THE DAY THE SKY TURNED ORANGE

Nina-Sophia Pacheco (Amari) is joyed to return to SFBATCO with The Day the Sky Turned Orange. Credits include: Desperate Measures at Constellation, D.C.; WHICH WAY TO THE STAGE at Signature Theatre, VA; Hot Little Slice at Round House Theatre, MD; Once on This Island at Constellation Theatre, D.C. Other credits include: Playing Juliet/Casting Othello with Providence Players, VA; Film and television credits include: Artisan Air (self), Marvelous Miss Maisel, Madam Secretary. On and off stage fills many roles: singer-songwriter, podcast host, model, activist, wife, actress, performer and the occasional marketer. Nina serves as an active duty vocalist in the U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West. Big thanks always to her family and friends for their support and the teams that made this project a success. Connect on Instagram and TikTok: @sloanrex.

William I. Schmidt (QC) is a multi-disciplinary theatre and performing artist. They grew up singing, starting at age eight, and went on to study theatre at CSU Sacramento. William has worked and performed throughout California. When not performing, they teach acting and music to all ages of youth for multiple programs, In addition to directing. Recent performing credits include Pharus in Choir Boy (Shotgun Players) and Tock the Croc in Peter Pan the Panto (Presidio Theatre) And understudied Juicy for Fat Ham (SF Playhouse) . Other credits include Horton in Seussical, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, and Lou in Spell #7. They thank their loved ones for their unending support.

Audrey Degon (Alé) is delighted to be making her SFBATCO debut! Recent credits include: Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (Skyline College), Carrie White in Carrie: The Musical (Skyline College), and Chava in Fiddler on the Roof (Pacifica Spindrift Players). She recently graduated from San Francisco State University, School of Theatre & Dance, and works with Spindrift School of Performing Arts to bring music, dance, and theater to the youth of Pacifica. See more @audreyyjenna on instagram!

Roeen Nooran (Rayan) is so thankful to participate in this incredibly beautiful story with SFBATCO. Notable credits include Next to Normal (Gabe) with Ray of Light Theatre, Nobody Loves You (Swing) with American Conservatory Theatre, and Octet (swing) with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. He hopes you are as deeply impacted by this story as the team who put it together. IG: @roeennooran

Sidney Matthew Román (Marcus, Ensemble, Rayan U/S) is ecstatic to make his SFBATCO (and SF) debuts with DSTO! Recent credits include The Last 5 Years (Jamie) with The Pear, Jesus Christ Superstar (Simon, u/s Jesus) with SCP. While he hopes to pursue theatre full-time eventually, for now, he's a SWE with YouTube Trust and Safety.  Outside of that, he is a passionate ocean conservationist and volunteer scientific diver. He thanks his parents and partner Kamilah for their support, encouragement, and love through it all!

Rae Yuen (Momo, Ensemble) is an actor, vocalist, and illustrator from the San Francisco Bay Area. They have performed in beloved live Bay Area spaces such as Bindlestiff Studio, Zellerbach Hall, Z Space, Potrero Stage, Counterpulse, and Theatre Rhinoceros. They are thrilled to join the amazing DSTO Cast on this musical adventure.

Phaedra Tillery-Boughton (Principal, Ensemble) is a passionate creative artist dedicated to theatre, production, and community advocacy. She serves as associate producer and casting manager at SFBATCO and co-hosts Creatively Shaded, a podcast amplifying Black theatre voices in the Bay Area. A teaching artist with SFArtsEd, Berkeley Rep, A.C.T., and Pacific Singers & Actors, she recently played Rabby in Fat Ham at SF Playhouse and was named a 2025–26 Lorraine Hansberry New Black Voices Mentee. A 2024–25 Black Futures Awardee, her credits include The Color Purple, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and directing Legally Blonde. @phaedratboughton

Sleiman Alahmadieh (Ensemble, QC U/S) is a Lebanese American performer in the Bay Area. He is so excited to make his SFBATCO debut with this show! He’s grown up in the Bay Area his whole life and is soon to be moving out for the first time and what better show to celebrate his forever home than this one! Recent credits include Understudy Bryon, Dominic/Evan, and Dance Captain in Nobody Loves You at ACT directed by Pam McKinnon, Micheal Darling in Peter Pan at the Presidio Theatre Directed by Liam Vincent, and George in the Sondheim Revue Being Alive at Theatre Works directed by Robert Kelly. He would like to thank his family, friends and Bay Area community for always uplifting and supporting him to be the artist he is today! Special thanks for my parents for picking the bay to immigrate to! They had no idea that it would turn out to be the best place to be!

