Andrea Mardon Porter. BA Ryerson University.  Andrea is the former Managing Director of The Fritz Theatre Company.  Based in San Diego, the Fritz has produced over 200 plays in the past 20 years and has brought cutting-edge new works to the west coast including Baltimore Waltz, Fat Men in Skirts and The Woods. While at the Fritz, Andrea produced the award-winning productions of Sweeney Todd, Rhinoceros and The Caretaker as well as two seasons of the Annual Fritz Blitz of New Plays.

Born and educated in Toronto, Canada, Andrea received her degree in Costume Design and has worked on many productions including Miss Saigon, Napoleon and the operas Dido and Aeneas and Madame Butterfly. She moved to New York in 2002, producing the music festival Hard to Say showcasing the works of composer Daniel Shamir. While in New York, Andrea began working in the summer program industry and has developed and operated programs for thousands of students across Europe including Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Montpellier and Barcelona.

Combining her passion for theatre with her extensive experience in summer study abroad programs, Andrea created Acting Abroad, a company which combines actor training programs with the travel abroad experience. She currently divides her time between New York and England where she is studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. 

Gabriel Grilli. BFA, Acting, Hofstra University, MFA, Directing, Penn State University. Gabriel is a director, teacher, actor, and writer in San Francisco.  Gabriel’s recent directing projects include The Crucifer of Blood at Cider Mill Playhouse, Cyrano de Bergerac for The National Theatre for Arts/Education and Beauty & The Beast for the Texas Shakespeare Festival. He spent 14 years in New York City teaching acting and directing at institutions such as New York University, The New School, The School of Visual Arts, Syracuse University and Pennsylvania State University.

Originally from Rhode Island, Gabriel trained at Hofstra and Penn State where he was strongly influenced by the work of Robert Lepage, Julie Taymor and Anne Bogart and began creating movement theatre work.  His favorite projects include The Jungle Princess and The Windows of Albert Camus, a large-scale movement theatre spectacle.

In New York City, Gabriel worked with a wide variety of theatre companies including Manhattan Theatre Source, NY Fringe, Themantics Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre and Theatreworks USA. Favorite directing credits include his play Love Jungle and The Lover (Pinter) at the Flatiron Playhouse, Hope (McNally) and The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year (Guare) and Chee-Chee & The Vise (Pirandello).  He wrote, directed and produced the critically acclaimed Stalking Christopher Walken for the New York Fringe Festival.  Gabriel has won numerous awards including the Choreographers Foundation Grant and the Geva Theatre Directing Fellowship, and is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the SDC Foundation Artists’ Action Committee. 

In 2007, Gabriel relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he recently appeared as “Bobby” in Custom Made Theatre’s The Old Neighborhood, and as title character “Reginald Mosner III” in the new musical RM3 at the San Francisco Fringe Festival. Visit his site www.gabrielgrilli.com for a detailed overview of his work and current projects.

Emily Firth. BFA, (Hons) Webster Conservatory of Performing Arts. Emily is an Equity actor in New York City and has just returned from a regional tour as “Mrs. Crachit” (and others) in the TheatreWorks USA production of A Christmas Carol.  Emily has appeared Off-Broadway, most recently as “Mr. Hang Back” in the Wreckio Ensemble’s main stage production of Me, Myself, I, and the Others, as “Danielle” in Small Talk for the Dalliance Theatre Company, and in “Twas the Night Before…” for the Flea Theatre where she was a resident company member from 2006-2007.

Emily hails from Oregon and attended the prestigious Webster Conservatory where she received the departmental Honors Award in Musical Theatre for her work, only one of which is given each year. Favorite roles include “Alexa Vere de Vere” in As Bees in Honey Drown, “Luisa Contini” in Nine, “Lady Fullbank” in Lucky Chance, and “The Witch” in Into the Woods.  Emily has worked at the Timber Lake Playhouse and won a number of coveted roles there including “Mrs. Robinson” in The Graduate, “Estelle” in The Full Monty and “Esmeralda” in the Regional Premiere of Cheri Coons’ and Tom Sivak’s adaptation of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. 

