Crew

Kendra Arimoto (Director), MFA Playwriting Candidate at Smith College, graduated from Stanford University (BA Drama ‘05) where she won the Sudler Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, and the Edoga Prize for Creative Arts Work Involving Social Issues. Kendra also trained at American Conservatory Theatre (Summer Training Congress ’03). Her 35+ production history includes performances for One4All: SF Asian American Theatre Festival, San Francisco Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Stanford Shakespeare Society under the direction of Ed Iskandar, and San Francisco’s highly acclaimed No Nude Men Productions under the direction of Stuart Bousel. Favorite roles include the title roles in Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, Princess in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Nora in A Doll’s House, Mrs. Darcy in One Flea Spare, Inez in No Exit, Ruth in Mathew 33:06, and Cihuatateo/Tattooist in Hungry Woman: Mexican Medea directed by Cherríe Moraga and Adelina Anthony.  She was a host for MacBreak and Local Wisdom and starred in a number of indie films, commercials and print ads.  As a playwright, her first full-length play No Traveller Returns received an EarlyStages reading at the Berkshire Fringe 2009. An adaptation of Natsume Sōseki’s Kokoro and an excerpted reading of Model Minority were featured at the Smith College New Play Reading Series 2009 and 2010.  Scarlet P, a one act was produced at the Smith College One Acts Festival and directed by Jeffrey Stingerstein.  Shikataganai (It Can’t Be Helped) is the winner of the James Baldwin Fund Prize for Multi-cultural Playwriting 2010 and received staged readings at the WORD! Festival and Smith College New Play Reading Series 2010.  Next up:  Writing a ten minute play with the mentorship of Marcus Gardley at the WORD! 2011 Playwriting Workshop. Her ten minute play based on the Greek god “Eos” will be featured at the 2011 Olympians Festival in San Francisco. She lives with graffiti artist Jessica Sabogal in Northampton, MA.

RB Axtell (Sound Designer) is a sound designer and master electrician who loves making unexpected mash-ups. She was born in Westminster West, Vermont and is a first-semester senior and Computer Science major at Smith College. Previous sound designs are The Open Couple and Mrs. California (both at Smith). She has worked behind the scenes on every show the Smith Theatre department has put on since her first semester here. She first became involved in theatre in preschool while playing a dog in the Saxton’s River Montessori School play We’ve Got a Niche in Nature. RB isn’t sure what she is doing after college, but would like to work in computer animation or developing software to teach children programming or foreign languages.

Claire DeLiso (Set Designer) was born and raised inProvence in the South of France. At the age of 14 she came to the United-Statesto attend The Putney High School in Vermont. Claire will graduate from SmithCollege in the spring of 2012 as a theatre major, with an emphasis on design,and a studio art minor. She is interested in both set and costume design. In the fall of 2009 she was the Assistant Costume Designer for the production of Las Meninas. She has also worked behindthe scenes as a crew member for Mrs. California, The Smith College One Acts Festival, Henry V and Polaroid Stories. Claire firstbecame involved with theatre as an actress in high school. She has also acted in a few Smith College productions. Her favorite roles include Kate Mundy in Dancing at Lughnasa, Erma in Anything Goes and The Painter in Las Meninas.Some Mother’s Son is the first production she has set-designed and she is extremely grateful for the opportunity and the incredible design team she has had the privilege to work with.

Hana Kadoyama (Stage Manager) has stage managed in theatres around the Bay Area as well as at Smith College. Recently, she spent time onstage starring as "Sir Pablo" in Kendra Arimoto's Shikataganai (It Can't Be Helped)  at the 2011 Hawai'i International Conference on Arts and Humanities. She will graduate from Smith in May with a BA in both Theatre and Sociology.  Hana is headed to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with a production fellowship post-graduation.

Emma Jimerson (Assistant Stage Manager) fell in love with Theatre when she began acting at the age of fourteen and has been hooked ever since. She has appeared in a number of plays, ranging from an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass to Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan. Since coming to Smith College last fall, Emma has begun to learn as much as she can about the backstage world, including stage management, lighting, costume design, and playwriting -- as well as continuing to study acting. Most recently she appeared in a Smith production of Macbeth in the fall of 2010.

Samantha Riiska (Lighting Designer) is a junior government major and theatre minor at Smith College. SOME MOTHER'S SON is the first mainstage Smith College production that she has designed. Having just arrived home from a semester in Prague, she was very excited to jump in and have this opportunity to work with such an amazing design team, on such a fascinating show. When she's not designing, she sometimes acts in productions, both for the Smith College Theatre and for the Smith College Leading Ladies, works as the Production Coordinator Assistant for the Smith College Theatre, and has also been known to be spotted directing for Leading Ladies or tackling people on the rugby pitch (which she looks forward to returning to this Spring).

Zoe Travis (Assistant Stage Manager) Before coming to Smith, Zoe studied theatre at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in New York City. During those years, she participated in a number of plays and original student films. In the summer of 2010, Zoe assisted the producer at the Ice Factory Theatre Festival in SoHo. She also worked as a script consultant for the new American TV show Skins. Recently, Zoe discovered Playwriting, Directing, and Stage Management as new theatre interests.










Kaidi Williams (Costume Designer) is very happy to be designing the costumes for this fantastic new show that luckily takes place in one of her favourite time periods for fashion. Her work in theatre began in high school when she played Angelique in The Imaginary Invalid and Tomasina in Arcadia at The Math and Science Academy of Woodbury, MN. She moved on to costumes when she designed for You Can’t Take It with You, Dear Phoebe, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. At Smith, Kaidi designed the costumes for Coser y Contar and has been working in the Smith College costume shop for the last three years. Outside of Smith she has really enjoyed being a counselor and costumer at the wonderful Harand Camp of the Theatre Arts in Kenosha, WI and also working closely with a cast of high schoolers to costume The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at The Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN. Kaidi plans to head to London after graduation to eat cream teas and pursue a career in costumes for theatre while also designing accessories and clothing to be sold online.