Shotgun's Artistic Company

Shotgun Players is one of the few mid-sized theaters that still maintains a core company of artists. The company meets the first Sunday of every month and goes away for a 3-day annual retreat to debate, analyze, and celebrate our craft and process. Company members are not just exceptional artists, they are also thoughtful, community-minded people who get the big picture. They are the heart and creative conscience of this organization.
 

Andy Alabran

Actor

Andy received his B.A. in theatre from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his M.F.A. in acting from the American Conservatory Theater. He has taught acting, voice, and speech at 826 Valencia, Oakland School for the Arts, Cal Shakes, Burton High School, A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory as well as their Studio program. As Shotgun company member since 2000, acting credits include The Death of Meyerhold and Truffaldino Says No. He served as creative director for Killing My Lobster where credits include The Whole Megillah and KML Plays with Beckett (at A.C.T.).

Daniel Alley

Music Director

Daniel is a music director, pianist, and vocal coach specializing in opera and musical theater and would love to talk to you about theatre.

Nina Ball

Scenic Design, Costume Design, Scenic Artist

Nina Ball (she/ her) is a scenic designer, visual artist, and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to dozens of shows here at Shotgun, her work has been seen at American Conservatory Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep., St. Louis Rep., Theatreworks, California Shakespeare Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company, among many others.

She received her MFA in Scenic Design with a Costume Design secondary from San Francisco State University. Ms. Ball holds a bachelor degree in biology with an emphasis in marine ecology from UC Santa Cruz and studied visual art and photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. Ms. Ball has been a company member here at Shotgun Players since 2009 and is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

She teaches Scenic Design at Stanford University.

El Beh

Actor

El Beh is a theatre artist, performer, musician, singer, composer, mover, shaker and educator with a penchant for ensemble devised theatre and stinky cheese. They are a co-host of Drag Spectacular Spectacular and a proud company member of Mugwumpin and detour dance. Her cello playing has been heard nationally with such folks as Taylor Mac, The Bengsons, and the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony and their music direction and compositions have been heard through out the Bay including with detour dance and Magic Theatre. Her favorite Shotgun performances include the BATCC nominated ensemble of Three Penny Opera, Emily in Our Town, Wang Min in Caught, all parts in the roulette of Hamlet and Robert in Black Rider and they were named one of KQED’s 2017 Bay Brilliant Artists to Watch.

Caleb Cabrera

Actor

Caleb Cabrera is an actor, nanny, and pedicabbie living in San Francisco. Past Shotgun credits: The Events, Grand Concourse, Hamlet. Other credits: The Eva Trilogy (Magic Theatre), My Mañana Comes (Marin Theatre Company), Into the Beautiful North, Totem & Taboo (Central Works), Maze (Theatre Battery), This Is All I Need (Mugwumpin), Year of the Rooster (Impact), and The Tempest (Do It Live! Productions). He graduated from San Francisco State University. He currently lives with Matt Stines. He likes to rock climb and juggle.

Kevin Clarke

Actor

Kevin studied painting and mathematics at Cornell University. He’s worked as an actor, dancer, performer, and costume/prop designer since 1998. Shotgun performances: The Black Rider, Grand Concourse, Village Bike, Hamlet, Antigonick, New Electric Ballroom, Woyzeck, Coast of Utopia, God’s Plot, Beardo, Macbeth, Cryptogram, Forest War, Travesties, and Death of Meyerhold. Other appearances: Salomania, Arsonists (Aurora); Ada and The Engine (Central Works); She Rode Horses… (Crowded Fire). Dance: Chris Black Dance; Hagen & Simone (collaboration with Monique Jenkinson). He appears in the feature films Test and Pushing Dead. Kevin is a graphic artist and designed Breaking It Down: Shotgun at 20. kevinclarkeactor.com, kevinclarkedesign.com

 

Valera Coble

Costume Designer

Perry Fenton

Actor, Director

Perry Fenton is an actress, director, and aspiring world chewing gum champion based in the Bay Area. She is thrilled to be joining Shotgun as a company member after spending time with the theater in a variety of capacities since 2016. Favorite Shotgun credits include Vinegar Tom (performer), 2018's Artistic Directing Fellow, and Assistant Director for Nora. A recent graduate of San Francisco State, She can be found on and around the stage at Troupe Theater, Pianofight, and Ragged Wing Ensemble.

Mark Jackson

Actor, Director, Writer

Mark is a director, playwright, performer, and maker. His work has been seen in the Bay Area at Art Street Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Encore Theatre Company, EXIT Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Potrzebie Dance Project, San Francisco International Arts Festival, The Shotgun Players, and Z Space. Nationally at The Catamounts (Denver), Hunger & Thirst (NYC), and The Studio Theatre (Washington D.C.). Internationally at Arts International Festival IV (Japan), Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Bread & Roses Theatre (UK), Deutsches Theater Berlin and English Theatre Berlin (Germany). markjackson-theatermaker.com

Heather Kelly-Laws

Stage Manager

Heather is a stage manager, playwright, and award-winning mixtape-maker born and raised in San Francisco. She began her Shotgun adventures with Eurydice in 2015 and has been opening doors, flipping windows, and pushing buttons ever since. She is also managing and development director of Troupe Theatre in San Francisco. She loves post-punk, beets, and sideshow ephemera.

Devon LaBelle

Props Designer

Devon is a multidisciplinary artist who focuses on vivid visual and special effects components. She has fueled over 100 Bay Area productions with the physical artifacts that make them work. Devon is a resident artist with Crowded Fire Theater and a TBA-award–winning props designer. She is the props shop coordinator at San Francisco State University. Check out her blog to see what she makes. giveherprops.wordpress.com

Susannah Martin

Director, Actor

An award-winning director, teacher, and theatre-maker, Susannah’s relationship with Shotgun began in 2004 when she conceived and directed an original multidisciplinary theatre piece on faith in America called The Faith Project as part of Shotgun’s Lab. Her work has been seen at A.C.T., Boxcar Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread Productions, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Mugwumpin, the Playwright's Foundation, Porchlight Theatre Company, San Francisco Playhouse, and TheatreFIRST. Susannah is also the theatre director & arts program coordinator at San Francisco University High School and a proud company member of Mugwumpin. She is honored to call Shotgun her artistic home. susannahmartin.net

Joanie McBrien

Development Director

Joanie has been an artistic company member since 2001 and has served as Shotgun’s director of development since 2004. Over the years, she has worked to significantly to increase contributed income, directed several productions including Grand Concourse, The Three Musketeers, and Cyrano de Bergerac, and delved deeply into many plays, such as The Coast of Utopia trilogy, as a dramaturg. “Life’s bounty is in its flow. Later is too late.”

Erin Mei-Ling Stuart

Actor, Choreographer, Director

Erin Mei-Ling Stuart is a lifelong performer and theater artist with a passion for collaborative and multidisciplinary work. Erin was the founder and director EmSpace Dance (2000-2017), a dance-theater company where she's done most of her directing. In 2018, she directed 6 New Plays' production of Brian Thorstenson's Wakefield. With Shotgun Players, Erin has performed in Henry V, Kill the Debbie Downers, Iron Shoes, Nora, Brownsville Song, and The Forest War. Erin has also performed with Berkeley Rep, Central Works, Killing My Lobster, Crowded Fire, Word for Word, and Playwrights Foundation. She is a proud company member of Mugwumpin and detour dance. erinmstuart.com

Ray Oppenheimer

Lighting Designer

Ray is a San Francisco Bay Area lighting designer, educator, and creator who has been bringing his boundless curiosity, chimerical aesthetic, and sisyphean perseverance to lighting design and education since 2005. Ray graduated with an M.F.A. in theatre arts with an emphasis in lighting design from San Francisco State University in the Fall of 2017. He also is an active company member with Mugwumpin and Shotgun Players. rayoppenheimer.com

Richard Reinholdt

Actor

Richard is an award-winning actor who has been breaking it down with Shotgun Players since 1994. He has appeared in a large number of Shotgun shows and has also performed with other local theater companies on both sides of the bay. A couple all-time favorite Shotgun productions are the trilogies: Stoppard’s Coast of Utopia and Ayckbourn’s Norman Conquests. Awards: Bay Guardian (Outstanding – Principal Role), TalkinBroadway.com (top Bay Area actors), Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (Nominee – Principal Role). Richard is a San Francisco native and a Cal graduate. richardreinholdt.com

Cathleen Riddley

Actor

Cathleen is an award-winning actor who has performed at many Bay Area theaters, including SF Playhouse, African American Shakespeare Company, TheatreWorks, M.T.C., and A.C.T.—to name a few. Cathleen is a member of Theatre Bay Area, a PlayGround company member, and an associate artist with Alter Theater. She is an alumna of the Juilliard School, a certified ASL interpreter and has an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. A project close to her heart is working with incarcerated men in San Quentin in their violence prevention program called No More Tears/Healing Circle.

Katja Rivera

Director, Actor

Katja studied at Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy and the Drama Studio London at Berkeley. She first hit the Shotgun stage again with the production of Silence and the Storyteller. Other Shotgun productions include Three Sisters (Anfisa), We Won't Pay (Antonia), and King Lear (the Fool). She's also acted with the Magic Theatre, Theatre Rhinoceros, Center Rep, and Geoffrey Chaucer and Co., as well as directed with Shotgun, Eastenders Rep, Subterranean Shakespeare, Boxcar Theatre, Custom Made Theatre, and SF Playground. She is also a proud member of AEA and SF Playground.

Leigh Rondon-Davis

Actor, Director

As a performer, visual artist, and dramaturg, Leigh is Shotgun’s resident “pal about town.” Leigh has worked on a number of Shotgun productions in various roles; production credits include: Heart Shaped Nebula, The Rover, The Village Bike, CAUGHT, The Events, The Niceties, Dry Land. They are also a company member, Make a Difference program coordinator, and Champagne Staged Reading Series co-coordinator. When Leigh isn’t running frantically around the Ashby Stage, they are a company member and executive associate at Ubuntu Theater Project in Oakland. Leigh attended Wellesley College and was a member of Laney College’s Fusion Theatre Project.

Kenny Scott

Actor

Kenny Scott (He/Him) is an actor based in Oakland, California. He attended Morgan State University, and was a member of the Laney College Fusion Theatre Project (Más, The Late Wedding, and In The Wound). Shotgun productions include The Claim and The Light. Other recent credits include productions with Quantum Dragon Theatre (Ageless), The New Conservatory Theatre Center (Mystery of Love and Sex), The Forum (Sarafael) and Idiot String (Port Stories), Crowded Fire (Inked Baby). He is also a proud company member with the Oakland Theatre Project (Hamlet, Mother Courage).

Sharon Shao

Actor

Sharon Shao (she/her) is a Bay Area native actor, teaching artist, and musician. She holds a double B.A. in Theatre Arts and Psychology from UC Santa Cruz. Shotgun credits include: Vinegar Tom, Iron Shoes, Man of God (virtual reading), and Cherry Orchard (Champagne Staged Reading). Aside from acting, Sharon is passionate about teaching voice and drama lessons to youth and adults, and collaborating with her interdisciplinary art troupe, the SoulTalk collective. She also creates original work with The Forum in Oakland, devising, performing, and directing work that integrates theater and journalism. sharonshao.biz

Jon Tracy

Writer, Director

Jon works internationally as a director, playwright, designer, educator and facilitator. He is the recipient of the Kennedy Center Meritorious Achievement Award, 15 North Bay Arty Awards, a Sacramento Elly Award, two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, a Theatre Bay Area Award, and Solano College Theatre Alumni Award. He is a grant recipient from Theatre Bay Area, Shotgun Players’ Bridging the Gap, SUI Generis, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is the artistic facilitator for TheatreFIRST, co-artistic director of Groundswell: The International Theatre Intensive, company member of both Shotgun Players and PlayGround, and a proud member of SDC, the union for stage directors and choreographers. jontracyplays.com

Michelle Talgarow

Actor, Director

Michelle has been a company member since 2015. She is a Bay Area theatre-maker for over 20 years, specializing in the collaborative process in devising new work. Michelle is also a proud company member of Mugwumpin, a theatre performance collective. She also has strong roots at the EXIT Theatre in SF where two of her murals can be seen. Michelle has been fortunate to also have worked with many other local companies: The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Central Works, Impact Theatre, Ferocious Lotus, Cutting Ball Theatre, Magic Theatre, and Bindlestiff Studios.

