BIOS

Lauren Weedman Writer and Performer Lauren is an award-winning comedic actress, playwright and author. Her first show, Homecoming, began as a 15-minute performance art piece at Seattle’s On the Boards and went on to an Off-Broadway production in New York City, back in 2001. Bust, about her work in the Los Angeles county jail, received a MacDowell Fellowship for playwriting by the Alpert Awards, as well as several “best of the arts” across the nation. She has written and performed more than 10 solo plays, including Homecoming, Amsterdam, If Ornaments Had Lips, Huu, Rash, Wreckage, Bust, No … You Shut Up, and most recently, The People’s Republic of Portland at The Armory. Her television credits include The Daily Show, Horny Patty on HBO’s Hung, and Doris on HBO’s Looking. Her most recent films, due for release this fall, are The Little Hours starring John C. Reilly and Wilson with Woody Harrelson. Weedman is the author of two books of comedic essays, A Woman Trapped in a Woman’s Body: (Tales from a Life of Cringe) and Miss Fortune: Fresh Perspectives on Having it All From Someone Who is Not Okay. She lives in a rent-controlled apartment with her 7-year-old son, Leo.

Tim Sonnefeld
Music Director/Guitar
Tim Sonnefeld is a Grammy Award-winning producer, musician, songwriter and mixing engineer from Philadelphia, PA. In 2005, he became a staff producer/engineer/studio musician at the renowned MilkBoy Recording/Larry Gold’s The Studio. It was there that, in 2006, he co-produced a record for legendary gospel icons The Dixie Hummingbirds. The album was nominated for Best Traditional Gospel Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards. Four years later, he co-produced and mixed several tracks on Usher’s Raymond vs Raymond album, which was the recipient of the Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2011 Grammy Awards. Disillusioned with Philadelphia’s amazing bread, loyal friends and family, and four seasons, Tim moved to Los Angeles in 2015, where one of his first paid gigs was playing guitar with the illustrious Lauren Weedman at Hollywood Improv.

Ji Tanzer
Percussion
Drummer/actor Ji Tanzer’s education includes jazz performance, music therapy, literature and music composition at both Portland State University and Marylhurst University. He has performed nationally and internationally with Swansea, Blue Cranes, Rebecca Gates and The Consortium, Crystal Bowersox, Curtis Salgado, among many others. In addition to live performance, Ji is an in-demand session musician, who has played on over 100 recordings since 2000. In 2009, Ji starred in the feature-length independent film Light of Mine, which was honored with an official selection into the American Film Institute Festival — the only American independent film to be awarded entry. In addition to acting, he has provided music for feature films (Nightscape, Redwood Highway, Light of Mine, A Standing Still, Death On A Rock) and advertisements (Disney, Nike, Adobe, Motorola).

Rose Riordan
Director
Rose is in her 19th season at Portland Center Stage at The Armory, where she serves as associate artistic director and has previously directed The Oregon Trail, Our Town, The People’s Republic of Portland (2013 and 2015), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Typographer’s Dream, LIZZIE, A Small Fire, The Mountaintop, The Whipping Man, The North Plan, Red, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Christmas Story, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Receptionist, A Christmas Carol, Frost/Nixon, How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, Doubt, The Underpants, The Pillowman and The Thugs, which won four Drammy Awards, including Best Ensemble and Best Director. Rose has also recently directed, for various other theaters, Adam Bock’s Phaedra, The Passion Play, Telethon and The Receptionist. In 1999, she founded the annual JAW: A Playwrights Festival. JAW has been instrumental in developing new work for the company’s repertory, including Threesome, Bo-Nita, The People’s Republic of Portland, The Body of an American, The North Plan, Anna Karenina, Outrage, Flesh and Blood, Another Fine Mess, O Lovely Glowworm, Celebrity Row, Act a Lady, The Thugs and A Feminine Ending. Rose has also directed some of the staged readings for JAW festivals: The Thugs (2005), Telethon (2006), A Story About a Girl (2007), 99 Ways to F*** a Swan (2009), The North Plan (2010), San Diego (2012), The People’s Republic of Portland (2012), Mai Dang Lao (2013) and A Life (2014). She enjoys being part of a company committed to new work and having a beautiful building in which to work.

Sibyl Wickersheimer
Scenic Designer
Also in Oregon, Sibyl recently designed Julius Caesar, directed by Shana Cooper, and Richard 2, directed by Bill Rauch, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Her regional set design credits include productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Lookingglass Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Portland Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, The Kirk Douglas Theatre, Geffen Playhouse and South Coast Repertory. Sibyl resides in Los Angeles where she designs for numerous local companies and teaches at the University of Southern California. Her work includes over 10 productions at The Actors’ Gang, of which two have toured to five continents and across the United States. Outside of traditional theater spaces, she has designed for The Natural History Museum of LA County, Kaiser Educational Theatre, Disney Cruise Line, and her art installations have been exhibited in galleries throughout Southern California.

