TANYA SHAFFER’s (Playwright/Lyricist) plays have been produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, TheatreWorks, and the Eureka Theatre, and have toured to more than 40 cities nationwide. Her solo show Let My Enemy Live Long! ran for six sold-out months in the Bay Area and was awarded a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for solo performance. Her play Baby Taj, which premiered at TheatreWorks in 2005, was selected by the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Oakland Tribune as one of the Top Ten Shows of the Year and nominated for a National Theatre Critics Association Steinberg Award for the best play to premiere that year outside of New York City. It has since been published by Samuel French, Inc. She’s also the author of the critically acclaimed travel memoir, Somebody’s Heart is Burning: A Woman Wanderer in Africa. Her stories and essays have appeared on Salon.com and in numerous anthologies. She is currently a resident playwright at Playwrights Foundation. Website: tanyashaffer.com.
VIENNA TENG (Composer/Lyricist) is a singer, songwriter and pianist who has released four studio albums and one live album on the Virt and Rounder labels. Her albums Waking Hour and Warm Strangers both reached the top five of Amazon.com’s bestseller list, and she won the 2010 Independent Music Awards’ Vox Pop vote for her album Inland Territory. She has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, NPR’s Weekend Edition, CBS’s Early Show, and CNN’s News Night with Aaron Brown, and has toured with Joan Baez, Brandi Carlile, Duncan Sheik, Madeleine Peyroux, Joan Osborne, Sarah Harmer, Marc Cohn and the Indigo Girls, among others. In addition to her performing and composing career, Vienna is currently studying at the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, and will graduate with an MBA/MS this May. She is a native of Saratoga, California, and holds a Computer Science degree from Stanford University. viennateng.com
MATT AUGUST (Director) directed the Broadway, Los Angeles and Nationally Touring productions of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas –the Musical. This production broke Broadway Box Office Records both in 2006 (Hilton Theatre) and 2007 (St. James Theatre) and continues to tour the country each holiday season. He was recently nominated for the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction for the original musical Liberty Smith, which premiered at Ford’s Theatre, in Washington DC. The Los Angeles Times hailed his production of Two Gentlemen of Verona for San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre as one of the Top Ten Productions of the Year. Other directing credits include the Australian production of The Full Monty (Helpmann Award nomination for Best Director); Sixteen Wounded, starring Martin Landau, for the Long Wharf Theatre; Pig Farm, Food Chain and Time Flies for the Old Globe Theatre; Two Gentlemen of Verona and Merry Wives of Windsor for The Acting Company (off-Broadway and touring productions); and many others. Mr. August directed the world premiere of Tanya Shaffer’s play Baby Taj at TheatreWorks in 2005. His short film How to Get to Candybar is currently touring the film festival circuit. It has played the Manhattan Film Festival, the Monaco Charity Film Festival, and the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival, winning the Best Comedy Award.
CAST
JACKSON DAVIS* (Andy) has acted locally with American Conservatory Theater (Hans Christian Andersen, Happy End) TheatreWorks (The Pitman Painters, 33 Variations), San Jose Repertory Theater (Mizlansky/Zilinsky, or Schmucks), Aurora Theatre (The Best Man), The Magic (God of Hell), SF Playhouse (Dead Man’s Cell Phone, First Day of School), Marin Theatre Company (Company, Lovers and Executioners), San Jose Stage Company (Lost in Yonkers), 42nd Street Moon (Silk Stockings, Ben Franklin in Paris), and CenterREP (She Loves Me). Regionally, he has worked with Villanova Shakespeare Festival, Missouri Summer Repertory, Philadelphia Actors Theater and Moving Target in New York City. He holds an MFA from Temple University in Philadelphia and has taught at various colleges in the South Bay.
