Joel ben Izzy

Joel ben Izzy: It was thirty-six years ago that Joel set off to travel the world, gathering and telling stories. Since then, he has performed and taught in some 36 countries and recorded six award-winning recordings. His memoir The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness (Algonquin, 2003), which weaves together stories from his travels to tell his own remarkable story, is now in 18 international editions and in development as a musical. Joel is a highly sought-after story coach and consultant, both to individuals and organizations.  For more information, see www.storypage.com.

Scrumbly Koldewyn 

Scrumbly has written songs and music directed professionally for over 50 years. He helped found four groups of performers - The Cockettes, The Distractions, The Jesters vocal trio, and Cockettes Nouveau. Scrumbly has been teaching at Stagebridge for over 20 years. In high school, he played guitar and sang folk songs on the school stage and in outside groups.

Wayne Harris

Wayne Harris is an award-winning solo performer, writer, educator, curriculum innovator and musician. Wayne’s plays include Mother’s Milk, which was both an homage to Wayne's mother and a nuanced picture of St. Louis during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. Mother’s Milk ran for 14 Weeks in San Francisco and garnered a Fringe Award at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival. In The May Day Parade, Wayne fused his love for drum and bugle corps with his personal childhood battle with polio. His latest play, “Train Stories,” was critically acclaimed and garnered a Bay Area Broadway.com Nomination in 3 categories, including ”2023 Best New Play”.

Wayne was invited by the U.S. State Department to travel to the Middle East and perform his play, The Letter; Martin Luther King at the Crossroads. A gifted artist with wide-ranging interests, Wayne is passionate about storytelling that combines his lived experience with hopeful declarations for the future.

In addition, he is currently a facilitator for an exciting and important project, The Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project, guiding formerly incarcerated adults in creating, producing, and performing their personal stories.

Wayne travels extensively throughout the U.S., providing “Improvisation & Performance” workshops for Youth Pageantry groups (marching bands, dance teams, etc.) and is currently working with The Berkeley Repertory Theater in community outreach programs.

Kim Saunders

Kim Saunders has performed at: The Nat Horne Theatre, Neighborhood Playhouse, American Ballet Theatre at Lincoln Center, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. She is also a professional director, choreographer, and teaching artist. She has taught acting and Shakespeare at Stagebridge in the past and is looking forward to returning.  She is an award-winning director and has been nominated for acting and choreography by TBA and BATCC.

Radhika Rao

Radhika Rao is excited for Stagebridge Summer Camp! She is a bilingual actor and teacher, residing in the Outer Richmond neighborhood of S.F. She loves travel, foreign languages, and new experiences! Radhika earned a doctoral degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she focused on theater and the performance of citizenship. Her educational work includes working with populations spanning from elementary school students to senior citizens; with universities and schools to non-profits and multinational companies- the common thread being creating more empathetic and courageous conversations through the power of storytelling and role-play. Collaborators include Prague Shakespeare Company, University of San Francisco, Stanford University, Samuel Merritt University, San Francisco Police Department, UC Hastings School of Law, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theater, Urban High School, Leela Improv, Cutting Ball Theater, Shotgun Players, Larkin St Youth Services, and LifeTheater Service. She’s happy for you to check out, her out on Instagram @radhikarao77 or on www.radhikarao.org

Sara Toby Moore

Sara Toby Moore (Toby) is a celebrated San Francisco actor, writer, educator, and physical comedian. Over a 35-year career, Moore has created & performed eccentric characters and full shows for Circus, Off-Broadway, Nightclub, and Regional Theater. Moore’s high-octane style of performing was championed early on by impresario Merv Griffin, who licensed her to conjure and perform such mayhem as a flying diva with a hydraulic-rising wig and a spring-action human cannonball at his casino showroom! She has been a Clown with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus and a Puppeteer for The Krofft Puppets. As an educator, Toby was the Director of the NEA-award-winning graduate program, The Clown Conservatory at Circus

Center and has taught Acting, Improv, Solo Performance, and Clowning nationwide to both youth and adults. Her one-person, multi-character circus play Show Ho has played to sold-out houses in San Francisco and New York and garnered effusive reviews for Moore’s ability to character morph!

