Our Writers

 


Nicolas Hoover
graduated from the University of Washington School of Drama in 2004, and has recently returned to Seattle after living in New York for five years. His writing has appeared in Breadcrumb Scabs, Fringe Magazine, and [untitled], and his short play for young actors, The Red Merit Badge of Courage, is available from Samuel French. He has received both first place and an honorable mention in the Writers' Weekly 24-Hour Short Story Contest and was a semifinalist in the fifth-annual Literary Upstart Competition hosted by L Magazine in Brooklyn. Nicolas was a 2012 Lambda Literary Fellow. To learn more about Nicolas and his work, please visit his website at www.NicolasHoover.com.

Jennie Fahn
wrote and performed "You Mutha! A One-Mother Show" for two years at various venues in Los Angeles as well as at the New York Fringe Festival. She was awarded a Best Screenplay award at the Los Angeles International Film Festival for her short film, "Tea With Grandma," in which she played opposite Tippi Hedren. She has also produced two short children, Harrison and Samuel, of which she is most proud.

Brendan Weinhold and Spencer Seibert
met on a set as actor and scripty and one day realized they were fighting for the same kinds of things in love and politics. This is their first writing collaboration.
Brendan is the author of sketches for Two White Wines and Daily Fiber Films. He wrote the web series Gentle Werewolf, which has been seen in readings at We Make Movies, and is currently in pre-production. Before moving to L.A., he taught children's theatre in Germany and Seattle, where he guided children in writing their own plays collaboratively. He continues guide children in scriptwriting as a volunteer for the Young Storytellers Foundation.
Spencer is a writer, editor, and post-production jack-of-all-trades living in San Francisco. He received a BFA in film production from Chapman University in 2009 and has worked on numerous short films, documentaries, music videos, and TV ads. He currently works for Beast Editorial, a TV commercial post house, as a motion graphic artist.

Stina Pederson
writes poetry and fiction, and recently began her foray into writing for the dramatic arts. Her work can be seen in Bricolage Literary Magazine, where she was a contributing editor from 2005-2007. Stina has been writing all her life and has her B.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Washington. She is a founding member of Ray Burley Productions and stage managed their production of Dylan Thomas' Under Milkwood in Seattle, WA.

Our Actors

 

Dawn Alden
holds an MFA in Acting with an emphasis on classical work and period style. She has studied physical theatre with Toby Jones of Theatre Complicite, Alexander technique and mask work with Sarah Barker, and stage combat in a wide variety of weapons with instructors from all over the world. She co-founded GREX, a movement/commedia/combat theatre troupe; The Young Company, a Shakespeare troupe; and founded Babes With Blades, an all-female stage combat theatre company.

Whit Spurgeon
was born in Wichita, Kansas, and grew up in Muncie, Indiana. He received his degree in Acting from Syracuse University in 1987, including a semester in London where he worked with LAMDA. Whit spent 20 years in Chicago working in commercials and appearing in many Jeff Award-winning plays with theaters as varied as Prop Thtr, Timeline Theatre and Circle Theatre, appearing in two Rebecca Gilman world premieres at Circle, "The Glory of Living" and "The Crime of the Century." Before moving to Los Angeles, he performed for 2 years in the hit show, "Hizzoner," playing Alderman Tom Keane. After scoring various commercials for clients including Pick & Save Supermarkets, Citgo, and Verizon, he moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to pursue commercial, film and television work. Since arriving here he has appeared on TV in "Cougartown" and "Heartbreakers," in the feature film "Chastity Bites" as Benny, and in dozens of shorts, including the award-winning "Vessel" as Murray -- recently optioned by Paramount as a feature film. He also writes, directs and produces, and his short film "The Interview" is presently making the festival rounds. His odd skills include juggling, water-skiing and bubble blowing.

