Robert Anderson (Master Carpenter), dquixote@hotmail.com grew up here in Juneau and started out working for Perseverance Theatre as a carpentry intern in 2004. In 2005 he was hired on as Master Carpenter. Before starting his career here at Perseverance Theatre, he graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a BA in Theatre Performance and an Art minor. While in Fairbanks, he could be seen both on the stage playing such roles as “Peter” in Anatoly Antohin’s adaptation of Dostoevsky’s The Possessed, as well as behind it working in Theatre UAF’s scene shop, and even designing and building a set for Chekhov’s The Bear. He has always been a life-long lover of theatre and is delighted to be able to make a living off of it.
Merry Ellefson (Interim Managing Director), merry@perseverancetheatre.org rejoins Perseverance on staff after a hiatus filled with raising her 7-year old son Arne, writing plays for the Theatre (Lost in Kubla Dhan, Voyage, The Woman Who Married the Bear, Sea of Strength) and coaching JDHS cross country. From 1990-99 she served as Perseverance’s Development Director, Producing Director, Special Projects Coordinator and was a Board member for two years. The Theatre has also produced her plays on the Mainstage, Second Stage, and through STAR. She was honored as an AWARE Woman of Distinction in 2003 for her contributions to youth and women in the community.
Kathleen Harper (Accountant), alaskathleen@gmail.com considers herself a jack-of-all-trades in the theatre profession. She has worked with Perseverance Theatre over the past four and a half seasons, splitting her time between props design, stage management duties, and special projects. She has also worked with the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre over the ’99 - ’04 summers as a stage manager, costume designer, actor, and tour manager. Kathleen is also a founding member other local Juneau Improv troupe. Kathleen grew up in Alaska, but graduated from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota with a double major in Theatre and Studio Art.
Ishmael Hope (Director of Outreach), ishmael@perseverancetheatre.org is the son of the late Elizabeth Freda Hope from the Goodwin family in Kotzebue, and Andy Hope III from Sitka, a Tlingit of the Siknax.adi clan. His Inupiaq name is Analook and his Tlingit name is Kaa Kwaask. He is of the Kiks.adi clan, of the Point House in Sitka. He has experience as a storyteller all over Alaska. He has acted for Perseverance Theatre since 2001 with Moby Dick, and he has worked for PT since 2003 as the Director of Outreach. He started and directed the annual festival of Beyond Heritage, a celebration of contemporary and traditional Alaska Native culture, now heading into its sixth year. He took his play, Gunakadeit, to the Smithsonian Museum for the American Indian in November of 2006.
Flordelino Lagundino (Director of the University of Alaska Southeast/Perseverance Theatre Joint Program, Marketing Associate) flordelino@perseverancetheatre.org has worked at Perseverance as an actor, director, teacher, and administrator for the past three years. His Perseverance acting credits include the World Premieres of The Long Season, Voyage, and Yeast Nation, as well as The Last 5 Years, Hamlet, Hair, Twelfth Night, Noises Off, The Inspector General, and King Island Christmas. He has performed regionally at The Shakespeare Theatre, The Kennedy Center, African Continuum Theatre Company, The Folger Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Imagination Stage, Young Playwrights’ Theatre, and was a guest artist with Living Stage Theatre Company. He holds an MFA in Acting with a secondary concentration in Directing from The University of Texas at Austin where he studied with Fran Dorn and Michael Bloom. He is a 2003 participant in Kennedy Center’s Master Class in The Collaborative Process with acclaimed designers Ming Cho Lee and Constance Hoffman. Flordelino has directed plays by David Henry Hwang, Amiri Baraka, Diana Son, Suzanne Lori-Parks, and Thornton Wilder, and is the founder and former Artistic Director of Tsunami Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. He recently founded Thunder Mountain Theatre Project and directed its inaugural production, True West by Sam Shepard, at the Canvas Arts Center & Gallery this past November. This past Spring directed Ishmael Hope’s new play Brother on the Perseverance Theatre’s Second Stage, the UAS/PT show, as well as Yellowman on the Perseverance Main Stage. This season he will direct Doubt on the Perseverance Theatre Main Stage.
