INSTRUCTORS
Artistic Director/
Education Director - Noelle Arms
(she/her) has appeared on stage since the age of five. She received her B.A. in Theater from Chapman University and holds a Master of Arts in Drama from San Francisco State University. She is the founder and proud Artistic Director for Poison Apple Productions. Noelle studied at the Eugene O’Neill National Theater Institute, and abroad in London with Complicite and the Royal Shakespeare Company. As an award-winning, published playwright, Noelle has also been recognized as “Outstanding Stage Manager” at the Kennedy Center of American College Theater Festival. No stranger to the Theatre Community in the Bay Area, Noelle is an award-winning director/choreographer and has written/directed over 20 original works. She is a proud recipient of the “June Harmon-Frisbie Award” through the Soroptimist International of Diablo Vista for her community contributions, and a Freddie G Alumni through Musical Theater International.
Instructor - Emily Hills
(she/her) is excited to return to her poison apple family for this summer under the sea! Emily has spent her whole life involved in theater, be it on stage or off! Her first time directing a play was here at Poison Apple and now she is teaching theater! When she is not on stage, Emily is working as a makeup artist or face painter! She is so happy to be back home and involved in helping our young actors find their voice and express themselves through the arts.
Instructor -Katie Kearns
(she/her) is ecstatic to have the opportunity to work with the talented artists at Poison Apple! She has had a deep love for theater for as long as she can remember. Katie received her BA in Child Development with a minor in Theater Arts from Whittier College. She has been a teacher for 20 years, working in early intervention, elementary and middle school education. She has two awesome kids who have loved being a part of the Poison Apple family. Katie has participated in plays and musicals as both an actor and director and she receives tremendous joy from her work with children in theater.
Instructor - Marena McGregor
(she/her) earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in musical theater with a minor in music from California State University East Bay. She has worked in educational theater as a director, music director, and choreographer throughout the Bay Area for many years. She also directs a children & youth choir and teaches private music lessons. Marena first joined the Poison Apple family as a teen performer many years ago and is excited to be back as part of the Poison Apple teaching team.
Resident
Music Director - Caleb Phair
Caleb Phair (he/him) received his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies from CSU Sacramento, along the way studying musical composition at the Summer Music Institute with the European American Musical Alliance. He has been performing in many different contexts since childhood, and began playing piano and music directing for theater productions at Diablo Valley College, De La Salle High School, and Contra Costa Civic Theatre. Caleb has been working with Poison Apple since 2017 and is always excited to help young people experience the joy of performing.
Instructor - Adrian Plascencia
(he/him or they/them) received his BFA is Modern Dance Performance from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and studied at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York City. During his career as a performer, he worked with several Philadelphia theater and dance companies performing locally as well as touring the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Adrian transitioned to teaching while still performing and touring with Enchantment Theater Company and helped in producing shows for the Philadelphia School District including the Philadelphia School for the Deaf, where he was the lead Teaching Artist for several years. Productions included Ferdinand the Bull, Swimmy, Sleeping Ugly, and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters to name a few. In addition, Adrian has also choreographed children in ballet productions of Alice in Wonderland, Nutcracker and The Twelve Days of Christmas. Adrian is delighted to be back in the Bay Area, where he grew up, and excited to be working with the students and company of Poison Apple where he can continue his commitment to the Arts and the growth and development of young artists.
Junior Stage Manager -
Eliana Stevens
(She/Her) Has been performing with Poison Apple Productions since she was 9 years old, when she started in the Apple Seed classes! Eliana has been performing since she was 3 years old and has continued her love for musical theater by not only continuing to perform with Poison Apple's Teen Company but also sharing her love for theater with the seed-level classes by PAPAing (Poison Apple Production Assistant), being stage crew, and also stage managing! Eliana has studied theater, dance, and voice at Contra Costas School of Performing Arts. You might have caught Eliana performing with Poison Apple; some of her most recent credits include Janis (Mean Girls), Grandma Tala (Moana), and Jack's Mom (Into the Woods). Eliana plans to continue studying stage management and technical theater once she graduates high school! Eliana loves watching the children she works with grow and find confidence, friendship, and who they are with the power of musical theater. Eliana strongly believes in the magic of the arts and the amazing things they do for children!
