Elena Wright (Henrietta Leavitt)*
Elena Wright is a Bay Area actor, educator, and fight/intimacy director. They have worked with San Jose Stage, Theatreworks, Marin Shakespeare, California Shakespeare Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Marin Theatre Company, Shotgun Players, Seattle Shakespeare, SF Playhouse, B Street Theatre, Capital Stage, and CentralWorks among others. Elena holds an MFA from University of Washington and a from BS Northeastern University.

Radhika Rao (Margaret Leavitt)
Radhika Rao (she/they) is thrilled to make her debut at SPARC this summer. She’s an actor and communications coach based in San Francisco. Radhika is a regular performer and instructor at Leela Improv. Recent notable performances include Time of Athens and The Real Sappho at Cutting Ball Theater, and The Claim at Shotgun Players. She was last in Susan-Jane Harrison’s play Touched at 3GirlsTheater. Radhika often posts about her shows and work on IG at her handle @radhikarao77 and her website www.radhikarao.org.

Jake Arky (Peter Shaw)
Jake Arky is an actor, writer, producer, and arts educator. He has worked with companies including TheatreWorks, The Cherry Lane, and La Jolla Playhouse. Jake co-
founded So Say We All: a non-profit arts organization specializing in the literary and storytelling arts. He currently lives in L.A. with Sam and Barry. Jake holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dramatic writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Mary Ann Rodgers (Annie Cannon)
Mary Ann Rodgers is an Associate Artist with SPARC where she has happily acted in or directed several shows including Persuasion, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and more. Mary Ann most recently worked at Shotgun Players and Ross Valley Players. She is married to actor/designer, and fellow Associate Artist, Malcolm Rodgers.

Emilie Talbot (Williamina Fleming)*
Emilie Talbot (she/they) is a San Francisco-based actor, director, teacher, and voice artist. Regional credits include the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Huntington Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, and Mark Taper Forum, as well as numerous local appearances at ACT, Berkeley Rep, Aurora, The Magic, CapStage, and others. Film and television work includes 13 Reasons Why, Sonder, Starting Over, and a whole slew of commercials, industrials, radio dramas, and video games. www.emilietalbot.com

Lauren Gunderson (Playwright)
Lauren has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list thrice including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is a playwright, screenwriter, musical book writer and children’s author who lives in San Francisco. She graduated from NYU Tisch as a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. LaurenGunderson.com

Jennifer Le Blanc (Director)
Jennifer Le Blanc directed SPARC’s production of Sense and Sensibility, Life is a Cabernet, and readings of  Kindertransport and of Winter’s Passage. She has acted in several SPARC productions including Cyrano de Bergerac and Much Ado About Nothing. Jennifer wrote the adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion produced by SPARC. She is also a  teaching artist and received her MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory and her BA in English Literature from  U.C. Berkeley. She is an associate artist with SPARC and is part of Playground’s Writers Pool. www.jenniferleblanc.com

Audrey Brooks (Props Master)

Audrey Brooks (she/her), is a Teaching Artist and the current Program Manager at SPARC Theater. She received her BA in Theater from San Francisco State University (SFSU). Some of her favorite credits include acting in Godspell (Las Positas College), assistant directing Fools (TVYPA), and stage managing Life is a Cabernet (SPARC Theater).

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/Festival Photographer)

Gregg Le Blanc has helped capture SPARC’s magic over the years. You also might have seen him on stage in LSF’s Much Ado About Nothing! Gregg has a Master’s Degree Chemical Engineer from University of California Santa Barbara with a 2nd Year certificate from University of Edinburgh. For more photography follow @CumulusLight, and try liking www.Facebook.com/photogregger!

Evan Lopes (Lighting Designer)

Evan Lopes (he/him) is a Bay Area native who had been regularly involved in theatre since 2004. His day job is at a local minority-owned and operated business, VIP Audio Visual Company. Recent credits: Damn Yankees, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls (I Can Do That! Performing Arts Center).

