Alma Theatre Company History:

At Alma Theatre Company, we pride ourselves on being a gutsy, story-forward, talent-fueled Bay Area Pop Up theatre company. Our supreme objective is that when we ‘Pop Up,’ we ‘take no prisoners,’ we surprise and breakthrough with rough-hewn superb live theatre. From staged readings to workshops to fully produced plays, Alma Theatre Co. has exemplified our mission of ‘engaging audiences with exceptional, risk-taking theatre that ignites and inspires’ since our inception in 2016.

With the company’s fledgling project, the Equity Staged Reading of ‘You Are My Sunshine...a play with folk songs, based on a true story,’ by Kelli Kerslake-Colaco, (Semi-Finalist, Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference 2014, Semi-Finalist Risk Theatre’s American Tragedy Competition 2019,)  at The Tides Theatre in San Francisco, Alma Theatre caught the attention of top Bay Area theatre professionals such as Actor/Director Joy Carlin and Director Tracy Ward. A professional reading of ‘Hazardous Materials,’ by Kelli Kerslake Colaco was produced at A.C.T. Studios in 2017. In 2018 Alma Theatre Company produced a four-show Equity Workshop Production of ‘You Are My Sunshine… a play with folk songs’ (promo video included in application) at The Phoenix Theatre in San Francisco, CA, which was subsequently given ⅘ Stars by Sam Hurwitt of the Marin Independent Journal along with S.F. Goldstar Reviews stating: (A.) ‘Tremendous acting and music; actors in your face and marvelous.’ (B.) ‘Could have watched for three more hours.’ The workshop production of ‘Sunshine’ also received validation by radio interview coverage from local Bay Area radio stations KALW and KPOO.  In 2018-2019, Alma Theatre Company produced  ‘The Fresh Raw and Wild Equity Staged Reading Series in collaboration with ‘The 72nd Street Gang of N.Y.C. (a professional playwrights collective.) The four-play series played to sold-out audiences at The Phoenix Theatre in S.F.; over nine months and featured (not yet produced) new plays by esteemed playwrights: (Pulitzer Prize Nominee) Jon Marans, Enid Graham, Kenneth Jones, and Kelli Kerslake-Colaco.

Alma Theatre Company has greatly benefitted from the work and collaboration of: TIM FULLERTON, ANDREA J. LOVE, TREVOR MARCOM, VALERIE WEAK, MARCIA PIZZO, MEGAN WICKS, RAY RENATI, CRISTINA ANSELMO, ELLIOT HANSEN, PETER JAMES MEYERS, TEDDY SPENCER, AMANDA FARBSTEIN, DENISE MONTGOMERY, and CHRIS HAUGEN, JOY CARLIN, COLIN THOMPSON, AMY PROSSER, JOSIAH POLHEMUS, ROB DARIO, LUCIA COLACO, TRACY WARD (DIRECTOR), DENISE MONTGOMERY (ESM), SHANNON SLATON (BROADWAY SOUND DESIGNER), ROBERT GAULDING (SET DESIGN).

PREVIOUS WORKS/PROJECTS

Alma Theatre Company Fresh, Raw and Wild New Play Reading Series 2018/2019, including Enid Graham’s ensemble drama What Martha Did, Kenneth Jones new play Hollywood, Nebraska, new play by Jon Maran (Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) Home Sick.

Alma founder Kelli Kerslake Colaco is partnering with New York City’s 72nd Street Gang, of which she is a member, to present script-in-hand West Coast readings of plays by Gang members.

Resident players of Alma Theatre Company get to wrestle with top-notch new plays, writers are afforded a brilliant listening opportunity so they can grow their plays, and Bay Area theatre lovers get a front-row seat on the action of watching great theater come to life.

The indie professional Alma company is building on the foundation of a well-reviewed production of Colaco’s play with music you are my sunshine, which premiered in the 2017-18 season. The company’s goal is to continue presenting a mix of full productions and developmental readings.

Alma Theatre Company is building a distinct reputation for edgy, high-quality work from an exceptionally talented company of actors. This new collaboration with 72nd Street Gang adds a very unique fuel to this fire.

CHECK OUT OUR EXCITING ‘You Are My Sunshine…a play with folk songs, based on a true story.’ PROMO!!!