Instructor - Katharine Sonas
(she/her) is an actor, director, and writer who got her start in theatre at the age of seven. A native of the Bay Area, she received her BFA in Theatre Arts from the University of Idaho, graduating summa cum laude in 2020 with focuses in Performance and Directing. She holds a particularly deep love for all things Shakespeare, having fallen in love with the story of Twelfth Night in elementary school, and heartily believes that children are more than capable of tackling the Bard. In pursuit of her own continuous education, Katharine receives ongoing training from Theatrical Intimacy Education in an effort to continue building safe, consent-based practices both in an age-appropriate way for her classroom and in her work in the wider theatre world. Katharine has nearly two decades of experience in childcare, and her love of teaching comes from the belief that educational theatre provides necessary, foundational skills for all age groups and all walks of life.
STAFF
Apple Seeds Coordinator / Stage Manager - Emily Buhre
(she/her) is thrilled to take the next step with Poison Apple as a stage manager and Production Assistant. She initially started in Apple Seeds at the age of 11 years old, and slowly became more involved with theater as the years went on. After aging out of Apple Seeds, she discovered her love for the technical side of musical theater as a PAPA. But she never lost her love of performing, previous roles at Poison Apple include Mrs. Heron (Mean Girls), and Ensemble (Matilda, Beauty and the Beast, Into the Woods). She is currently a full time student at DVC.
Technical Director -
John Di Giorgio
(he/him) has worked in technical theater around the Bay Area for the past 14 years. After training through Diablo Valley College and Summer Repertory Theater, he found his love for the making of theater through many different jobs: carpentry, sound design, lighting design, master carpenter, master electrician, technical director, and designer. He currently works for Desired Effect as well as Poison Apple Productions.
Managing Director -
Gina Roth
(she/her) is a process and efficiency professional with 30+ years in operations management. She has worked in a variety of industries including legal, banking, consulting, outsourcing (on- and near-shore), healthcare, and insurance. Gina is the proud mother of two independent dependents (who happen to act in our favorite local non-profit community theater group), who has served on the Board of Poison Apple for six years and was named Managing Director three years ago. She also is the production manager for our Summer Mainstage show. In addition, Gina spent nearly ten years as the chair of an annual golf tournament for scholarship in the name of her youngest brother, Frank. You can visit her Linkedin page to see and review more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginaroth
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Member -
Erika Avina
(she/her) is a current third grade teacher for the West Contra Costa School District. She discovered Poison Apple in 2021 when her daughter, Emma, joined her best friends for a fun, post-Covid summer camp. Despite the mask mandates and the uncertainty of the world at the time, Poison Apple created a loving space for all who walked through their doors. Her son Liam joined an Apple Seeds Class in the fall and the rest, as they say, is history! She found a loving community that became like family and her children found the joy of musical theater.
Erika received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at UC Berkeley in 2000, a Juris Doctorate at UC Law San Francisco in 2005 and a Multiple Subject Credential from Cal State East Bay in 2019. As an active member of her community and an advocate for social justice, equal rights and social change, she has volunteered in different capacities in various youth groups/organizations, education advocacy groups and nonprofit legal services over the last 20 years. She is excited to be on the Board of Directors and help foster the love of theater and the arts in children of all ages.
President & Resident Costumer - Dianne Beaulieu-Arms
(she/her) began working in theater (much to her surprise!) in 1991 as a costumer for the Pittsburg Community Theater and since that time, theater has been a magical journey filled with many wonderful and amazing experiences. Dianne earned a BA in Political Science and a Masters of Public Administration degree from Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay). She has worked with community theaters, youth theaters and dance companies throughout the East Bay as a costumer, stage manager, properties master, and director and is so happy to share her knowledge and experiences with each new generation of theater makers in a very hands on way. When not making theater, Dianne looks forward to spending time with her husband Bruce Arms, daughter Noelle and her partner John, her sister Cynthia and her two rescue dogs with big personalities Jasper and Charlie Brown. She has a son, Jay, who is a lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, PA and lives there with his partner Alisa. Dianne loves cooking, creating, wine tasting and spending time with the remarkable people she is privileged to know and call friends.
Audience Services- Jerry Chirip
(he/him) has been a part of Poison Apple Productions since 2010, starting out as a young director. Over the years he had worn many hats and shoes from acting to assistant directing to filing paperwork and repainting the stage black for a new show. In 2012, he joined the board as a youth member learning what it truly takes to run a non profit theater. Present day, Jerry is happy to be back as a Board Member and to oversee Audience Services. He has been a House Manager for both the Berkeley Repertory Theater and The Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. He is ready to see live theater make an epic comeback.
