Sleeping Beauty Cast and Creative Team

Tickets

 

Rotimi Agbabiaka
Hernia the Witch
Rotimi Agbabiaka*
Rotimi Agbabiaka is thrilled to return to the panto after playing Aladdin in The Magic Lamp. Recent acting credits include playing Oberon and Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Folger Theatre, Washington DC), and originating the roles of William Craft in The N***** Lovers (Magic Theatre), James Baldwin in In The Evening By The Moonlight (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre), and Cellphone/Narrator in If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons, NYC). Rotimi has also performed at Yale Rep, American Conservatory Theatre, Shotgun Players, Brava Theater, Magic Theatre, among others, and is a company member at Word for Word, BACCE, and the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. Rotimi penned the solo shows Homeless, Type/Caste (TBA award), and MANIFESTO; co-wrote the musical, Seeing Red; dazzles nightlife stages (as alter ego Miss Cleo Patois); and teaches acting and solo performance at Stanford University.
Photo Credit: Cody Williams
Pecker
Andre Amarotico*
Andre Amarotico received his BA in Theater at Stanford. He is an actor, collective member, and board president at the Tony Award winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. He was recently featured in BREAKDOWN (SFMT), as John Wilkes Booth in Assassins (Hillbarn), and as Tony in the world premiere of Kate Hawley's Remains to be Seen (Jewel Theatre Co). Andre also starred in Neighborhood Stories, in an untitled play by Pulizer nominated playwright Amy Freed. Other favorite roles include Anthony in Sweeny Todd, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, and the titular characters in Hamlet and Macbeth. Andre was nominated for a TBA for Best Actor in a Featured Role for The 39 Steps (Ross Valley Players). He has also performed with The Mountain Play, Cutting Ball Theater, Word for Word, 6th Street Playhouse, and Stanford Repertory Theatre. Up next, catch him in The Lion in Winter at Jewel Theatre Co.
Assistant Director
Phoebe Angeni
Phoebe Angeni (she/her) is delighted to return for her third year of Panto! An emerging, critically acclaimed international theatremaker and poet, Angeni graduated from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, with a BA Honours and dissertation ‘Performing the Divine Feminine: Women, Theatre, and Social Change.’ She also completed intensives at RADA in London and at the Stella Adler Studio in New York. Angeni is the creator-performer of five-star Edinburgh Fringe show, Ithaca, and the author of a newly published poetry collection, Longitudes & Latitudes.​ She is currently developing her next show, Incarnate.
Photo Credit: Kelsea Holder
Understudy
Daniel Benitez
Dany Benitez (they/them) is an actor, dancer, drag performer, and theatre educator based in San Francisco. They are thrilled to be returning to the Presidio Theatre for this year's Panto. In the new year, you can see them in Berkeley Playhouse's production of RENT.
Photo Credit: Michelle Castillo
Alina Bokovikova
Costume Designer
Alina Bokovikova
Alina Bokovikova is an artistically diverse costume designer with around hundred professional and educational productions for live performances in her portfolio. She has several regional Best Costume Design awards and presented her works at the "Costume Design at the Turn of Century" exhibition in Moscow and was featured in "American Theatre Magazine." Bay Area audiences saw her works at TheatreWorks, Cal Shakes, Cutting Ball Theatre, San Francisco Opera, Opera Parallele, WEO, Opera San Jose (La Boheme costumes were exhibited at the Museum of Quilts and Textiles). Alina Bokovikova has an MFA in Costume design from UC San Diego and teaches at Academy of Art University. 
Photo Credit: Kelly Mann
Mission Burrito the Chicken
Phaedra Tillery Boughton*
Phaedra Tillery Boughton (she/her), a Bay Area native, is a multi-hyphenate creative artist. Phaedra was awarded the 2022-23 Theatre Bay Area Arts Leadership residency award in Residency at SFBATCO. She continues to expand her artistic range as an Associate Producer, Casting Manager, and Co-Host of Creatively Shaded. As a versatile performer, Phaedra has worked with Center Rep on Crown (Mable); at Hillbarn Theater on Clybourne Park (Director), Ain't Misbehavin’ (Armelia McQueen/Assistant Director), 1940s Radio Hour (Geneva), The Color Purple and To Kill a Mockingbird; At Ray of Light Theatre on Caroline or Change and Little Shop of Horrors. She prides herself on consistently challenging the concept of traditional theatre and finding new ways to push the boundaries of creativity and inclusion in the creative arts community.
