Cast Bios!
Mona is a rising junior at Stanford and is majoring in Urban Studies (which is a fancy way of saying that she gets to take classes about anything that relates to cities and the people who live in them. Which is pretty awesome). She is a part of the Stanford Improvisors (SImps, for short) and works at the Women's Community Center. In her free time, she likes hanging out with her friends, going on walks, baking cookies, and reading! Growing up, some of her favorite books were the Beezus and Ramona books by Beverly Cleary.
David is a rising senior at Stanford but wishes time went the other way. He loves to teach, play with, and learn from kids through summer camps, tutoring, and Flying Treehouse (and loves when things come in sets of one, two, and three)! As an active Stanford Improviser, he hopes one day the entire world will wake up with amnesia, extra clean (extra-clean or an excess of clean?) underwear, and slightly altered laws of physics.
Gianna is a senior majoring in Italian and she loves Flying TreeHouse! She also loves musicals, eating good food with friends, and taking naps.
Shannon studies Communications and Film Studies at Stanford. She likes unicorns, glitter, and coloring books.
Yii Wen is a senior from Singapore studying Psychology. She will be an elementary school teacher after she's done with Stanford. She loves poems, tea, and friends.
Maria wishes she was a princess but actually she is a student studying human biology. She loves to sing and be in plays. Her other favorite things are flowers and sunsets. Especially sunsets over the Puget Sound in Washington, which is where her home is. She feels so blessed to be part of Flying Treehouse.
Teddy is a senior majoring in English and American Studies. He is, however, for all intents and purposes, still a second grader. To Flying Treehouse, he brings a bevy of improv games, a wrist filled with Friendship Bracelets for others to covet, and a weird stretching ability that repulses all but his friends in Ms. Nita's class. Teddy is unabashedly pro-Robo-Dolphin.
Hi, I'm Anne and I'm a senior studying Economics. I love theater, children's lit, and teaching so I LOVE Flying Treehouse. I hope you enjoy FT's beautiful mix of all that is silly, sweet, and ridiculous.
Lauren is studying Drama and Anthropology. She loves improv and sketch comedy, belly laughing, and being barefoot.
Xandra is a junior working on a Drama major and Creative Writing minor. She has performed in many shows on campus, including Major Barbara (Barbara), Troilus & Cressida (Cressida), and King Lear (Lear), with the Drama Department, StanShakes, and STAMP. She is also a producer for the Stanford Storytelling Project, and intends to act professionally. She is so excited to be a part of Flying Treehouse!
Waddie hails from Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico and is a soon-to-be-graduate in Native American Studies! When he's not acting in the FTH squad he can be found playing frisbee, photographing something or someone, running (from clowns), silversmithing shiny things, or riding mechanical wildebeest.
My name is Lucinda, but sometimes I go by "Lucy" because "Lucinda" is hard (for me) to say. I grew up in San Jose, CA, where my little brother and I spent a lot of time riding up and down the block on our bicycles. We liked to pretend we were actually racing horses. We fed our "horses" by throwing grass on the front tires. We also used to have pet chickens named "Chi-Chi" and "Kiki." My favorite line from a story written for FTH is, "Humans die quick," from a ghost's argument that humans are extinct.
Safiya is a freshman probably double-majoring in Drama and something else. Originally from Chicago, she is a member of Arabesque Middle Eastern Dance and STAMP on campus as well as Flying Treehouse. She has been involved in theatre since the age of twelve and hopes to continue being impractical.
Chris is a first year Ph.D student in Mechanical Engineering studying plasma rockets and inertial confinement fusion. He has also been the musical improvisor for the SImps (Stanford Improvisers) for 4 years, so playing music for Flying Tree House was an easy transition.
My name is Sylvie! I am a senior at Stanford majoring in History. I like American History a lot because I like learning fun facts about Presidents and their families (and presidential dogs!). Speaking of dogs, my favorite kind are dachshunds. Speaking of favorites, one of my favorite books is The Great Brain; I also like books about sports, families, and unexpected adventures. I really enjoyed being a Flying TreeHouse teacher in Ms. Wong's class this spring!
Sophia Catherine loves to play games of any kind. She is happiest in the sunshine, but only with strong SPF protection. Her favorite places are the beach and anywhere with chocolate or bubble wands. She also likes to read books like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler or Ella Enchanted. She recently learned how to hula hoop, but is still working on snapping.
Lindsey Toiaivao is a triple threat: actress, singer, student-teacher. She is so happy to be a part of Flying Treehouse!
Crystal is a random person. She had been reading fairy tales since 3 to 15 (junior in Highschool for her, and everyone else was reading grown-up love stories!), and absolutely loved them. Her favorite person is Peter Pan. It is absolutely great for her to be in Flying Treehouse and re-visit the precious childhood creativity. ;) Highlight of Stanford experience!
Lisa Barker is a doctoral candidate in Teacher Education at Stanford University, and has taught English, reading, acting, and improvisation in a variety of K-12 contexts. As Director of Education at Adventure Stage Chicago, she designed and implemented arts-infused curriculum, residencies, and teacher workshops. While managing the Creative Arts Team’s Kaplan Center, she helped launch the first MA in Applied Theatre in the United States. She has performed with Barrel of Monkeys and the Neo-Futurists in Chicago, the Story Pirates in New York, and the Stanford Improvisors. Her current research centers on the ways in which improvisational theatre training can influence teacher practice.
