About
A politically charged solo show in which one performer embodies five very different American women, revealing how class, faith, race, work and family quietly shape their votes far from the partisan extremes.
Playwright/Actor Bio
Erin-Kate has been acting professionally for 30 years and has won Bay Area Critics Circle, Dean Goodman Choice and other awards and nominations for acting and playwriting. As a playwright, she was commissioned by Theatre Rhinoceros to write and perform her play “Route 80: Cars, Cows and Caffeine”, which won critical acclaim for her as a writer and multi-character actor. She has performed with 42nd Street Moon, Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks, Theatre Rhinoceros, Martuni's and other Bay Area theatres. Erin-Kate performed in the US/Canadian tour with Dame Edna in “Dame Edna: My First, Last Tour” as Dame Edna’s disappointing daughter Valmai, and in the star-studded San Francisco revival of “Ruthless: The Musical”. Erin-Kate has supplied her voice for hundreds of radio and industrial jobs, and has appeared in TV and film for the past 35 years. Erin-Kate is a proud member and former Board Member of Northern California’s SAG-AFTRA, where she continues to serve both as an advisor, and on various committees. She is also a member of AEA (Actors Equity Association) and AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists). EK is a fourth generation San Franciscan, and had raised her sons, the fifth generation, in San Francisco with her wife, Michele.
Francine Torres is a recent transplant from New York, where she served as Head of Acting at New Studio on Broadway. She holds an M.F.A. in Acting from UC San Diego/La Jolla Playhouse Professional Training Program, and a B.A. in Theatre from San Francisco State University. Presently, she serves on faculty at Foothill College.Francine began her career under the tutelage of Luis Valdez, founder of the iconic El Teatro Campesino. Steeped in the Teatro lifestyle of performing and touring, she began work with El Teatro de la Esperanza, and played the protagonist, Ana, in the inaugural production of Real Women Have Curves. Since then, she has been committed to educating, performing, and directing theatre exploring the Chicanx experience. She has mentored and taught underrepresented students of color at historically classical theatres such as the American Conservatory Theatre, the American Repertory Theatre, and the La Jolla Playhouse. Francine directed at Stanford University’s Casa Zapata program, dedicated to the promotion of Latinx works. Her work also includes nearly twenty years at the American Conservatory Theatre, teaching acting, improvisation, and clown work and transitions seamlessly between street and classical theatre. She has directed over 50 plays with student actors, with genres ranging from The Neo Futurists to Moliere, mashing up classical theatre with contemporary context. As a professional actor, she has created many indelible characters during her time as company member at El Teatro Campesino and the American Repertory Theatre, has performed in repertory houses including Berkeley Rep, ACT, Dallas Theatre Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Theatresports, Killing My Lobster, and has toured the country and overseas.Francine’s most passionate interest is the intersection of diversity in theatre - gender, sexuality, color, neurodiversity and physical differences, and her experiences are published in the anthology Gravity Pulls You In. She has a substantial library of film and video produced by Killing My Lobster and El Teatro Campesino, and plays the titular role in BITTEN (Bad Dog Productions), currently winning independent film festival awards across the country.
Colin H. Johnson is an award-winning multi-hyphenate filmmaker, show-runner and educator who has been operating in the Bay Area since 2008. He is the founding Artistic Director of Awesome Theatre and Creative Director of Troubleshoot Productions, LLC. His projects have been showcased across several mediums, productions, publications and international festivals- including Z Space, SF Playground, BAMPFA, Theatre Rhinoceros, The Clown Conservatory, Another Hole in the Head, Unnamed Footage Festival, Comic-Con International Film Festival, Crypticon Seattle, Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest, Circus International Film Festival and Image Comics. He strives to create collaborative, innovative and inclusive environments within the arts space and takes the word “unproducable” as a personal challenge. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Film at California College of the Arts.
Thank You
Be brave, my friend, and talk about hard things with people who are different from you. Be open. Be honest. Be kind.
