ABOUT PERSEVERANCE
STAFF
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Erik Chadwell (Technical Director) makes his return to building sets this season on the Perseverance Theatre mainstage. His previous set work at Perseverance includes Metamorphoses, King Stag, UP (The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair), The Long Season, Mommy Dance, Pure Gold, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Long Season, and three years of building for STAR. When not building, Erik may be heard around town pickin’ a banjo or guitar. He may even sing you a song. He has a cat named Sadie and a gal named Val.
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Bostin Christopher (Community Engagement & Special Projects) is thrilled to be joining Perseverance this season. Originally from Anchorage, he is excited to be returning to Alaska after more than a decade living Outside. Acting credits include: Off-Broadway, where he originated the roles of Nicholas Skeres in David Grimm's Kit Marlowe at the Public Theatre and the role of Charles Green in Ice Island: The Wait for Shackelton; film roles include: Unbreakable, Otis, In My Pocket and the upcoming Scorpion King: Battle for Redemption. Directing credits include: Arlitia Jones’ Make Good The Fires (world premiere), Sylvia and The Nerd. Fun tidbit: Bostin’s first professional job in the theatre was with Perseverance as an actor in 1991’s Amigos Blue Guitar.
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Jason Ginter (Production Intern) is a longtime Juneau resident and is proud to be back in his hometown and a part of this great theatre company. He has been attending school at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, majoring in theatre. While at UAF, he stage managed two main stage productions, and was the assistant stage manager and helper for many student productions and main stage shows. Jason has had a long association with Perseverance, including backstage work on The Who’s Tommy, Equus, STAR, and the premier production of King Island Christmas. |
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Kathleen Harper (Production Manager) grew up in Alaska but graduated from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota with a double major in Theatre and Studio Art. She considers herself a jack-of-all-trades in the theatre profession as she has worked with as a stage manager, props designer, costume designer, puppet designer, tour manager, actor, finance administrator and now, finally, as the Production Manager. Kathleen has spent almost her entire professional career working and training in Alaskan theatres. She worked with the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre over the 1999 - 2004 summers and at Perseverance Theatre since January 2002.
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Todd Hunt (Master Electrician) spent his formative years running lights for the cover band NEXXT in Louisville Kentucky long ago and refined his skill in Bloomington Indiana as a graduate student. He is happy to rejoin the Perseverance Theatre clan after a 7-year vacation. He has done lighting design in both Bloomington and Juneau most recently in productions such as Opera to Go's Dido and Aeneas and Juneau Lyric Opera's La Bohème. Mr Hunt moonlights as an opera conductor.
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Alex Johnson (Artistic Intern) is thrilled to be spending a year here at Perseverance. Alex was born and raised just north of Boston, and went to college at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, getting a BFA in Drama. While in New York, Alex performed in many shows at NYU, including a show about Bigfoot. He has also been seen in the world premiere of American Breakfast and with The Centrifuge in the world premiere of Our Farm. His play What You Are is also in development with The Centrifuge. He is passionate about Boston sports, arts education, etymology, and now, Juneau.
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Frank Henry Kaash Katasse (Second Stage Artistic Coordinator) was born in Petersburg and raised in Douglas, Alaska. Frank graduated from JDHS and attended the University of Hawaii where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Theater Performance. After graduation, Frank promptly moved back to Juneau. Since moving back in 2008, he has settled in and is proud to call Juneau home with his beautiful wife, Stacy Katasse, and their two little dogs. Frank has worked with Perseverance Theatre on a number of occasions as a performer, and is excited to become more involved behind the scenes. |
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Stacy Katasse (Second Stage Artistic Coordinator) graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with degrees in both Theater & Journalism. While in college she was on the board of the university’s Late Night Theater and started Late Night Reader’s Theater. In 2008, she followed the man who is now her husband to his hometown of Juneau. Here she continued her love of theater doing shows at Perseverance Theater, Opera to Go, and Thunder Mountain Theater Project as both crew and stage manager. Stacy is very excited to be working with her wonderful husband Frank as Second Stage Artistic Coordinators. She is very thankful to Perseverance for giving her this opportunity and looks forward to a wonderful upcoming season!
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Ruth Kostik (Producing Director), comes to Perseverance Theatre from Minnesota where she earned her MA in Arts & Cultural Management at Saint Mary’s University. She interned at PT in the fall in 2009 and previously worked at PT as the stage manager for Hair and assistant stage manager for The Laramie Project. Before becoming an administrator, Ruth worked on the production side with numerous theatre companies including Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre, Lincoln Amphitheatre, Park Square Theatre, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, where she also taught at CDT’s First Act Summer Camp. Ruth is a member of the Rotary Club of Juneau and Assistant Coach for Girls on the Run. |
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Susan Oshida (Costume Shop Manager) has worked as a stitcher for Perseverance Theatre for the past seven seasons, having a grand time meeting and working with costume designers and staff. Now she has inherited the costume shop in its third reincarnation during her tenure. She can presently be found among the clothes, shoes, fabric, and machines in the basement. |
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Evan Riffe (Technical Intern) has been a theatre technician since 2004, working primarily as a carpenter and light board operator in Fort Collins, Colorado. He studied Technical Direction and Design at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, where he was the Master Carpenter for the 2008 UNC production of Amadeus, and a lighting FX designer for Almost, Maine. He is a collaborator with the Colorado film collective Exploding Goldfish Films since 2003, working on short films and features including Wholesale Souls, Inc., 16 Heads and Counting, and Discouraging Words.
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Art Rotch (Executive Artistic Director), is a set and lighting designer who has worked in Alaska’s theatre scene since 1988, most of that time in Juneau in a variety of positions at Perseverance Theatre. Beginning in 1989 at Perseverance, Art has designed dozens of productions with directors Molly Smith, Peter DuBois, and others, including world premieres by Darrah Cloud, Paula Vogel, and Deborah Brevoort. In 2002, Art relocated to New York City to study design at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. After completing his degree, Art established a design studio and spent three years working for theatres from California to Maine, and also designed for various schools, operas and music festivals. He returned to Juneau full-time in 2008 to work as Perseverance’s Artistic Director, and became the Executive Artistic Director in 2010. Art continues with a little bit of freelance design work as time permits. He has a home in Douglas with his wife Akiko, also a designer and visual artist, and thanks Akiko for her support and love, and all of you for supporting professional theatre in our community. |
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Betsy Sims (Sound Engineer) is a long time musician and live sound veteran. Best known perhaps as the founder of the Yukon/Alaska group “the Glacial Erratics”, she has produced many shows in the North – both for local and International touring artists while continuing to manage and tour with the multi talented Rory Stitt. During the summer months, you can find her singing for tourists at the Gold Creek Salmon Bake. |
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Shona Strauser (Artistic Associate & Director of Education), Shona enjoys working with young people to ensure that art plays a role in their every day lives. Shona moved to Juneau from Seattle over five 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 playing on the beach with her dog. |
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C. Marie Weston (Bookkeeper) is thrilled to be a part of the Perseverance Theatre team. Marie is originally from American Samoa. She studied History in Education at Western Washington University where she met her husband Dennis before moving to Alaska where she worked in the accounting field for eight years before deciding to be a full time mom. Since moving to Juneau six years ago she has devoted her time to raising two busy young teenagers. Her daughter Megan Leilua is a ballet dancer at Juneau Dance Unlimited where Marie has spent the last three years assisting back stage with makeup, costumes, and fast changes. It’s one of the highlights in her life! The other is watching her son Jonathan Fu’e play hockey. She loves to spend time with her family and their 2 year old dachsie named Reno.
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