Return to Talons press page
Bios for A Hand of Talons

Maggie Lee is a Seattle playwright whose work reflects her love of comedy, science fiction, and horror. Her produced plays include The Tumbleweed Zephyr and The Clockwork Professor (Pork Filled Productions), The Echo Maiden (Seattle Public Theater Youth Program), The Journey of the Bell (The 14/48 Projects), The Sunshower Bride and Paper and Ink (Live Girls! Theater), Last Light (Playing in Progress), the Revealed! walking tours (SIS Productions), collaborating on Greetings from Styx and King Arthur and the Knights of the Playground (Balagan Theatre), Kindred Spirits (ReAct Theatre), H.P. Lovecraft adaptations (Open Circle Theater), the Double Shot Theatre Festival, and 14/48. Maggie is also the lead sketch writer and a performer with the Pork Filled Players, Seattle's Asian American sketch comedy group, as well as designing lights, props, and puppets for many local fringe theaters. She was a panelist for Asian American Women in Comedy at the 2011 National Asian American Theater Conference in Los Angeles, and was twice featured at ACT's Local Writers Showcase at the REPRESENT! Multicultural Playwrights' Festival. She is a member of the SIS Writers Group, Rain City Projects, the Sandbox Artists Collective, and was recently an Artist in Residence at Theatre Off Jackson.

Previous shows include The Twelfth Story by Rebecca Goldberg at Annex Theatre; Blood/Water/Paint by Joy McCullough-Carranza for Live Girls! Theater, Fast Company by Carla Ching (2014 Seattle Times Footlight Award), The Clockwork Professor and The Tumbleweed Zephyr both by Maggie Lee produced by Pork-filled Productions. She also directed These Streets by Gretta Harley & Sarah Rudinoff at Central Heating Lab at ACT and The Strange Misadventures of Patty by Allison Moore at Annex Theatre. She was the Associate Director for Robin Hood with Allison Narver at Seattle Children's Theatre, Assistant Director with Sheila Daniels on Elektra at Seattle Shakespeare Company and has directed various projects for 14/48, Live Girls!, and Book-It. Amy runs on the love of the Sheehy men and holds a Certificate in Directing for Stage and Screen from the UW, a BA in Theatre from Eckerd College and is currently adjunct faculty at Cornish College of the Arts and Seattle University.

Ben Burris (Lawrence Howell) is happy to be making is debut with PFP! He is a Cornish Alum. When not on stage Ben is a puppeteer with Thistle Theater, performing Bunraku style puppet shows for children in the Seattle area. He recently designed and co-built the Tralfamadorian puppets for Book It’s Slaughterhouse Five. Ben is also a clown and is part of the absurdist comedy trio Le Frenchword. You may have seen Ben recently in For Christmas with Playing in Progress, The Art of Bad Men with Map Theatre (Gypsy Rose Lee winner for Best Ensemble and Best Director) and The Boy at the Edge of Everything with SCT.

Tim Gagne (Kenzo Yao) is a native of St. Paul Minnesota, where he graduated with a theater acting degree from Minnesota State University. Since moving to Seattle, Tim has had the pleasure of working with some excellent theaters and companies including Annex Theater, Pacific Play Company, Fantastic Z, Theater Battery, and Spirit Theater. In addition to stage work Tim has worked as a voice over artist, a radio personality, and he was recently seen on the television show Evil In-Law.

 

Stephanie Kim-Bryan (Wilhemina Yao) - Theatrically, she was last seen in Azeotrope’s Sound at ACT Theatre and in Pork-Filled Productions’ The Tumbleweed Zyphyr. Her local credits include Keiko Okabe in Book-It Repertory Theatre’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Annika Settergreen in Seattle Children’s Theatre’s Pippi Longstocking. She’s also worked in Seattle with The Repertory Actor’s Theatre/PFP in Yellow Face, and SCT in A Single Shard; in Chicago with the American Theatre Company in Yeast Nation, at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Funk It Up About Nothin’, and at Chicago Children’s Theatre in Hana's Suitcase. Her education includes commedia training at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. A few favorite roles include Myrrah, et al. in Metamorphoses and Tiger Lily in Peter Pan.

