The Shark is Broken

WILL BLOCK (Richard Dreyfuss) is thrilled to be returning to Ensemble Theatre Company, and to be driving the boat. Will’s previous credits at ETC include Hamlet in Hamlet, Caden in The Thanksgiving Play, and Brian in The Wickhams. Will’s other regional credits include Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest, Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie (Santa Cruz Shakespeare), Curley in Of Mice and Men, Fred/Young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Sierra Repertory Theatre), Feste in Twelfth Night, Posthumus in Cymbeline, the Wooer in The Two Noble Kinsmen (Kingsmen Shakespeare), Macqueen in the West Coast Premiere of Murder on the Orient Express (La Mirada, directed by Sheldon Epps), Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (LA Phil, directed by the RSC’s Nancy Meckler), five productions of A Christmas Carol (playing everything from Turkey Boy to Young Scrooge), Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island, and Hally in Master Harold…and the boys (Sacramento Theatre Company). Will’s TV credits include “Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story,” “The Game,” and “This is Us.” He currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Porters of Hellsgate Theatre Company in Los Angeles, CA, for whom he has directed critically acclaimed productions of All’s Well that Ends Well, All is True or Henry VIII, and The Two Noble Kinsmen. As an actor for the company: Prince Hal in Henry IV, Parts I and II, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Cymbeline, The Tempest, Pericles. He is also a poet and dramatist, with a free verse translation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac currently in development. Will is a proud graduate of UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film, and Television. Much love to Margaret and to Junebug the Hairless Wondercat. www.willblockactordirector.com

GILDART JACKSON (Robert Shaw) was Gideon on the cult series “Charmed,” Ian Carlyle on “The Bold Type,” Jackson Palmer on “Providence,” Simon Prentiss on “General Hospital” and Giles the Butler/Host of ABC’s hit series “Whodunnit?” Numerous other film and television credits include “You, The Big Brass Ring,” “Supernatural,” “Stargate: Atlantis,” “Atlas Shrugged,” “Burn Notice,” “The Young and the Restless,” “Feud,” “CSI, NCIS:LA,” and he has been on stage in recent productions of The Seagull, My Fair Lady, Private Eyes, Tempest Redux and last year he made his debut on the ETC stage in Parents in Chains. Recently as a voice actor he plays Flyseyes on “Castlevania,” Major Montana Max on “Hellsing Ultimate,” Alfred Pennyworth in the WB videogame “Gotham Knights” and Jack Doyle in the new Warren Ellis “Department of Midnight” podcast series. Gildart has also narrated over 400 audiobooks. Favorites include Peter Grainger’s “D.C. Smith” series (13 amazing books and counting…), “The Son” by Jo Nesbø, “You Will Not Have My Hate” by Antoine Leiris and Richard Branson’s autobiography “The Virgin Way.” He has won an Audie, been nominated twice more, and received numerous other audiobook awards. During the Covid lockdown, Gildart began “Fireside Reading:” live and recorded readings in front of the fire of classics novels. Please check out www.firesidereading.com.

ADAM POOLE (Roy Scheider) is absolutely elated to be making his ETC debut with this show! A NC native who now resides in Los Angeles, Adam’s previous regional credits include The Shark is Broken (NC Stage Company), Peter and the Starcatcher, The 1940’s Radio Hour, Big Fish, Significant Other, Lombardi, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Few Good Men, Crimes of the Heart, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Avenue Q (Theatre Raleigh). Million Dollar Quartet (Barter Theatre, Musical Theatre West, 5-Star Theatricals, and Virginia Theatre Festival), Ragtime, Julius Caesar, Native Son, Jump, She Loves Me, Dot, Tartuffe, Sweeney Todd (PlayMakers Repertory) Grease (North Carolina Theatre), The Glass Menagerie (Bartlett Theater), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer the Musical (Broadway Series South), The Full Monty, Annie Get Your Gun (Theatre Workshop of Nantucket) Some of his film/tv credits include “FBI,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “The Resident,” “Max Steel,” “Well Wishes,” “TURN: Washington’s Spies,” “The Originals,” “Under the Dome,” “Revolution.” He received his M.F.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Graduate Acting Program. For more info, check out @adammpoole on Instagram or at adammpoole.com

