RUBY KAREN (Aerial Artist)
A professional dancer with specialty in ballet, modern jazz and latin, for a continued 30 plus years, Ruby Karen began her training in dance at the age of 8 yrs old and aerial arts in 2003, in Manila, Tokyo, Zurich, New York and Los Angeles, and the latter also in Los Angeles, Rio De Janeiro, Madrid and San Francisco. She currently specializes in Lyra/ Hoop, Tissu/Silk, Hammock, Vertical Aerial, Trapeze, Cube and inventive apparatus, and has been continuously performing and teaching aerial arts as well as other dance disciplines in over 20 countries and 50 cities around the world.  She has been featured and reviewed in magazines, newspapers and online publications, to name:  So You Think You Can Dance (guest performer and coach), the LA Times, Good Morning Manila, Enjoy Live Health & Fitness, Coast Magazine, Hong Kong’s Singtao Press, Italy’s II Secolo XIX, California Examiner, Asian Journal, San Fernando Valley Press, Beverly Outlook and Discover Hollywood, to name some. A world title holder in Acro-Gymnastics, Ballet (Pas De Deux) and in Salsa from prestigious organizations, Ruby Karen is also the founder, the artistic and the program director of the Ruby Karen Project (the School) and its performing arm, the Orange County Aerial Arts, and by planting her seed in the Southern California region, she focuses in the field of Aerial Arts and Dance as a joint performing arts discipline.  The Orange County Aerial Arts is gaining popularity, thanks to Ruby’s persistence in passing on high standards in the artistic and technical level to her protégées, and recognition of her works have been growing.  Her company has performed locally, statewide and internationally at various festivals, corporate and industrial events, theme parks and theatrical settings.   Ruby Karen also holds a licentiate status in the theater arts discipline with the United States Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (USISTD).

ALDO PISANO (Spoken Word)
has performed at The Public Theater, The California Shakespeare Theater, Rattlestick Theater, Mixed Blood, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep, Magic Theatre, San Jose Rep, Theatre Works, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Teatro Vision, and others.  Memorable productions include Much Ado About Nothing (dir. Peter DuBois) and The Tempest (dir. Joe Morton).  TV/Film credits include Nash Bridges, his lead role in the feature drama Get Money, and numerous indie films which have screened at Sundance & internationally.  Aldo has trained at the Public Theater, A.C.T., Shakespeare & Co., The Actor’s Center, and with Lloyd Richards, Patsy Rodenburg, and Kristin Linklater.  Aldo wrote & performed his comic solo show Judgment at Theater ROW in NYC and at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in L.A.  He studied screenwriting at NYU.  In 2011, his Hung spec script made the top five percent in the selective Warner Bros. TV Writers’ Workshop.  He also made it to the semi-final phase of the 2012 ABC|Disney’s Writing Program.  In addition, he recently participated in the prestigious National Hispanic Media Coalition’s TV Writers Program (sponsored by ABC and NBC).  www.aldopisano.com

JOHN BOBEK (Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist)
is honored to be a cog in the machine that is the west coast premiere of Synesthesia.  As an actor, his TV work includes The West Wing, Happy Endings, Desperate Housewives, Criminal Minds.  Film: Snitch, Night Of The Punks!, When A Stranger Calls.  Onstage: Athena Theatre’s Proof, Edgemar Center’s Mental: The Musical, and Open Fist’s Curse Of The Starving Class, for which he also wrote an original score.  As a singer/songwriter, his Debut EP I Will Be Yours can be found on iTunes and other online outlets.  All other info can be found at IMDb or at his website, johnbobek.com.  Thanks to Veronique, Cate and the whole Synesthesia team.  He is represented by The Glick Agency and managed by Perry Zimel.

