Staff
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Bryan Caldwell
Co-Founder, Executive Director Bryan received his B.A. from Tulane University in 2000. Bryan has over 30 years of acting experience and has performed at the Promenade Playhouse, the Stella Adler Theater, and the Culver City Public Theater. A Colorado native, Bryan performed a residency at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, working with their Theatre Academy to implement both the adult and children’s curriculum. He has taught theatre for Los Angeles based students for over ten years including offering programs for youth with Autism and Asperger. In Inglewood, CA he has directed programs at Crozier Middle School and Frank Parent School, and has developed curriculum that focuses on addressing the needs of at-risk youth.
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Greg Shane
Co-Founder, Artistic Director Greg Shane, Artistic Director of ArtsUP! LA, received his B.A. in theatre from Tulane University and his M.A. in Educational Theatre from the Steinhardt School at NYU. Since he began teaching theatre in 2003, Greg has traveled all over the world bringing performing arts and arts therapy programs to various populations in cities including London, Dublin, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. Greg’s work helps at-risk youth, military veterans, prisoners, mentally challenged individuals, the homeless, and the visually impaired. Blind in his right eye, Greg’s personal connection and sensitivity towards the challenges of the visually impaired lend a unique perspective to his work.
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Colin Simson
Co-Founder, Chief Creative Officer Colin is a Boston native and a graduate of Tufts University. He shares his passion for performance and community service as the Chief Creative Officer for ArtsUP! LA. Since 1994, he has worked with programs in both Boston and Los Angeles helping to conceive, write and bring to life hundreds of original children’s theater productions and movies. Colin also continues his mission by teaching music and theatre at Seven Arrows Elementary, a private school in Pacific Palisades as well as private instrument lessons for children on drum set, guitar, and piano. An avid performer, Colin makes funny personalized music videos under the pseudonym, Spoofy Cakes and performs with two local bands – The Gravity Guild and Bandette.
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Kristen Engebresten
Director of Strategic Operations Kristen began with ArtsUP! LA as a teaching artist in 2003, helped form our 501(c)(3) in 2007, and has served as a board member ever since. Prior to becoming a full time staff member of ArtsUP! LA in 2016, Kristen served as the Arts Education Policy Manager at Americans for the Arts for five years. There she was responsible for promoting public policies that advance arts education throughout the country. Before her stint in DC, she served at several arts organizations in Los Angeles, including the Music Center and the LA County Arts Commission. She has also taught dance at several education organizations. She holds a Master of Education from Harvard and a Bachelors Degree from the University of Southern California.
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Board
Artistic Staff
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Laurie Grant
Program Director, Rex & Friends Laurie is the co-founder and former CEO of LPJ Entertainment LLC, and former Director of Music Marketing and Licensing for Performing Arts Studio West (PASW), as well music educator at PASW where she worked with adults with Autism and other disabilities. Laurie also has expertise in music production, songwriting, and publishing. Hailing from Los Angeles Laurie was a student of Music and Music Business at UCLA, and a graduate of The Grove School of Music with a degree in Jazz and Theory, Ms. Grant has a solid academic and professional background in music composition and arrangement. Grant has co- written, produced and licensed works for a multitude of independent artists and for music placement in film and television. These include songs for Dawson’s Creek, Law & Order, and My Name is Earl.
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Lana Negrete
Program Director, Outreach Through The Arts Lana has her Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and has spent the last 10 years in Sales and Marketing. She played various instruments in her youth and has always had a passion for dance. Becoming a mother inspired her to have a place where children and their parents could make music, dance and create art together. She developed Pitter Patter, a parent and me program that currently runs in Santa Monica, Culver City and in local pre-schools. Opening her doors to those that couldn’t afford to pay led to the birth of Outreach through the Arts (OTTA), which provides individual instrument lessons and music instruction scholarships for over 350 under-served youth.
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Lindsay Nyman
Program Director, Film by the Blind Lindsay Nyman is an actress, director and writer. She started her career at age nine in the Broadway National Tour of ‘Ragtime’ and continued working as an actress in NY before moving to LA to receive a BA from UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film, and Television. Lindsay joined ArtsUP! LA’s ‘Theatre by the Blind’ team in 2012 and teaches a drama class called “Acting for Empowerment” at the Braille Institute. Lindsay started the Film by the Blind program in 2017, a comprehensive film education program providing blind actors, writers, and directors with the tools to create their own content!
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Abby Hilden
House Manager, The Blue Door Abby Hilden recently graduated from the University of Southern California, where she received her BA in Theatre. She is originally from Minneapolis, where she founded her own non-profit theatre company dedicated to giving high-schoolers the opportunity to produce, direct, and act in shows that are otherwise not performed in traditional high schools. The theatre is currently in its sixth successful season. Abby is also a working actor, seen in numerous commercials, films, and TV shows in the Los Angeles and Atlanta area.
