Founders

Brian Tyrrell
A theatre professor at Centralia College since 1991. A graduate of Purdue University (MA, 1980, MFA 1997) in theatre performance, he's also a member of Actor's Equity Association, professional credits including seasons with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Alabama Shakespeare Festival and The National Shakespeare Company in New York as well as regional credits in Chicago, Seattle and Olympia. He is the former Artistic Associate/Casting Director for the Tacoma Actors Guild. He has been an instructor/director for the Academy of International Education each of he last three summers.

Bryan Willis (also playwright-in-residence and Board Member)

Quit his day job in '92 and has been a working playwright (that doesn't have to be an oxymoron) ever since.  His plays have been workshopped and produced off-Broadway, on the London fringe, throughout the U.K., Israel, and in theaters across the U.S. and Canada, including ACT, New York Theater Workshop, Seattle Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Unseam'd Shakespeare Co. and Riverside Studios in London.  His work has also been featured on NPR and BBC Radio (commission for Sophie).  Bryan is the proud recipient of a Theater Fellowship from Artist Trust and has also received the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for his work with the American College Theater Festival.  He has worked in the literary departments of many theaters, including Playwrights Horizons and Lincoln Center (NYU's Playwright-in-Residence) and Tacoma Actors Guild.  Bryan, his wife Susan and their son, Zach, live in Olympia with their dog, Frieda a.k.a., the Greased Pig from the Planet Krypton. 

Staff

Evan Tucker (Interim Executive Director)
On the Board since May of 2007. He is the Founding Production Manager of NPA's annual Double Shot Theatre Festival and the 2008 Festival of Northwest Plays, which featured 3 full-length plays and over 30 one-acts, produced over two weeks at Theatre on the Square in Tacoma. By day, he is the Assistant Production Manager at INTIMAN Theatre, where he has been since graduating from the University of Puget Sound last May. As an actor, he has appeared with ReAct, Ghost Light Theatricals, and the Young Shakespeare Workshop.

Christy Denny (Liaison to Seattle Repertory Theatre)

Christy Denny currently serves as the Artistic-Literary Intern at Seattle Rep. Prior to this, she freelanced in directing and dramaturgy in New York and the “other” Washington–as in, DC. Recent credits include producing and directing MAY 39th/40th at the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival, assistant directing David Adjmi’s Stunning at LCT-3 Lincoln Center, and dramaturging The Marriage of Figaro for Constellation Theatre Company. She also attended the 2009 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab.

NPA Interns

Bryan Sullivan

A senior Theatre Arts major at the University of Puget Sound, Bryan hails from the Portland, Oregon area but has called Tacoma home for the last 4 years. In the Fall of 2008, Bryan studied abroad at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland. Bryan has enjoyed a healthy theatre career at Puget Sound with acting opportunities in both the Seattle and Portland areas. After graduation he will be pursuing a career in professional theatre. His passions and goals include acting, directing, new play development, and education among others.

Board of Directors

Dayo Anderson

Producer, director, writer, performer, Production Management for Not All Clowns are Bozos II: Clown Harder, Tour Manager/Assistant Director for Convention by Dan Erikson with NPA, Director for Stone Soup’s New Playwright Festival, actor with Sound Theatre Company in Top Girls as well as a Cornish College of the Arts Debut in Wenceslas Square. Upcoming: Dayo and 7 WWU students and alums are devising a show with Bucknell University (Virginia) and the Tectonic Theatre Project for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. At WWU; Tour Manager for Commedia in the Parks, Director for The British Arts Tour (the First Installment), President of Student Theatre Productions, Ensemble member of the Dead Parrots Improv Troupe, as well as stage appearances in various shows on the Western stages. She juggles various part-time jobs during the day and intends on bringing good loud music to Seattle theatre stages with help from her love, Jake Vice. A recent grad of Western Washington University.

Rosalind Bell
The author of five screenplays,and two novellas, her short film, "Tootie Pie," screened at the SIFF in May, 2006. An ongoing participant in the annual Sandra Cisneros-inspired MACONDO, Rosalind also teaches cooking classes and hosts "Good Eating with Roz” in Tacoma, on Comcast Cable. The University of Puget Sound produced her play, “The New Orleans Monologues," and the News Tribune named it among the Best of the Best, Top Ten entertainments of 2007. COLORLINES magazine included her in its INNOVATORS OF 2008 edition. Rosalind is at work on a novel, a cookbook and a collection of short stories. She is the Writer in Residence at UPS.

