Faculty
Staff
Guest Artists
Jesse Perez
Program Director, Craig Noel Distinguished Professor,
Senior Artistic Staff at The Old Globe
Jesse Perez is an actor, director, and choreographer -movement director who is currently the Program Director of The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program and Senior Artistic Staff at The Old Globe Theatre. His choreography/movement credits include The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare & Company), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare on the Sound), Steel Magnolias (Trinity Repertory Company), The Luckiest (La Jolla Playhouse), The Great Leap (Atlantic Theater Company), and Jedermann (Salzburg Festival). He has served as company choreographer for The Lake Lucille Chekhov Project since 2003. Perez has also been a guest artist and faculty member at his Alma Mater: The Juilliard School, where he has choreographed, directed, and taught for the last 12 years. As an actor, he recently appeared in the Globe’s "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Barry Edelstein, "El Borracho" by Tony Meneses directed by Edward Torres, and "The Taming of the Shrew" directed by Shana Cooper. His Off Broadway credits include Party People (The Public Theater), The Father and A Doll’s House (Theatre for a New Audience), Informed Consent (Primary Stages), Triple Happiness (Second Stage Theater), Barrio Grrrl! (Summer Play Festival), Recent Tragic Events (Playwrights Horizons), In the Penal Colony (Classic Stage Company), Up Against the Wind (New York Theatre Workshop). His opera credits include Lucia di Lammermoor at The Metropolitan Opera, and his regional credits include La Jolla Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Yale Repertory Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre Center, and Goodman Theatre. He was also seen internationally with the Venice Biennale and Salzburg Festival. His television and film credits include “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “The Job,” “Life on Mars,” American Splendor, and Adopt a Highway.
Staff
Nate Parde
Dept. Of Theatre Chair & Production Manager
Nicole Ries
MFA Program Coordinator
Nicole has collaborated with Moxie Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Cygnet Theatre Company, Diversionary Theatre, Broadway/San Diego, PlayOn Shakespeare, The Old Globe Theatre, and Starlight Musical Theatre. Ries holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Arts Management from San Diego State University. Nicole has many years of experience in production management, producing small to large scale events and productions for companies and theatres, stage management for collegiate and professional theatres, social media relations, and theatre administration.
Nate is a lighting designer, technical director, and teacher living in San Diego, CA. He has designed lighting for theatres such as The Old Globe, Lamb’s Players Theatre and New Village Arts in San Diego and was Lighting Director for The Old Globe from 2008-2011. Nate currently teaches technical theatre at the University of San Diego.
Jacob Bruce
Technical Director
Mr. Bruce has been working professionally in the theatre, film, and televison for more than 20 years. As an actor he has appeared onstage in Chicagoland in “As You Like It”, “The Crucible”, “All In The Timing”, “Rumors”, and many others. At Busch Gardens: Williamsburg, Jacob originated and co-wrote the street performer character “Professor MacDougall”. In Los Angeles he was a member of the Knightsbridge Theatre Company where he starred as Randle McMurphy in the BackStage West’s Critic’s Pick, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”. He was also a member of the Original Understudies Improv Group and co-created “The $5 Only Improv Show”, and has performed in over 300 improv shows. His television credits include “Key & Peele”, “ER”, “Las Vegas”, “American Dreams”, “Standoff”, “Prairie Fever”, and recurring roles on “Crossing Jordan”, “The Young & The Restless”, and “Roswell”. In San Diego, Jacob has been seen onstage at the La Jolla Playhouse in the world premiere of “Hollywood”, directed by Tony Award Winner Christopher Ashley, at Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company in “Yellowface”, “26 Miles”, and “Milvotchkee, Viskonsin” and at North Coast Repertory Theater in “The Underpants”. He was also in San Diego Rep’s production of “Honky”, which was selected to be the pilot episode of “OnStage in America” for PBS, directed by multiple Emmy Award Winner Don Roy King. Jacob has also served as a director for “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” with Bodhi Tree Concerts/Sd Opera, “Snicklefritz” for Finest City Improv, and “Art” at USD. He has also served as fight/staging consultant for several productions at La Jolla Playhouse. In addition, Mr. Bruce is a Journeyman Carpenter with IATSE, and has worked on dozens of shows, including the Broadway productions of “Come From Away”, “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”, “Diana”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Escape to Margaritaville”, and “Hands On A Hardbody”.
