• Faction Staff •
Matthew R. Wilson – Founding Artistic Director
Matthew R. Wilson is a professional actor, director, fight director, and Commedia dell'Arte specialist. He studied Commedia dell'Arte in Italy with Antonio Fava and, since 2004, has been a faculty member at Fava's Stage Internazionale di Commedia dell'Arte in Reggio-Emilia. Matt has toured Europe and the States with his own The Great One-Man Commedia Epic and has collaborated internationally on countless Commedia dell'Arte productions. For Faction of Fools, he has directed/co-created Shakespeare Made Foolish, Tales of Love and Sausages, and The House with Two Doors. Matt is an Adjunct Professor of Acting at George Washington University and George Mason University and has been a guest artist/lecturer at NYU, Columbia, Georgetown, and the Academy for Classical Acting, as well as numerous colleges, schools, and festivals across the country. In his home town of Washington, DC, he is an associated Teaching-Artist with the Shakespeare Theatre Company and the Folger Shakespeare Library and has performed in numerous local venues including the Kennedy Center, Folger Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, and Capital Fringe Festival. Matt's extensive Shakespeare credits include directing Troilus & Cressida and A Midsummer Night's Dream and performing Hamlet, Malvolio, Romeo, Benedick, Sir Andrew Aguecheeck, and Touchstone. A graduate of Columbia University, Matt also holds an MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting and is currently pursuing a PhD in Renaissance Theatre History at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a proud member of the professional labor unions for stage and screen—Equity, SAG, and AFTRA—as well as the Society of American Fight Directors and various scholarly associations. www.MatthewRWilson.com
Sarah Bartlett Wilson – Managing Director
Sarah Bartlett Wilson is the former Public Programs Assistant at the Folger Shakespeare Library where her production and administrative responsibilities spanned the theatre, early music, poetry, and literary readings programs. Her New York City management credits include productions at John Houseman Theatre Center, Theatre-Studio, Inc., Red Room, Producer's Club, and American Theatre of Actors. She has managed several international tours of The Great One-Man Commedia Epic and is a frequent guest at Antonio Fava's Stage Internazionale di Commedia dell'Arte. She is pursuing her doctorate in English Language and Literature at The Catholic University of America and holds an MA in English Literature from Georgetown University, an MAT in Secondary English Education from Brooklyn College, and a BA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. She has been a high school teacher in the New York City public schools and a writing professor at multiple colleges, including Georgetown University and The Catholic University of America. She is currently a Writing Specialist at Trinity Washington University.
Toby Mulford – Artistic Associate
Toby Mulford is an educator, actor, and playwright specializing in ensemble-created physical theater. He is the Associate Artistic Director of the Traveling Players Ensemble, where he started a five-week Commedia dell'Arte summer program for teenagers. He holds an MFA in ensemble-based physical theater from the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre, where he co-created over a dozen original works. He has also studied with Antonio Fava and with faculty from the Moscow Art Theatre School. Originally from Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, he has performed with BigHeadHouse, the Vagabond Acting Troupe, the International Opera Company, and Tribe of Fools. His plays have been produced at the Dell'Arte Company (California), the Brick Playhouse (Philadelphia), and the Festival of Animated Objects (Calgary, Canada).