Nick Edwards
Actor, improviser, playwright, director, graphic designer and videographer in Seattle. He graduated from Western Washington University in 2006 with a BA in Theatre Arts and Minors in Film Studies and Latin. Nick has performed with many theaters and theatre groups throughout the northwest including ArtsWest, Dead Parrots Society, GreenStage, Ghostlight Theatricals, iDiOM Theater, New Playwrights Theatre (WWU), Plays 4 Us (WWU), Rough Play Productions, Second Story Repertory, Student Theatre Productions (WWU), Theater Schmeater, Western Washington University, Wing-It Productions, The Upfront Theatre, and of course, Northwest Playwrights Alliance. He is a member of The Beta Society, in the ensemble of Jet City Improv, Art Director at Wing-It Productions, and Art Director of the Seattle Festival of Improv Theater. He also freelances graphic design and video production. He always sends his love to Brenda, his Inamorata.

Elena Hartwell
A playwright, director, and theater artist. Recent projects include IN OUR NAME published in Plays and Playwrights 2008, and two trilogies of plays. The first trilogy focuses on the long term effects of war (THE WALL, LAST TRAIN TO HICKSVILLE, DEAD MAN'S CIRCUS), the second on environmental issues (GHOST NET, THE DEVIL'S CHORD, A STRANGE DISAPEARANCE OF BEES). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

Tim Hoban (Interim Literary Manager)
A Tacoma native, he has remained there to raise a family. He was a founding member of Tacoma's first sketch comedy troupe, THE TWILIGHT ZONE PLAYERS in 1982,writing and performing. In 1984 he was introduced to Improv and has been a member of at least 5 different groups around the South Puget Sound area. In 1985 he helped develop THE SPUD GOODMAN SHOW where he served as co-host, Chick Hunter, until 1992. He did his first play in 1984 and has worked throughout Western Washington since. He is now in his 6th year of performing EDGAR ALLAN POE: THE POET"S JOURNEY, written by Bryan Willis, touring libraries, middle schools and other venues around the state. He has taught theater classes for Tacoma Little Theatre and is currently on the summer drama staff for THE ACADEMY of INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION. He is also in his 6th season of THE TACOMA DIARIES a series of video shorts that can be found at spudgoodman.com. He is a 1981 graduate of THE BRITISH SCHOOL of MOTOR RACING at Laguna Seca Raceway. He has insomnia.

Aaron Jacobs
Actor and the owner of Reel Extras, WA State’s largest background casting service. He received his Masters from LIPA in the United Kingdom and was trained at the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) in Russia.

La'Chris Jordan

Poet, actress, screenwriter, and award-winning playwright who was named one of the ’50 to WATCH’ by the Dramatists Guild of America. La’Chris began her writing career as a poet and journalist in 1995 after studying communications at the University of Washington in Seattle. She worked for three years in Dubai, United Arab Emirates as a feature writer for a weekly magazine before discovering her love for theatre. In 2005, she penned her first full-length play SADIE’S KITCHEN (which was awarded an Artist Trust grant in 2005) and hasn’t stopped writing plays since. Her more recent projects include ROSES IN THE WATER (Urban Stages, NY; 2009 National Black Theatre Festival) and BETTY’S WISH (Essential Theatre in Washington, D.C.).  La'Chris is currently at work on a historical romance novel, THE EMBERS OF BELLEVUE which is due to be released in 2011. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and the International Centre for Women Playwrights.

John Longenbaugh
Seattle-based playwright, director, and arts journalist. He trained as a director at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and his plays, which include SCOTCH AND DONUTS, THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY, A IS FOR APPLE, STARDUST, and HOW TO BE COOL, have been produced around Seattle and around the country. For two years he wrote the Seattle Weekly Column 'Longenbaugh on Theater.' He is now the PR Manager for the 5th Avenue Theatre.

Jac Royce
Current Chair of the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Puget Sound. At Puget Sound, she directs plays and teaches acting, playwrighting, and history. Jac is currently in rehearsal for "One Mad Day!" a new adaptation of Beaumarchais' "The Marriage of Figaro" that was written by William J. Royce (Jac's brother and a Northwest Playwright).

Nick Stokes

Playwright and fiction author. His plays, including Dusk, The Last Night of Comedy, and Duels, have been produced, supported, and developed by Northwest Playwrights Alliance, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Charles Wright Academy, iDiOM Theater, 14/48, Richard Hugo House, and others. He is the recipient of the Camano Island Residency and a Grant for Artist Projects (GAP) from Artist Trust, and a TAIP grant from the Tacoma Arts Commission. Nick is a founding member of Probably Forgettable Productions, which recently produced his one-acts The Sound We Make and Whiteout in Tacoma, where he lives with his family and from where he not infrequently departs for the back country of Montana.