Dianna

Dianna has built a dynamic career at the intersection of dance, theatre, fitness, and wellness. A professional dancer since the age of 18, she performed with companies, in concerts, theaters, for networks and in pro-sports entertainment. She worked for teams, including the Pacers, Bulls, Warriors and the Raiders before becoming a full-time choreographer, audition coach, trainer, and community relations leader for the NBA/WNBA/NFL. In the Bay Area, she launched a thriving dance and movement center, developed dance programs in over 20 schools, directed The Broadway Dance Center’s summer pre-professional triple threat program in NYC for a decade, and shaped countless performers through her artistry and leadership.

After overcoming a severe spinal cord injury and emergency fusion surgery, Dianna transformed her expertise from her career, pain management experience and need for habit modification into Health Coaching, blending her deep knowledge of dance, fitness, physical therapy, and the brain-body connection. In 2016, following her Swedish Health Coach training program developed by the Karolinska Institute and her fusion recovery, she created her signature Brain Booster class, designed to boost circulation, improve reflexes and calibrate the brain/body connection.  She introduced this program to Kaiser Permanante HQ Corporate Wellness where she offered this as their Alignment Coach in addition to team building services and wellness talks for over 8 years.  

She was not yet ready to give up performing so during this time she returned to the stage and created a theatrical character based dance company, Beyond Burlesque, where she produced, directed and performed for 6 years. 

Today, she is a Health/Life/movement coach, serving corporations, senior communities, nonprofits, and universities with habit, postural, and behavioral modification talks and innovative fitness programs that inspire resilience and holistic well-being.

She is excited to represent and interact with the Stagebridge community. 

“The body achieves what the mind believes”

Cindy Goldfield

Cindy Goldfield has been a fixture in the Bay Area for many years. Regional credits include work at A.C.T., CenterREP, San Jose Rep, TheatreWorks, The Aurora, Broadway by the Bay, Marin Theatre Company, N.C.T.C., and 42nd Street Moon. New York credits include D’Arcy Drollinger’s Project: Lohan, and Mr. Irresistible, at La MaMa E.T.C.  Goldfield also enjoys a thriving cabaret career, collaborating with Scrumbly Koldewyn (Goldfield & Koldewyn) and David Aaron Brown (One Night Stand)  In addition to her performing credits and awards, Goldfield has two Theatre Bay Area awards for Best Direction (Trog! and Once.)

Tania Johnson

Tania Johnson is a vocalist, musical theatre actor, and TBA Award-winning music director. Tania is an Artist In Residence at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and teaches remote voice lessons for Southern Utah University. As an actor, she has performed with 42nd Street Moon, SF Playhouse and TheatreWorks. Tania holds a B.A. in music from U.C. Berkeley, where she was the founding music director of BareStage.

Paul Daniels

Paul Daniels is the Director of Music at St. Columba Catholic Church, a seasoned choir director, and a recording artist whose work spans gospel, folk, liturgical music, and community arts. In addition to his leadership at St. Columba, Paul serves as Assistant Choral Director with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, bringing decades of experience teaching singers how to connect voice, story, and spirit. As founder of Eeeebop Music and the artist and producer behind the album “Something Good” Paul blends musical heritage with modern creativity. His international performances experience and deep roots in American musical traditions shape a learning environment that is soulful, curious, and grounded in the living history of folk music.

Brian Young 

Brian Young is a gifted multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger with deep experience in both classical and church settings. He holds a Master’s in Music Performance/Composition from the University of Michigan and currently performs with the San Francisco Symphony as Extra Percussion.  Brian has served as organist, accompanist, and music director in multiple congregations, bringing a sensitive touch and strong collaborative spirit to every ensemble.

M. Graham Smith

M. Graham Smith is a freelance Director, Educator, and Producer. Recent directing credits: World Premieres of Obie winner Christopher Chen’s Home Invasion, Kevin Rolston’s Deal with the Dragon (Magic Theatre & Edinburgh Fringe), The Mortification of Fovea Munson (The Kennedy Center); Father/Daughter (Aurora); White Chip, Pickleball at B Street, You for Me for You (Crowded Fire), and White (Shotgun). Graham’s new play FDR’s VERY HAPPY HOUR, centering d/Disability and Access in an immersive environment, will receive its World Premiere at Actors Theatre of Louisville in October before heading to NYC’s Under The Radar Festival. He teaches at A.C.T. and Berkeley Rep. He’s a graduate of Wesleyan University where he directed the first workshop of In The Heights.

Willy Claflin

Willy Claflin has told to over a million children over his 50 year career, and has won 3 Parents’ Choice Gold Awards. He has told to audiences ranging in size from his 2 year old son to 1100 9th graders in a noisy gymnasium.