Our Utopia Workshop

Jackie Apodaca (Director) earned her MFA in Acting from the National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center Theatre Company and her BFA in Theatre (with high honors) from UC Santa Barbara. She is the Artistic Director of Ashland New Plays Festival and a Professor of Theatre and the Head of Performance at Southern Oregon University. Jackie has worked as an actor, director, and producer in theatre, film, and media, with companies such as Roundabout Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, National Geographic, Modern Media (Head of Production), Venice Theatre Works (Associate Artistic Director), and Shakespeare Santa Barbara (Producing Director). She is the author of the book Answers from the Working Actor, published by Routledge, and spent more than a decade at Backstage Newspaper, where she was a Contributing Editor. She is grateful to Carlos-Zenen Trujillo for inviting her into this process, and to Bag&Baggage for the warm welcome.

Mandy studied literature, theater, and history (and improvisation) at Stanford University, where she earned a B.A. and M.A. in English. Past B&B appearances include Romeo & Juliet/Layla & Majnun (Lady Capulet),  Death and the Maiden (Paulina), Deathtrap (Helga), La Isla en Invierno (Doris), and Much Ado About Nothing (Margaret/Dogberry). Pre-Portland, favorite scripted roles include Into the Woods (Baker’s Wife); My Fair Lady (Mrs. Eynesford-Hill); favorite un-scripted roles include 10 years with the Un-Scripted Theater Company in San Francisco. In Portland, she’s recently been in such shows as Trail to Oregon (Son), The Rocky Horror Show (Eddie/Dr. Scott); Reefer Madness (Mae Coleman); Die Hard: The Musical Parody (Mother Gruber/Inga); and Back to the Future: The Musical Parody (Biff). Mandy also wears numerous backstage hats. Recently, she costumed Body Awareness (Twilight Theatre); and The Mystery of Irma Vep and Heathers, the Musical (Funhouse Lounge). She also directed the bilingual touring production of Judge Torres for Milagro Theatre, and Triassic Parq: the Musical at the Funhouse Lounge. Since moving to Portland in 2013, she has taught at Northwest Children’s Theater, and improvised on mainstages all around town. Recently, she published her first book, Managed Mischief, about improvisation and creativity. At home, she maintains an excess of books, art supplies, and impractical musical instruments.

Melory Mirashrafi (they/she) is a first-generation Iranian-American theatre artist raised in Hillsboro, Oregon. Melory is the Artistic & Producing Associate at Artists Repertory Theatre and Huntington Playwriting Fellows Co-Facilitator at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Previous work with Bag&Baggage includes Sequestered Soliloquies 3 & 4; Romeo&Juliet (Leyli&Majnun). Selected directing credits: English (SpeakEasy Stage Co); The God Cluster (Fuse Theatre Ensemble); The Music Man (Assistant Director, Third Rail Repertory Theatre), Shahmaran (Shaking the Tree Theatre). Selected dramaturgy credits: <<when we write with ashes>> (National Queer Theatre); Layalina (NQT). Melory’s writing can be found in the Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays and Routledge’s Troubling Traditions: Canonicity, Theatre, and Performance in the US.