Photo Credit: @tracymartinphotography
Understudy
Ian Brady
Ian Brady (He/Him) is a Pennsylvania-born, New York based actor with a great love and appreciation for the Bay Area and The Presidio Theatre. California credits include Much Ado About Nothing (New Canon Theatre Company), Guide for the Homesick (Theatre Rhinoceros), Today I Live (3Girls), Macbeth (Berkeley Shakes), and, of course, the 2023 Sleeping Beauty at the Presidio Theatre. In addition to acting, Ian is a proud digital professional, organizer, and former Executive Board Member of the Campaign Workers Guild.
Photo Credit: Kyle Brace
Curt Branom
Julia the Cook
Curt Branom
Curt recently toured Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago with baritone Ryan McKinny in Jake Heggie‘s opera For a Look or a Touch. He performed as a principal cast member in Beach Blanket Babylon for 25 years. During that time, he inhabited countless roles, from the flamboyant King Louis XIV to Bernie Sanders. Locally, he has performed with the SF Symphony, SF Gay Men’s Chorus, Festival Opera, and Peninsula Civic Light Opera, where he was nominated as Best Actor by the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle for Sweet Charity. New York credits include Hurlyburly, A Lie of the Mind, and Our Life and Times. Curt teaches at the SF Conservatory of Music and is a co-founder of Pacific Singers & Actors Workshop (pacificsingers.com), a nonprofit that serves Bay Area students and received a 2019 Jefferson Award for Public Service. He lives in San Francisco with his husband, Jake Heggie. His greatest role to date is being Grayson’s dad.
Photo Credit: Tanya Constantine
Jen Brooks
Sourdough the Chicken
Jen Brooks
Jen Brooks is thrilled to be a third time returning chicken, which she supposes makes her the Regina George of Chickens. Jen was last seen as Mazeppa in Gypsy at Woodminster Summer Musicals. Are we picking up on a theme here? Come back to this after the second act. This past summer Jen also dazzled audiences as Cynthia Weil in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Woodminster Summer Musicals). Other favorite roles include: Bea in Something Rotten, Lina Lamont in Singin’ In The Rain, The Chaperone in The Drowsy Chaperone and Donna in Mamma Mia! She has had the honor to perform on stages across the globe from New York City to Munich and Guam. You may have seen her in one of her 12 productions of A Chorus Line, which includes the European Touring Company. Jen is an advocate for parents and caregivers working in the performing arts. Check out her Podcast: Baby in the Wings.
Photo credit: Nina Pelfini
Co-Playwright
Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown is a Bay Area native singer-songwriter and writer-composer for sketch comedy and musical theater. In 2005 she co-founded Funny But Mean, a San Francisco-based sketch comedy group that has performed at The Shelton, The Magic, and The Marines, with features at SF Sketchfest and the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in New York City. Her credits include script, music, and lyric composition for over 20 original live shows and comedy musicals such as Law & Order: SFU; Flavor of Death: A Guy Fieri Musical; Once Upon a Time in San Francisco, and Wild Scooters.
Co-Playwright
Richard Ciccarone
Richard Ciccarone is so proud to work with this incredible group of people and honored to be a part of this production. His past credits have included 20+ original sketch shows in San Francisco and New York at The Marines' Memorial Theatre, The Magic Theater, The Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater, and the Improv Cafe. His shows, The Hope Gene and The American Gallery were both a part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and he has also written, directed, and produced several plays throughout San Francisco.
Ensemble
Maggie Connard
Maggie Connard (she/her) is a teaching artist and performer who graduated with a BA in Dance from Point Park University. She teaches Rhythm & Motion and barre fitness at ODC in SF, and has taught ballet, jazz, tap and musical theatre dance to children and adults. Maggie has performed locally in Singing in the Rain (Broadway By the Bay and Berkeley Playhouse), Cabaret (Shotgun Players), Chicago (Willows Theater) and White Christmas (Diablo Theater Company) and was most recently seen in SF Playhouse's production of A Chorus Line. Maggie is thrilled to be back for her third year of Panto fun at the beautiful Presidio Theatre!
