THE PLAY
“When a vigilante police officer descends on a domestic violence shelter, an undocumented teen and two women face a choice: freedom or the American Dream?”
THE EDUCATION OF ADDY JIMÉNEZ is being presented with the support of a CA$H Performs Grant from Theatre Bay Area and is fiscally sponsored by SOMArts.
PRODUCTION TEAM
PLAYWRIGHT / DIRECTOR / CO-PRODUCER
Lynea Diaz-Hagan is a playwright, vocalist-composer, and installation artist based in San Francisco. Her most recent production, Ocean, an original musical theater work, was developed and directed by Katie Rubin and produced at SAFEhouse Arts in February 2018. Previous projects include Coulterville, a multimedia installation exhibited at Live Worms Gallery, and Dendrochronology: A Work in Progress, a soundscape exploring industrialization in a California logging town. Both pieces were developed with artist grants from North Street Collective. Lynea began her arts career working on the Broadway productions of Chicago—The Musical and Annie Get Your Gun, as the assistant to veteran producer Barry Weissler. The Education of Addy Jimenez marks Lynea’s return to theater production after many years, and she’s happy to be home. Lynea received an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, an MA in Music (Jazz Studies) from San Jose State University, and a BA in English from Yale University.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/DRAMATURG
Darran Moore has twenty-eight years of combined performance and production experience. Some of Darran’s theatrical highlights include Grease (Edinburgh International Fringe Festival), Chicago, and La Bohème (Opera San José). Darran was a member of Boston-based Urbanity Dance and the alternate soloist with Haitian contemporary dance company Jean Appolon Expressions. Fresh to the Bay Area’s film production community, Darran has worked as 2nd assistant director (Open House), set designer (Best Man), and has penned the award-winning short screenplay Intersex.
STAGE MANAGER
Natalie Tommasino is originally from San Diego. She’s in her third year at San Francisco State University for theatre and cinema studying management and production. Natalie’s stage management credits include: Cymbeline (Troupe Theatre), Hair (San Francisco State), and The Laramie Project (San Francisco State). Natalie is also a theater teacher with NCTC and helped co-write a play with Bocon and TuYo Theatre called Self-Conchas.
CO-PRODUCER
Michael Kabran is a producer, writer, composer, and performer. He produced Lynea Diaz-Hagan’s most recent production, Ocean. His arts writing and criticism has appeared in a variety of publications, including Washington City Paper, JazzTimes, and NPR’s Next Generation Radio. As a musician, he’s performed with numerous jazz, classical, and pop groups, including the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic.
SCENIC DESIGNER
Vicki Victoria is a theatrical and visual artist who resides in El Cerrito. She appeared as the Narrator in Lynea Diaz-Hagan’s Ocean this year, as well as in Indie theater productions including the SF Olympians and Piano Fight. An actor and singer, Vicki recently appeared in PCT’s Spamalot and Actors Ensemble of Berkley’s (AEB) The Chalk Circle. When not onstage, she photographs, creates graphic art and paints theatre flats and props for local theatre companies. Vicki will be appearing in AEB’s The Skin of Our Teeth in January 2019.
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Colin Johnson began doing lighting design and stage management in 2010 at the Garage after acting for several years in SF. He was nominated for a TBA Award and a Bay Area Critic Circle award for lighting design in 2014 for his design of Life X 3. He also does production work, sound design, box office, front of house, electrical carpentry. and direction. He’s the Technical Director at SAFEhouse.
SOUND DESIGNER
David Kelly is a sound designer/engineer and musician who writes and performs original rock music as The Tempus Fugitives, and produces and records it at Legendary Third Bedroom Studios in Santa Clara. For the musical theatre piece Ocean, David collaborated with Lynea Diaz-Hagan to develop the sound design and effects and oversaw the mixing and recording of the show’s voiceovers and vocal tracks. David just entered his third decade in the Bay Area after a lifetime mostly spent in the Northeast Corridor. When not playing the guitar or in the studio, he has a grownup job as a business and technical consultant and software entrepreneur.
COMPOSER
Jay Stapleton studied screenwriting at Stanford, where he received the Nicholl Fellowship. He spent the next fifteen years writing movie scripts (“Zack and Reba,” “Heads”). Following that, he spent another fifteen years working as a musician — performing, composing, arranging, recording, and touring with myriad bands up and down the West Coast (Miles Ahead, Noah Peterson Quartet, Project: Pimento, Lori Carsillo, his eponymous trio, etc.). He plays guitar and piano. Recently, he completed the Film Scoring Program at UCLA. His first scoring project, “Circles,” is currently making the film festival rounds.
COSTUME, HAIR, AND MAKEUP DESIGNER
Jolie O’Dell began her career at San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet as a union crew artist. Today, she designs wigs, makeup, and costumes for performing arts companies around the Bay Area and is making her directorial debut in the 2018/2019 season. Jolie’s original creations have appeared on the stages of West Bay Opera, West Edge Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, Pocket Opera, Cinnabar Theater, Oasis, and other regional houses in the Bay Area. She has also worked in crew, design, and direction for television and music videos.
PROPS MASTER & SCENIC CONSULTANT
El Verschelden is a graduate student, 4th grade teacher, bartender, and theater artist living in San Francisco. She served as stage manager and props designer for Lynea Diaz-Hagan’s most recent show, Ocean. El’s recent projects include Theater Rhino’s Oedipus at Palm Springs (Stage Manager), Troupe Theater’s Sketch by Starlight (Scenic Design), and SFSU’s Chicago! A Musical Vaudeville (Assistant Director/Dramaturg). Catch her upcoming production, Michelle Carter’s How To Pray (Director, Producer), opening April 2019. El received an Associate’s Degree in Theater from Modesto Junior College and a BA in History from UC Berkeley. She is completing a graduate degree in Theater Arts at San Francisco State University.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Willie Hagan is an educator, public university administrator, and the recently retired president of California State University, Dominguez Hills. A screenwriter as well, he is the co-writer of the Lifetime movie Child of Grace (2014). Betty Hagan is a retired educator and speech pathologist, as well as a staunch advocate for youth impacted by inequities in public education and foster care. Willie & Betty are avid supporters of innovative theatre and film and are proud to support Lynea’s production of THE EDUCATION OF ADDY JIMÉNEZ.
