We appreciate our dedicated team of talented
professional youth leaders

Bobby Bermea is a four-time Drammy award winning actor who has appeared in theatres from New York, NY to Honolulu, HI. In Portland, he has appeared at Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland Playhouse, Cygnet Productions, El Teatro Milagro, The Jewish Theatre Collaborative, Tygres Heart, CoHo Productions, and Profile Theatre. He has also directed at Profile Theatre, Northwest Classical, Theatre Vertigo, Boom Arts, BaseRoots and Beirut Wedding. He has worked with young people with the Haven Project, Young Players, Higher Stages, Homowo, Actors to Go and the Cordero House. Bermea is the co-artistic director of the Beirut Wedding World Theatre Project, a proud member of Sojourn Theatre and a long-time member of Actors Equity Association. “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

Tracy Cameron Francis is a director and producer who has directed and developed work in New York at Atlantic Theatre Co, NYTW, HERE, The Culture Project, NY Fringe Festival, Red Bull Theatre, Noor Theatre, NY Arab Comedy Festival, and others. Internationally at the Falaki Theatre (Egypt), Ubumuntu Festival (Rwanda) and LaMama Umbria ( Italy). She was a 2017 Theatre Communications Group Rising Leader of Color fellow, a core member of Theatre Without Borders and currently serves on the steering committee for the newly formed Middle East and North African Theatre Makers Alliance. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and an associate member of SDC. She currently serves as the Artistic Director of Boom Arts in Portland, Oregon focusing on socially engaged international work.

Neil Cochrane is a queer, trans artist and novelist in Portland, Oregon, writing speculative fiction that centers queer characters overcoming obstacles and building families. A lapsed theater kid, Neil was heavily involved in theater through high school and college as an actor, writer, and director; though his degree is in English Literature, he studied both playwriting and screenwriting in addition to literary theory and analysis. His journey back to the performing arts has been a meandering one, through his efforts to adapt Shakespeare's Twelfth Night into a (somehow) even queerer version. He joined PlayWrite in 2021.

Elisabeth Geier is a writer, editor, and educator based in Portland, Oregon. In addition to coaching with PlayWrite, Inc., she's taught writing and literature in public high schools, community colleges, correctional facilities, community centers, and more. Elisabeth has an MFA in Fiction from the University of Montana, and her short stories and essays have appeared in publications including Porter House Review, Electric Literature, Tenderly, and Bright Wall/Dark Room. As a PlayWrite coach, Elisabeth loves working one on one with youth as they use their curiosity, resilience, and voice to tell stories. Everyone can be a writer, even if they don't know it (yet).

Tyler Hunt is a Portland-based actor, improviser, and proud owner of an ever-burgeoning home library. Tyler received his Bachelors in Theatre and Communication Studies from University of Portland, and is a member of The Actor’s Conservatory at Artists Repertory Theatre, Class of ’22.

Beth Kahlen earned her Bachelors degree in Speech Communication from Portland State University. Since then, she has pursued further studies in public speaking and studio speech, while also studying the performing arts—acting with Scott Kelman, songwriting and improvisation with Chris Williamson and Rhiannon. Beth has studied voice in the classical tradition for many years with Susan McBerry and Hannah Penn, and has professional training as a voice teacher and actor. Beth has played numerous dramatic and musical theater roles in community and professional companies. She spent several years on the road with bands performing in a wide variety of venues and styles. She also works throughout the Northwest with the Swizzle Chicks, a vocal jazz group that performs originals and standards.

Beth believes that for young people, the performing arts offer the chance for deep affirmation and enrichment. She is very happy to be encouraging creativity and discovery with PlayWrite, Inc .

Victor Mack is an award-winning Actor and Director who has facilitated workshops and residencies in Theatre Arts at schools and community organizations across the country. The list of venues includes the Bronx Creative Arts Center, Young Adult Learning Academy, The 52nd Street Project, Special Audiences of New York and NJ Young Playwrights. Locally Victor has served as Program Director and been a Coach and Actor with PlayWrite, Inc., as well as director and acting 2 instructor for Portland Actors Conservatory. He is also Lead Teaching Artist with the Red Door Project's August Wilson Monologue Competition.