Faculty
Ray Chambers
Head of Acting, Associate Professor
Ray Chambers has worked as an actor and director with numerous regional theaters across the country since first training with The Old Globe in the mid-‘80s. For nearly two decades as an Associate Artist with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Chambers has worked as an actor, director, writer, instructor and served as Director of the Master of Fine Arts/Professional Actor Training Program at ASF from 2001 to 2009. His regional acting credits include title roles in Hamlet, The Count of Monte Cristo, Richard III, Coriolanus, King John, Henry V and Tartuffe and leading roles in Julius Caesar, The Winter's Tale, The Rivals, Henry IV, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Great Expectations, The Importance of Being Earnest and Saint Joan, among many others. His credits at The Old Globe include Life of Riley, Macbeth, Hamlet, Love’s Labors Lost, The Comedy of Errors, Antony and Cleopatra, The School for Scandal and Coriolanus. He is Head of Acting in the Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Ray Chambers has worked as an actor and director in regional theaters across the country and is two plays shy of acting in all of Shakespeare’s plays. He was with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for two decades and currently is Head of Acting in the Old Globe and USD Shiley Graduate Theatre program. raychambers@sandiego.edu
Jesse Perez
Movement and Acting Professor
Jesse Perez is an actor, director, and choreographer -movement director who is currently the Program Director of The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program and Senior Artistic Staff at The Old Globe Theatre. His choreography/movement credits include The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare & Company), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare on the Sound), Steel Magnolias (Trinity Repertory Company), The Luckiest (La Jolla Playhouse), The Great Leap (Atlantic Theater Company), and Jedermann (Salzburg Festival). He has served as company choreographer for The Lake Lucille Chekhov Project since 2003. Perez has also been a guest artist and faculty member at his Alma Mater: The Juilliard School, where he has choreographed, directed, and taught for the last 12 years. As an actor, he recently appeared in the Globe’s "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Barry Edelstein, "El Borracho" by Tony Meneses directed by Edward Torres, and "The Taming of the Shrew" directed by Shana Cooper. His Off Broadway credits include Party People (The Public Theater), The Father and A Doll’s House (Theatre for a New Audience), Informed Consent (Primary Stages), Triple Happiness (Second Stage Theater), Barrio Grrrl! (Summer Play Festival), Recent Tragic Events (Playwrights Horizons), In the Penal Colony (Classic Stage Company), Up Against the Wind (New York Theatre Workshop). His opera credits include Lucia di Lammermoor at The Metropolitan Opera, and his regional credits include La Jolla Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Yale Repertory Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre Center, and Goodman Theatre. He was also seen internationally with the Venice Biennale and Salzburg Festival. His television and film credits include “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “The Job,” “Life on Mars,” American Splendor, and Adopt a Highway.
Nathan Crocker
Head of Voice and Speech
Nathan C. Crocker is a professional actor, teacher and coach based in the New York City area. Originally from Winston-Salem, NC, he holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California, Irvine; and a BFA in Theatre Performance from UNC-Greensboro. Nathan is the Speech professor for Mason Gross School for the Arts BFA/MFA Acting Conservatory program at Rutgers University. He has taught Vocal Production for the Atlantic Theatre Company/NYU BFA acting program, and voice and speech for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and New York Film Academy. Voice, speech and dialect coaching credits: (pre-Broadway) Ain’t Too Proud; (Regional) Othello and Henry VI Part 1 at Utah Shakespeare Festival, Detroit ’67 at Chautauqua Theatre Company, Too Heavy For Your Pocket at Roundabout Theatre Company, Passion Play at Santa Rosa Summer Rep Theatre Festival; (Educational) The Laramie Project, Parade, Blues for Mr Charlie at Marymount Manhattan College. He taught voice/speech /accents, acting, and musical theatre singing as a graduate assistant at UC Irvine, as well as served as Artistic Associate and voice/dialect coach for Santa Rosa Summer Rep Theatre in CA. Directing credits include A Raisin In The Sun at Santa Rosa Summer Rep. Acting credits include Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Angels In America, The Piano Lesson, Company, and Othello, Taming of The Shrew, working at such companies as the American Shakespeare Center, NC Stage Company, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Theatreworks USA, and Santa Rosa Summer Rep. Nathan is a Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice® Voicework, and a Certified Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork.
