Jennifer Barclay
Playwright
Jennifer Barclay is a Chicago actor-turned-playwright, now living in DC. Her two primary missions as a playwright are to increase the canon of juicy, stereotype-busting roles for women, and to write intimate socio-political stories which inspire curiosity and empathy. Jennifer’s play Ripe Frenzy won the 2016 Smith Prize for Political Theatre from the National New Play Network (NNPN) and a 2018 Dramatists Guild Fund Writers Alliance Grant. Ripe Frenzy was developed at Woolly Mammoth, the 2017 Ojai Playwrights Conference, NNPN/PlayPenn, and had a 2018 NNPN Rolling World Premiere at New Rep in Boston, Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta and Greenway Court in LA. Her other plays include Hot Little Slice, Housebound, Obscura, Freedom, NY, The Human Capacity, Danny, Red Helen, The Attic Dwellers, Eat It Too, and she is in the midst of developing a trilogy set in the national parks which includes Yellowstone, This Profound Abyss (set in Yosemite) and an untitled play set in Glacier National Park. She is also currently developing a digital interactive, immersive, promenade party-play called Bacchanal. Jennifer’s plays have been produced and developed by Steppenwolf, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, RedCat, The Kennedy Center, Center Stage, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Co, Andy’s Summer Playhouse, American Blues Theatre, The International Theatre of Vienna and The Edinburgh Fringe, among others. Other awards include: Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award, Kennedy Center National Science Playwriting Award, Pinter Review Gold Medal, BETC New Generations Award. Jennifer has been a Fellow at the MacDowell Colony, the New Harmony Project, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Hawthornden International Writers Retreat in Scotland. She has been a playwright in residence at South Coast Rep (2009-10 Shank Playwright in Residence), Center Stage (2016 Playwrights Collective) and Arena Stage (2018-19 Playwrights Arena). Jennifer has a degree in Theatre from Northwestern University and an MFA in Playwriting from UC San Diego, where she studied with Naomi Iizuka. She is proud to be an NNPN Affiliated Artist, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and an Associate Professor of Playwriting and Performance at the University of Maryland. www.BarclayStudios.com

Pesha Rudnick
Director
Pesha Rudnick is the founding artistic director of Local Theater Company in Boulder, CO, where she pursues the company’s mission to discover and develop new American plays. For Local Theater Company, Pesha directed twenty new works including the world premiere productions of Paper Cut (Colorado Theater Guild winner Best New Play) by Andrew Rosendorf, Discount Ghost Stories: Songs from the Rockies music and lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen, Book by Rob Wright and Pesha Rudnick; Elijah: An Adventure by Michael Mitnick (Colorado Theater Guild Nomination Best New Play), Faith by James McLindon (Colorado Theater Guild nomination Best New Play), The Firestorm by Meridith Friedman (Colorado Theater Guild nomination Best New Play). Pesha curated the digital series “Living Room Local” in 2020 and the past ten annual new play festivals, Local Lab.

Pesha was featured in Westward Magazine’s “100 Colorado Creatives."

Nationally, Pesha has developed and directed dozens of new works including the world premiere of O.P.C. by Eve Ensler at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University and 26 Miles by Quiara Hudes at Curious Theater Company. She previously collaborated with Ensler as associate director of the world premiere of Emotional Creature at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Signature Theatre Center. She has worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Creede Repertory Theater, Florida Stage, and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C and many others.

Pesha is the former associate artistic director of Theater Master's National MFA Playwright's Festival (59E59, Atlantic Stage 2, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Wild Project, Theatre Row, and the Aspen Institute). For six years, she served as the associate director of education at Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree from New York University. Pesha is Drama League Directing Fellow and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Want to know more about Pesha’s passion for live theater?  Visit her website pesharudnick.com or watch her TEDx talk on "The Danger of Live Theater." 

Kimberly Colburn
Dramaturg/Post-Show Facilitator (virtual presentation)
Kimberly Colburn is based in Toronto and is available for organizational or individual consulting, story editing, and dramaturgical work of all varieties (with the legal ability to work in the U.S. or Canada). Click here for a full list of previous dramaturgical work. She is also a skilled event manager, producer, administrator, and community builder. 