Conor J. Nolan is an actor, writer, and musician based out of Portland, Oregon. He has performed on stage with Coho Productions, Lakewood Theatre, Funhouse Lounge, and Twilight Theatre company. Conor also works in film and TV, working on shows such as Hulu’s Shrill. He loves to create new works and has written and directed with the Portland 10 Minute Play Fest at the Clinton Street Theater. He is incredibly grateful to be working with PlayWrite, Inc. - such a beautiful fusion of creativity and service to others!

Ashley Olson is a veteran educator with extensive experience in educational and arts administration, teaching, ESL, and devised theatre. Ashley holds a BFA in Acting from Syracuse University where she had the once and a lifetime experience of studying with the masters of voice, movement, and text at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. She earned her MA in Educational Theatre from New York University in 2010 and completed a summer internship in Zanzibar that changed her life. She quickly moved from intern to core member to Program Director for Global Empowerment Theatre, an organization that utilizes social justice theatre and playwriting techniques to build literacy and empowerment in East African and Indian youth. For seven years Ashley organized, managed, and facilitated all East African programming. Ashley has taught, run schools, and created theatre in the US, Morocco, Zanzibar, Myanmar, India, and Kenya. She grew up in Portland and after many years of roaming the world she returned in summer 2021 to be closer to family and reconnect with her first love of helping young people express themselves through theatre and art.

Cecily Overman is an actor, teacher and voiceover artist with an extensive background in theatrical and vocal performance. For the last 15 years, both teaching and performing, she has worked with a number of theatre companies including: Oregon Children's Theatre, Portland Center Stage, California Repertory, Profile Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, and many more. She holds Bachelor's degrees in both Psychology and Theatre from Whitman College. Cecily is committed to her work with PlayWrite where, as an actor and coach, she feels helping writers find their voice through theater is one of the most fulfilling roles she has ever played.

Darius Pierce (he/him/his) is a theatre artist based in Portland. He is proud to be considered a part of the PlayWrite family. Some noteworthy acting productions include Stupid F***ing Bird, Bedlam’s Sense and Sensibility, The Santaland Diaries, Beard of Avon, Twelfth Night, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The 39 Steps, Frost/Nixon, and Misalliance. Darius has also acted in A Christmas Story, and the JAW Festival (Portland Center Stage); Feathers and Teeth, Small Mouth Sounds, and The Strange Undoing of Prudentia Hart (Artists Repertory Theatre); the World Premiere of Stupid F***ing Bird (Wooly Mammoth Theatre); The Gaming Table, and Comedy of Errors (Folger Theatre); Lungs, Kiss (Third Rail Repertory Theatre); Les Misérables (Broadway Rose); 1776 (Lakewood Theatre); The Long Christmas Ride Home (Theatre Vertigo). Darius was awarded a Drammy for Outstanding Actor in Beard of Avon and a PAMTA for Best Supporting Actor in Les Misérables. He is a proud Company Member at Third Rail Repertory Theatre, co-founder of the Anonymous Theatre Company, member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, and collector of turtles. Befitting a life in the theatre, Darius has a Bachelor of Science in Math and Computer Science.

Peter Ray Field is an actor/writer/director/producer, a former story analyst for Miramax Films and New Line Cinema in New York, a member of the Professional Actors Training Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a performer off (and way-off) Broadway, in television, and indie film. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from the University of Washington and, in 2017, an MFA in Creative and Dramatic Writing from Spalding University, in Louisville, Kentucky, which included a residency in Ireland. Most recently, Peter was awarded an artist’s residency at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, in Temecula, California. Also a member of Toastmasters Int’l, Peter is fully committed to the PlayWrite mission, to use the power of performance art to transform the lives of youth at the edge.

