The Co-op is the heart of Pacific Resident Theatre. With a current membership of over 100 Full Members, 20 Journeymen, and 30 Associate Members, the Co-Op was formed in 1985 to allow our members to produce workshop productions of their choice. Since 1985 the Co-Op has produced over 125 shows. The PRT co-op is an artistic space that allows our members to increase their capacity as an artist; learn to direct, write a play, produce their dream project, and act in roles free of commercial constraints (no reviews and a budget that covers little more than the cost of the rights). Some of the greatest successes our actors have had, were performances originally created in the Co-op.
Full Members
Full Members are core company artists selected through audition. They are actors who can propose and produce work within the Co-Op, contributing directly to the artistic life of the theatre.
PAUL ANDERSON – has been a member of PRT since 2014. In that time he has covered the role of Nicholas Gadsby in Touch of the Poet, played Roger Doremus in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale and Mike the dockworker in A View from the Bridge. Other Los Angeles theater credits include Ross/How in The Elephant Man at St. John’s Cathedral, State of the Union with Interact Theatre Company, Howard in Death of a Salesman at Interact Theatre Company and at The Odyssey Theatre and Juror #4 in Twelve Angry Men at GTC- Burbank. Regionally, he has performed in Billy Budd at Circle In The Square, Principia Scriptoriae at City Theatre Company, Lend Me a Tenor at St. Vincent Theater, The Foreigner at Michigan Ensemble Theater and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Shakespeare Festival of Arkansas. www.mranderson.la
Emily Arancio, an NYC native, is a recent graduate of USC's MFA Acting program. She is thrilled to be beginning her professional acting journey! Most recently, Emily can be seen as "Zinnia" in the upcoming independent feature film "Motherland." She is very grateful to be a part of the PRT community!
Tara Alexandra Brown is an award winning actress, director, writer, and producer. A theater major in college, she was the recipient of the University of Nevada's esteemed Grace-Semenza Drama Scholarship and has played such memorable characters as “Cecily” in The Importance of Being Earnest, “Rizzo” in Grease, “The Nurse” in Romeo and Juliet, and “Constable Dogberry” in Much Ado About Nothing. A member of SAG-AFTRA and Actor's Equity, she currently portrays “Officer Glover" in season 8 of S.W.A.T. on CBS, "Gale" in the upcoming romantic drama series The Aquanaut and The Shipwreck, and “Paige” in Season 3 of the BlumHouse horror podcast Dream Sequence from producer Keegan-Michael Key. Recent theater credits include, "Kathy" in Jerry Mayer's Award Winning Comedy "Jews R 2 Much Fun" and "Constance" is the farcical Shakespeare musical "Love in Bloom."
Member since 2009
With a penchant for playing unsettled characters, Katy is a former Off-Broadway Theater Actress who performed works including "Bone Songs" (with NYTW) , and New York Times Reviewed, "I Heart Kant". She received extensive training at The Actors Center under Earle Gister, Chris Bayes, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Slava Dolgechev - and others, and the Shakespeare Lab at The Public Theater. Katy now resides in Los Angeles and continues to work in theater as a proud member of Pacific Resident Theater, where she has been involved in The “Dorthy Parker Project”; Cassie in “If You Are Reading This”; Janice in "What We Are Up Against”, and Freddie in “A Very Streaming Christmas”. She completed an audio documentary encapsulating her experience with the unhoused population. By happen stance, she tried stand up at Flappers in Burbank and found out what a thrill that is and has returned for more. She really enjoys highlighting her neighborhood with short videos of local visionaries and small business owners, called VeNICE.
Brendan Farrell has been a member of PRT since the before times, performing in WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST, THE DOROTHY PARKER PROJECT, TOUCH OF A POET among others. He's been a member of the LA Theatre Community since 2003 and lives with his wife, son and the mutt by the beach.
Suzanne studied with Stella Adler and William Esper in NY, appearing in productions Off Broadway, at Lincoln Center, SoHo Rep and many other venues. At PRT she has been seen in over 25 productions, among them Becky Shaw, Camino Real, King Lear, Sweet Thursday and Betrayal. She works regularly in film and television, and can be seen in the Netflix hit Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and in upcoming films Broken Tides and Found Footage. On television Suzanne will guest star on the highly-anticipated Mindy Kaling series Running Point starring Kate Hudson. Past TV credits include series regular Monica in For Years to Come, guest stars on Magnum P.I., Grace and Frankie, Criminal Minds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Mindy Project, Monk, Bones, How I Met Your Mother, That 70s Show, Friends and many others. Favorite films include the Duplass Brothers' zany Manson Family Vacation, Uncross the Stars with Barbara Hershey, The Informers with Billy Bob Thornton and Kim Basinger, and You, Me & Dupree, starring Matt Dillon and Owen Wilson. Suzanne appears regularly in theatre productions on the west coast, and is also a member of The Road Theatre and Rogue Machine. Her work at other theatres includes a widely-praised Polly in Other Desert Cities at ICT, and roles at the Laguna Playhouse and La Mirada. Suzanne lives in Hollywood with her husband, Alan Toman.
