Ensemble Members

Marvin Quijada (Shine) is thrilled to be working with Teatro Vista again. Marvin has worked with Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, Next, Silent Theater, Urban Theater, Collaboraction, Lookingglass, Silk Road, Goodman, and Teatro Vista where he is an ensemble member. He is also an ensemble member with Silent Theater and he co-hosts, as the silent clown, their "Wild Party Variety Hour" every month. He also works with Chicago Dramatists' playwriting program visting Chicago high schools, teaching and encouraging students to write plays. Marvin thanks you and hopes you enjoy the show.

 

Jessie David (Thug) would like to thank Teatro Vista for this wonderful opportunity. Jessie David was born and raised on the North side of Chicago. Movies and acting have been an inspiration to him since an early age. Ever since he could remember making people laugh was an easy task and it was something he loved to do. No matter where he was he would find himself mimicking actors and scenes from movies. Laughter from family, friends, classmates and even strangers was something he was getting used to hearing a lot of.  His dreams and passions were clear to him. 

 

Steve Casillas (Mimic)is making his debut appearance with Teatro Vista since he first came on board as a Junior Ensemble Member. He most recently performed in Collaboraction’s Sketchbook 11: Evolution, and in Victory Gardens’ Ignition Festival. His credits at Columbia College Chicago, where he is in his senior year pursuing a B.A. in Theater, Acting, include Phaedra's Love, Play, Suburbia, Waiting for Godot and Los Vendidos

 

PRODUCTION TEAM

Ricardo Gutierrez (Director) Ricardo is an ensemble member and directing associate of Teatro Vista  where he priveiously directed La Magica Posada and the staged reading  of Yamaha 300 for the Goodman Theatre’s Latino Festival.  Recent  directing credits include Quita Mitos by Tanya Saracho at Next Theatre  and Romeo and Juliet  and The Magic Ofrenda for Glass Onion Theatre,  where he is the co-founder and Artistic Director, and The Glass  Menagerie for Absolute Shakespeare.  As an Artistic Associate of  Theatre 40 in Los Angeles, Ricardo directed the world premier  productions of Goods and Pasquini the  magnificent.  Both productions were invited to the Samuel French Festival in New York and were
subsequent winners of the Samuel French Award for new plays.  Goods earned Ricardo a Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for Directing. He has directed over twenty musical productions including Let the Eagle Fly  for the Goodman Theatre Latino Festival, Sweeny Todd, West Side Story, Man of La Mancha and The Pirates of Penzance.  Regionally, Ricardo has guest directed at Nosotros Theatre, Theatre 40, the Bilingual  Foundation of the Arts, the Double Image Theatre in New York, Loyola University and the University of Texas Pan Am.  Ricardo has served as the Artistic Director of Absolute Shakespeare in Chicago, Nosotros  Theatre in Los Angeles, and The Canterbury Theatre in Indiana.

 

Candido Tirado (Playwright) His play Fish Men will have its premiere at The Goodman Theatre in collaboration with Teatro Vista spring of 2012. His Off Broadway productions include Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz (co-written with Carmen Rivera) at New World Stages and which was also performed in Las Bellas Artes in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Chicago, Tenerife and Miami. King Without a Castle, Checking Out, First Class (Puerto Rican Traveling Theater). The Barber Shop, Momma’z Boyz (Repertorio Español). Other productions include: The Missteps of a Salsa Dancer, From Dating to Death in Five Easy Steps, Ilka: The Dream, Hands of Stone. King Without a Castle was also work shopped at Sundance Theater Lab.; Some People Have All The Luck was produced at the National Theater of the Dominican Republic and New York. Heart Stopping Sex was produced by Soho Rep. His other plays include, The Kid Next Door, Hey There Black Cat, Abuelo, The Missing Colors of the Rainbow.  He co-wrote award winning short film with Alfredo Bejar, "Getting to Heaven," and was a staff writer for the TV show Ghostwriter where he was nominated for a Humanitas award. His screenplays include: Da Bronx, El Casique del Poker and The Milagro Boyz. He’s a four-time winner of the New York Foundation of the Arts Playwriting Fellowship. Publications: First Class, Arte Publico Recent Puerto Rican Theater: Five Plays from New York; Some People Have All the Luck, Penguin, Mentor Books, Nuestro New York: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Playwrights. He's a co-founder EDUCATIONAL PLAYS PRODUCTION with his wife Carmen Rivera, which tours the public schools presenting plays with social issues concerning the youth.

