Tuesday, February 2, 2016

U. S. Drag: Meet the Crew

The design and run team of any production are just as important as the actual actors on the stage. Without them, you have a bunch of naked actors standing around quietly in the dark. ;) Here's the amazing team behind the production of U.S. Drag

Noëlle GM Gibbs (Director) is grateful to the Dragon staff for their support on this project and to Meredith for trusting her with this quirky show. Noëlle is the incoming Producing Artistic Director at Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory, where she has worn many hats over the past nine years, including Associate Artistic Director, Children’s Conservatory Director, Choreographer, Producer, Production Manager, and Designer. Favorite PVTC credits include Proof, Persephone, Midsummer, and Distracted. Noëlle has also worked with TheatreWorks, Magic Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Arabian Shakespeare Festival, and Long Wharf Theatre, and looks forward to making her City Lights debut with I & You later this year. She teaches acting and directs at Crystal Springs Uplands school and was the proud recipient of the Theatre Bay Area TITAN Award in Directing in 2014. Noëlle received B.A.’s in Theatre and Dance from UC San Diego, studied at the Academia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy, and continues to explore ideas of collaboration and audience engagement in her work. Many thanks to the whole U. S. Drag team for throwing themselves so willingly into this unexpected script and to her family for holding down the fort during the rehearsal process.

Stacie Doherty (Stage Manager) received a B.A. in Theatre from UC San Diego. She worked as the Theatre Manager for four years at the Birch North Park Theatre in Southern California and has stage managed for a variety of productions and festivals including productions at Lyric Opera San Diego, Scripps Ranch Theatre, The Kings Head Theatre in London and the La Jolla Music Society. She is currently the Artistic Administrator and Resident Stage Manager at The Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory. This is her first show working with Dragon Productions Theatre.

Lindsay Saier (Assistant Stage Manager) has a bio on the way!

Scott Ludwig (Scenic Designer) is an alumni of San Francisco State University's drama department and has designed sets, props, and puppets for Urban Opera, Shotgun Players, Teatro Vision, and the New Conservatory Theatre Center, among others. Directing credits include Macbeth, The Three Sisters, The Blue Room, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and most recently worked as assistant director for Silicon Valley Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.

Brittany S. Mellerson (Lighting Designer) is a  newcomer to Dragon Productions Theatre Company and recent graduate of Point Park University’s Conservatory Program with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatrical Lighting and Sound design. Some of her recent credits include lighting design for Absolutely Fabulous at the Royal British Theatre Company and The Birthday Club of San Francisco Fringe. Others include Playhouse Jr’s Huck Finn, The Alchemists’ Lab (Sound Design), and Dark of the Moon (Assistant Lighting Design), Chess, Yo! Vikings (Audio Mixer), and Do Me! Date Me! Dumb Me! (Lighting Design) at the Rex Theatre. She’s extremely grateful to be working with such an incredible team of creative minds and helping hands.

Lance Huntley (Sound Designer) has designed sound for several Dragon productions and is pleased to be doing so again.

Katie Barrus (Costume Designer) is currently a student at the Academy of Art in San Francisco studying fashion. U.S. Drag is the first production she has costumed at Dragon Theatre. 

Charlynn Knighton (Properties Designer) is excited to join the Dragon Theatre family for U.S.Drag. Over the past few years, she has had the privilege to work as the Props Manager at the late San Jose Repertory Theatre, Theatreworks, Center Rep, and two seasons at Millbrook Playhouse as the Props Designer. Some of her favorite shows she has worked on have been Life Could be a Dream, The Snow Queen, Crimes of the Heart, She Loves Me, I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, The 39 Steps, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Boeing Boeing. Charlynn also loves working as a Teaching Artist for Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory and Starting Arts. She is planning on returning to school to get her masters in Theatre for Youth but until then, she looks forward to the adventures ahead in theatre in the Bay Area.

Ashley Taylor Frampton (Production Manager) matriculated from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Kent University, England with a B.A. in Theatre Arts, and Film and Digital Media, respectively. For the last decade she has worked internationally in both mediums as a stage manager, production manager, master electrician, properties designer, sound technician, editor and performer. Currently the Assistant Technical Director for San Francisco Sketchfest and a member of Actor's Equity Association.When not in production, she trains with mêlée weapons at Davenriche European Martial Arts School where she is an assistant instructor and apprentice to Sir Steaphen Fick.