Evelyn Rudie & Chris DeCarlo

Co-Artistic Directors

Evelyn and Chris have been Co-Artistic Directors since 1973. Together they have created over 600 productions, and have appeared live on stage for over 10,000 performances each. Dedicated to furthering public awareness of the importance of live theatre for the health and well-being of our local and global communities, Evelyn and Chris are the co-founders of Actors’ Repertory Theatre, the Young Professional’s Company, the Mobile Touring Project, the Schools Theatre Excursion Project and the American Cultural Youth Ambassadors. Under their aegis, the Playhouse has received more than 250 awards and commendations and has directly touched the lives of more than 5 million people. Read more about them here.

Rachel Galper

Education Associate/Performer

A graduate of New Mexico State University, Rachel began her career in New Mexico, where she taught the classics to young people as part of the American Southwest Theatre Company. In Los Angeles, Rachel has worked with the Los Angeles Children’s Theatre, the L.A. Theatre Collective, and teaches creative expression and play building in numerous public schools through Los Angeles County. Stage credits include numerous Actors’ Repertory Theatre and Family Theatre productions, with most recent credits including Albert Kallis's A Delusional Affair, originating the role of Ruth in Jerry Mayer’s world premiere comedy Love and Politics, and was last seen in his world premiere Mistakes Were Made.

Graham Silbert

Schools Theatre Field Trip Coordinator/performer

Graham began his career at the age of 9, participating in Playhouse Education Conservatory Workshops. Since then, he has performed in more than 50 productions, including Author! Author! - an evening with Sholom Aleichem (1998, 2004, 2010, 2014 and 2016-2017 revival productions), Dear Gabby (English- and Spanish-language productions), Cinderella (including the All-Male Production for PRIDE 2015,) Dorothy's Adventures in Oz, and Absolutely Halloween.  Other credits include two seasons with The Burbank Civic Light Opera, the staged reading of Genga Productions' Tight Quarters and a commercial for Doritos that aired on two Superbowls. Celebrating over 25 years (gasp) with Santa Monica Playhouse, Graham is currently coordinating the Playhouse Theatre Field Trip program and leads the All The Queen's Men Troupe, presenting retellings of classic fairytales ever summer for LA PRIDE.

Celeste Akiki

Performer/teaching artist

Celeste attended L’école de la Sainte Famille française in Lebanon, where she studied music and theatre. She received her degree in nursing from L’Université de Saint-Joseph in Beirut and during the war, in addition to her nursing duties, taught dance to orphaned refugee children. Celeste participated in numerous theatre workshops in the south of France (Toulouse) and performed in several Molière plays, including her favorite, Les Precieuses Ridicules. Once in Los Angeles, she studied with Chris DeCarlo in The Actors' Workshop and has been with the Playhouse ever since. Credits include Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano, Snowhite, Barnyard Madness with the Three Little Pigs, Alice and the Wonderful Tea Party, Cinderella, Dorothy’s Adventures in Oz and countless cabarets and musical revues.

kate burleigh-huerta

performer/Teaching Artist

Kate received a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Maine at Farmington, with a Dual Certification, Special Education and Elementary Education. She currently teaches Early Stages and Play Production classes at the Playhouse and regularly teaches holistic learning skills for the Kids-in-Theatre programs, specializing in the use of theatre arts to improve reading and mathematical comprehension. Playhouse performance credits include 40 Years and Counting!, Snowhite, Cinderella, Dorothy’s Adventures in Oz, Beauty and the Beast, Alice and the Wonderful Tea Party, and Finding Belle.

