Character + Desire x Conflict = Story.
CREATIVE TEAM
JUSTIN LANG
he/him/his
Character Physics Artistic Director & Founder
Justin is a San Diego based actor, teacher, and director. He was in Critics Circle Award nominated Outstanding Dramatic Productions: Of Mice and Men as George Milton. Trouble In Mind as Eddie Fenton. He was a company member with San Diego’s premier Shakespeare group, Poor Players Theatre Company, favorite credits include; Laertes, Lucio, and Romeo. He was a founding member and the Production Manager of Critics Circle Award winning New Fortune Theatre Company. He has performed with Backyard Renaissance, Diversionary, Intrepid, Ion, Lamb’s, Moxie, New Fortune, New Village Arts, North Coast Rep, Oceanside, SD Rep, Sierra Rep, Playwrights Project, Poor Players, and Vagabond. He co-founded the CETA and STAR Award Winning Education Department at New Village Arts. He is currently the “Resident Shakespeare Guru” with San Diego Junior Theatre, and is also a teaching artist with La Jolla Playhouse that has experience in professional development, and arts integration.
CLAIRE TAM
Diversity and Inclusion Director
TAYLOR MCDONALD
Social Media Coordinator
PAST GUESTS
KRISTEN FOGLE
Director/Producer
Kristen Fogle has been a theatrical performer for over 25 years and a director, producer, and teaching artist for the past decade. A former magazine editor, she is currently the executive director of San Diego Writers, Ink and an instructor for the La Jolla Playhouse. She is the former president of the Association of Community Theaters San Diego, co-artistic director of the Ocean Beach Playhouse, and season selection chair for three seasons at Lamplighters Theater. She co-founded The Poolhouse Project in 2016. She holds a MA in Rhetoric and Writing and is in the process of a MA in Theatre Arts (both from San Diego State University). Her second book of writing prompts, with Rockridge Press, will be released in March of this year.
TANIKA BAPTISTE
Tanika Baptiste, recently named the Broadway World San Francisco 2019 Person to Watch Female, is an award winning actor/singer originally from San Diego and is based in both San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area. Her most recent directorial credits include The desTROYers (Old Globe Theatre-Powers New Voices Festival) The Review or How to Eat Your Opposition (Theatre Rhinoceros) RACHEL (South Bay Musical Theatre) At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen (Theatre Rhinoceros) Black Flag (Common Ground Theatre and Poway Unified School District) The DesTROYers (Assistant Director/Co-Adaptor/Costume Designer Southwestern College) Fires in the Mirror (Trinity Theatre Company) Tanika served as the Artistic Director for the first inaugural Artists 4 Black Lives Festival at Balboa Park San Diego, CA this past Juneteenth. She is slated to direct Program B of the Plays by Young Writers Festival February 2021. She is a proud member of Actors Equity. Love to my family and friends.
@tanikabaptiste
KIM STRASSBURGER
Actor
Kim is a San Diego-based theatre director and actor. Directing credits include HANDBAGGED at Moxie Theatre; BULL IN A CHINA SHOP, A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS and A NEW BRAIN (Diversionary Theatre); ROMEO, ROMEO AND JULIET (Roustabouts Theatre Company); 8 SONGS FOR A MAD KING (San Diego Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Special Event and 2017 Best of Festival-San Diego International Fringe Festival/Bodhi Tree Productions); SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (San Diego Critics Circle Award-Outstanding Direction of a Musical), MASTER CLASS, PASSION (San Diego Critics Circle Award Nomination-Outstanding Direction of a Musical), GREY GARDENS, GYPSY (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Nomination-Outstanding Direction of a Musical) and DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (Ion Theatre); GUTENBERG THE MUSICAL! (Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company); SEASCAPE and a concert stagig of LITTLE WOMEN: THE MUSICAL (New Village Arts Theatre) and THE WOMAN IN BLACK with Jason Heil (CSU San Marcos). Acting credits include THE NORMAL HEART at Ion Theatre (San Diego Critics Circle Award-Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play),THE MOORS at Diversionary Theatre and SIMPATICO at New Village Arts Theatre. Kim is a graduate of Catholic University of America and UCSD, studied at LAMDA, and is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. Kim has also served as an Artistic Trustee for Diversionary Theatre and teaches Acting at the Coronado School of the Arts.
HANNAH LOGAN
Actor/Director/Writer/Producer
Hannah Logan is an award-winning actor/director/writer/producer, as well as a transformation coach for creatives, in particular actors and writers (www.thetruthfulactor.com). Her film "Reaching for Sky" was recently selected for the San Diego Int'l Film Fest and the global online theatre event,
"Theatre is the Cure" and film "Say Their Their Names, Hear Their Voices," produced in quarantine with partner Ron Logan (www.logansquaredproductions.com) were just named Best Pandemic-Related Project by SD Union Tribune.
VANESSA DINNING
Voice/Dialect Specialist
VANESSA DINNING
Actor/Director
English-born award-winning actor and dialect coach, Vanessa Dinning trained as an actor and a voice/dialect specialist at renowned theatre conservatories in London. She enjoys a varied career as an actor, director, dialect coach and arts educator.
In the UK, Vanessa worked at The Royal National Theatre, Belgrade Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe and national tours, as well as teaching at various drama schools. In San Diego, Vanessa has worked for Cygnet Theatre, Moonlight Stage Productions, San Diego Musical Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Lamb’s Players Theatre, Coronado Playhouse, Scripps Ranch Theatre, Oceanside Theatre Company, InnerMission Productions, Backyard Renaissance Theatre, Moxie Theatre, Bodhi Tree Concerts, The Welk Resort, San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera. She has taught at SDSU and SSUSM, as well as maintaining a private studio teaching voice, dialect, singing and cello.
