Lit Moon Theatre Company
Reimagining the Theatrical Experience
Lit Moon Theatre Company
Reimagining the Theatrical Experience
John Blondell is the founding artistic director of the Lit Moon Theatre Company, and the director of the Lit Moon World Shakespeare Festival. Since the company’s founding in 1992, he has directed and produced 15 Lit Moon productions, including Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Peer Gynt, Pinocchio, The Master and Margarita, Henry V, The Diary of a Madman, The Visions of Aksenty Ivanovich, Hamlet, Tartuffe, King Richard II and The Tempest. He has headed tours to the European Month of Culture Festival in Plovdiv, Bulgaria; the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; the Montreal Fringe Festival; and Wildside Festival, also in Montreal. John's productions have been invited to the Shakespearean Festival in Gdansk, Poland, on two occasions -- Hamlet (2004) and King Richard II (2006).
John holds a Ph. D. in Dramatic Art from the University of California, Santa Barbara, is Chair of the Theatre Arts Department at Westmont College, and has taught master classes and workshops in Shakespeare, physical theatre, and mask in the United States, Poland, Bulgaria, and Scotland. John’s credits at Westmont include Peter Pan, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Marriage of Figaro, Othello, The Blue Bird, Everyman, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Frankenstein and The Clouds, among numerous others. He is the recipient of six Independent Theatre Awards, a 1994 Robby Award, and the 2003 Faculty Research Award from Westmont College. Most recently, productions John has directed have been invited to the International Festival “The City” in Legnica, Poland (2007); the Young Open Theatre (MOT) Festival, Skopje, Macedonia (2007); and 2nd International Chamber Theatre Festival, Beijing, China (2007).
John lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Victoria Finlayson, and marvelous sons, Nicholas, William, and Simon.
Erin Brehm began her first season with Lit Moon in 2007. She graduated from Westmont College with a BA in Theatre arts in 2006 and made her debut with Lit Moon as Miranda, Trinculo, and Alonso in The Tempest which toured Macedonia in the Fall of 2007. Other favorite rolls include Northumberland in Richard II (which toured Poland 2006), Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Rachel in Reckless.
James Connolly has been the company’s composer-in-residence since 1995. A highly sought-after composer for theatre, dance, and film, Connolly has composed and played ten complete original musical scores for Lit Moon, including Independent Award-winners Peer Gynt, The Master and Margarita, and Hamlet Jim is the founder, director, and composer for Gove County Philharmonic, composing material for two CD’s, Yes I’ve Been to Gove and Time Stops to Visit. Heard on progressive radio stations throughout the United States, the music of Gove County fuses complex musical idioms with simple American song styles, making the group a staple of the Santa Barbara, California coffee house scene.
Andrew Cuk has been a member of Lit Moon since 1999, appearing as Azazello and Koroviev in The Master and Margarita, as Lothario in The Visions of Aksenty Ivanovich (which played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001), and in the title role in Hamlet. For over twenty years Andy has appeared throughout North America in theatre, opera, and on the concert stage. Andy lives in Montreal, Canada.
Theodore Michael Dolas has been associated with the Lit Moon Theatre Company since 1992, when he designed scenery and lighting for the Independent Award-winning Alice in Wonderland. Since then, he has designed eleven productions, including Through the Looking Glass, Metamorphoses, Pinocchio, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Peery Gynt, Henry V, and Indy winner The Master and Margarita. In addition to Lit Moon, Ted has created critically acclaimed designs for Western Stage, Berkeley Shakespeare, and the Ensemble Theatre Project.
Peter John Duda has been a member of Lit Moon since 1998, when he played the title role in Pinocchio. Since then, he appeared as Woland in The Master and Margarita, the Madman in The Diary of a Madman, and Henry in Henry V, for which he received an Independent Theatre Award in 2000.
Lesley Finlayson has been mask maker and costume designer for the Lit Moon Theatre Company since its inception. She has designed and constructed literally hundreds of masks for Lit Moon shows, and has received Independent Theatre Awards for Through the Looking Glass and The Master and Margarita. Lesley has studied with master maskmaker Erhardt Steifel in Paris, and worked with Dragone productions on Celine Dion’s Las Vegas extravaganza.
Victoria Finlayson is a 12-year member of Lit Moon. She has originated roles in Through the Looking Glass, Metamorphoses, Peer Gynt, Pinocchio, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Eating, Drinking, and Telling Lies, directed by Eva Magyar of the Budapest-based Shamans for the 2000 Lit Moon festival, and is the title character in Lit Moon’s The Visions of Aksenty Ivanovich, for which she received a 2001 Independent Theatre Award. From 1984-1992, Victoria toured with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, receiving a New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") for her work with that company in 1989. Victoria received a 2004 Independent Theatre Award for her performance in Lit Moon’s Tartuffe.
Stanley Hoffman is a 12-year member of the Lit Moon Theatre Company. He has performed in 11 of the company’s 13 productions, including the Master in The Master and Margarita, Fluellen in Henry V, the Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass, and Gepetto in Pinocchio. Stan was a founding member of the Isla Vista Guerilla Theatre, which toured internationally, and appears in the syndicated television program Critter Gitters.
Milon Kalis, guest scenographer, is one of the most renowned designers presently working in the Czech Republic. Mr. Kalis has realized over 120 designs in such major theatres as the National Theatre, Theatre of the Estates, and the J. F. Burian Theatre in Prague; the famed Theatre Goose on a String, and the Brno Town Theatre in Brno; and theatres in Most, Parbudice, and Jihalva. He has created designs for works by Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Salieri, Mozart, Offenbach, Smetana, Eugene O’Neill, and Neil Simon. He is a former assistant to famed Czech scenographer Josef Svoboda, and was the recipient of a coveted Theatre Communications Group/International Theatre Initiative grant that helped make this collaboration possible. Milon has received Independent Theatre Awards for his designs for Hamlet (2002) and Tartuffe (2004).
Steven Lovelace has been member of the Lit Moon Theatre Company since 1998, when he appeared as the Cat, the Pigeon, and several other characters in Lit Moon’s Pinocchio. Since then, he has played numerous characters in The Master and Margarita, Henry V, Eating, Drinking, and Telling Lies, The Diary of a Madman, and as Sofie in The Visions of Aksenty Ivanovich. Steven has performed with Rep West Dance Company, Santa Barbara Dance Theatre, and is the founder and director of the Santa Barbara Jazz Dance Academy.
Kate Louise Paulsen has been working with Lit Moon since her graduation from Westmont College in 2005, playing such roles as Ferdinand and Sebastiana in The Tempest and Mowbray and Willoughby in Richard II, which played in the Gdansk Shakespeare festival 2006. Kate also works with Santa Barbara’s Storybook Theatre, bringing theatre to children in Santa Barbara County and is a founding member of The Loose Affiliation of Artists, a theatre company dedicated to contributing to the next generation of American Theatre.
Michael Pearce is Resident Designer for the Westmont College Theatre Arts Department. A graduate of the Dartington School of Drama in England, with an MFA from the University of Southern California, Michael has worked extensively in theatre, film, and music video for the last then years, including theatre designs for Translations at the Celtic Arts Center, Bloody Poetry and RUR at USC, and production designs for videos of Shakur, Snoop Dogg, Master P., Quarashi, and Ash, and the films Mercy Streets and I Got the Hookup. Michael received in Independent Theatre Award for his scenography for the Westmont College production of Frankenstein in 2004.
Laura Smith is the Managing Director of the Lit Moon Theatre Company. Laura has been involved as the graphic artist for the company and designer of the website and is the founder and creative director of 1022 Designs, a web design firm based in Santa Barbara, CA.