She is currently the Program Manager for the University of Toronto’s Robotics Institute, running events, building community, and more. From March 2020 to November 2020, she has been the Program Manager for CanCOVID, building and implementing a digital network for scientific research around COVID in Canada, including managing and hosting a weekly speaker series.

Until her immigration to Canada, she was the Literary Director of South Coast Rep (SCR), where she co-directed the Pacific Playwrights Festival and led the CrossRoads commissioning program. Her recent dramaturgical work at SCR has included the world premiere productions of Poor Yella Rednecks by Qui Nguyen; Little Black Shadows by Kemp Powers; A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath; Going to a Place Where you Already Are by Bekah Brunstetter; and Orange by Aditi Kapil in addition to Zoey’s Perfect Wedding by Matthew Lopez at Denver Center Theatre. Formerly, she was the literary manager at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she was the dramaturg for the world premieres of Partners by Dorothy Fortenberry, The Roommate by Jen Silverman and Dot by Colman Domingo, among others. Prior to that, she was the associate literary director at SCR and dramaturg for the multi-year, community based Dialogue/Diálogos Project, among dozens of other productions and readings.

She has worked with companies including Los Angeles Opera, Mixed Blood Theatre, Oregon Contemporary Theatre, Artists at Play, The Playwrights Center, the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and Native Voices at the Autry.

Maison “Bub” Bray
Ensemble
Bub is a senior in the BFA Theater Program at UCSB. When they aren’t working on acting, she is also heavily invested/interested in visual art (in particular, shock and expressive works that invoke catharsis). Bub is hungry to learn all that they can in their final year. (accepts all pronouns)

Kirsten Høj
Ensemble
Kirsten is a junior in the BFA Acting Program and is also working toward a minor in sociology. Her favorite past roles include M’Lynn Eatenton in Steel Magnolias, Betty Rizzo in Grease, Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, and Olivia in Naked Shakes’ outdoor production of Twelfth Night. Kirsten transferred to UCSB last fall, right in the midst of the pandemic we are still living through. Yellowstone is her second in-person experience at UCSB. It’s been a long time coming for all of us. It feels so good to be doing what we love. (she/her)

Taylor Kirk
Ensemble
Taylor is a third-year in the BFA Acting Program and Black Studies double major at UCSB. She was last seen in UCSB productions, such as She Kills Monsters, Airness, and Twelfth Night. She is ecstatic to participate in her first in-person Launch Pad event and hopes that you all will enjoy this production. (she/her)

Val Murillo
Ensemble
Val is a Junior in the BFA Acting program. Their credits include She Kills Monsters as well as the BIPOC Reading Series, and Airness. She is very excited to be a part of such incredible work. They are very grateful for the opportunity to work with such an incredible cast and crew. She is very happy to be a part of this project as it is their first in person project with UCSB. Val would also like to thank Risa Brainin for reaching out to be a part of this project. (she/they)

Ahlora Smith
Ensemble
Ahlora, a second-year in the BFA Acting Program,  is incredibly grateful to be involved in her first LAUNCH PAD production! Past appearances include AMPLIFY’s Solo Festival, Idris Goodwin’s SIX, 365 Days/365 Plays, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and more. She’d like to remind everyone to stay safe and silly! (she/her/hers)

Annie Torsiglieri
Ensemble
Broadway: Parade, Blood Brothers, Top Girls, Miss Saigon. Nat’l Tour: Les Misérables (Fantine). Film/TV: Seagull, Kidnapped, Gossip Girl etc. Writer/Performer of “A” TRAIN (Best Production: United Solo Festival 2017, Best Encore: United Solo Festival 2018). Professor and Director of BFA Acting at UCSB. Princeton University, Juilliard Drama. www.ATrainthePlay.com www.AnnieTorsiglieri.com (she/her/hers)