Photo Credit: Five Contreras
Projection Designer
Peter Crompton
Peter Crompton is a set and projection designer. He has won San Francisco Bay Area Critic’s Choice, Shellies, and Goodman Choice awards. He has also designed scenery and projections for Lamplighters, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Yucatan Symphony, Opera San José, West Bay Opera, Santa Barbara Opera, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Music of Remembrance, CCMT, Marin Theatre Company, MFDP, Revels, CCMT, SRT, Western Ballet, Jarvis Conservatory, SSU, SRJC, and Sonoma City Opera among others. He teaches design at Santa Rosa Junior College and occasionally Sonoma State University. Peter also makes monumental sculpture with his wife Robyn and their installations can be seen in downtown Cotati, Paradise Ridge, Cloverdale, Geyserville, at Hammerfriar gallery in Healdsburg.
Photo Credit: Tom Chown
Ruby Day
Orinda the Fairy
Ruby Day
Ruby Day is delighted to be back as Orinda, the Green Fairy! She is a seasoned performer with professional experience in acting, musical theater, clown, and voice over. Some of her favorite roles include Snow White in SF’s longest running musical revue Beach Blanket Babylon, Star to Be in The National and International Tour of Annie, and Carrie in Carousel. A graduate of Idyllwild Arts Academy, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Clown Conservatory of SF, Ruby has been a working actor in New York and the Bay Area for the last decade. Aside from theater, she has also performed as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, back-up danced for Belle and Sebastian at Radio City Music Hall, and can be seen performing original content with friends at venues across the Bay Area. Enjoy the show!
Photo Credit: Lisa Keating
Production Manager, Presidio Theatre
Patty Ann Farrell
Patty Ann Farrell has deeply impacted San Francisco’s performing arts field for over four decades, serving in various roles as production manager, stage manager, and lighting designer for many dance, theatrical works, and special events throughout the Bay Area, New York City, Washington D.C., Tokyo, Hawaii, and up and down the West Coast. Her artistic collaborations and lighting design for thousands of events include the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, the Oakland Ballet, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, Black Choreographers’ Festival, Patrick Makuakane’s Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu, Eiko and Koma, Ballet Afsaneh, Lenora Lee, and many more. Patty Ann has received four prestigious Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and a Bay Area Critics Circle Award for her lighting designs. She is beloved by local artists and has furthered many of their careers through her mentoring work.
Photo Credit: Terry Lorant
Merrill Grant
Ensemble
Merrill Grant
Merrill is thrilled to be “panto-ing” again at the Presidio with this amazing group! Bay Area credits include performances with Contra Costa Civic Theatre, Broadway by the Bay, and The Mountain Play. In New York she performed in concerts at Avery Fisher Hall, Weill Recital Hall, 54 Below, and the Metropolitan Room. She toured with the NY Gilbert & Sullivan Players, and her one woman show, “My Shirley Years”, played the Edinburgh Festival after a New York run. Her show “How I got to San Francisco, Plenty of Heart and Plenty of Hope” is viewable on her website. This January she’ll originate a lead role in the world premiere of Andrea Gordon’s “Miriam and Esther visit the Diamond District” at The Magic Theatre, and in March she’ll play Sarah Bernhardt in the world premiere of the new musical “The Divine Sarah” at Ross Valley Players.
Photo Credit: Ben Krantz
Technical Director, Presidio Theatre
Jeff Gregory
Jeff Gregory began his professional theatre career at age 10, performing in musicals, television, and later in the Catskill resorts through the age of 18. He is an accomplished bass player, having toured with the Queen Ida Band, and bands which opened for Patti Smith, Jimmy Buffet, Kenny Rankin, and Stephen Stills. He is a deeply respected lighting and sound technician, having worked at the Cowell Theater and Alcazar Theatre as Technical Director, and at Yoshi’s where his sound expertise was appreciated by a list of jazz greats, including Branford Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Joe Pass, Pharaoh Sanders, Bobby Hutcherson, and many others. He was part of a George Coates performance tour in Japan and was Stage Manager for a television collaboration with Ram Dass, which included musical guests Peter Gabriel, Arlo Guthrie, and Bob Weir. Jeff is also producing and directing a film on the life of Mason Williams.
Photo Credit: Terry Lorant
Executive Producer
Peggy Haas
Peggy Haas has been active in theatre since she was eight years old. She has acted, directed and produced in both the US and Europe, and is currently enjoying hamming it up for Children's Theatre of San Francisco, an 87-year-old non-profit organization that gives 6-8,000 schoolchildren their first live theatre experience at no cost to the schools. She is the person responsible for restoring the Presidio Theatre and gifting it to SF as a community theatre. She has always loved the Panto genre of theatre and the magic and laughter it brings. She feels Sleeping Beauty is also her joyous gift to Bay Area families and theatergoers, especially after the recent difficult years we have all endured.
