engagement team

Furthering SF Shakes’ community engagement

MARYSSA WANLASS
ENGAGEMENT TEAM MEMBER
Maryssa Wanlass has been seen on the SF Shakes stage in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Hamlet, and As You Like It. Other acting credits include As You Like It (California Shakespeare Theatre); Book Club Play, Breaking the Code (Jewel Theatre); Betrayal (Pear Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, Good Person of Szechuan (Woman’s Will). Wanlass is also passionate about social justice theatre and has directed at-risk young adults in Shakespeare plays and taught improv to California’s maximum-security inmates. Additionally she is currently the Engagement Director for San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.

PRATIKSHA SHAH
ENGAGEMENT TEAM MEMBER
Pratiksha Shah is not just a production manager but a true visionary genius behind the scenes. This means balancing a million tasks while staying on top of everything that’s going on – rehearsal schedules, hiring crews and designers, contracts, and payrolls to name a few. Pratiksha graduated from Foothill Theater Conservatory and has been an active part of the theater world for the past 10 years. She fell in love with Shakespeare during school and joined San Francisco Shakespeare Festival at the onset of the pandemic in January 2020. In her short tenure of 3 years with SF Shakes she has supported and mastered: fully virtual productions (King Lear), episodic virtual hybrid productions (Pericles), and in-person productions in three different park locations (Much Ado). In her spare time, she produces shorts, commercials, web series, features and so much more!

ROBYN GRAHN
ENGAGEMENT TEAM MEMBER
Robyn Grahn was last seen in the 2017 & 2018 Seasons of San Francisco Shakespeare Tour and absolutely loved it! She recently has taken on the role of Engagement Coordinator and looks forward to facilitating new community stories. She also works for the Mountain Play in Marin acting as Community Engagement Coordinator. Favorite Shakespearean roles include Adriana and the Courtesan (Comedy of Errors), Viola (Twelfth Night), Mercutio & Friar (Romeo and Juliet), and Phoebe (As You Like It). Robyn is often acting or directing with the monthly produced SHOTZ SF. She studied with ACT and the Moscow Art Theatre School. robyngrahn.com

SYDNEY SCHWINDT
ENGAGEMENT TEAM MEMBER
Sydney is an actor, fight director, teaching artist, and visual artist. She joined the SF Shakes family in 2015 playing Rosalind in the tour of As You Like It. Favorite acting credits include: Laertes Hamlet, SF Shakes; Sally Ride She Persisted the Musical: Bay Area Children’s Theatre; Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Benvolio Romeo and Juliet, Helena Landless Mystery of Edwin Drood Davis Shakespeare Festival; Cassandra Jihad Jones & the Kalashnikov Babes Arabian Shakespeare Festival; Hartford Stage, Berkeley Rep, Mirage Entertainment, The Hampton Theatre Company. Education: BFA Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theatre, Accademia dell’Arte, Society of American Fight Directors, DAI, SF Clown Conservatory. sydney-schwindt.com

TOBY LEAVITT
ENGAGEMENT TEAM MEMBER
Toby oversees all aspects of the Shakespeare Festival’s programs. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Chicago, and received her Masters from the University of Chicago Business School in 1997. Prior to joining the Festival in 1998, she served as General Manager for Chicago’s Court Theatre. She oversaw their financial growth from a $1.6 million to $2.8 million annual budget, guided the theatre in developing a 5-year strategic plan to become the National Center for Classic Theatre, and managed the ensuing strategic growth of the organization. Prior to her four years with the Court, she worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago as Senior Editor and Director of Marketing Communications. Her accomplishments in audience development have been recognized by the Arts Marketing Center of Chicago and the Marshall Fields Foundation. She has served as a management consultant for Chicago Opera Theater, the Piven Theater Workshop, and Roadworks Theater Company, and has served as a panelist for the San Francisco Art Commission’s Cultural Equity Initiatives Grant program.

engagement team

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