Online Program

The Lady of Larkspur Lotion 
directed by Olivia Mathews
Featuring: Josie Seid, Damaris Webb & Roo Welsh

Hello from Bertha 
directed by Sammy Rat Rios
Featuring: Barbie Wu, Joellen Sweeney, Claire Rigsby, Sami Yacob-Andrus & Sofía Marks

This Property is Condemned 
directed by Dani Baldwin
Featuring: Sami Yacob-Andrus & Julian Sylvan Noreault

Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let me Listen 
directed by Olivia Mathews
Featuring: Roo Welsh, Damaris Webb & Josie Seid

INTERMISSION

Auto-Da-Fé 
directed by Annabel Cantor
Featuring: Yoonie Cho, Murri Lazaroff Babin & Martín Aguas
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Something Unspoken 
​directed by Samantha Van Der Merwe
Featuring: Vana O'Brien, Val Landrum & Kayla Hanson

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Creative Team

Stage Manager Emily Hogan
Sound Design (Auto-Da-Fé) Martín Aguas​
Sound & Lighting Engineer Owen Abrahams

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Cast & Creative Bios in Alphabetical Order

Annabel Cantor (she/they) is a director, actor, designer, and educator. Previous directing credits include Shopping And Fucking (self produced), Endurance: (the boat) [the show] (Co-director, CoHo Residency), and Orlofsky’s Party (Stage Director, Renegade Opera). Recently, they’ve been onstage as Sister in Alarums and Excursions (Fertile Ground 2026) and Scarecrow/Hunk in Wizard of Oz (NWCT). Annabel is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and PETE’s ICP. She is also a current Land Art Resident at the Verdancy Project. Massive gratitude to all involved for the trust.

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Barbie Wu (She/Her) is a Portland based actor, director, and professor. She holds a Master of Fine Arts
degree in acting from Southern Methodist University. She is a resident artist at Artists Repertory Theatre (ART). Her past productions at ART include Sapience, The Chinese Lady, Today Is My Birthday (Audio Drama), Magellanica (Audio Drama), Everybody, A Doll’s House, Part 2, Magellanica. Her other Portland productions are The Wolves at Portland Playhouse, A Mid Summer Night’s Dream with Anonymous Theatre, and The Mermaid Hour at Teatro Milagro. Wu is an assistant professor in the theatre department at Reed College. Barbie is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

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Claire Rigsby (she/they) is thrilled to be working with Shaking the Tree for the first time on Hello from Bertha. Claire is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who loves to experiment with new ways of collaborating and making performance. Recently you may have seen Claire in A Christmas Carol at Portland Playhouse, The Bed Trick at Artists Rep, Mrs. Harrison at Portland Center Stage, or sitting 10 ft. above the ground in their fiber-art collaboration with India Roper-Moyes, “stitch by stitch,” at the Risk/Reward Festival. When not on stage or tangled in a ball of yarn, Claire enjoys pretending to be sick for med students (being a standardized patient), training with PETE, and snuggling any and all cats. Thank you to Sammy for giving me this opportunity, thank you to everyone at Shaking the Tree who put all of this together, and thank you to YOU for coming to see live theater. 

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​Damaris Webb is a theater maker as social justice advocate. She has created new works for the stage with diverse communities around the US and internationally; her work lives in the intersection of contemplative dance, improvisational performance art, and contemporary theater. Recent performance credits include Precipice and Infinite Life (Third Rail), Aw Hell, a seagull and The Americans (PETE/company member), The Sounds of an Afrolitical Movement (Portland
Playhouse), and an ongoing collaboration Standing Together with BMC practitioners and dancers Wendy Hambidge (Portland) and Jorge Samuel (Brazil). Ms Webb is the co-founder of The Vanport Mosaic: a multidisciplinary non-profit, dedicated to presenting, celebrating and preserving the silenced histories around us in order to better understand our present and create a future where we all belong.

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Dani Baldwin is the Education Director at Shaking the Tree. She is a nationally recognized arts educator who is passionate about prioritizing the youth experience. An award-winning Director, Dani credits include “A Year With Frog & Toad”, “The K of D”, “Pestilence: Wow!”, “Jasper in Deadland”, and others. Onstage she performed with theatres such as Love Street Playhouse, Milagro Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, and as an improv actor for training in medical simulations. Dani has experience in film and voice-over work, choreography, costume design, and prop design.