Paul Reisman – Artistic Associate
Paul Reisman is an actor, educator, graphic and web designer, and clown. Credits include Julius Caesar with Shakespeare Theatre Company; a national tour with the American Shakespeare Center of The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and Henry V in repertory; Richard III and Pride & Prejudice with the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ; Proof with TheatreFest; A Midsummer Night's Dream with the American Globe Theatre; and the film Cult of Sincerity, recently broadcast on PBS. He has also taught workshops and classes in Classical Text, Acting Shakespeare, and Clown as a teaching artist for the Shakespeare Theatre Company and at other venues including Broadway Theatre Workshop, Knox College, and The Center for Baroque & Renaissance Studies' summer program. A proud member of AEA! He received his MFA at the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. BFA, Montclair State University. www.PaulReisman.com
Denise Perrino – Director of Education & Development
A theatre educator and director of high school and middle school plays and musicals since 1976, Denise Perrino is now a theatre teacher emeritus. She believes that incorporating theatre across the curriculum is the way of the future. She has helped develop theatre arts and drama studies curriculum for the Fairfax County Public Schools. Denise has directed over 100 productions during her theatre teaching career. Under her direction, McLean High School was nominated for 55 Cappies Awards and won 15, including Best Play in 2002, and the school was invited to perform at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is a graduate of Catawba College and was inducted into The Blue Masque Hall of Fame in recognition of her meritorious life in the theatre. She continues to teach, direct, act, and write.
Rachel Spicknall – Director of Public Relations
Rachel is an actor and improv teacher and the program assistant at Traveling Players Ensemble in Great Falls, VA. She holds a BA in Theater from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has also studied at the National Theater Institute, the St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, Washington Improv Theatre, the Staniewski Centre for Theatre Practices "Gardzienice" in Poland, and the improvisers of Chicago's iO Theater, Annoyance Theatre, and Second City. In the DC area, Rachel has taught acting and improvisation at Traveling Players Ensemble, the Holton-Arms School, and Melvin Berman Hebrew Academy. Acting credits include Wiley and the Hairy Man and The Trojan Women at the University of Maryland, as well as A Country Club Crime, Foodstuff (Cohen New Works Festival 2009), and Big Head House, in Austin, TX.
Dr. Lindsey D. Snyder – Director of Access & Inclusion
Lindsey is an independent scholar, educator, performer, and certified ASL interpreter. She completed her PhD in theatre and performance studies at the University of Maryland, College Park with her dissertation "Sawing the Air Thus: American Sign Language Translations of Shakespeare and the Echoes of Rhetorical Gesture." She is currently working as a freelance interpreter in Washington, DC with a specialty in performing arts. Theatrical interpreting includes: Folger Theatre, Olney Theatre, Imagination Stage, Kennedy Center, VSA Arts, and the American Shakespeare Center. Lindsey also travels nationally and internationally, presenting papers and workshops on rhetorical gesture, Elizabethan acting techniques, Deaf culture, and Interpreting skills. As an actor, Lindsey received her BFA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an MA in text and performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts - King's College, London. www.LindseyDSnyder.com
Daniel Flint – Associate Producer
Daniel Flint is an actor, writer, producer, and designer. A recent transplant to the DC area, he has worked in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. For Faction of Fools, Daniel performed in the 2010 Fool for All at Capital Fringe. He has worked at Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, and Shakespeare Theatre Company, and he is a Company Member of Taffety Punk Theatre Company. Daniel has always been drawn to classical art forms and physical comedy, so Commedia is a perfect fit for him. MFA, The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University.
Paul Edward Hope – Associate Producer
Paul Edward Hope is an actor, teaching artist, fight choreographer, and singer/songwriter. DC Theatre: Faction of Fools: Tales of Love and Sausages; Taffety Punk: suicide.chat.room (Heironymous), Burn Your Bookes (Syrrus) at the Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Festival, and Bootleg productions of The Two Noble Kinsmen (fight direction/various), Troilus and Cressida (Hector/fight direction), Henry VIII and Cymbeline (Guiderius/fight direction); Washington Shakespeare Company: Coriolanus (Coriolanus, reading). NYC Theatre: Red Bull Theatre: A Jovial Crew (Patrico & music dir.); Folding Chair Classical Theatre (resident movement/fight director): Cymbeline (Posthumus/Guiderius), Our Country's Good (2nd Lt. Ralph Clark), The Oresteia (Aegisthus/Apollo); ShakespeareNYC (Beckett/Theatre Row): Macbeth (Macduff & fight capt.); BAM Outside Arts Festival: Loves Labours Lost (Costard); Regional Theatre: Lake George Theatre Lab: Swearing Jar (Owen & music dir.), Utah Shakespearean Festival: Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio/fight capt.), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Starveling), Damn Yankees (Rocky) and Cmplt Wrks of Wllm Shkspr Abrdgd (fight dir.); Orlando Shakespeare Theatre: Julius Caesar, Two Gentlemen of Verona. Paul is a 2001 MFA graduate of the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University and a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.
