Leadership and Staff
Timothy Near, Senior Artistic Advisor
Timothy Near is in her
twenty first
season as Artistic Director of San Jose Rep. Under her leadership the Rep has grown to become a valued and integral part of the community and among the most respected and artistically adventurous resident non-profit theatres in the country. During her watch, the Rep has produced 12 World Premieres, four American Premieres, 28 West Coast Premieres and 22 Bay Area Premieres, and launched the New American Playwrights Festival. Ms. Near also contributed significant leadership, as well as artistic and technical guidance, to the design and building of the Rep’s permanent home. Her many directing credits at the Rep include among others Moonlight and Magnolias, Iphigenia at Aulis, Major Barbara, Bad Dates, Wintertime, The Odd Couple, ‘ART’, By the Bog of Cats..., Amy’s View, Legacy, Three Days of Rain, Thunder Knocking on the Door, Wallflowering, Miss Julie, Mirandolina, The Caretaker, The Baby Dance, The Little Foxes, The 1940’s Radio Hour and The Sea Gull.
Ms. Near grew up in Northern California and is a graduate of San Francisco State University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She has directed at numerous theatres throughout the United States, including such renowned companies as the Guthrie Theatre ( Minneapolis), Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Alliance Theatre Company ( Atlanta), the Mark Taper Forum ( Los Angeles), Ford’s Theatre ( Washington, D.C.), the New York Shakespeare Festival and A Contemporary Theatre (Seattle). She has received DramaLogue Awards for her direction of Ghosts on Fire (La Jolla Playhouse), Fire in the Rain...Singer in the Storm (Mark Taper Forum) and at the Rep, Thunder Knocking on the Door. Most recently, her Rep production of Major Barbara swept the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards.
Ms. Near is a recipient of the Woman of Achievement in the Arts Award, given by the San Jose Mercury News and The Women’s Fund. San Jose Magazine included Ms. Near in the Top 100 Most Influential People in Silicon Valley in April 2001, 2002 and 2003.
READ: A Letter from Timothy Near, Artistic Director
Nick Nichols, Managing Director
Nick Nichols has worked in professional theatre for over 30 years. He has worked professionally as a Stage Carpenter, Rigger, Stage Manager, Lighting and Set Designer, Technical Director, Director of Production and now Managing Director. Nichols was Technical Director for The American Musical Theatre of San Jose for 11 years, Production Manager for Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley for two years, Production Manager for Symphony San Jose Silicon Valley in their inaugural season and, in 2003, came to the San Jose Rep as Director of Production. He became Managing Director of the Rep in November 2006. He has worked and/or taught at The University of Nebraska, Santa Clara University, San Jose State University and the University of California Santa Cruz. Mr. Nichols has worked as a consultant for such clients as NASA/Ames, Princess Cruises, Holland-America Cruise Lines, The Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, The Rosicrucian Museum and Univision. Nick holds a B.A. in theatre arts from Santa Clara University, an M.F.A. in technical production/lighting design from Temple University and has done post graduate work in Arts Management and Administration at Golden Gate University. He is a member of the Advancement Board for the Santa Clara University Center for the Performing Arts. He is co-chair of Rota-Arts, a committee of the Rotary Club of San Jose, which is working to bring music and arts appreciation and education to under-served grammar school students in San Jose.
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Monika Churchill, Director of Development
monikac@sjrep.com
Ms. Churchill has over 13 years of fundraising and communications experience. She came to the Rep after serving as Major Gifts Officer at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills. Previously, she was Institutional Giving Manager for over six years at Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, where she managed the nation’s largest Holiday Food and Fund Drive, as well as six special events annually. She worked with corporate donors to secure more than twenty major cash and in-kind sponsorships each year, and managed over 1,800 corporate and community volunteers as they ran their Food and Fund Drives. Monika is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and is studying diligently for her upcoming CFRE exam.
Cecilia Clark, Director of Marketing
ceciliac@sjrep.com
Ms. Clark has spent the last 18 years working in the Bay Area in marketing, public relations, special events management and fundraising. The majority of that time has been spent working in the arts and cultural world as Communications Manager for Arts Council Silicon Valley, Director of Marketing and Communications for History San Jose and Membership Manager for Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. Ms. Clark has consulted for WORKS/San Jose gallery and performance space, Palo Alto Youth Museum, and has also worked as a free-lance writer for local publications. A 2005 graduate of Leadership Morgan Hill and two-time board member of Morgan Hill Community Foundation, Ms. Clark actively volunteers for numerous organizations including Community Solutions, Leadership Morgan Hill and many others. She holds a B.A. in Public Relations/Journalism from San Jose State University. Ms. Clark joined the Rep in July 2006.
