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Established in 1998, foolsFURY creates immediate physical works of theater that take full advantage of all the elements of live performance. Enough of the dreary and the tired - bring on excitement, awe, and outrage. We crave thought-provoking visceral experiences that use all three dimensions, and multiple senses. Our work incorporates a wide range of arts, including physical movement, music, audience interaction, circus and dance skills. We want to push the boundaries of the theater into the new and spectacular, while staying grounded in classic forms, and telling accessible, timeless, stories. We believe theater, like all great art, should hold beauty and induce wonder.
| foolsFURY is: Ben Yalom, Artistic Director Angela Bush Laley Lippard Michael Kesselman Artistic Ensemble: Davina Cohen Teana David Ben Eckstein Deborah Eliezer Rod Hipskind Csilla Horvath Patrick Kaliski Brian Livingston Mia Rovegno Marissa Wolf Company Members at-large: Stephen Jacob Jessica Jelliffe Jason Craig Lindsay Anderson Associate Artists: Lizz Edele Ambra Sultzbaugh Jenny Jo Wennlund Board of Trustees: Jennifer Caleshu Jim Hudak Ben Yalom David Gimpelevich Company Emeritus: Alexander Lewis David Mendelsohn Corie Henninger Enrique Urueta Board Emeritus: Paul Walsh We can be reached at: Box Office: 1 866-GOT FURY foolsFURY Theater Company 131 10th Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Phone:1.866.GOT FURY E-mail: ben@foolsfury.org |
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Member Bios
Ben Yalom (Artistic Director) founded foolsFURY, for whom he has directed many productions, including Valparaiso, Out At Sea, The Dreamstealers, Attempts on Her Life, Midnight Brainwash Revival, The Illusion and others, as well as many workshops and readings. He recently directed the much acclaimed new musical Bangers Flopera for New York's Inverse Theater and the New York Musicals Festival. In 2003 he directed Naomi Newman's one-woman show Fall Down Get Up for Traveling Jewish Theater, and nationwide touring. He recently received the prestigious Creative Work Fund fellowship for his translation and upcoming production of Fabrice Melquiot's Le Diable en Partage (The Devil on All Sides). Locally Ben has worked with A.C.T., the Magic Theatre, Playground and Encore Theatre, among others. Ben is also a graduate of the renowned Iowa Writers' Workshop. His fiction, essays and translations of plays have appeared in magazines nationwide. Ben is a member of the Theater Bay Area Theater Services Committee, and was a semi-finalist for the 2004 NEA/TCG Career Development for Directors fellowship. He teaches playwriting at California College of the Arts, and has also taught at Stanford University and Vassar College.
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Angela Bush (Producer) holds a degree from The University of Colorado at Boulder and is currently completing her Master of Public Administration at San Francisco State University specializing in arts administration. Angela has been involved in theater for most of her life as a performer and has been involved in theater administration for the last five years. Angela co-founded and managed SweetFire Productions, a Denver based theater company that performed and toured nationally. At foolsFURY, where she has been the executive producer for the 2005 and 2006 seasons, Angela has coordinated numerous fundraisers, benefits, and public appearances. Production credits for foolsFURY include 12th Night (or What You Will), The Strange Case of the Jenson Files, Lifting Belly, The National New Play Network's New Plays Festival, and Fury Factory, the first annual San Francisco ensemble theater festival. She is also currently a community activist focusing on women's issues in the greater Bay Area.
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Laley Lippard (Development Associate) is a director, actor, and theater administrator. After serving a full season Directing and Dramaturgy Internship at TheatreWorks, Laley became a company member and development associate at foolsFURY Theater Company. With foolsFURY she has trained with Stephen Wangh and Anne Bogart's SITI Company. at Magic Theater, where she recently assistant directed the Hopper Collection, Laley serves on the Literary Committee and as an Artistic Associate working on The Sloan Initiative and The Hot House. She has worked with Guthrie Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Arena Stage, Rorschach Theatre, and SRT. She graduated magna cum laude from The Catholic University of America in D.C. where she was awarded the Ed McMahon Scholarship for Artistic Excellence and the Gilbert V. Hartke Award for excellence in stage direction. Directing includes Action, Proof, ART, Madness Lies, and Shylock: The Jew of Venice. Laley is assistant directing Le Diable en Partage.