Vanessa Hope – Associate Producer
In addition to being an actress for many years, Vanessa Hope is also the School Programs Manager at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. She holds an MFA in Acting from Purdue University, where she taught Acting and Voice, and a BFA in Acting from the University of Maryland. She studied Shakespeare at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Vanessa also conducts private acting, voice, presentation, and interview coaching. Prior to DC, she lived in Los Angeles, where she appeared on American Dreams, ER and All of Us and was a member of the improv troupe The Berubians.
Eva Wilhelm – Associate Producer
Eva Wilhelm was first foolish in Tales of Love and Sausages in the 2010 DC Fringe Festival and has been getting her Foolish groove on ever since. Locally, she has performed at Folger Theatre, Studio Theatre, Taffety Punk, and Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. In Chicago, Eva has worked with Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, and Shattered Globe Theatre Company, among many others. She is a very foolish teaching artist for Faction of Fools, and is a (less foolish) teaching artist for several of Shakespeare Theatre Company's programs as well, including Camp Shakespeare, District Shakespeare, and Text Alive. She holds a bachelor's degree in theatre from Northwestern University, and an MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting.
Tyler Herman – Associate Producer
Tyler Herman is an avid performer, teacher, and writer native to Washington, DC. He has performed with Faction of Fools and has been seen with Imagination Stage, Washington Shakespeare Company, and SCENA Theater, among others. Tyler is a teaching artist for Round House Theatre, a private acting coach, a developing playwright, and a songwriter. BA, Cornell University, in Theatre and Dance, with a minor in Music.
• Associated Artists •
Steve N. Bradford
Steve N. Bradford is an actor, writer, and filmmaker. He has over six years of experience performing and teaching improvisational performance. Past training includes Japanese Kabuki and Kyōgen performance alongside traditional western acting styles. Recently, he has appeared in Tales of Love and Sausages, Quattro Scenari, and Life and Laughter with Faction of Fools.
Daniel Flint
Daniel Flint is an actor, writer, producer, and designer. A recent transplant to the DC area, he has worked in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. For Faction of Fools, Daniel performed in the 2010 Fool for All at Capital Fringe. He has worked at Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, and Shakespeare Theatre Company, and he is a Company Member of Taffety Punk Theatre Company. Daniel has always been drawn to classical art forms and physical comedy, so Commedia is a perfect fit for him. MFA, The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University.
Joel Reuben Ganz
Joel Reuben Ganz is proud to be a Fool. Broadway: American premiere of War Horse at Lincoln Center. DC: Faction of Fools, Woolly Mammoth, Theatre J, Studio Theatre, Round House Theatre, Solas Nua, the Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Synetic Theatre. International: Scotland, France, and Corsica. He has created choreography/movement for several DC theatres. BA, Emory University, in Theatre Studies. Graduate, International Theatre School of Jacques Lecoq in Paris. AEA.
Tyler Herman
Tyler Herman is an avid performer, teacher, and writer native to Washington, DC. He has performed with Faction of Fools and has been seen with Imagination Stage, Washington Shakespeare Company, and SCENA Theater, among others. Tyler is a teaching artist for Round House Theatre, a private acting coach, a developing playwright, and a songwriter. BA, Cornell University, in Theatre and Dance, with a minor in Music.
Paul Edward Hope
Paul Edward Hope is an actor, teaching artist, fight choreographer, and singer/songwriter. DC: Faction of Fools, Taffety Punk, Baltimore Shakespeare Company, and Washington Shakespeare Company. NYC: Red Bull Theatre, Folding Chair Classical Theatre, ShakespeareNYC, and BAM Outside Arts Festival. Regional: Lake George Theatre Lab, Utah Shakespearean Festival, and Orlando Shakespeare Theatre. MFA, The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. AEA.
