Student Profiles

MFA Class of 2010 - MFA Class of 2011

Alistair “Forrest” Barclay is proud to carry forward the lineage of Hoosiers in Naropa’s MFA: Contemporary Performance program. He graduated from Albion College in 2008 with his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre. While there, he worked in many aspects of production, including sound design, sound engineering, lighting design, set design, stage management and acting. He also had the privilege of directing two pieces at Albion, The Proposal by Anton Chekhov and The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt. He also worked closely with guest artist, Michael Rohd, creating devised work during Michael’s two visits to Albion. 

Guenevere Donohue is a New York theatre artist. She has a BA in Theatre from Hunter College, and trained extensively with Joseph Chaikin and Austen Pendleton.  As an actor she is a member of the HB Studio Ensemble. She performed her Solo show Simplicia and the Tick forMetropolitan Playhouseand recently finished shooting the teleplay version. Guen performed and penned the roles of Jackson Pollock in The Painters’ Project, and Constance in Krack, both directed by George Bartenieff. Other recent work includes:  The Knight of the Burning Pestle (CSC), Beckett’s All That Fall (Cherry Lane) and voice-over work for Neil LaBute’s Wrecks (The Public.) Guen studied playwriting with Tina Howe and was awarded a John Golden Fellowship for her play, The Poecock.

Kate Sanderson Holly hails from Portland, OR.  Graduating from The Evergreen State College in 2002 in theater and filmmaking, she co-founded Fever Theater, a collaboratively run ensemble creating original productions and providing training and experimentation in the art of performance.  As Artistic Director, she also performs, designs, and delights in dramaturgy and the assembling of original work. Current ambitions include becoming a world-class vocalist, founding a school for contemporary performance training in the Pacific Northwest, and finding a way to bend the space/time continuum so she might master all forms.  Kate has trained extensively with SITI Company, and worked with the Bread and Puppet Theatre, Sojourn Theatre, North American Cultural Lab, Liminal Performance Group and others.  She is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher teaching professionally since 2004. 

Aaron Jennejahn hails from West Texas where he received his BA in English from Texas Tech University.  While at Tech, Aaron's favorite roles included Louis from Angels in America, Part II: Perestroika, and Joe from Last Night of Ballyhoo.  Aaron is a member of Boulder’s acclaimed theatre company square product theatre, where he recently appeared as Anthony in the award winning production of The House of Yes. He was last seen in Boulder’s Fringe Festival as Pedro from the North American premiere of Pedro and the Captain.  Aaron’s passion lies in acting and performing and in teaching theatre to at risk youth in Denver.

Danielle Lebens trained in dance at the Professional Dance Center in St. Louis and the St. Louis Ballet Center and competed regularly in dance competitions from ages 8-17.  She continues to study dance, with a focus in ballet.  She has a BA in Theatre and Religion from Denison University.  For her thesis project she wrote and directed a play based on interviews with children about their perceptions of god.  She was a member of Burpee’s Seedy Theatrical Co, an improv comedy group, for three years.  She has lived in Chicago performing solo work with the Beast Women and collaborative work with the Anatomy Collective.  She is also a talented visual artist and baker.  Visit Naropa lunch room on the Nalanda campus for a first hand taste.

Kerry Lee, originally from Salt Lake City, Utah with a BFA in Modern Dance and an MFA in Youth Theater, University of Utah, has joined the program in Contemporary Performance. Her search is finding new ways to explore creativity in Theatre for Youth. She has acted and taught with various theatre companies in the San Francisco Bay area. After a year enrolled at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York, she toured with an original production of Amy Tans’ short story Immortal Heart by Word for Word Theater Company, San Francisco.  She was cast in the independent film American Pastime a semi-fictionalized account of Japanese Americans interned during WWII. She is a certified Stress Facilitator and an avid fan of partner dance, Salsa, Tango and Swing.

