School of Theatre > Information > About the School
Faculty / staff
Berkeley Rep School of Theatre faculty and staff are highly trained professional theatre artists who work regularly in their respective areas of expertise.
staff
Rachel Fink
is the director of Berkeley Rep School of Theatre and has served as the Associate General Manager of Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Over the past eight years, she has overseen the School of Theatre’s major expansion into a newly-renovated facility with significant program development and staff growth. These programs now serve over 22,000 students (ages five–adult) annually in 13 counties throughout the Bay Area. Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Ms. Fink was the managing director of the Yale Cabaret and has worked at theatres across the country including the Yale Repertory Theatre, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Long Wharf Theatre and the Cleveland Play House. She is on the board of Theatre Bay Area, is currently the chair of Theatre Bay Area’s Theatre Services Committee, has served as the chair of the Berkeley Arts in Education Steering Committee and was a founding member of Teaching Artists Organized, a networking and training resource for Bay Area teaching artists. In association with Theatre Communications Group and Theatre Bay Area, she recently planned “New Leaders for A New Century,” a national conference for emerging arts leaders. She has participated in Theatre Communication Group’s “Expanding the Theatre Manager’s Repertoire,” The League of American Theatres and Producers’ “Commercial Theatre Institute,” was a member of the Producer Development Program, and is the U.S. delegate for the British Council’s Cultural Leadership International Programme. In addition, Ms. Fink has taught acting at Case Western Reserve University and the Cain Park School of the Arts. Ms. Fink received her B.A. in Theatre Arts from Case Western Reserve University and her M.F.A. in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama.
MaryBeth Cavanaugh
is the associate director of Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. REGIONAL (Choreographer): California Shakespeare Theater for fifteen seasons, where she is an associate artist; Oregon Shakespeare Festival, for five seasons as choreographer and actor; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; The New Victory Theater; Yale Repertory Theatre; Cincinnati Playhouse; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; La Mama E.T.C.; Aurora Theatre Company; Shakespeare Santa Cruz; Lincoln Center Director’s Lab; San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; TheatreWorks; Shakespeare at Stinson; Mills College Rep; Summerfest Dance. DIRECTING: Twelfth Night, North Bay Shakespeare Company; Measure for Measure and The Red Wheelbarrow, Shakespeare at Stinson; Peter and the Wolf, Napa Valley Repertory Theatre. Ms. Cavanaugh currently teaches in the M.F.A. program in the Department of Theatre and Dance at U.C. Davis and has taught in the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance studies at U.C. Berkeley, California Shakespeare Theater and at Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. She received her M.F.A. in Dance Composition from Mills College.
Dave Maier, Jan & Howard Oringer Outreach Coordinator
Emika Abe, School Administrator
Kashara Robinson, Education Fellow
faculty
Erica Blue
is an international dance theatre maker and teacher. She has a B.A. in dance/theatre and child development from Sarah Lawrence College and has studied at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre and Wesleyan University. She founded The Raw Material Performance Ensemble in Amsterdam, and is now based in the Bay Area, where she has taught and performed for the last ten years. Her solo work has been performed at La Mama E.T.C., The Cleveland Performance Art Festival and has won Best of the Fringe in San Francisco and Seattle. She also received a Goldie award in 2000 for her role as Salvador Dalí’s wife, Gala. Blue’s company, Auzzura Productions, has received critical acclaim for their work at the Diva Fest and Exit Theatre’s Absurdist Season.
Julia Brothers
has performed stand-up in NYC and LA, getting her start with Lew Black at The West Bank Café. She performed at The West Bank Café’s Saturday Midnight Free Show numerous times over a period of years. Other New York clubs include Stand-Up New York, Dangerfield’s, The Comic Strip, Comix, Village Gate and countless bars and restaurants that had comedy nights. In Los Angeles, Julia performed at The Improv (and “opened” for Jay Leno), and was also a joke writer for Alan Thicke. Outside of stand-up, Julia has been a professional actress for 30 years, making her living in the performing arts and commercials.
Jon Burnett
is a teacher and professional actor and has performed in Seattle, Atlanta, New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Jon has taught theatre to students ranging from kindergarten through undergraduate college, and found inspiration, profound laughter and empathy at every level.
Rebecca Castelli
is an experienced vocal teacher, professional actress and singer. She holds a bachelor’s degree in voice and theatre and an M.F.A. in performance. Throughout her academic and professional career, Rebecca has performed leads in over 30 plays and musicals.
Paul Cello
is a director, actor and educator with over 15 years experience working in theatres in the U.S. and abroad, including Cal Shakes, Chichester Festival Theatre, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Magic Theatre, Royal Court, Shakespeare & Company and Steppenwolf. Paul received his training at Bennington College in Vermont and the British American Drama Academy in London.
Laura Derry
is an improviser, actor, teacher, director and musician. She has been performing with BATS Improv since 1991 and teaching since 1993. Laura teaches students ranging from age 5 to 90 at BATS Improv, A.C.T., Cal Shakes, UC Berkeley, Stanford University and Academy of Art University.
