b e d l a m t h e a t r e

P.O. Box 583082

Minneapolis, MN 55458-3082

Telephone: 612.341.1038

TO SHINING SEA: The Imperial American History Pageant

ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

JOHN FRANCIS BUECHE (Creator, Director, Performer)

As a writer and director, Mr. Bueche has been a driving force behind Bedlam Theatre since its founding and has written and directed Bedlam’s productions of Top of the Heap, freewheeling in the Attic of Whim, Terminus, Ubu Roi: 100 Years of Pure Shit and most recently appeared on the Bedlam stage in UNHINGED. In 2002 he lead the creation of the first Bedlam Community Ten-Minute Play Festival. In 2004 he scripted the adaptation of The Worldwide Church of the Handicapped for Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts and designed the set for their acclaimed production of Cloud Cuckooland in 2003. As a designer, he has been behind Frank Thearte’s site-specific installantsio of recent years at Minneapolis’s former Sears Building and St. Paul’s Noble’s Experimental. This fall he’ll join forces with acclaimed cabaret star Melissa Birch to create a site-specific edition of Birch’s Red Curtain Cabaret on Minneapolis porches. In addition, he also frequently works with Illusion Theatre, Open Eye Firgure Theatre, and as a teaching artist with the Children’s Theatre Company’s Neighborhood Bridges program. Mr. Bueche has a B.A. in Dramatic Arts and Philosophy from Macalaster College and has studied at the Ernst Busch Hochschule fur Shauspielkunst in East Berlin and the Eugene O’Neill Center National Theatre Institute in Conneticut.

TOM SNELL (Creator, Research Czar, Performer)

Mr. Snell has been attached to the evolving TO SHINING SEA since its inception in 2002. He appeared in Top of the Heap as well as the 2003 Ten-Minute Play Festival. Mr. Snell has been a regular contributor to Bedlam Romps for years – including popular installments of The WYaskY News. Now a member of the Black Bear Ranch Collective in northern California, he is back to see Shining Sea through.

RAH KOJIS (Performer, Cardboard Artist)

Ms. Kojis has appeared in Bedlam’s productions of Beastiality, UNHINGED, and most recently Mutiny! A Feast of Souls. Mover, puppeteer, activist – she has worked wtih Vox Medusa dance company, the Puppetry Arts Studio, Live Art, and direct actions on the front lines. From 1999-2004, she was an instructorat the New Mexico School for Natural Therapeutics.

IVAN ‘SPIDER’ WEINER (Performer, Video Artist)

Mr. Weiner’s theater career started with the Los Angeles Dream Theater. He has contributed moving images and sassy bits to Bedlam productios since Terminus in 2002. That same year he created SciFivan: Invasion of the Bike Club Snatchers with the Hard Times Bike Club for the Bedlam Studio Hot Summer of One Acts. An accomplished computer programmer/game designer, Ivan kept very busy during the Y2K hysteria which allowed him the freedom to explore more experimental and less lucrative art forms.