ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Billy the Mime
BILLY THE MIME first garnered attention with his show stopping appearance in the hit documentary The Aristocrats. He has rejuvenated the art form with such routines as The Priest & The Altar Boy, Dinner with Jeffrey Dahmer, Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings: A Night at Monticello, and A Day Called 9/11. Billy’s shows have been called “Politically incorrect, shockingly! Twisted! Skillfully obscene! Chilling!” -The New York Times “A dazzling showman! Brilliant comic!” -Chicago Reader “Astonishingly creative and hilariously lewd!” -New York Post “Outrageously funny!” -Boston Herald “The only mime I’ve ever laughed at!” -Philadelphia Weekly “Shows that performers of his ilk can actually be funny!” -Washington City Paper "Simultaneously savage and sympathetic. Do not bring the kids!” -The London Times He has appeared at The New York International Fringe Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Risadaria Festival (Brazil), Montreal Just For Laughs Festival, Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (L.A. and NYC), The Aspen Comedy Festival, Largo (L.A.), The Lake Shore Theater and Mayne Stage (Chicago), The Revolutions International Theater Festival in New Mexico and The Sacred Fools Theater (L.A.). Television appearances includes The Jimmy Kimmel Show and Penn & Teller’s Bullshit.
Alina Cenal
Alina Cenal is a Cuban American actor, dancer, director and teacher who has been dancing through life with energy and passion in everything she does. Her career extends over forty years in television, theater and film. Her solo shows, Cuba: My Return and Words From a Cuban Father have toured national and internationally. Most recent, Alina played Abuela Claudia in the Heights at the Oregon Cabaret Theater in Ashland, Oregon. Alina has also directed at Southern Oregon University, performed in Chicago’s Physical theater Festival, The Oregon Lunacy Festival and Chihuahua Mexico’s Festival de Payasos. She is thrilled to be a member of Boxtales, a touring children’s physical theater company performing at schools across California. Alina is on the board of Teatro De Las Americas where she performs, directs and teaches in Oxnard, CA. Teaching children life skills through the magic of theater has been the center of Alina’s work. In 1995 she founded Kids Acting Out West bringing after-school program and summer camps to the youth. She is most proud of being LALA to her five grand-babies. Some of her TV credits include: The Shield, Judging Amy, Days of our Lives, Diagnosis Murder, Quantum Leap, Matlock, Webster. Stage credits include Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Southern Oregon University, San Diego Rep, LATC, Odyssey, South Coast Rep, Mark Taper Improvisational Theater Projet, Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, and International Company of A Chorus Line.
The Chameleons Mime Theatre
Highly acclaimed mime duo KEITH BERGER and SHARON DISKIN have performed together since 1985, delighting a wide range of concert audiences throughout the world. Noted for their exciting performance style and professional discipline, Sharon and Keith have been enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike at theatre venues ranging from New York City’s La Mama to L.A.’s Disney Concert Hall, from L.A.’s House of Blues to the iconic Troubador, from the world-renowned Edinburgh Arts Festival in Scotland to venues throughout Europe and Asia. Berger & Diskin have taught workshops and master classes in Physical Theatre and Mime throughout the U.S., Europeand Asia including Cornell University, The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Disney Animation Studios, The Macau Cultural Center and at hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. Since 1990, The Chameleons have been among the most popular and in demand artists touring their young audience shows for The Music Center of Los Angeles County and The Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, among many other organizations. Keith and Sharon were honored with the PASA award for their excellence as professional artists in the schools, which was presented by the County of Los Angeles, California Arts Council, and the California Department of Education. Keith and Sharon live in L.A. where they raised their two children – also performing artists.
Gideon Berger
Gideon Berger is a director, actor, and mime. He grew up touring with the Chameleons Mime Theater, eventually discovering that he could speak and act at the same time. He went on to study directing at Bard College, going on to direct and write avant-garde theater all over New York State, including adaptions of King Ubu, Cowboy Mouth, and his own Yuppie Mime Musical. He began translating his experience directing theater to film, writing scripts, directing music videos, documentaries, and shorts, culminating in the creation of his debut feature, The Tannery. His film acting credits include Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor, I Think I Live Here, and The Tannery. Currently, he is writing new scripts and directing work in collaboration with productions in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles.
James Donlon
James Donlon is a celebrated international performer, master teacher, and director of physical theatre since 1970, presenting his original solo programs throughout North America, Europe, and Latin America. The New York Times called Donlon’s work "an extraordinary blend of skill and lunacy”. James has been a film movement coach for Oscar-winners Javier Bardem, Kathy Bates, and Frances McDormand, as well as film stars Benjamin Bratt and David Strathairn. He created fight choreography for Linda Ronstadt, and has presented residencies with special world institutions like USA's El Teatro Campesino, Mexico City 's Bellas Artes, Prague's national Academy of Performing Arts (AMU), Barcelona’s Institut del Teatre, Dublin's Gaiety School of Acting, and Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College where he taught Tony Award-winner Bill Irwin and Big Apple Circus clown icon Barry Lubin. Donlon has been on the faculties of acting schools such as The American Conservatory Theater, The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, The National Theatre Conservatory-Denver Center, The Yale School of Drama, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego, and the Oregon Center for the Arts. Among his past students are legendary Broadway musical actor Terry Mann, and Hollywood writers Angus MacLachlan (Junebug), and Noah Harpster (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood). He founded San Francisco's iconic Flying Actor Studio, and co-hosts the Mime Radio Show podcast archiving important voices in physical theatre over the last 60 years. James is the only physical theater artist ever invited to perform with the legendary mime Robert Shields of CBS' The Shields & Yarnell Show, and is the first American mime/clown to perform in the famed Teatro Dimitri of Switzerland. He has been awarded the "Golden Hands" gloves by the World Mime Organization for his life-time achievement of excellence in the art of Mime.
