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| Artist Bios |
Annie Larson (Performer and Writer) actor, improviser, singer, is a SF bay area native, and has performed on stages around these parts since she was a small child. As an apparent adult, she has appeared on more stages than she can count with Over Our Heads Comedy Improv Troupe, George Coates Performance Works, the San Francisco and Vancouver Fringe Festivals, Venue Nine, the Marsh, Women’s comedy radio, and in various independent film and voiceover projects. Annie also appeared at the SF Fringe in 1999 with her solo piece Flying Home. Karen Ripley (Performer and Writer) is a comedian, writer, composer, singer, and recording, TV and film artist. I’ve been fighting for GLBT rights for 25 years through humor. After Hurricane Katrina I had to say something. So this is it. It’s always an honor to work with Annie Larson and now my two new friends Christina Augello and Apple Jack. Thank You to the folks at the EXIT Theater for this profound experience. Annie and Karen appeared together with Over Our Heads Improv Troupe and in George Coates Performance Works production of Valerie Solanas’ Up Your Ass in San Francisco and at PS 122 in New York. Annie and Karen received the “Best Musical Comedy” award at the SF Fringe in 2005 with their piece Show Me Where It Hurts. Jack “Applejack” Walroth (Soundscape, Music & Accompaniment) is a veteran freelance San Francisco singer, musician, songwriter, and music publisher, whose career has remained somewhat below the radar, even though it has included longstanding associations with many better known musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. Recent credits include co-authoring lyrics on two songs on Boz Scaggs CD, Dig; playing harmonica on Quicksand: Songs of Kermit Lynch CD, featuring Alvin Youngblood Hart and Jon Cleary, plus several stints with the Boz Scaggs Rhythm and Blues tour. Within recent years, has developed an expandable solo /duo / trio ensemble to play local venues in an acoustic or semi-acoustic format, featuring a diverse repertory of originals, eclectic, and alternative sounds. Applejack spent his formative years in Chicago, came of age during an exciting era and plunged deeply into the amazing blues world existing there due to the ongoing mass migration of talented southern blues musicians to Chicago, especially after World War II. This milieu provided him a rich and irreplaceable firsthand experience. He’s a stalwart of the San Francisco scene – “the Bay Guardian has been here one year longer than I have”. He has also shared stage and / or recording studio with Zigaboo Modeliste, Steve Freund, Bonnie Raitt, Annie Samson, Sam Lay, Luther Tucker, Michael Bloomfield, and Elvin Bishop, among others. “Even played for Neil Young’s birthday bash last year (with Nick Gravenites)”. For EXIT Theatre’s Boxcar Bertha he provided all in-show music as guitarist (both originals & standards), plus all in-show sound design / effects, as well as the pre-show & post show ‘lobby music’ compilation. Curtis Overacre (Lighting Designer and Technician) Curtis hails from the land of where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. Growing up rurally, he had a lot of spare time to create a fantasy world to live in, which drew him to the theatre. He began by volunteering to help with costumes and make-up for the Tulsa Opera and Moves Dance Co., The Fat Bottom Revue, and Vile Jelly Theatre. Last year, Curtis O. went with the S.F. Buffoons to the New York Fringe Festival, where he met the Banana Bag and Bodice folks and worked with Sandwich for the 2003 S.F. Fringe Festival, and again as a technician for Sandwich in their co-production with EXIT in 2004. Christina Augello (Cameo) is an actress, arts advocate and founding artistic director of EXIT Theatre. She has performed in the Bay Area for over thirty years. Over the last three DIVAfests she has developed two solo shows, Last Of The Red Hot Dadas by Kerry Reid and Boxcar Bertha by Ms. Reid in collaboration with Ms. Augello and director John Warren. Both shows premiered at DIVAfest and then went on to tour in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In June she will perform Last of the Red Hot Dadas in New York City at the Red Room Theatre. She would like to thank her fellow Divas for sharing their exceptional talent, creativity and vision. Boris :aka : “ Jules” (Voice Over) Boris is his real name, Jules is from Julius Boros, the golfer. Play on names started in High School, There! Graduated from State University College at Buffalo: BS in Design and has done several set designs at EXIT theater over the past 15 years. Got involved with voice overs to liberate the internal characters that manifest themselves daily. He studies at VOICEONE in SF and is signed with STARS Agency and continues in pursuit of His Passion. Became Friends with Christina and Richard in North Beach 26 years ago and there You have it. Favorite expressions “MAMASITA” and “WHAT A PLANET “ 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 Special thanks to Marie, John and all the staff at Original Joe’s, All the staff at the Fabolous EXIT Theatre, Christina Augello, Richard Livingston, Amanda Ortmayer, Noah Kelly, Lily, Latoya Nalls and Tiffney Jackson. An especially, the people of New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. For more information on some of the New Orleans grassroots and community based organizations, here are some that we know about: www.commongroundrelief.org “Just don’t forget our stories….just tell our stories”
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