BEKKA FINK (Myra) has joyously played in the Bay Area with The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Shotgun Players (Mrs. Peachum in Threepenny Opera), Theatreworks, Brava, and A Traveling Jewish Theatre. In NYC she has worked with Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, The Village Gate, The Hangar Theatre (Johanna in Sweeney Todd). She appeared in The National Tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Evil Stepsister Joy), and 6 years of original collaborations with Tom O’Horgan (Broadway Director of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar), including a tour in Bangkok, Thailand, and Harry Partch’s Oedipus at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. TV work includes Trauma (NBC-TV), and World’s Astonishing News (Nippon TV, Japan). Her other career –supporting people to heal and let go of their internal and external clutter–is taking the form of a reality TV show, currently in pre-production. Bekka is represented by JE Talent. rockstarorganizer.com
DAVE GARRETT (Mike, Bread) has appeared with the Shotgun Players in Beardo, The Salt Plays: In The Wound, Threepenny Opera, and Ubu for President. He has also appeared at the Berkeley City Club in two productions of Becoming Julia Morgan. Dave can often be found teaching playwriting to incarcerated teens as part of the Each One Reach One organization. He is an alumnus of the theatre programs at S.F. State and UC Davis.
ANNA ISHIDA (Raina) first came into contact with The Fourth Messenger five years ago– she is delighted and proud to be a part of making this dream a reality. She has performed locally with Crowded Fire Theatre Company, Impact Theatre, Boxcar Theatre, Shotgun Players, ACT, Woman’s Will, Berkeley Playhouse, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and tours regionally/internationally with Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage, an exhilarating SongPlay based on the 9th-century epic poem that was featured in the New Yorker’s 2009 Top 12 Best Off Broadway shows and the recipient of the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Herald Angel Award and the 2008 Will Glickman Award for Best Play of the Year. She has also performed with American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She starred in San Francisco director H.P. Mendoza’s 2012 arthouse/horror feature I Am a Ghost, which received several awards on the independent film festival circuit. She is a recipient of a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award (Best Actress in a Musical 2012) and the 2012 San Francisco Bay Guardian Outstanding Local Discovery Award for Theatre. Anna is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts and Mills College.
BARNABY JAMES (Bill, Yasha) is very excited to be joining the cast of The Fourth Messenger. A recent graduate of UC Berkeley’s theater department, he spent the summer touring the Bay Area with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival performing Henry V. Favorite acting credits include Bat Boy in Bat Boy the Musical, Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Adam in Children of Eden.
SIMONE KERTESZ (Priya, Water) is a recent graduate of CSU, Chico where she appeared in The Revengers Tragedy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Chamber Music, RENT, As You Like It, Crazy for You, Sly Fox, and OKLAHOMA! She has also worked with the Marin Shakespeare Company as a summer acting intern, and recently was Assistant Director for West Side Story, produced by the Youth Musical Theatre Company. She is absolutely thrilled to be making her professional debut in this beautiful production.
ANNEMARIA RAJALA* (Mama Sid) is thrilled to be a part of the world premiere of this gorgeous play. A newcomer to the Bay Area, she was last seen as Hedwig #5 in the Boxcar production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. A native of Finland, she relocated to Miami to attend New World School of the Arts, where she earned a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre Performance. She was a core company member of the New Theater in Miami, Florida, where she played over a dozen leading roles, including Joan of Arc in Saint Joan, Imogen in Cymbeline, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Meta in Times Like These (Carbonell Nomination: Best Actress). She performed with many other Florida companies as well, including Actors’ Playhouse, Women’s Theatre Project, Miami Light Project, and Mosaic Theatre. When not performing, Annemaria spends her time teaching yoga with Yoga to the People in the Bay Area.
