Jose Maria Francos has designed for Dance, Theatre and Opera. He has collaborated with The Wall Flower Order, Ellen Bromberg Ensemble, June Watanabe In Company, Joanna Haigood’s Zaccho Dance Theater, Repertory Dance Theater of Trinidad and Tobago, Fua Dia Coingol, Kulintang Arts, Robert Henry Johnson, Pearl Ubunge, Navarrete/Kajiyama Dance Theater, Robert Moses/KIN, Youth Theatre Festival, Vanessa Redgrave’s Amnesty International Celebration, The Oakland Opera, The Oakland Ballet and served as Lighting Director for the Joseph Papp NY/SF Festival Latino working with Spain’s La Cuadra de Sevilla , Venezuela’s Rajatabla and Argentina ‘s Compania Norma Aleandro. He is Production Manager at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Writer:
Tom Patton is a former editor and essayist who has contributed over the past fifty years to various progressive magazines, is readying a book, PLAYING THE MANDARIN, Thoughts On Envy, Resentment, Schadenfreude and the Behavior of Crowds, for publication in 2005. Mr. Patton, who also weaves rugs, admits to an abiding affinity for counter-rhythms and the arts that elaborate them.
Composer/ Musician:
Michael Bello is a multi-instrumentalist (saxaphone, bass clarinet, flute, bass, piano). He is lead singer and saxaphonist of Albino (Afro-pop) and leader of the jazz group Singularity. Bello is a much sought after free-lance jazz saxaphonist and educator living in Oakland, California. Virile Streak marks his first collaboation with Lisa Townsend Company.
Heidi Sandvoll has been painting and creating sculpture for over seventeen years. She has had several solo art shows at different SF Bay Area venues and several group shows including an exhibition “What is Art For?” at the Oakland Museum of California. Heidi has painted numerous portrait commissions and was commissioned by the University of the Pacific in Stockton California for a large painting that now hangs in the medical school. Set design came to her by chance when she began creating sets for events and fundraisers in the town of Stinson Beach. Her concept of set design is to create an environment that can stand on its own. Heidi aims to enhance ones imagination, give depth to the theatrical work, and inspire the audience to illusion.
Visual Artist/ Costume Designer:
Hermione Healy Sanchez is a visual artist whose unique work speaks to the darker and more intimate nature of relationships. She works with oils, in collage and sculpture. Hermione has shown her work in galleries through out San Francisco.
Piro Patton is a jazz musician who plays both vibraphone and acoustic bass. He has been composing music as well as performing live for Modern Dance for over 16 years. Commissions of his work have been performed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and New York. Highlights include; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (L.A.C.E.) and the Los Angeles Women's Theater Festival; Judson Church, Dixon Place, dancenowfest, P.S. 122 and Joyce SoHo in N.Y.C.; ODC Theater, Venue 9 and Dance Mission Theater in S.F. As a collaborator with Lisa Townsend, he has composed the music and sound scores for numerous pieces including the evening works: Rochambo, Res Ipsa Loquiter, Seizure Story, and Virile Streak. Piro studied music at Berklee College of Music (under Gary Burton) and at California Institute for the Arts (under Charlie Haden) and has performed in major jazz venues on both coasts. In 1992, while both at CalArts, Piro began taking dance photographs of Lisa. The results led Piro to a second career in photography. A show of their 10-year collaboration titled, One Woman Sometimes Two, was on exhibit at the Bolinas Museum in 2002. Piro's photographs have also been on view at ODC Gallery in San Francisco, WAX in Brooklyn, and Open Eye Studio in Dogtown, CA. www.piropatton.com