MARC ROSENTHAL (Lighting and Projection Design)
is an award winning Producer/Designer specializing in live theatrical projects. He is the President of Personal Creations, Inc., a design and production company that focuses on projection, lighting, multi-media, and show control for live events and permanent installations in theater, opera, dance, ballet, theme parks, special events, spectacles, concert touring, art, corporate production, and trade shows. Personal Creations is a leader in panoramic digital and very large-scale projection. Mr. Rosenthal is known for integrating projection and lighting, and creating complete multi-media productions. Credits include many theatrical shows with clients such as the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson, LA Opera, and Los Angeles Ballet. He Produced and Designed Lighting, Projection and Sound for Casablanca, the Dance for Los Angeles Dance Theater and Warner Bros., premiering an historic production at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, P.R.C. He consulted on artist Tom Sewell’s new digital multi-media traveling art show, a new Visitors Center in Hemet, a project for Grand Tetons National Park, and is developing several theatrical touring projects. Recent projects include Co-Designing and Integrating the illuminated uniform special effect for the 250 member Florida A&M marching band at Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show with his wife Marcy; Projection for Susan Krebs’ theatrical jazz production The Aviary; Dr. Laura’s In My Never To Be Humble Opinion; Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates, Like Jazz and Talking Cure at the Mark Taper Forum; a kinetic digital artwork for the world premier of Ballet Austin’s Touch; the critically acclaimed award winning Fountain Theatre hits Master Class and Daisy in the Dreamtime; Clear Channel/ Nickelodeon Tour of Rocket Power Live; complete video productions for the California Citrus Park State Historic Park (2004 Houston International WorldFest Gold winner) and San Bernardino Forest Association; multi-screen digital presentations for Toshiba and Pioneer New Media; complete digital multi-media productions for Coca Cola Live! at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics; Lighting Design for the world premieres of Sister Carrie at Indiana Rep; Perfect Christmas Guaranteed and The Nutcracker for Dance Connecticut; and 3D computer pre-visualization for Universal Studio’s The Mummy (2005 Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement). Additional projects of note include Ghosts and Legends of the Queen Mary, a permanent installation on the great ship; Affliction of Glory at the Getty Center; Metamorphosis at Pleasure Island in Disney World; Sir Peter Hall’s Magic Flute; Show Control for Splash and La Femme in Las Vegas and Innoventions at Disneyland; Steps in Time at Disney California Adventures; SkyPower ’99 in Houston, the world’s largest sky show; Josh Groban, Sting, Graham Nash, Barbra Streisand, Steve Winwood and Traffic. Art projects include a complete digital projection and UV black light installation in a dome for Burningman 2004; a commissioned kinetic digital artwork for the world premier of Ballet Austin’s Touch; an elaborate art car with UV lighting for Burningman 2003; collaborations with artists Jan Sawka, and Christina De Musee, and with artist and wife Marcy Rosenthal, creating unique environments, costumes and props with light. Mr. Rosenthal Directed and Produced the War Pigs video for Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tours tour; Produced the short film Goalie…The Game Continues, a Houston Film Festival Gold Award winner; and Pas De Deux, a specially released video featuring six of the best classical ballet partnerings in the world. Mr. Rosenthal was awarded Lighting Dimension International 2005 Projection Designer of the Year Award. He was Vice President of the International Board of Directors of the TEA, and Executive Producer of the annual Thea Awards for the themed entertainment industry. He has been a guest lecturer, a contributing editor and featured writer for Pro Lights and Staging News, and has written for Lighting Dimensions and Stage Directions magazines.

MICHAEL BONNABEL (Actor/Writer)
is a Los Angeles based performance artist, who recently made his professional solo playwriting debut with his production of The Good Boy, at The Bootleg Theater. That was soon followed by another production at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Most recently Los Angeles audiences saw Michael appearing in various stages of drag in Sharon Yablon’s haunting “24 Hours on Sunset.” Seen in award winning performances in Philip Littell’s “No Miracle: A Consolation” at Playwright’s Arena and the ADA Best Revival signed and spoken production of Edward Albee’s “The Zoo Story” at the Actor’s Workout Studio. Michael has appeared several times on The Bootleg Theater/Evidence Room stages, including in the highly regarded and extremely successful “Ken Roht’s 99¢ Only Calendar Girl Competition.” In Orphean Circus productions of Ken Roht’s other fantastic 99¢ Only Shows: “Route 99: Orange Star Dinner Show,” “Peace Squad Goes 99″ and “Ken Roht’s 99¢ Only Same-O; An Electric Ballad.” Michael also played the Caterpillar and the Gryphon in Robert Pryor’s colorful Ovation winning adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, “Project: Wonderland.” Other appearances have included productions with The Long Beach Opera Company, West Coast Ensemble, Tiffany, Highways, Odyssey, The Colony, Theatre Forty and Meta Theaters. Michael has also been appearing in an ongoing 8 year sold out run of the play, “The Manor” at Greystone Mansion.

