Company, Matunuck's Theatre-by-the-Sea, First
Stage Providence, Perishable, and Kaleidoscope Theatres. She also appeared
in Musical America's national tour of The Music Man. Most recently,
Hope acted in Trinity Rep's Steinberg New Play festival and Alias Stage's
Everyman, Hot'L Baltimore, Tuck Everlasting, The Great Gilly Hopkins,
and A Wrinkle in Time. A Rhode Island native, Ms. Pilkington is a
graduate of Rhode Island College, and has studied acting at the Trinity Rep
Conservatory Extension, Perishable Theatre, and H. B. Studios, in NYC.
Barry Press - Artistic
Director
has an MFA
from the Yale School of Drama, and an AB in Speech/Theatre from Bates
College. Professionally, he has been an active actor/director/teacher for
over twenty years. As an actor, he has worked Off-Broadway, as well as at the
Merrimack, Seattle, Yale and Trinity Repertory Theatres, among others. He
has directed at the Roger Williams College, Idaho Shakespeare Festival,
American Stage (Florida), Worcester Forum Theatre, and a number of theaters
in Seattle. He was a co-founder, performer and one-time producer of Seattle TheatreSports, an international improvisational performance event, which has
an active educational outreach program. He has taught at Princeton
University, University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, College of the
Holy Cross, Eckerd College (Florida), University of Washington, Trinity Rep
Conservatory, Perishable Theatre Arts School, and has been a Guest Artist
and Teaching Associate at Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English
for eighteen years, at both its Vermont and Alaskan campuses. Through
National Endowment for the Humanities grants, he has brought his skills as
both actor and teacher into a variety of middle and high school classrooms,
from Alaska to Florida. Mr. Press is the founder and Artistic Director of
LIVING LITERATURE, listed in the Education Roster of the Rhode Island State
Council of the Arts, as is his own writing program, ImproWriting.
David Rabinow
has performed locally at Trinity Rep, the Gamm Theatre, and
Perishable Theatre. He is a founding member of Elemental Theatre Collective
(www.elementaltheatre.org)
which recently produced his musical A Brief History of the Earth and
Everything In It, and will be playing guitar in the Perishable/Trinity
Rep remounting of Hedwig and the Angry Inch this summer. He teaches
playwriting at the Gamm Studio and at the Trinity Rep Young Artists Summer
Institute, and is a member of Improv Jones.
Peter Sampieri
is a graduate of the Trinity Rep Conservatory with an M.F.A. in
Directing. While at the Conservatory he directed The Lesson, Oh
Dad, Poor Dad..., Awake and Sing!, The Cherry Orchard and
Marat/Sade. He was the first student in the history of the Trinity
Repertory Company to direct a professional mainstage production (Wit,
2002). He also directed The Taming of the Shrew and
A Christmas Carol.
Other directing credits include The Grapes of
Wrath, Red Noses, Crime and Punishment, and A Clockwork
Orange at The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre in Providence. Also: an
outdoor production of Othello for the Mixed Magic Theatre; A
Bright Room Called Day and Talk to Me Like the Rain for the
Elemental Theatre; Merrily We Roll Along at Providence College; and
the world premiere of Yemaya's Belly at the Portland Stage Company. He is a 2002 recipient of the Pell Award Scholarship for Artistic
Excellence.
Anne Scurria
has worked Off-Broadway in regional theatres around the country
and has been a member of the Tony award winning Trinity Repertory Company
for years. She has taught at the University of Rhode Island, and continues
to teach at the Trinity Rep Conservatory. She has been a Guest Artist and
Teaching Associate of Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English for
over ten years; and under whose NEH sponsored grants, has been an artist in
schools around the country. Anne has a BA from Trinity College, and is a
graduate of the Trinity Rep Conservatory.
Kelly Seigh
is a graduate of Trinity Rep Conservatory and also holds a BA in Elementary
Education from Stonehill College. She is a founding member and artistic
associate of Elemental Theatre Collective and has performed at theatres such
as Trinity Rep, The Gamm, North Shore Music Theatre and Wagonwheel Theatre.
Kelly is also frequently involved with the Manton Avenue Project.
Clare Vadeboncoeur,
a story performer
and master teacher, loves telling stories to the young and the young at
heart. She is a Trinity Repertory Conservatory graduate with a M.A.in Theatre and Dance from Rhode Island College, a C.M.A.
(certified movement analyst) from the Laban Institute of Movement Studies in
NY and is a RI certified teacher of theatre, dance and elementary
education. As a story performer she combines her talents as actor, dancer,
mime & writer to create and perform unique, interactive storytelling
programs for schools, libraries, festivals and special events. Clare's last
name, Vadeboncoeur, directly translated from French, means "Go with a good
heart" which she tries to live by and has incorporated into her company's
name Good Heart Productions. |