 Written by: Kelli Kerslake Colaco, Music and lyrics by: Kelli Kerslake Colaco, Music Arranged by: Chris Haugen, Directed by Kelli K. Colaco and Cristina Anselmo

A fact inspired, (Steinbeck/Coen Brothers tinged,) multi-decade character study of a man of mythic American proportions whose passions and demons lead to tragedy, narrated in Woody Guthrie style folk songs. #The truth will set you free.

Cast/Company:
Tim Fullerton, Andrea J. Love, *Trevor Marcom, *Valerie Weak, *Kelli Kerslake Colaco, *Ray Renati and Elliott Hanson, and Chris Haugen

The Company:

*Kelli Kerslake Colaco (Founder, Playwright, Co-Director, Producer, MINNIE 'Sunshine.') Writing credits include the plays: Underbelly, The Meeting, and Hazardous Materials. Film:  Award Winning  documentary, The Mad Hannans, directed by Martin Shore and the web series “The Meek Shall Inherit.” Select acting credits include, Helen, Have Mercy, at Manhattan Theatre Source, (directed by Andrew Frank) Marta, Late Fragment, Tristan Bates Theatre, Covent Garden, London, (directed by Simon De Deney), Carver at London’s Arcola Theatre (directed by Bill Gaskill, founding director of The National Theatre, Artistic Director of The Royal Court Theatre ), Malcolm/First Witch in Macbeth, NYC, Antibe, France (Pear Theatre) London (The King’s Head Theatre) with The Independent Shakespeare Company (directed by David Melville), Phoebe, As You Like It R&J, Goodspeed Opera House, (directed by Terrence Mann) Mistress Quickly, Merry Wives of Windsor, Olivia Twelfth Night (directed by Charles Fee) and Nerissa in Merchant of Venice (directed by Tony and Drama Desk Award Winner Bartlett Sher,) Idaho Shakespeare Festival. Cordelia, King Lear, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Shelby, Steel Magnolias, P.C.P.A Theaterfest (directed by Rick Barbour) Film and TV: Television Joan Aldrin MOONSHOT* dir. Richard Dale ITV UK, History Channel (*Emmy Nominee / Best Made-For-TV Movie), Dan, TRUE DARE KISS dir. Declan O’Dwyer BBC 1, Film Nurse Beckett DECENT 2 dir. Jon Harris Celador Films, Helen Rothstein CROSSING BRIDGES dir. Mark Norfolk Prussia Lane. Kelli is a founding member of The Independent Shakespeare Company and member of The 72nd Street Gang, a New York City writing collective. Education: M.F.A from the P.T.T.P. (The Professional Theatre Training Program) at the University of Delaware, Two Year Actor Training program, P.C.P.A (The Pacific Coast Conservatory for The Performing Arts) in Santa Maria, CA. Kelli is a Teaching Artist with The Marin Theatre Company.

Tim Fullerton, (ERNEST FLETCHER HODGE 'Sunshine') Regional: Henry IV pt. 1, Les Blanc, As You Like It, Nora, Cymbeline, Timon of Athens (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Macbeth, The Mikado (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Translations (Rep Stage), Othello, The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), The Curious Case of the Watson Intelligence, Newsies, Julius Caesar, Pirates of Penzance, Stand-Up- Tragedy, South Pacific, Man of La Mancha, The Secret Garden, Dracula, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Three Musketeers, Death of a Salesman (PCPA), Jesus Christ Superstar (Santa Barbara CLO), Three Musketeers the Musical*, Victor/Victoria (American Musical Theatre), A Christmas Carol, ReUnion (Ford's Theater), Guest Artist: Santa Clara University and Middlebury College, VT. Training: BA in Theatre Arts, Santa Clara University.

Andrea J. Love (ANISE/KATHY,) Coming up on three years in California after seven years of schooling in the south, Andrea is thrilled to say that she can now use “hella” and “y’all” in the same sentence. Recent credits: ROMEO AND JULIET, TWELFTH NIGHT (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival); MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY (Capital Stage Company); Hope in URINETOWN (Berkeley Playhouse, 2017 TBA Award Winner); A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, WONDERFUL TOWN (Davis Shakespeare Festival), SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, CINDERELLA (Sacramento Theatre Company); LA RUE’S RETURN, A FOUR-LEGGED FORTUNE (The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville). Andreajlove.com

*Trevor Marcom (BILLY/WILL/GUARD JONES/SHERIFF 'Sunshine') Co lead singer/ lead guitarist, coveted Bay Area band Faust & Fox with sister Kate Marcom. Toured nationally with the musical “Freedom Train. “ Studied performance for four years at the Boston Conservatory.

