The Company
Meet the Team – Portland Playback Theater is an ensemble company made up of professional actors, dancers, musicians, writers, group facilitators, business consultants and therapists. Each ensemble member brings a unique set of talents and each is committed to offering creative approaches to exploring issues and building community.
Jackie Paris
Kevin Ferguson
Kevin Ferguson is an Emmy Award winning musician/scientist/engineer/inventor with dozens of patents, dozens pending and 8 albums including best sellers on guitar9.com. He is currently the music director of Playback Theater and also performs regularly in several world music groups (see debone.com). He recently created recipefactory.net, with ongoing research towards mitigating hunger, leading health issues and worldwide competition for resources.
Composer, performing musician, dancer and painter, Babacar Ndiaye is always creating. Musically, he’s been working on a new style creating Afro-beat since 2012 in Senegal. Babacar has also been a professional dancer since 2006, attending international festivals and choreographing interpretive dance, and touring with various companies as a professional dancer. He created his own dance company in Senegal called The Dance Ultimate. The groups—including his students—performed all over Senegal for various events and using different kinds of music.
Marisol Cordero-Goodman
Marisol Cordero-Goodman is a former member of Pulse Playback Theater (2008-2010), and a current member of Portland Playback Theater (2010-present). She is an attorney, yoga instructor, and volunteer for White Bird Rock Medicine. For her, Playback is a way to celebrate stories by bringing to life cherished memories through deep and creative witnessing.
Sara discovered Playback Theater in 2008? 2009? and has been at it ever since. Roles so far include human, therapist, friend, trekkie, partner, artist, & dog parent.
Shane began their Playback journey in 2010, and are honored to witness the joy, vulnerability, honesty, and authenticity within each teller’s story. His work in Playback is informed by a rich background in a variety of dance, theater, literature, storytelling, and somatic modalities. He believes we each carry stories deserving of time and space to be spoken and lovingly held and received in community. When not playing and performing with Playback, they enjoy growing a greener thumb, sampling as many teas as possible, cooking with their partner, and exploring the natural world through movement and photography.
Sabi is overjoyed to be a newcomer to Playback Theater. Born in Paraguay, raised on the east coast between New York and Florida, Sabi has been involved in the performing arts for as long as they can remember. Sabi studied Musical Theater, Performance Art, and Cosmetology in Cocoa FL, where they graduated with honors in 2008. Moving to Portland in 2015, they continue to better their community by improving the self-image of others. They find theater to be a mirror to the human condition and believe that through it we can all find connection within our collective experience. “Being a human is tough,” they say, “if by living through our art we can help one another, why shouldn’t we celebrate it?” Sabi would like to thank their family and community for affording them this tremendous life experience.
Amber Green
Amber Green (she/they) was born with stars in her eyes and is classically trained as a dancer, singer, and actor. They got their BA in Acting and Performance from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA and has performed up and down the West Coast for 20+ years. Amber spent a decade in South Korea where they got to live out numerous dreams being the front person of several bands, the femme fatale lead of an indie movie, helped run an Expat theater group, do voice over work for animation and more, as well as teach drama and English to adorable Korean kiddos. Amber is grateful to return to and for her new life in Portland with its rich community as well as this opportunity to create something meaningful with this talented troupe.
Bui
Bui is excited to be part of Playback Theater. Bui is intense like the Bronx (his hometown), whimsical like Portland (his current city), and unexpected (like his future). He performs improv, standup, and storytelling around Portland and beyond. Other hobbies of his includes rock climbing, dancing with strangers, or poking his own belly button.
Ryan Bowen
Ryan Bowen studied theater in Boston, piano and film in Portland, and has many years of training in martial arts and enjoys singing and playing guitar. He enjoys a good prank when he is not at work as president of Raindrop Roofing NW. The expression of each person’s truth is sacred and Ryan is both excited and grateful to be a mirror for that truth in Playback.
Darlene Sorensen
Darlene has always been drawn to the power of play. Back in the day, as an actor, she struck gold when she found BATS Improv in San Francisco. That’s where she discovered an amazing world where grown-ups could let loose, make it up on the spot and have a blast with some improv magic. She learned from some of the best, including the late, great Keith Johnstone. Darlene has years of experience performing and facilitating improvisation workshops in diverse settings for a range of purposes. She added Playback Theater to the mix while in grad school studying Drama Therapy. She loves dance, books, daydreaming, friends and family. Her mission? To keep her attention span from shrinking by staying away from social media.
Beth Ricketson
Beth is an actor, educator, registered drama therapist and fan girl. Originally from Southern California, the Pacific Northwest is much more her jam. She is in love with the power of story and applied theater.
Calin Matei
Calin Matei was born in the Romani village of Dumbraveni, Romania & raised in the US. Embracing his heritage as a Roma, Calin’s songs possess a dissonant, harrowing sound that speaks of the long & mysterious history of his race. His music draws life from the wild, unruly strains of ancient musical traditions from Africa, India, and the Middle East which is then expressed through Jazz roots.