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Michael Kesselman (consultant) For fifteen years, he was Senior Program Officer and Deputy Director for Programs at the Koret Foundation in San Francisco, where he oversaw a number of grantmaking areas including arts and culture, international funding, models of collaboration, and economic development. Since 2000, he has worked as an independent consultant specializing in strategic policy and program development, grant writing, research and evaluation, consortium-building, and organizational management. Michael also writes plays, fiction, and screenplays. His work has been produced at the San Francisco Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, The Bare Stage, San Francisco Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Playwrights Workshop at San Francisco State University, and The Lyceum Theatre. He was twice a finalist for the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. He was an L. Weissberger Playwrighting Competition finalist for Bridges, for which he was also a National Play Award semifinalist (The National Repertory Theatre Foundation).
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Davina Cohen Bay Area credits include: What You Will (Feste), Monster in the Dark, and Grimmly with foolsFURY, enTranced at the Magic Theatre, La Damnation de Faust at the SF Opera (mime/acrobat), Cabaret (Helga) and Travesties with Shotgun Players (Nadya), and u/s for The Secret in the Wings at Berkeley Rep. She has collaborated with the Magic, foolsFURY, the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, Cutting Ball, California Young Writers Project, and playwright Enrique Urueta on new play development, The Danger of Bleeding Brown. Davina's alter ego performance poet "Barbie Braun" performed original work in the feature film Come Fly With Me Nude, for which Davina also did featured chorography. Training includes: SITI Company, Stephen Wangh, Richard Nickol, the Clown Conservatory, and ACT.
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Teana David grew up in Victoria, Canada and holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory. She trained as a gymnast and classical singer for many years before becoming a theatre artist. With foolsFURY, she has performed in The Jenson Files, as well as the incubator projects TempOdessey, and Grimmly. Other local companies she has worked with include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Napa Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare at Stinson, and Golden Thread Productions. Most recently Teana appeared in The Wonders, an original piece which she co-wrote and continues to tour nationally with Traveling Jewish Theatre. Film/T.V. credits include a recurring role on the Canadian children's series, "Take Off!" As a teaching artist, she teaches at Kids On Camera, California Shakespeare Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and Kids In Motion Gymnastics in Oakland.
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Ben Eckstein has acted in theatre and film in both the United States and Israel, where he was born. He has been performing in the Bay Area since 2002. He was the recipient of the Stanley Olson Liberal Arts Grant for Theater Acting, 2002. He has studied intensively the Meisner Technique and has additionally trained with American Conservatory Theatre, Mary Overlie, Anne Bogart and others. Ben has been a company member of FoolsFURY since 2004 and performed with them in Grimmly, Temp Odyssey, Monster in the Dark, What You Will (or 12th Night), and Strange Case of the Jenson Files. Ben has participated in California State University of Fresno Summer Arts, where he studied Viewpoints Technique with its originator Mary Overlie and Suzuki Technique with Anne Bogart, artistic director of SITI Company. Most recently he has studied movement with Liz Burritt and physical theatre techniques with Stephen Wangh and Ron Campbell.
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Deborah Eliezer actor, dancer, puppeteer, holds a B.A. Cum Laude from SFSU. foolsFURY credits include: Monster in the Dark, and The Castle/Incubator series. Deborah has worked with several companies including Golden Thread, (which represented the U.S. in the Cairo Intl Festival for Experimental Theatre,) Woman's Will, The Puppet Players, Abydos, Marin Shakespeare Co. and Antenna Theater. As the former Co-Artistic Director of Eclipse Dance Theater, Deborah directed and performed in several original dance-theater productions, staged in more than 25 different venues. Recent choreography credits include 12th Night or What You Will and Valparaiso with FoolsFURY, and Fall Down Get Up with TJT. As a professional voice-over, you may have heard her voice in Leapfrog Toys, radio ads, or on the new upcoming video game, Sims2 for Console.
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Rod Hipskind is a Theater Arts graduate of San Francisco State University, and has not ventured far from creating for the stage. With foolsFURY, he has directed The Party (2003) appeared in Valparaiso, Attempts on Her Life in both the original 2002 production and the tour in the summer of 2003, and The Creature: Remix (2003). As artistic director and actor for Wits End Theater company he has contributed to the success of a half dozen productions for this physically driven ensemble group. When not in the theater he works as a still life and stylist for print ads, catalogs, and commercials.
