2013 Carnage Staff
Jump to: Instructors - Coordinators
2013 Teaching Assist-terns
Danette Baker - Advanced Actor Combatant
Danette Baker is a Fight Director, Actor, Director and Teaching Artist. She is the theatrical violence consultant for Seven Devils National Playwrights Conference in McCall, ID. Her fight choreography includes The Grapes of Wrath, Picnic, Bill W & Dr. Bob (Wichita Center for the Arts), The Three Musketeers (John Brown University), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Opera Kansas), Twelfth Night, Children of Eden, Fool for Love, Desdemona…handkerchief (Wichita State University), Julius Caesar (Wichita Shakespeare Company), Romeo and Juliet (Maize High School), and Oklahoma (Trinity Academy). She recently had an article about fight directing published in Stage Directions Magazine (August 2012 issue). As an actress she has worked in theatres across the country from New York to Idaho appearing in – among others - Bloody Poetry (Aegean Theatre Company, NY),Crash Course (American Globe Theatre, NY), The Rainbow Factor (Director’s Company, NY), Summer & Smoke (Monomoy Theatre, Cape Cod), Under Milkwood (Cleveland Playhouse, OH), The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth & A Doll’s House (Wichita Center for the Arts), Hank Williams Lost Highway (Cabaret Oldtown). As an educator Danette holds an adjunct faculty position in theatre at Wichita State University’s School of Performing Arts where she teaches Theatre Appreciation, Acting, Stage Combat and Stage Movement.
Danette holds an MFA in acting from Ohio University's Professional Actor Training Program in Athens, OH and a BA in Theatre from Wichita State University, Wichita, KS. She is a member of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators, and is the Mid-America Regional Representative for the Society of American Fight Directors.
And finally: she is a second degree brown belt in Aikido and is the president of Fightinfierce LLC.
Danette holds an MFA in acting from Ohio University's Professional Actor Training Program in Athens, OH and a BA in Theatre from Wichita State University, Wichita, KS. She is a member of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators, and is the Mid-America Regional Representative for the Society of American Fight Directors.
And finally: she is a second degree brown belt in Aikido and is the president of Fightinfierce LLC.
Dave Gonzalez - Advanced Actor Combatant
Dave Gonzalez is an Advanced Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and has been active with the SAFD since 2008, staffing workshops including Winter Wonderland, Cease & Desist, Rumble in the Rockies, Lincoln Assassination, and now Carnage in the Corn. Violence Design credits include Blithe Spirit (Piccolo Theatre),Comedy of Errors (Spectralia Theatre), Caesura: a Butchery (Plagiarists Theatre Co.), andCourting Vampires (Clockwise Theatre). Dave was seen onstage most recently as a combatant and fight captain in the Lyric Opera’s production of Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg. This winter, Dave will be performing in Commedia Beauregard’s Klingon Christmas Carol, also serving as fight captain. Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from Illinois State University. He is also in training as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, with hopes of continuing to combine the technique with stage combat and other movement disciplines. For more information, please visit DGonzalezFights.com
End note- Yes, he is a real-life pirate. Not even joking.
End note- Yes, he is a real-life pirate. Not even joking.
Sara Hodges - Actor Combatant
Steve Looten, Jr.
Steve Looten, Jr. recently choreographed a fight with 16 consecutive punto reversos in it, which was wildly acclaimed as a success. Thank you postmodernism.
Steve started stage combat in outdoor drama where he killed white people, red people, and white red-coated people. Building from tomahawks and rifles into the eight SAFD disciplines, he has studied this craft for over five years and worked on many incredible projects along the way. Steve has had a hand in the Battles of Alamance, King's Mountain, Tippecanoe, Beruna, the Thames, and behind the Luxembourg - not to mention various skirmishes with pirates, feuding houses, and chess pieces. His work as a performer and director has been seen with Horn In The West, Tecumseh!, Winter Opera St. Louis, The Little Theatre On The Square, Theatre In The Round, Six Elements Theatre, Gadfly Theatre Productions, the National Theatre For Children, and others. This is Steve's fifth CARNAAAAAAAGE, and he is excited to be returning as a first-time Corny staff member.