Kenna Kettrick (Lin Curtis) is proud to report for duty to the Yao family. She was recently seen in Seattle Vice (Marxiano Productions) and Codename Kansas: Witch Hunter (Copious Love), and has worked with Seattle Public, Annex, Open Circle, The Bathhouse Ensemble, 14/48: TWQTF, and more—both on and off stage. Blood is her preferred design discipline, and food her favorite gift to friends. She performs burlesque under the name Verity Germaine, likes to teach middle schoolers stage combat, and leads food tours in Pike Place Market for a day job. She graduated from Seattle University, with degrees in Theater and History & English, and the Hickey Award, which is far more academic than it sounds... probably. Much love to Acting Club & the frog prince!

Mariko Kita (Delphine Yao) is over the moon to be working with Pork Filled Productions again and to inhabit New Providence with this amazing cast and team. She has appeared locally with Live Girls! Theater, Book-it Repertory Theatre, ReAct Theatre, Balagan Theater, StoryBook Theater, Infinity Box Theater, Lyric Light Opera, Ghost Light Theatricals and most recently Annex Theater. She regularly writes arrangements for Live Girls! Ladies Choir and has been a proud member of 14/48 bands. She is ever grateful for her amazingly supportive family.

Abhijeet Rane (Preston Hodges) moved to Seattle in 1999 and has been part of the vibrant South Asian drama community in Seattle for the past 10 years - performing in Seattle, San Jose, Portland, Chicago and Vancouver as well. Most recently, he appeared in Dance Like a Man in 2015, The Banyan Tree for Pratidhwani in 2013 and Everything But The Paper in 2014. Abhijeet writes his own stand-up comedy scripts, is an avid photographer and in his spare time manages to market technology products and services. He loves startups and is keenly interested in entrepreneur driven disruptive innovation.

Jenn Ruzumna (Bernie Martillo) is crazy excited to be a part of this stellar group of talented folks. Jenn was recently seen in The Twelfth Story at The Annex. She has also performed at theaters including Theater Schmeater, On the Boards, West of Lenin, Studio 4 Seattle and Woodinville Rep. Favorite roles: Jennifer Tucker in Wayne Rawley’s Beating Up Bachman (Radial Theater), Betty Dullfeet in The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (The CHAC) and Debra in A Kind of Alaska (BASH). Jenn also enjoys film work and is looking forward to the release of some of her films this year including the feature Brown’s Canyon (Try This Films). Her happy place is eating pizza and chocolate with her husband, children and dogs.

 

Sean Schroeder (Anders Yao) is very excited to be working with Pork-Filled Productions for the first time. He was most recently seen as Franz Huber in MAP Theatre's production of The Art of Bad Men, directed by Kelly Kitchens. He was also an ensemble member in Seattle Shakespeare Company's production of King Lear, directed by Sheila Daniels. He earned a BFA in Acting from Cornish College of the Arts in 2014. Favorite roles during his tenure at Cornish include Richard Mayhew in Neverwhere, Franny in Balm in Gilead and Beano in Summer Brave. Love to Maria, Natalie, Jasmine and Mariah.

May Nguyen is a writer/performer with the sketch comedy group, Pork Filled Players when not producing plays. Sometimes she can be found on-stage with the likes of Live Girls! Theater, 14/48, SIS Productions, and ReAct. She has even written plays for the SIS Writers' Group, SIS Productions, Infinity Box Theatre, and Live Girls! Theater. When not on stage, May is a board member with Infinity Box Theatre and can be found behind the scenes as a stage manager and assistant stage manager at Youth Theatre Northwest. Theater is team sport where everyone's time is precious and everyone's skills are valuable. Thank you for playing with us.