 

Dana M. Nestrick – (Production Stage Manager) Teatro Vista – Our Lady of the Underpass, Theatre Wit – Santaland Diaries (’09-’11), Writers’ Theatre – The Overcoat (workshop), A Minister’s Wife (workshops & extension run), American Theatre Company – The Big Meal, Welcome to Arroyos’, Speech & Debate, I Do! I Do!, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble – Sleuth, The Goodman Theatre – Assistant Stage Manager Romance; Stage Manager Binky Rudich or the Revenge of the Space Pandas, Provincetown Repertory – Production Stage Manager The Mystery of Irma Vep,  Hartford Stage –Assistant Stage Manager Topdog/Underdog, A Christmas Carol (’02-’05), Metamorphoses, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Tennessee William’s Eight by Tenn, Trip to Bountiful, Much Ado About Nothing, Constant Star, World Premier of Tea at Five starring Kate Mulgrew, Arizona Repertory Theatre- Stage Manager Steel Magnolias, A Flea in Her Ear, Music Theatre Arizona Production Stage Manager Side by Side by Sondheim.

Dana is a Core Tech Company Member at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She has been working there for the past 11 summers as the Dyer/Painter.

 

 

Pat Fries (Production Manager) last worked with Teatro Vista on their production of 26 Miles (a co-production of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble). Other credits include Welcome Yule! 2009 and 2010 with Chicago Symphony Orchestra; The UN Inspector, boom, End Days, War With the Newts, The Piano Teacher, Madagascar, and The Metal Children with Next Theatre; Generic Latina and Lunatic(a)s Teatro Luna; These Shining Lives, Mary's Wedding, The Walls, and Precious Little with Rivendell Theatre, where he is also an ensemble member.

Mikhail Fiksel (Sound Design) is delighted to be back working with Teatro Vista, having previously worked on 26 MILES, ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY, ANOTHER PART OF THE HOUSE, BLINDMOUTH SINGING and many others. Other recent Chicago work include DARTMOOR PRISON, CHICAGO BOYS and MASSACRE (The Goodman Theatre), THE REAL THING and TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT (Writers Theatre), TREE, LIVING GREEN (Victory Gardens), WAR WITH THE NEWTS (Next), AWAKE AND SING (Northlight), FEAST (Albany Park Theatre Project,) WOYZCEK, FRANKENSTEIN, OEDIPUS (The Hypocrites), MASTER AND MARGARITA, UNCLE VANYA, THE CHERRY ORCHARD (Strawdog), PONY (About Face) and 1001 (Collaboraction). Regional and Off-Broadway: ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY (The Geffen Playhouse and 2^nd Stage), IN THE NEXT ROOM (St. Louis Repertory) and MAURITIOUS (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre). He has received five Joseph Jefferson Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, an After Dark Award, a nomination for the Henry Hewes Design Award and was recently honored with The Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. He is an ensemble member of Strawdog Theatre Company and 2^nd Story, an Artistic Associate with Teatro Vista, Collaboraction and Redmoon Theatre and on the faculty at Loyola University. www.mikhailfiksel.com

Ashley Ozment (Prop Design) has a BA in Theater From North Park University in  Chicago. Most recently she was the props master for Collaboraction's  SKETCHBOOK. She has also been the Assistant Props Master for the Neo-futurists show DAREDEVILS and FAKE LAKE, North Park University's  FULL CIRCLE, KUNG-FU SUBURBIA and ARCHANGELS DON’T PLAY PINBALL, the  Hypocrites DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS and Assistant Stage Manager for their  remount of OUR TOWN. Thank you to my wonderful and supportive husband,  Matt.

Mac Vaughey (Lighting Designer) is a Chicago based lighting designer.  Recent credits include work with Sideshow Theatre Company,  Collaboraction, American Theatre Company, the 16th Street Theatre,
Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Infamous Commonwealth, Porchlight Music  Theatre, Urban Theatre, and Teato Luna.  Mac is also the lighting  supervisor for Timeline Theatre Company and Light Operaworks in  Evanston.  Mac also serve as the outreach director for Studio BE, a performing arts training center in Lakeview.

