Bob Williams, Seattle:  Bob is originally from upstate New York. He received his training at The University of Maryland. He finished his training at Freehold Theatre Lab Studio. He has taught theatre and improvisation for the Montgomery County, MD school district and at Skidmore College in Sarasota Springs, NY as well as workshops at Yale and The University of Maryland.  This is his 11th Year with Living Voices.

Valerie Viramontes, New York:   Valerie was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California. She studied political science and drama at the University of Washington and Freehold Theatre Lab Studio in Seattle. As a company member of Living Voices, Valerie has spent the last six years touring throughout the United States with the Right to Dream, La Causa and Native Vision.  She recently played the female lead in the Off Broadway production of Ntozake Shange's "A Photograph: Lover's in Motion".  Other memorable credits include, Stella in "A Streetcar Named Desire", Rena in August Wilson's "Jitney", and Angel in Jose Rivera's "Marisol".  Valerie is currently based in Harlem, New York.

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Katjana Vadeboncoeur, Seattle:  Katjana is a Seattle based director, performer, producer and teaching artist.  She holds a theatre degree from the University of California at Irvine, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, and is currently an adjunct instructor at Cornish College of the Arts.  As Co-Artistic Director at Washington Ensemble Theatre for four years, she directed Shakespeare’s TITUS, and the regional premieres of MR. MARMALADE and SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS, which received a 2006 Seattle Times Footlight Award for Best Off-Broadway Production.  Seattle area directing credits also include GIRL GONE, FIVE FLIGHTS and ALOHA, SAY THE PRETTY GIRLS as a guest director at Cornish College of the Arts, JANE EYRE for the PATP graduate program at UW,  and productions at Next Stage, Live Girls!, the Mae West Fest, Book-It Repertory Theatre’s Book-It-All-Over, and a national tour for California Theatre Center. As a performer, she has appeared onstage at On the Boards and Seattle Shakespeare Company, and is also a company member of Living Voices, regularly touring the U.S. performing five solo shows.  Katjana has taught at the University of Washington, Pierce Community College, Seattle Center Academy, Eastside Preparatory School and the Northwest School, and was honored to be the featured theatre artist in the Seattle PI’s 2008 Fall Arts Guide.  Upcoming directing projects include BRUTALITY OF FACT at Cornish College, NATURAL SELECTION at Second Story Repertory and Neil Labute’s REASONS TO BE PRETTY at ArtsWest this fall.

RaChae Thomas, Los Angeles:   Rachae a Western Washington University graduate, received training in musical theatre, vocal performance, and artistic expression as a medium for social change. Her most notable performances have been the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s pop musical, Evita, Sarah in Ragtime where she recieved rave reviews in the LA times and Aldonza in Man of La Mancha. Rachae has received honors for Best Classical Acting at the 2007, Region VII-American College Theatre Festival, and strives to continue her efforts to raise awareness with her music and stage work. She has relocated to Los Angeles where she has been seen in showcases as well as various venues around the Los Angeles area. Every last Sunday of every month, you can find her singing at Spotlight Cabaret. She is thrilled to take on yet another show of living Voice’s, Native Vision and is excited to exercise her memory mussel in LA by performing all three shows, The Right to Dream, La Causa, and Native Vision. A performance reel of hers can be found on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQZFct25gMw) Rachae feels very blessed to be able to work with such a great company and is truly looking forward to this year’s challenges!

Jermaine Small, Seattle:   Jermaine Small is excited to begin his first year with Living Voices. He is an Atlanta,Georgia native and recent graduate from Howard University who currently resides in New York City. He has performed from Alaska to Washington, D.C. performing in a wide range of productions from Hair, TopDog/UnderDog, and Sweet Charity. He currently works as a Teaching Artist for the City University of New York's Creative Arts Team where he travels around the five boroughs where he works with a variety of young people using drama to bring awareness about social issues, such as sexual abuse, drug abuse, violence, and bullying. He also uses theater to do workshops on job training.

Yolanda Suarez,  Seattle: Yolanda Suarez has been performing in some capacity since she was 12 years old.  She has her B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Oregon and an M.F.A. in Performance from the University of Idaho.  She has worked as an Artistic Director, Improv teacher/performer for Comedysportz, has toured countless shows for both Oregon Children's Theatre and CITE.  Some of her favorite roles were Liz Morden in Our Country's Good, Whoopi Goldberg (a puppet) in Mutt and Lady MacBeth in MacBeth.  She has done several commercials and industrial videos but her favorite project was a small role she landed was in Management that starred Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston (opened in theaters in May 2009).  She is extremely proud to part of the wonderful cast of Living Voices and is always humbled to give voices to those who struggled so the rest of us could move forward.

Living Voices    Cast

Brian Simmons, New York:  Brian is a new arrival to the New York theatre community. He holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is extremely humbled and thankful for the opportunity to become a part of Living Voices and explore the stories that this company shares with its audiences. He hopes to continue to "serve the story" and create art.