Artistic Collective:

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Velina Brown, Actor/Contributing Lyricist. Velina has been a principal actor for the Mime Troupe in such shows as Social Work, Knocked Up, Escape to Cyberia, Gotta Getta Life, Coast City Confidential, Soul Suckers from Outer Space, Killing Time, Damaged Care, City for Sale, Eating It, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan, Showdown at Crawford Gulch, she was Veronique of the Mounties, and was both an actor and Contributing Lyricist on GodFellas and Making a Killing. She has appeared onstage at A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Word for Word, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, Pacific Jewish Theater, Thick Description and Theatreworks, as well as film, TV, and commercials.

Ellen Callas, Teacher/Writer/Director/, in 1976 co-founded Hit and Run Theater, a political sketch comedy troupe that toured rural northern California for many years. Since joining the Mime Troupe in 1986, she has worked as a writer, actor, director, teacher, production, company & stage manager and project director/teacher for the company's ongoing Youth Theater Project. Ellen also continues her long career as an improvisational theater performer.

Michael Carreiro, Actor/Technical Director, first came to the Mime Troupe in 1998 as a participant in summer workshops for actors. He continued his studies in Commedia and improvisation in Los Angeles, returning to the Mime Troupe in 1999. He has performed with the Troupe in City for Sale, Eating It, The Independent Female or A Man Has His Pride, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, and Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan. Michael has also constructed the sets for several Troupe shows and he designed the traveling set used during the Berlin tour for 1600 Transylvania Avenue. Additionally Michael enjoys acting with other alternative companies including Black Artist Contemporary Cultural Experience and Theater Rhinoceros.

Ed Holmes, Director/Actor/Teacher, has been performing and teaching in the bay area for the past 36 years. Ed has performed with the Berkeley Mime Troupe (yes, that kind of mime), Fratelli Bologna, Antenna Theater, SF Opera, Oakland Symphony and Young Audiences. He has taught at ACT, CSUH, Mills College, and given numerous workshops to students of all ages as well as to animators at Sony, Dreamwrks and PDI. Ed has performed his one man show SUBHUMAN-True Tales from Beneath the Sea at bars and VFW halls throughout California. As Bishop Joey, he has instigated the annual St.Stupid's Day Parade since 1979. Ed has been a performing/directing member of the Troupe since 1986.

Lisa Hori-Garcia, Actor/Director/YTP Project Director/Teacher/Miss Flower's owner, joined the Mime Troupe Company and Collective in 2004. Originally from California, Lisa moved to Massachusetts where she received her BA from Smith College. Upon graduation, Lisa landed her first professional theater job as an ensemble member/Production Manager with New WORLD Theater in Amherst, MA. Since moving to San Francisco in 2002, she has worked exclusively as a theater artist, performing with Asian American Theater Company, Magic Theater, Woman's Will, Impact Theater, and Word for Word to name a few. For three years, Lisa was the program director of the Mime Troupe's Youth Theater Project. This past fall, she moved to Los Angeles to attend USC for graduate school.

Will McCandless, Sound Engineer/Designer, is the most recent addition to the San Francisco Mime Troupe artistic collective. Will began with the Troupe in 2006 as the sound engineer for the California tour of Godfellas. Since then, Will has been the Troupe's sound engineer as well as the sound designer for the SFMT Youth Theatre Project. During the off-season, Will designs sound for several Bay Area Theatres - Magic Theatre, Center REP, Marin Theatre Company, Solano College Theatre, A.C.T. Conservatory, Alter Theater, Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, and Custom Made Theatre Company.

Pat Moran, Composer/Lyricist/Musician/Teacher, first worked with the Mime Troupe on 2005's Doing Good and he's been hanging around since then. In addition to his work on the summer show, Pat is a teacher with the Mime Troupe's Youth Theater Project, a freelance musician, and a private guitar instructor. He can be seen performing regularly with a number of bands including Lord Loves a Working Man (2008 SF Weekly Best Soul/Funk/R&B Award Winner) and Khi Darag (middle-eastern psychedelic dance party music). Pat was a guest artist composer and sound designer with the University of San Francisco in 2009.

Keiko Shimosato, Actor/Director/Costume Designer, joined the Troupe in 1987. Keiko holds a BFA in Theater Arts, MA in Multi-Media from Univ. of Iowa. She came to California with the horse-drawn Caravan Stage Company of Canada. Since 1987, has performed in, designed for, written or directed many of the summer shows.

Michael Gene Sullivan, Actor/Writer/Director, joined the Troupe in 1988. In 1992 he became a Contributing Writer, and Resident Playwright in 2000. His scripts include Red State (2008 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic's Circle), and Too Big To Fail (2009 nominee, Best Original Script, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic's Circle.) Michael has performed in, written, and/or directed over twenty SFMT productions. As an actor, Sullivan has also appeared in productions at the American Conservatory Theater, Denver Center Theater Company, Magic Theater, Theaterworks, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Jose Repertory Theater, among others. He is also the author of his award winning one person show, "Did Anyone Ever Tell You - You Look Like Huey P. Newton?", and 1984, the critically acclaimed adaptation of George Orwell's dystopic novel, which opened at the Actor's Gang Theater under the Direction of Tim Robbins. Michael is also a blogger for the political website, The Huffington Post.

Victor Toman, Actor/Choreographer/Director/Teacher, was born and raised in Oregon City, Oregon. After completing his B.A. in Dramatic Arts from the University of Oregon, Victor moved to San Francisco. He joined the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe in 1997 and has appeared as a principal actor in Making A Killing, GodFellas, Showdown at Crawford Gulch, Mister Smith Goes to Obscuristan, 1600 Transylvania Ave, Eating It, City For Sale, Damaged Care, The Independent Female, and Revenger Rat. In addition he has choreographed many of the Troupe's musical numbers for the past 10 years. In 2005 he had the honor of directing Doing Good. He has also performed locally with Sideshow Physical Theater, El Teatro de la Esperanza, Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Joe Good Performance Group, The Dance Brigade, Intersection for the Arts, The Ellen Bromberg Ensemble and Elbows Akimbo to name a few. Outside the area he has performed with The Caravan Stage Company in Toronto, and Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. In 2008 Victor graduated from UC Davis with an MFA in Dramatic Arts.

Alumni:

View an on going list of names tallying everyone who has worked
at the Troupe over the past 50 years!

Photographer: DavidAllenStudio.com
SFMT COLLECTIVE - 2008
Click on photo for 300dpi version

On top of Truck, left to right:
Will McCandless, Michael Gene Sullivan. & Michael Carreiro
Below, left to right:
Lisa Hori-Garcia, Velina Brown, Zachary Brown-Sullivan, Ellen Callas, Ed Holmes, Keiko Carreiro, Julian Carreiro, & Pat Moran

855 Treat Ave. - San Francisco, CA 94110 - 415-285-1717 - info@sfmt.org