Staff
Artistic Company
Board of Directors

The Shotgun Players

Staff

Daniel Alley

Daniel is a music director, conductor, and vocal coach specializing in opera and musical theater. Favorite Shotgun productions include Caught, The Flick, Kill Move Paradise, & The Cassandra Sessions: Recording This World.

Daniel Alley

Associate Box Office Manager

Gracie Brakeman

Gracie Brakeman (any/all pronouns) is a creative producer based in Oakland. She’s glad to be back at Shotgun after Production Managing GREAT COMET in 2022! Gracie has worked with American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theater, Shotgun Players, Z Space, Atlantic Theater Company, Victory Gardens, and her alma mater Northwestern University. Other favorite theatre credits include COMING SOON (Associate Producer & Casting Director); COLLECTIVE RAGE (Director); THE DONKEY SHOW (Co-Director and Choreographer). Gracie manages projects and musicians including Rachel Lark through Reciprocal Arts Management. In her free time, Gracie loves partner acrobatics, contact improv dance, sing alongs, and community organizing. graciebrakeman.com

Gracie Brakeman

Production Manager

Patrick Dooley

Patrick started Shotgun Players in 1992 in the basement of a pizza parlor with a few friends and a desire to make great theatre that was also affordable. Before that he received a B.A. in English from James Madison University, in Virginia. While there, he cut his theatre teeth as a founding member of the American Shakespeare Center. Since then, Patrick has directed over 40 plays and overseen the production of nearly 100 others. In 2007, he led an effort to make the Ashby Stage the first 100% solar-powered theater in America. He is married and has three beautiful daughters.

Patrick Dooley

Founding Artistic Director

Liz Hitchcock Lisle

Liz has worked as an arts administrator and creator in Bay Area theatre since 2000. For the past twenty years, she has served as managing director for Shotgun Players, running administration and operations of the theater with a weather eye for smart organizational and artistic growth. Her personal interest lies in putting up plays that articulate an unusual perspective and alternative narrative structure. She serves on the executive board of the Lorin Business Association, and for a time was the associate artistic director of Mugwumpin.

Liz Hitchcock Lisle

Managing Director

Joanie McBrien

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.”

Joanie McBrien

Development Director

Salim Razawi

Salim Razawi is a theatre maker who is thrilled to be at Shotgun. He majored in theatre arts in college with an emphasis in acting and a minor in communications. Having been involved in numerous theatrical productions, Salim is no stranger to the theatre. He has been on a two-year collegiate competitive speaking team where he was internationally recognized and awarded. When not performing, Salim spends his time teaching theatre arts, directing, and coaching private students through various companies in the bay area and is passionate about DEI work. One of his proudest accomplishments is Co-Founding T.E.A.M Theatre, a youth arts program in the tri-valley.

Salim Razawi

Casting Director

Alejandra Maria Rivas

(MAD Program Coordinator, Champagne Staged Reading Series Production Manager, Studio Rentals)
Alejandra Maria Rivas (Alé/they/elle) is a theater artist based in Saclan Miwok land, hailing from Tongva land. They’re stoked to be back at Shotgun after performing in (TRANS)FORMADA in 2023! Alejandra has worked with American Conservatory Theater, Shotgun Players, Z Space, Berkeley Rep, Z Space, Cal Shakes, Crowded Fire, Town Hall Theater, and the Bay Area Women’s Theater Festival. Other favorite theatre credits include: AMÉMONOS (Performer); LIMÃO Y SAL (Performer); CABARET (Performer); INKED BABY (Asst. Director); IN THE HEIGHTS (Performer). Alejandra loves project management admin tasks, QTBIPOC-centered art, and getting philosophical. In their free time, Alé loves eating, reading, video games, karaoke, protesting, being a hype-man, and being with time as it moves along. alejandramrivas.com

Alejandra Maria Rivas

MAD Coordinator, Company Associate

Molly Van Der Molen

Molly is a newcomer to the Shotgun Players team and is delighted to be here! She’s a playwright, director, creative producer and ice cream enthusiast hopping between NYC and the Bay Area. Molly is grateful to have recently created and helped facilitate new work with The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, New Dramatists, Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective, the Greenwich Odeum and The Tank, NYC. She’s a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College.

Molly Van Der Molen

Company Associate

The Shotgun Players

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

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.).

Andy Alabran

Actor

Daniel Alley

Daniel is a music director, conductor, and vocal coach specializing in opera and musical theater. Favorite Shotgun productions include Caught, The Flick, Kill Move Paradise, & The Cassandra Sessions: Recording This World.

Daniel Alley

Music Director

Nina Ball

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.

Nina Ball

Scenic Design, Costume Design, Scenic Artist

she/her

El Beh

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.

