zAmya theater project


Maren Ward, Creative Director & Actor Maren Ward joined forces with zAmya for the inaugural production in 2004. She has co-facilitated creation workshops and directed each production since. She is co-artistic director of Bedlam Theatre, an experimental theater company with a unique blend of professional and community art. Since 1998, Maren has been pageant co-director for the Barebones Productions Annual Halloween Outdoor Puppet Extravaganza which involves the coordination of over 100 volunteer artists on a spectacular nighttime pageant of puppetry, live music, and pyrotechnics. In spring 2007, Maren joined the affiliate faculty at the University of Minnesota to teach Creative Collaboration. She received a 2007 Jerome Travel/Study Grant to attend the Cornerstone Summer Institute for community-based theater in Holtville, California. Also a performer, Maren is a member of the ritual performance art ensemble, The Psycick Slutz and has performed with Bright Eye Productions, Frank Theater, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater, Open Eye Figure Theater, and 10,000 Things Theater Company. Maren received a 2005 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant to create a performance with her frequent collaborator Sarah Garner. She has a B.A in Dramatic Arts from Macalester College and has also trained at the Moscow Arts Theater School and is a 2007 Mcknight Theater Artist Fellow with support from the Playwright’s Center.	Josef Evans, Playwright Josef Evans’ most recent works include Love in a Time of Rinderpest, The Only Americans Welcome, and The Hole at the Bottom of the Holiday (opening in December at Bedlam Theatre). His plays have been performed at the St. Louis Black Repertory, Playwright’s Theater of New Jersey, Illusion Theater, Pangaea Theater (Denver), Matrix Theater (Detroit), Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center (Seattle), and the Guthrie Theater, as well as other theaters across the country. He is an associate artist and board member at Bedlam Theatre, and in June 2000 was named a finalist for a master artist fellowship at Harvard University’s Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. Josef holds a B.A. in English and Theater from the University of Notre Dame, and is a graduate of the University of Washington (Seattle) playwriting program. He has also studied extensively in community-based art making, including a residency with the Los Angeles Poverty Department, a company comprised primarily of homeless artists. Josef is a member of both the Playwright’s Center and the Dramatist’s Guild of America, Inc. There’s No Place Like Home is Josef’s fourth work with zAmya, and one of four new plays of his that opens between now and December 19. When that blessed date finally arrives, he will sleep for 4 days straight.


Nicole Gurgel, Stage Manager and zAmya Assistant Executive Director Nicole is a freelance theater artist and arts administrator, as well as an employee of The Children Theatre Company. Following her graduation from the University of St. Thomas in 2005, Nicole spent a year working at an independent publishing house in Chennai, India. Throughout college, Nicole worked extensively at The Family Place, a day shelter for homeless families in St. Paul. Her experiences there led her to develop Somewhere Else Mother, a play based on interviews with women she had met at the shelter which was most recently performed at the 2007 Minnesota Fringe Festival.


Larry Brown Larry was born and raised in West Memphis, Arkansas. He likes sports, theater, cooking and fishing. Larry has a good sense of humor and much love for other people. He a former Board member of Catholic Charities and currently serves on the zAmya Advisory Board.	Ed Mandell Ed is a Twin Cites native and attended Stillwater Senior High. He is a veteran Twin Cities radio announcer, and a local and national broadcasting stringer/producer. Ed played the role of Lance Tanbury in zAmya’s 2006 road show Ten You Win / Ten You Lose. Ed is also a musician and singer, and does freelance voice work.

Sarde Evans Siarde comes from a long line of bear wrestling mimes and side-show jugglers.	Marly Ramstad Marly stumbled into the basement of St. Stephen’s basement by chance one night having little to no idea what it was she had fallen face first into. The splendid outcome was a little scar on the side of her nose, a pair of black and white striped socks, and an amazing awareness she would have never chanced at had chance not been dancing that night. In addition to wandering into church basements, Marly enjoys singing out of tune, remembering, writing letters and stories, eating tomatoes, and collecting cuff links.

Donald Fonzy Donald was born in St. Louis and attended community college for culinary arts. He likes slow cars and fast women. He plans to some day to open up an institute for disadvantaged youth. Donald also serves on the zAmya Advisory Board.	Kira Pontiff Kira is in her first year at Hamline University where she is majoring in theater. She went to South High School in Minneapolis and acted in several productions. She hopes to make acting her career.

Diana Hjul Forsman Diana has worked in theatre since the mid-70s, beginning with a bachelor’s degree in theatre at UCLA, and acting in several plays and films throughout her acting career. Now that her three children are almost independent and she has a teaching license, she is delighted for this opportunity to be back on stage in There’s No Place Like Home.	Crystal Spring Crystal loves telling stories, riding her bike and gymnastics. She joined the zAmya cast for the 2006 road show and loves being part of it because her goal as an artist is to make the stories heard that aren’t being told. She loves working in the Blackbox Theater at Central High School and sites Jan Mandell as her hero.