Trinity Wicklund
Stage Manager
Trinity Wicklund is a second-year Theatre Design Major at UC Santa Barbara and is Yellowstone's stage manager. The reading of Jennifer Barclay’s Yellowstone will be her third production with LAUNCH PAD. Recent stage management credits through UCSB include Linda Alper’s Shanghai, Anna Deveare Smith's Fires in the Mirror, Naked Shakes' production of Twelfth Night, and the reading of Candrice Jones' A Medusa Thread in LAUNCH PAD's first BIPOC Reading Series Festival. (she/her/hers)

Betty Hart
Post-Show Facilitator (at UC Santa Barbara reading)
Betty has acted in Local Lab and has facilitated audience conversatioons and salons for Local Theater Company. In 2020, Betty directed Josh Kroenig’s Vroom Vroom for Local Lab, which audiences never saw due to the theatre wide shut down. In June 2021, Betty directed the one person play An Iliad for Creede Repertory Theatre (CRT) and in spring, directed a virtual offering of To the Moon by Beth Kander for CRT as well. In spring of 2021, Betty directed an original devised theatrical film for the University of Northern Colorado called 2020 Speaks. Upcoming projects include directing Polaroid Stories for Metropolitan State University, By the way, Meet Vera Stark for the Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, Once on this Island for Town Hall Arts Center and Blackademics for Vintage Theatre. In November of 2020, Betty gave a Ted Talk on compassion culture instead of cancel culture. You can view the talk here: go.ted.com/bettyhart

If you are interested in making a gift to LAUNCH PAD, please contact Leslie.Gray@ucsb.edu or visit us on the web by clicking the button below. Your support makes a difference!

If you are interested in making a gift to Local Theater Company, please click the button below. Your donation supports new American plays and the theater professionals that create them.

LAUNCH PAD Supporters:

Richard Auhll
Jan and Don O’Dowd Performance Fund
Arnhold Endowed Theater and Dance Production Fund
John and Jill Bishop
The Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts, a field of interest fund of the Santa Barbara Foundation
David Anderson
Jeffrey and Alyssa Anderson
Sylvia Arreola
Jill and Arnie Bellowe
Myrna H. Bernard (in honor of Mrs. Joan Marks birthday)
Eve Bernstein
Ms. Annelisa Blake-Wasden
Constance S. Brainin
Deborah Brevoort
Dan Castellaneta and Deborah Lacusta
Cliff Chamberlain
Mr. William and Mrs. Susan Clutton
Yussef El Guindi
Elizabeth Engelman
Dr. Leonard M. and Jill H. Fromer
Lisa Harris
Janet Head and Dr. Amr El Abbadi
Bonnie and Dick Jensen
Robert "Gib" Johnson and Zoe Iverson
Bob Johnson and Lisa Reich
Scott Kassner and Linda Adler-Kassner
Bill and Linda Kitchen
Julie Ladner
Barbara Lebow

Margaret Leonard and Clare Sheils (in memory of Norman H. Brainin)
Philip A. Levien and Darlene S. Craviotto-Levien
Jason Loewith
Brian and Karen MacDonald
Dr. David Marshall and Dr. Candace Waid
Myles Mattenson
Maureen McFadden
Meredith McMinn
Emily Newsome
Lucinda and Thurman Newsome
Diane O'Dowd (in memory of Jan O'Dowd)
Rylee O'Dowd (in memory of Jan O'Dowd, "a true trailblazer and lover of the arts. xoxo Rylee, Connor and Scott")
Mrs. Paige Owens and Mr. James Owens ("From the Cherno and Owens families in memory of our friend Jan O'Dowd") 
Kim and Dean Pananides
Doug and Alissa Parrish
Aurora Perry (in honor of James Still)
Ms. Deborah Pfann
Charles and Joanna Reisner
Susan Rose 
Jean Scott
Jeffry Sherbakoff
Manuel Sherbakoff
Jessie Sherman
Shad Springer
Dale and Greg Stamos
William and Cheri Steinkellner
Anne Towbes
Steve and Joan Young
UCSB Summer Culture and Community Grant
Dean’s Office, UCSB College of Letters and Science, Division of Humanities and Fine Arts