WILL SPRINGHORN JR.* (Sam, Sunny) holds a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MFA from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. He has recently been seen in the Bay Area as Kent in Reasons to be Pretty with San Jose Stage Company, Will in Coronado at SF Playhouse, and Edmund in King Lear with San Francisco Shakepseare Festival are favorites among Will’s Bay Area credits. He has also appeared with Theatreworks, The Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, SF Playhouse, Theatre Rhinoceros, and Berkeley Rep. Will recently wrapped The Spirit Machine, from Spin Dry Productions. Will teaches Acting, Sheakepeare and Stage Combat at Diablo Valley College and Notre Dame de Namur University. He is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association. willspringhornjr.com
CATHLEEN RIDDLEY* (Beverly, Clara, Ms. Calamity) has been involved in workshops of The Fourth Messenger for many years and is so proud to see this amazing work finally come to fruition as a full production. Cathleen has performed in leading and supporting roles in Bay Area theaters including Theatreworks, SF Playhouse, Central Works, BRAVA!, Marin Theatre Company, The Magic Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Berkeley Playhouse, and American Conservatory Theatre, and in Best of Playground 2012. She can be seen in the movie La Mission and in an episode of the television drama Trauma, and can be heard in voiceovers in a variety of media. She is currently working on a restorative justice theater project with inmates at San Quentin State Prison. Cathleen is a TBA member, a PlayGround company member, an alumna of The Juilliard School, a certified Sign Language interpreter, and has an MA in Sociology.
ALEXIS WONG (Jill, May) was most recently seen as Lady Thiang in The King and I, at DMT. Local credits include: Ray of Light Theatre (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Baby, Jerry Springer the Musical), Contra Costa Civic Theater (Nine, Barnum), Ten Red Hen ({The 99-Cent}, Miss Saigon) as well as originating characters in The Clown Bible, Sweetie Tanya – the Demon Barista of Valencia Street, The Chinese Angle and The Gilded. She proudly serves on the artistic production team for Ray of Light Theatre (Assassins — Winner 8 2011 BATCC Awards, Tommy, The Full Monty, Sweeney Todd) She holds a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley.
REGGIE D. WHITE (Derekh, Delilah) is a Bay Area actor/singer and has worked with San Jose Rep, Theatreworks, The SF Mime Troupe, SF Shakes, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, InterSection For The Arts, Boxcar Theatre, Crowded Fire Theatre, Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, and many others. He is also a company member at Impact Theatre and PlayGroundSF and teaches for Berkeley Rep and Cal Shakes. He is a 2012 Theatre Bay Area TITAN Award winner, and is currently writing and composing his first solo neo-soul album. He will next be seen in Marin Theatre Company’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. reggiedwhite.com
*Member, Actors’ Equity Association
CREATIVE TEAM
CHRISTOPHER WINSLOW (Music Director) was the music director/pianist for The Lily’s Revenge at the Magic Theatre in April, 2011. His composition Stinkity Stank was selected as part of the Best of PlayGround Series. Christopher has composed 3 full-length theater pieces, Gaveston based on King Edward II and Peer Gynt with playwright Ken Prestinizi and OMFG! The Internet Dating Musical which had its world premiere at ODC Theater in 2011. His electronic composition Slinky was part of the 60×60 series. In December, his solo art exhibit One of a Kind was shown at Magnet.
JOE RAGEY (Set Designer) has been involved in theatrical design since 1968, and has designed over 300 productions. He has designed more than 50 shows for Palo Alto-based TheatreWorks, including many world and regional musical and new play premieres, and more than 80 shows for Foothill Music Theatre, the professional wing of Foothill College. He has designed for Actors Theatre of Louisville (where he was the international design coordinator for theatre festivals in Ireland, Finland, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia), Shakespeare Santa Cruz, California Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, and many others. He has been awarded multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, as well as Los Angeles DramaLogue Awards and Dean Goodman’s Choice Awards. He is currently a professor of fine art, computer graphics and design at Foothill College. He previously worked with Matt August on the world premiere production of Tanya Shaffer’s Baby Taj at TheatreWorks.
FUMIKO BIELEFELDT (Costume Designer) has designed for theaters throughout the Bay Area, including American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and TheatreWorks. Elsewhere, her designs have appeared at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Tokyo Shitamachi Theatre Festival, and the Tokyo Theatre for Children. She is a graduate of Waseda University in Tokyo and studied costume design at Stanford. Ms. Bielefeldt has received awards for her designs, including the 2004 Barbara Bladen Porter Special Award, Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Awards, Dean Goodman Choice Awards, Back Stage West Garland. She was also the costume designer for Tanya Shaffer’s play Baby Taj at TheatreWorks, for which she won a Bay Area Theatre Critics Association Circle Award.
