Norman Gee (Mr. Ford)*

Norman Gee is delighted to again join SPARC for a bit of summer Shakespeare, having trod the Livermore stage as Leonato in Much Ado, Iachimo in Cymbeline & Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost. Norman is also the Artistic Director of Oakland Public Theater (OPT) and an Associate Producer with PlayGround-SF. His work with other Bay Area companies including A.C.T., SF-Shakes, Word for Word, SF Playhouse, Lorraine Hansberry, Shotgun Players, CentralWorks, Oakland Theater Project, the San Jose Stage Company, and the SF Mime Troupe. Last summer Gee produced, directed & acted in OPT’s INVENTORY: James Baldwin Abroad, celebrating that writer’s centennial.

Gwen Loeb (Quickly/Shallow)*

Gwen Loeb is delighted to be making her return to SPARC where she was last seen as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest and Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. In addition to her love of the classics, Gwen is also an avid supporter of new works and has originated roles in numerous new plays, including: Maybelle in Cow Pie Bingo by Larissa Fasthorse, and Zetta in Dog Act by Liz Duffy Adams. Some of Gwen’s other favorite roles include: the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (San Francisco Shakespeare), Columbina in Truffaldino Says No (Shotgun Players); and Pauline in A Bright New Boise (Aurora Theater). By day, Gwen is the founder of World Builders Incubator, a nonprofit developing mass-market entertainment (all mediums and genres of fiction) created around social and environmental solutions at www.wbistories.org — because the stories we tell can save the world!

Nic Moore (Fenton/Caius/Pistol)

Nic Moore (He/Him) is excited to be back at SPARC after playing Romeo in last year’s reading of Romance and Juliet. He has also performed at the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, the Curtain Theatre, 6th Street Playhouse, Theatre Rhinoceros, Alter Theater and New Conservatory Theatre Center. He has trained at Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, and the Meisner Technique Studio in San Francisco.

Carolina Morones (Mistress Page/Host)

Carolina Morones (she/her) is an Actor and Bilingual Teaching Artist. She is honored to be an Associate Teacher with Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium and a Studio A.C.T. faculty member. Most recently she was in the A.C.T. OUT Tour of Julius Caesar. Other notable credits include: Citizen, Word for Word at ZSpace; Electricidad, SCU Presents; Fade, PCPA’s InterPlay series; Pericles, Prince of Tyre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; Elliot A Soldier’s Fugue, The Pear Theatre; Much Ado Para Nada, Shakespeare in Detroit; She Persisted the Musical, Bay Area Children’s Theatre; Ward 6, Central Works; and The Tenth Muse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Malcolm Rodgers (Falstaff)
See “Production Team” section for bio.

Mary Ann Rodgers (Mistress Ford/Slender)

Mary Ann Rodgers is celebrating her sixth season with SPARC! She has worked locally with Shotgun Players, Ross Valley Players, Central Works, Theatreworks, El Teatro Campesino, Symmetry Theater, Latin American Theater Artists, Napa Valley Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival, and others. Her initial training was at San Francisco State University and U.C. Santa Barbara. Most recently, she is grateful to have studied with Richard Seyd. Mary Ann also taught high school and middle school English, Spanish, and Theater until 2017.

Lucy Swinson (Anne/Robin/Nym)

Lucy Swinson is thrilled to be in her first show with SPARC. Lucy graduated in May from Chapman University with her BFA in Theatre Performance and has come back to the Bay to begin her theatre career! Recently she has been in The Play That Goes Wrong at San Francisco Playhouse, Jesus Christ Superstar at Berkeley Playhouse, and The Importance of Being Earnest at B8 Theatre Company. Favorite roles include Hamlet in Hamlet and Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Prague Shakespeare Company), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Phoebe in As You Like It (Chapman University). This has been a dream company to work with and Lucy could not be more excited to spend the summer with them!

