Faculty Biographies

Jean Shelton

Jean Shelton is considered one of the finest acting teachers in the country. Her career began in New York City in 1947 when she began acting at the American Repertory Theatre with Broadway actor/director Wendell Phillips whom she later married. She was closely associated with Stella Adler, Harold Clurman, and Lee Strasberg, (considered the founders of the American method style of acting) among many others. She acted and directed in New York during the 1950’s and onetime for Tennessee Williams in his first play Hello from Bertha in 1956 to his delight. She left New York City in 1961 and married Robert Elross where they founded the 14th Street Arts Center and the Playhouse Theatres before establishing the acting school that bears her name. She has been a consultant for major motion pictures, television studios, and film directors and has been encouraging actors for over 50 years now. Her students have won Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Tony Awards, Obie Awards, and countless local awards. She received the Payne Knickerbocker Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989.

Matthew Shelton

Matthew Shelton is the son of two well-known artists, Jean Shelton and the late Robert Elross. After graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara he began studying and acting in plays to begin what he considers his true formal education. Besides his parents, early artistic influences came from Broadway actor/director and Group Theatre member Wendell Phillips. He studied acting in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Other artistic influences came from two Russian Director/Actors Oleg Liptsin (Russian Academy of Theater Arts, Moscow) and Sasha Tihiy (Moscow Shukin Theatre School). After a series of San Francisco play performances, he received his Equity Stage card by performing in Orphans at the Marin Theatre Company to wide critical acclaim. As a natural comedian one of his performances in Laughing Wild was reviewed as “easily the finest comedic performance on the San Francisco stage.” As a performer he has acted in classics such as; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Long Days Journey into Night, Of Mice and Men, Death of A Salesman, The Seagull and others. He has performed in radio, television commercials, film and theater and has directed/produced over 25 theatre productions including the landmark productions of Edmond, Glengarry Glen Ross, Marat/Sade, The Big Funk, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Cherry Orchard, and many others. He has acted, directed, produced, and taught over the last 20 years and in 1993 he founded the Shelton Theater where he continues to work with veteran Bay Area actors and directors while providing opportunity to new artists. He has also taught acting at the College of the Arts and the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute. He is the Executive Director of the Shelton Studios and Shelton Theater. Currently he is producing the feature film, Beautiful Something.

Luis Oropeza

Luis Oropeza began his acting career with Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino and in Peter Brook’s International Theatre Group before studying with Jean Shelton. He has been acting steadily in the Bay Area for the last 40 years. He has worked in every major theatre in the Bay Area, including Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco Mime Troupe and Berkeley Repertory Theatre among many other important theatres around the country. His film credits include Pacific Heights and Eight-Millimeter. He has written two plays, a children’s play on the Mayan myth of creation and a play about the last hour before the assassination of the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, which received wide critical acclaim. He founded the organization Latin American Theater Artists where he directed a production of Blood Wedding. He is a faculty member of the Shelton Studios where he teaches Shakespeare and Acting.

Julie Dimas

Julie Dimas-Lockfeld has taught acting classes in San Francisco since 1980. She began teaching Movement for Actors at the Stage Group Theatre School, under the direction of Wendell Phillips, where she trained for 10 years and was a member of Stage Group's Ensemble Theatre Company. She later taught similar bodywork and inspired ongoing acting classes, as a founding member of the Phoenix Theatre where she also acted and directed. In 1996, she received a Bay Area Performing Artist Fellowship Award studying with a wide variety of film and theatre artists including, Cory Adams, Margie Haber, Richard Seyd and Ed Hooks. Julie taught acting classes at the Mark Monroe Studio for several years and has been teaching acting for the past five years at the Academy of Art College and currently the Shelton Studios. Her workhas become a synthesis of traditional Stanislavsky Method training, Michael Chekov techniques and deep personalization practices.

Joseph Graham

Joseph Graham is a writer, filmmaker, actor and director living and working in San Francisco. In 1997, after creating animations for MTV and studying filmmaking with underground maverick George Kuchar at the SF Art Institute, Graham and his Partner, Bill Parker, formed the production company AltarBoy Productions. Their first film, the poetic short Breath, won numerous awards worldwide, and their instructional video, Feminine Image vol. 1, was used by Felicity Huffman as training for the film Transamerica. Graham's latest film, the award-winning featurette Vanilla, inspired by the works of Dennis Cooper and Jean Genet, played in festivals around the globe, was distributed in France, and will be distributed in the US and Canada by TLA Releasing in May 2006. Graham was recently commissioned to write a two-act play for the NYC production company Kaliyuga Arts, and his autobiographical feature script Beautiful Something was optioned by Bruiser Films in L.A. and is in development for production.

