California Revels Staff, Board & VOLUNTEERS
There would be no Revels without the hard work and dedication of our Artistic and Administrative Staff, our very active Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and the many dedicated volunteers who contribute time and love, on everything from year-round service on our Board Committees, to contributing seasonally in every imaginable role. Our annual Midwinter Revels and year-round events are a magical manifestation of imaginitive work, team dedication, and fun!
california revels' Production Leadership
California Revels is proud to be piloting a new community-building model with innovative, theatrically enhanced productions which involve whole communities in their creation and implementation. We have pivoted to production-specific artistic and musical leadership in this time of transition.
Alexander taite
Event Specific Music Director - California Revels' 2023 Holiday Production, "Caroling in the Rain"
A true native son of the Bay Area, Alexander Taite was born and raised in Oakland, California. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Pepperdine University in music theory and composition with a main emphasis in vocal performance and a minor emphasis in jazz piano - which he'd been playing and studying since the age of 8!
Alex has an extensive performance background, singing everything from Opera, Renaissance/Baroque, Spiritual, and Choral music to more contemporary Jazz, Blues, Barbershop, and Hip-hop. He has performed with the San Francisco Opera Chorus every season since 2007, as well as with several other Bay Area opera companies.
Alex has an extensive performance background, singing everything from Opera, Renaissance/Baroque, Spiritual, and Choral music to more contemporary Jazz, Blues, Barbershop, and Hip-hop. He has performed with the San Francisco Opera Chorus every season since 2007, as well as with several other Bay Area opera companies.
recent Production Leaders
Each of our artistic leaders has been involved with California Revels for many years, and we are delighted every time they return to us for another production.
René Collins
Artistic Director
A native of the Bay Area (South San Francisco), René brought his eclectic experience and love of community to his position as California Revels' Artistic Director for California Revels' 2021 and 2022 productions, "La Siréne" and "The Butterfly Lovers of Gold Mountain". René's history with California Revels began over 36 years ago, when he first played the archetypal character of “The Fool” in our second production ever. Before then, he'd come to our stage with a background in circus, including acrobatics and clowning, with Bay Area based “Make a Circus”. Since our second Revels production, Rene has graced the Revels stage as a featured performer a number of times. Outside of Revels, René has frequently been involved with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Playhouse, and other companies. Rene's other pursuits include songwriting and performance, Capoeira, Mixed Martial Arts, and Qi Gong. You can read more about René on his website, here.
Shira Kammen
Seasonal Music Director
Multi-instrumentalist and occasional vocalist Shira Kammen has spent well over half her life exploring the worlds of early and traditional music. A member for many years of the early music Ensembles Alcatraz and Project Ars Nova, and Medieval Strings, she has also worked with Sequentia, Hesperion XX, the Boston Camerata, the Balkan group Kitka, the King’s Noyse, the Newberry and Folger Consorts, the Oregon, California and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals, and is the founder of Class V Music, an ensemble dedicated to providing music on river rafting trips. She has performed and taught in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Morocco, Latvia, Russia and Japan, and on the Colorado, Rogue, Green, Grande Ronde, East Carson and Klamath Rivers. Shira continues to teach and tours extensively, sharing her expertise in the world of early music worldwide. You can learn more about Shira here.
Anne Bingham Goess
Seasonal Music Director
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MARIJA HILLIS
Seasonal Choreographer
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Board of Directors & Executive Director Group
Dan Gross
Treasurer, CFO - Co Executive Director
Chair: Finance Committee
Member: Executive, Personnel, and Fundraising Committees. COVID Officer |
Chas Schley
Secretary - Co Executive Director
Chair: Personnel Committee
Member: Executive, Finance, and IDEA Committees, 2022 Deputy COVID Officer |
Michael Schmid
Chair: Fundraising Committee
Member: Fundraising, Events & Programs Committees |
Carolyn Thiessen
Member: Personnel Committee
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Chris bryden
Our newesst Board member
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board of directors - now recruiting
Board Membership Opportunities!
We are currently looking for additional Directors to join our Board! Right now, membership is open to motivated people who love the camaraderie of working together to make things happen. Matchmaker, we would love new members who know Revels, and can bring professional expertise to the table in areas such as law, finance, and fundraising. We'd also love members who understand and are intrigued by the possibilities of ritual theater as a genre, are intellectually as well as emotionally engaged in the arts, are aficionados of history, culture and philosophy, and who love to talk about, plan and implement their ideas! We welcome new members of all backgrounds, cultural, racial and economic, with intellectual, artistic, and practical spark!
Are you interested? Read California Revels' Mission Statement below, and see how it may resonate for you. If it does, visit our Join the Board page, and learn about being on the Board of Directors.
California Revels' Mission
"Creating Community through Celebration"
California Revels seeks to create a joyful, transcendent experience of belonging and human connection through meaningful, particpatory engagement with tradition and cultural diversity, in recognition of our deep alignment with the rhythms of Nature, universally held values, and collective future.
This vision is crafted artistically, through the production of theatrical, musical, educational and social events that draw upon powerful histories, stories, rituals and traditions of diverse peoples and cultures, to reveal timeless human values and bring them into the present with renewed relevance to be shared by all.
We are currently looking for additional Directors to join our Board! Right now, membership is open to motivated people who love the camaraderie of working together to make things happen. Matchmaker, we would love new members who know Revels, and can bring professional expertise to the table in areas such as law, finance, and fundraising. We'd also love members who understand and are intrigued by the possibilities of ritual theater as a genre, are intellectually as well as emotionally engaged in the arts, are aficionados of history, culture and philosophy, and who love to talk about, plan and implement their ideas! We welcome new members of all backgrounds, cultural, racial and economic, with intellectual, artistic, and practical spark!
Are you interested? Read California Revels' Mission Statement below, and see how it may resonate for you. If it does, visit our Join the Board page, and learn about being on the Board of Directors.
California Revels' Mission
"Creating Community through Celebration"
California Revels seeks to create a joyful, transcendent experience of belonging and human connection through meaningful, particpatory engagement with tradition and cultural diversity, in recognition of our deep alignment with the rhythms of Nature, universally held values, and collective future.
This vision is crafted artistically, through the production of theatrical, musical, educational and social events that draw upon powerful histories, stories, rituals and traditions of diverse peoples and cultures, to reveal timeless human values and bring them into the present with renewed relevance to be shared by all.
Advisory Council
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Lisa Lowe
Ellin Barret Helen Wills Brown Dirk Burns Malcolm Carden Gabriel Hurley |
Fred Konkel
Carl Ludewig David Metcalf Dr. Joel Parrott Marcia Vastine Dave Watt |