Our People

Ry Armstrong (they/them) is an American, trans/non-binary artist and activist focused on pushing the overton window of our society toward an equitable and sustainable future. Born in Seattle, they began their creative journey at a young age studying with the Northwest Choirs, the 5th Avenue Theatre, and the Seattle Symphony, which resulted in a Grammy Award Nomination for contributions to the children’s album The Shoe Bird. Armstrong continued their academic pursuits at Central Washington University, where they graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, and at American University, where they graduated with a Master of Arts in International Relations. When living in New York City, they performed in various productions Off-Broadway and on multiple sets of shows produced by HBO. Upon returning home to Seattle, they ran for Seattle City Council as a progressive Democrat and democratic socialist hoping for radical policy changes in the face of a looming climate crisis. Today, their activist focus is on labor organizing as a SAG-AFTRA Delegate to MLK Labor and on the National Council of Actors’ Equity Association. Their artistic focus continues to be on creative projects dedicated to the pursuit of truth and breaking down the binary of the world around us. ryarmstrong.com // @ryontheryse

Lisa Johnson (she/her) is a lifelong arts advocate and enthusiast. She has produced, directed, taught, and performed across the Puget Sound region, as well as in Iowa and California. Her introduction to TPS was as Artistic Director for Open Door Theatre, where she cast shows from the UGA's, rented rehearsal space and met with artistic collaborators. Lisa has been a Gregory Award nominator for over a decade, allowing her to experience the wealth of creativity in our communities. When not nominating or serving on the board of TPS, she can be found coordinating events at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia. Her favorite role to date is Mom to her three creative and compassionate young adults.

Barbara Callander, a long-time member of the Seattle area theatre community, helped to create TPS and was a Founding Board member. As an actor, she has appeared with theatres nationwide, and for many years has also created and toured plays and other programs about women’s history throughout the Northwest and beyond. She is proud to hold a Theater degree from Oberlin College – the first co-educational college in the country. Barbara has also worked extensively as an arts administrator, including several years with the National Endowment for the Arts. She has served as a Seattle Arts Commissioner and was Executive Director of the Northwest Playwrights Guild and a Co-Founder of Jane Doe Theatre. She became active as a community and union activist soon after arriving in Seattle. For a number of years she has been elected to the National Council of Actors’ Equity Association.

Asha Dore is a speech-pathologist, illustrator, and writer. Her essays and reported features have appeared in Vogue, Washington Post, McSweeneys, Gulf Coast, New York Magazine and on her website www.AshaDore.net. She is the founder and host of the literary interview podcast, Totally Biased Reviews. She has been quoted in national publications such as Washington Post, Huffington Post, and Bustle. Her reported essay in The Guardian about crowdsourcing rare genetic disease diagnoses received an honorable mention in the 2025 ASJA Journalism Awards.

Tré Cotten is a poly-hyphenate artist whose work ranges from Broadway stages and film sets to television studios, video games, classrooms, and rehearsal halls. A director, playwright, producer, actor, and internationally recognized voice, dialect, and acting coach, his credits include Broadway’s Purlie Victorious, the Oscar-nominated One Night in Miami, the Emmy-nominated The Porter, The Peripheral, and The Exorcist: Believer. He serves as a Part-Time Lecturer in Screen Acting at the University of Washington School of Drama and is the founder of the Athletic Artist Collective, Rollingwood Media Group, and The Human Mortals Project & Ensemble. A University of Washington PATP alumnus, VASTA keynote speaker, and proud board member of Theatre Puget Sound, his work has been featured in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

Ali Kidder-Mostrom (she/her) is a forensic scientist by day and theatre person by night. She is a proud member of Latitude Theatre, one of the TPS Resident Companies. Sometimes Ali works behind the scenes and sometimes she trods the boards. Having grown up in theatre, her first professional acting gig was at the age of 7. Most recently, she was seen on stage as Igor in Latitude Theatre's production of Monstrous Regiment and off stage as the costumer for As If Theatre’s Cry It Out and as Postmaster (think equal parts Stage Manager, Producer and Hat) for Latitude's first short play festival, Victorian Christmas Cards. When not making theatre, Ali can be found gardening, GMing tabletop RPGs and cleaning TPS Theatre4, as part of the Adopt-a-Studio program.

Jeremy Odden (he/him) is a Seattle-born stage technician, stage manager, labor activist, union advocate, and diplomat. He wears a lot of hats for a lot of different places, but theatre is where his passion is, and where he is fortunate enough to make his living. When he’s not serving on the Board of Theatre Puget Sound, he also serves as the treasurer of Theatrical Stage Employees Local #15 (IATSE), as well as the treasurer of the Pacific Northwest JET Alumni Association (PNWJETAA). He enjoys the Arts in all their multitudes, and can often be found in auditoriums around the region enjoying what the creative folx in our area have to offer. He’ll be easy to spot, always on an aisle somewhere – the curse of long legs!

