Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Cirque Exotique du Monde: The Design Team

Kathy Boussina (Producer/Playright) Kathy Boussina is a playwright whose plays examine psychological motivations, the complexity of relationships, and personal and societal strains on ethics. Kathy holds a degree in psychology from San Francisco State University and has studied playwriting at Berkeley Repertory Theater School, New Conservatory Theater Center, San Francisco State University, The 3 Girls Theater Group, and the Tennessee Williams Institute, Provincetown, MA.  She is a member of Berkeley Playground Writers’ Pool and the Playwright's Center of San Francisco.   Other full-length plays include Tenn, a play about Tennessee Williams and his psychiatrist Dr Kubie, and A Place for Grace, a southern family’s unearthed tale. Kathy is deeply appreciative of Dragon Theater for the opportunity to bring Cirque Exotique du Monde to the stage and to the tremendous directors, cast and creative team. More about Kathy and her plays can be found at: www.strictlyplays.com

Lessa Bouchard (Co-Director) Lessa Bouchard is a member the Cubberley Artists Studio Program in Palo Alto. She has a BFA in theatre performance from the University of Detroit Mercy, and MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and Media from Columbia College Chicago. She has written, directed, performed and taught production and performance for 20 years. She produced and directed over 60 plays in Detroit, including Recuerdos de los Repatriados: Memories of the Repatriated, Night, Mother, The Elephant Man, Trinity, Hannah Free, and RaincheckShe directed and performed in Victory Gardens ACCESS project in Chicago, helping to launch Crip Slam! A celebration of disability and performance. She directed Grey at EP theatre, Feeding the Moonfish with Core Project, and Widdershins and Back Again, a multichannel video installation. She has performed with SF fringe, Epic Immersive, and City Lights in SJ, and as The Professor/Mrs Soames In Our Town at The Pear.  At Dragon, she appeared in Memory of Water, Dangerous Liaisons, The Woman in Black, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, directed Tongue of a Bird, and led ensemble-created A Moment Unbound - a “stand out new work.”

Bora “Max” Koknar (Co-Director) Bora “Max” Koknar is a Turkish-born director, actor, producer, writer and educator. Over a professional career of a dozen years as an actor and variety performer, Max has entertained over a half million people. His projects have been featured on publications such as San Francisco Weekly (Ancien Regime, Epic Immersive, 2016, Associate Director & Actor) and The New York Times (Headlands Gamble, First Person Travel, 2015 - 2017, Actor & Assistant Director).  During his career Max has had the honor of collaborating and training with movement coaches who’ve trained the Blue Man Group and the stars of Marvel’s Thor, students and collaborators of Marcel Marceau, Obie Award Winners, and Cirque du Soleil clowns. As an educator and consultant, Max partnered with institutions including U.C. Berkeley (Berkeley, CA), The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) and K-12 Schools in Ohio and California. Max is currently the Education Director, Monday and Late Night Events Coordinator, and Assistant Production Manager at Dragon in addition to also serving as Associate Artistic Director of Epic Immersive. He is so excited to be bringing the world premiere of this beautiful and timely play to life with such an amazing team of collaborators.

Emma Feeney (Rehearsal Stage Manager) Emma Feeney is overjoyed to be working at Dragon Productions Theatre Company for the first time as the Rehearsal Stage Manager! She has previously stage managed two short plays at Ohlone Community College as well as assistant directed and stage managed Singin’ in the Rain Jr. for Chrysalis Youth Theatre. She also co-directed Pride and Prejudice. However, she began her theatrical journey as an actress, earning her B.A. in Musical Theatre from San Jose State University, her favorite productions being The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later (“Beth Loffreda and Ensemble”), Disney: Workshop (“Flounder”), and Hair the Musical: Workshop. Emma would like to thank her loving parents for their support, as well as Dragon for giving her the opportunity to work with this fantastic company! 

Katie Forrest (Production Stage Manager) Katie is delighted to be working with Dragon Productions Theatre Company for the second time. She has worked behind the scenes and on stage for many previous shows. Her most work was done at Woodside High School, taking on various roles in productions. She is also studying at Canada College to obtain a double major in Business and Theater.

Charles McKeithan (Master Carpenter) has been working in Bay Area theater for over ten years now as an actor and a carpenter and is happy to be back with the Dragon for another round of fun. His past works include Voice of the Prairie at the Dragon, Walls of Jericho at the Pear, Collosus at SF Playhouse, and countless productions with Ron Gaspernetti under the guise of Thrust Scenic Design.

Nathanael Card (Scenic Designer/Lighting Designer/Properties Master) Nathanael Card does it all for theatre. When he isn't designing, he keeps busy as resident PM/TD for Youth Musical Theater Company, and also directs their teen apprenticeship program. At TheatreWorks, he recently Assistant Directed Constellations. He also works extensively as an electrician for companies including Berkeley Rep, ACT, CalShakes, and Smuin Ballet. Occasionally he even performs as a tap dancer and actor. He is a BFA graduate of the Theatre Apprentice program at Stephens College for Women (2006). Follow him @NCardCreative #DanceEveryDay

Kathleen Qiu (Costume Designer) is excited to be joining Dragon Productions for Cirque Exotique du Monde. You can see more of her work right now at Custom Made Theater Co (How I Learned to Drive). Previously in the Bay Area, she has designed at the SF Playhouse (You Mean to Do Me Harm), Palo Alto Players (The Graduate), Custom Made Theatre Co (The House of Yes) and Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre (In the Heights, Jesus Christ Superstar). Her other credits include Pirates of Penzance, Steve
Martin’s The Underpants, Dracula, War of the Worlds, and Picture Imperfect, among others, with a variety of theatres in Tallahassee and Chicago. She graduated from the University of Chicago with degrees in Chemistry and Psychology. She would like to thank the production team for this opportunity and her family and friends for their continued support.


Nick Ferraro (Sound Designer) Nicholas Solasteas is thrilled to be working in an age of miracles with this merry band of makers! He is a graduate of Santa Clara University, and has been working in (mostly) production roles for south bay theatres for nearly a decade. Favorite productions include The Charitable Sisterhood of Second Trinity Victory Church (Dragon Productions Theatre Company) Arc:Hive presents A Moment Unbound (Dragon Productions Theatre Company), Side Effects (San Jose Rep’s Emerging Artist Lab), and A Christmas Carol (Northside Theatre Company). Nick also performed in a different kind of Carol with Bora "Max" Koknar in Make Christmas Great Again: A More Accurate Account of that Infamous Christmas Eve as Told by the Miser, Ebenezer Scrooge. Of late, he has been working with Epic Immersive as a writer, designer, and community member. When he's not making theatre, he likes to play tabletop role playing games (bigger stories, smaller budgets) with the Society of Spectacled Merrymakers.

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