Markaila Dyson (Ensemble, Alé U/S) is beyond grateful to be a part of the debut of The Day the Sky Turned Orange. Their most recent productions include Fly By Night (Miriam) at Hillbarn, Kinky Boots (Ensemble/US Lauren) at Berkeley Playhouse, Sign My Name to Freedom (dancer) with SFBATCO, as well as Caroline or Change (Emmie), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Becca) and Legally Blonde (Pilar) with Ray of Light. Markaila is grateful to have been raised amid the rich and vibrant culture of San Francisco and thanks every single person that invested in their artistry from a very young age! 

Janelle LaSalle (U/S Amari, U/S Principal) is delighted to be making her debut at SFBATCO in The Day the Sky Turned Orange.  Film/TV credits include Twenty Something (Nicole) with Pixar Animation Studios and feature roles in commercials for Cache Creek and Raley's.  Stage credits include Jesus Christ Superstar (Jesus) with Ray of Light Theatre (TBA and SFBATCC Best Actress Nominee), Beauty and the Beast (Belle) with Berkeley Playhouse, Chicago (Velma Kelly) with Palo Alto Players, Dreamgirls (Deena Jones) with Broadway by the Bay, Avenue Q (Gary Coleman) with New Conservatory Theatre Center, and Memphis (Felicia) with The Tabard Theatre (TBA Best Actress Nominee).  As a professional recording artist, Janelle has produced two original albums, and her music has been featured on national radio and television.  She continues to perform throughout the bay area.  This performance is dedicated to her favorite co-star, her daughter, Camilla; and Cartlon Charles - “I hope I always make you proud, daddy.” www.janellelasalle.com

Julius Ernesto Rea is a Bay Area-based playwright, journalist, producer, grant writer and conflict resolution facilitator. With a degree in Philosophy from SFSU, Rea co-founded journalism theatre company The Forum Collective in 2018 and cooperatively-owned arts magazine Substrate Arts in 2022. He is also a previous Theatre Bay Area Arts Leadership Residency artist, which allowed him to work with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Dedicated to holistic healing and equity, they create new projects on underrepresented narratives based on deeply-rooted research, interviews, and dramaturgy. Rea received a 2023-24 Creative Corps Initiative grantee to further develop The Day the Sky Turned Orange.

Olivia Kuper Harris is a musical artist, writer, and producer from Dallas, Texas, with influences in jazz and soul. Harris’s career has spanned from acting, having starred in productions on the Vegas Strip and Broadway in Chicago, to music, having toured the world as a frontline vocalist for Postmodern Jukebox and featured vocalist for Teddy Swims, to writing and producing, having independently released 3 studio albums and 3 EP’s worth of original music. While Harris has an extensive career as a performer, Harris considers herself to be an artist of a fuller scope, and is honored to have had the opportunity to be part of the creative team for “The Day The Sky Turned Orange”. Visit www.OliviaKuperHarris.com to join Harris’s newsletter community and journey. Catch Harris on Season 27 of The Voice on NBC, currently streaming on Peacock. Instagram: @olivia.kuper.harris

David Michael Ott, based in Los Angeles, California, is the proverbial triple threat in music: A Grammy-nominated producer, a talented multi-instrumentalist, and a sought-after mixing engineer.

David developed his natural gift at a young age, mastering several instruments, including violin, saxophone, bass, guitar, drums and piano. He showcased an incredible versatility and deftness with each of the aforementioned instruments, and it didn't take long before he began creating his own seminal work.

David produced and mixed several songs across four seasons of the Fox hit series Empire, which received Emmy nominations for “Hemingway” and “Come Undone”. David was also an integral part of the Grammy-nominated Empire album that beat out Madonna’s Rebel Heart to earn the #1 slot on the Billboard 200 album charts. David also recently played keys and added additional production for A Tribe Called Quest, "Footprints" ft. CeeLo Green: A particular honor for him to collaborate with childhood musical heroes, as well as his longtime mixing mentor, Neal Pogue of Outkast fame.