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Csilla Horvath is a co-founder of WitsEnd Theatre Company. She received her BA degree in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University. She last appeared in the incubator show, Lifting Belly which was directed by company member, Marissa Wolf. Past foolsFURY productions include Viola in What You Will (or 12th Night), directed by company member, Rod Hipskind. Livia in Valparaiso, The Creature and Attempts on Her Life. She also appeared in Monster, an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein performed at the SF Playhouse. Some past WitsEnd productions include Alex in On the Verge, Miss Simple in The Case of the Crushed Petunias and Marie in Woyzeck. She has also performed in independent films and appeared in the major motion picture, The Majestic.
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Patrick Kalinski is a native to the Bay Area. It wasn't until late in his high school days when he began his exploration in music. Over the next few years the love for creating music and sound grew and by the mid college years in San Diego, Patrick could truly say he was passionate about something. Upon his return to the Bay Area, Patrick began playing drums in some, shall we say, "unique" bands, such as the world traveling Pagan Lounge ensemble, Rosin Coven, and the quirky cartoon jazz quintet, Dr. Abacus. Besides the live scene, Patrick has been deeply involved with a sound design and composition career, working with television, radio, film, web animations and theatre. He has worked on projects with Kids In the Hall, Sandra Bernhard, and Chris Elliot amongst others, and recently completed his first feature film, First Time Caller.
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Brian Livingston is an Actor/Director and Play Developer. He holds a BA in Drama from San Francisco State University. He has appeared in the foolsFURY productions of Monster in the Dark, What You Will (or 12th Night), The Jensen Files and others. Brian is interested in continued training for the actor and ensemble and has trained with the SITI Company, Stephen Wangh, Antero Alli and many others. Memorable acting roles include Gerry in Dancing at Lughnasa, and Will in Hopscotch. Directing credits include How Gertrude Stormed the Philosophers Club and Shakespeareís a Dick!
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Mia Rovegno completed her BA in Performance Studies at Northwestern University. She is a director, performer, shadow puppeteer and video artist. She is a company member with foolsFURY, and the artistic director of her own company, HummingbirdWORKS. Performing credits include foolsFURY, LaMaMa ETC, The Bread and Puppet Theater, Redmoon Theater, The Experimental Performance Institute, World Arts West, Shadowlight Productions, The Funky Puppet Supper Club, and the Intersection for the Artsí HYBRID Project. Performing credits with foolsFURY include Grimmly and What You Will (or Twelfth Night). She wrote and directed Apartment, presented at the Fury Factory Ensemble Theater Festival, and produced by foolsFURYís Incubator Series. She is currently adjunct faculty at the Experimental Performance Institute.
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Marissa Wolf is a company member of foolsFURY where she assistant directed What you Will (or 12th Night), With fF, she directed the reading of Saint Barbara for the National New Plays Network Reading Series. She has previously interned with New York Stage and Film as a directing apprentice for the Powerhouse Program. She assistant directed with Berkeley Repertory Theater and Crowded Fire Theater where she is a company member. She worked as the Literary Associate at the Playwrights Foundation for the 2005 season. She recently directed Lifting Belly by Gertrude Stein, as an Incubator workshop with foolsFURY, as well as an original work Contours; A Shakespeare Project as a Matchbox workshop with Crowded Fire. Marissa has received her degree in Drama from Vassar College and additional training from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
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Stephen Jacob has performed with foolsFURY in Milan Kundera's Jacques and His Master, Tony Kushner's The Ilusion, Kirk Bromley's Midnight Brainwash Revival, and Martin Crimp's Attempts on Her Life. He wrote and performed in foolsFURY's first original production, The DreamStealers, a verse play which premiered at The Exit. Stephen has worked with several Bay Area theaters - including the North Beach Rep, the New Eureka Theater, and Thick Description - and taught acting and theater history at the Academy of Art College. He has studied with members of SITI Company, and trained with Jerzy Grotowski in the Objective Theater Project at the University of California, Irvine. He holds an MFA in Writing from The California College of the Arts and currently lives with his family in Berlin, where he is writing a novel.
