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Artists Biographies
Sarah Al Kassab (Costume Design)
Simin Behbahani (Poet)
Ali El-Gasseir (Gilad, Sami)
Yussef El Guindi (Playwright)
Arlene Hood (Director)
Danielle Levin* (Robin, Tanya)
Julian López-Morillas*
(Mourid, Soul Ensemble)
Jon M. Marshall* (Stage Manager)
Amy Mueller (Director)
Evren Odcikin (Director)
Darl Andrew Packard (Production Manager)
Garth Petal (Soul Ensemble, Ray)
Jacob Petrie (Lighting Designer)
Sara Razavi (Hoda, Marguerite).
Mark Routhier (Director)
Laura Shamas (Playwright)
Liz Seibert (Set Design)
Lynne Soffer* (Miriam, Soul Ensemble)
Naomi Wallace (Playwright)
Zachary Watkins (Sound Design)
Torange Yeghiazarian (Director)
Ignacio Zulueta (Playwright)
Sarah
Al Kassab (Costume
Design) recently
moved from
San Diego
where she garnered smash
reviews for her costumes
in theaters and fashion
shows. She since moving
to
San Francisco
she's done costumes for
cabarets, circuses and
fairy princesses, and is
thrilled to be working
with Golden Thread in
the new year.
Simin
Behbahani
(Poet) has
expanded the range of
traditional Persian
verse forms and produced
some of the most
significant works of
Persian literature in
the twentieth century.
She was nominated for
the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1997. Ms.
Behbehani was also
awarded a Human Rights
Watch-Hellman/Hammet
grant in 1998,
and similarly, in 1999,
the Carl von Ossietzky
Medal for her struggle
for freedom of
expression in
Iran
. Born in 1927 in
Tehran
,
Iran
of literary parents, Ms.
Behbehani published her
first poem at the age of
fourteen. She
contributed to a
historic development in
the form of
"Ghazal", as
she added theatrical
subjects, and daily
events and conversations
into this style of
poetry.
Ali
El-Gasseir (Gilad,
Sami) is
delighted to be acting
for the ReOrient
Festival and Golden
Thread Productions.
Spending most of
his time teaching and
directing, Ali is also
excited to be back on
stage again. He is
currently drama faculty
and
Director-in-Residence at
the
Bentley
School
.
Ali has acted in
the Bay Area for
companies such as
Shakespeare Santa Cruz,
Theatre Rhinoceros,
Featherlead Productions
and Rocco Risque Caberet.
Ali holds a BA in
Theatre Arts from UC
Santa Cruz and is
currently an MA student
at
San Francisco
State
University
.
Yussef
El Guindi (Playwright)
most recent
production was Back
of The Throat,
winner of the 2004
Northwest Playwright’s
Competition. It recently
won LA Weekly’s award
for Best New Play. It
was also nominated for
the 2006 American
Theater Critics
Association’s
Steinberg/New Play
Award, and was voted
Best New Play of 2005 by
the Seattle Times.
It was first
staged by
San Francisco
’s Thick Description
and Golden Thread
Productions; then later
presented in various
theaters around the
country. Another play of
his, Ten Acrobats in An Amazing Leap of Faith,
staged by Silk
Road Theatre Project,
recently won
the ‘After Dark
Award’ for best new
play in
Chicago
.
Back
of the Throat,
and two related
one-acts, Such
a Beautiful Voice is
Sayeda’s
and
Karima’s City, have been published by Dramatists Play
Service.
Arlene
Hood (Director)
teaches theatre arts at
Moreau
Catholic
High School
and served as chair of
the Visual and
Performing Arts
Department from
2001-2006. During her
tenure as department
chair, the Visual and
Performing Arts
Department twice
received an award for
outstanding excellence
from the California
Alliance for Arts
Education. Her theatre
students have received
numerous awards and
recognition for their
exceptional achievements
in theatre arts. Arlene
received her theatre
arts degree and
secondary teaching
credential from
California
State
University
,
East
Bay
. Arlene has been
directing projects for
Golden Thread
Productions since 2000
and also serves on their
play selection
committee. In 2004, her
production of Karima’s City for Golden Thread was invited to perform in
Egypt
at the Cairo
International Festival
for Experimental
Theatre. In 2005, her
students performed Mother
Courage and Her Children
at the annual Festival
Fringe in
Edinburgh
,
Scotland
. Arlene
also serves on the Board
of the California
Educational Theatre
Association as VP of
Secondary Schools.
