Liebe Wetzel (Artistic Director of Lunatique Fantastique) was born in Dallas, Texas to a woman afflicted with big hair, tidy -i – tis, and a broad accent. Liebe spent her formative years in the closet avoiding marauding mops and brooms. There she met the sponge Foamee and object theatre was born. Liebe spends most of her time at the Marsh playing with the Lunatique Fantastique objects that join her in her residency there. Most recently she was on stage with in the 2005 SF Opera production of Queen of Spades, manipulating Jill’s feet. Other performing credits include left hand and head of Rev. Bill Pruitt in the 2000, 2001, 2004 versions of Snake in the Basement: the Prosecution of Rev. Bill Pruitt, #3 sponge in Objects in Predicaments, potatoe feet of Spud Flexor in My Dinner with Lunatique Fantastique, Peanut man head and left arm in Wrapping Paper Caper, tinsel feet of Mlle. Papier in Another Wrapping Paper Caper, head and right arm of Teacup Napkin son in E.O. 9066, head and left arm of Farmer Toilet Paper in Fixed Boundary. Her object choreography credits include Brace Yourself!, The Wrapping Paper Caper Series, Cirque de Celery, E.O. 9066 , Fixed Boundary, Reframing the Hourglass, and Nutcracker Nutz and Boltz. In 2004 she toured England with productions of Objects in Predicaments, The Wrapping Paper Caper, and Cirque de Celery. In May 2006 she will be a resident fellow at the Montalvo Arts Center, where she will be researching two potential productions: Flight or Fright about the bird flu and Stump concerning American amputees returning from Iraq. For more information about Lunatique Fantastique please visit www.lunfan.com.

Jayne Wenger (Director) is a director, dramaturg, and producer whose primary focus is on original material. Throughout over 25 years of professional theater experience she has been dedicated to the development, direction and production of original plays and solo performances. Most recently she has worked with Dan Hoyle on his new show Tings Dey Happen selected for the Aurora Theatre’s Global Age Project. She has participated for the past two years in The Last Frontier Theatre Festival in Valdez, Alaska where she teaches workshops focused on directing and acting in new plays. She is the past Artistic Director of the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation (1995-2000) and was the Artistic Director of Women’s Ensemble of New York for eight years. She has developed the emerging work of playwrights such as Naomi Izuka, Nilo Cruz, Anne Galjour, Holly Hughes, Brighde Mullins, Margery Kreitman, Deke Weaver, Brenda Wong Aoki and Kate Bornstein. She has collaborated with Claire Chafee on numerous projects and her direction of the world premiere of Why We Have a Body at the Magic Theater was recognized with numerous awards. Her work on Beauty and the Breast is dedicated to the memory her cousin, beloved friend and fellow theater artist, Gilda Perez.

Christina Young (Dramaturg) is a theatre director, dramaturg and educator who specializes in new play development. She serves as Associate Artistic Director for the Playwrights Foundation, for which she produces the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the In The Rough developmental reading series. Current projects in development include One Instance of Burning with Chris Rodgers (for which she received a Theatre Bay Area individual artist CA$H grant), Cry Don’t Cry with multi-disciplinary ensemble Balé Techlorico (developed through Shotgun Theatre’s Lab Program). Recent productions include the American premiere of Edward Bond’s A-A-America for Crowded Fire, the world premiere of E. O. 9066 with Lunatique Fantastique, and the world premiere of Two Birds & A Stone, by Amy Wheeler for the Capitol Hill Arts Center in Seattle. Locally, Christine has worked with the Magic Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, TheatreWorks, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and EXIT Theatre. Christine holds an MFA in directing from the University of Iowa and a BA in Religion from Princeton University.

Lunatique Fantastique Ensemble

Jen Colasuonno (Puppeteer) is a versatile performer, choreographer, collaborator and teacher. If anyone asks how she became a performer she says that it was through pure exploration and play! Jen is delighted to be a member of Lunatique Fantastique! To see what else little big eyes is up to these days, check out her website: www.jencolasuonno.com

Sheila Devitt (Puppeteer) marks her third production with Lunatique Fantastique with Beauty and the Breast, following last year’s tour of E. O. 9066, and Wrapping Paper Caper 2004.Sheila’s previous stage roles include Elvira in Blithe Spirit, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible (Albuquerque Little Theatre), and Charlotta in The Cherry Orchard (Moscow Art Theatre School, Cambridge, MA). Sheila earned her BFA in theatre from the University of New Mexico, and is a current member of Theatre Bay Area. She thanks the cast, Liebe, Jayne, the crew at the EXIT, and family & friends for all the support.

Nicole Frantilla (Puppeteer) is now on her 6th show as an object animator. Past LunFan shows include the UK tour of Wrapping Paper Caper and Cirque du Celery as well as her favorite - E. O. 9066. She would like to thank a teacup, a nightshirt, carrots, packing peanuts, and the flight from Chicago for making all this possible.

Susie Gaskill (Puppeteer) has been creating and performing with Lunatique Fantastique since 2001. She has a BFA in Theatre from Marymount Manhattan College with a Musical Theatre Minor and a concentration in dance. Other credits include Pique Dame with the San Francisco Opera, Cricket on the Hearth with San Jose Stage Co. and Lunatique Fantastique shows such as Snake in the Basement, Brace Yourself, My Dinner with Lunatique Fantastique, Construction Cabaret, E.O. 9066, Attack of The Wrapping Paper Caper, and Objects in Predicaments which traveled to London. She is excited to have the opportunity to work on Beauty and the Breast. Thanks to Matt and Luke for their love and support and to the women she interviewed for their time and input.

