The Language Archive Cast and Creatives
BUY TICKETS
Emily Kuroda
Francis Jue
Jomar Tagatac
Adrienne Kaori Walters
Elena Wright
Julia Cho
Jeffrey Lo
Andrea Bechert
Noah Martin
Taylor McQuesten
Janel Miley
Michael Palumbo
Sinan Refik Zafar
Robert Kelley
Phil Santora
EMILY KURODA (Alta and others) has performed at: TheatreWorks (Calligraphy), Pan Asian Rep (The Brothers Paranormal), American Repertory Theater (Endlings), Page 73 (Today Is My Birthday), Actors Theatre of Louisville (we, the invisibles), Huntington Theatre Co. (Tiger Style!, The Woman Warrior), Artists at Play (Two Mile Hollow), South Coast Rep (Fast Company, Ballad of Yachiyo, and Our Town), Alliance Theatre (Tiger Style!), East West Players, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, The Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Singapore Rep, Berkeley Rep, Doolittle Theatre, LA Theatre Center, Zephyr Theatre, LA Women’s Shakespeare Co., and the LA Shakespeare Festival. Recent TV:The Good Doctor, The Resident, Drop Dead Diva, Gilmore Girls. Recent films: Take the 10, Party Boat, Red, and The Sensei. Awards: Drama-Logue Awards (Ikebana, The Maids, Minamata, The Golden Gate, and Visitors from Nagasaki); City of LA Commendation (About Love); Garland Award (Straight as a Line), Entertainment Today Outstanding Actor (Winter People).
FRANCIS JUE (Resten and others) is grateful to be part of the 50th season at TheatreWorks, where he has appeared in Pacific Overtures, Peter Pan, Cabaret, M. Butterfly, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Amadeus, As Bees in Honey Drown, Red, Floyd Collins, Into the Woods, Yellow Face, and Tokyo Fish Story. Broadway: M. Butterfly, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Pacific Overtures. Other favorite theatre credits: Soft Power (Center Theatre Group/Curran), King of the Yees (SF Playhouse), Tiger Style! (Alliance Theatre/Huntington Theatre Co.), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Arizona Theatre Co.), Wild Goose Dreams (The Public Theater). Film/TV: Joyful Noise, Madam Secretary, Law & Order: SVU, The Good Wife, Divorce. Awards: Obie, Drama Desk, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, ariZoni, Elliot Norton, Philly, Drama-Logue. Bravo to Kelley on a life well lived.
JOMAR TAGATAC (George) most recently appeared as Mr. Botard in American Conservatory Theater’s Rhinoceros as well as A Christmas Carol (Bob Cratchit), Vietgone (Playwright), Monstress (Fortunado/Mata), and Hamlet (Fortinbras). Other Bay Area credits include SF Playhouse’s King of the Yees, You Mean to Do Me Harm; Capital Stage’s Vietgone; Cal Shakes’ The War of the Roses (for which he received a TBA Award), Everybody, As You Like It, and Life is a Dream; Magic Theatre’s Dogeaters, Jesus in India, Every 5 Minutes, and The Happy Ones. Other credits include Crowded Fire Theater’s You For Me For You, Shotgun Players’ Caught, Ubuntu Theatre Project’s Rashomon, and New Conservatory Theatre Center’s Rights of Passage. Mr. Tagatac earned a BA in Theatre from San Diego State University and an MFA from ACT.