One last thing: please do not be alarmed if Steve and Casey talk about poo spears. Also do not be concerned if they tote liquid nitrogen into the bathroom...
Steve started stage combat in outdoor drama where he killed white people, red people, and white red-coated people. Building from tomahawks and rifles into the eight SAFD disciplines, he has studied this craft for over five years and worked on many incredible projects along the way. Steve has had a hand in the Battles of Alamance, King's Mountain, Tippecanoe, Beruna, the Thames, and behind the Luxembourg - not to mention various skirmishes with pirates, feuding houses, and chess pieces. His work as a performer and director has been seen with Horn In The West, Tecumseh!, Winter Opera St. Louis, The Little Theatre On The Square, Theatre In The Round, Six Elements Theatre, Gadfly Theatre Productions, the National Theatre For Children, and others. This is Steve's fifth CARNAAAAAAAGE, and he is excited to be returning as a first-time Corny staff member.
One last thing: please do not be alarmed if Steve and Casey talk about poo spears. Also do not be concerned if they tote liquid nitrogen into the bathroom...
Mike Lubke - Actor Combatant
Mike Lubke is a performer and violence coordinator based in Minneapolis. He has been studying various martial forms since he was 7, and the stage applications of those forms for the past 10 years. He is the resident fight director for Six Elements Theatre Company, and is the lunatic behind their annual Human Combat Chess show, featuring multiple choreographers working on over 20 fights. He is the owner and operator of the Minnesota Stage Combat Open Gym, the largest regular stage combat gathering in the state. His choreography credits feature numerous productions for local professional theatres including History Theatre, Theatre Unbound, Coin Purse Theatre, and the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Mike holds a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota and is a recognized Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors.
Tonya Lynn
Tonya Lynn wishes she could keep all the swords. Forever. She can't, and this makes her sad.
But while she's at Carnage, she can pretend....
Alex Miller
Alex Miller is idiosyncratic. Also impudent, inventive, insubordinate, informal, intrepid, incorrigible, indefatigable, irreverent...and completely irreplaceable.
He also juggles geese.
Aaron Preusse - Advanced Actor Combatant
Aaron is an Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors as well as receiving honors of Advanced Gold with Recommendation from the British Academy of Dramatic Combat. His fight choreography has been seen at Eat Street Players, Lyric Arts Company of Anoka, Concordia University of St. Paul, the 50Anniversary Celebration for the Guthrie Theater as well as many other theatres and films throughout the Midwest. As an actor Aaron has worked with Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Park Square Theatre, Six Elements Theatre Company, the Children’s Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory, the Court Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, among many others. Aaron is a graduate of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. You can learn more about Aaron and his adventures at www.aaronpreusse.com. And as the great Mike Royko once said "Whether one eats a cat or not is a personal choice, and I don't want to sway anyone one way or another. But if you do, there is one obvious cooking tip: Always remember to remove the bell from the cat's collar before cooking." Happy fake fight y’all!
Amie Root
Amie (pictured here with former Carnage intern Collin Bressie) was her dance team's national champion back in 1986. She has also won Most Fashionable Fighter six years running.
Amie is a dreamer, a drinker, and a do-er...but first and foremost, a dancer.
David Schneider - Advanced Actor Combatant
David P Schneider is a recognized Advanced Actor-Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and has been training since 2001. He has choreographed violence for numerous shows around town, including Park Square’s August: Osage County, Tedious Brief’s Bard Fiction, Hamlet at Theatre in the Round, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore for Classical Actor’s Ensemble, Cromulent Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Richard III and Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hot ‘N’ Throbbing and Teach Me Tonight with 20% Theatre, and several fights for the MN Renaissance Festival. He appeared as a sword fighter in MN Opera’s Romeo and Juliet, and has performed around the twin cities since 2003 with numerous companies including Theatre in the Round, Classical Actor’s Ensemble, Six Elements Theatre, Flaneur Productions, Green T Productions, and Off Leash Area.
Ed note - Dave will only be joining us briefly, as he is actually gig-having this year. Get at him while you can.
Rachel Stubbs - Chief Medical Officer
Rachel Stubbs has healing in her hands, and she also looks damn fine with a dustpan. This combination is especially handy when she realizes there's nothing else to be done for that poor broken student....after all, she's not a magician, Jim.