Art Serving Community

The Woodward Shakespeare Festival's Company consists of an Executive Producer and an Artistic Team who, under the guidance of the Board of Directors, act as the heart, mind and soul of the Festival, supported by an Ensemble of Actors, Directors, Designers, and Crew chosen, largely, from the surrounding community. We are the Woodward Shakespeare Festival.

Executive Producer
  Greg Taber
  Greg holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Southern California. For WSF,
  he has played Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing), Mercutio (Romeo & Juliet Season 1), and
  Antonio (The Merchant of Venice). For five years he produced, directed, and acted in productions for
  Theatre Ventoux, a local company he founded with his wife, Lisa.

The Artistic Team  
   Christine Autrand-Mitchell
  Christine Autrand Mitchell splits her time between writing and filmmaking. She is a Producer,
  Director, Screenwriter and Casting Director, and owner of Entandem Productions. She coaches
  actors and writers. Her writing includes fiction, non-fiction, plays and screenplays, ad copy and
  technical writing.

  Erin Baird
  Erin is fresh off her first season with WSF, in which she played Luciana in The Comedy of Errors.
  She holds a BFA from Southern Oregon University, an MFA in Shakespeare from Mary Baldwin
  College, and has apprenticed with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare's Globe in
  London, and the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA. Erin is the theatre teacher at
  Edison High School and helms the productions of the Edison Tiger Theatre Company.

  Jennifer Hurd-Peterson
  Jennifer got her Theatre Arts Degree from Cal State Hayward/East Bay. She was a repertory
  member with Theatre Three Repertory Company for ten years where she performed in numerous
  productions. Jennifer has been with Woodward Shakespeare Company since the first production of
  Much Ado About Nothing in which she played Beatrice. Since then, she has played the Witch in
  Macbeth, Gertrude in Hamlet, and most recently, the Abbess in The Comedy of Errors. Jennifer
  looks forward to many years with WSF.

  Julie Ann Keller
  Julie Ann Keller is owner and director of California Arts Academy in Fresno, CA, where she has
  taught dance and drama for 18 years. She directs Celtic Motion Dance Company and the Cal Arts
  Summer Youth Shakespeare, and she is a founding member of Artists’ Repertory Theatre.

  Matt Otstot
  An actor since age 5, Matt was cast as Laertes in WSF's production of Hamlet. His numerous
  theatre credits include A Few Good Men (Kaffee) and Farenheit 451 (Montag). Film and Television
  credits includes writing and starring in "Build a Better Fastball" (The Hopes and Dreams Project)
  and The History Channel's "Wild West Tech." He also studied Improv comedy with The Groundlings
  in Los Angeles. Matt co-anchors KSEE Sunrise, the two-hour morning news show on NBC affiliate
  KSEE 24 in Fresno.

  Michael Peterson
  Michael's first theatrical role was the young David in a church play. Later, in college, he acted in
  several student productions at Occidental college. After returning to Fresno, he spent many years at
  Theatre 3. He is proud to have participated in some form or another, sometimes acting, sometimes
  building, on one occasion directing, in every season of the Woodward Shakespeare Festival to
  date.

  Julia Reimer (In Absentia)
  Julia Reimer is a member of the Theater faculty at Fresno Pacific University where she has taught,
  directed productions, coordinated the Theater program, and advised student projects and
  performances since 2001. Her education is in Literature, Theater (MA), and Performance Studies
  (PhD). She is currently expanding her theatrical horizons through a sabbatical leave studying
  Applied Theater at the City University of New York (CUNY) in New York City. An original WSF board
  member, she took a few years off, but returned for 2010 as part of the season selection committee.
  That turned into a stint of WSF stage managing in summer 2010 and a recurring role on the Artistic
  Team.

  Erica Riggs
  Erica has been involved with WSF since 2006. She has played Lady Macduff in Macbeth, Queen
  Elizabeth in Richard III, Goneril in King Lear and Sue Bayliss in All My Sons. She has also directed
  and acted in many of the staged readings that WSF presents at the Woodward Park Regional
  Library. She is currently serving as Assistant Director for A Streetcar Named Desire.

  Anthony Taylor
  Anthony is a writer/director with Windsong Productions where he creates film/TV/commercial and
  web video content. He is the Artistic Director of the Organic Theater Factory and finds to time
  perform on stage when he can. His first Shakespeare experience was last summer and it certainly
  won’t be his last.

  Ann Vermel
  Ann first went on stage at the age of five. She studied acting and directing with Uta Hagen, Ed
  Hooks, Logan Ramsey and Boris Goldovsky, and in workshops with Stella Adler, Harold Clurman,
  Peter Schumann and LeeBreuer. She received her MFA in Theatre Arts from Fresno State University.
  She has performed and directed at the Hartford Stage Company, the Maine State Shakespeare
  Festival, and the Berkeley Arts Festival among others. Her management credits include two
  Shakespeare Festivals, as well as serving as the General Manager of the Pickle Family Circus and
  Artistic Administrator at the San Francisco Opera.

The Ensemble: Season 8
For details on the Artists who will be bringing Season 8 to you (The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Streetcar Named Desire, & Henry V), see the Season 8 pages.