Staff & Board
STAFF
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
MANAGING DIRECTOR
LITERARY MANAGER
BOARD
CHAIR
TREASURER
SECRETARY
RESOURCE COUNCIL
- Jan Baross
- Claudia Dissel
- Charlotte Headrick
- Diana Hennessy
- Matthew Spangler
- George Thorn
Gemma Whelan
Gemma Whelan is the founding artistic director of Corrib Theatre. For Corrib, she has directed numerous regional and U.S. premieres, including James X, How to Keep an Alien, Four Last Things, Quietly, The Testament of Mary, and A Night in November (Drammy nomination for Direction, Drammy award for Solo Performance). In Portland, she has also directed at Artists Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, CoHo Theatre, Boom Arts, and Portland Center Stage’s JAW Festival. She was the founding artistic director of Wilde Irish Productions in the San Francisco Bay Area and directed at various theatres in the area for over 20 years. Gemma has taught at numerous colleges and conservatories in the Bay Area (including Mills College, American Conservatory Theatre, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), and in Portland, Ireland, and Singapore. Her second novel will be published in spring 2022. She holds a BA in English, French, and Fine Arts from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in Theatre from UC Berkeley, and an MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University. Member SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society).
Karl Hanover
Pancho Savery
Pancho Savery is Professor of English, Humanities, and American Studies at Reed College, where he teaches courses on modern and contemporary drama, African-American literature, American literature and culture, and American Indian fiction. He has published essays on Ralph Ellison, Saunders Redding, James Baldwin, Adrienne Rich, Robert Creeley, Ezra Pound, and others. He serves on the Board of Directors of Artists Repertory Theatre (vice chair), Boom Arts (chair), Coho Repertory Theatre, Confrontation Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Original Practice Shakespeare, P.E.T.E. (chair), Phame (chair), Portland Playhouse, The Red Door Project, Shaking the Tree Theatre, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, and Our Children Oregon. He has worked as dramaturg at Artists Repertory Theatre, Clackamas Repertory Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Profile Theatre, Shaking the Tree Theatre, and Third Rail Repertory Theatre. Additionally, he is Literary Dramaturg at Artists Repertory Theatre, and Literary Manager at Corrib, Shaking the Tree, and Third Rail. He is a member of the Mercury and DNA:Oxygen theatre companies, and is a member of The Modern Language Association, LMDA, and the Jazz Journalists Association.
Pancho Savery
Pancho Savery is Professor of English, Humanities, and American Studies at Reed College, where he teaches courses on modern and contemporary drama, African-American literature, American literature and culture, and American Indian fiction. He has published essays on Ralph Ellison, Saunders Redding, James Baldwin, Adrienne Rich, Robert Creeley, Ezra Pound, and others. He serves on the Board of Directors of Artists Repertory Theatre (vice chair), Boom Arts (chair), Coho Repertory Theatre, Confrontation Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Original Practice Shakespeare, P.E.T.E. (chair), Phame (chair), Portland Playhouse, The Red Door Project, Shaking the Tree Theatre, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, and Our Children Oregon. He has worked as dramaturg at Artists Repertory Theatre, Clackamas Repertory Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Profile Theatre, Shaking the Tree Theatre, and Third Rail Repertory Theatre. Additionally, he is Literary Dramaturg at Artists Repertory Theatre, and Literary Manager at Corrib, Shaking the Tree, and Third Rail. He is a member of the Mercury and DNA:Oxygen theatre companies, and is a member of The Modern Language Association, LMDA, and the Jazz Journalists Association.
Adam Liberman
Adam was a sound designer in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he designed over 40 shows and was a resident designer for many years at Berkeley Jewish Theatre and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. He also studied acting at the Jean Shelton Acting School (aka Shelton Studios). Adam has worked in audio test and measurement for many years as a technical support engineer, technical writer, and test automation programmer. At Liberman Sound, which he has operated for over thirty years, he has designed, maintained, and modified audio equipment for many major motion pictures and TV shows. He also worked for many years as a production sound mixer for feature films, commercials, and documentaries, and in post-production sound as a mix engineer. Adam worked in radio at KPFA for over 15 years, as a news reporter, maintenance engineer, instructor, and on-air board-op. He has co-led musical tours to Cuba, Chile, and Mexico, and theatre tours for Corrib to Ireland. He has also registered students to attend an intensive Spanish school in Guatemala for the last 25 years. Other areas of expertise include programming, database design, web design, and photography. Adam is a member of AES and IEEE. BA drama, University of Washington; TESOL graduate certificate, UC Berkeley.