Emmelyn Thayer
Voice and Speech Professor
Emmelyn Thayer is a theatre professor, voice and dialect coach, stage director and music director who has worked with thousands of students from all over the world. As an actor, she has worked with Tony Award-winning directors and is a recipient of the Craig Noel MFA Fellowship and the Horrigan Award for Theatre. As a voice and dialect coach, she has worked with numerous theatres and educational institutions including The Old Globe, Cygnet Theatre, San Diego Junior Theatre, Carlsbad Playreaders, San Dieguito Academy, The Bishop’s School, San Diego Mesa College, the USD Department of Theatre, and The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Her directing and music directing credits include Shakespeare productions, musicals, bilingual plays, experimental theatre, and new works by professional and student playwrights. Currently, Emmelyn teaches Voice and Speech for the University of San Diego, and Voice, Speech, Dialects, and Singing for The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. She also serves as a Respondent for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and performs regionally as a solo and chamber violinist. As a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Emmelyn presented her paper Phonetics as a Pathway to Empathy: Inclusive IPA Training in the American Theatre Classroom at the international VASTA Conference in 2022.
Danielle Mages Amato
Text and Context Faculty
Danielle Mages Amato currently works as the Director of New Plays and Dramaturgy at The Old Globe in San Diego. When she's not collaborating with playwrights on new work or researching obscure facts about theatre history, she writes YA novels about the places where the past and the present collide. Her novel THE HIDDEN MEMORY OF OBJECTS is available with Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins. She is a member of SCBWI, and is represented by Lana Popovic of Chalberg & Sussman. She is a past president of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and has served on their Board of Directors. Danielle spent four years as the dramaturg and literary manager of The Studio Theatre in Washington, DC. She holds an MFA in Dramaturgy and a PhD in Drama and Theatre from the University of California-San Diego.
Eileen Troberman
Movement Faculty
- Alexander Technique
Eileen Troberman is a teaching member of the American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique and Alexander Technique International beginning her study of the Technique in 1978. In 1982, she graduated the 3-year full-time Alexander Technique Teacher-Training program under directors Frank Ottiwell and Giora Pinkas becoming a certified teacher. Also, in 1978 Eileen began many years of study with Marjorie Barstow (1899-1995), the first teacher to graduate F.M. Alexander's 1st teacher-training course. Marjorie was the first teacher F.M. Alexander certified to teach his technique and she was known for developing a unique and practical approach in teaching the Alexander Technique to performers. Eileen apprenticed with Marjorie for over 15 years. She is one of only a few Alexander teachers to have both been trained by Marjorie Barstow and also traditionally trained and certified. Eileen has also studied with other master Alexander teachers from Alexander's first teacher training course and combines all the branches of Alexander teaching styles, and more, in her work with actors. Eileen has a particular interest in functional anatomy and the mind/body interface of intention and movement. She is a certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais method, completing her 4-year Feldenkrais practitioner training in 2002. Eileen is twice certified in the Art of Breathing by Jessica Wolf, combining the breathwork of F.M. Alexander and Carl Stough. Eileen has taught Alexander Technique for the Cirque Du Soleil “O” show and presented at the Freedom to Act Conference in New York, as well as having taught numerous other workshops and classes for performers throughout the world. She also teaches in the UCSD MFA Graduate Acting program and maintains a busy private practice in Encinitas.
Gerhard Gessner
Movement Faculty - Yoga
Gerhard has been teaching yoga for over 18 years. He is trained in a variety of different styles of Hatha Yoga, including Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram Ananda and Contact Yoga. His non-dogmatic approach to yoga is eclectic and combines elements of all the styles he has studied, tailored to the needs of his students. Gerhard is owner and Director of Prana Yoga Center in La Jolla, California.
Guest Artists/Directors
Dave Anzuelo
J. Ed Araiza
Christopher Bayes
Stephen Buescher
Jimonn Cole
Ben Cole
Migdalia Cruz
Barry Edelstein
Bill Irwin
Logan Marshall-Green
Jenn Harris
Sean San José
Ellen Lauren
Taibi Magar
Rocío Mendez
Matt M. Morrow
Orlando Pabotoy
PlayOn Shakespeare
Jesca Prudencio
Amrita Ramandan
Madeline Sayet
Dawn M. Simmons
Delicia Turner Sonnenberg
Tiffany Rachelle Stewart
Enrique Toral
Edward Torres
James Vásquez
Sam White
Whitney White
Karen Zacarías