Vanessa Hope
Vanessa Hope has been an actress for many years, is the School Programs Manager at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and also conducts private acting, voice, presentation, and interview coaching. In Los Angeles, she appeared on American Dreams, ER, and All of Us and was a member of the improv troupe The Berubians. BFA, University of Maryland, in Acting; MFA, Purdue University, in Acting. Further training, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, in Shakespeare.
Ellen Houseknecht
Ellen Houseknecht, perhaps naively, believes in both mechanics and poetry. In the DC area, Ellen has stage manged for Faction of Fools, Taffety Punk, Imagination Stage, Everyman, the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, and Chesapeake Shakespeare, among others, and she has worked with Marvell Repertory in New York City. She likes to weld and watch lightning storms. She is a bit stalled on her first big knitting project, and is a carpenter for Theater J.
Michelle Tang Jackson
Michelle Tang Jackson is an actor, writer, and teaching artist in the DC area. Teaching credits include Shakespeare Theatre Company, Young Playwrights’ Theatre, the Smithsonian Institute, and Arts-Bridge’s Shakespeare Alive program at the Mondavi Center in Davis, California. She wrote and produced the interactive educational show Ballads Unbound, which introduced students to Renaissance song, drama, and dance. BA, the University of California at Davis, in Theatre and in English.
Emma Crane Jaster
Emma Crane Jaster trained from childhood with her father, acclaimed mime Mark Jaster, then at the Lecoq School in Paris. She has performed around the world from Paris to Taiwan and has studied an array of physical theatre forms. She is co-founder of Likely Pear Theatre Company. BA, Amherst College, in Theater and Dance (magna cum laude). www.emmajaster.com
Mark Linden Jaster
Mark Linden Jaster studied mime with Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau and served as Mr. Marceau’s teaching assistant in a series of 1980s master classes and seminars. He performs regularly with The Maryland Renaissance Festival, The Washington Revels, The Maryland Youth Ballet, and The Big Apple Circus’s Clown Care Program. Since 2006, he has co-directed Happenstance Theater with Sabrina Mandell, devising and appearing in critically acclaimed collaborative, original works of “Visual, Poetic Theater.” SAG, AFTRA.
Sabrina Mandell
Sabrina Mandell is the founder, co-artistic director, and general manager of Happenstance Theater, a professional company established in 2006 dedicated to devising visual, poetic Theater. She is a performer, producer, visual artist, poet, and sailor with a love of Art History. She is prone to nostalgia. Sabrina has appeared on numerous stages and performs regularly with the Big Apple Circus’s Clown Care Program in DC and Baltimore.
Toby Mulford
Toby Mulford is an educator, actor, and playwright specializing in ensemble-created physical theater. Originally from Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, he has performed with BigHeadHouse, the Vagabond Acting Troupe, the International Opera Company, and Tribe of Fools. His plays have been produced at the Dell’Arte Company (California), the Brick Playhouse (Philadelphia), and the Festival of Animated Objects (Calgary, Canada). MFA, the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Further training, Antonio Fava and with faculty from the Moscow Art Theatre School.
Denise Perrino
Denise Perrino believes theatre across the curriculum is the way of the future. She has developed curriculum for Fairfax County Public Schools, including Drama to the Core! Denise has also directed over 100 productions. Under her direction, McLean High School was nominated for 55 Cappies Awards—winning 15, including Best Play in 2002—and was invited to perform at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. BA, Catawba College. Inductee, Blue Masque Hall of Fame, for her meritorious life in the Theatre.