Emily co-founded the Dalliance Theater Company and serves Artistic Associate and Company Manager.  Their first production, Love No Evil, won critical acclaim and will be followed by The Restoration Project and August Strindberg's A Dream Play.

Greg Ainsworth. BA, Baylor University. Greg is a writer and actor in Los Angeles. His recent film credits include The Notorious Bettie Page and recent television credits include ER, HBO’s The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow, The Wire and Oz. His one-man show Still Waters has been produced in Los Angeles and New York.

Greg is a native of Houston, TX and studied at Baylor University. After graduation, he relocated to New York City where he built a career as a Talent Relations Executive with HBO and began his training as an actor.  He was accepted into a two-year Meisner conservatory program at the William Esper Studio in New York, one of the foremost Meisner training programs in the country. He has also studied with Loyd Williamson at the Actor’s Movement Studio in New York.  Greg has performed in numerous off Broadway plays and musicals.  Favorite stage credits include “John” in Living Proof, “Eddie” in Pizza Man, “Guy” in Antioch and “Greg” in What a Piece of Work is Dan.

Greg has recently completed his first pilot script for television and studies with the gifted Diana Castle in Los Angeles where he is a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild and acts and writes full-time.

Kristy Hasen. BA, Yale University, MFA, Columbia University.  Kristy is an actor, writer, director, editor and producer in New York City. She has created promos, shows, and documentaries for Sundance Channel, USA Network, IFC, Court TV, Fuse, Oxygen and TRIO. Her films have won awards at the Toronto and Los Angles Independent Film Festivals and her one-woman show Khaki at Bat will premiere in New York this spring. 

Kristy grew up in Indiana and attended Yale University, graduating magna cum laude. She was accepted to the prestigious graduate film program Columbia University film school where she completed her MFA in screenwriting and directing. At Columbia, she wrote, directed and starred in the award-winning films, Frostbite and A Word From Rachel Cohen.  Other favorite screen credits include Fool For Love, Shall We Dance and Ms. Right.

Kristy went on to complete a two-year acting conservatory program, learning the Sanford Meisner technique. Her teacher, Maggie Flanigan, is considered one of the foremost experts on Meisner technique practicing today.  Kristy continues to train in cold reading, scene study, movement and clown with Anthony Abeson, Jan Leys, Virgina Scott and Diana Castle. Favorite stage roles in New York include “Alice” in Who’s On First, “Dawn” in Dear, “Ed’s Dream Girl” in 12 Fiery Women and “Blondella” in The Taming of Miss Shrew at the Sanford Meisner Theatre.

Jennifer Hopkins. BFA, Webster Conservatory of Performing Arts.  Jennifer is an actor and dancer in New York City, currently with the Handcart Dance Company and formerly with the Genesis Dance Company.  She has performed in showcases for the legendary Frank Hatchett and Sheila Barker at Broadway Dance Center, taught hip-hop at Soho Dance Studio and is a guest instructor at Broadway Dance Center.  She has worked with Stages St. Louis outreach programs to bring dance into the public schools, and is currently a choreographer and company member with the Dalliance Theatre Company in New York.

A native Nebraskan, Jennifer grew up in the dance competition scene and has competed at the state, regional and national levels winning top honors in jazz, tap, lyrical and voice. She was trained at the prestigious Webster Conservatory where she performed in 42nd Street and Pippin and won the roles of  “Tatiana” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and “Liliane Le Fleur” in Nine. Other credits include “Betty” in The Gamster for Reperatory Theatre of St. Louis, “Mrs. Souberry” in Oliver at the Ozark Actor’s Theatre, and “Cindy” with the Mostly Murder Theatre Company. Off-Broadway credits include “Julia” in Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels, which she also directed, and “Alex” for the world-premier of Violations for the Dalliance Theatre Company.