Ensemble
M. Javi Harnly
M.Javi Harnly is thrilled to be making his Presidio Theatre debut. He was last seen over the summer as a featured dancer in Follies with SF Playhouse. His work can also be seen as a Scenic Artistic and Designer at various theaters throughout the Bay Area. CA Regional: The Fantasticks (Mortimer/ Fight Cap) - Tri-Valley Rep; Big (u/sPaul), James...Peach (u/s Grasshopper), Sister Act, Annie (u/s Rooster) - Berkeley Playhouse; Joseph... (Dance Cap.), Saturday Night Fever, Aida, Beauty & The Beast - BroadwayByTheBay; West Side Story (Bernardo/ Dance Cap.) - The Western Stage; Triassic Parq (Mimeasaurus) - Ray of Light; My Beautiful Launderette (Omar) - New Conservatory Theatre Center. / Edu. Tour (Aus): The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe (Man 1) - Cut Glass Theatre. "Infinite Thank You’s and Gratitude!" to Charley, Mom & Dad for your unwavering love and support.
Bill Keck
Musical Director
Bill Keck
Bill Keck was Musical Director of Steve Silver’s Beach Blanket Babylon in San Francisco for 26 years. Bill studied piano with Soulima Stravinsky and worked theatrically with E.Y. Harburg, Sheldon Harnick, and Alan Menken. His tenure with singer and RCA artist John Gary spanned five nationwide tours, symphony concerts, showroom acts, and recordings. For five years he was guest conductor for Milwaukee’s Music Under the Stars. Bill ushered in the Millennium by conducting chanteuse Raquel Bitton’s Edith Piaf national concert tour, including three performances at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. He dedicates any and every musical experience to the memory of his wife Starry.
Photo Credit: Terry Lorant
Matthew Kropschot
Prince Logan
Matthew Kropschot
Matthew is grateful to reprise his role as Logan in this year’s Panto. Most recently, Matthew played both Cloten & Posthumus in the Pacific Repertory Theatre’s production of CYMBELINE. Matthew has worked around the Bay, most notably with the San Jose Stage Company in roles such as Little Charles (AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY), Ethan Kane (SEX WITH STRANGERS), Tommy (GRAND HORIZONS), & Rocky (ROCKY HORROR) to name a few. In 2023 Matthew was voted the Sexiest Man in Shingle Springs, CA. Apart from acting, Matthew is a writer, filmmaker, & meat eater.
Photo Credit: Kiaya Marie
Renee Lubin
Queen Montgomery
Renée Lubin
Renée Lubin is noted by the San Francisco Chronicle as a city treasure for her 34-year run with Beach Blanket Babylon. Being a San Francisco native, she has performed with numerous theatrical companies. Favorite shows include Dreamgirls, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and For Colored Girls. She has performed with TheatreWorks, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49er’s, Oakland A’s, and the San Jose Sharks. Renée is the former Vocal Jazz Coach at San Francisco State University and continues to perform at various jazz venues throughout the Bay Area. She is a proud recipient of the San Francisco Mayor’s Community Stalwart Award by the Human Rights Commission. Blessings!
Photo Credit: Anna Ty Bergman
Executive Director, Presidio Theatre
Robert Martin
Robert Martin is the Executive Director of the Presidio Theatre. He led the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 16 years, where he developed the Lensic Presents series featuring more than 45 theatre, dance, music, and film events each year that reflected the cultural diversity of Santa Fe and supported local, national and international artists. Prior to that, Bob directed programming for the Cowell and Bayfront Theatres at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Bob earned a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors in political sociology at UC Berkeley and pursued graduate work at UC Santa Cruz, where he taught a course on the history of political theatre in America.