Dean Evans
Dean Evans is an award winning performer, director, and physical theater artist. Dean was named one of the top 50 'players' by New City magazine. They have performed around the world as a solo artist and with companies such as the Second City, iO, the Goodman, Cirque Du Soliel and many more. Dean is an ensemble member of the renowned performance art collective the Neo-Futurists where they wrote and performed groundbreaking original work. Dean is currently the Artistic director of The Nonsemble in Los Angeles. Dean also performs as Honeybuns. Honeybuns has enjoyed their own career performing in NYC, Chicago, Moscow, Ireland, Austin TX, and Los Angeles. Dean has created over a dozen full length theatrical productions, various immersive spectacles, 3 full length circuses, and dozens of comedic characters. They have appeared on NBC, Russia's минута славы, the onion network, and various commercials and television. Dean has been on faculty at Columbia College, The Celebration Barn, the Second City Training Center, Aloft circus arts, and the Actor's Gymnasium. They have taught as a guest artist at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit, UIC, Oberlin College, the Ohio State University, Lake Forest College and more. Dean currently teaches classes in Clown, Mime, Bouffon, and devising in Los Angeles
Estela Garcia
A Los Angeles native, theatre artist-performer, director, deviser, community engagement worker, and tinkerer of materials. Garcia is Movement faculty at California Institute of the Arts, and a Resident Teaching Artist for Center Theatre Group. Trained in ensemble based physical theatre from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, where she is visiting faculty. Most recently, Estela Garcia was the Puppetry Choreographer for Lisa Portes’ production of Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis; it toured from South Coast Repertory to Seattle Rep and Portland Center Stage. In addition, Garcia was Director of Movement and a Creative Collaborator for the production of Isaac Gomez’s I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER directed by Sara Guerrero at Greenway Court Theatre. Garcia wrote and directed her new play Dinner with Remedios y sus Gatos which was presented for Center Theatre Group’s Library Reading Series in August 2023. She was the performer/creator of Remedios Varo: La Alquimista, which was presented at the 2018 LAX Performance Festival, and directed Hija de Mi Madre for the Short+Sweet Hollywood Latinx Festival, which won Best of Fest, Best Writing and Best Acting awards. Garcia’s other credits include Puppetry Direction for South Coast Repertory’s The Long Road Today, Assistant Directing Popol Vuh: Heart of Heaven, a co-production of Center Theatre Group and El Teatro Campesino, serving as movement director for Born in Chaos (TheatreWorkers Project) and D is for Dog and Hyperbole Origins for Rogue Artists Ensemble, where Garcia was an ensemble member. Director’s Lab West 2023 alum.
David Guerra
David Guerra is an award-winning actor, director, teaching and performing artist. Born in Los Angeles, he earned an Associate in Arts degree from East Los Angeles College and graduated with honors distinction in major from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre. Some of his film and television credits include: And Now I Lay Me Down (HollyShorts Film Festival, LA Shorts International Film Festival and Santa Barbara International Film Festival ’24), Kukulkan: A Mayan Story; Where the Sky is Born; La Rosa y El Gato; Flor de naranja; Diagnosis X; and Untold Stories of the ER. David’s favorite stage credits are: Grail Project, a three-time Ovation Awards winner; tours in Edinburgh Festival Fringe ‘14, ’15, and ’18 with three different Theatre Movement Bazaar productions; A Mulholland Christmas Carol with Theatre of NOTE; and Piñata Dreams by Josefina López. David has toured internationally, including in Shanghai and Beijing, China; and Puebla and Hermosillo, Mexico. As a master teaching artist, Mr. Guerra transforms each classroom into a sacred theatre space, creating a level playing field for both newcomers and season actors. He guides students toward building empathy for both the characters they portray and for the ensemble.
Michael Hays
Michael Hays is an actor, writer, cartoonist, mime, clown & general oddball. Hailing from a damp little corner in Portland, Oregon he graduated with a BFA in Theatre Arts from Southern Oregon University. He then studied Mime, Clown, and Physical Theatre for several years under the mentorship of James Donlon at the Flying Actors Studio in Ashland, Oregon. Michael also co-founded, wrote, performed, and taught with the theatre company "A Muse Zoo". In 2017 they performed their slapstick comedy The Truth* around North America at the Oregon Fringe, Toronto Fringe, Indy Fringe, and Capital Fringe in Washington D.C. Michael also debuted his one man show Life’s a Gas at the Oregon Fringe Festival in 2018. Over the past several years Michael has worked as an actor at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, performed in Protomartyr’s music video for “Polacrilex Kid”, and has presented multiple solo pieces for the Ashland Lunacy Festival. This past year he wrote, produced and performed a live sit-com titled the “The Four Witches” at the Broadwater Theatre. He has also brought his clown character The Leech to venues like El Cid and Little joy to host several of Los Angeles’s grumpiest punk bands. Michael is currently living in Los Angeles- if you can call that living.