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Theatre By The Blind
Teaching Artists
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Cosette Ruesga
Assistant Director, Theatre by the Blind Ruesga graduated Magna Cum Laude from Chapman University with a Bachelor’s in Theatre, minors in music, psychology and philosophy, and an ardent thirst for exploring the theatre as an instrument for empowering individuals and communities. She is a founding performer and collaborator of Figure 8 Theatre Troupe and has applied her passions for dialogue and well-being internationally as a theatre practitioner and educator. Her work as an actor includes English and Portuguese-language plays within the U.S. and Brazil, and her directing credits include various English-language plays throughout the U.S. and South Korea, as well as a Spanish production of Fiddler On The Roof in Costa Rica. She extols the theatre’s raw power to foster individual and collective well-being, as well as to develop skills in second-language and emotional literacy. Cosette continuously seeks out new learning challenges as a reciprocal responsibility of her drive to promote theatre initiatives in underserved communities around the world.
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Regina Saldivar
Director, Theatre by the Blind Regina Saldivar was born and raised in El Paso, TX and has been living in LA for 10 years. She made her directorial debut with Theatre by the Blind’s “Sweet Pepper” in 2018. Regina believes strongly in giving back through art and production, which is why she served as producer on the feature documentary “Do You Dream in Color?” – a coming of age story that follows four blind teenagers in pursuit of their dreams (now available streaming through Amazon Prime and iTunes). Regina is perhaps best known for her acting roles on television shows like Chicago Fire, Hand of God, Criminal Minds, Teen Dating Violence and more. She is passionate about animals and is the proud dog-mother of two rescued dogs, Coconut and Nugget.
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Cathy Baron
Director, Theatre by the Blind Cathy (Cat) Baron is directing the upcoming production for TBTB, “Sweet Pepper.” She is an actress, dance teacher, photographer, and director. Her most notable role was on FX’s “Justified” playing the character of “Teri” in season 4 and 5. Cathy’s past credits include: The Lifetime original movie, “Fear Bay”, Justin Timberlake’s film “In Time”, “Greek” (TV series), ” iCarly” (TV series), “Valley Peaks” (TV series) , “Dead Stop” (Film), among 40+ other credits in TV, film, and commercials. Cathy is proud to be a part of CRE and helping the blind community in expressing themselves through acting.
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Creative Youth Theatre
Teaching Artists
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Natalie Fryman
Teaching Artist, Creative Youth Theatre Natalie Fryman, a native Los Angeleno, earned her BA in Drama from Vassar College in NY and her MA in Music Theatre (with distinction) at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She is a working stage/film/TV industry professional as well as a teaching artist and has been fortunate enough to live, study, and work in LA, NY, Hawaii, Italy, and the UK. She performs regularly with LA theater companies such as The Speakeasy Society, whose production of The Kansas Collection: The Portal (a dark adaptation of The Wizard of Oz in which Natalie played Glinda) was recently awarded “Best Immersive Narrative” in Immersion Nation’s 2019 Immersion Awards. She’s a nut for Shakespeare, musical theater, science fiction, fantasy, and crossword puzzles.
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Jennifer Seifert
Teaching Artist, Creative Youth Theatre Jennifer Seifert, a Jack Nicholson Scholarship Award winner and alumnus of the University of Southern California, is a certified life coach, actress, writer and teaching artist. As an actress, Jennifer is an Ovation Award winner, and has worked with such theaters as A Noise Within, Pasadena Playhouse, Shakespeare Festival LA, The Actors Gang and The Falcon Theatre with Troubadour Theatre Co. Jennifer produced her own short film, “To Desdemona, Love Juliet” and can be seen in the Academy Award nominated film, “In America”, and opposite Academy Award winner, Anjelica Huston in “Huff.” She taught with PS Arts and Inside Out for ten years, before becoming a mother of two boys, and has written a book, “CRxEATIVITY,” about balancing real life and creativity. She is thrilled to be teaching again with CRE, and facilitating Women’s Artist’s Way groups. Jennifer also continues to tour the country with “Playfair” and “Shotspeare” and has found a new voice with “Expressing Motherhood” and “Listen to Your Mother.”
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Bryan Staggers
Teaching Artist, Creative Youth Theatre Bryan Staggers is an actor, writer, and musician currently based in Los Angeles, CA. He has been a professional teaching artist for over 10 years, working with all ages in acting, playwriting, music, and more. Raised in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Bryan fell in love with telling stories to the background of banjos and family barbecues. He earned his BFA in Acting from West Virginia University where he trained in everything from Shakespeare to improv comedy. After graduation, he worked in regional theaters across the country including The Lost Colony, B Street Theatre, and IAMA Theatre Company. Some favorite roles include Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Woof in Hair, and Tennessee Williams in Mama Metal. Additionally, he has appeared on screen in both film and television with highlights including Animal Kingdom, The Mileground, and Betrayed. He is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association.
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