Cast
Aida Bagheri
Aida is an Iranian-born, Seattle-based actor, model, and writer whose work explores the power of what’s left unsaid. A vegetarian and Reiki healer, she thrives on meaningful conversations, spontaneous adventures, and experiences that bring people closer to themselves.
Arielle Bloostein
Arielle is very excited to be part of this amazing cast in her first theater production. She is the proud parent to two dogs and spends her weekdays working as a software engineer. She would like to thank her Freehold instructors: Josh, Carter, Elena, and David for helping her get to this point and all the friends she has met along the way.
Christopher Peterson
Christopher is excited to be making his Seattle stage debut in The Laramie Project with this incredible group of people. Over the last year he has been participating in Freehold’s Core Acting Progression where he performed in slices of: A View from a Bridge and Four Dogs and a Bone. As a gay college student living in Montana in 1998, Matthew Shepard had a profound impact on his life. May his name and this tragedy serve as a reminder for all of us to choose love and equality over hate and division. A lot has changed, but too much has not. Thanks to his absolute love, Markus; his two boys Des and Os; and his ferociously friendly dog, Petey.
Daniel Christensen
Daniel Christensen has been performing in Seattle since 1999, most recently in Edgar and Annabel, with Pony World Theatre, Albert’s Bridge, with Strawberry Theatre Workshop, and ReAct’s own Animals Out of Paper. He could also be spotted in various 14/48 theatre festivals, 48 Hour Film Festivals, and the movie Mountainside.
Jacob Chung
Jacob is delighted to be performing in his first ever production in The Laramie Project. Offstage, he works in video production and enjoys rock climbing, photography, and cooking in his free time. Jacob is incredibly grateful to his Freehold teachers Elena, Meg, John, Annette, and David for their invaluable knowledge, and support of his acting journey so far.
Ka Ip
Local to the Seattle area, Ka is excited to be acting in his first play. He is new to acting and is also currently studying clown and improv. The learning process has been extremely uncomfortable but also fulfilling. During the day, he is an exhausted cybersecurity professional. Please cheer him up by sharing your favorite cat pictures!
Maxime Soufer
Maxime is thrilled to be part of his first full-length play production. His training includes completing all introductory classes at Freehold; learning alongside fantastic teachers such as Josh Kenji, Meg McLynn or David Hsieh. Over the past few years, Max has been excited to deepen his connection with his passion for acting and always loves exploring inspirational ways to bring life to the roles he plays. When not on stage, he can be found taking care of his dog, watching all the popular movies and TV shows, dancing, or playing music!
Miles Liatos
Miles has been acting for about a year, developing his stage presence at Freehold Theatre during that
time. While still learning a lot about himself as an actor, he finds that he leans toward comedy but finds
a lot of similarities between running drama and comedy scenes. This is Miles’ first theatre show - and
he’s thrilled to be spending it with the wonderful cast of actors you’ll see on-stage with him. Miles
finds such joy in working with them and feels that they all help to make him a better actor every time
he’s in the studio with them! In his free time, Miles enjoys martial arts, playing kickball with his
friends in a local rec league, writing, watching the Seahawks, and watching Office-style sitcoms on TV.
His most recent delight has been St. Denis, and he thinks you should watch it. NBC did not pay
Miles for that endorsement.
Miles gains inspiration in acting from his late grandma, Ruth Liatos, who became a theatre actor in her
later years and was a member of the political song group “The Raging Grannies”. She was always such a
bright and shining example to Miles of how to be brave and how to let himself come out of his shell.
Naleisha Pedro-Rabena
When she first moved to Washington, it was one of Naleisha’s goals to work her way towards qualifying for Freehold Theatre’s Rehearsal & Performance course. She’s very honored to be a part of the cast this year and to have the opportunity to work alongside such talented actors. Naleisha acted in a few plays as a kid, but started taking theatre more seriously in high school and as a young adult. A few of her favorite roles include Abigail Williams in The Crucible, Ms. Darbus in High School Musical, Amanda in 4000 Miles, and Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. In Seattle, she’s done productions with Act 1 Theatre, Copious Love, PFP Theatre, and Theatre Battery. Outside of acting, Naleisha is a manager at Lotte Hotel Seattle, and also partakes in modeling, singing, and dancing. She sends her thanks to her director, David Hsieh, the cast, and the audience for supporting the show and bringing their energy to the space! More work at @naaleisha on Instagram.
Sara Leonetti
Sara Leonetti (she/they) is a Seattle attorney who recently took up acting and fell in love. After taking a couple of classes at Freehold, she played the role of Ellen in The Real Thing, performed at the 2024 Driftwood Festival of Shorts. Sara is thrilled to be a part of R&P’s production of The Laramie Project and can’t wait to see what comes next!
Director
David Hsieh
David is the Founding Artistic Director of ReAct Theatre where he has directed most of our mainstage productions including the local premieres of Yellow Face, The Joy Luck Club, Time Stands Still, Rabbit Hole, Closer, Sex with Strangers, The White Snake, Schoolhouse Rock Live, Mother in Another Language and Letters of Suresh, which won the 2024 Sound on Stage Award for Best Play. David has also directed Po Boy Tango for Tacoma Little Theatre, A Thousand Cranes at SecondStoryRep, Paper Angels at SiS Productions, Yankee Dawg You Die at UW Ethnic Cultural Theatre, and Kim's Convenience for Taproot Theatre & Tacoma Arts Live. As a performer, you may have seen him at Book-It in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and The Brothers K, at Seattle Public Theatre in The Happy Ones, A Very Die Hard Christmas, and Titanish, or at West of Lenin in Royal Blood among other credits, David is a Casting Associate at Union Arts Center, teaches Rehearsal & Performance at Freehold, and is a Founding Board Member of Theatre Puget Sound.
