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Live Theater: Stripped Down & Unplugged! |
Mission/Vision Statement Committed to the creative growth of theater artists and to a community that is inclusive, diverse, and accepting, Alternative Theater Ensemble seeks to make theater more accessible to the non-theatergoing public by producing compelling work in places where people are, and to reconnect all theatergoers with the unique power of intimate, immediate storytelling. Founded on the principles of ensemble collaboration and artistic risk, AlterTheater Ensemble is also committed to new works and local artists. AlterTheater Ensemble is committed to being a creative problem-solver for challenges in our community, and finding ways for theater to address the needs of our citizens. We wish to not just be a professional theater company, but to be a resident company of San Rafael. Who Are We?
Born and educated in New Zealand, Ann Brebner has lived in California since 1953 and has spent her life working in film or theatre. Trained as a director at London’s prestigious Old Vic Theater, she has directed for the stage in England, New Zealand, Rhode Island, New York and the Bay Area. She is the co-founder of the Marin Shakespeare Company, directing frequently for them. Until 1981 she was the president of Brebner Agencies Inc., in San Francisco representing actors and screenwriters in the motion picture industry. She has worked as a casting director, written three screenplays, and authored a book on the skill of living a creative life in a left-brained world, Setting Free the Actor, published in 1991. More recently she has headed the drive to restore the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael as the permanent home of the California Film Institute, which produces the Mill Valley Film Festival. For the Rafael Film Center Project she was the chair and the project manager. She has completed her second book, All My Mothers, a memoir of those who formed her life. A member of the AlterTheater Ensemble, Ann co-directed, with Frances Lee McCain, the Bay Area premiere of Sex Parasite in AlterTheater's Inaugural Season, and directed the West Coast premiere of "Cuddle Time" by Keely Madden in Smorgasbord of Shorts II, and the world premiere of Thirst by Dyke Garrison, She and her writing partner Laurel Graver adapted Anne Lamott's first novel, Hard Laughter, into a play, which premiered with AlterTheater in Spring 2007. She will play Mum in the Spring 2010 production of Owners by Caryl Churchill. Jeanette Harrison has lived in San Rafael (on and off) for eight years. She has worked in theater administration, as a director, and as an actor on stage, on-camera, and off-camera. She has worked with Aurora Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Theatre Rhino, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Sonoma County, Sonoma County Rep, Golden Thread Productions, Woman’s Will, Playhouse West, and Combined Art Form Entertainment (C.A.F.E.), among others. Also a voiceover actor, she recently recorded the voices of 2 characters in San Rafael-based Habitat Media's current project, The Lost Art of Tea Tossing. Jeanette is a founding member of AlterTheater Ensemble, and has appeared in Tape (Smorgasbord of Shorts I), Sex Parasite, After the Fall, and Thirst. Anne Darragh is currently appearing in AlterTheater's first commissioned project, The Horses by Brian Thorstenson. She last performed with Alter in Brian Thorstenson’s Summerland, directed by Ken Sonkin. Additional Thorstenson productions include Over the Mountain directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges at Brava and Dances for the Next Depression with Stephen Pelton Dance Theatre. Locally she has also performed with A.C.T., Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Campo Santo, Encore Theatre, Eureka Theatre (where she originated the role of Harper in Tony Kushner's Angels in America), Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, PlayGround, Theatre Rhinoceros, and San Jose Repertory Theatre. Brian Thorstenson’s plays include:The Horses (a commissioned project for AlterTheater Ensemble, receiving its world premiere this Fall), Over the Mountain (Brava Center for Women in the Arts, Global Age Project, Bay Area Playwrights' Festival), Wakefield, or Hello, Sophia and Shadow Crossing (Central Works Theater Ensemble); Drop (AlterTheater Ensemble),Tuesday and Sugarfoot Stomp (Stephen Pelton Dance Theatre), “Heading South” (The Studio at Theater Rhinoceros The 450 Geary Theater, Berkeley Art Center, Bay Area Critic Circle Nominee), “Summerland” (2000 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, 2000 Z Space Festival of New Performance, Wings Theatre Co., NYC, published in “the anthology “Plays and Playwrights 2002”.), “Half-Light Dances” (Z Magic Mondays, Playbrokers) . His radio adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here” was broadcast nationally on the Pacifica Radio Network. His poetry has appeared in Transfer, 14 Hills, 6,500 and Mary. He was an artist in residence at the Blue Mountain Center in 1999 and 2001, and the Djerassi Resident Artist’s Program in 1996. Brian is a member of the Resident Playwrights Initiative at the Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco, playwright in residence with Stephen Pelton Dance Theater and a member of the Dramatists Guild. He currently teaches at San Francisco State University and Santa Clara University. He received a B.A. in Theater from Willamette University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He lives in San Francisco. Mark Routhier has had his plays developed, workshopped, and/or produced in Aspen, CO, Burlington, VT, Chicago, and San Francisco. He has directed in the Bay Area for Encore Theatre (The Bone Man of Benares, 70 Scenes of Halloween), Mettle Theatre (someguy, Drunken Grownups, Iphigenia and Other Daughters), Mostly Grounded Theatre Company (Cowboy Mouth), and American Citizens' Theatre (Exit The King). He is a recipient of the Playground Emerging Playwrights Award for his play Spotter that premiered in the Best of Playground Festival. He recently directed a workshop of Eisa Davis’s Bulrusher for SF Stage & Film. He dramaturged Lucy Thurber's