Dana Hart Lubeck hails from New York where she spent the past six years working as an actor.  She graduated from NYU in 2002 with a degree in musical theatre. In 2005, Dana attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and then focused on film. Her most recent short, Native New Yorker, has had a successful run on the festival circuit. Other credits include the national tour of South Pacific, numerous regional productions and the new musical, The Man in the Iron Mask, at the Lambs Theatre in New York. Dana also plays the violin, flute and oboe. Coming to Naropa has been one of the best choices Dana has made and she looks forward to a career using theatre as a vehicle for change.

Melissa McNamara studied acting and devising at York University’s Creative Ensemble Program in Toronto, Ontario where she created over 15 original works. She has worked with the Tony-award winning San Francisco Mime Troupe and studied extensively in improvisation with The Second City Conservatory, Upright Citizens Brigade, Annoyance Theatre, and Impatience Theatre Co. She was a charter member of the Canadian Comedy Company, a resident actor for Theatre Blarney and performed various roles in The Second City’s longest running show, Tony N Tina’s Wedding. After directing the successful one woman show, Spotless, she toured her own solo show, Leaving Normal, which received an Audience Choice Award in NYC Frigid Festival. Melissa is a fully certified STOTT Pilates Instructor Trainer.

Susan Pfeffer, a native of Miami, Florida, is a performance artist, actor and Alexander Technique teacher.  Susan has created and collaborated on works at various venues throughout South Florida: Sagamore Hotel, Showtel, 801 Projects, Kunst Hotel, Florida International University, Matheson Hammock, Excello Dance Space and Performing Arts Network.  Formerly an adjunct faculty member at New World School of the Arts and Florida International University, Susan operates a private practice and has taught at University of Miami, Naples Philharmonic, Florida Grand Opera Young Artist’s Studio, Arts for Learning and other organizations.  She is a member of the American Society of the Alexander Technique and a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique.  Susan holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College with concentrations in Theater, Poetry and Art History. 

Rhonda J. Soikowski has been acting, directing, and generating new work in collaborative process for thirteen years. She holds a BFA in Acting with an Original Works emphasis from Cornish College of the Arts and is a current MFA Contemporary Performance candidate at Naropa University. Rhonda is an Associate Member in absentia with Washington Ensemble Theatre and was a founding member of the Board of Trustees for Stranger Genius Award winning Strawberry Theatre Workshop where she served for five years; both companies are in Seattle, WA.  Also a teaching artist, Rhonda has directed productions at Cornish College of the Arts and taught class throughout primarily Northwest schools since 2000.  For more information and a complete Curriculum Vitae, please visit www.soikowski.com

Anna Tzakou is a creator-performer from Athens, Greece. She received her BA in Theater Studies from the School of Fine Arts of Aristotelian University in Thessaloniki, in 2003 and she has studied acting techniques at the Theatrical Academy of Saint Petersburg (1999-2000).  Over the past six years she has participated in ensemble projects in Athens using techniques of devised theater and site specific performance. In 2008 she was awarded a scholarship by the Fulbright Foundation in Greece which gave her the opportunity to pursue a MFA degree in the United States. In her artistic work she is interested in laboratory research of the theatrical means and in applying this research to theatrical experiments that try to investigate the dynamics and relations of everyday life. 

Judson Webb, a Texan by birth, migrated from Los Angeles to Boulder in 1995. Prior to said relocation he studied acting at K.D. Studio in Dallas, the Howard Fine Studio in Los Angeles and completed his undergraduate studies at Naropa University. In Boulder alone, he has collaborated on the formations of Theatre13, LTO, Bohemian Dinner Theatre, Dead Pheasant Films and Films290. As well, he has produced, directed, written and/or acted in at least thirty-five projects over the past fifteen years. As a writer, he’s penned two feature length screenplays, collaborated on many short-film scripts and written extensively for the stage. Judson is very excited and grateful to be an MFA candidate at Naropa University. He lives with his wife and three little heathens in Boulder.