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Emily Hogan is a multi-disciplinary theater artist from Lompoc, CA. Stage Management: Salome, The Antipodes, UBU America, Forbidden Fruit, Fucking A, MODELMINORITY, Chick Fight (Shaking the Tree), What Brings You Here? (Hand2Mouth). Performance: Banned!, Memento Mori, 24H2M (Hand2Mouth), Un Pajarito Canta (Portland Revels), An Xmas Cuento Remix (Milagro), Made To Dance In Burning Buildings (Shaking the Tree). Dramaturgy: In A Different Reality She’s Clawing At The Walls (Shaking the Tree), i defy you, stars (Do It For Mead), and The Killing Fields (Orphic). Emily is a current Hand2Mouth Company Member. @emfayehogan 

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Joellen Sweeney is an actor, writer and teaching artist. She was last seen at Shaking the Tree as Princess Tula in Dancing on the Sabbath; other Shaking the Tree collaborations include Forbidden Fruit (The Quince), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Ensemble), and Blood Wedding, Fucking A, The Bakkhai (Composer/Music Director). Other Portland credits include Silent Sky (Mt Hood Rep/OMSI); Hibernate (Bedrock Theatre); From A Hole in the Ground (Corrib Theatre); The Revolutionists (ART); Uncle Vanya (PETE). Joellen loves to write both poetry and music; her debut poetry collection, The Small Particulars, was released by Verdant Publishing in Dec 2025.  Joellen is a Company Member with Bedrock Theatre and Creative and Community Steward at The Verdancy Project. www.joellensweeney.com

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Josie Seid (she/her), is so happy to be back at Shaking the Tree with this powerhouse project! Previous projects with this theater include: The Antipodes (Eleanor), Fucking A (Hester), Blood Wedding (The Maid), Forbidden Fruit (Writer for the Quince). Other onstage credits include: Seven Guitars (Louise), Into the Woods (Jacks Mother), The Drowsy Chaperone  (Trix the Aviatrix) in the Drowsy Chaperone, The Miracle Worker (Viney) and An Octoroon (Dido) She is an international arts envoy for the United States and has performed in both Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt, representing the United States in the International CIFCET Theater Festival.

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Julian Sylvan Noreault is freshly minted to theatre, and this is his professional debut with Shaking The Tree Theatre. An honor student at Parkrose High School, Julian auditioned a year ago for his first role and knew he found his calling. He has since starred as the tortured Fred in Null &Void at both Parkrose High School and at Oregon State Thespian Festival.  He has also been featured as the comic noir Sheriff of Nottingham (The Trials of Robin Hood) and was delighted to play a lead in his first Musical, Beetlejuice Jr, as Charles Deetz. Julian was first seen in Bend Shakespeare Festival, with NWCTC in Midsummer Night's Dream, featured with his Drammy Award winning real- life mom, Dainichia. Julian is currently directing OFF-COM, which is also his debut as a Playwright. He is set to launch into the Honors Program at University of Oregon this fall. He is thankful to Chris Harder and Dani for inspiring him and inviting him to dive deeper into each artistic moment.

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Martín Aguas (he/him) is a sound artist and musician based in Portland, OR. He has designed and engineered aural play spaces at Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, and Portland State University where he pursues a degree in Sonic Arts & Music Production. His work utilizes improvisational performance and atmospheric soundscapes to build sonic representations of conversation, place, and memory. Recent sound design credits include The Storyteller at Artists Repertory Theatre, Precipice at Third Rail Repertory Theatre, and the RACC-supported devised work, I’d Like to Think I’m Pretty Unique: A Doppelgänger Play.

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Murri Lazaroff-Babin (he/him) is an actor, deviser, and writer from Northern California. He’s had the pleasure of working for Profile Theatre, PETE, Third Rail Rep, Corrib Theatre, Northwest Classical Theatre, PAE, and now Shaking the Tree! He’s excited to begin shooting his first feature film this September! Outside of acting Murri enjoys watching and playing baseball (rarely admitting that he's a Dodgers fan). He's a self-proclaimed cat whisperer, loves breakfast, and going to the movies.
​MFA Acting - DePaul.

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Olivia Mathews is a performer, director, deviser, teacher based in Portland, OR. Olivia’s work is process focused, rigorous, expressive and devoted to collaboration as a means of practicing community and self-advocacy. Directing credits include Precipice (Third Rail), A Case for the Existence of God (asst, Third Rail) and The Americans (PETE).  Most recent performance credits include Stilt and From A Hole in the Ground (Corrib Theatre), Dancing on the Sabbath, Blood Wedding and Forbidden Fruit (Shaking the Tree Theatre). Olivia also holds a certification from Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble’s Institute for Contemporary Performance. See Olivia onstage next in X at Third Rail Repertory, opening May 22nd!