Nima Ghassemian

Social media coordinator/performer

Nima started his acting career as a member of Pre-School Playhouse (now known as our Early Stages program.) After graduating from the Music Academy at Hamilton High School in 2011, Nima went on to study stage management at Santa Monica College. In the Winter of 2012, Nima began working in the Entertainment Department at the Disneyland Resort, where he then became an operational trainer for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Nima has toured the U.K. five times with the Playhouse's American Cultural Youth Ambassadors and performs for the School Theatre Field Trips program. Performance credits include: Grandma's Place, The Silver Key, All Aboard the U.S.S. Friendship, Make Mine Myths and Hands Across the Sea (both Japan-America Cultural Exchange theatre intensives), numerous Family Theatre Series productions, and every Pride production from the All The Queen's Men Troupe to date. 

sarai jimenez

education associate/latino scholarship coordinator/performer

Sarai is a nine-time Latino Scholarship recipient and a frequent performer and workshop leader for the Schools’ Theatre Field Trip Program, Project: Shakespeare, and the Community Outreach Theatre Adventure Program. In addition to performing and teaching at the Playhouse, Sarai is a graduate of the BFA program at the AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Playhouse credits include: Alice and the Wonderful Tea Party, Actually…, Adults, Keep Out!, Barnyard Madness with The Three Pigs, All Aboard the U.S.S. Friendship (U.K. Tour) and the title role in the world premiere of the Family Theatre Series musical Annie Oakley and the Princess Café. She was featured in several multi-lingual and Spanish language productions, including Querida Gabby and Make Mine Myths (Japan-America cultural exchange theatre intensive).

cammy truong

education consultant/performer

Cammy Truong, founder and executive director of Los Angeles Arts Group, has over 15 years of experience in arts education and program management, impacting over 35,000 students and 1,300 teachers throughout her career. Prior to establishing L.A. Arts Group, Cammy worked at the Music Center for 7 years, where she designed and managed long-term arts education programs for districts and schools, collaborating with artists, teachers, principals and district and community leaders. She was at The Broad Stage for a brief time, where she produced education events and led the implementation of outreach and partnership development with teachers, principals, arts coordinators, and various community organizations in Santa Monica. From 1999-2007, Cammy was at the Santa Monica Playhouse, where she was the Director of Education, managing student workshops, field trips, artist training, curriculum development, international exchanges and parent engagement programs. Cammy graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with a specialization in Business Administration.

obi ndefo

artistic consultant & collaborator/performer

A native of Los Angeles, Obi Ndefo developed a passion for breaking new ground in the dramatic arts while working with the Los Angeles Theater Center, Mark Taper Forum, and Santa Monica Playhouse. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama M.F.A. program, he co-founded Orphan Films and Open Door TheaterWorks, writing and directing new and classic works, with a focus on breaking through racial barriers and personal isolation. He wrote and directed the film Downstream, starring Eric Stoltz and spoken word poet Saul Williams, has an active television career and works with local actors and writers of all ages to develop exciting and transformative new projects. Obi is the founder of the Los Angeles-based non-profit Arts Alliance for Humanity, which supports keeping Arts Education in our schools and in our communities.

george j. vennes III technical director

George received his A.A. from Santa Monica City College, immediately began working and hasn’t been ‘without a show’ since. As Production Stage Manager for the Playhouse, George has done countless shows, including Jerry Mayer’s Aspirin & Elephants, Almost Perfect and A Love Affair, Robert B. Parker and Stephen King’s Rage, John Posey’s Father, Son and holy Coach, the Sroka/Fleming comedy hit Dying for Laughs, …answers to unmailed letters, Yahrzeit, Loose Lips (director Martin Charnin), the Rae/Waldman/Wise musical Funny, You Don’t Look Like A Grandmother, Rose Leiman Goldemberg’s Picon Pie starring Barbara Minkus, and countless Family Theatre Musicals. Other credits include Singing in the Rain for the Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera, Romeo & Juliet at the Globe Theatre, The Good Woman of Setzwan for the Actor’s Gang at the Odyssey Theatre, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. George produced John Pielmeier’s Impassioned Embraces, for the Playhouse Modern Comedy Series and is production stage manager for the Playhouse’s Benefit Series. 

