Warrior Queen Anahit the Brave

Digital Program

Cast

* Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.

Ani Marderosian
Queen Anahit

Ani is an award-winning artist and multi-talented performer with 20+ years of experience in the entertainment industry. She has toured the country as an actor, director, and musician. www.animarderosian.com

Nathan Mohebbi*
King Vachagan

TV credits include “Bluff City Law”(NBC), “I Run Hot”(Peacock), “Chasing Life”(Freeform). He performs on stage all over LA including at Celebration Theatre, Hudson Stage, and International City Theatre.

Alistair McKenzie*
Apep

Fresh off the world premier of Trouble the Water, Alistair joins Imagine Theatre for his maiden voyage.

Sophia Vitello
Maral

Sophia Vitello (Maral, she/her) is excited to be joining Explore Theatre for the first time! She is a Chicago based performer who has been obsessed with storytelling from a young age while growing up in the cornfields of southern Indiana.

Kyle Caldwell*
Arman
Assistant Stage Manager

Kyle Caldwell is beyond stoked to bring his talents to such an amazing story. Past favorite roles include Jamie from The Last 5 Years, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, and Robbie Hart in The Wedding Singer. He dedicates this show to his niece. May the first time seeing your uncle on stage and the strength of the women in this story inspire you to be all that you can be.

Christianne Holly Santiago
Nairi

Holly Santiago is so excited to be telling this empowering story with Imagine Theatre!
Holly found her passion for singing at the age of 7 when she started singing at her local church. She went on to receive her B.A. in Communications with a minor in Music from Cal State Fullerton, and a certificate in Musical Theatre from Fullerton College.

Stephanie Jeker
UNDERSTUDY
James Everts
UNDERSTUDY
Graduate of the BFA Musical Theatre Program at AMDA College and Conservatory. ​ From Salt Lake City, UT

Digital Program

* Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.

Female Understudy

Stephanie Jekker

Stephanie will play the role of Nairi November 8th - 15th.

Male Understudy

James Everts

James will play the role of King Vachagan November 12th - 13th.

Creative Team

* Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.

Armina LaManna **

Writer and Director / Imagine Theatre Artistic Director
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Shahen Hagobian

Composer
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** Associate Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

Tom Buderwitz***

Scenic & Projection Designer
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Josh Epstein***

Lighting Designer
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Dianne Graebner***

Costume Designer
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Joseph "Sloe" Slawinski

Sound Designer
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Elna Kordijan*

Stage Manager
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Elizabeth Curtin

Musical Director
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Douglas Wright

Puppet Designer
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Naomi Miyahara

Technical Director
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Producing Team

Laura Hill

Co-Producer & Managing Director
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Gabrieal Griego

Co-Producer
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We wish to thank

We wish to thank The Colony Theatre for giving our mainstage productions such an amazing home. We are truly fortunate to be here.

Thank you to the remarkable Richard Soto for your Fight Choreography. The swords in this production were generously loaned to us by Spike Steingasser, Weapons Master. We thank the Glendale City Council and the Burbank Arts Commission for their support.

A very big thank you to Supervisor Kathryn Barger for sponsoring our Warrior Queen student matinees. Your support makes school field trips to the theatre possible by allowing us to keep student matinee prices so accessible. 

A commendation from Senator Portantino!

A commendation from City of Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian!

A commendation from Katryn Barger!

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Armina LaManna**

Writer & Director
Imagine Theatre Artistic Director

Armina began her stage career at the age of six in the former USSR. She is currently the Artistic Director of Imagine Theatre and Adjunct Faculty at the GCC Theatre Department. She is a director, playwright, and a staunch advocate for fair wages for artists. Armina is a recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Women Honor from the International Armenian Chamber of Commerce and the Samuel S. Felt Fund Grant in Dramaturgy. She wrote Warrior Queen as a gift for her twins and all kids in the Armenian diaspora. Member of SDC, AEA, and DG. MFA in Directing from Temple University.

Shahen Hagobian

Composer

Shahen Hagobian is an L.A. born, Madrid based composer and live musician. He has composed music for both the stage and screen internationally. Shahen’s path in music performance and composition took hold of him at a young age when he started studying piano, and later guitar as a teenager. He has performed live as a bassist in front of massive festival crowds as well as having composed music for theater in the U.S. and Europe. Today he continues to explore, always looking for new sounds.