Alison Heryer
Costume Designer
Alison Heryer is a costume designer for theater, film and print. She is thrilled to be returning to Portland Center Stage at The Armory, after designing costumes for His Eye is on the Sparrow, The Oregon Trail, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Our Town, Three Days of Rain and Threesome. Other design credits include productions with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 59E59 Theaters, La MaMa, The New Victory Theater, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Portland Opera, Artists Repertory Theatre and The Hypocrites. She has exhibited work at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, the Austin Museum of Modern Art, and Prague Quadrennial of Design and Space. Recent awards include the ArtsKC Inspiration Grant, the Austin Critics Table Award and a 2016 Drammy. Alison is an assistant professor of art practice in the School of Art + Design at Portland State University and a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. alisonheryerdesign.com

Daniel Meeker
Lighting Designer
Previously at The Armory: scenery for The People's Republic of Portland and Red (Drammy Award); lighting for Twist Your Dickens; and set and lighting for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Typographer’s Dream, LIZZIE (Drammy Award for Best Lighting), The Last Five Years and The Mountaintop. Current projects: Big Night Out, Così fan tutte, The Difficulty of Crossing a Field and The Little Match Girl Passion for Portland Opera; The Talented Ones at Artists Repertory Theatre; The Language Archive for Portland Playhouse; Pinkalicious for Oregon Children’s Theatre; and 26 Hours for Profile Theatre. Recent credits: scenery for Women in Jeopardy at Pioneer Theatre Company; lighting for How I Learned What I Learned, and set and lighting for Peter and the Starcatcher at Portland Playhouse; set and lighting for The How and The Why for COHO Productions; scenery for Mothers and Sons at Artists Repertory Theatre; scenery for Eugene Onegin and L’Italiana in Algeri for Portland Opera; lighting for James and the Giant Peach for Oregon Children’s Theatre; and lighting director for the Pickathon Festival. Daniel is a graduate of Ithaca College and The Yale School of Drama, and a member of United Scenic Artists.

Casi Pacilio
Sound Designer
Casi’s home base is The Armory, where recent credits include His Eye is on the Sparrow, The Oregon Trail, Little Shop of Horrors, A Streetcar Named Desire, Great Expectations, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Three Days of Rain, Cyrano; Other Desert Cities, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, A Small Fire and Chinglish with composer Jana Crenshaw; and ten seasons of JAW. National shows: Holcombe Waller's Surfacing and Wayfinders; Left Hand of Darkness, My Mind is Like an Open Meadow (Drammy Award, 2011), Something’s Got Ahold Of My Heart and PEP TALK for Hand2Mouth Theatre. Other credits include Squonk Opera’s Bigsmorgasbord-WunderWerk (Broadway, PS122, national and international tours); I Am My Own Wife, I Think I Like Girls (La Jolla Playhouse); Playland, 10 Fingers and Lips Together, Teeth Apart (City Theatre, PA). Film credits include Creation of Destiny, Out of Our Time and A Powerful Thang. Imagineer/maker of the Eat Me Machine, a dessert vending machine.

Erica Beeney
Production Dramaturg
Erica Beeney holds a B.F.A. in film production from Bard College and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Ohio State University. After writing The Battle of Shaker Heights (produced by Miramax as part of Project Greenlight), Erica has written and developed numerous film and TV projects for Sony, New Line, Lifetime, and for the producers of The Terminator movies, Game of Thrones and House of Cards. With Rupert Wyatt (director of Rise of the Planet of the Apes) Erica wrote multiple projects for 20^th Century Fox, as well as Captive State, which is currently in production in Chicago with financing from Participant Media. She has written and is developing The Ballad of Charlie Melody. She writes poetry about gossip on her Tumblr and was one of Esquire’s “2006 Women We Love,” so she’s got that going for her.

Janine Vanderhoff
Production Stage Manager
Janine is glad to be back for her second season at The Armory. Previous credits at The Armory include: The Santaland Diaries, The Oregon Trail, Little Shop of Horrors, JAW 2016, Great Expectations, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Our Town. Other Portland credits include: Portland Opera’s Sweeney Todd (followspot caller); DC Copeland's Play (stage manager/production manager); How to End Poverty in 90 Minutes and The Other Place at Portland Playhouse (stage manager). Touring stage management credits include: The Graduate (starring Morgan Fairchild), Cats, The Vagina Monologues, Jekyll & Hyde and Show Boat. While in New York, Janine had the opportunity to work on The Lion King on Broadway, as well as with many Off-Broadway and regional companies. Production management credits include: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for “Democalypse 2012 Republican National Convention” (Tampa, FL); Straz Center (Tampa, FL); The Fox Theatre (Atlanta, GA). Proud NYU graduate and AEA member.

Alyssa Escalante
Rehearsal Stage Manager
Alyssa is an Equity stage manager in Los Angeles. Some of her favorite Los Angeles credits include The Secret Garden (dir. Jessica Kubzansky), Haunted House Party (dir. Matt Walker), Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (dir. Jessica Kubzansky), Criers for Hire (dir. John Lawrence Rivera), Cash on Delivery (dir. Ray Cooney), My Barking Dog (dir. Michael Michetti), The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll (dir. Abigail Deser), Happy Days (dir. Andrei Belgrader), RII (dir. Jessica Kubzansky) and Proof (dir. John Hindman). She has also toured the United States with Placas: The Most Dangerous Tattoo (starring Ric Salinas).

Kristina Mast
Production Assistant
Kristina Mast is excited to be working at The Armory for the first time. Recent stage management credits include db and The How and The Why (Coho Productions); One Slight Hitch (Clackamas Repertory Theatre); [or, the whale], All Well and Drowned Horse Tavern (Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble). Assistant stage management credits include Peter and the Starcatcher, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play (Portland Playhouse) and One Man, Two Guvnors (Clackamas Repertory Theatre). She received her training at Goshen College (Goshen, IN), Guthrie Theater’s stage management internship program, and Portland Playhouse’s apprenticeship program. She is a core company member of Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble.

Iris Gonzalez
Production Assistant
Iris has been working in theater as long as she can remember. She wears many hats depending on what production she's doing. Most recently, she wrapped work with Cornerstone Theater Company on their production fellowship: a play for volunteers. She has thoroughly enjoyed working with Lauren on this entertaining and meaningful project.