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JOY JONES
Actor
Originally from Houston, Texas Joy Yvonne Jones attended The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to study at the University of Minnesota in the Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training Program. Joy believes that every story has a purpose, and as an actress, she is responsible for giving it breath. Her most recent credits include Cherise Howard in Flex at The Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Isabelle in Ring Round the Moon at Lambs Players Theatre and Jane in Kate Hamil’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Joy is a recipient of the San Diego Critic Circle Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play for her performance of Saartjie Baartman in Voyeurs de Venus at Moxie Theatre. Joy is a hurricane working on the revolution at the speed of inspiration.
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JENNIFER EVE THORN
Executive Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre
Jennifer Eve Thorn is one of the founders of MOXIE Theatre. She received her BA in Theatre from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. In 2001, her experience working as an Assistant to the General at the renowned Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre, inspired her to found her own company. Thorn returned to her hometown of San Diego to take a position at the San Diego Repertory Theatre as a Casting Associate and Administrator in the Artistic Department alongside her future founding partner Delicia Turner Sonnenberg. In May of 2003 Thorn’s adaptation of the national best seller *First They Killed My Father* was staged and produced at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art to raise funds for Land Mine Victims in Cambodia, raising an astounding $500,000 for the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. In 2004, Thorn founded MOXIE Theatre with Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, Jo Anne Glover and Liv Kellgren. She served as the company’s Associate Artistic Director. At MOXIE, she directed and starred in many award-winning productions over their 15 year (to-date) history. Thorn is also the director and co-creator of *A Lesson For Life*. She was awarded a Global Leadership Award from The Young President’s Organization for this groundbreaking educational theatre experience. She developed the “MOXIE Theatre Immersion” program, designed to incorporate the art of theatre into the world of corporate strategic planning to facilitate team building and communication for major brands including Disney and Pixar. In 2012, Ms. Thorn was nominated for San Diego Magazine’s *Woman of the Year *Award and in 2017, she stepped into the role of Executive Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre.
WENDY MAPLES
Actor
Wendy Maples co-wrote and performed in Pandora and The Jar of Hope at the La Jolla Playhouse's WOW Festival in 2019. Other stage credits include the world premiere of Orange Julius (MOXIE Theatre) PIPPIN, Fair Use (Diversionary Theatre) and Dog Sees God (InnerMission Productions) Additionally, Wendy has directed & performed with New Village Arts, Playwrights Project, InnerMission Productions, Theatre Arts School of San Diego, and is the co-host of a monthly arts review podcast, "Art Time of the Month." Wendy is a founding teacher at High Tech Middle Chula Vista, where she's taught theatre arts since 2011.
FARAH DINGA
Actor
Farah Dinga is a San Diego based theater artist and educator. Trained at UCSD, she has performed on numerous stages including; La Jolla Playhouse, New Village Arts, MOXIE Theatre, and many more. As a theatre artist, her work holds an emphasis in diversity, inclusion, and equity, in order to create safe spaces and accommodations for minority students and artists to be heard and grow their craft. This includes her time as the Artistic Director and founder of The Octopus Literary Salon’s dramatic program that provided opportunities to communities of color to take part in theatre and showcase their work.
LI-ANNE ROWSWELL
Actor
Li-Anne Rowswell has been an Actor, Acting Coach, and Professional Storyteller for more than 20 years in San Diego. In addition to Maeve in Moxie’s DANCE NATION, you may have seen her on various area stages- Helga ten Dorp in Oceanside Theatre Company’s DEATHTRAP, at Ion in CABARET as Fraulein Schneider. Or at Scripps Ranch Theater as Cassandra in VANYA AND SONYA AND MASHA AND SPIKE and as Inspector Harriet Goring in THE GAME’S AFOOT at The Grand Tea Room in Escondido. She has been directed in professional productions by many of the area’s best including; Justin Lang, Rob Lutfy, Todd Salovey, Jennifer Eve Thorn, Lisa Berger, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, Kristianne Kurner, Eric Bishop and Kathy Brombacher. As Aunt Li-Anne- a Professional Storyteller, she regularly hosts and tells at Festivals and monthly events and is the Winner of the 2020 NSN Virtual Story Slam! Aunt Li-Anne has taught at the Storytellers of San Diego Storytelling Institute as well as in residencies and workshops through Arts for Learning, Directly with many local school districts. Aunt Li-Anne is a State Liaison for the National Storytelling Network, Founding Secretary for the Storytellers of San Diego and a proud member of San Diego Performing Arts League.
SARAH KARPICUS VIOLET
Actor
Sarah Karpicus Violet was last heard in Diversionary Theatre's SPARK Audio Play Festival in Best Lesbian Erotia 1995. Favorite roles include: Amy, I Lost My Mind in San Francisco (MOXIE), Vanessa/Moms, Dance Nation (MOXIE), Leigh, The Kid Thing (MOXIE), and Karen, Speed the Plow (San Diego Actors Theatre). She holds a BFA in Acting from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Masters Degree in Expressive Arts Therapy from the European Graduate School. Sarah is the cofounder of Yellowbird, an organization dedicated to building personal and community resilience in and through the arts.
EDDIE YAROCH
Actor
Eddie Yaroch has acted on stages since 1975. He got his BFA in Theatre from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and went on to perform in DC and NYC in comedy, Shakespeare and musicals. In 1999, he toured Europe with an English theatre troupe. Since 2007, he’s performed exclusively in the San Diego area including many shows at Moxie, New Village Arts, Diversionary and Intrepid.
SPECIAL THANKS
Beverly Balderrama - Digital Media Artist