Regina Garcia (Scenic Designer)  Recently completed projects include: The Homosexuals by Philip
Dawkins, directed by Bonnie Metzgar for About Face Theatre; Ruined by Lynn Nottage, directed by Ron Himes at the St. Louis Black Rep; and  Freedom, NY by Jennifer Barclay, directed by Joe Miñoso for Teatro  Vista. Upcoming projects include designs for the workshop of Stephen  Taylor's opera Paradises Lost at the Krannert Center for the  Performing Arts for which she received a 2011 Special Project Grant
from the Princess Grace Foundation USA.  Regina has designed for  directors Giovanna Sardelli, Daniella Topol, Victor Maog, Jorge Ali  Triana, Michael J. Garces, and Bartlett Sher, amongst others; and for  renowned Latino theaters including Repertorio Español, the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, INTAR, and Pregones Theater, where she was  Resident Designer for more than ten years.  Regina is a Fellow of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program and a  recipient of a Latino Ace Award. She teaches Scenic Design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and is a company member with Teatro Vista and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble.

Christine Pascual (Costume Designer) previously for Teatro Vista,  designed Freedom, NY.  Recent credits: El Nogalar at the Goodman (co production with Teatro Vista), Madagascar at Next Theatre, 26 Miles for Teatro Vista/Rivendell, GL 2010: Not Your Generic Latina for  Teatro Luna, Sizwe Banzi is Dead at Court Theatre, The Elaborate  Entrance of Chad Deity at Victory Gardens, Our Lady of the Underpass at 16th Street Theatre and for Teatro Vista, The House on Mango Street  at Steppenwolf, Welcome to Arroyo's for American Theatre Company, Lunaticas, Jarred for Teatro Luna, Relatively Close, The Romance of Magno Rubio, Hambone, Concerto Chicago, Symmetry and Blackbird for  Victory Gardens,Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Sanctified, St James  Infirmary, Seven Guitars, Elmina's Kitchen, From the Mississippi  Delta, A Soldier's Play and Black Nativity for Congo Square Theatre,
Joe's Turners Come and Gone for Centerstage, Balitimore,  Ten Cent  Night for Chicago Dramatists, Piano Lesson, The First Breeze of  Summer, Flyin' West for The Court Theatre, La Rondine for Roosevelt
University, True West, Topdog Underdog, People's Temple, Living Out  for American Theater Company Elliot A Soldier's Fugue for  Rivendell/Teatro Vista at Steppewolf. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad
Deity at Second Stage Theatre Off Broadway, (exhibiting at Prague  quadrennial 2011 and 2010 Henry Hewes Design Award Nominee for  Noteable Effects).

 

Rasean Davonte Johnson (Video Designer) is an experimental film and theatre artist with a deep interest in the application of video for theatrical purposes and experimentation with form and process. He is a graduate of the Ohio State University and is a member of the theatrical performance group The Catharsis Junkies. Select theatre credits include Faust with TheMASSIVE, Powerless: Issues 1-3 with SYS, Sketchbook: Evolution with Collaboraction, Iphigenia Crash Land Falls... with Halcyon Theatre, Trans Form with New Suit Theatre Company, The Original Grease, and Welcome to Arroyo’s with American Theater Company, and Wreckage and Brutal Imagination with Caffeine Theatre. Visit thecatharsisjunkies.com for examples of work.

 

 

UNDERSTUDIES

 

Michael Allen Harris (Shine/Understudy) Michael is thrilled to be working with Teatro Vista! Graduating from Columbia College Chicago with a B.F.A in Acting, Michael performed in the main stage productions Of Mice & Men and Winter’s Tale; also seen in directing projects such as Los Vendidos, SLAM, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, and Fools & Mortals. In Chicago, Michael has worked with The Gift, Village Players, Cold Basement Dramatics, and 20% Theatre. Michael is also a playwright. (Theatreactor88@yahoo.com)

 

Miguel Cohen  - (Thug U/S) is excited to be working with Teatro Vista for the first time. Recent credits include “The Copperhead” at City Lit Theater, the Tennessee Williams classic “Sweet Bird of Youth” at the The Artistic Home and “Return to Haifa” at Next Theatre. He would like to send a special thank you to his family for all of their support.

 

Nate Santana – (Mimic U/S) Nate is very thankful and excited to be a part of this production. Previously, Nate was seen in First Folio's Romeo and Juliet (Gregory/Ensemble), The Phoenix Theatre's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Coyote) and the side projects's Slipping (Eli). He was also an ensemble member for Imagination Theater. Nate received his B.A. in Theatre from Valparaiso University.