Lura Dolas
is a member of the faculty at UC Berkeley, where she teaches the Advanced Acting Studio. In addition, she conducts workshops and seminars for corporations and legal firms, as well as offers private coaching for attorneys and business leaders. Recent work includes workshops in Los Angeles and San Francisco for Continuing Education for the Bar and the Center For Teaching Excellence at Haas School of Business. She has taught at Boston University, Cal Arts, A.C.T. and Berkeley Rep. Her extensive performance experience includes leading roles with the Oregon, California, Santa Fe and SF Shakespeare Festivals, Aurora Theater, Sacramento Theater Company, Theatre Emory in Atlanta and the Empty Space Theatre in Seattle.
Deborah Eubanks
majored in theatre arts at Harold Pinter Studios in England. She has performed with BBC’s Hugh Stoddard and designed and implemented workshops with Stephen Hawking’s company at Covent Garden Arts Center (Cambridge). She has written and directed for London’s Age Exchange, created and produced two teen operettas and has been teaching and directing in the Bay Area for 16 years. Deborah has taught at A.C.T., SF Shakes and USF.
Daniel Fish
is a stage director based in New York City and Berlin. He began his career directing the plays of Shakespeare and Molière and in recent years has made new work from sources as varied as Elliott Smith’s album From a Basement on a Hill and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!. He has directed plays by Chekhov, Ibsen, Wilde, Odets, Mee, Sarah Ruhl, David Rabe, Roland Schimmelpfennig and Sheila Callaghan. In New York City his work has been produced by Signature Theatre, Classic Stage Company, The Juilliard School, HERE and The Zipper, where his production of True Love opened in 2001. He has also created work for Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Bard College, Yale Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre/Washington, D.C. and Cal Shakes. Daniel has taught directing at The Yale School of Drama, Princeton University, University of California at San Diego and Bard College.
Nancy Gold
is the author of Finding Your Funny Bone! The Actor’s Guide to Physical Comedy and Characters. She has taught at Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, A.C.T. Young Conservatory, UCLA, Foothill College and throughout the Bay Area in public and private schools. She studied with Jacques LeCoq and Ctibor Turba.
Gary Graves
is a company co-director of Central Works Theater Ensemble in Berkeley. Now in its twelfth season, Central Works is dedicated to the development of new works for the theater. He has written and directed numerous productions with Central Works, at U.C. Berkeley, Hardback Theater and American Theater Arts in Los Angeles. He holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in directing from U.C. Berkeley.
Marvin Greene
is a professional actor and has performed with major regional theatres such as A.C.T., Aurora Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre and San Jose Rep. Marvin has been an instructor at A.C.T. since 1994 and also teaches at U. C. Berkeley and at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.
Hilary Hinckle
recently relocated to San Francisco with her family after 25 years in New York. She is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company (founded by playwright David Mamet and actor William H. Macy). Hilary was managing director of the Atlantic for seven years, after running the Atlantic Acting School. She directed and produced off-Broadway throughout her years in New York and was a master teacher at NYU (teaching the Mamet technique) for over 16 years.
Greg Hubbard
has taught at Cal Shakes, SF Shakes, Marin Theatre Co., Marin Shakes, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, TheatreWorks and New Conservatory. Greg has a bachelor’s degree in acting from UC Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in directing from Ohio University. Local directing credits include productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The House of Blue Leaves, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Country Wife. Greg served as casting associate at A.C.T. for eight years.
Andrew Hurteau
has been acting and teaching since graduating from A.C.T. He has performed with Berkeley Rep, A.C.T., The Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company and throughout the Bay Area. In addition to the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, Andrew teaches at A.C.T., the Academy of Art University and the Nueva School.
Mark Jackson
is an award-winning playwright, director and performer. He was artistic director of Art Street Theatre in San Francisco from 1995 to 2004, during which time he wrote, directed and performed in numerous productions for the company. Mark’s work has also been seen at the Aurora, Encore Theatre Company, Potrzebie Dance Project, San Francisco International Arts Festival, Shotgun Players and The Studio Theatre (Washington D.C.), among others; as well as internationally at Arts International Festival IV (Japan), Edinburgh Festival Fringe (UK) and Deutsches Theater Berlin (Germany). He studied Biomechanics extensively with master Biomechanics instructor Gennadi Bogdanov.
Ben Johnson
has worked as a professional performer and teacher since 1997. Recently he has appeared as a featured clown on Cirque du Soleil’s show Alegria; as Merrick in Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man; and as a core company member of Improv Jones, a long-form improvisational theatre company based in Providence, RI. Ben holds a Master’s degree in teaching from Brown University and has taught for UCSD, URI, Wheaton College, the ArtsLiteracy Project at Brown University and at public and private schools in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and California.