J.E. Freeman

J. E. Freeman came to San Francisco in 1974 for the cure, the cure for being raised in New York. After arriving in San Francisco at the age of thirty he enrolled at Lone Mountain College on Turk Street where he took an Independent Studies degree in Creative Writing/Theatre/Video. While there he adapted, produced, and directed J. D. Salinger’s Franney and Zooey as a very subrosa student production of which he is still very proud. While at Lone Mountain, now the University of San Francisco, he took off campus classes at the Jean Shelton Actors Lab while it was still in Berkeley. He studied with J. D. Trow, Michelle Marruse, Jon Stutz, and Jean Shelton. He was directed by Jon Stutz in the Bay Area premiere of American Buffalo for which he was nominated for a Bay Area Critics Circle nomination, the first of three. While working days as a driver for Number One Messengers, he appeared in shows at the Magic, Eureka, and Julian Morgan Theatre’s among others. In 1981 he returned to New York to follow his star and began doing Soaps and regional theatre with the Actors Theatre of Portland in Maine and the Actors Theatre of Louisville. In 1983 he returned to the Bay Area and landed the pilot for Partners and Crime and the lead in the Independent film Hard Traveling. With the money he made he bought a used BMW motorcycle and left for Los Angeles. Lucky to have an agent and his union card he did journeyman work as a thug of the week on the many television cop shows. In 1987 he was cast as “Eddy Dane” in Miller’s Crossing and as “Santos” in Wild at Heart. Since then he has appeared in over 20 films and twice as many television shows and movies of the week and mini series. He has worked with the Cohen brothers, David Lynch, Doug Lyman, Jon Amiel, and cinematographers Barry Sonnenfeld, Laszlo Kovacs, Caleb Deschanel, and David Myers. He shared screen time with Albert Finney, Harrison Ford, Holly Hunter, Sigourney Weaver, Diane Ladd, Bette Midler, and James Earl Jones. He has managed to hold his own quite nicely thanks to the Gods. Recently he retired from performing and has returned to write and give something back. At the Shelton Studios he will give seminars about acting in film and serves as an advisor and mentor for as long as he lasts and they will put up with him. He would like to express his eternal gratitude and boundless respect for Jean Shelton, whose faith, kindness, and acceptance, without which he might never have had a career and the rewards it has offered. He’s glad to be home.

Ben Galland

Ben Galland is an award-winning Filmmaker from the Bay Area with several projects having aired on a variety of cable networks including the film, “Vertical Frontiers” narrated by Tom Brokaw. He recently was commissioned to write, shoot, and edit the extreme film, "Ski The 14'ers” which is to screen nationally on PBS. He has written and directed a number of short and feature length narrative and documentary films, many can be seen on “Current T.V.” In addition, Ben has been acting since the age of fourteen and has adapted several short stories for solo performances for the stage.

Linda Ayres-Frederick

Linda Ayres-Frederick is Founder and Executive Artistic Producing Director of the Phoenix Arts Association Theatre since 1985 and Artistic Producing Director of the West Coast Playwrights Alliance founded in 1999. She is a San Francisco based playwright, poet, actor, theatre critic. Twice a Shubert Foundation Playwriting Fellow, her plays have been produced by Barebones Theatre, Brookside Repertory Theatre, Marin One-Act Festival, Three Wise Monkeys, and Woman's Will--garnering prizes along the way--and have received readings at Z Space Artists Development Lab, The Marsh, The Marsh Cafe with Fresh New Works, Off-Market Theatre, New Writers/New Works at the Randall Museum, Phoenix, Magic and Actors' Theatres, Newman Hall, and the Valdez Alaska Last Frontier Theatre Conference. Her stage career as actor, producer, director and playwright has earned her many awards and recognition in the SF Bay Area including; (Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, Dean Goodman Dramalogue and Choice Awards, Back Stage West) as well as internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Off Festival in Avignon, France. She is a current member of the Will Dunne Playwrights Workshop, for which she has directed and written for the last nine years for their New Writers/New Works Series. Linda holds a B.A. in Performing Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and attended New York University and the graduate theatre programs at American University in her native Washington, D.C. She audited the Yale Drama School in New Haven, Connecticut where she served as Entertainment Editor of the Yale Graduate-Professional News. Since Sept 2005 she has been writing theatre reviews for the San Francisco Bay Times and was invited to be a member of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle in Jan 2006. Linda has also served as a panelist for the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Marin Arts Council.