Michael works as an actor, director, producer, designer and writer. He has received LA Weekly, LADCC, Ovation and Garland Awards for his work on Nosferatu, The Master and Margarita, Pathe’ X, Uppa Creek, Noche Negro, The Slow and Painful Death of Sam Shepard, Heart of a Dog, Gorey Stories, The Swine Show, The Room, James Joyce’s, The Dead, Joe's Garage and The Interview.
Has been apart of the PRT family since 2011.
Regional Credits: The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote (Theatricum Botanicum), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Coronado Playhouse), The Ferryman (New Village Arts), Romeo and Juliet (Westminster Amphitheatre), The Other Place (OnStage Playhouse), On Her Shoulders (Tuyo/La Jolla Playhouse), The Mineola Twins (Moxie Theatre), Friends with Guns (The Road Theatre), Showpony (Victory Theatre), The Rainbow Bridge (Ruskin Theatre). Education: NYU Stern, MBA. Tufts, BA.
Kiel Kennedy is an actor, writer, member of the Groundlings Sunday Company. He recently made his debut with Rogue Machine in the critically acclaimed HUMAN ERROR at the Matrix Theater. You can catch Kiel in the upcoming film DON’T TELL LARRY, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival and won Best Feature at the Pasadena International Film Festival, where he also earned a nomination for Best Actor. Kiel earned an Emmy nomination for his work on ROBOT CHICKEN and some of his other credits include SUPERSTORE, NOBODIES, LAZY SUSAN, THE MISADVENTURES OF VINCE AND HICK and THE BINGE 2.
Brian has been a professional actor and writer for 25 years with series regular/recurring roles on a new BOSCH spinoff, SCANDAL, VALOR, HOLLYWOOD HEIGHTS, LONESTAR: 911 and 1923 among many others. Brian's play SMART LOVE was an LA Times Critic's Choice which he later developed it as a television series for a major studio. He continues to write and develop plays and television series.
Bill had been a member of PRT for over 20 years and has been in approximate Marley that many plays. He has directed two productions, Our Town and Harold and Maybe. Before PRT (used to be PTE) he was connected with and taught for Stella Adler for many years. All sorts of TV, all sorts of touring the country in plays.
TRACIE LOCKWOOD is the most brilliant actress you'll ever meet. She's even better than I am, and that's saying a lot. Lightning quick, the force of a hurricane, and good-natured, to boot!
Melissa Paladino is a versatile actor whose work spans theater, film, and television. She has been seen on Los Angeles stages in productions with Pacific Resident Theatre (Middletown, All My Sons), The Ghost Road Company (The Dry Years), The Odyssey Theatre (Awake & Sing!), Skylight Theatre Company (The Sexual Lives of Savages), Padua Playwrights (Daddyo Dies Well), and Rogue Machine Theatre (Lone-Anon, Bingo with the Indians, Razorback, Pocatello), among others. Originally from the East Coast, Melissa immersed herself in the New York theater scene, working with renowned companies such as LAByrinth Theater Company (Sailor’s Song) and Vampire Cowboy Theatre Company in multiple productions.Her screen credits include a recurring role on Showtime’s Shameless as well as work in independent films like Loners. Melissa is honored to be a part of Pacific Resident Theater and is grateful for the opportunity to create meaningful work with such an inspiring artistic community.
A veteran of forty-five years in the theatre, Tony is a playwright, actor and director. His play, Lost In Time, was produced in 2018 at Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, and published with Broadway Play Publishing. He’s performed in over a hundred plays on many stages around the country, including: The Arena Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Philadelphia Drama Guild and The Buffalo Studio Arena. Over the years some of his favorite roles include Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Prospero in The Tempest, Lear in King Lear, Doug Schmidt in the West Coast premiere of Emily Mann’s Execution of Justice, and Jesse James in Jesse and The Bandit Queen. In Los Angeles Tony has appeared at the South Coast Repertory playing Jim Bayless in All My Sons; Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing at A Noise Within; Donald Rumsfeld in What I Heard About Iraq at the Fountain Theatre; Van Swieten in Amadeus at the Hollywood Bowl; Harold Levine in Watching OJ at Ensemble Studio Theatre; Tobias in Delicate Balance at The Pacific Resident Theatre, Tim in A Great Wilderness at Rogue Machine Theatre: and most dear to his heart, Andrew in Loyalties at PRT (a play that he also wrote). Tony has guest starred on over 50 television shows and films. A few favorites: Grace and Frankie; Mad Men; Modern Family; West Wing, The Office and Frasier.
