Theater: A Sacred Passage

by Full Circle Original Core Artists: Martha B. Johnson, R.A. Shiomi, Lara Trujillo, Stephanie Lein Walseth, and James A. Williams

Directed by Rick Shiomi

Dramaturgy by Martha B. Johnson

November 6 - 22, 2015 at Dreamland Arts & Spring 2016 St. Paul Tour

Photo: Marcos Lopez and Lara Trujillo

About Theater: A Sacred Pasage

Theater: A Sacred Passage is an original performance piece devised by the five core artists of Full Circle from their personal journeys into theater. The artists/playwrights are Rick Shiomi, James Williams, Martha Johnson, Lara Trujillo and Stephanie Lein Walseth. Their stories embody the challenges and transformational experiences they have had in becoming theater artists and how their lives and work reflect the huge changes in our theater community over the past two decades. The piece incorporates acting, storytelling, choreography and music. This is the debut production of Full Circle Theater Company.

The cast members are: Carolyn Pool, Rhiana Yazzie, Lara Trujillo, Siddeeqah Shabazz, Allen Malicsi, Matthew Thompson, Song Kim, John Stephens, Bethany McHugh and Marcos Lopez.

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Full Circle Artists/Playwrights

Rick Shiomi (he/him)

Rick Shiomi received the 2015 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award and the Ivey Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2012, and was a founding member and the artistic director of Mu Performing Arts for twenty years.

Martha B. Johnson (she/her)

Martha Johnson was co-artistic director of 21st Street Players in the 1980s, was a founding and core member of Mu Preforming Arts, and directed and taught theater at Augsburg College for many years.

James A. Williams (he/him)

James Williams is an award winning actor who has performed on Broadway and at major regional theaters and for several decades in Twin Cities theaters such as Penumbra, Mixed Blood, and the Guthrie. He has received several Ivey Awards and a 2015 McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship.

Lara Trujillo (she/her)

Lara Trujillo has performed with numerous Twin Cities theater and music theater companies including the Minnesota Opera, the Ordway, Pantages, Mu Performing Arts, History Theater and Teatro del Pueblo.

Stephanie Lein Walseth (she/her)

Stephanie Lein Walseth has worked as artist, educator, scholar, and administrator at such theaters as Penumbra, Mixed Blood, and Mu Performing Arts. She was an August Wilson Fellow at Penumbra Theatre and recently received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Theatre Historiography. She is the Director of Inquiry at Penumbra Theatre.