ADRIENNE KAORI WALTERS (Emma) is thrilled to be back at TheatreWorks, where she was last seen as Molly Aster in Peter and the Starcatcher, as well as various sea-sons of the New Works Festival. Past credits: Blasted (Shotgun Players), Our Practical Heaven (Aurora Theatre), Spring Awakening (Center REP), and Beneath the Tall Tree (TheatreFIRST) where she made her playwriting debut alongside Jeffrey Lo. She has a BA in Anthropology, a minor in Classics, and practices archaeology abroad. Love to her mom, Marshall, Hana, Drew, and as always for dad and Brian. More info at
www.adriennewalters.com
ELENA WRIGHT (Mary) was last at TheatreWorks in Frost/Nixon (Caroline Cushing) and Silent Sky (Henrietta Leavitt). Other credits include: Pericles, Shakespeare’s Will, Much Ado About Nothing, Three Musketeers, Othello (Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award), Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, The Liar, The Spanish Tragedy, Richard III (Marin Shakespeare Co.); Red Velvet (SF Playhouse); Betrayal, A Doll’s House, In the Next Room, and The Scene (Capital Stage); The Verona Project (California Shakespeare Theatre); Venus in Fur (Pacific Rep); The Yellow Wallpaper (Centralworks); The Salt Plays: Parts I and II (Shotgun Players); and The Winter’s Tale (Seattle Shakespeare Co.). She is a Playground and Symmetry Theatre company member, and a member of Actors’ Equity. MFA University of Washington, BS Northeastern University.
JULIA CHO (Playwright) is an award-winning author whose plays include The Language Archive (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Durango (Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwriting Award), BFE (L. Arnold Weissberger Award), 99 Histories, The Piano Teacher, The Winchester House, The Architecture of Loss, Aubergine, and Office Hour. Her works have been produced by South Coast Rep, Roundabout Theatre Co., Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, East West Players, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Silk Road Theatre Project, and Long Wharf Theatre, among others. She was a resident playwright at New Dramatists from 2004–11. Television writing credits include Big Love, Betrayal, Fringe, and Halt and Catch Fire. Ms. Cho is an alumna of University of California, Berkeley, Tisch School for the Arts, and the Julliard School.
JEFFREY LO (Director and Casting Director) is the Casting Director at TheatreWorks and directed our recent production of The Santaland Diaries. A Filipino-American director and playwright, his recent directing credits include Vietgone at Capital Stage, Between Riverside and Crazy at San Jose Stage Co., and Noises Off and Peter and the Starcatcher at Hillbarn Theatre. He is the recipient of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist Award, the Arts Council Silicon Valley Emerging Artist Laureate, and Theatre Bay Area Director’s TITAN Award. In addition to his work on stage, Mr. Lo does work nationally promoting equity, diversity and inclusion in the arts. He is a graduate of the Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute and a proud alumnus of the UC Irvine Drama Department. JeffreyWritesAPlay.com
ANDREA BECHERT (Scenic Designer) has designed 35 productions with TheatreWorks, including Fun Home, Native Gardens, Finks, Constellations, and Crimes of the Heart. Ms. Bechert designs for theatres across the country including Berkeley Rep, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, Jewel Theatre Co., Chautauqua Theatre Co., American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Co., Starlight Theatre, Stardust Casino in Las Vegas, Opera San José, Center REP, and many others. Awards include Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards (most recently for Fun Home), the Silicon Valley Laureate Award, and a Denver Ovation Award. Her designs were included in the World Design Expo and Prague Quadrennial. She teaches design at San José State University, and is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829.
NOAH MARIN (Costume Designer) has designed costumes for: Native Gardens; The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga; Confederates; 2 Pianos 4 Hands; Warrior Class; and Proof, and is TheatreWorks’ Assistant Costumer. He has assisted on many TheatreWorks productions through the past 8 seasons. He also assisted on Broadway productions of Ragtime and Blithe Spirit. Other assistant design credits include Westport Country Playhouse (She Loves Me), Berkeley Rep (Three Sisters), California Shakespeare Theater (Titus Andronicus), Marin Theatre Co. (Seagull), and Magic Theatre (Why We Have a Body). His film credits include Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. He earned his MFA from Brandeis in Boston and BFA from San Francisco State, both in Costume Design.
TAYLOR McQUESTEN (Stage Manager) currently splits her time between the Bay Area and London, working as a proud AEA stage manager, production manager, master electrician, technician and stuntwoman. Involved in theatre, film, music, live events, festivals and political conventions, past credits include San Francisco Sketchfest (Assistant Technical Director), California Shakespeare Theatre (Master Electrician), Legion A/V (Head of Lighting), Davenriche European Martial Arts School (Swordswoman), The Independent SF (Lighting Technician), Highlander Films (Production Assistant), American Conservatory Theater, Center REP, Cabrillo Stage, Hillbarn Theatre, Magic Theatre, and more. She has worked as stage manager with TheatreWorks since 2013, and is honored to be a part of the company’s landmark 50th season!