Satiar was last seen at PRT as “Cross. Simon Cross” in the critically acclaimed world premier of THE SPY WHO WENT INTO REHAB, by Gregg Ostrin. Other notable credits include portrayals of Reverend, Ezra Stiles in the world premier of THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF A COMMON SCOLD, by Mike Teverbaugh at the Promenade Playhouse, Marco in A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, by Arthur Miller at PRT, Ebrahim in the world premier of HOSTAGE, by Michelle Kolos Brooks at the Skylight Theater, and Janis in world premier of WAR WORDS, by Michelle Kolos Brooks at both The Actors Gang and The New Vic. Satiar can be seen in the upcoming film AND STILL SMILING. T.V. credits include NCIS: LOS ANGELES, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, J..A.G., and THE PRACTICE. Satiar is a graduate of the Univerdity of Southern California with a BFA -Acting degree, and studied with Howard Fine at the Howard Fine Actong Studio.
NINA SALLINEN originally from Finland, but born and raised in Sweden. Nina graduated from the National Drama School in Finland with an MFA. She has worked in various theaters in Finland, including the National Theater. Also Nina starred in a Comedy Variety show on Finnish TV. After moving to the U.S she co-founded a theater company in Chicago called Walks About Theater Company. Nina's one woman show Poor Poor Lear has been running on and off for 26 years and counting. Besides Finland and the U.S she has performed in Serbia, Macedonia, Armenia, Georgia, Italy, Sweden, France, Germany and Norway. Here in Los Angeles she has worked at the PRT, The Odyssey, The Road, Geffen Playhouse and Whitefire. Nina is a member of Lit Moon Theatre Company in Santa Barbara and Road Theater Company in L.A. Besides acting Nina has worked as a story developer for a Finnish film called Kikka! Now she is writing TV scripts with a Finnish co-writer and hopes to sell them one day.
Molly is a long time member who has performed in many shows at PRT including Prelude to a Kiss, Hedda Gabler, Tonite at 8:30, Wildboy, Cigarettes and Chocolate and Hang Up. Molly has performed in shows around the country at theatres including Regional Theatre of St Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse, American Stage, and Arizona Theater Company. TV: The Black Donnellys, Lie to Me, The West Wing, ER, The Huntress etc and Film: Crash, Man on the Moon, and Mumford.
Jennifer Sorenson is an actor/producer/writer. She wrote and played ten roles in the award-winning, viral parody Orphan is the New Orange which was named one of the Top Ten Short Films of the Decade by ItsaShort.com. As a writer, her first feature For When You Get Lost (a dark comedy about family, dysfunction, and beer) has won five awards in five festivals including its World Premiere at the Austin Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Comedy. Other writing includes: No Backsies (a comedy short about life in the pandemic), See Me (a virtual reality short about the exploration of women reclaiming their bodies from the patriarchy), What Are the Odds (a healthcare PSA) and I Fart in My Sleep: Confessions of an Embarrassing Life (a full-length play), which premiered in Los Angeles. She was a finalist in the PSA program for Women in Film. She has produced several successful short films and two features, the aforementioned For When You Get Lost and a sci-fi/western feature Suffer, starring Naomi McDougall Jones. Her production company, Aegis Creative Media, is in development for its next feature Church & State based on the Off-Broadway play of the same name.
Steve Spiro is a writer / actor originally from London, England. He’s been with PRT since 2000 and has performed in many stage productions at the company.
Keith Stevenson is the author of The Fried Meat Trilogy, performed at Pacific Resident Theatre. Out There on Fried Meat Ridge Rd. (Ovation nomination for Playwriting for an Original Play) played at Trafalgar Studios in London's West End in 2017 with Mr. Stevenson performing. Performance credits include Andy Warhol’s Tomato; Smart Love; Rhinoceros; My Girlfriend is Alien by Keith DeFacto; Lions (PRT) and Julia (PRT, 59e59 in NYC); King Dick (Gangbusters Theatre); The Steward of Christendom (Pittsburgh Public). Directorial credits: Blunt Force (PRT); Lone-Anon (PRT, Rogue Machine, LA Weekly's ten best plays of the year).