Jessica Wheeler is an actor/director, singer/songwriter, writer/reader, dancer and laughable juggler. She received her BFA in Studio Art from Morningside College (Sioux City, IA), where, besides getting paint all over herself and her clothes, she studied writing and theatre. Jessica spent several years on stage at Lamb Theatre (Sioux City), was a two year member of the Siouxland Shakespeare company, and later worked with Shot in the Dark Production (a non-profit theatre company), serving for a time on the Board of Directors. Her favorite "roles" include directing The Zoo Story by Albee; Marjorie/Extremities;Jessie/night Mother; Louise/Gypsy. Jessica also has a 2nd degree black belt in TaeKwonDo after studying for five years and training to be an instructor.

MFA Class of 2011

Ben Baker, originally from Los Angeles, earned a BA in acting from Fresno State University and an MA in Dramatic Analysis from San Francisco State.  He is a founding member of Fresno’s local artist collective ‘Liberated Souls’.  He has performed his one-man inter-media show Art/Cause/Love for audiences in California’s Central Valley and in San Francisco.  As a Performance Poet he has been a featured reader all over California’s open-mic circuit and has competed in numerous Slam tournaments.  He has worked as a teacher in many aspects, most recently as a Drama and Dance Artist-in-Residence with the Richmond District Neighborhood Center in San Francisco.  He recently directed Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train by Stephen Adly Guirgis for the Off-Market Theater in San Francisco.

Todd Badolato hails from the Boston, MA area with a BA in Theater Arts Performance Concentration from Salem State College. He is an actor/comedian/writer/musician/director with a wide variety of experiences from starring in badly made independent films to a six year run as a standup comedian. Todd is jumping into Naropa University after receiving a PTP (Professional Training Program) certificate from Dell'Arte International Physical School of Theater. 

Jacob Coleman is a founding member of Fever Theater. He has written, directed and performed with Fever since 2002, working in ensemble, for each of Fever's ten original productions. Jacob has trained with Liminal Performance Group, Hand2Mouth Theatre, Sojourn Theatre, and the SITI Company. Jacob has been facilitating performance workshops with children and adults regularly since 2005. Currently he teaches Viewpoints, Suzuki and ensemble-creation workshops to performance professionals in Portland, OR.

Patricia Rosbury Gibboni is an actor, makeup artist, musician (voice and violin) and a psychic medium.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Arts with an Emphasis in Theatre from Georgia Southern University and is a graduate of the Bert Roth School of Makeup in NYC.  Her past contains a marketing / fashion career in NYC and as a medium she has had the opportunity to teach, lecture and read all through out the US and Europe. Some of her credits include:  Becky in The Gifts of the Body, Jailor’s Daughter in The Wind in the Willows, and her most recent work on the HGTV Dream Home Edition as well as the Linda Lee and Chuck Landon Show. 

Jason Torres Hancock is a performing artist with a background as an actor both in the United States and in England and has performed as a dancer in the San Francisco Bay Area for over ten years. Since 2002 he has created dance/theatre works as a solo-artist and for his performance collaborative, GROUP, focused on investigating the outsider experience shared by minority groups in American culture. Jason holds a B.A. in Drama from U.C. Irvine and studied a year abroad at the University of Warwick in Theatre Studies. He also holds a M.A. in Mythological Studies with a Depth Psychology Emphasis from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Sandrine Hudl, born and raised in East Berlin, attended gymnastics school where she began to practice artistic expression and perform publicly as both an athlete and actor. While studying in theatre and commedia dell’arte projects, she became interested in theatre production, especially voice and text coaching. Sandrine went on to receive her BA in Literature and Communication from the University of Leipzig and her MA in Voice and Speech for Stage Acting from the University of Halle.  She taught at art schools/universities in Salzburg, Vienna and Linz. In 2006, she started developing her acting skills abroad in New York City. She graduated as Associate Teacher in Fitzmaurice Voicework and continued training and performing abroad, most recently with the MoscowArtTheatreSchool. Sandrine's passions include literature and mythology, traveling, and Brooklyn/NYC.

