Meet the Team

Jen Colosuonno, Actor

Jen Colasuonno is a versatile performer, choreographer, collaborator and organizational guru. Since 2001, she has been performing object puppeteering, partner balancing acrobatics, physical/clown theater, aerial dance, fire arts, circus sideshow, kecak, choral singing and whip cracking. Offstage, Jen is a freelance project manager, stage manager, event producer and member of the Five Ton Crane Artists Collective.

Sheila Devitt, Actor

Sheila is a San Francisco-based actress and puppeteer. She performed in “Executive Order 9066” on the 2005 Delta, UT tour. She is deeply moved by this story, and sincerely hopes that it provides a means to learn from our history, and not repeat our mistakes. Sheila is a classically trained dramatic actress, and has appeared on stages across the country and internationally. Sheila has been a company member with Theatre of Yugen, performing classic Japanese Noh drama and Kyogen comedy, as well as new works devised using that classical form. She was invited to perform at the Hosho Noh school in Tokyo, Japan in 2013. She earned her BFA in theatre from the University of New Mexico.

Slater Penney, Actor

Slater Penney has won an Emmy, appeared on TEDx, and successfully toured locally and internationally. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Theatre Arts, trained at the Dell’Arte International School Of Physical Theatre, and continues to specialize in ensemble physical theatre. Notable devised productions include The Submarine Show, The Naked Empire Bouffon Company, California Revels, The Bay Area Children’s Theatre, and Lunatique Fantastique. Slater is an Actor-Creator, and teaches regularly at the San Francisco Circus Center, the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, and the Kinetic Arts Center.

Robin Plutchok, Actor

Robin Plutchok is thrilled to be reunited with the LunFan family. She performed in “E.O. 9066” on the 2005 Delta, UT tour and in several other LunFan shows. Robin has a B.A. in Theater and Dance from Amherst College. She has trained with many local companies and had a show in the 2003 SF Fringe Festival. When not animating inanimate objects, she works to keep things out of the landfill.

Christina Shonkwiler, Actor

Christina Shonkwiler is thrilled to get back on the road with the LunFan band! Along with maintaining her puppet habit, she is an Associate Artist with Ragged Wing Ensemble where she has the pleasure of inhabiting her tortured clown. Another favorite role is as 1/2 of the improv duo, The WoodsPeople. Christina trained at Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre and earned an M.A. in Counseling Psychology, emphasis in Drama Therapy, from California Institute of Integral Studies.

Susie Danzig, Actor

Susie Danzig is happy to be reuniting with Lunatique Fantastique for E.O.9066. As an original cast member of this show, the opportunity to create and share this important story over and over again has been a great honor. Susie created and performed over 8 shows with Lunatique Fantastic from 2000- 2009. She has also performed and/ or choreographed with Juilliard Directors Lab, The Rhode Island Shakespeare Theatre, Expanded Arts Theatre, NY Ensemble Studio Theatre, NY, and San Jose Stage Co, and San Francisco Opera. Susie directs children’s theatre at Pinewood School in Los Altos, CA.

Bill Olsen, Actor

Bill Olsen has been a performer, director and teacher in the Bay Area for twenty years. He has performed with San Francisco Shakespeare, TheatreWorks, San Jose Stage and 42nd Street Moon, and of course, Lunatique Fantastique. His roles have ranged from Elyot in Private Lives to Milky White the Cow in Into the Woods to a pair of shoes in Brace Yourself. He is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, and founder of Two Plush Two Productions, a small scale video production company.

Christine Young, Director

Christine Young is Chair of the Performing Arts Department, University of San Francisco. Previously, she was Associate Artistic Director for Playwrights Foundation. Her work has been funded by San Francisco Arts Commission, Haas Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Puffin Foundation, and Theatre Bay Area. Current projects include directing High Anxiety, a devised play about anxiety and addiction, and curating Works by Women San Francisco, a blog that spotlights theatrical work produced by women in the San Francisco/Bay Area. Christine is the original Director for “E.O. 9066.”

Shinji Eshima, Composer

Shinji Eshima is the composer of the ballets, RAkU and Swimmer, both full orchestra works choreographed by Yuri Possokhov and commissioned by San Francisco Ballet. RAkU was recently filmed and the soundtrack was recorded at Skywalker Ranch Studio. Besides the beautiful music for “E.O. 9066”, Shinji also composed music for “Chicken Stock” and “Nutcracker Nutz and Boltz.” A graduate of Stanford and Julliard, he is in the orchestras for the SF Opera and SF Ballet.
Berkeley named 12/6/2012 as “Shinji Eshima Day” to honor his contribution to the Arts.

Molly Jane Nicholas, Stage Manager

Molly Jane is a PhD student studying Human Computer Interaction with Eric Paulos in the Computer Science department at UC Berkeley. She is exploring how performing arts and technology combine in new and interesting ways. Previously, she worked as a Software Engineer at Qualcomm, where she developed FIRST Robotics’ new robotics platform. She has been a dancer, a puppeteer in “Chicken Stock”, and trained in circus arts at the Clown Conservatory. Molly Jane received her B.A. from U.C. Berkeley with a double major in Computer Science and Cognitive Science.

Doyle Ott, Assistant Director

Doyle Ott has worked with Make A Circus, Splash Circus Theatre, Prescott Circus, SF Shakespeare Festival, SF Circus Center, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, Foolsfury, Antenna Theatre, Golden Thread, and the SF Playwright’s Foundation. He recently directed Gozzi’s masked comedy, King Stag, and a book chapter about circus adaptations of Alice in Wonderland. Doyle is Artistic Director of Theatre at Children’s Fairyland, on the faculty at Sonoma State and Circus Center’s Clown Conservatory.

Matt, Actor

Matt has a long history with the company. Matt apparitioned early in 2003 when the Artistic Director had severe noun loss. Matt is excited to reprise his role of mischief maker and named star for all mishaps, bungled lined, bloopers, and forgotten cues. Matt happily dedicates his performances to the Oldest Living Directors (OLD) Guild.

Linda Devers, Business Mgr

Linda Devers wears many hats – from business manager, web site designer, prop wrangler, marketing, costume designer, and project manager. When she’s not at her desk on phone calls managing project teams or doing techie geekie website coding on the computer, Linda is practicing her cello, writing original compositions, or seeing what she can do with water, paper, and paint.

Liebe Wetzel, Object Choreographer

Liebe Wetzel, original founder of Lunatique Fantastique, has garnered numerous awards and recognition for her work. She has written over 14 original theatrical productions. When not playing with objects, she can be found at her computer designing computer animations using AutoDesk Studio Max. Or playing with pastels usually on paper but most often all over her clothes.