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ABOUT US
CITF PRINCIPAL TEAM
Linda Purl, Festival
Director,
Linda began her career in the
theatre in Japan, where she was raised and
became the only foreigner to have trained at
the Toho Geino Academy. Her studies
continued at LAMDA and later at both the
Neighborhood Playhouse and Lee Strasberg
Institute. Stage credits include Broadway’s
Tony nominated The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer; Getting and Spending; Off
Broadway: The Baby Dance;
Hallelujah, Hallelujah!. Regional work:
the original production of the Pulitzer
Prize winning play Dinner With Friends
Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of
Louisville; Getting and Spending, Old
Globe Theatre; The Road To Mecca
(with Miss Julie Harris), The Baby Dance,
Long Wharf; John Brown's Body, Lobero
Theatre; Nora (with Michael York),
All the Way Home (with Miss Kim Hunter),
The Three Penny Opera (with Miss
Betty Buckley), The Baby Dance (also
at the Pasadena Playhouse), Williamstown
Theatre Festival; The Real Thing, Hedda
Gabler, Mark Taper Forum Rep; Beyond
Therapy, Romeo and Juliet, L.A. Public
Theatre; A Doll's House, Allied
International Productions; The Man Who
Could See Through Time, South Coast
Repertory; The Merchant of Venice,
Globe Theatre; Grease, Sacramento
Music Theatre; On a Clear Day , San
Bernardino Civic Light Opera; Oliver, The
King and I, Toho Imperial Theatre,
Tokyo; Love Letters with both Stacey
Keach and Desi Arnaz, Jr.; Tusitala
Berkshire Theatre Festival; Little Foxes,
Footfalls, The Diary of Anne Frank, A
Streetcar Named Desire, Rubicon Theatre
Company; The Guys, Berkeley Rep;
Mariana Pineda, Santa Fe Opera; Seven
Deadly Sins, Princess Grace Theatre,
Monaco; Phaedra in the inaugural performance
of the Getty Classical Arena; The
Glass Menagerie, Cleveland Playhouse.
Linda has received six
Dramalogue Best Actress Awards and two
Dramalogue Awards as Best Producer. She has
received two Santa Barbara Independent
Awards and is a three time nominee of the
Los Angeles Drama Critic's Award for Best
Actress. She is the recipient of the
Connecticut Critics' Award for Outstanding
Performance in a Play.
As a main stay of television,
Linda has starred in over 40 television
Movies of the Week, although is probably
best known as Charlene Matlock from the
series Matlock and as Ashley Pfister,
Fonzie’s fiancée, from Happy Days. TV
highlights have been Born Free,
The Last Days of Pompeii (with Sir
Laurence Olivier), The Manions of America
(with Pierce Brosnan), Like Normal People
the award winning docu-drama about a
mentally challenged couple. Linda's feature
film credits include Disney's Mighty Joe
Young, The Walking Major (with
Toshiro Mifune) and Leo and Loree
(produced by Ron Howard).
Linda tours with her solo
concert Come Rain or Come Shine
nationally and internationally. Additionally
she is currently touring in a centenary
salute to Great American songwriter Johnny
Mercer with Lee Lessack and Rhapsody for
Two a dancing tribute to romance from
the 40’s with Kevin Spirtas. Linda's
recordings include Alone Together and
Out of this World – Live with
Special Guest Artist Desi Arnaz, Jr. She
served as Founding Executive Director of the
Colorado Festival of World Theatre and
Festival Director of the 2008 Rubicon
International Theatre Festival.
M. Edgar Rosenblum, Executive
Director,
Arts Management Consultant;
Site Visitor, National Endowment For The
Arts; Auditor, New York State Council on the
Arts. Former Executive Director,
Theatre For A New Audience, New York.
Executive Director of Long Wharf Theatre
1970-1996. With Arvin Brown, Mr. Rosenblum
brought Long Wharf Theatre to a position of
international prominence. He was involved in
every aspect of theatre operations including
day-to-day production, fiscal planning,
development and marketing. Many Long Wharf
productions extended their lives to other
stages on Broadway, Off-Broadway and
television. This expansion enabled the work
of Long Wharf Theatre to reach a larger
audience throughout the nation and abroad.