PESHA RUDNICK (Director) is the founding artistic director of Local Theater Company dedicated to the development of new American plays. For Local, Pesha produced, developed and directed over forty new works and received 53 Colorado Theatre Guild nominations and awards. Nationally, Pesha’s directed new plays at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage, Curious Theater Company and others. In 2021, Pesha relocated to Santa Barbara and joined the faculty of the UC Santa Barbara Department of Theatre and Dance. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree from New York University. Pesha is passionate about arts advocacy and accessible, high-quality arts education for all American students. She serves as a board member at Second Stage Theatre in New York City (Chair; HR committee), LightsUp! Theatre Company in Santa Barbara and Local Theater Company in Colorado. Pesha is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). Want to know more about Pesha’s passion for live theater? Visit www.pesharudnick.com or watch her TEDx talk on “The Danger of Live Theater.”

IAN SHAW (Playwright) trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, having obtained a B.A. in American Studies at Sussex University. Theatre includes War Horse and Common (National Theatre); Widowers’ Houses, The Importance of Being Earnest, Nude with Violin, The Philadelphia Story, and The Brothers Karamazov (Manchester Royal Exchange); Three Sisters (Nuffield and Theatre Royal Bath); Private Lives and Closer (Birmingham Rep); The Rivals (Derby Playhouse and Philadelphia Walnut St); The Tempest (SRT) and Much Ado About Nothing in London’s West End. Television includes “Sharpe,” “Soldier, Soldier,” “Medics,” “Wuthering Heights,” “The Queen,” “Ghost Hour,” “Silent Witness,” “Cambridge Spies” and the Emmy award-winning “Hiroshima.” Film includes “Century,” “Moondance,” “The Boys and Girl from County Clare,” “The Contract” and “Johnny English Reborn.”

JOSEPH NIXON (Co-Writer) is the author (with Brian Mitchell) of the plays Those Magnificent Men (New Perspectives, 2010); Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks (The Foundry Group, 2011); Seven Studies in Salesmanship (The Foundry Group, 2013); and the musical The Opinion Makers (Mercury Theatre/Derby Theatre 2013.) He has written material for Joanna Neary, Jo Caulfield, Jerry Sadowitz, and Basil Brush.

KRISTAL GEORGOPOULOS (Resident Production Stage Manager) is looking forward to an inspiring year at ETC as Production Stage Manager for War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast, The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged, The Shark is Broken, A Night with Janis Joplin, and Every Brilliant Thing. This will be Kristal’s fourth season with ETC, with previous selected credits including Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, Million Dollar Quartet, Justice, Hamlet, Parents in Chains, The Thanksgiving Play, The Lehman Trilogy, and Selling Kabul. Other selected regional credits include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Red Herring, Sex and Other Disturbances (Portland Stage), Always… Patsy Cline (Firebrand Theatre), Side Show, Addams Family, Grease, Steel Magnolias, and The Marvelous Wonderettes (Black Hills Playhouse) and Scary Poppins (Great American Melodrama). She is looking forward to another exciting year in Santa Barbara—where storytelling continues to blur the line between illusion and truth. She would like to thank her friends and family for their continued support.

FRED KINNEY (Scenic Designer) marks his thirteenth production at ETC with Shark is Broken having previously he designed The Lehman Trilogy, Seared, Sleuth, It’s a Wonderful Life, the Radio Play, The City of Conversation, Amadeus, Looped, The 39 Steps, Loot, In the Continuum and Old Wicked Songs. Other credits include Sight Unseen, Ordinary Days, A Wrinkle in Time, Sunlight, Emperor’s New Clothes and A Year with Frog & Toad (South Coast Repertory).  Peter Pan and Wendy (Prince Music Theater); Intimate Apparel (San Diego Repertory Theatre); End Game & Taming of the Screw (Cutting Ball Theatre, San Francisco); A Picasso (Pittsburgh City Theatre); Serious Money (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Grouch (The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Cats Talk Back, Suburban Stories (NYC Fringe Festival); The Good Daughter, The Adjustment, Color of Flesh, Winterizing a Summer House (New Jersey Repertory Company); Anna Christie, Tennessee Playboy, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Tartuffe, Angel Street, Sleuth, Proof, Noises Off, Steel Magnolias, On Golden Pond and Bus Stop (Triad Stage, North Carolina). Mr. Kinney has also worked on television productions such as “Dave Chappelle’s Equanimity & The Bird Revelation,” “Larry the Cable Guy’s Christmas Special” and “Jeopardy!.” He is recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers and holds an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.

