The Marsh - MYT Marsh Youth Theater


		Faculty Bios Emily Klion is the Program Director of the Marsh Youth Theater. She specializes in bringing together artists from all over the world to explore multicultural arts with children. For over twenty years, Emily has incorporated her broad experience as a producer, composer and musical director to create theater projects for both children and adults. At The Marsh since 2001.

		Carlos Aguirre has been performing both as an actor and hip-hop artist in the Bay Area for over eleven years. He is part of the musical group Felonious and has performed with The Roots, Eryka Badu, Black Eyed Peas, Mary J. Blige, Blackalicious, Jurassic Five, L.L. Cool J, and George Clinton among others. He is also part of the all beatbox collective known as The Vowel Movement, which is dedicated to bringing vocal percussion as an art form to the forefront of musical expression. Carlos appears regularly at Intersection for the Arts with world-renowned theatre company Campo Santo and with The Hybrid Project. Carlos shares his experience as an actor, musician and poet by teaching at various schools, correctional facilities and risk environments throughout the Bay Area. His work has helped many different students from various demographics gain skills to better express themselves. He is dedicated to preserving the voice of the youth and the culture of Hip Hop.

		Susana Aragón is a visual artist and teacher from Lima Peru who shares her work with children through many media including painting, photography and video. She is artist-in-residence at Thousand Oaks School in Berkeley in partnership with Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Susana teaches art and costumes at Marsh Youth Theater. At The Marsh since 2004.

		Alex Bargas is a Bay Area native and an artistic visionary. With art beginnings in the underground graffiti scene, Alex’s artistic abilities cross a broad spectrum of categories from fine art to urban art. He has worked on murals across the Bay Area and overseas in Europe. Alex is a skilled painter and teacher and is currently studying Painting at San Francisco State University and is the Art Director for the Beyond the Bell after school program at James Lick Middle School.At The Marsh since 2007.

		Shannon Day A highly regarded and sought after private vocal teacher and coach, Shannon began teaching at the University of South Florida, where she specialized in singing technique for the “beginner”. While in San Francisco she became the founding music director for the San Francisco Event Players and an artist in residence with San Francisco Arts Education Project. She has taught at California College of the Arts, The American Conservatory Theater and The Marsh Theater and Brisbane Dance Workshop. Shannon is currently an artist in residence at Rooftop Alternative School where she is also the director of the musical theater program. At The Marsh since 2006.

		Daveed Diggs is a Bay area native with a degree in Theater Arts from Brown University. He has worked in the Bay area with Bale Techlorico, Custom Made Theater, and Cutting Ball Theater, and has performed from schools to the Orpheum stage. Daveed has worked with Youth Speaks and the Living Word Project, has performed work in the San Francisco Hip Hop Theater Festival. At The Marsh since 2005.

		Rebecca Fisher has been a theater teaching artists for over 10 years. She served as Interim Kaleidoscope Education Director. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts where she was actively involved in their former onsite and off-site arts education programs. Rebecca has performed with New Conservatory, Three Wise Monkeys, and Shotgun Players. In April 2007, she completed a three month run of her solo show The Magnificence of the Disaster, a piece commissioned by The Marsh Performance Initiative. She is the co-creator and co-producer of the East Bay solo performance series, Tell it on Tuesday. At The Marsh since 2006.

		Frederick Harris has done extensive work as concert and jazz pianist, music director, educator and coach in S.F. bay area. He has performed and toured extensively in the US and abroad with jazz luminaries such as Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Higgins, Charlie Haden, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Chico Freeman, as well as Bay Area artists, including The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, Eddie Henderson, Eddie Marshall and Madeline Eastman. Frederick's musical theater experience includes over 20 years of rehearsal/stage piano and percussion as well as Music Director for various Bay Area theaters and schools including The Lorraine Hansberry Theater, California Theater Company, Black Repertory Group, Cultural Odyssey, Mercy High School and Marsh Youth Theater. He is currently a faculty member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, RCI’s Jazz Camp West and Alvin Ailey Dance Camp and has a private teaching studio. Frederick has been a Minister of Music/Co-musical Director at the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church for 16 years. At the marsh since 2009.

		Maica Folch is a movement artist and educator from Barcelona, Spain. She teaches aerial dance, trapeze and clowning at the MYT. She has performed in theater and dance projects directed by Moshe Cohen, Rhodessa Jones, Kim Epifano, Theresa Dickinson and Lizz Roman. Maica is a lover of the Day of the Dead celebration. Along with other members of the Marigold Project, she organizes the Day of the Dead festival of altars at Garfield Park. Maica has worked with home-schooled children and also with students at many local schools, such as Sanchez Elementary School, James Lick Middle School, Buena Vista Elementary School and The San Francisco School. At The Marsh since 2005.

		Lisa Mandelstein is a talented San Francisco songwriter, performer and music teacher. Currently in her tenth year at Burke's School for Girls in San Francisco after 14 years with the Larkspur School District, Lisa is trained in both Orff and Kodaly methodology and is also a Registered Music Therapist. As a singer-songwriter, Lisa's songs have garnered attention and awards from the Northern California Songwriters Association and the Just Plain Folks Music Awards. She is also a founding member of the performance group, Xephyr, which performed in Salzburg, Austria and across the United States. More information about Lisa's performances, songwriting and CD, Hide and Seek can be found at www.LisaMandelstein.com. At The Marsh since 2009.

