Artistic/Managing Collective:

click here for production bios

Velina Brown, Actor, Singer/Songwriter, has been a principal actor for the Mime Troupe in such shows as Social Work, Escape to Cyberia, 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, and Showdown at Crawford Gulch. She was Veronique in Veronique of the Mounties, she's played Condoleeza Rice three times, and was both an actor and Contributing Lyricist on GodFellas and Making a Killing. Velina's most recent shows with the Troupe include For The Greater Good: Or the Last Election, Red State, Too Big to Fail, and Posibilidad, Or Death of the Worker for which she won Best Principal Actress by the Bay Area Critics Circle. You may have seen Velina earlier this year in Theatre Rhino's lovely A Lady and A Woman. Other credits include A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Word for Word, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, Thick Description, SF Playhouse, Theatreworks as well as film (Bee Season with Richard Gere, A Many Splintered Thing with Chris Evans and Milk with Sean Penn) and television (Party of Five, Nash Bridges,Trauma, Final Witness). Velina also is the founder and owner of the "Business of Show Biz," which offers career planning consultations and workshops for theater artists. She also writes a popular column of the same name for Theater Bay Area Magazine. In 2012 she was honored as one of the magazine's "35 Faces," artists who've made significant contributions to the Bay Area theater community. For more info and to hear some of Velina's music please visit her website.

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, (currently on leave of absents), 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, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan, Veronique of the Mounties, Crawford Gulch, and Doing Good.. Additionally Michael has served as Collective Representative to the Board of Directors from 2004 to 2006.

Ed Holmes, Director/Actor/Teacher, has been performing and teaching in the bay area for the past 4 decades. 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 mime and physical theater at ACT, CSUH, Mills College, and given numerous workshops to students of all ages as well as to animators at Sony, DreamWorks and PDI. Ed has performed his one man show SUBHUMAN-True Tales from Beneath the Sea at bars and VFW halls throughout California and in Ohio and Maine. As Bishop Joey, head of the First Church of the Last Laugh, he has instigated the annual St. Stupid's Day Parade since 1979. Ed is collaborative writer and the director of the environmental commedia show TIP of the ICEBERG by Theater RAB in Frieburg Germany. His movie credits include The Right Stuff, Howard the Duck, Golden Gate, Monkeybone, Valley of the Hearts Delight and the documentaries, Vigilante/Vigilante and The Doggie Diner Headtrip. Ed has been a performing/directing member of the Troupe since 1986. Ed also takes a lot of photos and occasionally shows them somewhere.

Lisa Hori-Garcia, Actor/Director/Program Director of YTP/Educator, has been with the troupe since 2004, working on summer shows as an actor and assistant director. She has worked with a wide variety of theater companies such as Marin Theatre Company, Asian American Theater Company, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Woman's Will, Impact Theater, and Word for Word. Lisa has been program director and a lead teacher with the Mime Troupe's Youth Theater Project and summer workshop. Currently she is a teaching artist with Word for Word. Lisa is a former Ensemble Member & Production Manager with New WORLD Theater in Amherst, MA and received her BA from Smith College and MFA in Acting from the University of Southern California.

Lawton Lovely, Sound Engineer/Teaching Assistant, recently graduated from Miami University in Oxford, OH with a BA in Theatre and a minor in American Studies. While at Miami University he had the opportunity to be involved in multiple productions in a variety of areas. He debuted is first play titled The Dream Machine and he Performed, Directed, Designed Set & Sound, and served as Technical Director & builder for many shows at Miami University. He was also a recent recipient of Honorable Mention in the 2012 Region III Sound Design competition at the KCACT festival. Lawton first came to the Troupe two summers ago as a sound intern and workshop participant. He returned again last season as Sound Assistant/Sound Engineer. Upon completing his two summers he concluded that it wasn't enough, so when the Troupe offered him the job of Sound Engineer for last year's season, he said YES! Additionally Lawton applied to, and was excepted, in to the Emerging Artist in Residence Program for 2012 and now he is the newest member to join the SFMT Collective.

Pat Moran, Music Director/Writer/Composer/Lyricist/Musician/Teacher, began his involvement with the Mime Troupe during 2005's Doing Good and sometimes feels like he hasn't left the building since. He has been an artist in residence at The University of San Francisco, The University of Miami (Ohio), and CSU Fresno. In addition to his work with theater, Pat is an active performing musician, and ASCAP member composer for film and television. He has been a lead teacher with the Mime Troupe's Youth Theater Project and Summer Workshop and is also a private guitar instructor. Pat received a BFA in Philosophy with a Concentration in Ethics and Public Policy from Clark University, and an MFA Performer Composer degree from California Institute for the Arts.

Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, Actor/Director/Designer, was born in Cambridge Massachusettes. Keiko holds a BFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and an MA in Multimedia from the University of Iowa. She arrived in San Francisco with the Horse Drawn, Caravan Stage Company of Canada. She has been an actor, designer and director for the Mime Troupe since 1987. Keiko has also designed costumes for many other Bay Area Theater companies including, The San Francisco Circus School, Berkeley Rep, S.F. Shakespeare in the Parks, The Asian American Theater Company and African American Shakespeare Company. She has directed City for Sale, and Gotta Getta Life for the Mime Troupe, and Cowboy versus Samurai for the Asian American Theater Company. In addtion to designing costumes for the Mime Troupe this summer she is also designing costumes for Crowded Fires' production of 410 GONE.

Michael Gene Sullivan, Actor/Director/Resident Playwright, joined the Troupe as an actor in 1988, and has since performed in, written, and/or directed over twenty SFMT productions. In 1992 he became a Contributing Writer, and Resident Playwright in 2000. His scripts include GodFellas, 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), and Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker. As an actor, Sullivan has also appeared in productions at the American Conservatory Theater, Denver Center Theater Company, Magic Theatre, Theaterworks, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Jose Repertory Theater, and has directed for the Mime Troupe, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, African American Shakespeare Company, Mystic Bison Theater, and Circus Finelli. He is also the author of "Did Anyone Ever Tell You - You Look Like Huey P. Newton?", his award winning one person show, and 1984, his critically acclaimed stage adaptation of George Orwell's dystopic novel. 1984 opened at the Actor's Gang Theater under the Direction of Tim Robbins in 2006, and has since been performed in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and has had several tours of the United States. Michael is also a blogger for the political website, The Huffington Post.

Wan-Yin Tang, Tour Manager/Teacher, joined the Troupe as an intern and workshopper, and is now ecstatic to be a part of the SFMT collective. Rooted in her experiences in UCSC-s multi-cultural theater troupe, Rainbow Theater, as well as the student-run theater company, BarnStorm, her focus in the arts lie in facilitating and devising applied and political theater. She is also a baker at nearby worker-owned co-op, Arizmendi Bakery Panaderia y Pizzeria. Wan-Yin loves co-ops! The Troupe is her wacky home away from home, and she is so glad to be working here as an artist as well as a member of the staff.

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 2012 - The Musical!, 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.

Photographer: DavidAllenStudio.com
SFMT COLLECTIVE - 2011
Click on photo for 300dpi version

Standing, left to right: Ellen Callas, Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, Michael Carreiro,
Pat Moran, Velina Brown, Victor Toman

Sitting, left to right: Michael Gene Sullivan, Julian Carreiro, Zachary Brown Sullivan, Lisa Hori-Garcia, Wan-Yin Tang

Not photographed: Ed Holmes & Lawton Lovely

Alumni:

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

Emerging Artist in Residence

Ben Baker originally from Los Angeles, Ben is a Writer-Director-Performer. He did his undergraduate work in Acting at Fresno State University and earned an MA in Dramatic Analysis from San Francisco State and an MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University in Boulder CO. As a Performance Poet he has been a featured reader all over California's open-mic circuit and has competed in numerous Slam tournaments. He has performed his one-man inter-media show Art/Cause/Love for audiences in California's Central Valley and in San Francisco. He has worked as a teacher in many aspects, most notably as Drama and Dance Artist-in-Residence with the Richmond District Neighborhood Center in San Francisco.

Kelly Rafferty is a writer/director/performer and educator based in Oakland, California. Combining her expertise in physical comedy and improvisation with a commitment to performance as feminist praxis, her theater and performance works offer audiences the opportunity to play with the politics and pleasures of embodiment. Kelly received a PhD in performance studies from the University of California - Berkeley and a BA in English from Tulane University. Recent projects include an award-winning stage production of Charles Mee's Wintertime, the devised performances Barbies That Matter, The Wendy House, and The Gender-Neutral Fifth Grader, and long-form improvisation at iO Chicago and the Torch Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. She has taught theater, improvisation, and performance studies at the University of California - Berkeley and Arizona State University, where she was Assistant Professor of Performance Studies.

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