company

Erin Merritt (Artistic Director)

Founding Artistic Director Erin Merritt is a Bay Area actor, director, producer, and arts educator. Raised in Berkeley, Ms. Merritt studied, taught, and performed with The Berkeley/California Shakespeare Festival, The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival (where she first developed arts curriculum), The Carmel Shake-speare (sic) Festival, and Massachusetts' Shakespeare & Company before forming the all-female Shakespeare company Woman's Will. For Woman's Will, she has directed eight productions, acted in five and choreographed fights for five. Other favorite experiences include work with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Willows Theatre Company, Carmel Ballet Theatre, Center Repertory Theatre, and Shotgun Players. Favorite roles played include Li'l Bit in How I Learned to Drive and the title role in Sylvia; favorite directing experiences are Lord of the Flies and Happy End. Ms. Merritt earned a BA in Theatre from Reed College, Portland, Oregon, where her thesis, Logical Brecht: what he did, why he did it, how we do it, has been used as a text in the Theatre Department since 1990. Ms. Merritt is the former Director of Education at Broadway By the Bay and is an active member of Theatre Bay Area's Theatre Services Committee.

Lauren Carley (Music Director)

California Artist-in-Residence, MacDowell Colony Residency recipient and recording artist Lauren Carley has performed her original solo shows throughout the US. Her solo CD, "Hooked on Weill," features original arrangements of the music of Kurt Weill. Recently seen with Woman's Will as Dr. Nakamura (Happy End) and Miss Prism (The Importance of Being Earnest), Ms. Carley also teaches Solo Performance at Colorado College, conducts at the Oakland Youth Chorus and premieres interdisciplinary works around the world. She has served as Adjunct Professor of Voice at New York University, vocal faculty at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Vocal Department Head and Master Coach for Birch Creek Music Academy, and core artist and voice coach in the Emma Troupe Interdisciplinary Theatre Lab. She is a founder and vocal teacher for the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music.

Christine Macomber (Sites Coordinator)

Christine Macomber returned to the stage seven years ago after a long career as a manager with the Social Security Administration. Since that time, she has sung the "old dame" roles with San Francisco's Lamplighters, her favorites being Lady Jane in Patience, Dame Carruthers in Yeoman of the Guard, Katisha in Mikado, Dresser in Enter the Guardsman, Queen of the Fairies in Iolanthe and Parthy in Showboat. She has performed with Pocket Opera, and, during the last three years, with San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon in productions of Minnie's Boys, Roberta, Miss Liberty, Pardon My English, and Fifty Million Frenchmen, for which she won a Dean Goodman Choice Award. With Woman's Will, she has appeared as Malvolio in Twelfth Night. She is also an accomplished violinist and a 23-year member of The Exeter String Quartet, which she also manages.

In her 32 years with the Social Security Administration, Ms. Macomber rose from technician into management at the Western Program Service Center, one of six large "reviewing offices" in the United States. There, she served as Branch Manager, overseeing up to 30 managers, 60 supervisors, and 1500 people, and ended her career working in San Francisco as the Executive Officer (right hand woman) for the Regional Commissioner, who is responsible for the Program Center as well as all the District Offices in California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. She is delighted to employ her skills in her new work with Woman's Will.

Leontyne Mbele-Mbong

Ms. Mbele-Mbong is a graduate of Macalester College with a BA in Dramatic Arts. Since moving to San Francisco she has performed frequently with the Lamplighters Music Theatre, most recently as Queenie in Show Boat. She has also performed with TheatreFirst in Map of the World and World Music, and with Woman's Will as the Duke of Buckingham in Richard III and Orsino in Twelfth Night. She was most recently seen in the title role of Andromache at CentralWorks. In the Bay Area, she has studied acting at Studio ACT, with Bobby Weinapple and L. Peter Callender. She serves on the Lamplighters board of directors as company representative, and recently joined Woman's Will as an associate member. Ms. Mbele-Mbong also works as Regional Financial Administrator and office manager of an engineering consultant firm, is a Notary Public, and will shortly be obtaining a certificate in Editing from Berkeley Extension.

Carolyn Power

Carolyn Power most recently portrayed a nurse both in Woman's Will's Romeo and Juliet and in an episode of the hit TV show Chuck on NBC. She also played the parts of Toby in Neil Simon's The Gingerbread Lady at The Dragon Theatre in Palo Alto and Helicanus in a production of Pericles at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's London Acting Shakespeare program. Other performances include Lady Montague in Marin Shakespeare Company's Romeo and Juliet and Mrs. Darling/Narrator in Peter & Wendy at Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette. Film work includes: "Greens," "Bust A Shalom," "Imprint," and "Planet of the Blacks." Ms. Power holds an M.A. in theatre from San Francisco State University. A member of both SAG and AFTRA, she is the voice of Long's Drugstore training program.

Laura Ricci

Laura Ricci is a multifaceted artist and teacher with training in theater, clown, circus, and music. She made her Woman's Will debut in the fall of 2007 in Mac Wellman's Antigone, and is proud to be a new member of this inspiring company. A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, she holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Mills College, and studied under Judi Dench at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. Laura has worked with ensembles around the country, including the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C., the Berkeley Repertory Theater and the San Francisco Circus, among many others. She is also a member of Eat Cake Productions, a women's aerial clown ensemble, and a founding member of the physical theater company Local Hero. She teaches and performs in circuses, theaters, museums, schools and other venues around the country.

Jacquelyn Scott

New member Jackie Scott has designed sets and props for two productions of Woman's Will so far: Romeo and Juliet and Mac Wellman's Antigone. After graduating from CCA with a BFA in architectural design, she realized the theatre was where she really wanted to be! Now Jackie works as a scenic designer, painter, carpenter and propsmaster for numerous theatres throughout the Bay Area including TheatreFIRST, Brava! For Women In The Arts, Ray of Light Theatre, Magic Theatre, Shotgun Players and University of San Francisco. Favorite previous credits include: Nathan the Wise, Criminal Genius, World Music, Bat Boy The Musical, Stardust and Empty Wagons, The Doll Hospital and Little Shop of Horrors. She is also the Master Trainer at Brava Theater Academy's Running Crew Program where she teaches high school students basic stagecraft.

Acquenetta Summers-Wong

Ms. Summers-Wong is a new member of Woman's Will, having appeared in both 2006 productions, as Olivia in Twelfth Night and several roles in the 365 Days/365 Plays Project. She has also recently been seen in Teatro Vision's production of Eduardo Machado's The Cook as Rosa. Her past credits include Fefu and her Friends (Cecilia), Beyond the Tracks, Women and Wallace, A Raisin in the Sun (Beneatha), and Grapes of Wrath. She was also a member of San Jose States' Touring Company, played the title role in Brava Theatre Company's production of CiCi's Fire, and performed with the Tabia Theatre Company in their productions of From the Mississippi Delta and Women Behind Walls. Since receiving her BS in Health Sciences from San Jose State, Ms. Summers-Wong has designed and implemented numerous programs that employ theatre, education and other direct communication methods to promote physical and mental health in youth populations through the YMCA FutureChoice Program, East Valley Community Clinic, Alum Rock Community Center and Community Solutions. She specializes in conflict resolution and delights in helping previously conflicting groups and individuals overcome hostility and mistrust by identifying common interest and goals.