Photo Credit: Terry Lorant
Understudy: Hernia the Witch
Dian Meechai
Dian Sitip Meechai (she/her) is thrilled to return to Panto! Favorite roles include Lady Eugenia in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Lamplighters Music Theatre), Sheila in A Chorus Line (SF Playhouse), The Girl in The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd (Landmark Musical Theatre) and covering the Princess in last year's Sleeping Beauty panto! Other favorite credits include The Empire Strips Back! (Foster Entertainment/Neil Gooding Productions), The Merry Widow (Pocket Opera), The Gondoliers (Lamplighters Music Theatre), production vocalist onboard the Silver Spirit and choreographer for Broadway Bares SF. Dian is a songwriter, recording artist, NASM-CPT and former contortionist. Born in the “Boogie Down" Bronx, Dian aspired to perform as a child. She is a graduate of Northwestern University. In 2007, Dian moved to San Francisco for circus school and fell in love with the city.
Photo Credit: James Jin
Cioppino the Chicken
Kaylee Miltersen
Kaylee Miltersen is a Bay Area actor, musician, opera singer, and educator, originally from Chugiak, Alaska, and is so happy to be back galavanting on stage with Presidio Theatre as Cioppino, one of the beloved panto chickens. Recent credits include Alice, Bright Star (CRT); Luisa, The Fantasticks (SFCM); Violet, Violet (FMT); Gwendolyn, The Importance of Being Earnest (CRT); Nicola, Kinky Boots (Throckmorton Theatre). Kaylee holds a MM in Voice from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a BM in Voice from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. When not performing, Kaylee teaches voice privately for KAM Studio at her home in SF and enjoys getting as deep into the outdoors as she can!
Photo Credit: Lisa Keating
Wanda the Wandering Fairy
Sara Toby Moore
Sara Toby Moore is an award-winning clown, actor, director and filmmaker who is currently founding Artistic Director of Thrillride Mechanics physical theatre troupe in San Francisco and also Director of Clown & Performance for Circus Center. Toby has four decades of experience as a performer, director, teacher, and writer, and her substantial body of creative work covers a wide spectrum of mediums including the big top, casinos, film, off-broadway, and regional theatre. Highlights include Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, The Krofft Puppets, and Merv Griffin’s Resorts Productions. With Thrillride Mechanics, her “clown opera” The Supers was critically lauded at its world premiere at Z Space in 2020. Next up: Atomic Comic, a punk rock-clown fantasia on the Z Space mainstage in June 2023. She is over the moon to be here in Panto-Land with this beautiful team! www.saratobymoore.com
Dramaturg
Christine Nicholson
Christine Nicholson has been teaching Theatre at the University/College level for twenty years, directing professionally for over twenty years, and has been a working actor since the 1980s. She is Associate Producer and Director for the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, a founding member of Synergy Stage and Splinter Group Theatre (a theatre dedicated to Panto), and a member of Wildflower Women’s Shakespeare Ensemble. Sleeping Beauty will be the twelfth Panto that she has written/produced with her husband, Luther Hanson. Other Pantos include: The Magic Lamp, Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty (separate production), Robinhood in the Forest of Frogwarts, Moby Dick, the Panto, and Little Women, the Panto.
Photo Credit: Mike Poe
Choreographer
Stacey Printz
Stacey Printz is Artistic Director of Printz Dance Project (PDP) and has toured across the nation and internationally. Her choreography credits include: As You Like It at Cal Shakes, Aaron Davidman’s Wrestling Jerusalem, Sarah Shourd’s The Box, Woolly Mammoth Theater’s production of The Arsonists, Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s Scourge, The Break/s, and the Bessie nominated Red, Black & Green: a blues and /peh-LO-tah/. She has choreographed many regional musical theater productions, including Ragtime, West Side Story, A Chorus Line, In the Heights, and Grease. Stacey was nominated for an Izzie Award for her 2011 work Hover Space, and her work GLASSlands was presented at YBCA. In early 2020, Stacey developed a new show, Ink and Bone, as part of a residency at The Kennedy Center.
Photo Credit: Jeff Zender
Scott Reardon
Embarkadero
Scott Reardon*
Scott Reardon was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and has performed with Beach Blanket Babylon (12+ years), TheatreWorks of Silicon Valley (Big River), Utah Shakespeare Festival (Lend Me A Tenor: The Musical – World Premiere), Musical Theatre West (Thoroughly Modern Millie), 5-Star Theatricals (Kiss Me, Kate; Once Upon A Mattress), Fresno Grande Opera (Show Boat), PCPA Theatrefest (The Wildest!!!), Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre (Fiddler On The Roof, Joseph…), Oregon Cabaret Theatre (Dames At Sea), Hillbarn (Clybourne Park), Disney Cruise Line, Nickelodeon, as well as commercial work for Visa, Samsung, Philips, Dell, Verizon, LinkedIn, Logitech, LG, Dolby, Google, Cisco Systems, Symantec, Garmin, Intuit, Polycom, Service Now, and more. He attended UC Irvine receiving honors in both Musical Theatre and Acting, and received his M.A. in Special Education from Alliant International University. He is an Actor’s Equity Association member and AEA Roger Sturtevant Awardee.