JANEL MILEY (Dialect Coach) most recently coached Born in East Berlin for TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival. She has served as a Dialect/Text coach for productions at theatres and universities across the country, including Twelfth Night at University of Evansville, Spamalot at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Erik Ehn’s adaptation of Mother Courage and Her Children at West Virginia University. Ms. Miley holds an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at University of Evansville where she teaches Shakespeare, voice and speech, acting, and dialects. She is a member of AEA, Voice and Speech Trainers Association, and a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner.
MICHAEL PALUMBO (Lighting Designer) returns to TheatreWorks, where he previously designed Time
Stands Still, Theophilus North, Anna in the Tropics, Distracted, All My Sons, Vincent in Brixton, On Golden Pond, and Over the River and Through the Woods. He has designed for San Jose Rep, Marin Theatre Co., San Jose Stage Co., 42nd Street Moon, Opera San José, Magic Theatre, Sacramento Opera, Aurora Theatre Co., American Conservatory Theater, Shotgun Players, SF Playhouse, Jewel Theatre Co., West Bay Opera, Bay Area Musicals, Berkeley Playhouse, City Lights Theater Co., LaGuardia High School (NYC), and Hillbarn Theatre. His producing company, Carollo & Palumbo LLC, has credits including bare: the musical; Off-Broadway and the Broadway production of A Time to Kill. MFA: New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. michaelpalumbodesign.com
SINAN REFIK ZAFAR (Sound Designer) is a New York based sound designer and composer. He is thrilled to be making his TheatreWorks debut! Broadway: What The Constitution Means to Me (Helen Hayes Theater). Off-Broadway/Regional: What The Constitution Means to Me (NYTW, Berkeley Rep, Clubbed Thumb); What To Send Up When It Goes Down, And She Would Stand Like This (The Movement Theatre Co.); Hamlet (Waterwell); Intelligence (Next Door @ NYTW); Richard in 9 Poses (Clubbed Thumb); Jump (Playmakers Rep); peerless (Yale Rep); The Legend of Georgia McBride, The Wolves, Detroit, Intimate Apparel (TheatreSquared); We are Proud to Present (Yale Drama); Midsummer (Tiltyard), Macbeth (d. Will Frears). Wingspace. MFA: Yale School of Drama. sinanzafar.com
ROBERT KELLEY (Artistic Director) is a Bay Area native and Stanford University graduate. He founded TheatreWorks in 1970 and has directed over 175 TheatreWorks productions, including many world and regional premieres. He has received the Silicon Valley Arts Council’s Legacy Laureate Award; the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Paine Knickerbocker Award and Jerry Friedman Award for Lifetime Achievement; BATCC Awards for Outstanding Direction for The Hound of the Baskervilles; Into the Woods; Pacific Overtures; Rags; Sweeney Todd; Another Midsummer Night; Sunday in the Park with George; Jane Eyre; and Caroline, or Change. He recently directed Marie and Rosetta, Tuck Everlasting, Fun Home, The Bridges of Madison County, Around the World in 80 Days, Constellations, Rags, and Daddy Long Legs (Theatre Bay Area Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical, 2017).
PHIL SANTORA (Executive Director) joined TheatreWorks in 2007. He has served as Managing Director of Northlight Theatre (Chicago) and Georgia Shakespeare Festival (Atlanta), as well as Development Director for Great Lakes Theatre Festival (Cleveland) and George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick). He holds an MFA in Theatre Administration from the Yale School of Drama and a BA in Drama from Duke University. He has served as Vice President of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Board. Prior board service also includes the League of Chicago Theatres, Atlanta Coalition of Theatres, and the executive commit-tee of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT). He was named 2000’s Best Arts Administrator by Atlanta Magazine and received the Atlanta Arts and Business Council’s 1998 ABBY Award for Arts Administrator.