Catherine Castellanos

Catherine is an award-winning actress residing in San Francisco. She began her serious quest for a life in the theatre in the late 80's, studying at the Shelton Studios. She became a company member with the Actors' Theatre of SF, performing in numerous productions, receiving various nominations and awards for her performances from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and received many nods from Dean Goodman Dramalogue Awards. Upon embarking on the career of motherhood, Catherine's role with the company shifted to Associate Artistic Director, and co-directed many award winning productions with Christian Phillips. Once her children were both of school age, Catherine hit the pavement again as an actor, and began an ongoing relationship with the critically acclaimed resident theatre company of Intersection for the Arts, CampoSanto, where she is a company member. She has performed in over 10 world premieres with the company, having the great fortune of working first hand with such renowned writers as Jessica Hagedorn, Denis Johnson, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Octavio Solis, Luis Saguar, Greg Sarris, Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida, Junot Diaz, and Naomi Iizuka. Catherine is also an associate artist with the California Shakespeare Theatre. Credits with the theatre include Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Polina in Tom Stoppard's translation of The Seagull, Bardolph and Vernon in Henry IV, the Widow in All's Well that Ends Well, Emilia in Othello, various characters in the ensemble of The Life And Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby, Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Queen Margaret in Richard III, and Corine in Triumph of Love in a co-production with San Jose Rep. Catherine has been a committee member for two seasons for play selection with the Playwright's Foundation of SF, and a member of Theatre Bay Area's Theatre Service Committee. She has performed in addition with the Magic Theatre in a world premier of the 13 Hallucinations of Julio Rivera, read short stories by Isabelle Allende for Isabelle Allende at the Aurora Theatre of Berkeley, work shopped an original play, directed by Jonathan Moscone for ACT, amongst many more readings and workshops for various theatres throughout the bay area. She is currently part of a development team through the ZSpace on a play with the working title Los Alamos Project, having work-shopped in Santa Fe in the Fall of 2006 at the renowned Lensic Theatre. Catherine has taught with Campo Santo's Hybrid Summer Institute. She has performed in numerous industrials locally, and featured in the independent films Quality of Life and Night Flyers. She is a member of Actors' Equity and AFTRA.

Joyce Henderson

Joyce returns to the Bay Area after a hiatus of twenty years. In that time she served as Artistic Director of Chico's Shakespeare in the Park where she directed for sixteen years and was co-founder of Chico Independent Artists, a venue for experimental theatre. Her community awarded her drama awards for Best Actress, Best Director, Most Innovative Production, and Best Producer. Listed among her most memorable roles: Medea (lead); Joan of Arc, The Second Coming of Joan of Arc; Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet; Titania, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Miss Jelkes, the Night of the Iguana; Van Helsing, Dracula. Joyce began studying in the Bay Area with Jean Shelton when located at the Berkeley studio and then at the San Francisco studio off and on from 1975-1986. She is also grateful to Stella Adler, Robert Cohen, and the Royal Shakespeare Company for her training.

Luis Saguar

Luis began acting in Community Theatre, and after a strong suggestion he started Training at the Shelton Studios. Since then he has gone on to be one of the Co-Founders of the acclaimed theatre group Campo Santo (founded in 1996.) For Campo Santo in residence at Intersection he has worked with some the nation’s best writers. Luis was also able to write for Campo Santo and act in his own full-length ensemble play Hotel Angulo. Other theatres he has enjoyed working with include American Conservatory Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, El Teatro Campesino, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Stage Company, Teatro Vision, Theatre Works, B Street Theatre, the original Eureka Theatre, Word for Word, and Thick Description. He has worked extensively in film and television. He has appeared in over twenty films, working with such greats as Robert DeNiro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Nicolas Cage, to name a few. On television he has appeared on The Shield, Nip Tuck, Nash Bridges, The Evidence, Karen Cisco, Day Break, Midnight Caller, and others. He has also participated in teaching workshops at University of California at Santa Barbara Summer Theatre Lab (2004-2006), and substituted with the gifted Children at the Nueva School.

Trevor Tuttle

Trevor is a filmmaker with broad experience in many aspects of film design and direction. He specializes in visualization from script to screen including concept sketches, storyboards, physical models, mock-ups, pre-visualization, camera layout, and direction. Other specialties include performance capture, practical model making, digital modeling, set design and concept art, pre-visualization, camera layout and sequence direction. He recently collaborated with Bob Zemekis on Beowolf and has a long list of Hollywood features for which he has worked on as well as Independent films. A partial list includes; Star Wars Episode I & II, Pearl Harbor, Wild Wild West, Men in Black, Star Trek First Contact, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, among others.

