Z Space

Carlos Aguirre (he/him) is an actor, musician, vocal percussionist, and educator, performing and teaching in the Bay Area for over 20 years. He has shared the stage with The Roots, Eryka Badu, Black Eyed Peas, Mary J. Blige, Jam Master Jay, and L.L. Cool J, among others. He is currently producing his original rap and beatbox adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. Carlos is dedicated to the voice of the youth!

Ariel Allen’s strengths are illustration and costume design/construction. She received a degree from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University in Illustration and is currently working on another for Costume Design, while simultaneously working in theater as a designer. She loves to draw, sew, make cool stuff, spend time with family, and follow her cat’s orders to the letter.

Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez (he/him) is an actor, guiding artist, and health educator. He has worked with many youth-centered organizations since 2012 including Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre, Berkeley Playhouse, Music Together, Superstar Health Education, and Word for Word. Through extensive training, Eric is knowledgeable in creating safe and nonjudgmental spaces where people of all ages can have fun and connect and learn from one another. He holds a degree in Human Development from California State University, East Bay.

Gendell Hing-Hernandez was born in Havana, Cuba, and is proud to have called the Bay Area home since 1997, working as an actor, director, and teaching artist in theaters, classrooms, libraries, and jails. He believes in being as present as a Jedi, as undeniable as hip-hop, and as facile as Shakespeare while trying to understand this human experience and the social conditions we all share.

Lisa Hori-Garcia (she/her) is a theater artist based in Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, California. She has been with Word for Word since 2004 as an actor, director, and guiding artist, performing in such shows as Chairman Greg Sarris's Citizen and Stories from Sonoma Mountain. When not working in the theater, Lisa loves going on hikes with her pup Snoopy. She received her BA from Smith College and her MFA in Acting from USC.

Anne Yumi Kobori (she/her) is a Japanese-American actor, playwright, and guiding artist. She has taught with A.C.T., Word for Word, SF Shakespeare Festival, Magic Theatre, Shakespearience, and Young Performers Theatre. Anne loved sword fighting as the title role in Hamlet and getting to cook onstage as French chef Simca in To Master the Art. She enjoys tending her vegetable garden, cooking for her family, and writing on her vintage typewriter.

Laura Marlin is a director, playwright, dancer, and most of all, teacher. Laura is proud to be a teaching artist with Word for Word, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Playhouse. She has written two musicals produced at Berkeley Playhouse: Bravado, and most recently, Becoming Robin Hood. As a modern dancer, Laura has performed with local choreographers such as Nina Haft and Co., Rogelio Lopez, Randee Paufve, Dana Lawton Dances, and Ruth Botchan. She lives in Berkeley, in her empty nest, with her dog, Oatie. 

Josh Matthews (they/he) is a teacher, actor, and clown/circus performer. He has traveled around the world with his theater company, Under the Table, performing original plays. Josh has performed at The Lincoln Center (NYC), The Big Apple Circus (NYC), and Third Rail Projects (NYC), to name a few companies. For 25 years, Josh has taught and lectured at various institutions, including New Victory Theater, Word For Word, A.C.T., Occidental College, Sarah Lawrence College, and NYU. Currently, Josh serves as artistic program director of the Medical Clown Project.

Ely Sonny Orquiza (he/him), a 2023 YBCA 100 Honoree, is a Queer Filipino multidisciplinary artist based in the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone People (San Francisco Bay Area). As an artistic director, dramaturg, and arts advocate, he passionately champions equity in storytelling. Ely’s work delves into the Asian diaspora, Queer/ness, and ancestral ghosts, while advocating for new works by Black and Indigenous Artists and Artists of Color, with a focus on untold stories and the Global Majority.

Dan Wolf (he/him) is an artist who works with rap, theater, personal narrative, and history to give voice to the problematic world we live in. His projects have traveled around the world, from concert halls to museums to schools and memorial sites, engaging history and culture as a prompt to make vital music and theater that can only live in this moment. Dan is the Artistic Director of Sound in the Silence and a co-founder of both the Bay Area Theatre Cypher and Felonious.