CHRISTOPHER ELLINGER is a national presenter, award-winning author, and consultant in philanthropy promotion. As co-founder of Bolder Giving in Extraordinary Times, his work has been featured on CBS and ABC news, Worth Magazine, the Boston Globe, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He started True Story Theater in 2001 to create more dynamic ways of creating dialogues in organizations and among leaders.

AMBER ESPAR has performed in solo and ensemble work across the country incorporating forms like contact improvisation dance and Action Theatre. She teaches creative movement and ecology classes, and coordinates Arts Rising, a project to support Playback Theater in North America. She is pursuing advanced training in somatic movement education with Moving On Center school for Participatory Arts.

ANNE ELLINGER performed for eight years with the women's world music band, Libana. She and Christopher are cofounders of the initiative Bolder Giving in Extraordinary Times, promoting stories of ordinary and extraordinary people giving boldly.

ANNIE HOFFMAN worked for 20 years as a potter and the last 15 years as a yoga teacher and mother. She manages Art and Soul - a space in Cambridge MA for creative/expressive arts.

ARIANA RUCKLE is a Brazilian actress who began her career on stage at the age of 18 performing in traditional theatre, TV commercials and voice over work in her home town in Brazil.

CAROL BASS has been an Improvisational performer since the 90's. She has also done traditional theater as well as voice work, commercials and radio theater. She is a former Attorney and Mediator and is currently a practicing life Coach and avid student of Psychodrama. She is very excited to be starting Simmons School of Social Work.

DEBORAH KRONENBERG is a theater teaching artist working to create inclusive arts-learning experiences and engage young people in social change.  She has her Master's in Educational Theatre from NYU and has been performing improvisational theater since '96. 

FELIX TREITLER is a Licensed Clinical Independent Social Worker and has a private practice in Psychotherapy and Life Coaching. Felix has appeared in print ads, commercials, videos, film, plays, and has his own talk show on Cable TV.

IBRAHIM MIARI is originally from Acre, Israel. A member of the Acco Theatre Center Ensemble since 1996, Ibrahim has been performing folkloric and sacred dances and acting in various commercials and short films. Ibrahim is the director of a drama program at Peace Camp Canada and other similar camps in the US with high school age Israeli and Palestinian youth. Currently Ibrahim is performing his one man show “In Between” at theaters and festivals.

JOHNNY LAPHAM is an artist and performer working with issues of male behavior, positive sexuality, and white people working against racism. His art work can be seen at the Big Hand Studio in Cambridge, MA.

 

 

 

JONATHAN WYNER is a recordproducer and mastering engineer, professor at Berklee College as well as a divorced, loving parent. He coaches marathoners, runs obsessively, and loves it!

KATHY SIMMONDS has been with True Story Theater since its founding, and has been doing theater of various sorts since childhood. She currently teaches in a nurse practitioner program and works as a clinician at a health center in Jamaica Plain, where she also lives with her husband, son and dog.

MARIA TEREZA SCHAEDLER-LUERA is a Brazilian actress and singer with a BA in International Relations. Maria graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC and holds a master's in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University with a concentration in Arts for Social Change. She also studied with Augusto Boal and teaches Theatre of the Oppressed techniques for different non-profits in the Boston area.

MARY ELIZABETH WHEELER is an improvisational vocal and performance artist, songwriter, song leader, and teacher with 22 years experience in Authentic VoiceWork. Co-creator of the SpiritSong process and the “Mystic Soul” CD, she is the director of Indigo River, an organization dedicated to bringing the authentic voice to life. Mary Elizabeth conducts a private practice for individuals and couples in Cambridge.

MONICA TECCA has been performing traditional and improvisational theatre 
since the mid-90s. She holds a master's degree in Intercultural Relations focusing on theatrical methods for community building and conflict resolution, and currently works as an administrator and student advisor at the Community Charter School of Cambridge.

NANCY CAPACCIO has enjoyed over fifteen years as an improv actor, in addition to experience in scripted theater, hospital clowning, and film. A founding member of True Story Theater, she is active in training.  Professionally, she has been a marketing research consultant.

TERESA DINABURG began her career onstage at age 15, with the circus. In 1998, she co-created a trapeze act which toured North and South America and Europe, and she performed for six years in Germany's thriving Cabaret scene. Teresa holds a degree in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University. She loves teaching and sharing theater, and playing with her toddler.

TONIA PINHEIRO is a subtle activist and founder of Wake Up! Works and East Coast Chant. She uses her improv, musical, professional and spiritual knowledge and skills in service to individual, social and planetary healing and conscious living. She has an MA in Org. Mgt. and last century she celebrated over 30 years practicing human resources admin, training and communications.

URI ALON is an award-winning bio-medical researcher and professor at Weitzman Institute and at Harvard Medical School. He has been doing Playback Theatre in Israel and in the U.S. since 2001.