MICHAEL KLAERS (Lighting Designer) marks his fourth production at ETC (Amadeus, The 39 Steps, Gunmetal Blues). Other regional theater credits include Gulfshore Playhouse, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Rubicon Theatre Company, The Guthrie Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theater, Milwaukee Rep, Pacific Conservatory Theatre.

ADRIANA LÁMBARRI (Costume Design) is delighted to be returning to Ensemble Theatre Company with The Shark is Broken. She previously designed costumes for the Oánh Nguyên directed production of The Lehman Trilogy last year. This show is her second collaboration with director Pesha Rudnick, having worked together on the production of Dance Nation for UCSB last spring. Adriana began her career in fashion design, working ten years out of the States and internationally. On a whim and with no experience designing costumes, she found herself helping a friend, who was both acting in and producing the indie film Absentia, directed by horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan. The process of storytelling through costumes proved to be exhilarating and irresistible. She hasn’t looked back since. Her experience in costume design now spans both theatre and film. Her theatre credits include work at South Coast Repertory, The Chance Theater, Center Theatre Group, Deaf West Theatre, The Getty Villa,Antaeus Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, and A.D. Players Theater to name a few. She was thrilled to be honored with the 2023 OC Theatre Guild’s award for Best Costume Design for her work in Molly Smith Metzler’s play Cry It Out, directed by Elina de Santos at The Chance Theater. Adriana had the unique opportunity to design costumes for the NFL Hall of Fame’s ongoing immersive exhibit “Game For Life” in Canton, Ohio, which features a holographic Joe Namath. Her last feature film, “King Knight,” stars Matthew Gray Gubler, better known from his work in the original television series “Criminal Minds.” Additionally, she occasionally works as a costume illustrator. Clients include Disney, Marvel Studios, Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, the Cleveland Opera and Utah Shakespeare Festival. She is a proud member of USA 829. Check out her out at www.adrianalambarri.com, @adriana.lambarri_costumedesign.

ELIJAH FRANKLE (Projection Designer) is a lighting and projection designer, digital artist, and software developer focused on the intersection of design and technology. He recently graduated from University of California Santa Barbara’s College of Creative Studies with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and two minors in Theater Design and Media Arts. At UC Santa Barbara credits include Indecent (Projection Designer), Kinetic Lab (Projection Designer), Everybody’s Favorite Mothers (Assoc. Lighting Designer), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Asst. Lighting Designer), She Wolf (Assoc. Lighting Designer), DOUBLE2 (Lighting Designer), A Medusa Thread (Asst. Projection Designer), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Asst. Lighting Designer), Spectral Frequencies (Asst. Projection Designer). Other design credits include work with Antaeus Theatre Company (Assoc. Lighting Designer), Santa Barbara Dance Theater (Projection Designer, Assoc. Lighting Designer), California Lutheran University (Lighting & Projection Designer), Ensemble Theatre Company (Asst. Lighting Designer), LA Opera (Lighting Intern), Kirk Douglas Theatre (Lighting Assistant), Orpheus Project (Lighting Assistant). His art has been displayed at CSU Fresno, the UC Santa Barbara Glass Box Gallery, and the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology.”