Tom Buderwitz

Scenic & Projection Designer

Tom has designed scenery for: Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Wallis-Annenberg Center, The Kennedy Center, The Second City, The Goodman, The Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley Repertory, Intiman Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, Antaeus Company, Theatre @ Boston Court, A Noise Within, Laguna Playhouse, PCPA Theatrefest and Utah Shakespeare Festival among many others. 6 LASA Ovation Awards (31 Nominations), 3 LA Drama Critics Awards, 3 Emmy Award Nominations, Art Directors Guild Award nomination. Adjunct faculty U.S.C. School of Dramatic Arts. Proud member United Scenic Artists 829.

Josh Epstein

Lighting Designer

Josh Epstein is an award-winning lighting designer who has worked at many of the top regional theaters in the country. He is on the faculty at Chapman University!s College of Performing Arts. Josh received his M.F.A. from NYU and lives in LA with his wife and three daughters. www.joshepsteindesign.com

Dianne Graebner

Costume Designer

Dianne has designed costumes for over 100 productions internationally and has originated the costumes for many new works and world premieres. She loves the process of developing characters with their costumes and collaborating with the creative team to tell their stories. She is a member of United Scenic Artists Local-829. www.diannegraebner.com

Joseph "Sloe" Slawinski

Sound Designer

“Sloe” is a multi-award winning sound designer. He has designed a multitude of productions including God Looked Away with Judith Light and Al Pacino, Redemption of a Dogg with Snoop Dogg and Warrior Queen, the wonderful production you are here to see. He would like to thank the incredible and amazing Gabrieal Griego for her continuous support during all of his creative endeavors. He is proud to be part of this great production.

Elna Kordijan

Stage Manager

Elna is a LA based stage manager with over ten years of experience in live productions. This will be her second production with Imagine Theatre, where she previously stage managed The Tale of Turandot in 2019. This will be her first production post pandemic as she recently became a mom of twins. Her previous work includes various shows at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, including Twelfth Night, Coriolanus, The Chalk Garden, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and As You Like It among others. She has also stage managed various productions for LA Phil’s Toyota Symphonies for Youth since 2014. She is grateful to be back doing what she loves.

Elizabeth Curtin

Musical Director

Elizabeth is a professional pianist, singer, and actor whose specialty is musical theatre. In both performing and teaching, she highly values versatility, having sung roles that demand belting, coloratura, and the full spectrum in between.

Douglas Wright

Douglas Wright

Doug is an artist, designer and fabricator based in Hollywood.
Primarily creating specialty set and costume pieces for film and TV, Doug’s last theatrical project was for Kanye West’s “Nebuchadnezzar” opera at The
Hollywood Bowl. Doug has been profiled in ”The LA Weekly”, “The NY Times”, and People Magazine’s “American Doers” series.

Naomi Miyahara

Technical Director

“Sloe” is a multi-award winning sound designer. He has designed a multitude of productions including God Looked Away with Judith Light and Al Pacino, Redemption of a Dogg with Snoop Dogg and Warrior Queen, the wonderful production you are here to see. He would like to thank the incredible and amazing Gabrieal Griego for her continuous support during all of his creative endeavors. He is proud to be part of this great production.

Laura Hill

Co-Producer & Managing Director

Laura Hill is a seasoned theatre arts professional with more than twenty years of broad-range arts management and producing experience. She first worked with the award-winning Deaf West Theatre across many capacities. There, she also produced many of the company’s critically acclaimed mainstage and touring school productions. Laura has also worked at many of the top LA intimate and regional theatres including the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Center Theatre Group and the Pasadena Playhouse. She is excited to be back with live theater and sharing it with so many children!

Gabrieal Griego

Co-Producer

Gabrieal is a freelance theatre & film writer, producer & director on both the east and west coast. In LA she has worked with a myriad of theatre companies including Padua Playwrights, Moving Arts,The MET Theatre, The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Greenway Court Theater, Open Fist Theatre Company, The Fountain Theatre, DOMA Theatre Company, Fierce Backbone, Triumvirate Pi Theatre Company, Juber Productions, 2Cents Theatre Group, The Broadwater, Hakawati, and Senior Star Power Productions. Gabrieal’s productions have earned a multitude of awards from Ovations, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, NAACP, Broadway World, Garland, Better Lemons, Hollywood Fringe Festival ENCORE awards, Robby, SAGE, Eddon, as well as Best Of/Production of the Year recognitions from KCRW, Better Lemons, TVloution, Ticket Holder, Don Grigware, Stage Raw, Stage & Cinema & Huffington Post, and StageSceneLA. She would like to thank the cast and crew on Warrior Queen Anahit the Brave for their tireless commitment to storytelling. She would also like to send love to her family & friends for their invaluable support & love, and to her twin flame, Joseph ‘Sloe’ Slawinski for all the things.