Carmel Breathnach
Carmel Breathnach holds a BA degree in English literature and Irish language studies from Maynooth University and a Diploma in Education from St. Patrick’s College, Dublin. She taught elementary school for two years in Ireland prior to moving to Portland in 2005, where she took up a position as lead kindergarten teacher for nine years. Currently, she writes full time on the themes of bereavement, childhood grief, and mother loss. Her work has appeared in The Irish Times, Huffington Post, Upworthy, Scary Mommy, Modern Loss, and other publications. Carmel is working on a memoir titled Briefly I Knew My Mother. She has volunteered for Girls, Inc., Friends of the Library Bookstore, and Oregon Catholic Charities, where she worked with refugee women and children. In her spare time, Carmel enjoys reading, swimming, travelling, attending local events, and listening to rock music.
Tracy Cameron Francis
Tracy Cameron Francis is a first-generation Egyptian-American director, interdisciplinary artist, and producer. She is currently the artistic director of Boom Arts and formerly was the co-founder and artistic director of Hybrid Theatre Works in New York, which focused on international collaboration and social justice. She was a 2017 TCG Rising Leader of Color fellow, is a core member of Theatre Without Borders, and currently serves on the steering committee for the newly formed Middle East and North African Theatre Makers Alliance. She holds a BA from Fordham University in Middle Eastern studies and theatre, is a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and an associate member of SDC. As a freelance director, Tracy’s work has been seen in New York at HERE Arts Center, The Culture Project, NY International Fringe Festival, Manhattan Shakespeare Project, NY Arab Comedy Festival, Center for Performance Research, Noor Theatre, Brooklyn Lyceum, LaMama Culture Hub, PEN World Voices Festival, and others; internationally at the Falaki Theatre (Egypt), Ubumuntu Festival (Rwanda) and LaMama Umbria (Italy); and regionally with Boom Arts, Teatro Milagro, and Corrib Theatre in Portland, Oregon, and Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. She has assisted directors Josh Fox, Sam Gold, Tamara Fisch and Gia Forakis. Francis has developed new work through staged readings and workshops at Atlantic Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, O’Neill National Musical Theatre Conference, Red Bull Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Corrib Theatre, the Lark, T.B.A. Festival, and others. As an interdisciplinary artist, Cameron has created site specific performance art merging movement, video, and text for Bushwick Open Studios Performance Art Showcase, Brooklyn Fireproof Gallery, the W Hotel NY, Alwan Center for the Arts, JAW at Portland Center Stage, Queens Arts Council, and Hybrid Theatre Works. She has worked in television as a shadow director for Dan Minahan on the HBO series True Blood and as an intern for Saturday Night Live. She currently serves as the festival director of the Cascade Festival of African Film, which is the longest running African film festival in the U.S. and includes a series of new African play readings. As an educator, Tracy has served as a teaching artist for recent immigrants at the International Center in New York, and has guest directed at Fordham University and NYU’s Strasberg institute. She is also a coach for Playwrite inc., working with youth.
Mary Hansen
Mary has worked as a court appointed guardian, conservator, trustee, and executor of estates for thirty years. She has also worked in Montessori and special education, library services, retail nutrition sales, as a day care owner, and a periodontal surgery assistant. Her past job, community, and volunteer activities include parenting and wellness workshop presentations, Beaverton Public Schools; teacher, Beaverton Public Schools Art Literacy Program; home economics instructor, Portland Community College; program developer, State of Oregon Human Resources Department; program assistant, Tualatin Hills/Beaverton Good Neighbor Days; food drive assistant coordinator, Oregon Food Bank; director, Elmonica School Parent Forum; respite volunteer and bereavement counselor, Providence/St. Vincent Hospice; member, Oregon Interreligious Council for Peace in the Middle East; board member, Outreach in Burnside; SNJM Marylhurst (various); resource assistance, Legacy Hopewell House; and Guardian Conservator Association of Oregon (various). Mary has studied at Portland State University, Oregon Health Sciences University (Hearing and Speech Center), Northwestern School of Business, Providence/St. Vincent Hospice, and the Dougy Center.
Parag Shah
Parag Shah holds a MS degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and earned double BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, all at Oregon State University. Parag has worked for Intel as a microchip circuit design engineer for the past 22 years. He grew up in Portland and graduated from Beaverton High School. In his spare time, he loves to read, run, travel, enjoy local theater, and attend rock shows with his wife, Carmel.
Gemma Whelan
Gemma Whelan is the founding artistic director of Corrib Theatre. For Corrib, she has directed numerous regional and U.S. premieres, including James X, How to Keep an Alien, Four Last Things, Quietly, The Testament of Mary, and A Night in November (Drammy nomination for Direction, Drammy award for Solo Performance). In Portland, she has also directed at Artists Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, CoHo Theatre, Boom Arts, and Portland Center Stage’s JAW Festival. She was the founding artistic director of Wilde Irish Productions in the San Francisco Bay Area and directed at various theatres in the area for over 20 years. Gemma has taught at numerous colleges and conservatories in the Bay Area (including Mills College, American Conservatory Theatre, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), and in Portland, Ireland, and Singapore. Her second novel will be published in spring 2022. She holds a BA in English, French, and Fine Arts from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in Theatre from UC Berkeley, and an MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University. Member SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society).