JAZER SIBLEY-SCHWARTZ (Sound Designer) is an interdisciplinary artist and composer based in California. His work operates at the intersection of sound, video, and interactive media, described as “rich with structure and rules, but also full of a sort of wrongness that signifies art from a human” (“Clash Magazine”) and “wonderfully glitchy and geometric” (“I CARE IF YOU LISTEN,” American Composers Forum). His audio-visual works have been presented internationally, including collaborations with electronic musician Max Cooper. As a composer, he has worked extensively with choreographers and instrumentalists, with performances at SEAMUS, Max Expo ’74, the Five College New Music Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, Bates Dance Festival, and Ponderosa Dance. His theatre work includes twelve years as a performer and composer with the Royal Frog Ballet, as well as numerous productions as a composer and sound designer for the Five Colleges and UC Santa Barbara. Jazer holds undergraduate degrees in music and physics from Skidmore College and a master’s degree in music composition from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Media Arts and Technology Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he also teaches courses in audio engineering, sound design, and generative music systems. Find Jazer online @jazergiles and at jazergiles.com

ALEX JOHNSTON (Props Design) is a Props Designer, Carpenter, Art Department Fabricator, and Scenic Artist working throughout Southern California on theatre and commercial productions. He regularly works with Mustache Productions, Rubicon Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre Company, and is the Artist in Residence for Santa Susana High School’s Theatre Department. Some of his recent credits include Props Designer on Rubicon’s Bonnie and Clyde, Art Department on 2nd Try’s But Wait There’s More!, Carpenter and Scenic Artist on Ensemble’s Hamlet, Carpenter and Scenic Artist on Rubicon’s Two Trains Running, Props Designer for Ensemble’s Million Dollar Quartet, and Art Department on the short film Stalling. Alex is also a longtime volunteer at the Ojai Raptor Center, helping to rehabilitate native birds of prey. Ojai Raptor Center’s extensive efforts in wildlife conservation and their methodology for existing within the natural world, as well as Ojai’s surrounding community, continue to be profoundly important and inspiring to him. He would like to give special thanks to Anthony and Mallory for their grace and support during this production. He would also like to thank his dog Ollie, even though he was no help whatsoever.

SEAN O’SHEA (Fight Coordinator) was last seen in the Santa Barbara City College production of Young Frankenstein where he played the monster. He is the Academic Advisor in the Theater and Dance Department at UC Santa Barbara where he also teaches stage combat. In his 40 years in theatre Sean has been an actor, director, producer, fight choreographer. He is the Founder and former Artistic Director of the Santa Barbara Shakespeare Festival having produced 26 of their productions. Locally he’s been seen on stage at SB City College’s Garvin and Jurkowitz, Circle Bar B, Ensemble Theater’s New Vic, the Lobero and Center Stage. In San Diego he’s worked at the Old Globe, Black Friars, North Coast Repertory Theater, and Balboa Theater. Sean worked several seasons with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, in Boise, ID, and was also part of their traveling repertory group. He studied at San Diego State University and was in the M.F.A. acting program at the University of San Diego in affiliation with the Old Globe.

AMAYA WALSH SALDIVAR (Production Assistant) is excited to return to ETC for this production of The Shark is Broken. She is a recent graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she worked on various productions, including Somewhere: A Primer for the End of Days, Eurydice, and Come, Fu(r)ries, Dance! Some other productions she has worked on are War of the Worlds: A Panic Broadcast (ETC), How to Succeed in Business (Santa Barbara City College) and Pippin! (Dos Pueblos Theater Company). As a Santa Barbara local, she is thrilled to be working with ETC, and she is excited to help bring this production to life!

VEDA ARNDT-SCHREIBER (They/Them) (Assistant Director) is absolutely thrilled to be joining the team for The Shark Is Broken, which is their first show with ETC. Veda is currently a senior in the B.F.A. acting program at the University of California Santa Barbara. Their recent work includes assistant directing Dance Nation, and assistant dramaturgy on LAUNCHPAD’s The Rink at the End of the World. Veda is currently directing Forest Fuel, an original play written by Claire Ruberg as an honors project, which will premiere in June 2026. In addition to acting, Veda’s technical theatre credits include costume shop firsthand, poster/graphic design, and wardrobe supervision. They are also the business manager of the Alpha Iota Mu chapter of Alpha Psi Omega. Veda is eternally grateful to their dad for his endless wisdom and enthusiasm for all things “Jaws.”