STEVE MANNSHARDT (Lighting Designer) has worked in regional theater for the past 20 years and is currently the resident lighting designer at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto. Other regional credits include the Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven; A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle; American Repertory Theater, Cambridge; Studio Arena Theatre, Buffalo; Magic Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, Vermont; Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company; and Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Ireland. Steve previously taught lighting design at Santa Rosa Junior College and currently runs both a non-profit organization benefitting children in Nepal and an adventure travel company in India.
ROBIN REYNOLDS (Orchestrator) is a Bay Area native and holds a Bachelor’s of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory. Since returning to the Bay Area in 2001, she has composed and performed in ensembles including the rock band My Hero, the Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, and the San Francisco-based composing collective Nanos Operetta. Within these groups, she has co-created several works for chamber ensemble, dance, and physical performance, at festivals such as the San Francisco International Arts Festival, the Crucible Fire Arts Festival (with the Copper Lantern Fire Theater dance troupe), and the 3 Drops of Blood series (with Nanos Operetta). She has composed and played on soundtracks to multiple independent films including the score for Bahman Kiarostami’s film Persian Gardens with Nanos Operetta, several hip hop albums including local artists Lyrics Born, Ledesi and Blackalicious.
BRIDGETTE LORIAUX (Choreographer) is a dancer and actor who recently returned to the United States after traveling, performing, and choreographing internationally for the last decade. Her choreographic credits include: HONK! For Shakespeare Santa Cruz & UCSC; Spring Break: The Musical (Eureka Theatre); In the Wound (Shotgun Players); Charlotte’s Web (Peninsula Youth Theatre); Le Petit Mort at (Darb 1718) Cairo, Egypt; Dick Wittington (New Wolsey Theatre) Ipswich, England; Beloved, her one woman theatre movement piece for the (Nova Danca Dance Festival) in Sao Paulo, Brazil; and was the Head of Show Production for Uneeq Entertainment Dubai U.A.E. Her Theatre/Performance credits include: The Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, Beijing 2008; De La Guarda Villa Villa (Off-Broadway NYC & World Tour); Four seasons at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival; danced under the direction of David HoChoy, Artisctic Director of Dance Kaleidoscope; Tamam in The Black Eyed (The Magic Theatre); Ariel The Tempest (Mill Mountain Theatre); The Boy Henry V (California Shakespeare Festival); Scappino in Pagliacci (Opera San Jose); Lisa/Hunter Peter and the Wolf (Hackney Empire) London, England. Bridgette currently resides in Santa Clara, California.
DAVID GLUCK (General Manager) is an independent commercial general manager and nonprofit arts consultant. His current production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch can be seen at the Boxcar Playhouse in San Francisco. Mr. Gluck served for two years as the senior management executive in London on the long-running Tony Award- and Olivier Award-winning production of the musical Chicago. In New York, he produced Man of Rock as part of the 2011 New York Musical Theatre Festival. In San Francisco, he has served as general manager for The Bright River (Brava Theater), the commercial transfer of Marin Theatre Company’s Killer Joe (Magic Theatre), and a backers audition for Hollywood Pinafore. He has also served as both Managing Director and Finance Director of the Magic Theatre, and as Development Director of California Shakespeare Theater. Mr. Gluck founded and currently runs Silverwolf Arts Finance, providing accounting and financial management services to nonprofit arts organizations such as CounterPULSE, San Francisco Center for the Book, Playwrights Foundation, GroundSpark: Igniting Social Change Through Film, and others. In addition, he currently serves as Finance Director of Intersection for the Arts, Treasurer of Theatre Bay Area, and Treasurer of the San Francisco Arts Democratic Club.