Photo Credit: Richard Shiu
Production Designer & Associate Producer
Sean Riley
Sean Riley creates performance combining suspension, kinetics, architecture and narrative sculpture. Through scenic design, rigging design, and mechanical design, often in concert with each other, he creates unique striking environments and apparatus for time based art. Riley’s work has spanned a wide spectrum of genres including Theater, Circus, Dance, Opera, Television, as well as outdoor and gallery installations around the world. Riley is a founding member and co-director of Cirque Mechanics, the host of two television series Worlds Toughest Fixes and Speed, and a longtime collaborator on the construction of the Long Now Foundation’s 10,000 year clock. Awards and nominations in design include: 5 Izzies, TBA awards, Bay Area Critics Circle, and an Isadora Duncan Sustained Achievement Award in scenic design. Riley studied Theater at UCSC and lives in British Columbia. "Let’s do the Panto Again!"
Photo Credit: Chelsea Riley
Major Major
Stacy Ross*
Stacy lives and works in the Bay Area, has done lots of plays, also frames pictures and likes to swim occasionally in the Bay despite an unreasonable fear of sharks. She credits her happiness and stability to the piano-playing Randy Craig. Most recent credits include Clue (SF Playhouse), Fefu and Her Friends (A.C.T. Strand), Communion (A.C.T. Stream), They Promised Her the Moon (Theatreworks, opening, 3 performances and a very abrupt closing). She has also appeared at California Shakespeare Theatre, SF Shakespeare, Berkeley Rep, the late San Jose Rep, Baltimore Center Stage and Manhattan’s 52East52.
Photo Credit: Anna Bullard
Lighting Designer
Andrea Schwartz
Andrea Schwartz is thrilled to be designing Sleeping Beauty for the second year. She has been working around the Bay Area as a Lighting Designer and Master Electrician since 2005. Andrea loves sitting in dark theaters and creating light scapes. Some of her favorite show designs include: She Kills Monsters; Almost Maine; A Midsummers Nights' Dream; Jubilee; In the Heights; Cinderella; and Once On this Island.
Sharon Shao
Princess Sonoma
Sharon Shao
Sharon Shao (she/her) is a Bay Area native actor, musician, and teaching artist. She holds a double B.A. in Theatre Arts and Psychology from UC Santa Cruz. She is delighted to be returning as Sonoma for the Panto this year! Favorite local credits include The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (SF Playhouse, recipient of SFBATCC featured actress award), Man of God (Shotgun Players), The Winter’s Tale, Good Person of Szechwan (CalShakes), Chinglish (SF Playhouse), S*x, Camp, Rock N’ Roll (Oasis SF), Vinegar Tom, Iron Shoes (Shotgun Players), The Tempest, Hamlet (Oakland Theater Project), and UTOPIA (CuttingBall Theater). Offstage, Sharon is passionate about teaching voice and drama, devising original work, and building creative communities here and abroad.
Photo Credit: Tracy Martin
Gary Stanford
King Powell
Gary Stanford Jr.
Gary Stanford Jr. is a Bay Area native who has been involved with singing, dancing, and acting since a young child. He has appeared in over 90 musicals with various theater companies and recent productions include Les Miserables (2023) (stage director), Shrek (2023) (choreographer), Heathers and Lion King (2023) (stage director), and Anything Goes (2023) (Eli Whitney). Since 2019, he has been running his own theater company, North California Arts Collective and is on the Board of Directors for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (Mountain View), Z-Space theater (San Francisco), Woodside Community Theater, REACT Theater (Seattle) and Hillbarn Theater (Foster City).
Photo Credit: Steve Fogel
Ensemble
Gwen Tessman
Gwen is so jazzed to be joining Panto in the Presidio this year. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a BFA in dance in 2021. She began pursuing theater shortly after graduation and has since been in RENT (Marin Musical Theater Company), Hello Dolly! (Mountain Play), Elf (Hillbarn), Into the Woods (Mountain Play), and A Chorus Line (SF Playhouse). Enjoy the show!
