ELLEN GEER has been Artistic Director for Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum since 1978. In that time, Ms. Geer has guided the theatre from a Sunday afternoon workshop to a professional repertory theatre company with a negotiated AEA Contract. She has produced and directed over 50 productions including the works of Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Chekhov, Thornton Wilder and the classics of Greek literature. She created the Academy of the Classics in 1976, which now houses our Intensive Shakespeare Seminar, Scene Study, classes and a Youth Drama Camp. She helped develop School Days, a field trip for young people which serves over 8,000 Los Angeles school children each spring. She co-developed Classroom Enrichment, which takes our actor/teachers into classrooms working along with the teachers to help the students perform the roles in selected Shakespearean plays. In addition to her work in film and television (Harold and Maude, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, to name a few), she is a graduate Professor of classical acting at UCLA’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television. She has received numerous awards for her work at Theatricum and in the community including a Los Angeles County “Woman of the Year.”
ELIZABETH TOBIAS received her BA from UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television and a degree from UCLA’s Graduate School of Education. She has both taught and administrated for Serendipity Children’s Theatre, S.T.A.R., The Powerhouse, The Actors’ Gang and Theatricum. She has Professional Designation in Arts Education from the L.A. County Arts Commission and writes curriculum, lesson plans, and grants for a variety of arts programs. She has produced film and theatre, and as an actress, has performed professionally at Theatricum, Pasadena Playhouse, The Getty Villa and others. Her many television and film appearances include Entourage, 7th Heaven, and NYPD Blue. Ms. Tobias is Co-Artistic Director of Creative PlayGround, a company of adult, professional actors presenting interactive adaptations of classic children’s literature.
JULIE ANDERSON has a BA in Writing from Johns Hopkins and an MA in Cinema Studies from NYU. A Wisconsin native, she comes to Los Angeles by way of New York where she was involved in independent film, and the Off and Off-Off-Broadway theatre communities for 20 years. Julie began her career working in a start-up family business and since then she has continued to hone the skills she learned there by pursuing her passions for arts and education, both professionally and as a volunteer advocate. Julie is the mother of twins, who, because of Theatricum have favorite characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and opinions about Coriolanus’ character flaws.