Kelly Holly (“Texas”) (Puppeteer) received a BA in dance choreography and performance from the University of North Texas in 2003 and is a graduate of the San Francisco School of Circus Arts’ Clown Conservatory. She’s been seen in Circus Center’s 2005 Showcase as well as corporate performances for Yahoo, Macy’s, and Charles Schwab as a stilt-dancer. She is currently a resident company member of Lunatique Fantastique and has performed in their productions of E. O. 9066, Reframing the Hourglass, and Nutcracker, Nutz and Boltz. Though far from her southern fried family and neighborhood Wal-Mart, she is happy to have found her place way out west and thinks she will stay a while.

Robin Plutchok (Puppeteer) has performed with Lunatique Fantastique since 2003. Robin graduated with a degree in Theater and Dance from Amherst College and has studied with Charlie Varon, SITI Company, ACT Studio, Leonard Pitt and Dell’Arte Summer Programs. She co-created Tripping on the Equator and Other Stories performed in the 2003 San Francisco Fringe Festival. Robin is the 1997 recipient of a Solano County “Arty” Award for Best Female Lead in a Drama as Sister Rita in The Runner Stumbles. As a Peace Corp Volunteer, she co-created and performed an environmental education show toured throughout Paraguay. When not animating found objects on stage, Robin works to save them from the landfill.

Christina Shonkwiler (Puppeteer) began performing and touring as a musician, and then took it to new heights when she discovered theatrical storytelling with masks and puppets. She has been seen with accordions and puppets of all shapes and sizes in theatres, schools and streets all over the United States. Christina graduated from The Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre, performed with Bread and Puppet Theatre, Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre, and is now in her 3rd production with Lunatique Fantastique. When not trying out new artistic possibilities with her creations, Christina teaches art and science to children and explores the world.

Designers and Crew

Amanda Ortmayer (lighting design) is happy to be a part of the EXIT family for a little over three years now. Past Designs include Boxcar Bertha, Tingle Tangle Cabaret, and The New District Manager and The Mandala Olive Project for previous DIVAfests. She has had the pleasure to work with such wonderful companies as Woman’s Will, La Luna, Abydos, Lamplighters, Mugwupin, Cinnabar Theatre and Ripe Theatre. Some of her favorite designs include working for the remarkable and talented Debby Eubanks and the fantastically, charming Sean Owens. Amanda would like to thank Ted for, you know, everything.

Sarah Szewczyk (light board operator) is very pleased to be a part of this production. She works all around the Bay Area as an electrician and lighting designer. Recently, she has worked at The ODC Theater, CCCT in El Cerrito, and Berkeley Rep. This is her second time working at the EXIT and she is so happy to be back and extremely happy to be working with such a wonderful group of women.

Spencer Reynolds (production assistant) came down with a bad case of theatr-itis fifteen years ago when volunteering as technician on a production of Steven Berkoff’s East that played in several venues in San Francisco including the Magic Theatre. He later went on to be the technical director at the Marsh Theatre assisting it through a series of moves down Valencia Street to its present location. When the Bindlestiff Theater Company disbanded, he took over their Sixth Street site keeping the doors open, producing and co-producing some 30 theatrical events in as many months before turning over the theater, which is now home to a Filipino theater collective in their new digs on Natoma Alley. Since then his theater experiences have been limited to being an occasional audience member. Today he is again volunteering, this time at the EXIT Theatre in appreciation of the advice, help and friendship previously extended.

EXIT Theatre (Producer) is a 23-year-old theater dedicated to helping artists develop their craft by providing opportunities to perform and by building an audience for that performance. We commission and produce plays, provide production support and low cost rentals at our four stage theatreplex, host theaters-in-residence, and produce the annual San Francisco Fringe Festival and DIVAfest.

EXIT Theatre and DIVAfest 2006 are supported by the Rockfeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund, San Francisco’s Hotel Tax Fund Grant for the Arts, the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, the San Francisco Art Commission Cultural Equity Grants Program, the Mary Wohlford Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Fund, the Bernard Osher Foundation, San Francisco’s Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund, the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, the Damatists Guild Fund, the Puffin Foundation, Individual Contributions and other donors.

Special Thanks

Anonymous, Christina Arguello, Letitia Bartlett, Joanna Brussier, Debbie Burger, Carmen, Jeannine Chappell, The Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic, Dr. Consorti, Gigi DeRoin, Neal & Paula Devitt, Debra Kaufman, Krystal, Richard Livingston, Shel Marie, Lynn McCoy, Julie McGrath, Fran Groth, Michael, Donna Mae Montgomery, Sarah Norris, Amanda Ortmayer, ZB, Judith Revord, Kathleen Roberts, Terry Sendgraff, Susan Single, Jennifer Smith, Heather Terry, Deborah Slater, Linda Devers and Milton Diaz Perez chaufeur service, Friend to Friend Specialty Shop at UCSF Mount Zion Medical Center, The Women’s Cancer Resource Center

Breast Cancer Resources: The Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic, Friend to Friend Specialty Shop at UCSF Mount Zion Medical Center, The Women’s Cancer Resource Center

For more information about the Lunatique Fantastique creative process or about us please visit www.lunfan.com