Alan H. King - Lead Actor

Alan has worked in many productions around the Portland area for over 25 years and not regretted as single moment. Well … maybe a couple of moments.

Most recently Alan performed as the Sheriff in The Trip to Bountiful with Profile Theater, and it’s great to be back in the saddle in A Tuna Christmas. Some other favorite characters include: Father Mark in Tony & Tina’s Wedding (for nearly two years); Ray in Lone Star; Harry Brock in Born Yesterday; Uncle Stanley in Smoke on the Mountain; Eddie in Pump Boys and Dinettes; Claudius in Hamlet; Parolles in All’s Well That Ends Well; and many more.

It’s good to be back in Tuna again.

Torry Bend - Scenic Designer

Torry Bend’s set design includes: Circle Course, recently performed in Katmandu, and REDCAT, Body Politic, with Echo Theater, Pygmalion at Southwest Shakespeare Co., Stephen Wadsworth’s Agamemnon at the Getty Villa, Los Angeles, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot at Empty Space Theatre in Seattle. In Portland, Or: Omnium Gatherum, The Bald Soprano/The Lesson and Brilliant Traces, for which she received a Drammy.

At California Institute of the Arts she designed Hamlet, Bacchae and Woyzeck. Bend has also done Production Design for the History Channel’s documentary on Einstein, and designed puppets for magician Dominik Krzanowski’s Mystic Travelz.

Bend is the Artistic Director of 10foot puppet theatre, directing their premier production of Loser, taking the show to Prague, Minneapolis and New York at the Great Small Works Toy Theatre Festival. She currently teaches at Duke University.

Katelyn Wythe - Dresser/Seamstress

Katelyn Wythe was born and raised in Homer, Alaska. She graduated from George Fox University with a BA in Vocal Performance and participated in several productions with the theatre company there.

She is now pursuing the art of stage management and currently living in Portland.

Thanks go out to her family and friends for their unending support and love.

Jeff Woods - Lighting Designer

Jeff has been designing lights for local theatre since 1996. He has worked with many of Portland's best and brightest including Stark Raving Theatre, defunkt theatre, triangle! Productions, Profile Theatre Project, Miracle Theatre and Theatre Vertigo.

Recently he designed God's Ear and Dead Man's Cell Phone for Theatre Vertigo, and My Name is Rachel Corrie for Three Good Friends Productions.

Jeff lives in Portland with his wife Annalise, two dogs and three cats.

Jeffrey Jason Gilpin - Lead Actor

Jeffrey Jason Gilpin has played various roles in India, SE Asia, London, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, and Salem. His recent theatre work includes:

• Solyony in Tracy Lett’s world premiere of Three Sisters, Eros/Ensemble in Metamorphoses, Peter in Bug, Sonny in Appalachian Ebeneezer (Artists Repertory Theatre)
• Arles Struvie, et. al in A Tuna Christmas (Oregon Repertory Theatre)
• Orchestro in A Lovely Day (Upon These Boards)
• Musician/Big Mike in Boxcar Children (Oregon Children’s Theatre)
• Marty Sterling in Isn’t It Romantic (Profile Theatre Co.)
• Dr. Gilpin, PhD in The Values Americans Live By –Asian Tour (Laboratory for Enthusiastic Collaboration)
• Miles in The Drawer Boy (Salem Repertory Theatre)
• Blake in Manna, Bobby Blin in Another Fine Mess, Alcibiades in Outrage (Portland Center Stage)
• Woody in Woody Guthrie’s American Song (American Heritage Theatre Co.)
• Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar (Mt. Hood Jazz and Theatre)
• Dionysus in The Bacchae (Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon)
• Ivanov in Ivanov, Giovanni in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art)
• Octavius in Julius Caesar (Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company)
• Laertes in Hamlet, Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing, Philip in The Lion in Winter, Feste in Twelfth Night, and Lord Hastings in Richard III (Washington Shakespeare Festival).

Jeffrey holds an MFA in Acting from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, an MA in Teaching and BS in Theatre Arts and Psychology from Willamette University in Salem, OR.

