CAST

DOUG TOMPOS
R. Buckminster Fuller
Doug began his career in New York, appearing in the original Broadway production of City of Angels and the off-Broadway hits Jeffrey and Forever Plaid, among others. Since heading west, his work in regional theaters has included Angels in America I & II (American Conservatory Theatre), Mourning Becomes Electra (A Noise Within), Of Mice and Men (South Coast Repertory), A Doll’s House (Ensemble Theatre Company), End of the World Party (Celebration Theater), A Chorus Line and The Rocky Horror Show (5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle). Doug is the author and star of Bent to the Flame – A Night with Tennessee Williams, which he has performed around the country, recently winning the award for “Outstanding Solo Show” at the 2007 NY International Fringe Festival. His film and television credits include a starring role in the upcoming feature Being Michael Madsen, and roles on Close to Home, The West Wing, Frasier, Angel and High Incident, and in the films The Sleepwalker Killing, The Ultimate Lie and October 22, among others. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Professional Actor’s Training Program, the Banff Centre of Fine Arts and L.A.M.D.A. He continues to work with Diana Castle in L.A. Find more information at www.dougtompos.com.

CREATIVE TEAM

D.W. JACOBS
Director/Playwright
D.W. is a playwright, director, actor, teacher and producer. Before turning to theater, he studied science, mathematics and international relations in high school, and political geography at UC Santa Barbara. He brings a multi-disciplinary approach to his work and teaching. He started directing because he wanted to see Frank Wedekind’s plays staged. He began writing scripts at Cal Arts in classes taught by Alexander Mackendrick, the respected British film director. He co-founded San Diego Repertory Theatre in 1976 with Sam Woodhouse, where he worked as artistic director for more than 20 years. He resigned in 1997 to give more focus to his own creative projects. His play R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE premiered at San Diego Rep in 2000. The Foghouse production played in San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle (Intiman Theatre). Performed by Ron Campbell, it had more than 600 performances. Jacobs is now working on stage and film adaptations of various literary works, and he is developing original scripts for theater, film and digital video. In 2001, he received a commission from Z Space Studio to write a stage adaptation of Edward Bellamy’s 19th century utopian novel Looking Backward. In 2002, he wrote and directed Remember Me, a video short, co-produced with Kovarova. As an actor, he has played Joe in The Time of Your Life, Claudius in Hamlet, Howard in Mac Wellman’s A Murder of Crows (produced and directed by Darla Cash at Brown Field Gallery), Senator Bob in the world premiere of 7 Blowjobs (at Sledgehammer Theatre) and Andrew in Chuck Mee’s Limonade Tous Les Jours for Moxie Theatre. With Scott Feldsher, he co-wrote and co-directed The Whole World Is Watching (an adaptation of the Oedipus trilogy as TV talk show). Directing credits include Mac Wellman’s Albanian Softshoe (with Michael Roth), Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer, Ric Najera’s A Quiet Love, Arial Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden/La Murete y La Doncella (in English and Spanish), Antonio Skarmeta’s Burning Patience/Ardiente Paciencia (with Jorge Huerta, in English and Spanish), Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, Titus Andronicus and his own adaptation of Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In 2005, R. Buckminster Fuller: Memoires (et Mysteres) de’Lunivers played in Montréal, produced by Theatre Alambic and Theatre Denise-Pelletier, translated by Maryse Pelletier, with Jean Boilard playing Bucky, and directed by Bernard Lavoie. In 2005, Jacobs directed Brighde Mullins’ Water Stories from the Mojave Desert for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and began teaching an annual playwriting workshop at the Playwrights Foundation. With improvisational artist Nina Wise and chaos mathematician Ralph Abraham, he worked on a Kepler/ Galileo project as participants in the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (spring 2006). His 1986 production of Romulus Linney’s Holy Ghosts was invited to play in New York City as part of the 1987 American Theatre Exchange. He has won more than 15 awards from Dramalogue and San Diego Critics Circle for his work as a director and actor. He is the founder of the Actor’s Gym in San Diego—an eclectic approach to actor training that utilizes movement, poetry and improvisation. In January 2007, he participated in a writing retreat at Theatre Works in Palo Alto, working on Better than Sinatra with co-writer Gary Kelson and arranger Steve Gunderson. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Dramatists’ Guild and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