Jen Rowe is an Actor, Director and Self-Producer in Portland, Oregon. She is CoArtistic Director of the new nonprofit organization, The Theatre Company. Directing credits include: Tender Napalm (Portland and Chicago), How We Got On (Portland Playhouse), This Girl Laughs This Girl Cries This Girl Does Nothing (Western Oregon University), The Jewish Wife, The Informer, DasVedanya Mama, Mercury Fur, The Unseen, Phaedra’s Love, Waiting, and Subject to Change at various theaters. During her artist residency at CoHo Theatre, she docu-devised a one-act about the women’s health crisis in America. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Quick + Dirty Productions. As an Actor, Jen has been seen at Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, Third Rail, Portland Playhouse, CoHo Theatre, Milagro Theatre, Jewish Theater Collective, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Playwrights West, and BoomArts. Voice credits include Oregon Lottery and Our Oregon. She is a proud member of Actors Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA, has been seen on NBC’s Grimm, TNT’s The Librarians, played in a band and written/performed in local sketch shows. She enjoys serving as a Coach/Actor for PlayWrite, Inc and spends as much time with animals as possible.

John San Nicolas is an actor, playwright, director and theatre educator from San Diego, California. He has lived in Portland since 2005. John is a Resident Artist at Artists Repertory Theatre where he has appeared in more than 15 shows including The Motherf&*ker With the Hat, Jack Goes Boating, Trevor, The Humans, Everybody, An Octoroon, Magellanica and Grand Concourse. He has also worked with most major Portland theatres including Portland Center Stage, Third Rail Rep., Miracle Theatre, Oregon Children's Theatre, Imago Theatre, Portland Playhouse and Shaking the Tree Theatre. He has appeared in several films as well as the TV shows Portlandia and Leverage. He is a graduate of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (NYC) and a proud member of Actors Equity Association And SAG-AFTRA. He has worked with PlayWrite since 2010.

Cynthia Shur Petts has lived in Portland since 2017. She is an actor, writer, producer, comedian, and storyteller who lived on the coasts of Northern California and New England before spending many years on the third coast of Lake Michigan in Chicago. She has performed in comedy festivals in Portland, Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto, and Honolulu, and is the co-creator of Chicago’s monthly variety show This One Woman, where each show is inspired by the life of a different famous woman. Locally she has worked as an actor with Profile Theatre, Anonymous Theatre, Corrib Theatre, and Pulp Stage, and as a teaching artist with Portland Center Stage and From the Ground UP. She loves collaborating with and learning from the many passionate and interdisciplinary artists in Portland, and believes art is vital in the pursuit of social justice. As a writer/performer, she is especially interested in exploring ways of storytelling that use (and break) traditional structures of different forms—like theatre, standup comedy, poetry, travel diary, lecture, guided tour, and performance art—to play with shifts in tone, tempo, and narrative. Cynthia is an Administrative Assistant at Third Rail Repertory Theatre and has a daughter.

Jessica Zodrow grew up in Ashland, Oregon, the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. From the age of nine she began acting which grew into directing and playwriting. She completed her B.A in Theatre Arts at Southern Oregon University, then worked as a theatre and teaching artist in the Portland Metro area, in New York City (the surrounding Boroughs), and in the Bay Area. Her love of community building and theatre teaching led her back to the Big Apple in 2009 where she received her Master’s in Theatre Education at NYU. Currently she works for Curious Comedy Theater as an administrator and educator, runs her own immersive theatre company joy & wonder theatre, and is a PlayWrite, Inc. coach/actor and trainer. What interests her most is the power in storytelling, creating the space where something can happen and the skills in empathy and confidence that theatre making builds in people of all ages. She is also floored by both the amount of learning and fun that happens, even in short periods of time, while making theatre with a group of young people. Everyones voice needs a place to be heard.

Are you a theatre creative from the Portland Metro area interested in becoming a PlayWrite, Inc. coach and/or actor? We are committed to hiring and training professionals for a competitive wage, and our coaches and actors are vital to our mission of transforming lives of “youth at the edge.”

Contact Us to learn about how to join our team!