He was recently the Arts Director for Portland Public Schools and is presently the Artistic Director for Oregon Repertory Theatre.

Paul J. Susi - Stage Manager

Born and raised in Portland, Paul J. Susi trained as an EMT-Basic and certified as a Sawyer for the US Forest Service, and has worked as a Detox Worker for Hooper Memorial and a Page for the Multnomah County Library.

Onstage, Paul has appeared as Bamboo in A Lovely Day (Upon These Boards), Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (NW Children’s Theatre), Orpheus/Bacchus in Metamorphoses (Artists’ Repertory Theatre), Red Mare/Father/Owl/Various Trolls in Ride the Red Mare (Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre), Ortuno/Leonelo in Fuente Ovejuna (Miracle Theatre), the title role in Othello (Portland Actor’s Ensemble), Miles in The Drawer Boy (Vermont Stage Company), and Stone Ghost/Bear/Elijah the Prophet in Project Blue (Stacja Szamocin/Hand2Mouth Theatre).

Paul trained as an Actor with the American Conservatory Theatre’s Summer Training Congress and the British-American Youth Festival Theatre. He now works as the Adult Residential Medical Case Coordinator for DePaul Treatment Centers.

Margaret Champman – Costume Designer

Margaret Chapman – (Costume Design) holds a B.S. and a M.S. in Theatre Arts from PSU.

She was resident costumer/designer for Portland Civic Theatre for 17 years. She now freelance costumes with several theatre companies and schools in the Portland area.

Her positions include resident costumer/instructor for Portland Community College/Sylvania Campus and resident costumer for Oregon Children's Theatre Company. Her most recent awards include a 2004 Drammy for her design of The Women for Triangle Productions! and an OTAS for her 2009-10 season design for A Fiddler on the Roof at Lakewood Theatre Co.

She is a past president of the Portland Civic Theatre Guild. When not costuming, Margaret is advisor to her son, Stephen's Venturing Crew 542. Margaret is also an Instructor/Designer at Portland State University

Philip Cuomo - Director

Philip is the Associate Director of Portland Actors Conservatory and a core company member of Third Rail Repertory Theatre. His directing credits include Big Love, Kimberly Akimbo, The Mail Order Bride, The Blue Room, Our Town, The late Christopher Bean.

He created and directed the clown shows Pas Deux Bits, Box O' Briefs and Exaggeration On A Theme. And created and directed La Carpa Del Ausente and La Carpa Calavera (Drammy winner for outstanding achievement in directing) for Miracle Theatre.

He was choreographer for Hand2Mouth's Blue and From A Dream to a Dream (a co-production with the Polish theatre company Stacja Szamocin). He has given mask workshops for Artists Repertory Theatre's productions of Uncle Vanya and The Drawer Boy. For Third Rail he performed in Nobody Here But Us Chickens and Fabuloso, was the fight choreographer for Chickens and Number Three and can be seen in the upcoming Wonderful World of Dissocia As a teacher, while in New York, Philip taught beginning acting at The Sonia Moore Studio of Theatre, clowning at Circus Minimus, and Literacy through Dance at the Bronx Arts Ensemble. Here in Portland his teaching credits include Mask for Imago, Movement for Artists Repertory Theatre's Actors-To-Go Program, Mask at Young People's Theatre Project at Jesuit High School, Level One Acting and Voice at Portland State University, and Movement at Willamette University. He teaches Clown, Mask, Movement, Improvisation and Voice at Portland Actors Conservatory.

Philip was an artistic associate for three years with School is Fun Productions in St. Petersburg, Florida, creating and directing several shows for schools. He worked for The Orange County Historical Museum and The Tampa Historical Society adapting and directing shows based on museum content and historical documentation.

As an actor he has appeared at Lincoln Center, The Hartford Stage, The Civic Theatre of Central Florida, and in Portland with Artists Repertory Theatre, Imago Theatre and Shaking The Tree.

