Artist Profile

• Residence: Oakdale

• Type of artist: Actor, director, costumer, Rio Arts in Riverbank

• Daily job: Theater and English teacher at Riverbank High School

• Family: Three kids: Emily (12) Jordan (16) and Anthony (20)

• Background: I grew up in Riverbank, attended Riverbank schools, Modesto Junior College and California State University, Stanislaus, and I have been teaching English and drama at Riverbank High for 12 years.

• Performance experience: In the past 20 years, I have acted in or directed: "Twelfth Night" (current production), "Alice in Wonderland," "Dracula," "Murder Medium Rare," "Murder Me Always," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "The Crucible," "Two Gentlemen of Verona," "As You Like It," "Much Ado About Nothing," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Macbeth," "Romeo and Juliet," "The Invisible Man," "Little Shop of Horrors," "The Outsiders," "Lovers," "Grease," "The Miss Firecracker Contest," "Our Town."

• Advice for young performers:

Top three elements ...

1. Focus: Rehearsal and practice must be extensive and without distractions. Also, finding your time of day is important. I work really well in the morning, or late at night. I think it may be because everyone else is sleeping
2. Keep in shape, mentally and physically: More than just exercising and eating well, artists must feed their soul and their intellect. Reading and researching is a daily routine. Artists must have a thirst for knowledge!
3. Balance: Although it is important to dive into your project, an artist must keep up with work, family, friends and commitments.

• Favorite art/music/performance: "Wicked" is definitely my favorite show! Favorite performance is Kenneth Branagh in "Henry V."

• Life plans: I would like to travel ... extensively.

• How do you reach people unfamiliar with art? Shakespeare in the Park was and is my dream to bring awareness to the universal qualities of Shakespeare's work. This is my fifth year with the project and it has blossomed into an educational and artistic program where children and adults work together to uncover the mystery and magic of the language and the tradition and experimentation of these timeless plays. Most of the people who are regulars to our troupe report that they didn't like Shakespeare at all before working with us, and now, they are hooked.

• What would surprise people about your performance? I guess the most surprising thing about my role as Olivia, the Pirate Queen, in Rio Arts' "Twelfth Night," is that my two romantic interests -- Orsino and Sebastian -- are half my age. Maybe it is not that surprising.

The Rio Arts production of "Twelfth Night" runs June 18-22 at Jacob Myers Park in Riverbank; www.rioarts.org