*Valerie Weak (IRENE/CLAIRE, 'Sunshine')  is an Equity actor and theater educator, recently seen at San Francisco’s Z Space as Officer Miller in The Box: a play about solitary confinement, by journalist/activist Sarah Shourd and as Dinah in The Quality of Life, produced by Monday Afternoon Productions at The Phoenix. Additional Bay Area credits include CenterREP, Word for Word, Shotgun Players and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, where she played Lady Capulet in 2015’s Romeo and Juliet. She has taught and/or directed student work at American Conservatory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre and with Word for Word’s Youth Arts program. Her on-camera work includes The Snake (SXSW) and international indie festival regular Suicide. Additionally, she works regularly in the field of high stakes role play with Stanford, UCSF, Sutter Health and SF State, helping doctors, medical students and nursing students gain confidence in their communication skills in emotionally charged situations. She was honored by Theatre Bay Area as one of the ’35 Faces of Bay Area Theater’ in their 35 th anniversary celebration, and has also received TBA’s TITAN Fellowship. She has trained at Skidmore College with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company, and holds a BA in Theatre Arts from UCLA. www.valerieweak.com

*Ray Renati (BUCKY/MICK/DALE 'Sunshine') Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Ray has played roles from Shakespeare to Sam Shepard, working in major Bay Area and London theaters, as well as roles in several independent film and television programs. Recent roles include Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, Arthur in Superior Donuts and Neil in The Quality of Life. Ray is also a musician who has performed his one-man show On the Bright Side in various venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ray is looking forward to taking his show to New York City in late 2018.

Elliot Hansen (HOWARD, RILEY, PRISON GUARD SIMS, 'Sunshine') Elliott is thrilled and honored to be bringing Kelli’s fabulous work of art to life. Previous credits include Parade with the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, Charlie Cox Runs With Scissors in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Seeds with the Utopia Theatre Project, and a staged reading of The Soap Myth in a Marin Theatre Company co-production. He recently organized and performed in a traveling musical theatre showcase throughout Madrid. He is a graduate of Boston University and a Bay Area native.

*Cristina Anselmo, Co-Director ('Sunshine') In the Bay Area, Cristina has appeared on stage at SF Playhouse, Capital Stage, Jewel Theatre, Stanford Summer Repertory, TheatreWorks, and Pacific Rep, among others. LA credits include shows at A Noise Within and Grove Theatre Center. She was a member of Theatre of N.O.T.E., Actors Alley at the El Portal, and Pasadena Shakespeare Company. She trained at LAMDA, and the was a member of the inaugural class of the Antaeus Academy under the artistic directorship of Dakin Matthews. She has taught and directed in the Young Conservatory at ACT for the last 10 years.

Denise Savas  is an AEA Production Stage Manager (PSM) based out of Chicago, IL. Denise is thrilled to make her way out west and join The Alma Theater Project for her first time! She is excited to help bring YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE to life and share it with the Bay Area. She was worked with Shattered Globe Theater on the Chicago premier of FIVE MILE LAKE (Jeff Recommended), and the Chicago premier of TALL GIRLS. She is a resident PSM at Provision Theater where she was worked on REDEEMED, BEST OF ENEMIES, TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE, THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, and CHRISTMAS ON THE AIR. Denise is also a resident Stage Manager at Northbrook Theatre where she served as PSM for FANCY NANCY THE MUSICAL, PETER AND THE WOLF, ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE: WE'RE IN A PLAY and STELLALUNA. She has worked with other companies around the country including For Youth Inquiry, Brain Surgeon Theatre, North Carolina Theatre for Young People and Emerald City Theatre where she is a Teaching Artist. Denise is a graduate of the BFA in Theatre Education program from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is a proud member of the Actors' Equity Association. www.denisesavas.com

*Denotes Member of Actor's Equity Association

Previous: