LENI Cast & Crew

BIOGRAPHIES

Sarah Greenman (Director) is an actor, director, playwright and educator. Portland audiences may remember her as Lisa in IOTC’s 2005 production of ONE – The Musical. Other acting credits include Sure Thing for Paper Trail Productions (Seattle, WA), the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Mama Rose in Gypsy, Quilters, A Servant of Two Masters, Songs for a New World, Stop Kiss, 42nd Street, Taming of the Shrew, Fiddler on the Roof, Scrooge, The Nightingale, A Thousand Cranes, Little Women, Macbeth, and Cinderella for PCPA Theaterfest (Santa Maria, CA). Northwest directing credits include Twelfth Night for Paper Trail Productions, Leni for Mae West Fest 2006. Sarah holds a BA in creative writing from Mills College where she was awarded the Gertrude Hung Chan Playwrighting Prize for her original play Leni, based on the life of German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. Sarah is also a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, CA where she most recently served as Director of Outreach and Education. Sarah lives with her husband Jack and splits her time between Seattle and Portland

JoAnn Johnson (Actor) is a professional actor, director and choreographer. Her roles include Vivian Bearing in Wit and Flora in Humble Boy (Artists Repertory Theatre), Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Portland Center Stage), Kate in All My Sons and Alice in Retreat From Moscow (Arkansas Repertory Theatre), Judith Bliss in Hay Fever and Madam Arcati in Blithe Spirit (Tacoma Actors Guild), Sarah Bernhardt in Memoir and Anna in Boston Marriage (Coho Productions) and Nancy in Seascape and Meg in The Birthday Party (Profile Theatre Project). Other theatres include The Old Globe, The Empty Space, Pioneer Theatre, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Sacramento Theatre Company and many seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Directing projects in Portland include Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Artists Repertory Theatre), Macbeth (Quintessence), Masterpieces (Theatre Vertigo) and Big Love (University of Portland). JoAnn has toured to Asia, Africa and the Middle East in the role of A in Three Tall Women and taught at the Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. JoAnn was educated at Wells College and the University of Oregon. She has a BA in English and an MA in Rhetoric.

Cecily Overman (Actor) is ecstatic to be working with JoAnn, Sarah, and Insight Out on this project. She was last involved with Insight Out during the summer 2003 production of ONE as Evangeline. Other favorite roles in town include: Frogwoman in Frogwoman, Psyche in Cupid and Psyche at Stark Raving Theatre; Witch #1 and Porter in Macbeth and Antonia/Borachio in Much Ado at Quintessence Language and Imagination Theatre; Narrator/Grown Wendy in Peter Pan at Northwest Children's Theatre. Cecily graduated with a BA in Psychology and Theater from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. She is also proud to be a very recent addition to the Theatre Vertigo acting ensemble.

Samantha Swaim (Production Manager) is on the Insight Out Board of Directors and owns her own event planning and consulting business. She has a 14-year history of theatre production and management, with an emphasis in producing, directing and stage managing. She was also a production coordinator for the Grammy Awards in Southern California. Samantha has seven years experience in non-profit fundraising and Board of Directors development. Samantha has worked extensively with Insight Out as Development Director, Production Manager for Kindred and Stage Manager for ONE – The Musical. Samantha thanks Insight Out for infusing her life with creative energy.

Craig Annsa (Stage Manager)

Lori Sue Hoffman (Costume Design) is a mother, co-artistic director, costume designer, artist, stylist, jewelry designer, accountant and actor. She has been involved in several productions in the Portland area as actor, director, costume designer and stylist. In 2006 Lori Sue received a Drammy award for her work on Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, this is her first work with Insight Out. Lori Sue’s costume designs have been seen in Cloud 9 , A Murder of Crows, Killing Game, The Hyacinth Macaw, Like I Say and Second-hand Smoke.

Glenn Fujimura (Light Design) is a recent graduate of Lewis & Clark College here in Portland, receiving his B.A. in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Lighting Design. Recently he has designed lights for: An American Daughter (Profile), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lakewood), By the Bog of Cats (CoHo), and Anna in the Tropics (Lewis & Clark). Glenn’s future plans include figuring out what he would like to do with his life.

Kate Kauffman (Set Design) is an Insight Out company member and resident costume and set designer. Her recent work includes set and sculpture design for A Thought About Raya; set, prop, and costume design for Kindred; costume design for the Classic Greek Theatre’s new play What Mad Pursuit, as well as props and costume design for ONE: The Musical. She has also worked with Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Imago Theatre. She currently works with Michael Curry Design, making large scale puppets of all shapes and sizes, and is enjoying expanding her artistic knowledge.

Sam Kusnetz (Sound Design) is a designer, composer, stage manager, and theatrical problem solver with over 150 productions to his name. He has toured nationally and internationally with Imago Theatre’s Frogz and Biglittlethings as Production Stage Manager and Lighting Director and currently serves as the Production and Stage Manager for Do Jump! Extremely Physical Theatre. His Off-Broadway credits include sound design for Dames at Sea, Doña Rosita, Arms and the Man, and Small Craft Warnings at the Jean Cocteau Repertory. Regional credits include the world premieres of A Girl Called Dusty at the Provincetown Repertory, and ONE: The Musical with the Insight Out Theatre Collective in Portland. He has composed scores for numerous shows at his alma mater, Brown University, including King Lear, Marisol and Macbeth, and designed sound for many others including the world premiere of Kid Simple. He spends his summers as head sound designer and production manager at Buck’s Rock Camp, a visual and performing arts camp in Connecticut, where he has designed sound for Amadeus, The Serpent, The Tempest, Metamorphoses, Urinetown, and many others. He is a founding member of the Anonymous Theatre Company, a teacher at Portland Actors' Conservatory, and a designer-in-residence with Insight Out Theatre Collective. Sam lives in Portland with his lovely wife Kerry. Additionally, Sam is totally excited about cake.

Lauren Brenneman (Props)

Eric Nordin (Composer) has been involved with Insight Out since its conception. He is the co-composer of ONE – The Musical by Wade McCollum. He received his BA in Piano Performance and Music Education from Southern Oregon University, in Ashland, and his MA in Music Composition and Conducting from Chico State University, in California. His interests tap into almost all aspects of the music world. As a pianist and vocalist, he has worked the gamut of musical genres from jazz, to classica,l to rock & roll, to opera and musical theater. He also is a self-published composer, writing for choir, jazz groups, symphonic band and piano. As a conductor, Eric has musical directed over thirty musicals and operas, as well as having been assistant conductor for the North State Symphony, in Northern California under maestro Kyle Wiley-Pickett. Above all, however, teaching has always been the underlying through-line for Eric. Having taught at a number of universities and community colleges, as well as children’s theater camps and musical theater and piano workshops, teaching music is his calling . He is currently Assistant Director of Forte Music School, in West Portland, where he teaches piano and voice.

Dan Ruiz (Tech Crew/Board Op) is an actor, director, and sometime stage manager and techie. Bored with twiddling his thumbs between theatre projects, he jumped at the chance to work on the crew of LENI because of a not-so-secret artistic crush on Insight Out Theatre Collective. He is also in awe of Sarah Greenman and would like to become her first official groupie.