ashley hayes costume designer

Ashley has been designing and creating costumes for more than thirty years and has created original designs for over 400 productions, for a total of over five thousand costumes. Design credits run the gamut from medieval to futuristic, and include La Cage Aux Facheux, Author! Author!, Cinderella, the operatic spoof Il Fornicaccione and The Clown Prince, which won a LAWEE award for costume design, and for which she designed and hand-crafted over 450 separate costume pieces. Ashley has also won numerous Drama-Logue awards for such productions as The Great Fair and The Fools and was recently nominated for an Ovation Award for Dolls: Not Your Usual Love Story. 

Cydne moore choreographer

Cydne made her Playhouse Family Theatre debut in the title role of the original production of Cinderella. An actress-singer-dancer for more than 30 years, Cydne has choreographed and appeared in numerous Playhouse productions, including Alice and the Wonderful Tea Party, Little Red, Mary-Mary, Dorothy’s Adventures in Oz, Alias Santa Claus, and Snowhite. Favorite projects include choreography for the American Premiere of the 1940s musical Canteen: a reconnaissance of war and other unnatural disasters and being a project consultant for the Playhouse's Diversity-in-Education Scholarship program.

james cooper lighting and set design

James has designed for such award-winning productions as Love in Bloom, Moonlight Madness, Backstreet: the Musical, dreamward, The Clown Prince, Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano, Clemensy for Mark Twain, the record-breaking musical Author! Author!—an evening with Sholom Aleichem, Almost Perfect, Heterosexuals in Crisis, …But First, Sammy Shore, BOOTH, and Irish Eyes, as well as fifteen international tours of Alice and the Wonderful Tea Party and Cinderella. International credits include the Holland-England Drempels tour, Youkoso for Tokyo’s Model Language Studio, and more than two dozen productions at Playbox Theatre’s renowned Dream Factory in the U.K.

mark san fillippo music consultant

Mark graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA, earning a BA in Ethnomusicology with a Concentration in Jazz Studies and studied jazz theory and improvisation with famed cornetist Bobby Bradford, classical theory and harmony with Michael Mitacek and jazz drumming with world renowned drummer Billy Higgins. At the age of fourteen, Mark began playing professionally as a rock drummer at venues in the Los Angeles area. During his college years, he freelanced extensively, playing in acclaimed salsa, swing and jazz bands in and around Los Angeles. In 1995 he cofounded a jazz piano trio and in late 1996 he became one of the original members of the Goliard Trio. Out of an already extensive list of musical engagements, Mark’s highlights include performing in the Duke Ellington Centennial Celebration at UCLA’s Royce Hall, with guest conductor Lalo Schiffrin and featuring jazz great Herbie Hancock on piano, and the Best of LA Festival, 2003.

sandra zeitzew public relations director

Sandra has been with the Playhouse since 1990. Projects include Scott DuVale’s Voices in the Dark, the English Shakespeare Company’s Los Angeles premiere of God say Amen…Themes from the Wars of the Roses, Agnes Bernelle’s one-woman shows Empress Eugènie and Black Champagne, countless Actors’ Repertory Theatre productions, as well as more than eighty productions in the Save the Playhouse Benefit Series featuring such renowned artists as Minda Burr, Irene Chapman, Christiane Engel & Jiri Tomasek, Beth Ertz, Inara George, Richard Glaser, Barbara Haber, Dan Lewk, Lester McFwap, Barbara Minkus, Rochelle Newman, Playbox Theatre, Annie Reiner, Harriet Schock, Sammy Shore, Anne Silver, Don Snell & Shano, Chris Sullivan and Renn Woods. In addition to a BA in History and a Certificate in Public Relations from UCLA, Sandra has a Master in Business Administration with a focus on non-profit management from the University of Judaism.

pat williams box office manager/donations coordinator

Pat is an avid theatre lover who joined the Playhouse in 1995.