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Jessica Jelliffe has worked with foolsFURY on, Attempts on Her Life, Midnight Brainwash Revival, The Creature: Remix, and Jacques and His Master. Other credits include: Phebe, in an extended workshop of As You Like It, directed by Mallory Catlett (NYC); Productions with Banana, Bag and Bodice, of which she is co-founder and co-artistic director: ensemble in The Bastard Chronicles, and Ned in No. 2, both having won Best of the SF Fringe Festival 1999 and 2000, as well as GULAG HA HA for the SF Fringe, 2002; And Gogol, written by Jason Craig and Sean Owens, directed by Meredith Eldred, commissioned by the Exit Theater for the inauguration of the new Exit on Taylor, 2001.
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Jason Craig has performed with foolsFURY in Valparaiso, Midnight Brainwash Revival, The Dreamstealers and the staged reading of Griffin Hunter. Jason is a much-aluded playwright, whose works with his company Banana Bag and Bodice have received awardsa dn much attention in the last couple of years. These include The Sewers, The Young War and Sandwich (a.k.a. PanelAnimal), which performed to sold-out houses at RIchard Foreman's Ontological Theater in 2005, and received the Best of SF Fringe - award as did his previous shows, GULAG HA HA, The Bastard Chronicles and No.2. Jason's other writing projects include Gogol, which he adapted along with SF locals Sean Owens and Dave Malloy, at the EXIT theatre.
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Lizz Edele is from St. Louis, Missouri where she studied at Webster University. There, she graduated with honors, receiving a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Drama. She is currently enrolled at California College of the Arts where she is working towards an MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in play/screen writing. She has been interning with foolsFury, under the guidance of Ben Yalom, since September 2005. Although it's brief, she notes her time with this innovative theatre company as one of the greatest experiences she has had since arriving in The Bay Area in 2004.
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Alexander Lewis has been an Artistic Associate of foolsFURY since early 2000 when he appeared as Calisto/Clindor/Theogenes in that year's critically acclaimed run of Tony Kushner's The Illusion in both San Francisco and at the Marin Theater Company. In 2001 he returned to the foolsFURY stage as Spam/Ted/Egobooster in the West Coast premiere of Midnight Brainwash Revival. This year he's celebrating his third foolsFURY season playing one of six sides of the enigmatic Anne in the West Coast premiere of Attempts on Her Life, and the hapless henchman Agog in The DreamStealers. Alexander has been acting, writing and teaching in the Bay Area for the past six years. He holds a Bachelor's in Theater from San Francisco State University.
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David Mendelsohn has performed locally at American Conservatory Theater, the California Shakespeare Festival, A Traveling Jewish Theater, Berkeley Opera, and many other area theaters. With foolsFURY, he performed the role of the Amanuensis in Tony Kushner's adaptation of The Illusion at the Gurdjieff Theater in San Francisco and again at Marin Theatre Company, and the role of Soulstalker in The DreamStealers. He has been a company member since December 2001. Mr. Mendelsohn holds a BA in Theater Arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz and an MFA in Acting from American Conservatory Theater.
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Jennifer Caleshu joined foolsFURY as producer for Midnight Brainwash Revival. She produced foolsFURY's first official season, featuring Incubator, a reading series, Attempts on Her Life and The DreamStealers. She also produced the revival of Attempts on Her Life, summer 2003, at the Thick House, La Val's Subterranean, and the Dell 'Arte Mad River Festival Edge Fest. She recently moved to Rochester, New York. Over five seasons at American Conservatory Theater, she was the Producing Associate and Internship Coordinator, and also served as Assistant to the Artistic Director. At A.C.T. she produced the new opera The Difficultly of Crossing a Field, by David Lang and Mac Wellman, featuring Kronos Quartet and Julia Migenes, performed March, 2002 at Theatre Artaud. At Stanford University, she produced the original musicals Fool's Dream and The Usual Gaieties, and directed, stage managed and otherwise collaborated on a number of theatrical projects.
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David Gimpelevich is a seasoned senior executive with over 20 years of experience across consumer goods, software, and consulting industries. He brings to the table deep experience in M&A, a string of successful turnaround efforts, as well as a solid record in growing global businesses. Most recently, he has been engaged in advising prominent private equity firms in identifying and packaging acquisition opportunities. Mr. Gimpelevich has worked opportunities in the restaurant chain, toy, sporting goods, consumer electronics, and video game industries and has collaborated with such firms as the Texas Pacific Group, Sorenson Capital, Hellman & Friedman, Sun Capital and H.I.G. Capital. Mr. Gimpelevich speaks fluent Russian and has extensive international experience. He received his MBA with high honors from the University of California at Berkeley Haas School of Business.
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