Bios for The Tumbleweed Zephyr

Maggie Lee is a Seattle playwright whose work reflects her love of comedy, science fiction, and horror; her produced plays include The Journey of the Bell (The 14/48 Projects), The Clockwork Professor (Pork Filled Productions), 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 an Artist in Residence at Theatre Off Jackson.

Amy Poisson is thrilled to be joining PFP for her third show as director – previous shows include Fast Company by Carla Ching (2014 Seattle Times Footlight Award) and The Clockwork Professor by Maggie Lee, both at Theatre Off Jackson. Most recently, Amy directed Blood/Water/Paint by Joy McCullough-Carranza at TOJ for Live Girls! Theater. 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 and Assistant Director with Sheila Daniels on Elektra at Seattle Shakespeare Company. Amy has directed small various projects for 14/48, Live Girls!, and Book-It, and is a former Equity stage manager and worked at the Seattle Rep for five seasons. She has also managed shows at the Intiman, Empty Space, ACT, and many other small theaters that have come and gone over the years. Amy 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.

Michael has been an actor and director since childhood. Over the years he has co-founded two Latino theater companies; La Compañía De Teatro De Alburquerque, Inc. in the 1980's, and more recently Teatro Nuevo México, where he served as Co-Artistic Director for four years. His work has been seen as far afield as Europe, Mexico and South America, including a stint with the National Theater of Venezuela. He is also an award-winning voice talent in both English and Spanish, providing voices for advertising, theater, television, audio books and video games. Since arriving in Seattle a few years ago, he has worked with several theater companies including Balagan, Theater Schmeater, and GreenStage, for whom he directed The Tempest. He was most recently seen in Live Girls production of Blood/Water/Paint, and decorating a cake on television. He occasionally regrets having chosen theater over sleep.

Manuel R. Cawaling has a rich history working with arts organizations across the Puget Sound. As a young actor and director, Cawaling started out at the Northwest Asian American Theatre (Associate Artistic Director) and Pilgrim Center for the Arts (Artistic Director). Over the years, he’s directed and performed on a variety of stages for both professional productions and children’s theatre. He has also served as the Exhibit Developer and Manager for Wing Luke Asian Museum, Managing Director for Langston Hughes Performing Arts and President for the Washington State Arts Alliance. Currently, Cawaling is the Executive Director for Youth Theatre Northwest on Mercer Island. Thrilled to be working on this side of the bridge with a talented bunch of porkers, he hopes you enjoy this rollicking ride.

Linnea Ingalls has recently finished a fulfilling college career at Western Washington University in gorgeous Bellingham, WA. There she received professional actor training and several awards for her work in directing. She also studied theatre intensively in the United Kingdom and briefly in Germany. In the U.K., she performed in the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad in the winner of the National Philharmonic Society Music Award, Cyclesong. She has been part of several ensembles based in Bellingham that have won awards regionally and nationally. In Bellingham, Linnea also co-founded a devising ensemble, August Rope Theatre Company. She is currently part of a bi-coastal devising ensemble, In Spite of Space. Linnea moved to Seattle last fall and has enjoyed since working with Intiman, 5th Avenue Theatre, Live Girls! Theatre, Twelfth Night Productions in various capacities. She has loved directing and choreographing for Broadway Bound Children's Theatre, where she just closed The Little Mermaid with 90 wonderful kids. She also recently closed The Glas Nocturne "Seattle's hottest secret ticket"with Akropolis Performance Lab. She is absolutely delighted to join Pork Filled Productions in The Tumbleweed Zephyr. This summer Linnea is participating in the Intiman Summer Festival in their new Emerging Artist Program. You can catch her, and fellow Tumbleweed artists Kevin Lin and Brad Walker, perform August 4th, 5th, and 6th at the Centerhouse Theatre. 

Madison Jade Jones has a BFA from Texas State University with a major in Production and Performance. After graduation, she promptly moved to Seattle to be a part of their incredible theatre community! Her most recent roles include Mamma Nodi in Ruined, and Dorine in a gender-bent version of Tarttuffe. She is more than excited to start the next chapter of her life as part of this wonderful community!

Theatrically, her local credits include Keiko Okabe in Book-It Repertory Theatre's Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet and 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 with 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 and the American Singers Seminar - Musical Theatre Intensive with Director Douglas Webster. A few favorite credits include Myrrah, et al. in Metamorphoses; Rosaura in Sueño; and Tiger Lily in Peter Pan.

Kevin Lin currently works as a medical technologist at EvergreenHealth Medical Center. As an actor, he most recently starred in CATS' production of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet down in Nevada City, California. This summer, he will be a part of Intiman Theatre's Emerging Artist Program while also performing in The Horse in Motion's BrechtFest and SIS Productions' Paper Angels. Kevin will also appear in Seattle Public Theater's upcoming production of Amadeus. This will be his second time working with Pork Filled Productions; he was last seen as Francis in Fast Company. Other credits include UW School of Drama, UW Undergraduate Theatre Society, ReAct Theatre, Infinity Box Theatre Project, Book-It Repertory Theatre, and Davenport Theatrical.

Troy Lund is a long time fixture on Seattle stages and film sets. You may recognize him from his work at 14/48, Live Girls, Kirkland Performing Center, ACT or many other venues. Or you may not. But you'll remember the performance...

 

Tadd Morgan is delighted to be back working with Pork Filled Productions on this fantastic production! He previously played multiple Shakespearean heavyweights in PFP's Living Dead in Denmark. He has performed with numerous local companies including SiS Productions, Theater Schmeater, Twelfth Night Productions, Seattle Musical Theatre, Annex Theatre and SecondStory Repertory, as well as legacy companies like Open Circle Theater, Balagan and The Schoolyard. He has also narrated an audiobook, featured in commercials, and voices Lakitu in Nintendo's Mario Kart games. Tadd is part of the vocal cast for the new steampunk radio series Brass by Battleground Productions. Outside the theater he enjoys bicycling, writing, and various dragon related pursuits. Tadd would like to dedicate this performance in loving memory of LG and RR.

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 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).

Anna Curtiss is delighted to make her return to stage management with this brilliant show. Not usually onstage, Anna can be found behind the scenes doing Wardrobe for Book It Repertory Dog of the South and Little Bee" and Seattle Shakespeare Co Measure for Measure. Her costume work includes The Amish Project with Terri Wegant, The Bloody Banquet with The Outsiders Inn and Neverwhere with Cornish College of the Arts. She thanks Amy and Michelle for their support and guidance, and her hubby Nathen for faithfully enduring her disappearance for the last two months.

Michelle is thrilled to be working on The Tumbleweed Zephyr! Previous stage management credits include: Wizzer Pizzer; The Hours of Life (Theatre22); Fail Better (UMO Ensemble); We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... (Pony World); HAIR (ArtsWest); Audrey & Nelson (Annex Theatre); Master Harold and the boys (West of Lenin). Michelle has also had the honor of stage managing the international dance stage in the 2015 Folklife Festival. Lots of love to L & A!