		Cliff Mayotte As the founding Artistic Director of the award-winning company Rough and Tumble, Cliff has staged productions of Macbett, Johnny Lonely's Unhappy Hour, Tom Jones, the Bay Area premiere of My Uncle Sam, The Misanthrope, the West Coast premiere of 43 Plays for 43 Presidents, Len Jenkin’s adaptation of Voltaire’s Candide and a radio version of Much Ado About Nothing for the Bay Area Shakespeare Marathon. Next spring, Cliff will direct the world premiere of A History of Human Stupidity by Andy Bayiates. Other recent directing projects include The Caucasian Chalk Circle for Shotgun Players, and a critically acclaimed revival of Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs for Aurora Theatre Co. Cliff has also staged plays for Marin Shakespeare Company, The Marsh, Signal Theatre Co, Playground, DEO Ireland, and touring productions for Berkeley Repertory Theatre. At The Marsh since 2009.

		Lisa Quoresimo has directed, and taught at theatres around the country, and at many schools and colleges including Malcolm X Elementary in Berkeley, Rooftop K-8 in San Francisco, New York University, and the Manhattan School of Music. She was the artistic director and co-founder of the Kairos Theatre Company, which produced many Off-off Broadway shows, including a one-man show which went on to a successful Broadway run. She is also a playwright, music director and composer who has been produced widely in New York and elsewhere. Lisa holds a Master‚s degree from Carnegie Mellon University, and trained at Circle in the Square Theatre in NYC. At The Marsh since 2006.

		John Ramirez, Set Designer and Art Instructor John Ramirez grew up in the farmlands outside of Sacramento. He studied studio art at Sacramento State University and UC Davis with Mel Ramos, Darrell Forney, Wayne Thiebault and Greg Kondos. For the past twenty-five years, Ramirez has freelanced as a professional space designer, prop master, and muralist for business throughout the United States. His teaching experience includes studio art, murals and set design Mission Cultural Center, Marsh Youth Theater and Mission High School. Ramirez has a fine art studio in San Francisco Mission District.At The Marsh since 2006.

		Sonya Smith A lifelong athlete, Sonya Smith discovered dance at Macalester College while earning a degree in Biology and Environmental Studies. Since moving to the Bay Area, she has performed with Project Bandaloop, Kim Epifano/Epiphany Productions, and Zaccho Dance Theater among others. Additionally, Smith is a principle collaborating member of Eat Cake Productions and Lizz Roman and Dancers. Smith¹s choreography is often collaborative, and combines aerial apparatus, modern dance and contact improvisation. In 2006 she was awarded residency from the Jon Sims Center for the Arts. Smith coordinated construction of CounterPULSE, in the SOMA district of San Francisco. At The Marsh since 2007.

		Karina Vela has been teaching movement to children for 10 years, most of that being Ballet Folkórico Mexicano and Creative Dance. She currently is the resident Dance teacher at James Lick Middle School in San Francisco. In addition to her specialty, Mexican Folklore, she is passionate about the many Dance styles of Latin America and Musical Theater. In 2003, she graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Dance. She has performed and toured with Ballet Folkórico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno, based in Oakland, CA and is currently a company member of Ballet Folkórico Alma de Mexico based in SSF, CA. At The Marsh since 2008.

		Sue Walton and K C Chapek are the creative team behind FirstStage. Together they produced nearly 50 plays during First Stage children's Theater's 23-year run at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts in Berkeley. Sue has been writing, directing, performing and teaching musical theater for children throughout the Bay Area since 1975. As a singer-songwriter, Sue performs science theater for the Lawrence Hall of Science. In addition, she writes and directs a musical mystery every summer for Cazadero Performing Arts Family Camp. K C Chapek has been a professional dancer and choreographer for over 30 years. She toured internationally with an Isadora Duncan dance troupe, and has choreographed and crewed with Masquers Playhouse in Pt. Richmond. At the Marsh since 2009.

		Rebecca Weisser has been teaching dance and choreographing shows for youth and adults all over San Francisco for the past 9 years. She currently dances with Mixtiso, a hip hop group that represents the diversity of San Francisco. She has a strong commitment to empowering youth through the arts. At The Marsh since 2003.

		Russell Wright is a Bay Area native who has worked with young people on stage for over 20 years, bringing dances to life from a wide array of musical sources from all over the world. An experienced choreographer, drama teacher and playwright, Russell is well-versed in a variety of dance traditions from ballet, jazz and West African to hip hop and other forms of modern dance. Russell specializes in creating works that express the creativity of African-American influenced art forms. His drama background includes work with Lew Levinson and the Oakland Lyric Opera. Russell is a past board member of the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, where he directed Young People's Theatre Group for 12 years. He is currently the drama and movement teacher at Walden Center and School in Berkeley, California. At The Marsh since 2006.