Tina Kronis
Tina Kronis is a theatre artist, director, choreographer and teacher. She is Artistic Director and co-founder of Theatre Movement Bazaar, a company dedicated to creating original performance works with an emphasis on physical action -- merging elements of dance, text, cinema, and media from diverse sources into a complex performance. Her productions have been featured in the Radar LA Festival, Beijing Comedy Festival, Shanghai International Contemporary Theatre Festival, The Chekhov International Festival (the first US production in over 25 years). With GRAIL PROJECT, she garnered Ovation Awards Best Direction, Best Choreography, and Best Ensemble. For ANTON’S UNCLES she was awarded Outstanding Theatre Award, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Best Choreography Award, LA Weekly. With the Gorky Drama Theatre, she co-created and directed a production awarded the Silver Medallion Award for best production, 2020. She co-created the Swissmask/mime/dance company, Mummenschanz’s shows, NEXT and YOU + ME, and performed in their Broadway and international companies. She has just returned from touring Scotland and London with her new critically acclaimed musical, TINY LITTLE TOWN.
Rodolphe Le Feuvre
Rudolphe Le Feuvre is a senior at the University of California - Santa Barbara. In the past two years, he has been taught by Daniel Stein the principles of radical changes of energy and the perpendicularity of storytelling. This is his first mime festival! As you can read he is very excited to be invited and hopes you enjoy the results of his training.
Zackery Mondin
Zackery Mondin is heading into his fourth year of the BFA program in acting at UCSB. Zackery was last seen in UCSB's student production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abriged) alongside Rodolphe Le Feuvre. The Precipice was devised from a Beginnings and Endings piece created last winter quarter of Daniel Stein's movements class. Zackery and Rodolphe for this piece built upon their chemistry from their own production of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter from the prior quarter. Zackery is excited to show LA City College a piece about friendship and moving on with a massive spectacle for the delivery system: THE PRECIPICE.
Lorin Eric Salm
A native of Los Angeles, actor, teacher, and movement coach Lorin Eric Salm was a student of the legendary master of mime Marcel Marceau and is a graduate of Marceau's Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris (Paris International School of Mimodrama). He studied Etienne Decroux’s Corporeal Mime under former Decroux assistants Corinne Soum and Steven Wasson, and former Decroux student Ivan Bacciocchi, and also studied with Polish mime master Stefan Niedzialkowski. He holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from California State University, Northridge. Lorin has performed in Paris with Marcel Marceau and in his own solo mime show C’est-à-dire . . . (That is to Say . . .), as well as in Israel, New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. In addition to acting work in theatre, film, and television, he is a character movement reference actor and motion capture actor for animated films and television series, including children's favorites Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake. Lorin's TV appearances as mime characters include Martha & Snoop's Potluck Party Challenge, Hannah Montana, Nip/Tuck, and a national commercial for Geico. As a mime instructor, Lorin founded his Los Angeles school Mime Theatre Studio in 2001, where he teaches in person for local students and online for students across North America and around the world. He is a longtime guest instructor for Cirque du Soleil, and he creates movement and coaches talent for major Hollywood film and TV productions, including stars Jesse Eisenberg, Cole Sprouse, Riley Keough, and Damon Wayans. Lorin has been a guest instructor at CalArts, UCLA, Ohio State University, and Australia's Queensland University of Technology. He created Character Movement for Animation workshops which he has taught at leading animation studios including Disney, DreamWorks, and Sony Imageworks.
Daniel Stein
Daniel Stein is the studio Professor at University of California, Santa Barbra. He teaches Movement for the Actor and Devising of Original Works, Curator of the Annual PARTICLE COLLIDER FESTIVAL at UCSB After studying in the Professional, Actors Training Program at Carnegie-Mellon University, notably with Jewel Walker, Daniel went to Paris, France to study with Etienne Decroux, becoming M. Decroux’s frequent translator. Subsequently making his home in Paris for 20 years, Daniel started his professional career as an actor with the French National Theatre. His solo performances have toured in more than 30 countries, as well as in theatres such as the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center in the United States. He has performed and taught master classes throughout the world at institutions such as The Juilliard School of Drama and The Shanghai Theatre Academy. Daniel has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States/Japan Commission, the Pew Charitable Trust, and is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. Summer 2022 saw him teaching in Sicily and later at The Danish National School For The Performing Arts, Copenhagen. Prior to finding his artistic home at The University of California, Santa Barbara he spent seven years at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island as Head of Movement and Physical Theatre for their MFA Professional Actor Training Program. Prior to that over a decade at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, CA. serving as School Director and core instructor.