El Beh

Actor

Caleb Cabrera

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.

Caleb Cabrera

Actor

Kevin Clarke

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

Kevin Clarke

Actor

Valera Coble

Valera Coble

Costume Designer

Perry Fenton

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.

Perry Fenton

Actor, Director

Mark Jackson

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

Mark Jackson

Actor, Director, Writer

Heather Kelly-Laws

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.

Heather Kelly-Laws

Stage Manager

Devon LaBelle

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

Devon LaBelle

Props Designer

Susannah Martin

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

Susannah Martin

Director, Actor

Joanie McBrien

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.”

Joanie McBrien

Development Director

Erin Mei-Ling Stuart

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

Erin Mei-Ling Stuart

Actor, Choreographer, Director

Ray Oppenheimer

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

Ray Oppenheimer

Lighting Designer

Richard Reinholdt

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

Richard Reinholdt

Actor

Cathleen Riddley

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.

Cathleen Riddley

Katja Rivera

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.

Katja Rivera

Leigh Rondon-Davis

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.

Leigh Rondon-Davis

Kenny Scott

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).

Kenny Scott

he/him

Sharon Shao

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

Sharon Shao

Actor

she/her

Jon Tracy

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

Jon Tracy

Michelle Talgarow

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.

Michelle Talgarow

Megan Trout

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

Megan Trout

Actor

Beth Wilmurt

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

Beth Wilmurt

Actor, Director

Randy Wong-Westbrooke

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

Randy Wong-Westbrooke

Scenic Designer

Don Wood

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.

Don Wood

Actor

Company Emeriti

  • 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

The Shotgun Players

Board of Directors

Debbie Arthur

A resident of South Berkeley for nearly 25 years, Debbie (she/her) has been a longtime supporter of Shotgun Players but became a passionate subscriber after seeing Love is a Dream House in Lorin (2007). With 20 years of grant writing and public health experience, she is now the Development Director at Visión y Compromiso, a statewide organization supporting promotoras, grassroots community leaders who serve their communities with passion in order to improve equity and community health and wellness. When not behind a computer, she may be found in the garden, cooking for family and friends, behind a book, or (in the before times and hopefully again soon) traveling, camping or hiking with her family across California from the breathtaking coastline to the hills of the East Bay and the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains.

Debbie Arthur

Susan Champion

Susan first trod the boards at eight years old, playing Rosie in her elementary school’s production of Really Rosie, under the patient direction of Mr. Henderson. She will never forget her father’s words to her on the eve of her first day of college, encouraging her to major in theater, stating: “I don’t care what you do with your life as long as you are happy and doing something to make a positive difference in your community.” After an MFA and several years in the acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she left to work in public health, and later went to law school. She is now deputy director of Stanford Law School’s Three Strikes Project, which provides pro bono legal representation to individuals serving life sentences in prison for nonviolent crimes. She has been an informal Shotgun booster for years and is delighted to bring her boosterism to a whole new level. Were he alive today, she knows her father would be so proud of her service on Shotgun’s board—a theater that is the very definition of making a positive difference in the community through art.

Susan Champion

Brett D’Ambrosio

Brett has worked as a professional software developer since the tender age of 12. He fervently believes that specialization is for insects, as Heinlein wrote, and has spent much of his life attempting to prove it. Brett cooks for crowds and enjoys construction work. He loves reading, theater, laughter, costume parties and independent thought. His most recent project is a mechanized coconut-clapper backpack which utilizes machine learning to play along with music and honor Monty Python. Despite excellent hearing, he usually speaks too loudly.

Brett D’Ambrosio

Vera Devera

Vera Devera is a seasoned 0 to 1 community builder for high growth Saas companies like Ironclad, Vareto, and most recently Watershed, an all-in-one enterprise climate technology platform. Her work for Ironclad is featured in David Spink’s book “The Business of Belonging” and over her career, she’s ghostwritten for Jeff Bridges, owned a wedding planning business, and worked at San Francisco Opera and the Berkeley Police.
Outside of work, she creates communities around her passions for hiking, cycling, tennis, and gaming. As a board gaming and Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast — she has taught workshops and organized hundreds of meetups to make the hobby accessible to players of all skill levels and backgrounds.
Fun fact: Vera first moved to Oakland 2002 and in an effort to make new friends and contribute to the performing arts community, she volunteered as a backstage manager for the Transparent Theater. That Theater later became the Ashby Stage, home of the Shotgun Players! She’s proud to serve on the Shotgun Players Board today.

Vera Devera

Ipsheeta Furtado

Ipsheeta is Director of Financial Operations at TripActions, a leading global business travel and expense platform. Previously, she started and expanded the Operations team at consumer real estate startup Divvy Homes and helped launch fintech startups in banking, lending, and payments at Max Levchin’s incubator, HVF Labs. Ipsheeta was CEO and Co-Founder of Fluid Financial, a venture-backed platform for enabling sustainable financing options for small businesses and caught the startup bug while founding and managing a product development consultancy in Oakland, CA. Ipsheeta holds a B.S. in Engineering Physics from UC Berkeley and prefers tea over coffee. Her passion for theater started from a young age memorizing musicals well before seeing them on stage and finding La Val’s basement shows upon attending Cal. Go Bears!

Ipsheeta Furtado

May Lynne Gill

May Lynne has spent the last twenty years working in the community as an Early Childhood Educator/Transitional Kindergarten Teacher at Malcolm X Elementary School. She has long been a lover of the theatre where she and her husband Tim have attended many local professional and student productions over the years. Both were recently BLOWN AWAY by the quality of recent productions from the Shotgun Players, including “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” “Passing Strange,” “Triumph of Love” and “Yerma.” May Lynne’s love for the Shotgun Players began in 2010 as part of a school field trip, where her students were introduced to the theater as part of their “Community Unit.” Witnessing young 5-year-olds entering a theater for the first time, mouths agape, and learning about the different jobs performed in the theatre was a game-changer. Since then, May Lynne has believed in the importance of bringing the magic of live theatre to young people, and continues to encourage their exposure to the craft. As a member of the Board she is excited to help support the Shotgun Players in their mission, and is thrilled to be working with a group of such talented individuals. When she is not attending plays or “wrangling” 4- and 5-year-olds, May Lynne loves to read good books, create fiber art, kayak, and explore nature.

May Lynne Gill

Lyndsey Heaton

Lyndsey has had a passion for the performing arts since she was a child memorizing the lyrics to West Side Story in her living room. After graduating from UC Berkeley, she spent nearly a decade in New York City, fitting shows and karaoke sessions into her schedule as a Columbia law student. Lyndsey has since returned to Berkeley and is a partner in the intellectual property group of Sideman Bancroft LLP in San Francisco. She loves sharing Berkeley’s cultural and artistic offerings with her husband and two young children. They may even put on family plays from time to time (which are not quite ready for the Shotgun workshop).

Lyndsey Heaton

Secretary

Naomi Janowitz

Naomi Janowitz and her husband, Andrew Lazarus, have been part of the Shotgun audience since the La Val’s days. Many years ago, she started a college program at San Quentin and invited Shotgun to perform their production of Shakespeare’s Henry V inside the prison. Some of the inmates reported that it was the first play they had ever seen. Later on, her son Gideon Lazarus appeared in the Shotgun production of Mamet’s Cryptogram. When she is not watching plays, she teaches religious studies at UC Davis and is also a graduate of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis.

Naomi Janowitz

Zack Kushner

Zack first encountered Shotgun Players as a strategist, helping the company focus its brand and messaging. And almost immediately following his first Shotgun show, he began thinking about how he could stay involved. As a graduate of UC Santa Cruz’ theater arts program and a veteran of Hollywood, his love of drama — and its power to engage — runs deep. Decades ago, he worked as David Mamet’s assistant, ran lines with Steve Martin, and pitched an animated feature to studios. Now, working with Shotgun Players has revived his love for the theater, and specifically the kind of theater that makes you feel part of the show. He’s a brand strategist with an affinity for finely tuned turns of phrase, who’s worked with clients as widespread as the Rhodes Trust, HBO, and the Oakland Museum of California. He’s papa to the best kid ever and married to someone much smarter than he is. Zack lives in Berkeley, loves to go bouldering, and would be happy to mix you up a cocktail.

Zack Kushner

Will Rountree

Will has been attending Shotgun performances for over a decade, and his enthusiasm for the company has increased over time, culminating with the recent Shotgun production of A Small Fire, which moved him deeply. Originally from Chicago’s South Side, Will was a tap dancer and choreographer extraordinaire, and he’s loved the roller-coaster of live performance ever since. He moved to the Bay Area in 1991 to pursue his Ph.D. in Sociology at Berkeley after completing his law degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Will has been a jury consultant for 22 years, and is a partner at Bonora Rountree, Trial Consulting & Research in San Francisco. When he’s not working, Will is probably enjoying a meal and/or cocktails with friends, visiting family in Chicago, or scheming his next vacation.

Will Rountree

Maggie Salop

Maggie became a theatre fan in college, where she quickly learned that student ushers attend for free. Marrying a fan of theatre (and most things cultural) sealed her fate. Maggie has been enthusiastically following Shotgun since the 2001 Iphigenia in Aulis at John Hinkel Park. The manic rage of Medea in the decrepit UC Theater and the surreal The Play About the Baby in the basement of La Val’s the following year had her hooked. Maggie is an architect specializing in design for education, arts, and affordable housing. She lives in Oakland with her husband, two teenage theatre-fans-in-training, and one incorrigible dog.