Leilani Smith
was born in Osan City, Korea. In 2007, she received her 1st degree black belt in Karate and has gone on to train in Muay Thai, Grappling, Kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu. Currently training and teaching with Allen Levin of Lifebook Acting Academy. Recently off stage at ICT, Long Beach in "Flyin' West" as Fannie, shot 6 episodes of the comedy "Love Handles," and shooting the extended trailer of "JANE" which she created, co-wrote and the lead. Excited to show her love in this production, for all the trees in her life.

Brendan Weinhold
plays Eric in Top Decking for Webisodes Network and is a frequent contributor to the acting pool at We Make Movies. He's drawn to works with heavy philosophical and political themes. His favorite roles include Tesman in a feminist adaptation of Hedda Gabler, Hedda; D in the real life tales of homeless youth, Polaroid Stories; and Another Me in a dance interpretation of Billy Collins' I Go Back to the House for a Book. The bulk of his training comes from his B.A. in Drama at the University of Washington and his time at First Stage Milwaukee as a child.

Our Production Team

 

Tim J. Lim, director
is a director/writer based out of LA. He moved to LA from Michigan where he attended college. Born in Chicago to a Korean family, but at the age of four, his family moved to China where he spent 13 years of his life before moving back to Michigan for college. He currently resides in North Hollywood.

Robyn Guillory, stage manager
is quite the theater guru, being involved for the past few years. Her love for stage managing continues to grow with each production. Her past plays include Mad-forest, Lady Liberty and The Existents and many more. She hopes audiences enjoy the show and thanks all her family and friends who support her each and every day.

Jennifer Hinteriano, stage manager
was born 1994, and she moved from California to north Carolina and back. Finally graduating high school in 2012, she started to work in retail. After a year and a half working in customer service along with retail and meeting great people on the way, a friend invited her to join "Four Tree Plays" as a stage manager. Still growing and experiencing new things, new ideas and new adventures come along to clear up her view of the future.

Sharon Spence, costumer
has a blast designing and creating costumes for stage and screen. It's always fun for her to see how the clothes reflect the times, mores and attitudes of the characters in a play or film, and how they affect the actors and their movement. She has worked on such diverse projects as chain mail armor and nun's habits and pagan revelers in 1066 England for "Secret Sacrifice", middle America in the 40's in "Big Broadcast", and contemporary angst in the pilot for "Shrinking Violet", as well as a psychedelic version of the witch in "Hansel and Gretel say Nope to Dope" and an even wilder cast of diverse characters such as Corporal Punishment and Sergeant Fleacollar in "Pulling Rank".

Anne Mesa, associate producer
produced over a dozen world premieres in Los Angeles since 2008, ranging from dramas, comedies, spoken word poetry, one acts, one-person shows to musicals. She is also an actress, improviser, director, choreographer and dancer, and performed on several stages from iO West in Hollywood to San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts. Her credits include – Producer: All The Wrong Places, How Katrina Plays, Just A Song At Twilight, Shoshannah’s That Hootchie, Brooklyn USA, Our Beds Are Crowded, The EDGE Improv, Urban Legends, Waking from the Dream, Bridge, ’Roid Rage, No-Fault, Berlin Cowboys, and Geeks! The Musical!. Director: If Nietzsche Dated, Coupon Caper, and a remount of Geeks! The Musical! (Asst. Dir). Choreographer: Blues for Central Avenue, Measure for Measure, Uncle Vampire, Darwin Project, and many others. She is a Senior Staff member for Write Act Repertory in Hollywood. Anne currently serves as Chairperson for Asian-American Media Professionals (AMP) at Paramount Pictures and spearheads events, professional seminars/lectures, and workshops on the Paramount lot. She recently appeared in the premiere web series, “Acting Dead.” Her passions include fire dancing, music, filmmaking and production. She is proud to be part of the production team for Four Tree Plays and thanks Brendan and Stina for inviting her on board. She supports the team’s vision of environmental stewardship and making quality theatre accessible to all. For more information, please visit anne-producer.weebly.com.