Z Space

Directors

Keiko Shimosato Carrreiro

Keiko Shimosato Carreiro is a collective member, actor, designer, co-writer, and director with the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. She has performed at American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory, The Magic Theater, San Jose Stage, The Aurora Theater, Word for Word, Oakland Theater Project, Center Rep., and Marin Shakespeare Company. In 2020 Keiko co-founded Kunoichi Productions (Female Ninja productions) innovative, multidisciplinary theater combining eastern and western theater traditions. Keiko is thrilled to be co-directing this immersive production of A Strange Library by Haruki Murakami for Word for Word at Z Below.

Lisa Hori-Garcia

Lisa Hori-Garcia (she/her) is an award-winning actress, director, producer, teaching artist, and theatermaker based in Denver, Colorado, and San Francisco, California.  Lisa has been with Word for Word since 2004 as an actor, director, and Youth Arts teaching artist. She has performed in many Word for Word shows, most recently George Saunder's Home, Greg Sarris's Citizen, and multiple staged productions of Sarris's Stories from Sonoma Mountain.  Lisa is grateful to co-direct (co-dream) The Strange Library with Keiko and collaborate with this incredible team of designers and actors on this unusual hybrid immersive production. When Lisa's not directing, teaching, or performing on the stage, she loves hosting clothing swaps and hiking in the Colorado mountains with her dog Snoopy.  Lisa received her BA from Smith College and her MFA in Acting from USC.

Cast

Julie Kuwabara 

Julie Kuwabara is excited to make her debut at Word For Word. She has performed with various theatre companies, including Yale Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Cutting Ball Theatre, Playground SF, Shotgun Players, Central Works, Magic Theatre, and Bindlestiff Studio. Julie is a member of Granny Cart Gangstas, an all-Asian American sketch comedy troupe. She sends hugs to her husband (Chuck), family, and friends for all their love and support. You can keep up with Julie on Instagram at @jularie and @grannycartgangstas.

Chuck Lacson

Chuck Lacson is thrilled to be reunited with dear friends to do this project! He has acted in the bay for over a decade with amazing orgs like Asian American Theater Company, Magic Theater, Atlantic Pacific Theater, Pear Theater, Shotgun Players, Killing My Lobster and his artistic home Bindlestiff Studio. Credits include: Man of God (Shotgun Players), Black Henry (Atlantic Pacific Theater), Dogeaters (Magic Theater), Gangster of Love (Magic Theater), There's the Moon and then there's You (Bindlestiff Studio), A Kinda Sad Love Story (Bindlestiff Studio), A Pinoy Midsummer (Bindlestiff Studio), Cowboy vs. Samurai, (Asian American Theater Company / Pear Theater)

Jed Parsario

Jed Parsario (AEA) is an Oakland-based actor and teaching artist. He is a company member of PlayGround, Red Ladder Theatre Company, and a collective member of Analog Theatre. He was last seen in CalShakes’ As You Like It directed by Elizabeth Carter. Other credits include American Conservatory Theater (Sweat), CenterRep (The Legend of Georgia McBride), Magic Theater (various), Marin Shakespeare Company (various), SF MimeTroupe (Breakdown), Shotgun Players (White), and SPARC (The Complete Works of William Shakespeare). He is proud to give back to the community through his work with Red Ladder Theatre Company.

Vivienne Truong

Vivienne Truong (Mute Girl/Mother/Others) is so thrilled to be in her first Word for Word production at Z Space! She was most recently seen as Agnes in She Kills Monsters (Plethos Productions) and as Dromio of China in The Comedy of Errors (Silicon Valley Shakespeare) this past summer. Previous credits include: Pear Slices! 2024 (The Pear Theatre), Tiger Style* (Theatreworks), The Great Leap* (Center Rep), The Play That Goes Wrong (San Jose Stage Company), Noises Off (The Pear Theatre), Tea Party* (One of Our Own Theatre), Red Bike* (Center Rep), and Vietgone (City Lights Theatre Company). [*Understudy]

Ogie Zulueta 

SF/Bay Area Theatres: Magic Theatre – Richard II, The Travelers, Dogeaters; Oakland Theatre Project - Hamlet, Streetcar Named Desire, Rashomon; A.C.T. - Monstress; Crowded Fire Theater – 100 Flowers Project, The Late Wedding; Center Rep. Theatre - Sisters Matsumoto.  Regional Theatres: La Jolla Playhouse – Bay and the Spectacles of Doom; South Coast Rep. – Caucasian Chalk Circle; Mark Taper Forum – Architecture of Loss, 900 miles from Iraq; Antaeus Theatre Company/Boston Court – Pera Palas; Singapore Rep. – Hamlet; East West Players – The Tempest; Cornerstone Theatre Company/East West Players - As Vishnu Dreams; Nevada Shakespeare in The Park – Othello; Deaf West – Romeo and Juliet; Theatre Nada, NY– The Battles of Coxinga; SoHo Rep., NY – Malibu. AEA / SAG-aftra.