Danielle
Levin* (Robin, Tanya)
is very happy to be a
part of this year's
ReOrient. Recent credits
include Emma -
TheatreWorks (Mrs.
Elton), Anna
Bella Eema - Crowded
Fire Theatre Company (Anna
Bella); Urinetown -
Contra Costa Musical
Theater (Little
Sally - Shellie Award
Nomination); Laughter
on the 23rd
Floor - Center
Repertory Company (Carol
- Shellie Award
Nomination); and Our
Lady of 121st
St. - SF Playhouse (Sonia).
Danielle has also
performed at Bay Area
companies including
Aurora Theater Company,
Cinnabar Theater, Actors
Theatre of Sonoma,
Woman’s Will, and Word
for Word. Next month
Danielle can be seen in Said
Saïd at Marin
Theatre Company.
Julian
López-Morillas* (Mourid,
Soul Ensemble)
has been a resident of
the San Francisco Bay
Area since 1973. His
acting and directing
work includes
productions at the
American Conservatory
Theatre, the Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, the
Denver Center Theatre
Company, San Jose
Repertory Theatre,
American Players
Theatre, San Jose Stage
Company, San Diego Rep,
the
Eureka
and Magic Theatres of
San Francisco, Berkeley
Jewish Theatre, Aurora
Theatre, Marin Theatre
Company, the B Street
Theatre in
Sacramento
, and many more. He is a
recipient of several Bay
Area Critics Circle and
Drama-Logue Awards for
both directing and
acting. In 1994, Julian
was a two-day winner on
'Jeopardy!'
Jon
M. Marshall* (Stage
Manager) is
thrilled to be working
with Golden Thread
Productions for the
first time.
He has stage
managed with theatre
companies throughout the
Bay Area, including
TheatreWorks (The Burnt Part Boys), Woodminster Amphitheater (The
King & I, Beauty and
the Beast, Ragtime),
and The Willows Theatre
Company (1776, Cabaret, AIDA, Judgment at Nuremburg, Noises Off, Deathtrap).
Jon also stage
managed Menopause-the Musical and Ruthless:
the Musical.
Amy
Mueller (Director)
is pleased to return to
the ReOrient Festival
this year. She has
served as Artistic
Director of the
Playwrights Foundation
for the past seven
years, where she has
developed plays with
over 75 exceptional
contemporary
playwrights. She is also
an artistic associate of
Golden Thread
Productions.
She has developed
and/or directed over
twenty world premieres.
Her regional credits
include San Diego Rep,
Berkeley Rep, Arizona
Theatre Company and A
Contemporary Theatre in
Seattle
. She developed the
award-winning play, Let
My Enemy Live Long!
by Tanya Shaffer.
Upcoming projects
include the development
of a new musical with
Ms. Shaffer and composer
Vienna Teng.
She thanks her
partner and their two
beautiful children for
their enduring support
and love. www.playwrightsfoundation.org
Evren
Odcikin (Director) is
an associate artist with
Golden Thread.
Directing credits: Blood
Wedding (Shotgun
Players), The Greek
Play (elastic
future), Death of
Yazdgerd (Darvag),
and numerous readings
and workshops for Magic
Theatre. Set
design credits: Beautiful
(elastic future),
ReOrient 2005 (Golden
Thread), Static (mugwumpin),
and Water Principle
(Shotgun Players).
Originally from
Turkey
, he is a company member
with elastic future (elasticfuture.com)
and an artistic
associate with Magic
Theatre. Thanks
and love to Lindsay.
Darl
Andrew Packard
(Production Manager)
hails from
Baltimore
,
MD
where he graduated with
a degree in Theater and
Communications for
Goucher
College
. Most recently he
has done lighting design
for Impact Theater's Money
and Run's Holiday
Special. He
has also served as the
Stage Manager for Citizen
Josh, the Traveling
Technical Director for
Word For Word's Strangers
We Know and the
Booking Agent for
Youth
Arts
School
and Library Tour.
Garth
Petal (Soul Ensemble,
Ray)
Jacob
Petrie (Lighting
Designer) holds a
degree in Technical
Theatre and Design from
SFSU. His designs have
been seen at the Magic
Theatre, The Foundry,
Janice Garrett &
Dancers, and El Teatro
de la Esperanza, as well
as at dance festivals in
collaboration with
choreographers Alex
Ketley, Christian Burns
and Cathleen McCarthy.