Roger Tang is a veteran producer of three-plus decades, working with such playwrights as David Henry Hwang and Philip Kan Gotanda. He has helmed numerous Northwest and world premieres, from Hwang's Bondage andYellow Face to Genny Lim's Paper Angels, Qui Nguyen's Living Dead in Denmark, Maggie Lee's The Clockwork Professor and The Tumbleweed Zephyr and Carla Ching's Fast Company. He has sat on the boards of ReAct Theatre and the Northwest Asian American Theatre (helping build the Theatre Off Jackson). Called the "Godfather of Asian American theatre" by A. Magazine, he sits on the board of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA), is the Literary Manager for SIS and edits the Asian American Theatre Revue, the web's foremost resource on Asian American theatre (www.aatrevue.com).

Michael Massey is a Seattle area Stage Manager and Teaching Artist for technical theatre. He is elated beyond belief to return with Pork Filled Productions, last seen working on Fast Company. Previously, Michael has taught stage management and technical theatre courses with Salmon Bay Middle School, The Northwest School, Cornish, and Seattle Children’s Theatre. Michael has had the pleasure of stage-managing with: Seattle Children’s Theatre, New Century Theatre Company, Freehold Theatre/LAB, Seattle Public Theatre, Cornish, Dayna Hanson at On the Boards, Live Girls! Theater, KTO Productions. Michael holds a BA from The University of Texas at Austin.

Jason Panzer

Brandon Estrella (Scenic Designer) is extremely excited to be working with Pork Filled Productions and this fabulously talented team. He is a founding member of The New Alchemists and over the past few years, his designs have been featured throughout the greater Seattle Area. You may have seen some of his recent work with Ghost Light Theatricals (From Kings to Controllers, King Kirby, As You Like It), STAGEright (Weird Romance), WET (The Motherf*cker With the Hat), MAP Productions (The Art of Bad Men), SIS Productions (Paper Angels), and the Intiman’s Emerging Artists Showcase. You can check out some of his upcoming projects with MAP Productions, Theatre Schmeater, Northern Belles Webseries, and The New Alchemists. Plenty Mahalo to Michael Elsner, Carol Spradlin, and Robbie Bennett.

Jocelyne Fowler (Costume Designer) has designed for Seattle Shakespeare Company (Mrs. Warren's Profession, Titus Andronicus, Richard II), Wooden O (Henry IV Part I, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Henry V, and The Tempest), Book-It Repertory Theatre (Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, Anna Karenina, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet), SecondStory Repertory (The Lion in Winter, Legally Blonde, Chess: The Musical, Moon Over Buffalo, and more), Seattle Musical Theatre (Young Frankenstein and Legally Blonde), Harlequin Productions (Clybourne Park, Jesus Christ Superstar, and more), and other local theatres. Upcoming work can be seen in Harlequin Productions' The Language Archive.

Tess Malone (Lighting Designer) Tess is excited to be working on her first production with PFP. Past local designs include Twelfth Story, Kittens in a Cage, Team of Heroes 3, A Mouse Who Knows Me, and Duel of the Linguist Mages at Annex Theatre, Art of Bad Men with MAP Theatre, and Buckshot and Lollyville with Macha Monkey. She also designs regularly at Bainbridge Performing Arts including Mary Poppins, Hair, The Drowsy Chaperone, Snow Falling on Cedars, Side by Side by Sondheim, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Little Shop of Horrors, The Kentucky Cycle, Avenue Q, and Shrek, The Musical. Tess is a proud graduate of Linfield College and Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Professional Artist Training Program.

Joseph Swartz (Sound Designer) is happy to be working with Pork Filled Productions for the first time. Other favorite Seattle sound design highlights include The Feast and award winning The Art of Bad Men for MAP Theatre, Dancing At Lughnasa, The Women of Lockerbie, Bach At Leipzig, and Letters to Sala for Seattle Pacific University, Crime and Punishment, A Streetcar Named Desire, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Native Son for Intiman Theatre, as well as numerous designs for Macha Monkey Productions, whose 2013 production of Cliffhouse earned him a Gregory Award nomination. Joseph spends most days working in the sound department at Seattle Children's Theatre. He thanks his son Jack, as well as countless child sitters, whose generosity and patience borders on the heroic.