About Exit, Pursued by a Bear

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Angela (a Bear Founding Member) relocated to the Roanoke area from St. Louis, MO where she was involved in numerous productions, either on-stage, costuming, running sound or stage managing. Since arriving, she has been actively involved in the local theatre scene, working with both Attic Productions and Showtimers. Angela enjoys hiking with her pup and supporting her kids’ various activities.

Sean Neff is rarely on the stage, but instead he often lights it up. He started doing lighting tech work while a student at Virginia Tech, and more recently he has done lighting designs for shows at Attic Productions and Showtimers. He was also on the board of directors at Showtimers for five years.

Les Epstein (a Bear Founding Member) is a poet, playwright, opera librettist and educator.  His work has appeared in journals in the United States, Philippines, India, Canada, Ireland and the UK.  He is the author of Sleep Cinematic: a Golem’s Quartet, Lorenzo by the Ghost Light, Teddy Orloff and the Three Onions, and Kip Divided. As a playwright, his work has been staged at theaters in Maine, West Virginia, Missouri and NYC.  He contributed libretti for two operas, Barefoot (1997 premiere) and Miss Lucy (2011 premiere). In addition to work with theater, opera and ballet companies from North Carolina to New York City, he spent ten seasons as Education Director and Production Coordinator for Opera/Columbus and another seven as Executive Director for the Children’s Theater of Winston-Salem, before settling in as a teacher with Community High School (Roanoke) for which he has staged more than forty productions. 

Elizabeth Brancati is a 2019 graduate of Radford University where she earned her bachelors in Theatre. She studied with the Kevin Jones Performing Arts Studio, Virginia Children’s Theatre and Mill Mountain Theatre. Her recent acting credits include Sense and Sensibility and Sylvia. She is thrilled to join the Exit, Pursued by a Bear family and share her skills working for non profit organizations and community theaters. 

Tina has contributed to local theatre as a performer, set designer, and costumer for almost 15 years. She believes there's nothing like the thrill of working with committed creative people, taking words on a page and a pile of raw materials and, through weeks of iterative work, transforming chaos into a temporary space for stories to live and breathe. She's looking forward to supporting the Bear's mission and helping create more opportunities for bold collaborative art.

Stevie Holcomb (a Bear Founding Member) has been active in the Roanoke area theatre scene all her life. Onstage and off, she has appeared in over 40 productions at over 10 theatres. Theatre is collaborative, supportive, and friendly - she believes we all come together to create live art, regardless of if we are audience members or directors or handing out programs. There is no room for egos, and the best theatre is created amongst kind individuals working hard so both audiences and crew alike benefit from true love for the theatre.

Pam currently serves on Community High School’s Board of Trustees and is excited to be joining the Bear board to continue building the collaboration between the two organizations. Having spent over a decade as a "theater mom", she understands the importance of the behind-the-scenes roles. Since joining the Bear family, Pam has served as Costume Designer, Assistant Stage Manager, and Stagehand. Her favorite theater related quote is, “If you can see me, something has gone terribly wrong.”