Mark Vashro (Mr. Page)

Mark Vashro is an actor, cyclist and Sundance award winning producer. He was last on stage as Benedict in “Much Ado About Nothing” (SPARC 2023) and Robert in “The Book Club Play” (Ross Valley Players 2024).  Currently in postproduction for a fictional audio story titled BlueLife which will be coming out in 2025.  www.bluelifeworld.com

Lisa A. Tromovitch (Director / Producer)
Lisa A. Tromovitch, Founding Artistic Director, is also a tenured professor in Media X at University of the Pacific. She began her career at The Old Globe Theater and has directed in six states. She is a Backstage West Garland Award and Indy Award winner for her direction of Amadeus at PCPA TheatreFest. Most recently she directed The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest, and her own adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac for SPARC. Past President, Shakespeare Theatre Association. MFA, Southern Methodist University; BA magna cum laude, Dartmouth College; Phi Beta Kappa.

Grant Huberty (Sound Designer)
Grant Huberty, Associate Artist, is pleased to return for another great Shakespeare in the Vineyard season. In addition to sound design for theaters, schools, and church groups, Grant also designed and installed the in-the-round sound system for the festival when it was at Wente Vineyards.

Gregg Le Blanc (Associate Artist / Promotional Photographer)
Gregg Le Blanc has helped capture SPARC’s magic over the years. You also might have seen him on stage in SPARC’s production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as Sir Toby / Antonio, and LSF’s Much Ado About Nothing! Gregg is a master’s degree Chemical Engineer from University of California Santa Barbara with a 2nd Year certificate from University of Edinburgh. For more photography, visit CumulusLight.com

Emma Ledesma (Production Stage Manager/Props Master/Housing Host Coordinator)
Emma Ledesma is a passionate theater professional and experienced stage manager with a dual BA in Performance & Theater History and Technical Theater & Design from Saint Mary’s College of California. Emma began her journey with SPARC Theater as a teaching artist for the second-grade program, So Wise So Young, where she quickly developed a connection to both the company’s mission and the community. She made her stage management debut with SPARC in the summer of 2024 with Twelfth Night, and started full-time in the SPARC office this January.

Evan Lopes (Lighting Designer)
Evan Lopes (he/him) has been illuminating stages as a theatre lighting designer since 2011, bringing a decade-plus of creative vision to every production. In addition to his theatrical work, Evan is also a manager at VIP Audio Visual Company and is currently furthering his studies at California State University East Bay.

Finlay Norton-Lindsey (Technical Director)
Bio coming soon.

Karen Riley (Scenic Carpenter / Tech Advisor)
Karen Riley has been with SPARC since 2008 working in a variety of technical positions.  She spent several years as a student and then a volunteer learning technical theater through the Las Positas Collage Theater Program.  She retired from LLNL in 2015 after almost 25 years of service.

Dorothee Catipon (Assistant Stage Manager)
Dorothee Catipon is a rising third year at UC Irvine, majoring in Drama with an emphasis in Stage Management, and Sociology. Highlights include The Waiting Period (UCI), Fairview (Black Door Theatre, UCI), and The Transit Trilogy (Heartstrings Theatrical Troupe).

Sheryl Lim (Dresser)
Sheryl Lim (she/her) is a theatre performer, designer, and technician from Fremont, CA. Acting highlights: “The Prom” (Woodland Opera House); “As You Like It,” “She Kills Monsters,” “Open, Stay” (UC Davis). Costume design: “Iscariot” (Theatre for Social Change at UCD). She will graduate from UC Davis in Fall 2025, where she has also worked as the costume shop assistant for the past four years. When she is not performing or sewing, she enjoys running her small Etsy business “SherStitches” and watching procedural dramas.

Lily Engelsgjerd (Dresser)
Lily Engelsgjerd (she/her) is a student at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, majoring in theater and music. Recent performances include Constellations (Marianne) at the Patrick Quade One-Act Festival, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia), and Ghosts (Regina Engstrand), all performed at St. Olaf College. She was also recently in award-winning student short film Predictable. She is a proud teaching artist with Pleasanton Youth Theatre Company for the summer, and is thrilled to be a part of SPARC’s college apprenticeship program.

Juno Bellantoni (Vineyard FOH Manager)
Juno (they/them) is a theater major at Whitman College. They work in the production shop during the school year and has been crew on several shows there, including The Spitfire Grill, Rhinoceros, and the dance show Two Truths and a Lie. Outside of the theater, they are an avid birdwatcher and spent two months banding birds in the Peruvian Amazon.

Additional Staff and Volunteers