Welcome to The Custom Made Theatre Company. CMTC is committed to producing plays that awaken our social conscience, focusing on the strength of the ensemble and creating an intimate theatrical experience.
About us
Learn all about the past and present of the Custom Made Theatre Company. CMTC is dedicated to bringing an eclectic mix of political and socially relevant theatre to its audiences.
Staff:
Brian Katz - Artistic Director
Brian Katz is the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Custom Made Theatre Company. For Custom Made he has directed Down the Road, Slavs!, Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (twice), Orchards (co-directed), Lies and Legends: The Musical Stories of Harry Chapin, Vinegar Tom, Black Snow, Animal Farm, Bobby Gould in Hell, Saint Joan of the Stockyards, Bye-bye, bin Lade, Temptation, Finding the Sun, The Heidi Chronicles, Candalous Comissioner, The Water Engine and Assassins. Other directorial highlights include Speed-the-Plow, Love's Fire, Assassins, Women and Wallace, The Bear, The Temple of Dionysus , Commit Me to Memory, and When Josh Googled Susan.... Brian has a B.A. in theatre literature and criticism from Clark University and interned in dramaturgy at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. His production of Bye-bye, bin Laden! was named a top premiere of 2004 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and his Assassins was awarded a top 10 Best Musical of 2007 by Talkin' Broadway.
Leah Abrams - Executive Director
Leah S. Abrams is Executive Director and co-founder of The Custom Made Theatre Company, Inc. For CMTC, she has produced: Down the Road, Slavs!, Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (twice), Orchards, The Trial of God, Lies and Legends: The Musical Stories of Harry Chapin, Vinegar Tom, Black Snow, Animal Farm, Saint Joan of the Stockyards, and Bye bye bin Laden. She also acts in many of the company's shows, and favorites inclde: Down the Road, Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, Lies and Legends, and Saint Joan of the Stockyards. Other favorite acting credits include: Merrily we Roll Along, Assassins, Oleanna, and Mad Forest. Leah has a B.A. in Government (Theatre Arts minor) from Clark University.
Marci Ring - Technical Director - bio coming soon
Christopher Jenkins- Artistic Associate
Christopher Jenkins is the founding artistic director of the Unidentified Theatre Company. He was also the producer of the San Francisco production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. His most recent west coast directing credits are Burn This, Matt and Ben, In The Garden, The Food Chain and Rescue and Recovery. For Custom Made he has directed Shove and Woody Allen's God and DeathBefore moving to the Bay Area, he was the managing director for Buffalo United Artists, for which he directed more than 30 productions, including As Bees in Honey Drown, and Unidentified Human Remains and The True Nature of Love.
Simon Miller - Art Director - bio coming soon
Company Members:
Perry Aliado is an East Bay transplant, living in the Bay Area for the last 10 years, and acting locally for the last 5 years. Originally from the Los Angeles area (Gardena, CA), Perry studied theatre at Santa Monica College, UC Berkeley and ACT, and earned his BA in Asian American Studies from UC Berkeley in 2003. Past productions with Custom Made include two of his most favorite and exciting projects to date, Candaules, Commissioner (part of A Very Brechty X-mas) and Assassins: The Musical. Other past shows include Mother Courage (Berkeley Rep), Woody Allen’s God and Death (Custom Made), Macbeth and Othello (Impact Theatre), Marisol (UC Berkeley), Urinetown (6th Street Playhouse), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Stage 1), James and the Giant Peach (Active Arts Theatre for Young Audiences) and The Hybrid Project (Intersection for the Arts). By day, Perry works as a Museum Educator at Zeum, SF’s hands-on art and technology museum for youth and their families.