David prides himself on working with a wide variety of artists. As a result, his musical style is always evolving, as he delves deeper into the possibilities of composition, producing, and mixing.  The one constant over time and across genres, is his creation of dynamic, visceral and engaging music.

Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. is the Artistic Director & Co-Founder of The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO), now in its 10th year! He made his Broadway debut in “The Book of Mormon” the same summer he began the venture of SFBATCO. In his 33 years of life, he has been blessed to grace international stages, participate in workshop/development processes for major plays and pre-Broadway shows (such as Toni Stone and Ain’t Too Proud), and bring his artistic insights, creative experiences, and fresh ideas to his home theatre company: SFBATCO. A native of San Francisco, he cultivated his love and foundation for the performing arts, particularly theatre, through public city organizations such as SFartsEd, San Francisco Recreation & Park’s YPTMTC, and the Ruth Asawa SF School of the Arts, where he graduated from the theatre department. He proudly holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, and he acknowledges the incredible support of the SFBATCO staff and board, who champion his vision and creative voice in the Bay Area. Additional theatre credits include Berkeley Repertory "Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations", SFBATCO's "I, Too, Sing America" & "Toni Stone" co-produced by Arena Stage and American Conservatory Theatre.

Nikki Meñez is a director, movement artist, and arts administrator based in the San Francisco Bay Area who is moved to challenge what performing arts look like and how stories are told. Nikki is the Curatorial Director at Z Space where they curate and cultivate the rental partnerships that populate the venue side of the organization and coordinate Z Space's various residency programs in order to make the venue more accessible to the local arts community. When not at Z Space or directing, Nikki works in casting and artist outreach, theater education, and arts advocacy for a more equitable, sustainable, and humane creative ecosystem.

Vince Chan, a proud Bay Area native from Daly City, CA, has been immersed in the dance community for over 17 years. He currently dances with The Company, a renowned team based out of Westlake School for the Performing Arts. Throughout his career, Vince has taught and performed on stages around the world, and has collaborated with prominent Bay Area artists including P-Lo and E-40.

In 2022, he served as associate choreographer for The Day the Sky Turned Orange, and he’s thrilled to return—this time making his choreographic debut for his first musical. Beyond the stage, Vince teaches weekly at City Dance Studios and works in Marketing Operations at a San Francisco tech company.

Aidaa Peerzada is the Literary & Outreach Manager at SFBATCO. She is an actor and writer who grew up between the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland and Lahore, Pakistan. She is currently a recipient of the Theatre Bay Area’s Director’s Residency and is SFBATCO’s Artistic Development Director. Aidaa studied at the Baltimore School for the Arts and went on to receive her BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University.She debuted her voice as a writer in CMU’s "Playground" Festival with her play “Scheherazade” which went on to the NYC Fringe Festival. Workshops of her original plays include: One Googol and One (SFBATCO), Grandma Science,(The Greenhouse Theatre Solo Lab), Shining, (The Ground and Field Theatre Festival at UC: Davis.) She is currently co-writing the book of an original musical Sunflowered, in development with Northern Sky Theatre. Regional performance credits include: The Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre Co, American Players Theatre, Theatre Lila and Quantum Theatre. Her on-camera credits include the HBO series Girls, the web series Blank My Life, as well as the independent films Gorenos, and Stay Home.

This is Sarah’s first production with SFBATCO and is thrilled to be part of the team. Recent credits include "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime", "Indecent", "As You Like It", "Nollywood Dreams", and "Evita" at SF Playhouse, "I Am My Own Wife" and "Angels in America" Parts 1 & 2 with Oakland Theatre Project, "Wait Until Dark" and "Fly By Night" at Hillbarn Theatre, and "Golden Girls Live! The Christmas Episodes" at The Curran Theatre. Additional credits include "West Side Story", "Memphis", "Into the Woods", "Kinky Boots", "Rent", and "The Prom" at Berkeley Playhouse, "Torch Song" at Marin Theatre, and "The Red Shades" for Z Space. Upcoming projects include "Cabaret" with OTP and "Cats" at Berkeley Playhouse. Sarah is a proud member of United Scenic Artists 829.