Long Wharf Theatre, under Mr. Rosenblum's
leadership, was the recipient of many
awards, including: The Jujamcyn Theatres
Award for development of creative talent in
the theatre, 1986, Obie Award for Ensemble
performance, 1983; Tony Award for
Outstanding Regional Theatre 1978; Tony
awards for Long Wharf productions
transferred to New York, 1973, 1974, 1977,
1987; Tony Award nominations, 1973, 1975,
1976, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1987, 1994; The
Pulitzer Prize for Drama to productions of
The Shadow Box and The Gin Game.
Other recent positions include,
Executive Producer: Stanley by Pam
Gems (three Tony nominations, two Outer
Critics Circle Awards), 1997; Producing
Consultant, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and
Consultant, Theatrevision Project, Old Globe
Theatre..
In the summer of 1991, Mr.
Rosenblum led a delegation to the People's
Republic of China to forge an alliance
between Long Wharf Theatre and The Shanghai
People's Art Theatre. Mr. Rosenblum and Mr.
Brown returned to China in 1993 to mount a
production (in Chinese) of Amy Tan's The Joy
Luck Club. The production went on to tour
China and won many accolades at the Hong
Kong Festival of 1994. Other productions
include the Tony Award-winning production of
All My Sons by Arthur Miller, David
Mamet's American Buffalo (London, New
York, Washington DC and San Francisco),
Simon Gray's Quartermain 's Terms,
The Gin Game, Sizwe Bansi is Dead,
David Storey's The Changing Room,
Peter Nichols' The National Health,
David Rabe's Streamers and Eugene
O'Neill's Hughie (Al Pacino).
Mr. Rosenblum served on the
Board of Trustees of the American Arts
Alliance, two as Chairman of the Board,
Board of Directors of the Greater New Haven
Chamber of Commerce, founding President ,
National Corporate Theatre Fund, former
President LORT (League of Resident
Theatres) and the Executive and Negotiating
Committees. Mr. Rosenblum has worked as a
consultant to the Abbey Theatre (The
National Theatre of Ireland) the Arts
Councils of Connecticut, New York,
Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island and
Alaska. He has been a consultant for FEDAPT
(the Foundation for Extension and
Development of American Professional
Theatre) and other arts institutions
throughout the United States. He has taught
graduate classes in Theatre Administration
at the Yale School of Drama. In 1994 he was
honored with an "Arts Award" from the New
Haven Arts Council. Mr. Rosenblum is the
former Producer and Executive Director of
the Woodstock Playhouse, Woodstock, NY and
the Hudson Valley Repertory Theatre. He has
worked in management positions both on and
Off-Broadway, as well as for National and
International tours.
Joe Peracchio - Festival
Producer,
Joe is the Founding Artistic
Director of Tricklock Company, the
internationally acclaimed theatre company in
residence at the University of New Mexico,
and the founder of the state’s premier
annual performing arts event The
Revolutions International Theatre Festival
in Albuquerque & Santa Fe, now in its 10th
season. He founded the The Manoa Project:
Statewide Teen Playwriting & Ensemble
Apprenticeship Program (6th
season), and the Reptilian Lounge Cabaret
(13th season), is the co-creator
and producer of the Free Speech Comedy
Art Series annually (5th
season) in collaboration with Paul Provenza
(The Aristocrats), and served as
festival producer for 2008’s Rubicon
International Theatre Festival, in
Ventura. Stage:
His professional directing credits include
over a decade of productions including
contemporary and classical published plays,
world premiere original plays, and his own
original writing, and has been seen on
stages in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los
Angeles, Vancouver, Edinburgh and other
cities and universities throughout the U.S.,
Europe, and Canada. Recently
Joe created, directed, & performed in
Café Burlesque-O! for the Rubicon
Theatre Company, played James McNeil
Whistler at Playwrights Horizons in NYC
opposite Kathleen Chalfant in Whistler’s
Mummy, directed by David Schweizer, and
has appeared regionally at Seattle Repertory
Theatre (The Beard), Baltimore
Theatre Project (The Seagull), and
Rubicon Theatre Company (You Can’t Take
It With You). He has served as
Assistant Director to Moises Kaufman
(Carmen), and has worked with numerous
other playwrights directing, performing, &
producing their work including Neil LaBute
(Coax), Mac Wellman (Dracula),
Michael McClure (The Beard), & Elana
Greenfield (9 Come). Joe
directed and starred in the hit rock-opera
Taking the Jesus Pill in Hollywood,
directed and produced the hit musical
Bukowsical!
