2024 Digital Binder – In Person

Minki Bai is a first-year MFA actor in the University of Washington PATP program. Originally from British Columbia, Minki came to Seattle to attend UW for his undergrad. Recent credits include Taproot Theatre's touring play, Hark the Harold, Centerstage Theatre's Ghost Train, and Dacha Theatre’s Star Play. Minki is also a proud ensemble member and teaching artist at Jet City Improv.

Alegra Batara (They/them) is a Filipino-American actor, director, and playwright born and raised in the PNW. They earned their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University in St. Louis in 2021, and spent 2 years working professionally in the midwest. They're grateful to be home again in this amazing artistic community. Though musical theatre will always be Alegra's first love, they've fallen madly in love with Shakespeare and Chekov, as well as the ever expanding catalogue of contemporary plays.
Alegra is passionate about Asian/Asian American stories, queer stories, and accessibility in theatre. Much of their creative interest lies in new work and devised movement pieces that focus on new ways of telling stories.
Outside of theatre, Alegra enjoys reading, crocheting, and drinking tea.

Jo Ben-Shmuel (she/her is a Seattle-based actor and teaching artist who centers queer joy, accessibility, and compassion in her work. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Cornish College of the Arts, and has been involved in theatre since early childhood. She is dedicated to honoring the queer experience as that of joy and educating students of all ages on the importance of generosity in theatremaking.

Christian is a Pacific Northwest based theatre artist, after coming to Washington from Southern California. He is personally enriched by theatre's sense of community and ability to break down barriers, and thrives knowing the Puget Sound theatre region champions that mindset. He believes that truly great theatre should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and he strives to let that mentality help guide him towards working for a more equitable, just, and diverse theatre landscape. Beyond this he enjoys work that celebrates artists. Artists and their work are necessary for a healthy, vibrant community.

He feels passionately about stories that grapple with terminal illness, and the maintenance of human dignity in the face of it.

Leilani Kepo'ikai Bostock (she/her) is a bilingual, multi-disciplinary artist from the Big Island of Hawai'i based in Seattle. Bostock has a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from Cornish College of the Arts and studied generative theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed with Dr.Mojisola Adebayo at Queen Mary University in London. She is the artistic director of The Dirty Darlings, where she re-writes fairytales through a queer and feminist lens and uses burlesque as a form of heightened text to tell stories of liberation. Bostock is the host of "Halo-Halo" an all Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander cabaret at The Jewelbox Theatre. Bostock infuses her acting, singing, and directorial work with her classical training and lived experience as a Queer, Indigenous woman growing up between the United Kingdom and Hawai'i. She was last seen at 18th & Union's Portable Performance Festival with her solo show "He Mele 'Au."

David was born and raised in Seattle, and has graduated with a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts with a concentration in musical theatre. Since then he's worked with almost a dozen different theatre companies around the greater Seattle area. He cares about making theatre that's unique and memorable. Outside of theatre, he loves playing story-based video games, going to the gym, and mixing and learning about cocktails!

My professional career in technical theatre runs from 1969 – 1990, venues include the Seattle Rep, ACT, PNB, Seattle Opera, Paramount and 5th Avenue Theatres, Journeyman, IATSE Local 15. I’m an old school Seattle theatre guy.
I designed lights at ACT (Greg Falls, Director) and Empty Space, (Burke Walker director) as well. I was able to work my way through college and law school and opened my own law firm in Kitsap in 1991.
Organizing and directing ten annual campy, bawdy, musical murder mystery dinner theater fund raisers for my kids’ school made show business fun again and it got me out in front of the scenery, actually singing in public, which turned out to be a slippery slope. I started to successfully audition. Meanwhile, as a founding Board member of the Port Gamble Theater company, we resurrected the 100 year old venue into a successful, vibrant member of the Kitsap theater scene, now in our 13th season. I am also on the Board of Directors at Island Theatre, Bainbridge and have directed two of their productions.
The late Micheal Moore, theatre critic for the Kitsap Sun notably described my performance as the songwriter in Curtains as “Wonderful” and my George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life as “Marvelous” He was too kind, of course, but we all like good reviews.
My role as Zach in A Chorus Line at BPA was epipheral for me as I was the flyman for the pre production run of the original Broadway tour (1976) at the now McCall Hall in Seattle, and never dreamed I would ever actually be in such a show.
Being on stage is a privilege for me and I look forward to every opportunity.

Hello,

My name is Kendra Tamär Budd, and I am a member of the Hanis Coos tribe. I have been acting since I was 11 years old, and am trained in Shakespeare, Viewpointing, Stage Combat, and many other modern techniques.

My range is between alto and mezzo soprano, and I also have assistant stage manager experience.

My favorite role I have played is Robin Goodfellow from Midsummer Night’s Dream!

I have a 15-year-old cat named Sunny, and enjoy reading and writing in my spare time.

Recent performance credits include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at American Players Theater, alongside Joshua Castille in an ASL bilingual production adapted and directed by John Langs; a workshop reading of Hells Canyon, written by Keiko Green, through the Kenan Fellowship program at the Kennedy Center; Margaret Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, directed by Marti Lyons; Dina in The Rivals, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner at American Players Theater; Belle in A Christmas Carol at the Children’s Theater of Madison; and Ying-Ying in a workshop reading of Paper Dream directed by Desdemona Chiang, through Western Washington University. Isabelle is a drama graduate of the UNC School of the Arts.

Thank you for the opportunity!

I have been acting for as long as I can remember, whether it be with my school or with Youth Theatre Northwest in Mercer Island. I graduated from Western Washington University with a Theatre degree in June 2023

Hi there! I'm Gabi, and I graduated from the University of Washington in 2018 with a BA degree in Drama Performance. After that I spent a year in Princeton, New Jersey as the Artistic Engagement Apprentice at the McCarter Theatre Center. I loved being able to take the train into New York on weekends to see theatre of all kinds, and this made me realize how much I missed acting. Then (of course) the pandemic happened and that dream was put on hold. This year, I have recommitted to finding community through theatre in Seattle and reconnecting with my passion for acting. In my current day job I work at Fred Hutch Cancer Center training new medical schedulers which is work that I also care deeply about. Thank you for the opportunity to share with you what I've been working on!

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Sawyer Buyagawan is an actor, teaching artist, and playwright based in Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR. As an artist of faith, Sawyer believes in Servant Storytelling, the belief that theatre always points to something that is greater than ourselves, and that theatre is essential for our souls.

Sawyer has coached acting, taught improv, and assisted with several student productions at Seattle Christian School and George Fox University.

BA in Theatre (Acting/Directing), Theology Minor – George Fox University.

Lizzy Bennett (she/her) is a recent transplant to Seattle from Montana since May 2022. She has worked in educational theater and touring theater since 2015. She graduated with a BFA in Acting from the University of Montana in 2016.