INSTRUCTORS

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!

Daphne Wong

Daphne Wong | Daphne Wong is a tap dancer and musician who revels in creative projects of all kinds.  She has tap danced in scuba flippers for Genevieve Quick’s Planet Celadon: Our Receiver Is Operating, performed with La Mezcla in Pachuquismo, appeared in the Rhythm ISS retrospective in Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance, and joined world-renowned Sam Weber in Morton Gould's Tap Dance Concerto with the Golden Gate Symphony, of which she's also a member as a violinist. In the studio, Daphne strives to foster a supportive, encouraging community and wholeheartedly believes that the best learning happens when you're having fun with friends.

Laura Marlin

Laura Marlin is a director, playwright, dancer, teacher. Laura is proud to be a teaching artist with Word for Word, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Playhouse, where she’s directed youth musicals for close to twenty years. As a playwright, she’s  written two original musicals, both produced at Berkeley Playhouse: Bravado, and most recently, Becoming Robin Hood, with her writing partner, Phil Gorman. As a modern dancer, Laura has performed with local choreographers such as Nina Haft and Co., Rogelio Lopez, Randee Paufve, Dana Lawton, Ruth Botchan, and Carol Kueffer.