Monstrosity for Encore Theatre, and Mike Geither’s Stars Fell All Night for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. He is the Literary Manager and the Sloan Initiative Program Coordinator at Magic Theatre where he has directed workshops for New Voices West, several readings for Magic Theatre's Raw Play Series, and for the NNPN Showcase. He received his MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU. Frances Lee McCain* graduated from Ripon College in Wisconsin with a BA in Philosophy and then studied acting for 3 years at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. She returned to New York where she appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen's Play it Again Sam, and off-broadway in Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky, creating the role of Carol. She then joined the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco under Bill Ball and played a variety of roles in repertory. McCain started her career in film and television after appearing opposite Jon Voigt and Faye Dunnaway in A Steetcar Named Desire, eventually co-starring with Ronny Cox as the female lead in her own television series, Apple's Way. She remained a popular leading actor in television throughout the seventies and eighties. She played Charles Grodin's wife in Albert Brooks' debut feature film Real Life and had a major role in the blockbuster film Gremlins. She played the role of Kevin Bacon’s mother in the hit film Footloose, and appeared in the blockbusters Back to the Future, and Stand by Me. She continued to work in television after relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1980s and also appeared in Scream and Patch Adams. Throughout the years Frances has remained active in the theatre, appearing in major roles at ACT, Berkeley Rep, San Jose Rep and the Magic. Frances received a Master's Degree in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2000, and continues to work in theater, especially with new work by emerging writers. In 2004 she initiated a theater project based on oral histories of the blue collar workers responsible for the building and maintaining of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico which received workshop readings at the Lensic Center for Performing Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and most recently at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. McCain is an Associate Artist of the Z Space Studio in San Francisco, and an associate artist with AlterTheater Ensemble in San Rafael, CA. Will Marchetti is very excited to appear again at AlterTheater, where he is also an Assoicate Artist. It is an honor to originate a role in the first production of a new play, so he is particularly proud to be a part of The Horses. Well known to local audiences, Mr. Marchetti has acted in major roles in the Bay Area at ACT, Theatreworks, San Jose Rep, Berkeley Rep, The Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre, Eureka Theatre, Marin Shakespeare Company, Shotgun Players and Spreckles Performing Arts Center. Other regional theatre credits include Seattle Rep, The Huntington (Boston), the Wilma (Philadelphia), The Woolly Mammoth and Ford’s Theatre (Washington, D.C.), Kansas City Rep, New York Theatre Workshop and Yale Rep. He has been very fortunate to appear in a number of notable world premiere plays including The Shaker Chair, Sharon and Billy, Execution of Justice, The Psychic Life of Savages and many others. Will originated the “Old Man” role in Fool For Love, the Obie-award winning production written and directed by Sam Shepherd. Over the years, Will has appeared in numerous television shows and movies or industrial/commercial films shot in the Bay Area. However, theatre has been his priority. In addition to acting, Mr. Marchetti has directed a number of plays and was Artistic Director of two theatres; the Gate Playhouse and Marin Theatre Company. Will has won numerous awards for his acting over the years; several Bay Area Critics Circle Awards and several Dean Goodman Awards including a Lifetime Achievement in Theatre in 2005. In addition to his achievements as an actor, Will has been writing plays for several years. Two of his plays have been produced (Lil Darlin’/San Jose Stage and The Agreement/San Francisco). His play, The Arrival, was commissioned by Marin Theatre Company and given a staged reading in their Nu Werkz series. He has had two plays produced at 142 Throckmorton Theatre as staged readings that were very popular; Warriors and Sessions. SF Playhouse recently gave a staged reading of his play, Kinfolk, in September 2009. Will wants to give special thanks to director, Tracy Ward, and playwright, Brian Thortenson, for a great role in a wonderful play. Also, all the best to cast and crew; his partners in crime and gratitude to his family who support all his endeavors with patience and humor. Jayne Wenger is a San Francisco based director and dramaturg whose exclusive focus is on original material. Throughout over 25 years of professional theater experience she has been dedicated to the development and direction of new plays and solo performances. She is the past Artistic Director of the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation and was the Artistic Director of Women’s Ensemble in New York. She has developed the emerging work of acclaimed playwrights nationwide and her work has been recognized with numerous awards. Upcoming dramaturgical collaborations include All At Sea, a musical written and composed by Pamela Winfrey and Christy Winn; and Lauren Yee’s Samsara, produced by EXIT Theatre. Upcoming directorial work includes A Most Notorious Women, performed by Christina Augello at EXIT Theatre, and co-direction of Men Think They Are Better Than Grass, based on the poems of W.S. Merwin with Deborah Slater Dance Theater. She has multiple ongoing projects in Alaska. In 2008 she directed Hard Laughter for AlterTheater. She is a Featured Artist at The Last Frontier Theatre Conference. She leads annual new play development and solo performance workshops in Assisi, Italy. (www.artworkshopintl.com). She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. |
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