Dave Maier
has composed fights for Berkeley Rep, A.C.T., Shotgun Players, Cal Shakes, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, La Jolla Playhouse, the Cutting Ball Theatre, SF Playhouse, Impact Theatre and Berkeley Opera. He is a full instructor of theatrical combat with Dueling Arts International and outreach coordinator at Berkeley Rep School of Theatre.
Marilet Martinez
is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts. She has performed with many Bay Area theatre companies such as Cutting Ball Theatre, Custom Made Theatre, Brava, Playwright’s Center and Teatro Visión. She most recently appeared in California Shakespeare Theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet. She is a company member of Woman’s Will, the Bay Area’s only all-female Shakespeare company.
Michael Navarra
works as a SAG/AEA actor in both theatre and film. He has played leading roles with TheatreWorks, B Street Theatre, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Word for Word, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Sierra Repertory Theatre, Central Works, Pacific Alliance Stage Company and the San Francisco and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals. Michael earned an M.F.A. from the University of Washington and has taught at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre and Napa Valley College.
Madeleine Oldham
is Berkeley Rep’s literary manager and resident dramaturg. She also manages the Theatre’s commissioning program that will generate approximately 50 plays in 10 years. She has served as literary manager and associate dramaturg at Baltimore’s CenterStage, which included producing their First Look reading series and heading up their young audience initiative. Before moving to Baltimore, Madeleine was based in Seattle, working as the literary manager at Seattle Children’s Theatre, as well as assistant and interim literary manager at Intiman Theatre. She acted as treasurer of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas for two years, and their U.S.-based Vice-President International for another two. Other projects include teaching the dramaturgy section of the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival, collaborating on a theatre/music project with Austin Scriptworks and participating in Portland Center Stage’s JAW/West Festival.
Tim Orr
is an actor, musician and composer. He has worked with Capital Stage (Sacramento), The Foothill Theatre Company, Sacramento Theatre Company and the Lake Tahoe, Sierra and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals. His co-adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales has been produced at several regional theatres, including the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and he has composed incidental music for numerous productions. Timothy teaches at the University of Colorado in Boulder and UC Davis. He holds degrees in music, arts management and a master’s degree in acting from UC Davis.
Robert Parsons
has been an actor, teacher and director in the Bay Area for the past 12 years. Acting credits include roles with Berkeley Rep, A.C.T., Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco Shakes and many others. Regionally, Robert has appeared at the Ahmanson Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arizona Theatre Company and the Alley Theatre. He has taught for Solano College’s Actor Training Program, Marin Shakes, Colorado College, the Wilma Theatre and Temple University. Robert holds a master’s degree in acting from Temple University.
Christopher Peak
holds a B.F.A. in acting from Cornish College of the Arts and an M.F.A. in Theatre from UC Davis. He has over 20 years of practical and theoretical experience in movement and theatre. Christopher has toured the country and worked internationally performing in regional theatres, comedy clubs, burlesque houses and fringe festivals, including work with Bertolt Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble, Opera Trans-Atlantica, Trevis and Co., Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre and Sacramento Theatre Co. As a member of the three-man New Vaudevillian troop “X, Y and Z,” Christopher was a regular new vaudevillian performer in comedy clubs throughout the country, including the world-famous Improv, L.A.’s Comedy Store and The Laugh Factory.
Lisa Anne Porter
is a designated Linklater voice instructor and is currently teaching at UC Davis. She has also taught at A.C.T., Cal Shakes, Shakespeare & Company, Syracuse University and Naropa University. She has performed with numerous repertory companies and Shakespeare festivals including A.C.T., SF Shakes, Cal Shakes and Shakespeare Santa Cruz.
Amy Potozkin
is in her 20th season with Berkeley Rep, where she serves as artistic associate and casting director. She has cast for the Aurora, ACT/Seattle, San Jose Rep, Marin Theatre Company, A Traveling Jewish Theatre and The Conversation, produced by Francis Ford Coppola. Her film casting credits include Conceiving Ada, starring Tilda Swinton, and the Josh Kornbluth film Haiku Tunnel.
Diane Rachel
has been performing and teaching at BATS Improv since 1989. She created a specialty long-form program with a focus on intimate acting and stage combat, which has attracted an international following. She has led workshops in Melbourne, Paris, Amsterdam and Helsinki and has taught at A.C.T. and Stanford. Diane is a founding member of San Francisco improv group True Fiction Magazine.
Rebecca Stockley
is co-founder of BATS Improv in San Francisco. She has been teaching and performing improv since the mid 1980s and has created improvisation training for numerous theatre training programs. Rebecca attended the University of Washington Professional Actor Training Program. Rebecca’s company brings improvisation to business training, working with companies as diverse as British Petroleum and Pixar Animation Studios.
school of theatre
major sponsors
($25,000 and above)
Fellowship Program Sponsor
Arts Education and Outreach
The S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation / The Mosse Foundation for Education and the Arts / The Woodlawn Foundation
Target® Story Builders