Upcoming productions
include designs for New
Conservatory Theatre,
Janice Garrett &
Dancers, Ellis Wood
Dance and The Lorraine
Hansberry Theatre.
Assisting credits
include productions at
San Francisco Opera,
Seattle Opera,
Shakespeare Theatre
Company (Washington, DC)
and Marin Theatre
Company.
Sara
Razavi (Hoda, Marguerite).
This is Sara's first
production with Golden
Thread Productions.
She has been
involved with several
Bay Area theatre
companies including,
TheatreFIRST’s Arab/Israeli
Cookbook), No Nude
Men’s Book of
Genesis; Sacagawea,
and Darvag’s Death
of Yazdgerd
but she tries to reserve
most of her energy for
elastic future where she
is a company member (Beautiful
2007, The Greek Play,
365 DAYS/365 PLAYS,
Beautiful 2005, James at
the Altar, Heavy
Days).
Mark
Routhier (Director) Bay
Area directing credits
include The
Bone Man of Benares, 70
Scenes of Halloween (Encore
Theatre), Cartoon
(Impact Theatre), someguy,
Drunken Grownups,
Iphigenia and Other
Daughters (Mettle
Theatre), Cowboy
Mouth (MGTC), and Exit
the King (Am. Citz.
Theatre).
Workshops: Carly
Mensch’s All
Hail Hurricane Gordo (University
Playwright’s Workshop,
Marin Theatre Co.), Eisa
Davis’s Bulrusher (SF Stage & Film), Marisa Wegrzyn’s Hickorydickory
and Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal
Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
(Magic Theatre).
He also directed
readings of Rick
Mitchell’s Brecht
in L.A. and Michael
Hollinger’s Opus
in the Harriet Lake
Festival of New Plays at
Orlando Shakes. Dramaturgy: Lucy
Thurber's Monstrosity
(Encore), Mike
Geither’s Stars
Fell All Night (BAPF),
Tim Lord’s The
Secret History of Caleb
Caan (University
Playwrights Workshop,
Stanford).
His short plays, Spotter,
premiered in Best of
Playground, and Leaving
premiered in S.o.S.II at
AlterTheatre. Mark is
Director of Artistic
Development at Magic
Theatre, and serves on
the Executive Committee
of the National New Play
Network (NNPN).
He received his
MFA in Dramatic Writing
from NYU.
Laura
Shamas (Playwright)
is a Lebanese American
writer whose plays have
been read/developed at
many theaters, including
Native Earth Performing
Arts (October ‘07,
Toronto, Canada);
“Playwrights Week
2007" at the Lark
Theater, New York; Soho
Theatre (London, England
– ’06 & ‘07);
Williamstown Theatre
Festival (Guest Artist
2006); Golden Thread
Productions (2006) ; The
Old Globe (San Diego);
The Geva Theater; and
The Utah Shakespearean
Festival. In November
2007, she was Guest
Artist in Residence at
the University of Texas
A & M/Corpus Christi
for a production of her
new play Moliere in
Love. Her work has been
produced by Victory
Theater (L.A.), West
Coast Ensemble,
Philadelphia Theater
Company, Walnut Street
Theater, Studio Arena,
and The Glines (NYC),
among others. She has
several published plays
including Up to Date,
Lady-Like, Picnic at
Hanging Rock, Portrait
of a Nude, and The Other
Shakespeare, and has
been honored with a
number of playwriting
awards, including a
Fringe First Award for
Outstanding New Drama
(Edinburgh), a
Drama-Logue Award, and a
2006-2007 Aurand Harris
Fellowship from the
Children's Theater
Foundation of America.
She is thrilled for Pistachio
Stories to be
part of ReOrient 2008.
Liz
Seibert (Set Design)
is a freelance set
designer, illustrator,
and animator in the Bay
Area. She is a recent
graduate of the
Religious Studies
Department at
Stanford
University
. This is Liz’s first
San Francisco
production.
Lynne
Soffer* (Miriam, Soul
Ensemble) has
appeared this year in Heartbreak
House at Berkeley
Rep, Rabbit
Hole at San Jose Rep
and Ambition Facing
West at Theaterworks.