Joanne Martin (Costume Designer)

Joanne Martin has worked at California Shakespeare Festival, City Lights Theatre, Livermore Shakespeare Festival, Pacific Rep., Penumbra, Perspectives Theatre, Playground, San Jose Stage Co., Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Teatro Catalina. Joanne has a BFA in Fine Art and an MFA in Costume Design and was also the Costume Shop Supervisor and Lecturer at Santa Clara University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Minnesota, and now teaches costume design at Solano College and UC Davis.

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.

Malcolm Rodgers (Stage and Set Designer)

Malcolm Rodgers is an Associate Artist with SPARC and was last seen on-stage as Clown #1 in The 39 Steps, Iago in Othello, and Sir Walter Elliot/Admiral Croft in Persuasion. Recent credits include production design for Michael Che-Shame the Devil on Netflix, Triumph of Love at Shotgun Players, and Native Gardens at Ross Valley Players. He has received three Emmy Awards for scenic and graphic design. As an actor, Malcolm has also performed with Custom Made Theatre, CCCT, Arabian Shakespeare, Napa Valley Shakespeare, and Ross Valley Players. Malcolm studied theater performance at PCPA, and stage design at San Francisco State University. www.bowmanrodgersdesign.com

Lisa Tromovitch (Producer)

Lisa 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.

Laura Weston (Stage Manager) *

Laura Weston is a freelance stage manager for theatre & opera. Regionally she’s done shows at Livermore Valley Opera, Sacramento Theatre Company & B Street Theatre. During Covid, she worked at
REI. In September she will be joining the Stage Management staff at the Pittsburgh Opera as an ASM.

Marguerite Arbogast (College Apprentice / Understudy)
Marguerite Arbogast (she/her) is an actor and theatermaker based in Minneapolis, MN, who recently graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA in Performance Creation. Favorite roles include Olivia in Twelfth Night and Sophie in Mamma Mia!. Marguerite studied with Shakespeare and Company and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 2018. 

Evan Carlson (College Apprentice / Understudy)
Evan Carlson (he/him) is from Durham, North Carolina, and is a senior BFA Acting major at Illinois Wesleyan University. Recent credits include Life’s A Dream (McPherson Theatre), True West (Beckman Auditorium), and Are You Ok? Voices from Prisoners and their Families (EMJK Lab Theatre). He recently directed his original musical Water Polo & Love (Phoenix Theatre). Follow him @e.b.carlson

Grace Guichard (College Apprentice / Understudy)
Grace Guichard (she/her) is a Bay Area native who recently received her BFA in Acting and Minor in Philosophy from Otterbein University. Outside of acting, she regularly does improv at The Peoples Improv Theatre in NYC, her new home base. Recent Credits: Pirates of Penzance (OST), A Lie of the Mind (Otterbein), The Tempest (Otterbein). www.graceguichard.com

Kris Kiyoi (College Apprentice / Assistant Stage Manager)
Kris Kiyoi (he/him) is a Livermore Native currently attending Ithaca College for Stage Management. Kris has been an associate stage manager for The Language Archive and Sweat at Ithaca College and the stage manager for the IC Unbound dance team. 

Ella Lieberman (College Apprentice / Assistant Stage Manager)
Ella Lieberman (she/they) originally hails from Portland, Oregon, and recently received her BA in Theatre Production from Sarah Lawrence College, where she also received the Greta Minsky Prize for Stage Management. Favorite credits include Hilma (The Tank), Almost Equal To (Sarah Lawrence College), and Gary (DownStage Theatre Co.).

Ethan Smith (College Apprentice / Understudy)
Ethan Smith (he/him) is from the suburbs of Chicago and recently completed his BFA in Acting at Illinois Wesleyan University. He has a certification from the SAFD as an actor-combatant in broadsword. Recent credits include Appropriate (Illinois Wesleyan), Life’s a Dream (Illinois Wesleyan), and Everybody Loves Opal (Barn III Dinner Theatre).