Kirsten Brandt, Associate Artistic Director
kirstenb@sjrep.com
Kirsten Brandt is an award winning director and playwright. She has been with the Rep since the start of the 2006/2007 season and directed Rabbit Hole. Prior to joining the Rep, Ms. Brandt was the Artistic Director of Sledgehammer Theatre from 1999-2005 where she produced 23 productions, including nine world premieres and five west coast premieres. During her tenure, she directed 15 shows including: When the World Was Green, A Dream Play, Macbeth, A Knife in the Heart (KPBS Patté Award), The Universal Monster Show, Richard III, the rock opera Alice in Modernland, Furious Blood (KPBS Patté Award), and Sweet Charity (Backstage West Garland Award). Her acclaimed production of Kelly Stuart’s Demonology was adapted for radio broadcast on KPBS-FM. She wrote and directed The Frankenstein Project (KPBS Patté Award) and NU: Part I & III. Her play Berzerkergäng received a KPBS Patté Award for “Outstanding Production” and a Playbill Award for “Best New Play”. She received a San Diego Critic’s Circle Award for her direction of The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow for the Old Globe. Other directing credits include: The Old Globe, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, San Diego REP, La Jolla Playhouse, Show N’ Tale Production in Vancouver BC, Sierra Repertory Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, UCSD’s MFA program, UCSC, The Fritz, Playwrights Project, New Dramatists, NYU Tisch School of Drama, and A.S.K. Theatre Projects in Los Angeles. Brandt studied playwriting at the University of Birmingham, England and directing at UCSD and has trained with the SITI Company. She is the recipient of the San Diego Critic’s Circle Award for “Creative Achievement” in 2003. Brandt is a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz.
Bruce Elsperger, Artistic Associate/Casting Director
brucee@sjrep.com
Bruce Elsperger is in his 15th season as Casting Director as San Jose Repertory Theatre. He has stage managed the Rep’s productions of Mary’s Wedding, The Wind Cries Mary, Aliens in America, Love in the Title, Communicating Doors, Old Wicked Songs, The Lady’s Not for Burning, Holiday, Mirandolina, Blithe Spirit, Later Life, Sylvia, Banjo Dancing, Beehive and Redwood Curtain. Elsperger stage managed for eight seasons with American Conservatory Theatre, where his credits include Home, Oleanna, The Duchess of Malfi, Nothing Sacred, Golden Boy, Right Mind, A Christmas Carol, Cyrano de Bergerac, Learned Ladies, and Hecuba. Mr Elsperger was Production Stage Manager with Seattle’s Intiman Theatre, the Bathhouse Theatre and for a western U.S. tour of The Big Broadcast, as well as at PCPA Theaterfest. He has also appeared onstage at the Rep in Anna Christie and Desire Under the Elms. Elsperger’s directing credits include The Dying Gaul, A Breeze From the Gulf, Bag Lady, and A Streetcar Named Desire. He was resident casting director at NCTC in San Francisco for five seasons and has been engaged to cast several independent productions in the Bay Area.
Karen Altree Piemme, Director of Outreach
karenp@sjrep.com
Karen Piemme was invited to the Rep in 1993 to help develop and expand its Red Ladder Theatre Company for which she is Associate Director. Ms. Piemme additionally develops and implements the Rep’s many education and outreach programs, including internships, job shadowing, classroom study guides, acting classes, artists-in-schools, and the Creative Playshop Series—a unique program for children and families that has been replicated by other regional theatres. As an active Bay Area theatre staff member and community leader, Ms. Piemme is a community mentor, often appears as a guest speaker, and serves as a member of the Theatre Services Committee for Theatre Bay Area. Ms. Piemme is an accomplished director, actor and acting instructor specializing in youth and community access. She received her degree in Acting and Directing from Syracuse University and also trained in England at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Christa Stiner, Director of Finance
christas@sjrep.com
Ms. Stiner has worked in performing arts administration and production since 1991. Her background includes marketing, patron services, production management and accounting in both for profit and nonprofit theater. From 1999 until 2003 she was the Director of Finance and Administration for Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley. She comes to The San Jose Rep after a year as the Director of Operations at Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. She has served on a number of nonprofit boards, and is currently the President of the Shakespeare Santa Cruz Board.
Christopher Morris, Production Manager
christopherm@sjrep.com
Mr. Morris has been working for with San Jose Repertory Theatre since the start of the 2003/04 season. He has over 12 years of production experience from prominent theatres such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, and The Old Globe Theatre. Mr. Morris earned his BFA in Theatre Design from Millikin University, and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama in Technical Design and Production.