(Outstanding Musical Award
2007, New York Fringe Festival), and his
play The Glorious & Bloodthirsty Billy
the Kid has completed three
international tours to Edinburgh, Krakow,
Prague, Belgrade, Cologne, Calgary, L.A. &
Chicago under his direction.
Television & Film: Joe was a series
regular in the CW Network’s EASY MONEY
(starring Laurie Metcalf) in 2008, including
having been a writer and lead actor in the
PBS/CBS comedy show Fences, nominated
for Emmy Awards for each of its two seasons.
Other recent film & TV credits include
The New Prince Valliant pilot (Hearst
Entertainment), the lead in SMACK (Method
Fest nominee: Best Feature), the lead in
A Couple of Days & Nights (2007
release), ABC’s Wildfire, and
Into The West directed by Steven
Spielberg. Joe was honored by the New Mexico
Business Weekly as one of the State’s Top
Forty Under 40 Arts Professionals and
has been appointed by Mayor Martin Chavez to
the Albuquerque Film Advisory Board
and the Mayor’s transition team to advise
the City of Albuquerque’s Department of
Cultural Affairs.
Sharyn Abel, Associate
Producer,
is a native of Westchester
County, New York and attended Western
Connecticut State University from 1998 to
2002. In 2002, Sharyn served as Associate
Office Manager for Dr. Leonard Mayer. From
2003-2006, she worked as a paralegal in
White Plains, New York, for the firm of
Bartels and Feureisen, LLP. Sharyn served as
Associate Producer for Rubicon International
Theatre Festival from 2006-2008.
Sarah Boone, Consulting
Producer
joins CITF from Florida
where she is currently the Executive
Director of Theatre Jacksonville, one of the
oldest continuously producing theatres in
the country. Sarah has had a diverse career
in television, radio and theatre as a
performer, director, producer and manager.
She graduated from Florida State University
with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and
landed her first job as a TV news announcer
and commercial producer in northeast Florida
before joining ABC Radio National News in
New York as an editorial assistant. She
continued her theatrical training in NY
studying acting with HB Studio founder
Herbert Berghof and musical theatre with
Tony award-winning actress Donna McKechnie.
A Rotary Foundation graduate scholarship
took her to Scotland’s Glasgow University
where she studied contemporary French
theatre. A variety of roles on several
Florida stages followed including Sarah
Brown in Guys and Dolls, Hope
Harcourt in Anything Goes, Rose in
A Shayna Maidel, and Annie Sullivan in
The Miracle Worker. Sarah was
honored to win a theatre teaching fellowship
at American University in Washington, DC
where she served as an acting instructor in
the undergraduate drama program and earned a
Master of Arts in Arts Management and
Communications with an emphasis in film
production. This degree led to positions as
Special Projects Manager at LA’s Geffen
Playhouse and Senior House Manager at New
York's Westside Theatre. Sarah has overseen
the production of more than 60 plays,
musicals and concerts during the past 15
years. In addition to her producing
credits, she has also continued to create
and perform in a series of cabaret shows
which have included appearances in Florida
and in New York at The Duplex, Don’t Tell
Mama and The Triad.
Kathleen Parsons, Production
Manager,
Davidson & Choy Publicity,
(Press Representatives)
headed by Judi Davidson and Tim Choy, is one
of this region’s leading firms specializing
in publicity for the performing arts,
entertainment, culture, restaurants and
special events. The firm has experience with
a wide range of clients -- including
on-going organizations, Los Angeles and
national touring theatre productions (both
long runs and limited engagements in all
sized venues) dance, opera, music, authors,
and major arts festivals. Since 1992,
Davidson & Choy publicity has represented
Cirque du Soleil in Los Angeles,
including Saltimbanco, Alegria,
Quidam, and recently Corteo
in Los Angeles and Orange County, and
Mystere and Nouvelle Experience
in Las Vegas. Current and recent clients
include Dance at the Music Center, Opera
Pacific, RICHMARK Entertainment at
the Wadsworth and Brentwood Theatres,
Disney Parks, Walking With Dinosaurs –
The Live Experience
currently on a national arena tour, Reprise!