An actor, singer, producer, playwright and working voiceover artist, she’s an ADA, Garland, and Drama-Logue award winning, LA Weekly nominated actress, among others.
Her fave credits include: The Hairy Ape, working with the legendary Steven Berkoff at the Odyssey Theatre, starring as Mae West in Dirty Blonde, directed by Nancy Keystone at Portland Center Stage and wearing many fabulous wigs, Madame de Brionne in lauded Divorcons! directed by Caroline McWilliams at PRT (where she met her husband Jaxon Gwillim), Dracula, directed by Calvin Remsberg at Hermosa Beach CLO, Slaughterhouse on Tanner’s Close, directed by Danny O’Connor at PRT, Elaine Ostrich in Henry Murray’s Monkey Adored at Rogue Machine Theatre , directed by John Flynn.
Other shows include: April, May, June at Theatre 40, A Servant of Two Masters (ICT),Cinderella (Cabrillo), Under The Gaslight (Laguna Playhouse), Red Noses (Theatre Banshee), Golden Boy (PRT), I’ll Die Happy (PRT), Funny Money (with Jaxon Gwillim, at Norris Theatre), The Three Sisters (PRT), The Cherry Orchard (McCowan Theatre, London), The Clandestine Marriage (McCowan Theatre, London), The Dorothy Parker Project, Lulu, and Marat/Sade at PRT, among many others.
A proud Member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, and close to a Founding Member of PRT, she’s also a proud mom to Harry Gwillim.
Susan Wilder is an American actress who has joyfully worked her entire life on stage and screen. From Mill Valley, California, she trained at the San Francisco Ballet School, did every play at Tamalpais High School, and studied under Bay Area theatre legend, James Dunn, at the College of Marin. She went east to join the People’s Light & Theatre Company in Philadelphia as a company member for six years. Her first leading film role was in THE SILENCE AT BETHANY, shot in the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside and directed by Joel Oliansky - who could answer every trivia question on every radio bible quiz. Susan has worked onstage across the country, appearing numerous times at Lincoln Center Theater, including “Ivanov” with Kevin Kline, and handpicked by Christopher Plummer for his “King Lear”. She studied Meisner technique with William Esper in New York, and earned a Masters Degree in Shakespeare with Michael Kahn in DC. She currently resides in Los Angeles - even though Northern Californians are never supposed to do that.
Associates
Associate Members are valued collaborators – playwrights, directors, stage managers, and designers – who regularly contribute to Co-Op productions and the broader creative work of the company.
Lisa Barnes currently resides outside of Philadelphia, where she moved to make sure her 93-year-old mom wears a mask while shopping at Kohl’s with her “30% OFF!” coupons. Lisa had been living in Hawaii (and still kind of does). In Hawaii she has directed theatre, facilitated documentary theatre projects, written films and acted in film and television, including “Hawaii 5-0;” taught acting for camera at UH and elsewhere, and learned to scuba dive. NY credits: Summer Play Festival, SPAIN; THEATRAINPLAYS at New World Stages; NO EXIT STRATEGY (Duplex and The Makor); ITALIAN AMERICAN CANTOS (Abingdon Theatre); NEW BOY (Beckett Theatre); GIANTS (HERE); RAPT (Culture Project). Lisa wrote and performed UN PAJARO EN UNA JAULA - for The Metropolitan Playhouse’s ALPHABET CITY III as well as EAST VILLAGE TO EAST VILLAGE - in ALPHABET CITY V and another piece portraying a 70-year-old Russian emigree in ALPHABET CITY VII. Regional credits include: Vermont Stage Company, Portland Stage Co., Denver Center Theatre, Asolo State Theatre, Virginia Stage Co. and New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. Los Angeles Theatre - PRT: THE QUICK-CHANGE ROOM (LA Drama Critics’ Circle Award-Featured Actress); PRT & Odyssey :AWAKE AND SING; PRT:THE BEGGARS’ OPERA (LA Drama Critics’ Circle Award - Best Ensemble). Celluloid: “Birth,” “Satan’s Little Helper,” “Cayman Went,” “Law & Order Trial By Jury,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order SVU,” “Rescue Me,” and “Canterbury’s Law,"" ""Hawaii 5-0."" She studied with Stella Adler and holds a BFA from USC and is a founding member of Off-Bway theatre company, Primary Stages. She is past president of Women in the Arts & Media Coalition and serves on the board of Hawaii Filmmakers Collective. Recently she was featured in two short comedies: “The Big Pivot,” and “Beyond & Above,” which currently is placing in over 20 international film festivals. She currently performs “ALL OF US,” a piece written by seven NY actress/writers during the two-year Covid lockdown in Manhattan. You can find her on her Youtube channel, “Barnes Looks At Barns.” Lisa has worked with Kevin Bacon, so there’s that! Aloha, y’all!