Stage Manager
Kristin Brown
Kristin (she/her) is a Seattle based Stage Manager. She graduated from Central Washington University with a degree in Performance and Theater Management. Previous theaters she has worked for include South Coast Repertory, The Fifth Avenue, Annex Theater, Pratidhwani, Island Shakespeare Festival, Sound Theater, Seattle Public Theater, and is a company member at Pony World Theater.
Playwrights
Moisés Kaufman
Author Tony and Emmy nominated director and playwright, and recipient of the National Medal of Arts from President Obama, Moisés Kaufman has led Tectonic Theater Project since its founding in 1991. Broadway credits include Paradise Square (10 Tony Award nominations), the revival of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams, the revival of The Heiress starring Jessica Chastain, 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda (Tony Award nomination for Best Play), and Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife (Obie Award and Tony, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award nominations). West End: Gross Indecency, I Am My Own Wife, This Is How It Goes. OffBroadway/Regional: Here There Are Blueberries (Tectonic Theater Project/La Jolla Playhouse), Seven Deadly Sins (Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, Tectonic Theater Project/Madison Wells Live), One Arm by Tennessee Williams (Tectonic Theater Project/The New Group); The Laramie Project (writer/director; Theater in the Square, Drama Desk nomination); The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later (writer/director; Alice Tully Hall); Gross Indecency: The Three Trials Of Oscar Wilde (writer/director; Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best OffBroadway Play and the Joe A. Callaway Award for Direction); Macbeth with Liev Schreiber (Delacorte Theater); Master Class with Rita Moreno (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). Opera: El Gato Con Botas (New Victory Theater). Film/TV: The Laramie Project (HBO; two Emmy nominations for writing and directing, Opening Night Selection at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, National Board of Review Award, the Humanitas Prize); The L Word. Kaufman is the Artistic Director of Tectonic Theater Project, a Guggenheim Fellow in Playwriting, and an Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award winner.
Leigh Fondakowski
Head Writer Leigh Fondakowski is a playwright, screenwriter, author and director. Leigh was the head writer of The Laramie Project, a cowriter of Laramie: Ten Years Later, and an Emmy nominated coscreenwriter for the film adaptation of Laramie with HBO Films. Leigh’s other original plays include I Think I Like Girls , The People’s Temple, and Spill. Leigh is the author of the nonfiction book, Stories From Jonestown , and is currently adapting the book to television with Margo Hall. Leigh’s work has been developed and produced around the country, including American Theater Company, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Denver Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Guthrie, Hartford Stage, HERE Arts Center, New Georges, Perseverance Theatre, Swine Palace and TimeLine Theatre. As a director, Leigh has worked with playwrights Stephen Belber, Colman Domingo, Laura Eason, Julia Jordan, Moises Kaufman, Lisa Ramirez, Ellen Gordon Reeves and Bennett Singer. In the audio world, Leigh is the creator/host of Feminist Files, starring Jodie Foster, a multipart series that tells the hidden history of Title IX. Leigh is the recipient of the NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights, a MacDowell Fellow, a Sundance Theatre Lab alum, A New Georges Audrey resident, A Drama League Fellow, a recipient of The National Endowment of the Arts Residency for Collaborative Teams at Yaddo, and the 2010 Distinguished Visiting Chair at the University of Minnesota. Leigh teaches and lectures nationally and internationally, and is a Teaching Artist at Louisiana State University and New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Leigh is a member of Tectonic Theater Project and is the current Chair of Tectonic’s Moment Work Institute. Leigh’s latest play in development is Casa Cushman based on the life of 19th century American actress, Charlotte Cushman and her circle of female friends and lovers, including Emma Stebbins, the sculptor who created the Central Park Angel.
Stephen Belber
Associate Writer Stephen Belber is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. His plays have been produced on Broadway and in over 50 countries. He directed the film adaptation of his Broadway play Match, starring Patrick Stewart. He created the Netflix series The Madness starring Colman Domingo, Marsha Stephanie Blake, and John Ortiz and wrote and directed What We Do Next starring Michelle Veintimilla, Karen Pittman, and Corey Stoll. He also wrote and directed the film Management, starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson, and wrote the HBO film O.G., starring Jeffrey Wright, Theothus Carter, and William Fichtner. Belber was an actor and associate writer on The Laramie Project (which later became an HBO film, for which he received an Emmy nomination), as well as a cowriter of The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later.
Greg Pierotti
Associate Writer Greg Pierotti is a writer, performer and director. He is coauthor of The Laramie Project, Laramie: 10 Years Later, and The People’s Temple. He has performed in classical and new work in New York and at such regional theaters as Berkeley Rep, Denver Center, La Jolla Playhouse, and Arena Stage. As writer/director he has received residencies to develop his work at Maison Dora Maar in Provence, The Orchard Project and Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor to name a few. He is an Emmy award nominee and a 2013 nominee for the Alpert Award in the Arts in the category of theater.
Stephen Wangh
Associate Writer Stephen Wangh has been a playwright, director, and teacher of acting. He is the author of An Acrobat Of The Heart, a physical approach to acting inspired by the work of Jerzy Grotowski (Vintage, Random House, 2000) and of The Heart Of Teaching: Empowering Students In The Performing Arts (Routledge, 2012). He is the author of 15 plays, and was one of the writers of The People’s Temple (Glickman award: Best play in the Bay Area, 2005). He was Associate Writer for The Laramie Project (Emmy nomination 2002), and dramaturg of Moisés Kaufman’s Gross Indecency: The Three Trials Of Oscar Wilde (1997).