Sam Kusnetz – Sound Designer

Sam Kusnetz has been designing, composing, stage managing, and solving all manner of theatrical problems for fifteen years. He has toured nationally and internationally with Imago Theatre and Do Jump!, designed sound Off-Broadway at the Jean Cocteau Repertory, regionally at the Provincetown Repertory (A Girl Called Dusty, world premiere), and here in Portland at Portland Center Stage (Frost/Nixon), Third Rail Repertory (The Wonderful World of Dissocia, opening in January), Insight Out Theatre Collective (On The Verge, One: The Musical, The Yellow Boat), the Re-Theatre Instrument (Faust, U.S.) and the Portland Actors' Conservatory (Experiment With An Air Pump, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball), several of which included original scores.

He composed scores for numerous shows at his alma mater, Brown University, including King Lear, Marisol and Macbeth, and designed sound for many others including the world premiere of Jordan Harrison's Kid Simple.

He spends his summers as head sound designer and production manager at Buck’s Rock Camp, a visual and performing arts camp in Connecticut, where he has designed sound for Amadeus, Ash Girl, The Serpent, The Tempest, Metamorphoses, Urinetown, and many others.

Sam is a co-creator of Anonymous Theatre, and is totally excited about cake.

Alyssa Essman - Stage Manager

Alyssa Essman recently graduated with honors in theatre from UNC-Asheville. She's excited to be putting her degree to work so soon after graduation. She has focused on stage management in theater for the past ten years. She recently finished working with Theater Vertigo as their stage manager and is eager to continue her work in Portland.

Tuna Christmas will be her first production with Oregon Repertory Theatre but hopes for it to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Aaron Zinder - Production Assistant

Aaron Zinder has been a stagehand in the live-event production industry for over two years. He is a member of IATSE Local 28 Stagehands Union and is currently studying Theatre Arts at Portland State University.

He holds a certificate in Music Technology from Clackamas Community College.

Trish Castaneda-Gonzales - Stagehand / Dresser

Trish Castaneda-Gonzales is a recent graduate of Linfield College with a B.A. in Theatre Arts. She is absolutely ecstatic to be working with Oregon Repertory Theatre! Her passions include acting, set building, and stage managing.

If her evenings aren't spent in a theatre, the world is off-kilter! Some of her favorite times have been on stage as Maria in "Back Bog Beast Bait" (defunkt Theatre); Celia in "As You Like It," Character C in "Crave" (Linfield College); and stage manager for "Willow Jade" (Portland Playhouse).

She'd like to thank her Grandfather from above for helping her find such wonderful companies to work with. Love you, Grandpa.

Maria Aparo - Stage Manager

Stage Management

• We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! - Portland Actors Conservatory
• Kids on Broadway! - The Atlanta Lyric Theatre
• The Fantasticks - The Atlanta Lyric Theatre
• A Chorusline - Shorter College*
• Honk! - Shorter College
• West Side Story - Shorter College**

*Stage Management Award Nomination Region IV ACTF
**Showcased at Region IV ACTF

Charge Artist

• Jekyll and Hyde - The Atlanta Lyric
• Theatre Kids on Broadway - The Atlanta Lyric Theatre
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Shorter College
• Proof - Shorter College

Sascha Blocker - Stagehand

Sascha Blocker is a recent MFA graduate of the London International School of the Performing Arts (LISPA) & Naropa University's Lecoq Based Actor Created Theater Program. She is also a graduate of the Portland Actors Conservatory. While at the Conservatory, Sascha performed in "The Sweetest Swing in Baseball" and "The Mail Order Bride."

She also served as Stage Manager for the Conservatory's production of "Small Tragedy."

Nathan Burks - Stagehand

Nathan Burks is delighted to be working with Oregon Repertory Theatre on A Tuna Christmas. Nathan has extensive experience in lighting and scenic design all the way from here to Alaska!

It includes two years in residence with Stark Raving Theater back in the day, and numerous designs around Portland over the years.

His most recent work was Prelude to a Kiss earlier this season with Key Productions.

He hopes to be the next designer for Swimming with Sharks. (Swimming with Belugas didn’t work so well).