Graham Pilato
Graham Pilato returned to acting in 2007 after a couple years as a high school English teacher in Southern Maryland. His background in experimental theatre and improv comedy prepared him for his first work with Faction of Fools: The House with Two Doors and Tales of Love and Sausages. Other Baltimore and DC theatres include Fells Point Corner Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Mobtown Players, the Maryland Renaissance Festival, Molotov Theatre, and Happenstance Theater. BA, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, in Dramatic Arts. www.grahampilato.com
Justin Purvis
Justin Purvis is a professional improviser, dabbling in many aspects of improv: performing, teaching, and directing. He has performed with Washington Improv Theater since 2005, playing in every ensemble in the organization. He has studied improv under Mick Napier, Joe Bill, Asaf Ronen, and Susan Messing. He also has limited sight, and he and his brother Tod were the subject of a documentary chronicling his disease on a 35-day, around-the-contiguous-United-States road trip. The film will be in festivals in Fall 2011. BA, University of Maryland, College Park, in Theater Performance.
Paul Reisman
Paul Reisman has appeared with The Shakespeare Theatre Company, American Shakespeare Center, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and Faction of Fools as well as in the film Cult of Sincerity, which was recently broadcast on PBS. A teaching artist for The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Imagination Stage, and Faction of Fools, Paul has taught Classical Text, Acting Shakespeare, and Clown at many other venues as well. BFA, Montclair State University; MFA, The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. AEA. www.PaulReisman.com
Annetta Dexter Sawyer
Annetta Dexter Sawyer believes that, through the arts, we make a better world by living our humanity. An adjunct professor and teaching artist, she performs theatrical pieces that bridge tragedy and comedy through movement, poetry, and open-ended imagery. With the Fools: House with Two Doors and Tales of Love and Sausages. She is a recipient of the Arlington Humanities Project poet residency and a member of the teaching artist roster for the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County.
TD Smith
TD Smith is an actor, director, and lighting designer. TD has performed with Georgetown Theatre Company, New Old Theatre, the Yale Dramat, StageWest Theater, the Cabaret of Desire, and the Des Moines Playhouse. His technical work has been seen at the Bay Street Theatre Festival, Long Lake Camp for the Arts, Signature Theatre, and Shakespeare Theatre Company. BA, Yale, in Theater Studies. Further training, Antonio Fava, David Krasner, and Academy Award winner Milton Justice.
Lindsey D. Snyder
Lindsey D. Snyder has appeared with Faction of Fools, Woolly Mammoth Theatre/UM, and Off-Center Productions. BFA, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts; Circle in the Square, CAP 21, and the Classical Studio. MFA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and King’s College London. Further training, Noh Training project, Theatre de complicité, and Liz Lerman Company. www.LindseyDSnyder.com
Rachel Spicknall
Rachel Spicknall is an actor, improv teacher, and the program assistant at Traveling Players Ensemble in Great Falls, VA. She has performed with Faction of Fools, Synapse Theatre Company, The University of Maryland, and in Austin, TX. BA, University of Maryland, College Park. Certificates, National Theatre Institute and St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy. Further training, The Center for Movement Theatre and Gardzienice.
Eva Wilhelm
Eva Wilhelm was first foolish in Tales of Love and Sausages in the 2010 DC Fringe Festival and then played Juliet in the balcony scene at the Kennedy Center’s 2010 Page to Stage Festival. Locally, she has performed at Folger Theatre, Studio Theatre, Taffety Punk, and Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. In Chicago, Eva has worked with Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, and Shattered Globe, among many others. MFA, The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University.
Matthew R. Wilson
Matthew R. Wilson is Founding Artistic Director of Faction of Fools and a professional actor, director, and fight director. His The Great One-Man Commedia Epic has toured internationally since 2004. Other acting and fight direction credits include Folger Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Constellation Theatre, Taffety Punk, New England Shakespeare Festival, Clarence Brown Theatre, and numerous NYC venues. MFA, The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University; PhD candidate, University of Maryland, College Park, in Theatre History. Equity, SAG, AFTRA, SAFD. www.MatthewRWilson.com