Crew

Karen Runk (Stage Manager) moved to SF with the intention of only staying for a few months... Well nearly three decades later she's still here! This is largely due to the talented folks at the SF Mime Troupe, Word For Word and thanks to Golden Thread Productions where she has been a Resident Artist since 2018 (aka the before times) - but mostly it's due to rent control! Runk has also stage managed with Word For Word, Magic Theater, SFShakes, Intersection for the Arts, African American Shakespeare Company and SF Mime Troupe.

Tina Mosier (Assistant Stage Manager). This is Tina Mosier’s first show with Z Space as the Assistant Stage Manager and she is excited to be involved in this production.  She discovered a love for working "behind the scenes" in theatre while in college and after a brief hiatus, she is returning to the world of live performance.

Justin D. Schlegel (Production Manager). Justin is a local professional Stage and Production Manager and excited to be back at Word for Word / Z Space. Regional Credits at: Magic, A.C.T., TheatreWorks-Silicon Valley, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Sundance Theatre Lab, Ojai Playwright's Festival. Received professional training at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Repertory Theater and was a Production Assistant to Sir Peter Hall. Justin holds a B.F.A in Stage Management from Southern Oregon University and an M.F.A. from CalArts. 

Creative Team

Mikiko Uesugi (Scenic Design) has designed several productions for Word for Word, including Citizen by Greg Sarris, Stories By Tobias Wolff, Immortal Heart by Amy Tan and Four Adverbs by Daniel Handler. Recent theater credits include Sign My Name to Freedom for SF Bay Area Theater Company, Wives for Aurora Theater Company, Monument, or Four Sisters for Magic Theatre. She has also designed for Shotgun Players, Crowded Fire, Theater Works, ACT M.F.A, Berkeley Repertory Theater, among others. She is a resident artist at Golden Thread Productions, a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers and The Isadora Duncan Dance Award.

Lana Palmer (Sound Design / Projections) is excited to make her Word for Word debut with The Strange Library. Her projection design credits include Ride the Cyclone at NCTC, and sound design credits include Torch Song (Marin Theatre Company),  Josephine’s Feast (World Premiere, Magic Theatre), Hurricane Diane (Aurora Theatre, SFBATCC Nominee), Man of God (Shotgun Players), and References to Salvador Dali… (Custom Made Theatre, SFBATCC Nominee). Lana is a proud member of the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, and a lecturer in Sound Design at UC Berkeley. www.lanapalmer.com

Jim Cave (Lighting Designer) has directed and designed plays, dance, dance-theater, opera, new music theater, site-specific spectaculars, and even a flea circus for San Francisco's Exploratorium. His lighting designs have been seen at the Eureka, the Magic, the Aurora, BAMPFA, Centre Pompidou, SOMarts, Z Space, Intersection for the Arts & Ross Valley Players. Jim has designed lights for over thirty Word for Word productions including Oil!, Cannery Row, Immortal Heart, All Aunt Hagar’s Children and Home. He directed Silence by Colm Tóibín, and co-directed Rime of the Ancient Mariner (with Delia MacDougall) and Retablos (with Sheila Balter). He is a Core Company member of Word for Word and has worked with the company since 2000.

Laura Hazlett (Costume Design) Laura is happy to be back at Word For Word after a long hiatus. Previous Word for Word productions include Angel Face, Olive Kitteridge and More Stories by Tobias Wolff. Designing over 50 shows in the past 40 years has been very rewarding.

Armando Breiz (Assistant Costume Design) (he/him) is a born and raised San Franciscan who’s worked at Bay Area theaters including Archbishop Riordan Drama and Hillbarn Theatre for the past seven years. He is happy to be back at Z Space for this third show as Assistant Costumer. Past Word For Word productions include Citizen and Who’s Dead McCarthy: Stories by Kevin Barry. In addition to his love for sewing, he is the co-owner and chef of BAB BOI, a catering company specializing in playful Filipino eats. (@mahndoh / @babboi.sf).

Amy Benjamin (Prop Design). Amy transports audiences into the realms of the unreal by utilizing her extensive background in multidisciplinary art. She's been mentored in scenic design by Nina Ball through Shotgun Players’ MAD Fellowship and most recently acted as Properties Artisan for Marin Shakespeare Company's production of Much Ado About Nothing under the direction of Domenique Lozano. Amy was voted “Most Likely to Become a Librarian” in high school. She does not endorse the actions of librarians depicted in this play.

Ai Ebashi (Dramaturgy/Shadow Puppet Design and Fabrication) is a Japanese-born playwright, multidisciplinary theater-maker and a winner of the Austin International Poetry Festival, Leonard Isaacson Award Monologue Contest and the Pick of the Vine Play Competition; a finalist of the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Inkwell LAB Series, B3 Theater Festival of Shorts and B-Street Theater’s New Comedy Play Festival; a semifinalist of the 44th/45th/46th Bay Area Playwrights Festivals, Beverly Hills Theatre Guild's Julie Harris Playwright Competition and the Austin Film Festival. Ai’s plays have been produced or staged-read at theaters in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. M.F.A. in playwriting from SFSU.

Movement Consultant: Ryan Marchand
Dog Animation: Julian Kenji Carreiro
Lobby Signage Graphic Design: Kaito Uesugi