Maria G. Marquis 

SIAH

Maria (she/her) has been acting in the Bay Area since 2008, and is a theatre and voiceover actor, as well as corporate trainer committed to making work less boring. She’s thrilled to be part of the world premiere production of Zac and Siah after participating in many developmental readings along its journey to the stage. She is the recipient of Theatre Bay Area’s Best Principal Actress award for her work in the world premiere production of The Awakening with Breadbox Theater, and she has appeared numerous times with Dragon Productions and City Lights Theater Company where she received a nomination for Best Principal Actress in The Merchant of Venice and Silent Sky. You can learn more about Maria at mariagmarquis.com, and find her audiobooks on Audible.

Tony Ortega

JOSHUA

Tony Ortega (he/him) is thrilled to be making his Custom Made Theatre Co debut! Tony’s a San Francisco based artist and has performed throughout the Bay helping new works come to life, including Alter Theatre’s Ghosts of Bogota, Gary Soto’s The Afterlife, and now Jeffrey Lo’s Zac & Siah. Additional theatre credits include: Anton’s Well’s Knives in Hens and Coastal Repertory’s productions of Death of a Salesman and Native Gardens. Tony is a two-time Theatre Bay Area nominated actor and was nominated for Best Leading Actor in the Broadway World Regional Awards. Tony wrote and co-directed Velorio, which premiered at PlaygroundSF.

Adam L. Sussman

Director

Adam L Sussman (he/him) is a theatre director, writer, and educator based in San Francisco. His recent directing work includes the West Coast premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s How to Transcend a Happy Marriage at Custom Made (“One of the top shows of 2020… The love and mating ritual we all need.” SF Chronicle), a re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice at UT Theatre and Dance (“The best Shakespeare production I’ve ever seen,” Austin-American Statesman, Best Production and Best Director nominations Austin Critics Table), and The Tiny Banger at Trinity Street Players (four B Iden Payne Award nominations) a film/theatre piece that uses Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character to explore issues around poverty and urban homelessness. Adam is a recipient of the TBA Titan Award as well as a TBA CA$H Performs grant.

Tessa Corrie

Associate Director

Tessa Corrie (she/her) is a Queer and Latinx theater director based in the Bay Area. Her work is grounded in creating space for marginalized and underrepresented communities and narratives. She is a company member, ambassador, and this year’s Women Leaders Directing Fellow at PlayGround SF. Her credits include work at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Center REPertory Company, Palo Alto Players, Hillbarn Theatre, Pear Theatre, Shotgun Players, TheatreFirst, The Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, More Más Marami Arts, Poltergeist Theatre Project, PianoFight, AmiosWest, and Our Digital Stories

Molly O’Donnell

Stage Manager

Molly O’Donnell (they/them) is a recent graduate from UC Irvine, where they double-majored in Drama and English and was awarded Honors in Directing. Bay Area born and raised, Molly’s second home growing up was Starstruck Theatre in Fremont. In addition to their work with Starstruck and at University, they have worked professionally with SPARC Theater (Formerly Livermore Shakespeare Festival) and Shakespeare Orange County. They are a stage manager, director, and writer, but at their core, they are a storyteller through and through. Molly is so excited to be making their Custom Made debut, and hopes you enjoy the show!

Brooke Jennings

Costume Design

Brooke Jennings (she/her) is thrilled to return to Custom Made Theatre Co. with this provocative and wild show. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz’s Theater Arts Masters Program, Brooke is an award winning Costume Designer working in the Bay Area and New York. Her recent credits include San Jose Stage Company (The Great Leap), Shotgun Players (Vinegar Tom, Arcadia), San Francisco Playhouse (You Mean To Do Me Harm, The Effect, Colossal, The Nether), We Players (Pyschopomp, Caesar Maximus, Roman Women, Ondine), Magic Theater (asst. designer: A Lie of the Mind, Bad Jews), FaultLine Theater (Maggie’s Riff, Dead Dog’s Bone), Virago Theatre (The Singularity (New York Premier), Custom Made Theater Company (Belleville, Six Degrees of Separation, Sam and Dede (SF and NY Premieres)), City Lights Theater (Rocky Horror Show), and Santa Cruz Shakespeare (asst. Designer, A Year with Frog and Toad). She thanks her husband, Cole, for his unwavering support and encouragement.

Birttany Mellerson

Sound Design

BRITTANY MELLERSON (Lighting & Sound Designer) is an East coast native and graduate of Point Park University’s Conservatory Program, with a BFA in Theatrical Lighting & Sound Design. Brittany is the Resident Lighting Designer for Lamplighters Music Theatre, SF PlayGround, and the Telluride Film Festival. Recent credits include lighting design for PlayGround’s Solofest 2022, Awesome Theatre’s feature film THEM,  lighting and sound design for The Pear’s Mountaintop and Sunset Baby. Throughout the pandemic, Brittany has been dedicated to source and produce equitable employment avenues within the Bay Area for Black designers and technicians.  

Up Next : Lamplighter’s Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder; Custom Made’s Blood at the Root; Awesome Theatre’s Coffee Lady; PlayGround’s Best of PlayGround Festival

Sarah Pykitt

Scenic and Projection Design

Sarah (she/her) is originally from the East Coast where she attended the University of Massachusetts and promptly moved to NYC after graduation. She spent several years touring with the Broadway productions of Cabaret, Fosse, and Rent. In 2008 she relocated to the Bay Area. Design credits include West Side Story, Memphis, and Into the Woods at Berkeley Playhouse, M. Butterfly, Little Brother, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia, The Lion in Winter, Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and several others for Custom Made Theater Company, Agrippina and The Cunning Little Vixen for West Edge Opera, Le Switch, This Bitter Earth, Head Over Heels, and You’ll Catch Flies for the New Conservatory Theater Company and A Time for Hawking and Copenhagen for Indra’s Net Theater, Bitch Slap, Champagne White and the Temple of Poon, Champagne White is Disastrous, Star Trek Live, Sex and the City Live, Golden Girls Live, Project Lohan and many other for D’Arcy Drollinger and Oasis.

Kristen Matia

Fight Choreographer

Jack Elliott Smith

Properties Designer