Warrior Queen Anahit the Brave

Digital Program

CAST

Ani Marderosian

Queen Anahit

Nathan Mohebbi*

King Vachagan

Alistair McKenzie*

Apep

Sophia Vitello

Maral

Kyle Caldwell*

Arman

Assistant Stage Manager

Christianne Holly Santiago

Nairi

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

ACTOR BIOS

Ani Marderosian
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
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
Fresh off the world premier of Trouble the Water, Alistair joins Imagine Theatre for his maiden voyage.
Sophia Vitello
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
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
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
Stephanie Jeker (she/her) is an actor and theatre artist hailing from upstate New York with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Long Island University. She is thrilled to be bringing this inspiring female empowerment story to life.
James Everts UNDERSTUDY
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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.

Watch interview with the cast!

CREATIVE TEAM

(scroll down for bios)

Armina LaManna**

Writer & Director

Imagine Theatre Artistic Director

Shahen Hagobian

Composer

** Associate Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

Tom Buderwitz***

Scenic & Projection Designer

Josh Epstein***

Lighting Designer

Dianne Graebner***

Costume Designer

Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski

Sound Designer

*** Member United Scenic Artists 829

Elna Kordijan*

Stage Manager

Elizabeth Curtin

Musical Director

Douglas Wright

Puppet Designer

Naomi Miyahara

Technical Director

PRODUCING TEAM

Laura Hill

Co-Producer &

Managing Director

Gabrieal Griego

Co-Producer

PUBLICITY

Lucy Pollak Public Relations

Armina LaManna
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. www.arminalamanna.com
Shahen Hagobian
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
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
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
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
"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
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
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. After studying Vocal Performance and Accounting at the University of Notre Dame, she returned to her hometown of Houston, TX for three years and worked for various theaters and schools in the city as a performer, pianist, music director, and private coach. She loves collaborating with and learning from other artists, and helping the next generation find their voice. Elizabeth recently relocated to Los Angeles, CA to write more songs, meet more artists, and to escape the humidity.
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
Naomi Miyahara is a technical director from Southern California. She joined the theater world in 2013 and has received her Master of Fine Arts in Technical Theater at California Institute of the Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southern Oregon University. With a love for collaboration, she finds the new skills that come with each production extremely rewarding. When not working, she enjoys spending time outdoors and finding joy in everyday life.
Laura Hill
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
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.
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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!