Cast
Leonidas Kassapides (Ensemble) is a Greek Shadow master (Karaghiozopektis) born in Thessaloniki Greece. He performs a new original Greek Shadow Play every Halloween at SF’s Union Square, produces an average of 100 short student shadow plays as an artist in residence in schools in the bay area, has performed in ShadowLight Productions’ In Xanadu, The Wild Party, Kawit Legong, Coyotes Journey, A (Balinese) Tempest, Sidha Karya, 7 Visions. He installs interactive shadow exhibits in Galleries and performs dozens of Greek Folk tales with the shadow of Karaghiozis in theaters, alleys, museums and the radio. He is organizing a shadow theater festival in SF Jan 2010. www.kasspides.com
Caryl Kientz (Ensemble) is a SF based performer, puppeteer and visual artist. Her specialty is illusory environments, sounds, invented characters and shadow puppets. Her focus is on integrating art and performance into daily routines with a special emphasis on satire. She is an active member of the Apocalypse Puppet Theater and the Cardboard Institute of Technology. She has skippered junk rafts down the Mississippi River and the Hudson River, performed numerous puppet shows with groups up and down the west coast, toured the US playing music, and acted in several music videos and feature films. She also plays music, sings and performs in San Francisco music collective, 0th, (zeroth).
Marc David Pinate (Ensemble) is a director, actor, poet, musician and teacher. A former slam poet, Pinate won the National Poetry Slam Championship in 1999. Pinate was the co-founder and front man of Grito Serpentino, the spoken word and music ensemble, which he toured with for eight years. He has worked with and studied under master artists Guillermo Gomez Peña, Sara Shelton Mann, Elia Arce and Violeta Luna. Pinate's theater credits include performances with Campo Santo, El Teatro Campesino, Teatro Vision, Su Teatro and Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word. Pinate is the artistic director of the Hybrid Performance Experiment, which was formed out of his recent three-year residency at La Pena Cultural Center.
Sarita Ocón (Ensemble) was most recently seen in La Peña Cultural Center’s Hybrid Performance Experiment project 2012: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning… Again! Her theatrical credits include performances with Teatro Visión, Active Arts Theatre, Bindlestiff Studio, The Playwrights Foundation, SF Summer Theater Festival at the Yerba Buena Cultural Center for the Arts, Stanford Summer Theater, and the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford. She is currently working on her solo vignette “Compromise,” a darkly comic work about the performance of cultural identity. Sarita received her BA in Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity from Stanford University.
Fred C. Riley III (Ensemble) started his professional career at Tears of Joy Theatre where he worked as puppeteer, puppet builder, director and sound designer (not all at ounce). At Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts he performed in many productions as a resident puppeteer. Fred has also produced his own works, Nox and Bar, as part of the Center’s Xperimental Puppet Theatre. He now works as a builder and performer for the Fratello Marionettes. Fred has had the fortune of working with Ping Chong, John Ludwig, Janie Geizer, and Joseph Krofta, and is proud to be adding Larry Reed to that list.
Lydia K. Greer (Ensemble) is a visual artist, filmmaker and theater practitioner whose conceptual practice includes film and video, shadow theatre, puppetry and hand-made animation. She earned an MFA in Art Practice: New Genres/Mixed Media at UC-Berkeley in 2009. She was awarded a fellowship to attend the Skowhegan School of Art in 2008 as an electronic arts fellow. Lydia has taught beginning video, hand-made animation and introduction to visual thinking courses at UC-Berkeley and visual art courses throughout the U.S. She is thrilled to be part of the Ghosts of the River ensemble and working with such bright people to tell these important stories in shadow. www.lydiagreer.com
Marilet Martinez (Ensemble) was last seen in Calshakes' Romeo and Juliet. Favorite roles include Mae in Mud with Cutting Ball Theatre, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet with Woman's Will, Nena in Santos and Santos with Teatro Vision. Marilet also appeared in A Visitors Guide to Arivaca and Dog Lady/Evening Star both at Teatro Vision. She's also worked with PCPA Theatrefest, Custom Made Theatre Company, Busbarn Theatre, and the SF Playwright's Foundation. Marilet is a teaching artist for Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Word for Word. She is a company member of Woman's Will, the Bay Area's only all female Shakespeare company. Thanks for supporting live theatre!
Gerardo P. Mendez (Ensemble) is an actor, marionette puppeteer, video and multi-discipline visual artist, Gerardo founded the action based performance troop The Hex-Terminators and co-founded its mother organization Artists For Responsible Genetics. Mendez has performed at Brava Theater, Cell Space, Galeria De La Raza, and Grasshopper Palace. He performed and collaborated on film and video projects including Chatter, Fruits & Vegetables, Voices From The Bottom Of The Board, and S&M In The Hood. His LilliAnn's Resurrection performance at 17th /Harrison St. landed him the front page of the SF Examiner. Recently he helped organize Theatre Matters: Reinventing Drama Education For The Next Generation conference at UC Berkeley.
Hugo E. Carbajal (Ensemble) Hugo E Carbajal has been performing for over 12 years. This is his first performance with Shadowlight. His last work with Teatro Vision was performing and making masks for Bodas de Sangre. He was recently seen on the stage of La Peña as part of the HyPE (Hybrid Performance Ensemble.) Is a Naropa University graduate with an M.F.A. in Actor Created Physical Theater. Currently he is a performer/educator with Kaiser Permanente's Educational Theater Programs. Born and raised in Juarez, with personal experience crossing the border, this project is near and dear to my heart.
