ShareBetrayed BIOGRAPHIES
George Packer (Playwright) is a staff writer for The New Yorker and author, most recently, of the prize-winning The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, which was named by TheNew York Times as one of the ten best books of 2005. He has published two other works of non-fiction, The Village of Waiting and Blood of the Liberals, which won the 2001 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He has also published two novels and is the editor of The Fight is for Democracy. His articles, essays, and reviews on foreign affairs, American politics and literature have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Dissent, and other publications. His New Yorker articles have won three Overseas Press Club awards. He was a 2001-02 Guggenheim Fellow and has taught writing at Harvard, Bennington, and Columbia. Betrayed is his first play. His next book, Interesting Times: Writings from a Turbulent Decade, will be published in the fall.
the cast
Keith Burkland* (Ambassador) has resided in San Francisco for thirty years and has performed with numerous Bay Area theatre companies including the SF Playhouse, The Actors Theater, Center REP, Intersection for the Arts, The Phoenix Theater and Trinity Shakespeare. In 2004, the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle awarded him for the role of Doc Gibbs in Our Town. In Spokane, he worked with Interplayers Ensemble and received honors for his portrayals of Uncle Peck in How I Learned to Drive, Nat Miller in Ah, Wilderness!, and Kurt Miller in Watch on the Rhine. A former NABET grip, he worked with local television and film in the 1980’s. He is a graduate of the University of North Dakota.
Bobak Cyrus Bakhtiari (Adnan) is pleased to make his Aurora debut with this production. Recent Bay Area credits include Tom Smith & Ancestor with Word For Word Performing Arts, The Water Project with Golden Thread/ Mugwumpin, Conversation Storm with Second Wind, and Albert in A Thousand Clowns at Hillbarn. Bakhtiari can be seen in the docudrama I ran Iran with Liverwurst Films and Conversation Storm with Eighty Four Films. Bakhtiari holds a Performance Studies and Religious Studies degree from Bowdoin College and a summer intensive at ACT.
Denmo Ibrahim (Woman, Intisar) is an actor, playwright, and a co-founder of mugwumpin, San Francisco’s award winning performance company. She has been commissioned to create new work for Theatre of Yugen, foolsFURY, Shotgun Players, Golden Thread, Root Division, 111 Minna Gallery, and EXIT Theatre. Denmo has been nominated for an Irene Ryan Acting Award and a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role. She is a graduate of Boston University’s Acting Program and holds an MFA in Lecoq-Based: Actor Created Physical Theatre from Naropa University. Her latest commission, ECSTASY: A Water Fable, supported by Zellerbach, Gerbode, and TBA, will have its world premiere at The Thick House this summer.
Alex Moggridge* (Prescott) was last seen at the Aurora in The Entertainer. Bay Area credits: Shining City at SF Playhouse, The Beard of Avon, A Christmas Carol and Threepenny Opera at ACT, and performances at The Magic Theatre, SF Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep and San Jose Rep. Regional credits: The Pillowman at Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre; A Doll’s House at Epiphany Theatre; The Retreat from Moscow at Artists Repertory Theatre; Last Train to Nibroc on a UK Tour; Copenhagen at The B Street Theatre; and a season at Utah Shakespearean Festival. Film and TV: Tweak City, Batman Begins, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Also a writer, Alex’s play The Squirrel appeared Off-Broadway in the 2006 Summer Play Festival. www.alexmoggridge.com
Amir Sharafeh (Laith) is proud to be part of Betrayed. He received his B.A. in theatre in 2003 and has been active in theatre for 11 years acting, directing, designing sound and crew work. He received an Elly nomination for his role of Owen in Brian Friel’s Translations, which was Amir’s last performance on stage in 2006. He’s produced, written, directed and edited two 30-minute films, two music videos, two commercials, and he’s about to finish post-production on a feature length documentary. Amir’s hobbies include painting and playing music.
Khalid Shayota (Iraqi Citizens) is honored to be making his Aurora Theatre debut with this particular play. Born and raised in Baghdad, Khalid feels a real connection with the events and characters. His theatre training began at Santa Rosa Junior College, and previous roles include Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons, El Faumey in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and Cheswick in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. On-camera credits include several industrials and independent films.