Megan Trout

Actor

Megan is a former gymnast and has a hard time slowing down. Shotgun productions include: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Grand Concourse, The Village Bike, Hamlet, The Mousetrap, Eurydice, Bonnie & Clyde, and The Coast of Utopia. Other Bay Area credits with Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, Central Works, Just Theater, The O'Neill Foundation, Boxcar Theatre, Symmetry Theatre, and 11th Hour Ensemble. Movement direction credits include: Our Town (West Valley College), Eurydice (Palo Alto Players). Training includes a B.A. in performance from SF State and two programs completed through the Moscow Art Theatre (Cambridge and Moscow). megantrout.com

Beth Wilmurt

Actor, Director

Beth is a longtime company member having acted in over ten productions from The Death of Meyerhold to her most recent, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Hamlet. She has also directed Nora and Edward Gants Amazing Feats of Lonliness. Beth has created many of her own theatrical and cabaret performances over the years and has acted extensively for several Bay Area theatre companies. Her other longtime passion has been directing choir for San Francisco Community Music Center. She currently directs a children's choir and three older adult choirs. bethwilmurt.com

Randy Wong-Westbrooke

Scenic Designer

Randy Wong-Westbrooke is a scenic designer born and raised in the East Bay. With Shotgun, they have designed brownsville song (b-side for tray), Far, Far Better Things, and The Flick. Around the Bay, they have also designed sets for American Conservatory Theater’s M.F.A. Program, TheatreFIRST, SF Playhouse’s Sandbox, Crowded Fire Theater, Ferocious Lotus, New Conservatory Theater Company, as well as many other new and independent projects. They have been a scenic art assistant in Oregon Shakespeare Festival's F.A.I.R. Program and a mentee in the USITT Gateway Program. B.F.A. Ithaca College. 2024 M.F.A. Candidate UCLA. rwwestbrooke.com

Don Wood

Actor

Shotgun's oldest and newest company member. Over a half century ago, Don graduated high school and spent 4 years in the U.S.Navy, then waited tables, worked in a machine shop, and a grain mill. At the age of 28 he took an acting class. He then decided what he wanted to do until he grew up. In 1984 he drove to San Francisco from the East Coast in a 1976 Pinto. His Shotgun performances include "Coast of Utopia", "Our Town", "Dry Land", and "Kings". Don was previously a company member of Bindlestiff and Paducah Mining Company. He has also had the pleasure of working with Mugwumpin, Central Works, Custom Made, Boxcar, and Anton's Well. An older Berkeley memory is doing "American Buffalo" in La Val's Pizza basement in 1988. Now retired from his day job of 31 years at Gap Inc., he loves disc golf and his partner Michelle. Not in that order.

 

Company Members Emeritus

• Katie Bales-Frassinelli
• Zehra Berkman
• Adam Bock
• Sibani Michael Bose
• Brady Brophy-Hilton
• Cassidy Brown
• Daniel Bruno
• Leith Burke
• Fontana Butterfield Guzmán
• Eric Burns
• Michael Cheng
• Christine Crook
• Reid Davis
• Beth Donohue
• Kimberly Dooley
• Patrick Dooley
• Mary Fairfield
• Michael Frassinelli
• Ryan Gowland
• Aedrey Grey
• Vanessa Hopkins 
• Anna Ishida
• Richard Louis James
• Nikita Kadam
• Kevin Karrick
• Stacie Krajchir

• Dylan Kussman
• Gwen Larsen
• Liz Lisle
• Alex Lopez
• Ben Lovejoy
• Dave Maier
• Nick Medina
• John Mercer
• Trish Mulholland
• Ryan O’Donnell
• Chris Paulina
• Judy Phillips
• Benjamin Privitt
• Gina Pulice
• Roham Shaikhani
• Richard Silberg
• Marilyn Stanley
• Matt Stines
• Michael Storm
• Marin Van Young
• Andrea Weber
• Dan Wolf 
• Clive Worsley
• Hanah Zahner-Isenberg