David Stewart

David is an Oakland, California native who has worked in many Bay Area Theatre venues including; Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Playhouse West, Shelton Theater, Shotgun Players, Theatre Works, Multi-Ethnic Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the Black Repertory as well as numerous smaller venues throughout the Bay Area. His most recent performances include; John Patrick Shanley’s Defiance, Marcus Garoley’s Love is a Dream House in Lorin, Lorraine Hansberry’s From Okra to Green’s, and James McClure’s Pvt. Wars. He has worked in independent film including the feature film Rent,and on the television show Nash Bridges in addition to the upcoming independent feature Equinox. He has also performed in radio and television commercials. He has trained at the Jean Shelton Studios and with the American Conservatory Theater. He recently received the Robert Elross (Founder) Award for Excellence in Acting. David’s work is grounded in the Jean Shelton Studios philosophy and continues to train and work throughout the Bay Area as an actor.

W.Kamau Bell

Kamau is a Bay Area writer, performer, director, and teacher. Since moving here from Chicago where he graduated from The Second City Conservatory, he has directed, among other pieces, the long running critically acclaimed solo show Don’t Make Me Look Too Psychotic as well as F***ing Handicapped Guy the hit solo show of the 2002 San Francisco Fringe Festival which received wide critical acclaim. This year he has directed Miss-Matches.com which ran for seven months. He is considered one of the premiere directors in the country for developing solo performers. As a performer himself he is a favorite comedian at The Punch Line and Cobb’s Comedy Club. He is also a favorite of the long running San Francisco show Porchlight with Beth Lisick & Arline Klatte. He was featured on the cover of the SF Chronicle’s Pink Pages as an Artist on the Verge in 2002 and again on the cover of The Datebook section in 2007. In 2005 Kamau appeared in the prestigious Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal and on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend. He is also a frequent opener for Dave Chappelle.

Dan Carbone

Dan Carbone is a graduate of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Film School. His science fiction short “DOT” won awards in several international film festivals including the Marburg International Festival (Germany), Christchurch Film Festival (New Zealand), School of Visual Arts: Short Film Search (NYC), and was shown many times on the USA Cable network cult program “Night Flight.” He was a semi-finalist in the Nicholl Fellowship screenwriting competition in Los Angeles and has worked as a script consultant for film producer, Prudence Farrow. He is a recipient of a Jerome Foundation/NEA Grant, a Helena Rubenstein Grant, and an Iowa Arts Council Grant (all for filmmaking). In NYC he worked at DuArt Film Lab, was a Stage-Manager on industrial films and commercials at Niles Communication Center, and was Manager of the Bleecker Street Cinema. Dan has acted in, and contributed material to, numerous videos by the legendary underground film directors George and Mike Kuchar, including George’s Secrets of the Shadow World, (which included excerpts from Dan’s performance piece There Be Monsters!) and premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2000. He was the subject of a video profile by George titled The Gifted Goon and he has been a guest filmmaker at the San Francisco Art Institute for George’s film production class. In addition, Dan was selected by Mike Kuchar to interview him for the director commentary track for the commercial DVD release of Mike’s seminal experimental classic science fiction film Sins of the Fleshipoids (1965). Locally, Dan has been active in San Francisco Bay Area theatre since 1995 as a both a playwright and performer. His Solo Performance piece Kingdom of Not was nominated for a 2007 New York City “IT” (Innovative Theatre) Award for “Outstanding Solo Performance” and won an SF Fringe Festival Award for “Best Male Dramatic Solo.” Previous theatre pieces include Up From the Ground, “(Best of the San Francisco Fringe” an “SF Bay Guardian Goldie Award,” two “Rosenstein Upstage/Downstage Awards” and a “Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Award” nomination for “Best Solo Performance.”) Salvador Dali Talks to the Animals (three SF Bay Guardian Upstage/Downstage Awards, Backstage West “Garland Award” nomination), The Pilgrim Project (Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Award for “Best Original Script”), An Impersonation of Angels, and There Be Monsters! Dan studied with solo performance in SF with Ann Galjour and Grace Walcott, and was selected for the Solo Mio Festival’s “Best of Writer’s Who Act.” He has appeared at the EXIT Theatre, Climate Theatre, The Marsh, Venue 9, Studio For, Studio Valencia, the Speakeasy, The Field, and The Milk Bar.

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