JOHN ACHORN (Commedia del Arte)
is an actor, director and teacher. He is a master teacher of the commedia dell’Arte, which he studied under the late Carlo Mazzone-Clementi, and with whom he helped found the noted Dell’Arte School in Humboldt County. LA stage: The Malcontent (Antaeus) The Capulets & Montagues (ANDAK), The Importance of Being Earnest (LA Women’s Shakespeare), The Arsonists (Odyssey), Golden State (Dell’Arte/24th Street), Fafalo! (Ziggurat) , Master Class and The Wood Demon (Mark Taper), La Bête (Stages/John Anson Ford), Mercadet, Mysteries and Mayhem, and Norman Corwin’s The Plot to Overthrow Christmas (Antaeus Company), Bullshot Crummond, Footlight Frenzy (Low Moan Spectacular), plus productions at the Virginia Avenue Project, Powerhouse, Padua Hills Playwrights Festival, The Magic Theatre (S.F.). Film & TV: Born Yesterday, Book of Love, Night of the Comet, Talk Show With Spike Feresten, Days of Our Lives, McBride, Lazarus Man, Quantum Leap, and the role of Don Kipper on CBS’ Bailey Kipper’s P.O.V. He has been seen in numerous commercials, and done voice work in many films. John is also currently teaching various classes at Santa Monica Emeritus College and the Virginia Avenue Project. He has also taught acting and directed at University of Redlands, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Current projects include a documentary on Carlo Mazzone-Clementi, and the translation & adaptation of A Sensible Girl, a comedy written in 1692 by Jean de Palaprat for the Theatre Italien in Paris. He is a long-standing member of The Antaeus Company.

ROCCO VITACCO (Composer/Lyricist)
a Chicagoan and a University of Dayton (Ohio) graduate, has been an actor, composer, lyricist and a musical director for numerous Broadway musicals touring the USA. As a writer he wrote special material for Las Vegas revues such as Red, Hot and Blue, Tickle My Fancy and Bottoms Up!, and as a keyboard accompanist he played for Totie Fields, Martha Raye, Geraldine Fitzgerald and recorded albums with Vivian Blaine and Virginia O’Brien. As composer/lyricist he wrote the musical Hollywood! Hollywood!, which premiered in L.A. in 2005 and NYC in 2010, the music and lyrics for Will Manus’ Blues for Central Avenue, which premiered in L.A. in 2009, for Dean Parker’s Haywire, which premiered in L.A. in 2011. Rocco has appeared on television in Boston Public, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment and numerous commercials. He is currently collaborating with Will Manus on the new musical, Gold Rush Follies. He has studied with Michael Donovan, Orly Sitowitz, Joe Reich and Stephen Book.

MICHAEL DUNN (Chef/Actor) My mother was not the greatest of cooks; other than that a few other select dishes my mother was more of an experimental cook when I was growing up…with the results often being less than appetizing. So I began to cook for myself at an early age. Simple things; eggs, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese from the box…I cut myself more than once and burned myself a few times as well but I think that’s how all chefs start! I have worked as a baker, short order cook, pizza dough thrower AND delivery guy, every station on the line and as the Head of Research and Development for a dry goods private label company, creating products for Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Costco among others. I always say I’m easy to please and hard to impress…I’m always trying to impress myself with my cooking. I’m a pretty harsh critic of my own work but every once in a while…I wow even myself.

VERONIQUE ORY (Producer)
Recently re-located to New York from Los Angeles after producing the Off-Broadway sensation Stitching by Anthony Neilson in Hollywood. She most recently produced Alan Bowne’s Beirut as well as Sam Shepard’s True West and the one-man-show Judgement written/performed by Aldo Pisano at Theatre Row; Associate Producer for Synesthesia and Balaton(Electric Pear Productions); Caucasian Chalk Circle (PL115); Nathan + Joe Comedy Show at Comix NY. Ms. Ory is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Athena Theatre Company, a non-profit theatre company. Some highlights include Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The Pulitzer Prize Winning Plays How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel and Proof by David Auburn. “We strive for theatre that entertains, informs, enlightens, questions and deepens audience awareness to vital modern issues.”

CATE CAPLIN (Director)
has produced, directed and choreographed over 150 productions and her work has been seen on television, in films, music videos, commercials and in theatrical venues world wide from the Paris Opera House to the Broadway Stage.  She received an Ovation award for her performance in the Westcoast premier of “SWING!” at Musical Theatre West,  a Garland Award for her choreography in “Grand Hotel” at the Colony Theatre and a “Red Carpet Award” from Women in Theatre for her work as a director/producer . Cate has also won 34 first place titles including four “US Open”, three World Titles and Multiple Gold Medals in Theatrical ShowDance with dance partner, Gary Franco. Her Production company, Night and Day Entertainment, co-founded with Creative partner Vernon Willet, custom designs entertainment for private parties, corporate events and industrial trade shows. Cate choreographed the feature film “The Perfect Host” starring David Hyde Pierce which was selected for the 2010 Sundance film festival. She wrote and directed her first feature film, “MATING DANCE” which won an Accolade Award and can be found on Amazon.com. Cate is also a published writer and most recently designed, directed and choreographed “Fascinating Rhythms” starring Melissa Manchester and a company of Champion Ballroom dancers at the Rubicon Theatre  The show won this year’s LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Best Choreography. 