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Roo Welsh is a PETE company member and has served on the teaching faculty at the Institute for Contemporary Performance. Last year, Roo was seen in PETE’s production of Aw Hell. He also performed with PETE in A Seagull at Portland Center Stage, where he previously worked with Rebecca Lingafelter as a part of the ensemble of I Think of You. Roo appeared in PETE's production of The
Americans in 2023 and can also be seen in Chris Gonzalez's short film, Wren Lavelle. Thank you Liv for this wonderful opportunity to play. A most special thank you and ginormous hug goes out to Dallas & Rina for all your love and support!

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Samantha Van Der Merwe is the founding Artistic Director of Shaking the Tree Theatre. Founded in 2003, Shaking the Tree Theatre is known for melding the boundaries of theatre and visual art by presenting thrilling and unconventional theatrical experiences. Recent directing credits include: The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams), Dancing on the Sabbath (Devised), The Antipodes (Annie Baker), The Brother and the Bird (Alissa Nutting/Brothers Grimm), Blood Wedding (Federico García Lorca), Forbidden Fruit (various), Fucking A (Suzan-Lori Parks), Chick Fight (Devised/words by Sara Jean Accuardi), Family (Celine Song), REFUGE (Art Installation/Devised), BAKKHAI (Euripides/Anne Carson), 

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Sami Yacob-Andrus is so excited to be returning to Shaking the Tree! She was most recently seen on stage as Marianne Duncan in The Bed Trick at Artists Repertory Theatre. Other notable roles include Randi in the world premiere of The Storyteller & Miriam Lawrence in True Story also at Artists Rep, Betty Parris in The Crucible at Shaking the Tree Theatre, Keisha “lil bit” Cameron in A Song for Coretta at PassinArt Theatre company, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet with Portland Actors Ensemble. In addition to theater Sami is also a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and has been featured in several films, commercials, and television series such as NBC’s Grimm, The Netflix
original Film Metal Lords, and co-starred in the Netflix original series American Vandal as Molly Hearst.

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Sofía Leonila Marks is a performer and multidisciplinary theater artist based in Portland. She trained with PETE’s Institute of Contemporary Performance (ICP), class of 2022, and graduated from Lewis & Clark College with degrees in Theatre and Biology. Sofía performed in Shaking the Tree’s Forbidden Fruit as the Apple, and in PETE’s, The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekov, as Anya. She also devised and performed in her original works: “La Mariposa” “There is Darkness and There is Darkness” and “Con serpientes vengo yo” or “I come with snakes.” In these performances, she explored her relationship with her body, femininity, monstrosity, and shame. The Aztec snake goddess Quetzalcoatl, “the one who is at one with the beasts,” was the inspiration for the performance and served as a guide for Sofía’s search for balance and self-acceptance. For Sofía, her body is a site of reflection, and a ritual tool for remembering herself and engaging in the borderlands of her identity as a mixed Latina in America. Through the transformative process of performance, she can push the limits of her body and voice in hopes of unraveling herself before an audience.

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Val Landrum is a theatre artist who is committed to the theory of
Ensemble and inspired by the diverse community that Live Theatre brings. She has over 40 yrs of experience as an actor, which includes local, regional and international credits. Her most recent Portland Theatre credits were playing the Fig at Shaking the Tree in Forbidden Fruit and Amy in 21 New Messages, which also had a successful run at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Occasionally she does TV and Film. Sometimes she also directs and dialect coaches, too. Thanks, Sam!

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Vana O'Brien, a veteran of many Portland stage productions, is delighted to join this group of talented colleagues in sharing little-seen views into Tennessee Williams’ world. Thanks, Samantha, for your vision and as always, your whimsy.

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​It’s always great fun to work with the Shaking the Tree Theatre. Yoonie Cho was previously in Shaking the Tree’s ‘Blood Wedding’ and stage reading of ‘Ubu Roi’. Tennessee Williams is one of her favorite playwrights, and she is thrilled to be part of the ‘Auto Da Fe’ team with Annabel, Murri, and Martin. Yoonie is a crazy Shakespeare lover, and she has had the good fortune to
have played Lady Montague for Anonymous Theatre Company, Calphurnia/Soothsayer for Cannon Shakespeare, Hippolyta/Snout for Shake&Pop, and Guildenstern/Osric for Rose City Stage. This summer, she will play Egeus in Salt and Sage’s production of ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Much thanks to husband Charles and her daughter Jinju who are also fans of Shaking the Tree and Shakespeare.