Tim Johnson has spent much of the last decade directing shows for Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, Texas, where he is a Company Member. Tim was also the Director of Performance for The McKinney Avenue Contemporary (The MAC), where he presented some of the nation’s most acclaimed performers.  Prior to Dallas, Tim worked in Sealy, Texas, as Artistic Director of the Brazos River Arts Council, and Chicago, as Artistic Director/Founder of The Collective Theater.  Tim has served as Secretary of the Board for the National New Play Network (NNPN) and on the Leaders of Tomorrow Council for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP). Tim graduated with a BFA from Southern Methodist University in 1991.

Rebecca Lehrhoff is an artist, performer, director, teacher, and perpetual student, graduated from Skidmore College with a BA in Theater in 2005. She studied Shakespearean text and performance at The British American Drama Academy in London. Throughout the years, opportunities to combine her love of acting and art have given her the most joy.  In Museum she created the paintings in the set and played the roles of Kate Siv, Francois, and Julie.  Upon graduation she founded The Modus Operandi Collective, incorporating physical theater and Shakespeare. She acted as Artistic Director at Saratoga Summer Stages, a children’s musical theater program and also taught art to Pre-K through Middle School children in Wellesley MA. In the future, Rebecca hopes to combine her love of art, performance and farm animals.

Jennifer McCandless, Performance Artist and Movement Arts Educator,  trained in acting at The Actor’s Institute in New York and The Physical and Improvisational Movement Theater in the San Francisco Bay Area with Ruth Zaporah, Simone Forti, Joe Goode, Corey Fischer, Anna Halprin and Nina Wise.  She has performed original, solo work, weaving cultural issues and personal stories through improvised, original movement and confessional, poetic expression, since 1992, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, New York and Italy. She co-founded Improvabilities and Tumbleheart, physical theater ensembles dedicated to the simultaneous collaboration of spontaneously composed, real-life stories. Her one woman show, The Urge to Merge, played in the 1998 San Francisco Fringe Festival to sold-out audiences.  She owns Bodykind, a Pilates-based Movement Arts Studio in Santa Barbara, CA.

Martha Ratliff graduated from University of San Francisco with a bachelor in Performing Arts and Social Justice.  Originally from North Carolina, she has been living in the Bay Area taking classes, traveling, and working at a collectively run bakery.  Martha studied improvisational performance this past winter at Moving On! Center in Oakland and studied Action Theater and Body Mind Centering.  Her most recent role was as Woman in Black in “The Necromancers,” directed by Dijanna Milosevic of Dah Theater.  Martha worked this summer with Outward Bound and hopes to integrate performance art and outdoor education in the future.

Kelly Thomas, born and raised in Washington DC, is a graduate of George Mason University where she earned her degree in Theater. After graduating, she immersed herself in acting, directing, and teaching theatre. Her favorite performances include Romeo and Juliet, The Vagina Monologues and Lion in the Streets, for which she was highlighted in the Washington Post. She was blessed to have spent the last 5 years teaching and serving as the creative and technical director of the Stafford High School Theatre Department in Virginia, and is proud of the progressive program she developed. Kelly has studied dance, drama, and music up and down the east coast and is excited to expand her studies to the west. She wishes to share her passion for the arts, and use theatre as a vehicle to fuse multi-cultural and socially diverse populations to promote positive societal changes in our world.

Allison Tigard is originally from the Seattle area. Regional credits include the title role of Miss Julie (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Caroline Cushing in Frost/Nixon (Portland Center Stage), and many many Off-Off Broadway unknowns.She has collaborated on several original works including Inviting Desire, a piece on women's sexual fantasies, which made its premiere in Portland, OR. She holds her B.A. in Theatre from Central Washington University and is a proud graduate of The Maggie Flanigan Studio and The Actor's Movement Studio in New York City.

Amber Whitehall is a co-artistic director of Fever Theater. She has been creating, directing and performing in original work with Fever since 2006. Amber danced with KAGAMI Butoh Dance Theater under the direction of Doranne Crable. She has studied Viewpoints, Suzuki Method, and Composition with Anne Bogart and SITI Company. Amber is currently facilitating workshops in Viewpoints, Suzuki, and ensemble generated work. She has studied and taught developmental movement and is a Registered Yoga Teacher.