Advisory Committee
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Ken Hartman
Executive Director of Transformative Programming Works- TPW
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Alison Rodriguez
Casting Director and Associate Producer at A Noise Within Theatre
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Leah Joki
Artistic Director of No Joke Theater
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Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx
Artistic Director of
the Los Angeles LGBT Center -
Lois Hunter
Senior Program Specialist and Head of the Theatre Department at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA)
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Cheryl Cromwell, MSW
Owner of Cheryl D. Cromwell and Associates
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Sister Teresa Groth, DMJ
Executive Director of The Francisco Homes
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Karen Altree Piemme
Director of The Red Ladder
Theatre Company -
Gloria De Leon
Founding Member of SPTC Backstage Productions; Lead Teaching Artist/Theatre for TWP bilingual programs
Kenneth E. Hartman - Ken supported TheatreWorkers Project (TWP) as the In-Prison Program Consultant and Collaborating Teaching Artist specializing in writing before transitioning to the board president. Ken is an award-winning writer and prison reform activist. Sentenced to life without the possibility of parole at 19, he served 38 years before former Governor Brown commuted his sentence. He is the Executive Director of Transformative Programming Works (TPW).
Alison Rodriguez - Alison is a multi-award-winning Casting Director and Associate Producer at A Noise Within Theatre. She was previously the Education Director at a private arts school in Miami and has been a teaching artist for countless organizations nationally. As an actress, she has performed in 20+ theatre productions including The Tempest, Six Characters in Search of An Author, A Flea In Her Ear, Tartuffe, and The Beaux Stratagem. Alison has an MA in Theater Education from the University of Northern Colorado.
Leah Joki - Leah, an actor, writer and director, has been a teaching artist in 30 prisons. She is the Artistic Director of No Joke Theater.
Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx - Jonathan (he/him) is the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s 2nd Artistic Director, where he leads the Lily Tomlin / Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center’s Renberg Theatre, Davidson / Valentini Theatre, and Advocate & Gochis Galleries. The Center is the largest LGBTQ+ organization in the world, and under Jonathan’s artistic leadership the organization has enjoyed the highest event attendance in its 56-year history, including a 186% increase in attendance since pre-pandemic levels. Jonathan has served on the Latinx Theatre Commons National Steering Committee, has directed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and has adjudicated on review panels for the California Arts Council and LA County Department of Arts and Culture. He has been honored on American Theatre Magazine’s list of 6 Theatre Workers You Should Know, The Advocate Magazine’s list of 20 Advocates for Change and the Los Angeles Times’ LA Vanguardia list of “Latino innovators, instigators and power players breaking through barriers.” “Muñoz-Proulx has the know-how and tenacity to steer Los Angeles theater toward a more equitable tomorrow.” — Los Angeles Times.
Lois Hunter - Lois is the Senior Program Specialist and Head of the Theatre Department at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA).
Cheryl Cromwell, MSW - Cheryl has more than 30 years of experience designing programs and writing grant proposals for public and private nonprofit social service organizations. She is the owner of Cheryl D. Cromwell and Associates.
Sister Teresa Groth, DMJ - Sister Teresa has been the Executive Director of The Francisco Homes, a restorative justice re-entry program in Los Angeles, since 2009.
Karen Altree Piemme - Karen is an accomplished director, actor, dramaturg, workshop facilitator and acting instructor, specializing in social justice theatre, new works development, and community access to the arts.
She is the Director of Red Ladder Theatre Company, an organization which empowers community members to tell their own stories.
Karen spent 21 years with San Jose Repertory Theatre where she was the Director of Outreach and Resident Dramaturg.
Prior to that, she spent five years at Arena Stage with the Living Stage Theatre Company, Arena’s groundbreaking resident outreach company.
As a theatre professional, Karen has directed productions for both youth and adults, taught classes and conducted workshops locally, nationally and internationally for over thirty-five years.
She has conducted professional development training at the Marion Cilker Conference on Arts and Education, Montalvo Art Center’s Arts in Your Classroom Conference, CCSESA’s Creativity at the Core Summer Institute, and the national One Theatre World conference.
She has served as the Associate Director for 2nd Stages at Dragon Productions Theatre Company, and the Executive Producer of the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.
She has taught at San Jose State University, in the Department of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre, where she started an improv troupe to train as the next generation of teaching artists.
She serves on the Theatre Services Committee (the advisory council) for Theatre Bay Area.
Karen is the recipient of the GenArts Movers & Shakers Award, the 2011 Champion of Arts Education Award, awarded by the Mayor/City of San Jose and the San Jose Arts Commission and was named one of the 35 Faces of Theatre Bay Area.
Gloria De Leon - Gloria is an actor and writer from Santa Paula, California, where she is a founding member of SPTC Backstage Productions.
She graduated from UCLA with a degree in theater, and is trained in improv (Upright Citizens Brigade).
Her stage credits include various works with the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts and Teatro de Las Americas.
She is a founding member of FATCH, the Fat Sketch Comedy Show, where she wrote and performed fat-positive content to challenge body-bias and to address the lack of body diversity in the performance industry.
A lifelong theater kid, Gloria knows about the lasting positive impact that theater can have, and she enjoys sharing that love of theater with her students.
In addition to her work with TheatreWorkers Project, Gloria also works as a Teaching Artist with The Unusual Suspects Theater Company, where she has served in various capacities for the past eight years.
Gloria’s favorite thing to do is watch telenovelas! She is the co-creator of "Noveleando Podcast", a podcast for telenovela enthusiasts.
Additional voice over work includes horror podcast “The Horror at Martin’s Beach”, animated show “Mermaze Mermaids”, and Netflix series “El Chapo”, “Nailed it Mexico” and others.