Broadway’s Best, American Ballet
Theatre and Alvin Ailey American Dance. Also
the Los Angeles engagements of The Lion
King, Hairspray, Mamma Mia!,
The Producers and the current
Wicked at the Pantages Theatre. Davidson
& Choy represented the 1984 Olympic Arts
Festival, The Los Angeles Festival,
UK/LA Festival and The World Festival of
Sacred Music. Authors include Judith Krantz,
John Lahr, Lawrence Bergreen and Richard
Matheson.
Josh Jacobson, Development
Consultant, Josh
is proud to be consulting with CITF,
building on his successful career in New
York's performing arts sector where he
accrued extensive experience in non-profit
institutional advancement. In 2008, Josh
ended his fourth season as a senior director
with Manhattan Theatre Club; a
Broadway-producing non-profit theatre
company dedicated to the production of
contemporary work. As MTC’s Director of
Institutional Giving, Josh supported the
development of new work, the company’s
acclaimed Education Program, and world
premiere productions like John Patrick
Shanley’s Doubt and David Lindsey-Abaire’s
Rabbit Hole – both Pulitzer
Prize-winning plays. Josh honed his
fundraising skills as Senior Officer for
Research at The Juilliard School, working on
the $150 million Campaign for Juilliard
which sought capital support for
scholarships and building renovations. Past
positions also include serving as Grants
Manager at the Cultural Council of Greater
Jacksonville in North Florida and a stint in
the Florida state-level political arena as a
campaign consultant and intergovernmental
relations associate.
John Lockhart, Development
Consultant -
John G. Lockhart became
President and CEO of People Media when it
merged with Halsted Communications, Inc.
Prior to working with Halsted
Communications, Inc. John was senior vice
president and manager of Porter/Novelli’s
health care practice in the Western region.
Porter/Novelli is part of Omnicom, a
NYSE-traded holding company which owns a
number of leading advertising, marketing and
public relations firms. John’s years of
experience include work with a number of
companies in a variety of industries,
including the US Department of the Interior,
Gerber Products, Baxter Healthcare,
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoffman-La Roche
Pharmaceuticals, Catholic Healthcare West,
Kaiser Permanente, AltaMed, Amgen, Avigen,
Nestle, Ventura Foods, BHP Billiton, Mentor
Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, the City of
Los Angeles, and the cities of Calabasas and
South Pasadena on housing and development
issues. In the education area John and the
People Media team are managing marketing and
communications programs for the USC Marshall
School of Business, California Lutheran
University and St. John’s Seminary in
Camarillo. John is an expert in issues and
crisis management, having worked with a
medical device manufacturer during an FDA
recall, the Seventh-day Adventist Church
during the Branch Davidian crisis in Waco, a
major Japanese consumer electronics company
and a large HMO on employment issues. John
has also worked with several consumer
product companies on product tampering
issues. In addition to his work at People
Media, John serves as a board member for the
American Cancer Society, Metro Los Angeles
Unit, The Salvation Army’s Metropolitan Los
Angeles Advisory Board, the Ventura County
Taxpayers Association, and as a Partners
Council member for Taking the Reigns, an
after school program for at risk girls that
teaches them how to ride and care for
horses. John has a B.A. degree in
journalism from Marquette University and a
certificate in advanced management from the
University of Southern California.
Amber Landis, Volunteer
Coordinator,
a native of Ventura, earned
her bachelor's degree in Dramatic Arts from
the University of California, Santa Barbara.
She worked for the Museum of Ventura County
for five years before joining Rubicon
Theatre Company’s staff in 2004. She spent a
season with Rubicon working backstage and
then moved into the development/volunteer
coordinator position. She left Rubicon in
2008 to pursue her Master’s in Theatre Arts
at California State University, Northridge.