Trinity is thrilled to be working with SFBATCO for the first time! Over the past several years she has developed a passion for new work and she is very excited to be working with such amazing artists on this production. Recent credits include working as an SM PA on the aves, Uncle Vanya, The Matchbox Magic Flute, and Mexodus (Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Marin Shakespeare Company). She is very happy to be back in the Bay Area stage managing and is looking forward to the rest of a wonderful run with SFBATCO!

Morgan Bright is ecstatic to be working on her first production with BATCO and Z Space! Her recent Bay Area credits include Nobody Loves You (American Conservatory Theatre), Private Lives (American Conservatory Theatre), She Kills Monsters (SFSU), Eurydice (SFSU), Please Don’t Slow Me Down (Playground SF), and Rent (SFSU). Morgan thanks her amazing family and friends for supporting her and her career.

Matt Fukui Grandy is a keyboardist, composer, music director, and arranger, from the SF Bay Area and currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Credits include Shoshana in December (composer), The Red Shades: A Trans Superhero Rock Opera (co-composer and co-MD), Totally Normal: A Co-Dependent Queer Friendship Musical (co-composer), Wildfire (Associate MD & co-orchestrator), and Tinderella: the modern musical (Associate MD, co-orchestrator). He assists Mark G. Meadows (Cynthia Erivo, The Outsiders on Broadway). He is a graduate of both UC Berkeley and Berklee College of Music. He plays keyboards in the funk/soul/rock band Californicorns.

Peyton is thrilled for her first production with SFBATCO. She recently designed props for Krapp's Last Tape (The Santa Monica Playhouse), Every Christmas Story Ever Told (Town Hall Theatre); she designed props and scenery and stage managed at UCLA. Peyton is an avid environmental conservationist and she is passionate about theater that uplifts marginalized voices. Connect with her at www.pwhitesidedesign.com or on Instagram @pwhitesidedesign. She is based in the Bay Area.

Jack Dobens is a theatre & film designer currently living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally from Massachusetts, Jack is a graduate of NYU Tisch majoring in Theatrical Scenic and Lighting Design. Jack works in a variety of media including theater, film, music videos, and photography. Previous credits include Sign My Name To Freedom, Shiva Baby, Harry Potter & the Cursed Child. Always looking forward to the next project, Jack loves to meet and work with other creatives and tell new and compelling stories!

Nolan Miranda is a graduate of The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and has costumed over thirty shows in the Bay Area. Recent notable credits include: Writing Fragments Home (Hillbarn Theatre), Yellow Face (Shotgun Players), and Carrie: The Musical (American Conservatory Theater, Y.C.) Nolan was recently recognized by the San Francisco Bay Area Critic Circle for his costumes for Who’s Dead McCarthy: Stories by Kevin Barry (ZSpace/Word For Word). In addition, he is the resident Costume Designer for Archbishop Riordan High School's award-winning drama program. Instagram: @nolanmiranda

Claudio Andres Silva Restrepo is originally from Santiago Chile. He studied at Loyola University Maryland. He has previously worked as the Technical Director for SFBATCO and works with many companies, with specific care to create works that represent the diverse community of the Bay Area and addressing social issues relevant to his community. In 2023 Claudio had the opportunity to join the Urban School of San Francisco as their new Director of Technical Theater.

Coming up in sound recording and reinforcement for Broadway, opera, and regional theater, Michael has transitioned to the professional audio manufacturing sector while doing as many shows like this to keep his chops up! He and his partner Sarah Phykitt enjoy working as a team creating art and enabling talented folks like these!

Dan Hall is a Korean, Bay Area Queer Artist. Working as the Lead Production Technician for Z Space and the Technical Director at Theatre of Yugen, He has previously worked on Sound Design with NCTC on PReP Play, Gently Down the Stream, Sugar In Our Wounds, and A Picture of Two Boys, as well as live mixing for shows The Red Shades, Orale, and Wildfires at Z Space.

Mary Clare is a freelance theatrical lighting designer and electrician based in Oakland, CA. After graduating with a BFA in Theatrical Design & Production from the University of Michigan (2008), Mary Clare went on to join the staff at The Juilliard School as an Electrician Apprentice (2012-2013). Since returning home to the Bay Area in 2020, Mary Clare has worked as a lighting designer and electrician at Marin Theatre, ODC, and Z Space. Recent credits include Lighting Designer for Woven Dances at ODC and Lighting Supervisor for ODC's State of Play Festival.