Stefin Collins is an actor fluent in ASL, with Bachelor degrees in American Sign Language (CSUN) and Theatre Arts (SFSU). He has been performing on Bay Area stages since 2002. He has played many zany memorable characters, such as his first role with CMTC as a (Furball from hell) in Sincerity Forever and in a later production, as (the Actor) in Woody Allen’s God & Death. Some of his other favorite roles include: (Otto) The Food Chain, (Erronius) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, (Sam Greenblatt), a reanimated dead guy, in Killing My Lobster’s The Cheever Tapes, and (Officer Harry Murphy) in Kurt Weill's Street Scene. He has worked with companies such as: Custom Made Theatre (proud company member), San Francisco Free Civic Theatre (also a company member), Killing My Lobster and other smaller companies. Visit Stefin on the web at www.stefincollins.com
AJ Davenport has been appearing in Bay Area Theatre since 1995. She received her Bachelors of Science and trained as an actor at Southern Illinois University. AJ's association with CMTC started in 1998 when she appeared in Orchards. She has also given theatrical life to Helena in our production of The Memorandum, caught fire as Ludmilla in Black Snow, ruled the world as Napoleon in Animal Farm, gave a "strong" performance as Mrs. Luckernidle in St. Joan of the Stockyards and as Cathy in Shove. In addition AJ is a member of Multi Ethnic Theatre, was Unconditional Theatre's "Diva in Residence" for two years. She has appeared with other Bay Area Companies, including Good Dog Productions, 2Good4U, Killing My Lobster, and Crowded Fire. AJ has appeared in three films, only one of which, 19 Fantasies has been distributed nationally.
Daveed Diggs - bio coming soon
David Fierro is happy to continue working with Custom Made Theater Company this year. He trained at California State Summer School for the Arts, College of Marin, and the American Conservatory Theatre. He has previously worked with: Marin Shakespeare, Berkeley Repertory, Center REP, TheatreFIRST, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Thrillpeddlers, Impact Theatre, Golden Thread Productions, and The Mountain Play. Favorite recent roles include Scoop in The Heidi Chronicles and Snug in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He has also been seen on television in The Love Connection (three times!) and You’re Not The Man I Married (Lifetime). David is a proud member of Theatre Bay Area.
Brandy Leggett has been acting in Bay Area community theatre since 1999. Her roles and productions include Titania in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream, Jesus in Godspell, A Christmas Carol, Laramie Project, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Summerstock at City College of San Francisco. She debuted with CMTC as Girl in Gertrude Steins Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights. Other productions with CMTC include Bye, Bye Bin Laden, and Samuel Beckett's Come and Go. She is a new resident of Oakland as a transplant after 7 yrs in San Francisco. She also studied Radio and Television at San Francisco State. She spends her days in corporate drag as a sales manager for a major technology company in Silicon Valley. She is a proud new member of CMTC and looks forward to it's growth and community involvment.
Jay Martin - bio coming soon
Eric O'Kelly is a Bay Area native who first appeared on the CMTC stage as the gloomy, one-handed Gloomb in Saint Joan of the Stockyards. He has since acted in our productions of The Bald Soprano (part of Beckett/Ionesco), Sincerity Forever (part of Finding Sincerity), Equus, Woody Allen's God and Death, and The Water Engine. Among his favorite roles are Stephen "Red" Ryder in When You Coming Back, Red Ryder (Multi Ethnic Theatre), Boo Hudlocke in The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Density over Duration), and Dr. Pontius Pilate Scott in Rocky Horror Superstar (Klubstitute Kollective). Among Eric's local credits include productions with New Conservatory Theater Center, Shakespeare at Stinson, California Conservatory Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, and of course Thrillpeddlers.
Gabe Ross - bio coming soon
Jessica Rudholm been a member of CMTC for two years. She has worked on a number of Custom Made shows including Temptation, Finding the Sun, Sincerity Forever, The Heidi Chronicles, The Water Engine, Equus, and the two Woody Allen one acts God and Death. She has also worked with San Francisco theater companies MET and Three-Wise Monkeys. She is a graduate of CSU Monterey Bay where she had the honor of working with Alexander Mikhailov and Benny Sato Ambush. In the summer of 2004 Jessica attended ACT's summer training congress where she studied with Michael Carroll and the ACT staff. Jessica is a proud member of TBA and the bay area's theater community.
Richard Wenzel - bio coming soon