Previously she has acted
in productions with ACT,
San Francisco Opera,
California Shakespeare
Theater, The Aurora,
Sacramento Theatre
Company, Magic Theatre,
Word for Word, Campo
Santo, Encore, PCPA
Theaterfest, Alaska
Repertory, Sherwood
Shakespeare Festival,
Acadia Repertory of
Maine, in New York City
with Direct Theatre and
29th Street Project and
Golden Thread's ReOrient
2003. She also teaches
acting, speech and
textwork and has served
as dialect/text coach
on over 150 theater
productions around the
country.
Naomi
Wallace
(Playwright) is a
recipient of the
prestigious MacArthur
Genius Award. Winner of
an Obie Award for best
play, Wallace's major
plays include Things of
Dry Hours, One Flea
Spare, The Trestle of
Pope Lick Creek, In the
Heart of
America
,
Slaughter
City
, The War Boys, The
Inland Sea
and Birdy. Her
work as well as an
Obie Award for best
play.
Naomi Wallace
was born in
Kentucky
, and presently lives in
North Yorkshire,
England. Her work has
been awarded the Susan
Smith Blackburn Prize,
the Fellowship of
Southern Writers Drama
Award, the Kesselring
Prize and the Mobil
Prize, among others.
Zachary
Watkins (Sound Design)
has studied composition
with Janice Giteck,
Jarrad Powell, Robin
Holcomb and Jovino
Santos Neto at
Cornish
College
.
In 2006, Zachary
received an MFA in
Electronic Music and
Recording Media from
Mills
College
where he studied with
Chris Brown, Fred Frith
and Alvin Curran.
Zachary has received
commissions from
Clarinetist Beth Fleenor
(www.thefrankagency.org/),
pianist and composer
Tiffany Lin, Cornish
College of The Arts, The
Microscores Project (www.johnnychang.net),
The Beam Foundation (www.beamfoundation.org/),
Somnubutone Radio Series
(www.free103point9.org),
the sfSoundGroup (www.sfsound.org/group/)
as well as a Mills
Research Grant.
His piece Suite
for String Quartet
was awarded the Paul
Merritt Henry Prize for
Composition. Zachary
recently performed at
the 2006 International
Computer Music
Conference and the 2007
Bent Festival in
Los Angeles
with his band The
Pink Canoes.
Zachary was sound
designer/composer for
the play “I have loved
Strangers” produced by
Just Theatre, which was
listed as one of the
“top ten
of 2007” in the East
Bay Express. His
most recent sound art
work entitled Designed
Obsolescence,
"spoke as a
metaphor for the
breakdown of the dream
of technology and the
myth of our society’s
permanence," review
by Susan Noyes Platt in
the Summer 05 issue of
ARTLIES (www.artlies.org/).
During October of 2006,
Zachary was an artist in
residence at the Espy
Foundation. (www.espyfoundation.org)
Torange
Yeghiazarian (Director)
writes, directs and acts
for the theatre. A
native of
Iran
and of Armenian
heritage, Torange holds
a Master’s degree in
Theatre Arts from
San Francisco
State
University
. Her play Call
Me Mehdi is included in “Salaam/Peace: An Anthology of
Middle-Eastern American
Playwrights” published
by TCG in 2008.
Other
plays include
Waves, Dawn at Midnight,
Behind Glass Windows,
Abaga. As a
teaching artist, Torange
has taught playwriting
to at-risk youth as part
of the Each One Reach
One program,
incorporated theatre
into social studies in
Richmond
’s
Washington
Elementary School
as part of
East
Bay
Center
for Performing Arts’
Learning Without Borders
program, and led acting
and play development
workshops for
Golden Thread
Productions
. She is the Artistic
Director of
Golden Thread
Productions
, where she has devoted
her professional life to
exploring Middle Eastern
culture and identity
through theatre arts.
Ignacio
Zulueta (Playwright) an
early-career playwright
based in
Oakland
,
California
. He is a graduate of
Brown
University
’s playwriting honors
program, where he
studied with Paula
Vogel, Nilo Cruz, and
Bridget Carpenter. He
was a 2004-2005
Tournesol Playwriting
Resident at Z Space
Studios and a recipient
of the 2004 William
Morris Society Award.
Readings
of his plays have been
done at the Ashland New
Plays Festival in
Oregon
, the Magic Theatre, the
Bus Barn
Theatre,
and other diverse
locations throughout the
San Francisco Bay Area.
*
Appearing courtesy of
Actors’ Equity
Association.
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