Amber’s other passion besides theatre is
travel and she is happy to be a part of the
California International Theatre Festival.
Lois Fischman, Group Sales
Manager,
is
a native of Chicago and
self-described theatre addict. She served as
Business Manager for Rubicon Theatre Company
in Ventura, California, and has an extensive
background in bookkeeping, personnel and
marketing. A mother of two and grandmother
of six, she started at Rubicon as a
volunteer in the box office before joining
the staff in 2002.
2009 INTERN
TEAM
Natalie Silacci
Natalie is thrilled to be involved with
the California International Theatre
Festival. She is currently a communications
major at Saint Mary’s College of California
and graduated from La Reina High School in
2008. This summer, in addition to being a
CITF intern, she is interning with People
Media Group to learn the ropes of the PR
world. In the past, Natalie has interned
for Assembly Member Pedro Nava, Served for
two terms on the Thousand Oaks Youth
Commission, and been has helped to put on
such events as “Rock the Oaks” for local
talent and the annual Thousand Oaks
Therapeutic Dance for people with
disabilities. From 2003 to 2008 she studied
acting and improv with Ellen Marano at the
Stage Door Theatre in Agoura Hills and has
performed in many theatre productions such
as Brigadoon, Anastasia, and A Christmas
Carol. She is excited about her recent
election into Saint Mary’s student senate
and will begin her term this fall. Natalie
is beyond grateful to be in the CITF
environment because it combines her two
loves: the arts and beautiful cultures.
Ella Martin
earned a B.A. in Theatre and Performance
Studies from UC Berkeley, where she studied
acting, directing, and theatre history and
was named a Regents’ and Chancellor’s
Scholar. She attended the Guildhall School
of Music and Drama Shakespeare and
Contemporary Theatre Drama Summer School and
in 2008 she apprenticed at the Rubicon
International Theatre Festival. At last
year’s RITF she studied with a tremendous,
outstanding faculty, worked with inspiring
theater artists from around the world, and
performed in Cafe BurlesquO! where she also
adapted and directed two one acts based on
Chekhov’s plays - The Seagull in 5
Minutes and Naughty Uncle Vanya,
as well as helped devise an interlude
parodying the work of Anita Berber. In
May, she interned with Directors Lab West.
This summer she can be seen performing as
Lucius the boy-slave in Julius Caesar
at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. She
is proud to be the Marketing and Development
Assistant for the brand-new, beautiful
Westside venue, The Broad Stage. In her
spare time, she enjoys medieval history,
foreign languages, opera and literature.
Jeff Meyer,
born and raised in the San Fernando Valley,
is currently a Theatre and Psychology
double-major at Northwestern University. He
was recently selected for the Musical
Theatre certificate program at NU. Jeff
began singing as a boy soprano at the age of
11 and now continues as a member and
producer of Northwestern's all-male a
cappella group, Asterik. As a Northwestern
freshman, he was cast in the prestigious
Dolphin Show’s 2009 production of the
'Wizard of Oz', also garnering roles in the
student theatre productions of 'Bent' and
'Mother Courage'. This Fall, he will produce
through NU's student theatre group Sit &
Spin the musical 'The 25th Annual Putnam
Country Spelling Bee'. Before interning for
CITF, he apprenticed with Rubicon
International Theatre Festival in 2008--a
precursor to CITF--and is incredibly
grateful for the friends and life
perspective he has acquired (and is still
acquiring) from the experiences.
Lucero Garcia
is very excited to be interning for the CIT
Festival and reuniting with many of her
friends from RITF! Lucero is a graduate of
California State University where she earned
her BA in Theatre Arts. There she
appeared in varies shows such as Even Steven
Goes to War and participated in a
Masterclass with master teacher Tim
Miller. Tim Miller lead her
and others students to create a show of one
man acts named Proof of life. She
also spent a year in the University of Hull
(United Kingdom) where she appeared as Dita (The
Murder Mystery) and Claire (Rumours). She
is currently making her way through
the harsh streets of the acting world and
interning for both CITF and Domain Public
Relations Firm. |