JESSICA HANNA (Co-Producer; Producing and Managing Director, Bootleg Theatre) is a co-founder and the Producing & Managing Director of Bootleg Theater. She oversees all theater-oriented events and shows at Bootleg. Most recently at Bootleg she produced the critically acclaimed 9 CIRCLES starring Patrick J. Adams. Also in 2011: AWAKE (2 Ovation Nominations – winner Sound Design), THE INTERLOPERS (2 Ovation Nominations),the first ever Bootleg Dance Festival, A 99¢ ONLY SAME-O and the world premiere of THE GOOD BOY. She has freelance produced at The Ford Amphitheater and on the Ovation Awards Ceremony, among others. Also an actress, she has appeared in THE FUN FAMILY FESTIVAL OF TRAGEDY among many other shows at Bootleg and as Helen of Troy in the SITI Co.’s workshop of THE TROJAN WOMEN at the Getty Villa directed by Anne Bogart.

ALICIA ADAMS (Artistic Director/Owner, Bootleg Theatre)

BRETT AUNE (LA Producer)
received a BFA from SMU. He spent six seasons as the Artistic Director of HorseChart Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado, producing over twenty shows including a month-long new works festival. Past projects as a director include True West, Reckless, Glengarry Glen Ross and the world premiere of O.T. Past projects as an actor include regional premieres of Inventing van Gogh, Proof and How I Learned to Drive with Curious Theatre, and Cabaret at the Arvada Center, as well as Death of a Salesman, Waiting for Godot, subUrbia, The Mystery of Irma Vep and A View From the Bridge. Other LA credits include Blur with Meadows Basement, Boy Gets Girl with the Attic, Metamorphoses with Athena, Some Girl(s) with Cruthaigh Productions and The Glory of Living with Athena and El Centro Theatre.

GABRIEAL GRIEGO (Associate Producer/Lighting Designer)
Recent producing credits include The Met Theatre’s World Premiere play California Dreamin’, Secondline Production’s 3 time Broadway World award nominated musical Sweet Charity, The Met Theatre’s World Premiere musical, Head! The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, which earned 3 LA Weekly award nominations, including Best Musical, and MTLA’s Chess in Concert, which won 6 Stage Scene LA awards including Outstanding Production/Musical Intimate Theater. Lighting design credits include POP! A Michael Jackson Tribute Dance Concert, Chess in Concert and The Woman in Black. Gabrieal is in the process of completing the next installment of the web series The Great Fantastic and This is How We Roll in addition to writing her second screenplay. Gabrieal would like to thank Cate Caplin and Veronique Ory for this amazing opportunity and her family for their everlasting love and support. Special thanks goes out to Sloe, all my love, keep it up!

BRANDON LOPEZ (Videographer)
is a Los Angeles native who has worked in film and television since the age of 17. He attend the California State Summer School for the Arts film program at age 18 and later earned a BA from San Francisco State University in Cinema Production. Over the past seven years Brandon has worked as a script consultant and story editor as well as a manager of production finance for various companies including The Weinstein Company and Capitol Films. Brandon was the official filmmaker for the New York based Jam Theater Collective on their tour through the UK. He most recently produced and edited the feature length documentary, When Will the Punishment End?

KIRK WILSON (Assistant Technical Director, Bootleg Theater) An original member of The Evidence Room (Don Carlos, The Imperialist at the Club Cave Canem, No Orchids for Miss Blandish) and long time member of The Rachel Rosenthal Company (ZONE, TOHUBOHU!) as well as The Fabulous Monsters (SPEED HEDDA, VOLUPTOUS MADNESS, PROJECT ALICE) and producer of THE STRIP with Justin Tanner and Patty Scanlon and Michael Sargent’s HOT YOUNG GIRLS ARE EVIL. He’s excited to be back home at Bootleg Theater after 4 years in Mexico and is looking forward to 2012 and all it shall bring.

JON STONER (Technical Director, Bootleg Theatre)

LYNZ FLOREN (Sound Design)
inadvertently made the choice to be a “sound guy” at the age of 15 when he sold his saxophone to buy his first PA system. It was cemented while he attended UC Santa Cruz and joined the Electronic Music Program, where he learned the craft of manipulating audio through recording and avant-garde composition.  In subsequent years he has been a musician, a DJ, a songwriter, an audio engineer, and has taken on a host of other audio-related roles.  Recently his childhood love for theatre has re-engaged him with the joys of composing, creating, and enhancing sound for live productions. When he isn’t diving headfirst into some exciting arty project, you might see him around, playing guitar in various bands, performing his own acoustic songs, or doing standup comedy.