LUIS PEREZ-IXONEZTLI
Composer/Sound Designers
A native of Mexico City, Luis has traveled throughout the countryside studying musical traditions and collecting samples of songs and musical instruments, some more than 2,000 years old. His early work was a mix of sounds from ancient wind and percussion instruments blended with electronic devices. Luis was one of the artists who participated in representing his country in the “First Symposium of Music of Mexico” at UCLA, where he performed his work and displayed his collection of instruments. He relocated to the U.S. in 1987, and has toured the continent performing, lecturing and teaching. He has collaborated with musicians including Jackson Browne, Andreas Vollenweider, Ian Underwood, David Lindley, Kitaro and Jon Anderson. Luis’ film credits include working with composers James Horner, Hans Zimmer and John Powell for Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks, and he joined the French-Canadian company Cirque du Soleil for a three-year stint. He composed music for the award-winning Outdoor Television Network’s Earth Rescue and Friends of the Forest documentary series. Luis received a Fellowship Award from the California Arts Council for his modern composition using pre-Columbian instruments, Santuario de Mariposas. He is currently writing a book on the construction techniques of wind and percussion instruments native to Mexico and composing music at his own recording studio, Cuicacalli Productions. His first solo U.S. CD is Tales of Astral Travelers. His collection of artifacts is on is on display at the Albingers Museum of Archaeology until December 2008.

DARLA CASH
Costume and Projection Designer
Darla has practiced theater for more than 30 years as a producer, director, adapter, actor, designer and educator. She now lives on a tropical fruit farm on the Big Island of Hawaii, where she practices medicine from the Asian and shamanic traditions. Darla is a distributing member of Life Force International and can be reached at darlacash@earthlink.net. She lovingly dedicates her work to Gene Jacobs, an extraordinary urban evolutionary engineer and orator.

DAVID LEE CUTHBERT
Scenic, Lighting and Lead Projection Designer
David was the original lighting designer for the world premiere of R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE. He lit the Tony Award-winning 700 Sundays on Broadway as well as the national and international tours. Other tours include the Open Theatre’s Terminal directed by Joe Chaikin, and two tours with The New Pickle Circus. His work has been seen at Opera San Jose, Indiana Rep, South Coast Rep, The Group at Strasberg, PCPA Theaterfest, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Magic Theatre, A Contemporary Theater, The Intiman, Syracuse Stage, 7 Stages and PS 122. For San Jose Rep he designed This Wonderful Life (projections and lights), Rabbit Hole, Moonlight and Magnolias, Hannah and Martin, ART (Dean Goodman Choice Award) and The Piano Lesson. He has been a frequent collaborator at San Diego Rep, where he designed sets, lights and projections for Women Who Steal and A Christmas Carol 1941. He was a resident artist at Sledgehammer Theatre, where he designed lights, sets and/or projections for more than a dozen productions including production design on the Frankenstein Project v.2.0 and lighting A Knife in the Heart (San Diego Critic’s Circle Award). He is the theater arts department chair, and an associate professor of design at UC Santa Cruz.

ERIN ROBSON-SMITH
Stage Manager
After graduating with her B.A. in theater arts from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Erin moved to Portland and joined the stage management team at Artists Repertory Theatre. Working her way from production assistant to stage manager, she collected a fondness for unique director requests and for the cueing of various objects falling from the “sky.” Favorite productions from the last several years include The Beard of Avon and The Underpants (PCS); Metamorphoses, The Retreat from Moscow, Frozen, Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, Humble Boy (ART); Lonesome West, Number Three (Third Rail Repertory Theatre); and Under Milkwood (Ironclad Productions). She heartily looks forward to adding more shows to her favorite list with Portland Center Stage in 2008.

KELLY CULLOM
Production Assistant
This is Kelly’s second season at PCS. Last season she was PA for A Christmas Carol, A Feminine Ending and Doubt. Prior to coming to PCS she worked as a production assistant and light board operator at Artists Repertory Theatre for more than three seasons, including PA work on They Came from Way out There, The Seagull and Take Me Out. A graduate of The Evergreen State College, she has been busy in the Portland tech theater scene since her arrival in 2004.

CHRIS COLEMAN
Artistic Director
Chris Coleman joined Portland Center Stage as artistic director in May 2000. Before coming to Portland, he was artistic director at Actor’s Express in Atlanta, a company he co-founded in the basement of an old church in 1988. In the 12 years of his leadership, the Express grew from a shoestring operation to one of the most highly regarded small theaters in the country. Last season, Chris directed Cabaret, The Beard of Avon and The Little Dog Laughed. He has directed at major theaters across the country, including Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle, The Alliance Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Asolo Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and Center Stage in Baltimore. A native Atlantan, Chris holds a B.F.A. from Baylor University and an M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon. Chris has long been a public advocate for the arts both locally and nationally. From 1998 – 2004 he served on the board of directors of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for professional theaters; he chairs the Cultural Advocacy Network board and sits on advisory boards for the Eastern & Central European Theatre Initiative and Sojourn Theatre in Portland. He is a 2004/05 Fellow of the American Leadership Forum of Oregon.

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