James Wagner* (Soldier/RSO) is honored to return to Aurora Theatre. He has previously appeared here in The Busy World is Hushed (Thomas), at The American Conservatory Theatre in A Christmas Carol (Burt, Thomas, Ignorance), and in ACT MFA Program productions of Candida (Rev. James Morrell), David Copperfield (Murdstone), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Demetrius), The Reluctant Doctor (Lucas), Telephus (Telephus), and The Rainmaker (Noah). He has created and performed in two solo shows: Toll Roads and Where’s the Sense in That? Other theater credits include The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Glass Menagerie, The Flying Doctor, Mother Courage, How to Succeed in Business, History of the American Film, and Our Town. Film credits include leading roles in The Invisible Forest, The Peculiar Haunting of Mr. Elliot, 40, Gus, Dante’s Denouement, and Taste My Nine Iron You Son of a Bitch. Wagner holds an MFA in acting from The American Conservatory Theatre. www.jameswagneronline.com
the artistic team and the crew
Michael G. Cano* (Stage Manager) Now in his 14th year in the profession, Michael is still grateful to meet and work with so many talented individuals such as the cast and crew of Betrayed. Michael’s recent productions at Aurora include Permanent Collection, Hysteria, and The Busy World is Hushed. Other credits include Berkeley Rep, Magic Theatre, SF Shakes, Campo Santo, and Encore Theatre. Michael has also worked with the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Earth Island Institute, and the Noise Pop Festival.
Callie Floor^ (Costume Design) arned her BFA degree from the University of Utah and her higher diploma in theater design from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London. Since coming to the Bay Area in 1987, she has designed for many Bay Area theaters, including ACT, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, and the Magic Theatre. She is happy to return to Aurora Theatre, having designed Satellites in 2008. Recent designs include Good Breeding for the ACT MFA program. Upcoming projects include The Philistines/Volley Girls for the ACT MFA/Young Conservatory, Lydia and The Magic Forest Farm for Marin Theatre Company, Madama Butterfly for West Bay Opera and Measure for Measure for Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. Floor is the resident designer of the California Revels and is costume rentals supervisor for ACT.
Chris Guptill (Light Designer) has produced over 150 lighting designs for theatre and dance companies throughout the Bay Area, including TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Co., The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and Playhouse West. His work has received recognition several times, including five Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards and a Garland Award from Backstage West magazine. Chris is the Managing Director of Solano College Theatre, a professional theatre conservatory program in Fairfield, CA.
Sylvie Hitchcock (Properties) assisted in a variety of technical aspects of previous Aurora productions, including The Devil’s Disciple, The Best Man, Private Jokes, Public Places, Bosoms and Neglect, The Birthday Party and SEX. She is now embarking upon her last semester in Theater and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, where she was recently the assistant set designer in Barbara Oliver’s production of Euripides’ The Bacchae.
Chris Houston (Composer/Sound Designer) is a pianist and composer. He writes and designs for film, video, theatre and dance. His designs and compositions have been featured at Aurora Theatre, Marin Theatre, SF Playhouse, ACT, Center Repertory, Magic Theatre, and SF Shakespeare. Recent productions include The Devil’s Disciple, The Best Man, The Trojan Women, A Streetcar Named Desire, Love Person, Said Said, Lovers and Executioners, The Mousetrap, Hysteria, Six Degrees of Separation, The Good German, Jesus Hopped the A Train, The Birthday Party, Luminescence Dating, and Ice Glen. His music may be heard on the Emmy-winning PBS news show “Now.”
Kristin Lane (Production Assistant) is thrilled to be working at Aurora Theatre. Since 2004, she has stage managed for Sonoma County Repertory Theater (Renaissance, Bad Dates, Complete Wrks of Wllm Shkspr- [Abridged]) and UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (Wintertime, Measure for Measure). Kristin will complete her undergraduate degree in Rhetoric and Theater & Performance Studies at UC Berkeley this spring.
Erik E. Sinkkonen^ (Set Designer) has designed over 200 productions. He designed last season’s The Busy World is Hushed at Aurora. He has designed for the San Francisco and Berkeley Shakespeare Festivals, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Willows Theatre, Center REP, TheatreWorks, Houston Playhouse, Detroit’s Hilberry Classic Theatre, San Francisco and San Diego Repertory Theatres, Georgia and California Shakespeare Festivals, New Conservatory Theatre, LA’s Fountain Theatre. He is the recipient of several Dean Goodman Choice Awards, East Bay Shellie Awards and was nominated for outstanding achievement in set design by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for his set and lighting designs for Master Harold….and the boys.
Robin Stanton (Director) Critically acclaimed work for Aurora includes The Busy World Is Hushed and Permanent Collection. Other San Francisco Bay Area hits include Ghost Festival for First Voice at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Tuesdays With Morrie at Center REP in Walnut Creek, ART at San Francisco Playhouse and LovePlay for TheatreFirst. Ms. Stanton’s regional theatre credits include directing at such notable theatres as Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Chicago Dramatists, Dallas Theatre Center and Theatre Three. Ms. Stanton served as Producing Artistic Director for Spokane InterPlayers Ensemble in Washington and currently serves as Program Director for Solano College Theatre’s Youth Division, producing major musicals for the region’s flagship children’s theatre.
*Member, Actors' Equity Association
^Member, United Scenic Artists