A published author of books, plays, and screenplays, I explore storytelling across multiple mediums, blending narrative depth with cultural insight. My work has appeared in Huffington Post, Bomb Magazine, Lectura Books, The American Show, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. In addition to writing, I have taught creative writing, literature, film, and digital media at institutions such as USC Annenberg, UCLA, and Sotheby’s Institute of Art. My research and teaching intersect with storytelling in the digital age, an area I explored as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in France (2016-2017), focusing on digital communications in French universities. Alongside my creative work, I bring experience in strategic communications, digital marketing, and content development, having led communications at Caltech, UCLA, and Claremont McKenna College. I hold a doctorate in New Media and Higher Education, further bridging the worlds of academia, media, and storytelling.
Wendy Graf is a film and TV writer and an award winning playwright whose plays have been produced nationally and internationally. Awards and nominations include GLAAD, NAACP, Helen Hayes, Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle New Play Initiative First Place Gold Medallion, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Dorothy Silver, Backstage as well as multiple local awards for Best Play, Best Production, Best World Premiere, Best Solo production, Outstanding 2 Hander. Recent plays include: EXIT WOUNDS (First Place Gold Medallion Winner Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle New Play Initiative; Open Fist First Look Festival Winner; 2023 Robby Award Best Drama play. Best Playwriting; StageSceneLA Best World Premiere Plays of 2023/24, Outstanding Drama); WEDNESDAY’S CHILD; UNEMPLOYED ELEPHANTS – A LOVE STORY (Stage Raw Recommended Top Ten; multiple Critic’s Picks; LA Times Pick of the Week; Outstanding Production/2 Hander StageSceneLA); PLEASE DON’T ASK ABOUT BECKET; ALL AMERICAN GIRL (Stage Raw Recommended Top Ten/2015 nom Playwriting and Solo performance; LA Times Pick of the Week; LA Weekly “GO!” StageSceneLA 2015 Outstanding Solo Performance Production; Bitter Lemons 2015 Ten Best; Winner Last Frontier Playwriting Conference); CLOSELY RELATED KEYS (StageSceneLA Best World Premiere Plays of 2013-14/ Best Production Drama/Intimate Theater; NAACP win/nominations; Best Drama Production); NO WORD IN GUYANESE FOR ME (2012 GLAAD Award Outstanding L.A. Theater; Helen Hayes Awards Recommended); BEHIND THE GATES; LESSONS (L.A. production dir by Gordon Davidson); LEIPZIG (LADCC nomination; Garland award/Playwriting; Dorothy Silver finalist); THE BOOK OF ESTHER (San Fernando Valley Artistic Directors nominations including Best Play; ASK Theater Projects Grant Award); BETHANY/BAKOL (Attic Theater One Act Winner, produced September 2009 and her newest, MASALA DABBA, INHERITANCE and A SHONDA. Visit her at wendygraf.com
Recent plays, Kowalski (Duke Theater, New York), A Very Streaming Christmas and The Spy Who Went Into Rehab (Pacific Resident Theatre, Venice Ca), The Soul of Motown (Stage West Theater, Calgary), Truffles (Secret Door Theater, New York City), Rank & File (Hudson Theater, Los Angeles). His play The Beverly Hills Hotel Peace Talks will open at The Coachella Valley Rep (Palm Springs, CA) in May 2025.
Sarah is a Founding Member of PRT. She worked with PRT acting, directing and costuming until she moved to NYC. PRT was and is her first baby.
Journeymen
Journeymen are members in training who support productions across the company. They may be cast in Co-Op shows while also assisting in stage management, builds, and production operations.
Jacob wrote and produced the short film Fall to Fame, which premiered in April 2021 on the LGBTQIA+ streaming service Dekkoo. Jacob and Fall to Fame were first recognized at the Micheaux Film Festival in LA, where he was awarded best dramatic actor. His other recent writing and acting credits include the indie series Searching for Josh Brolin (SeekaTV), A New Era of Cowboy, and The Possible Life which is currently in the festival circuit. Jacob can also be seen in an emotional LGBTQ story The White Room, and as the villian in Roach (sold at Cannes Film Market 2020).