Volunteer Coordinator-Patricia McDonald
(she/her) received her BA in English with an emphasis in Pre-Med from UC Berkeley and then continued her education at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to achieve an MM in Voice there. She is an opera singer who has sung both locally and internationally, including with the Rome Festival Opera, Berkeley Opera, and Cinnabar Opera. She has also held the position of Choir Director at St. Emydius Church in San Francisco for the last 20 years and has been privately tutoring students in academics as well as teaching voice and piano. Currently, Ms. McDonald is the director of Learning Support Services at St. Agnes School and teaches students who are diagnosed with special learning needs as a Resource teacher. Since becoming director, she has expanded the department to fully support Resource students in all grade levels Preschool through 8th grade. Ms. McDonald enjoys the behind-the-scenes aspect of theater, as well, having been the administrator and then the scheduler for The Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI) for a number of years. She also loves sewing in the Poison Apple costume shop under the tutelage of the award-winning Dianne Beaulieu-Arms. Being a parent of two Poison Apple actors, she feels right at home volunteering to help create an environment for inspiring actors to grow as people in the creative arts.
Members - Jaime and Chris Moulton
Jaime and Chris are both East Bay natives now living in Pleasant Hill with their three daughters Mia, Zoe and Emma. They found Poison Apple Productions in 2019 when their oldest daughter took her first Seeds class with Miss Noelle at age 5. Since, they've become passionate about helping the organization that provides such a supportive community to their children and so many others.
Jaime (she/her) has a B.A. in Liberal Studies with a focus in Child Development from SFSU. She spent many years in early childhood education and was the director of a preschool before becoming a stay-at-home mom.
Chris (he/him) has B.A.s in International Economics and in Russian Language and Literature from Berkeley, and leads a team of Business and Commercial Real Estate bankers in the East Bay. He also serves on the board of a nonprofit focused on promoting financial literacy in Bay Area youth.
Secretary -Shannon Page
(she/her) has been teaching elementary music for the Oakley School District for over 20 years. She discovered Poison Apple in 2015 when a friend encouraged her to audition for a show. She instantly knew Poison Apple was a family she wanted to be a part of. Shannon is excited to serve on the Poison Apple Board and help to bring the love of theater to the youth of our community.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Consultant- Angelica Rowell
(she/her) is a singer, actor, writer, arts activist, and music educator. She holds degrees in both Classical Voice and Theatre from the University of California, Irvine. She has created workshops for youth and adults alike, centered around devising original works that make a statement (Arts for Activism) and shedding a light on Black musicians who have been erased and overlooked throughout history (The Evolution of Black Music). Angelica is passionate about social activism through the arts and is adamant about the power art has to change mindsets and perspectives. She strives to create works that open doors for marginalized peoples, as well as initiate a dialogue about controversial topics.
Members at Large -
Cookie and Ricky Smith
Cookie and Ricky were introduced to theater when their son Gavin had his first production (Seeds I) in 2017 at the age of 5. Since joining the board at the end of 2022, they are learning more about how a non-profit theater company operates and helping out however possible.
Cookie (she/her) has been in elementary education for 16 years as a teacher and currently as an early literacy coach. She received a B.A. in Liberal Studies from SFSU, a Multiple Subject Credential from CSUEB, and a Master of Arts Teacher Leadership from SMC.
Ricky (he/him) has been working for a medical software company specializing in radiation oncology for 14 years in various roles, currently managing international sales and marketing. Prior to that he earned a B.A. from SFSU’s Department of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts with an emphasis in media business and a minor in marketing.
Treasurer & JTF Coordinator- Gina Soleimanieh
(she/her) lives in Concord with her Husband Ben, 2 Children Benjamin and Georgia, and Mother Marcia. She has been on several non-profit boards over the past 15 years and has held such positions as President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Fundraising Chair and has been a Girl Scout Leader since 2007. In 2019 she volunteered to be the Junior Theater Festival (JTF) Coordinator for Poison Apple. She became involved with local youth theatre through her daughter, Georgia, who began performing with Poison Apple in 2013.
Safety Officers - Jen and Matt Tennant
Matt (he/him) and Jen (she/her) learned about Poison Apple Productions in 2014 when their youngest son, Sully was in preschool. Through Sully and recently his brother, Brennon, they’ve had the opportunity to experience many programs at Poison Apple, including Seeds 1-3, MainStage, Shakespeare, Teens and JTF. They’ve given Sully opportunities to grow as an actor, singer and director. As a family they’ve grown to love Poison Apple for its professionalism, inclusion, and dedication to providing a safe space for children to grow, learn and enjoy musical theatre. Matt and Jen are happy to help and support them in any way they can.
Matt(He/him) has been a union electrician for over 25 years. He’s currently working for an electrical company as a project manager and estimator.
Jen(She/her) has a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene. She works part time as a dental hygienist allowing her time to volunteer in various activities.