Jake Perrine has been an artist, arts educator, and arts cheerleader for his entire adult life. He graduated from Hampshire College with a focus in theatre, co-founded a NFP theatre company in Chicago in 1994 called Thirteenth Tribe, later moved to Seattle where he participated in many productions and music ensembles as a director, performer, designer, technician, and teacher. He has an extensive history as an audio engineer, and has engineered, mixed and mastered hundreds of albums, written several books on Ableton Live, and was a founding member of WarpAcademy.com, a school for electronic music production. In 2010 he relocated to Orcas Island, where he began making and teaching theatre at Orcas Center. In 2018 he was hired as the artistic and technical director, and in 2025 as the Executive Artistic Director. He feels incredibly blessed to be working in the arts on an island as beautiful as Orcas.

Shawn Belyea is an award-winning actor, director, producer, and teaching artist based in Seattle, Washington. He is currently the Producing Director for The 14/48 Projects, creators of 14/48: The World’s Quickest Theater Festival, winner of the 2008 Seattle Mayor's Arts Award. Shawn is a professional actor and his work in Seattle includes Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Henry IV, and Twelfth Night with Seattle Shakespeare Company, Stan in Sweat and Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol (ACT Theatre), Rick in Dry Powder and Alan in Opus (Seattle Rep), and Dad and Babe Ruth in Jackie and Me (Seattle Children’s Theatre). He has also performed with Freehold's Engaged Theater in Measure for Measure and numerous other productions across the city of Seattle. As a director, Shawn’s work on August: Osage County earned four Gregory Awards, including Outstanding Director and Outstanding Production. In addition to his creative work, Shawn is committed to fostering the arts in the Pacific Northwest and serves as an Arts Commissioner for the City of Tukwila where he lives with his amazing wife Megan Ahiers.

Rebecca Tourino Collinsworth is a Seattle-based playwright and director, At twenty, she made her professional acting debut at the rebuilt Globe Theatre in London and spent fifteen years performing in regional theaters across the United States. As a teaching theater artist, she’s worked with the Claire Trevor School of the Arts; the Alliance Theater in Atlanta; the New York Film Academy in Soho; Seattle University; Meadows School of the Arts at SMU; and Freehold’s Ensemble Training Intensive, among others. For three consecutive years, she also made weekly trips to Gig Harbor to work with incarcerated people at the Washington Correctional Center for Women as part of the Engaged Theater Residency. Her plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and elsewhere. She is the co-book writer (with Evynne Hollens) of Mija (2024 Festival Cultural de Junio, Guatemala, 2023 NAMT Festival of New Musicals, Kleban Prize finalist); co-editor (with Asha Dore) of the literary magazine Parley Lit; and the creator / managing artistic director of Parley. In Parley Rebecca has established the most robust new work developmental program in the Pacific Northwest, offering unprecedented support to its playwriting associates. Through Parley, she has developed, directed, and produced more than 85 world premieres of important new plays by underrepresented writers in the last decade. MFA (Acting), U.C. Irvine; BA (English), U.C. Berkeley; Pacific Conservatory Theater.

Montse Garza is a Latina lighting designer and actor (among other things) recently relocated to Seattle from Boston where she graduated from MIT. In school, she wore many hats including producer, choreographer, and director. She is most proud of her role in helping the MIT theater community recover from the pandemic after two years without in-person theater. In many ways, theater everywhere is still recovering - Montse is happy to be part of that effort!

Taylor Freeman (any pronouns) is a queer, multidisciplinary artist and arts programmer based in Seattle. As an actor, Taylor’s credits include Her Ink, Her Voice (Susie Revels Cayton), The Wolves (11), Uncharted Waters: Twelfth Night (Antonia/Valentine), (Anon)ymous (Anon), Eurydice (Eurydice), and puppets (Rey). They have also performed spoken word alongside Grammy-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Arts in Drama (Performance) and International Studies from the University of Washington. She has been the Program Manager for the Seattle Black Film Festival since 2024. Their work and research center storytelling as a site of healing.

Charlotte Tiencken is a Director, Producer and Educator. Currently, she is Producing Artistic Director for Vashon Repertory Theatre which she founded in 2019. She was Managing Director at Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle for eight seasons, General Manager at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts and worked at Seattle Public Theatre, the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts in Tacoma, Tacoma Little Theatre, The Evergreen State College, and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Most recent directing credits include Summer, 1976 by David Auburn and Still in Love with You by Randy Noojin for Vashon Rep, Kichi in the Woods of Present Memory at the Academy of International Education in Awaji, Japan, Sweeney Todd and The Exonerated at Vashon Rep, The Cyclone Line by Kat Eggleston at Vashon Center for the Arts, The Odd Couple at Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre in NC, and Romeo and Juliet at the People’s Art Theatre of the Fujian Province in Fuzhou, China. She has served on the faculty at The University of Washington, Seattle Pacific University and the College of Charleston among others. She received her MFA from The University of Texas at Austin.

Xandria Easterday Callahan (They/Them) is happy to be serving on the TPS board. They are Seattle born and raised and have been renting TPS rooms since high school. They are a theater artist you'll never catch on stage, working as a Stage Manager, Designer and Producer. Currently they are the president of Reboot Theatre Company's working board, Reboot produces two musicals a year and tests new interpretations of established works. A life long theater fan, and theater artist, they know none of it would be possible without their devoted wife Allie.