Jennifer Lagundino (Development Director), jenny@perseverancetheatre.org has been working with Perseverance Theatre as a house manager since the production of Hair and joined the staff in January 2007. Before moving to Juneau in January 2006, Jenny worked in Austin, Texas as an administrative intern and Development Assistant with the Zachary Scott Theatre Center and then as Development Associate for the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Fine Arts. Prior to working at PT, Jenny was the Program Coordinator for the Alaska Staff Development Network.
Art Rotch (Artistic Director) art@perseverancetheatre.org Art was born in Boston of a family that was equal parts Nantucket whaling magnates turned brahmin philanthropists on his fathers side, and bohemian economists on his mother’s. Raised in Maine, he studied Russian Intellectual History at Harvard, graduated cum laude in History, and wrote his thesis on Soviet dissident thought. Art lived in Juneau, Alaska for fourteen years, where he began his relationship with Juneau’s Perseverance Theatre. At Perseverance, he designed dozens of productions beginning with the world premiere of Democracy by John Murrell (1991) and most recently Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer (2007). He worked with directors Molly Smith, Peter DuBois, and others and designed world premieres by Darrah Cloud, Paula Vogel, and Deborah Brevoort. While living in Juneau, Art also designed for Opera To Go, Theatre in the Rough, ACTFEST, The Juneau Lyric Opera, the JDHS Drama Department and developed a twelve year long association with Juneau Jazz and Classics. Other regional theater credits: Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Epiphany Theatre Company, Foothill Theatre Company, Sacramento Theater Company, The People’s Light and Theatre Company, M Gorky Drama Theatre of Vladivostok, Russia, ActorsExpress, Opera House Arts and Trinity Repertory Company. Opera credits: Riders to the Sea/A Dinner Engagement (Manhattan School of Music), The Mother of Us All, La Doriclea (Juilliard), HMS Pinafore, Romeo et Juliette (Anchorage Opera), Eliogabolo, (Aspen). Upcoming Projects: Cyrano de Bergerac (Sacramento Theater Company), I Have Before me a Remarkable Document Given to me by a Young Lady from Rwanda (The People’s Light and Theater Company), Marko the Prince (Immigrants Theater Project) and Aspen. Art holds an MFA in Design from New York University’s Tisch School, where he studied set and lighting design for the stage, and was awarded the Seidman Prize for excellence in scenic design. Art is a member of the New York region of United Scenic Artists Local 829 of the IATSE, the union of professional designers for theatre, film, television, opera and industrials. After finishing his NYU degree in 2005, Art and Narelle Sissons established Designers Squared, a studio in New York City at West 30th Street and 6th Avenue, where he has been based until this summer, when he and his wife, set designer/painter and fellow NYU graduate Akiko Nishijima, relocated to Juneau.
Shona Strauser (Director of Education) shona@perseverancetheatre.org enjoys working with young people to ensure that art plays a role in their every day lives. Shona moved to Juneau from Seattle over three years ago. While here, she has worked as an artist-in-residence at many schools. She has directed plays for and with young people in Texas, California, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska. Most of her training in theatre education came from working as the resident teaching artist at Seattle Repertory Theatre for many years. Shona loves living in Juneau, and when not doing theatre, tries to spend her time in the beautiful land she now calls home.
Meaghan Wills (Costume Shop Manager/Costume Designer), meaghan@perseverancetheatre.org is excited to be entering her second year with Perseverance Theatre Meaghan’s costume design credits here include Lady Day and Yellowman on the Perseverance Mainstage, Brother on the Perseverance Second Stage, and Willy Wonka, Raven at the Head of the Nass, and The Velveteen Rabbit for this year’s STAR program. Meaghan holds an MFA in Costume Design/Technology and Lighting Design/Technology from the University of Montana in Missoula. Originally hailing from Vermont, Meaghan has spent the last fourteen years of her life working as a theatre artisan in theatres across the country and wouldn’t have it any other way. Past design and technical positions have been held at The Mount Baker and Village Theatres in Washington; The Montana Repertory Theatre, Missoula Children’s Theatre, Bigfork Summer Theatre, and Virginia City Players in Montana; The Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder, Colorado; Advanced Lighting Production Services in Boston, Massachusetts; and The Vermont Shakespeare Company in Burlington, Vermont. Meaghan is a member of the International Alliance of Theatre and Stage Employees (IATSE) local 919 in Burlington, Vermont.