Photo Credit: Dennis Shew
Ensemble
Jeffrey Mercury Van Sciver
Mercury is thrilled to be rejoining the cast for Panto in the Presidio. Van Sciver received his college training at The Juilliard School and earned his BFA from Dominican University. While in school, he danced with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera’s production of Moby Dick, and received awards and scholarships from the Dizzy Feet Foundation, the Chris Helman Award, and Princess Grace Awards. Upon graduating, Van Sciver joined Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, touring internationally for over six years. In 2018, he joined the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus as well as Sister Magic Productions. The following year, he joined the chorus’ a capella group, HomoPhonics, in which he’s been able to sing, dance, and choreograph. Mercury was proud to play in 42nd Street Moon’s production of THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS as Olen Montgomery. Van Sciver would like to thank everyone near, far and wide for being a part of his journey and appreciates the opportunity to show himself and his love of life.
Photo Credit: RJ Muna
Liam Vincent
Director
Liam Vincent
Liam Vincent is a professional actor, director, and casting director who is proud to have called San Francisco home for the last 25 years. His theater credits include work off-Broadway with The Civilians. His regional credits include: The Alliance, Huntington Theater Company, Portland Center Stage, Pasadena Playhouse, Arizona Theater Company, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. In the Bay Area, his work has been seen at the American Conservatory Theater, California Shakespeare Theater, TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Company, The Magic, The Aurora, Campo Santo, and the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Liam is currently the Associate Lead Director at The Magic Theater at Ft. Mason.
Photo Credit: Lisa Keating
Ryan Patrick Welsh Headshot
Fremont the Fairy
Ryan Patrick Welsh
Ryan Patrick (RP) Welsh (he/she/they), aka The 8th Best Legs in San Francisco, is simply delighted to be returning to the Presidio Theatre for another season of Panto! RP has performed extensively in the Bay Area for the last 7 years most notably with The San Francisco Neo-Futurists, Peaches Christ Productions, & Baloney, San Francisco’s Gay All-Male Revue. Recent credits include The Narrator in Oasis' The Rocky Horror Show & U/S for the Wicked Witch in ACT's The Wizard of Oz. For the last year RP has been performing their solo show Sex, Camp, Rock ' N Roll to rave reviews. They'll be bringing it to Shotgun Theatre in Berkeley this winter on December 5th, 18th & 19th! You can find tickets at their website link. Much love to their sister, Sarah Catherine, their Oasis family, and all their fabulous friends.
Photo Credit: Jason Hanasik
Creative Contributor
Mason Williams
Mason Williams is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning classical guitarist, composer, singer, writer and poet, best known for his song “Classical Gas” and for his work as a comedy writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, Saturday Night Live and a variety of TV specials for Andy Williams and Petula Clark. Mason has recorded more than 20 albums, five of which were on the Warner Bros. label. He has performed hundreds of live concerts, including performances with over 40 symphony orchestras. His music compositions have been featured in many movies and television series, including The Sopranos and The Queen’s Gambit. His artwork is part of numerous private collections and at the Smithsonian, MOMA (NYC) and was included in the Norton Simon Museum exhibition “Radical Past”.
Pacifica the Fairy
Eiko Yamamoto
Eiko Yamamoto (she/they) is an issei/ ilchom ose, multi-hyphenate artist born in Tokyo and grew up in Seoul, Honolulu and Shafter. Recent credits: Cymbeline (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival), Clue, Follies and Sugar (u/s) Tiny Beautiful Things (San Francisco Playhouse), Hua Mulan in Disenchanted! (3Below), Jack's Mother in Into The Woods (Mountain Play), and as M’Lynn Eatenton in Steel Magnolias (Sierra Rep). Other company credits: PlayOn Shakespeare at the Magic Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theater Ground Floor, African American Shakespeare Company, Z Space, PlayGround, Playwrights Foundation, and Company One in Boston. Upcoming: The Truer History of the Chan Family, a new vaudeville musical film, 2024. Eiko is an avid swing dancer and is well versed in various American Jazz dance forms. As a visual artist, they've shown their paintings and installations in the Bay Area and abroad. UCLA, California College of Arts; proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Ring of Keys.
Photo Credit: Lisa Keating

*The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

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