Maggie Salop

Board President

Ann Shannon

Ann first experienced theater when the Mummers burst into her rural Irish home, threw down a makeshift stage on the kitchen floor, and began performing pagan rituals of death and revival. At around 4 years’ old, she never knew whether to laugh or cry as the whirlwind spectacle exited into the winter darkness as dramatically as it had entered. But she became hooked on live theater and made sure to catch it wherever and whenever. In 1995 Ann transferred from the University of Nottingham to Berkeley to work on research and development projects for US public schools. She happened upon Shotgun at La Val’s, became a regular, a volunteer, a subscriber, and then a supporter. Ann is delighted to retire in Oakland, join the board, and whole heartedly champion Shotgun.

Ann Shannon

Richard West

For his entire professional career, Richard worked in California public higher education serving in both the University of California and the California State University. Before retiring in 2008, he served for fifteen years as the executive vice chancellor and chief financial officer for the California State University system. After retiring, he taught for five years at Sonoma State University as a professor of economics. Recent duties have included serving on several different philanthropic boards, including the Berkeley City Club, California Trout, and the California Maritime Academy Foundation.

Richard West

Treasurer

WHAT DOES THE SHOTGUN PLAYERS BOARD DO?

GOVERNANCE

Developing and evaluating Shotgun’s
strategic plan; reviewing and
approving Shotgun’s budget and
ensuring that its finances are sound;
evaluating the work of the artistic
director; and helping Shotgun
remain true to its mission and values.
The board’s governance work is
principally carried out at board
meetings (approximately six per year,
two hours per meeting) and its annual
retreat (typically a full weekend day in
January or February).

PARTICIPATION

Volunteering as an usher or staffing
a Shotgun table at occasional
community events; serving on
one or more board committees or
task forces that work more closely
with the Shotgun staff in specific
areas (e.g. fundraising, budgeting
and financial oversight, executive
committee, etc.); and serving as
an ambassador for Shotgun in
your interactions with your own
community.

FUNDRAISING

Making personal financial
contributions to Shotgun that are
significant to that board member,
commensurate with the board
member’s capacity, and reflecting
that Shotgun is among the board
member’s primary philanthropic
interests; attending and (if
appropriate) bringing friends to
Shotgun’s annual fundraising event
(SASSAFRAS); promoting and
supporting the donor cultivation
efforts of the development staff; and
assisting as appropriate in soliciting
financial and in-kind donations from
others in the community.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We believe that our board will be at its best when the the collective members of the
board reflect certain qualities and values. Any given board member does not (and
probably cannot) represent all of these. But, as a whole, we strive to build a board
that reflects the following qualities:


• A strong interest in theatre, particularly the kind of theatre Shotgun makes
• A reflection of the diversity of the communities in which we live and work
• Experience, expertise, or interest in financial oversight
• Experience, expertise, or interest in fundraising
• Experience, expertise, or interest in interacting with community groups,
stakeholders, and local government to ensure that Shotgun’s mission is
and is perceived to be aligned with those groups
• Experience, expertise, or interest in computer and information technology,
including data management
• Experience, expertise, or interest in running a business (nonprofit or
for-profit) of a scale equivalent to or greater than Shotgun, as well as
experience serving on one or more boards of directors

Are you interested in board membership? Contact [email protected]

Shotgun Players’ Board Emeriti

  • Joel Ager
  • Carol Amyx
  • Ann Gabor Arancio
  • Bill Bagnell
  • Vini Beachem
  • Kitty Bosher
  • Kat Bruno
  • Robert Burlin
  • Gayle Burns
  • Marc Chun
  • Tony Drummond
  • Nasos Eleftheriadis
  • Charles Gary
  • Ricky Grenis
  • John Horsch
  • Carolyn Jones
  • Oliver Kellogg
  • Mary Leichliter
  • Deborah Lichtman
  • Steve Love
  • Lynn MacDonald
  • Joseph Mallon
  • Ken Martin
  • Michelle Mattera
  • Laura McNall
  • Mina Morita
  • Claire Mosher
  • Richard Nelson
  • Gary Osteraas
  • Les Polgar
  • Alex Poulsen
  • Don Reed
  • David Reid
  • Pepi Ross
  • Scott Sanders
  • Michael Schnitzer
  • Lois Schwartz
  • Guenet Sebsibe
  • Ragesh Tangri
  • BiBi Tiphane
  • Michael Torres
  • Jed Waldman
  • Tamara White
  • Miki Yamamoto
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