Tamiko Washington

Tamiko Washington

Associate Professor, Chair, Department of Theatre
Voice and Movement, Acting, American Noh Theatre
College of Performing Arts; Department of Theatre
Expertise: Voice and Movement; Acting; American Noh Theatre;
Office Location: Moulton Hall 136
Phone: 714-628-7219
Website: http://www.ocnewplays.com
Education:
Alliant International University, Bachelor of Fine Arts
University of California, Irvine, Master of Fine Arts

Biography

Professor Tamiko Washington is an accomplished actor, voice and movement teacher who has made significant contributions to the field of theater. She holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California, Irvine, and has a 17-year history in teaching and originating American Noh Theatre, which incorporates traditional movements from Japanese Noh Theatre and the teachings of Suzuki Master Tadashi Suzuki.

Professor Washington is a Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, further highlighting her expertise in vocal methodology. Her 25-year extensive study with specialists such as Dudley Knight, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Isabel Kirk, Dennis Krausnick, Tina Packer, Christine Adaire, Keely Eastley, Margaret Jansen, Lisa Wolpe, Adrienne Johns, and Louis Colaianni, who specialize in Linklater and Fitzmaurice techniques, has significantly contributed to her effective vocal pedagogy.

She is known for her highly acclaimed one-woman show Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs (adapted for the stage by Deanna Sidoli and Kent Kirkpatrick) with help from the Irvine Foundation and Pacific Bell Telesis Foundation. This show has received critical acclaim from publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, OC Weekly, Logan Daily News, and Kansas City News. In addition to her stage work, Professor Washington has appeared in several television shows in lead or co-star roles in "Pensacola," "Silk Stalkings," "High Tide," "Extreme Blue," and "Vanishing Son." She has also been featured in two Lifetime Movie Network films, "Two Small Voices" and "Kidnapped," as well as the independent film "A Few Breaths of Freedom" in which she played the supporting role of Anna Mae. She also has appeared in notable Actors’ Equity Association performances at South Coast Repertory, the Old Globe Theatre, the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Orange County, Stages Theatre, the Vanguard Theatre, and Pacific Theatre Ensemble, among others. She also co-directed the recognized international short film The Case for Conrad Cooper. She is the Founding Artistic Director and Producer of OC Centric, Orange County’s New Play Festival.

Her contributions to the field of theater have been recognized with several awards, including the Margaret Hartford Award for sustained excellence in theater, the Kennedy Center American/College Theatre Excellence in Education Award, and two Valerie Scudder Awards for Achievement of Excellence in Teaching from Chapman University. She holds professional memberships in the Actors' Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, VASTA (Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Inc.), and the Voice Foundation.

Professor Washington also works as a private vocal consultant in Los Angeles, California.

Professor Washington’s philosophy of teaching includes three core principles for students in their quest for knowledge: 1) students must strive for excellence, 2) students must remain teachable, and 3) students must “perform for something greater than themselves.”  These core principles govern her consistent approach to seeking, discovering and implementing new and innovative techniques to ensure quality training in her teaching methodologies.

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications

Theatre Performance/Production) In the summer of 2023, OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival, of which I am the Founding Artistic Director and Producer, produced one new play in total production titled “The Mortician’s Wife” by Callie Prendiville. OC Centric's mission is to fully produce new plays by Orange County playwrights. The festival, celebrating its 13th Anniversary, was able to succeed in achieving its mission in the summer of 2023 by employing/collaborating with three professional designers: Scenic Designer Katherine Sharpless, Lighting Designer Caleb Wildner, and Sound Designer Oscar Garcia, as well as employ five professional actors from Los Angeles and Orange County, including the international award-winning director and actor Sokratis Alafouzos who was hired to direct “The Mortician’s Wife.” OC Centric also employed one Stage Manager position: Kaelin Tester, a BA Theatre major focused on Technical Theatre in the Department of Theatre at Chapman University, and one lead deck crew member, Alyssa “Lyme” Helstern, a BA Theatre major focused on Technical Theatre in the Department of Theatre at Chapman University. In attendance at one of the performances was the Consulate General of Greece in Los Angeles, Ioannis Stamatekos, and the Head of the Public Diplomacy Office in Los Angeles for Greece, Andreas Spyrou. OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival has a professional affiliation (MOU) with the College of Performing through the approval of Dean Giulio Ongaro.
(Theare Performance/Production) In the summer of 2022, OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival of which I am the Founding Artistic Director and Producer, produced two new plays as professional staged readings titled "Kate" by Robert Riemer (full-length) and "The House of Flightless Birds" by Baylee Shlichtman. OC Centric's mission is to fully-produce new plays by Orange County playwrights. The festival, celebrating its 11th Anniversary, was able to succeed in achieving its mission in the summer of 2022 by employing/collaborating with one professional designer (Lighting Designer Wesley Chew) as well as employ nine professional actors from Los Angeles and Orange County, including Sara Guerrero, the Artistic Director of the Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Company, an award winning company (Awarded as a Community Leader by OC Human Relations) and only Latina theatre company in Orange County, CA. She was cast in the lead role of Mamá in "The House of Flightless Birds." Izzy Kaplan, a BA Theatre student focusing on Directing and Performance in the Department of Theatre at Chapman University, was cast in the leading role of India in "Kate." OC Centric also employed two Stage Manager positions: McKenna Bartoli, a BA Theatre major focused on Technical Theatre in the Department of Theatre at Chapman University, and one professional Stage Manager, Aung Khine Min from Los Angeles, CA. OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival has as professional affiliation with the College of Performing through the approval of Dean Giulio Ongaro.
In January 2021, my online publication "Maintaining a Healthy Voice for Actors" was published in the January 2021 Monthly Newsletter for "Projects With Jason, " a collaborative arts organization that seeks to inspire, educate, connect, and entertain the public and performing artists. The monthly online newsletter supports arts advocates, designers, technicians, and performers in developing and supporting projects that will challenge artists, focus on the collaboration, and give back to the community.
In the spring of 2021, I directed the Department of Theatre production of "Home UnChained: A Night of Devised Theatre" to be viewed as an on-demand streamed event on May 10-30, 2021. The production examined many of the foreseen and unforeseen familial complexities of home life, both heritable and coincidental. Actors explore relational interactions among family members in which love remains unchained in their hearts through varied life experiences including trauma, lack of safety, insecurity, abandonment, abuse, and tests of faith. "Devised Theatre" is a collective creative process in which an ensemble of actors develop performance based original work using various methods of inspiration (poems, images, music, language, people, places, sounds, and alternate media) usually involving the physical exploration of these areas to create a final production/performance(s). The production included thirteen individual and paired devised performances with original musical compositions for all thirteen pieces by Sound Designer Jordan Tani.
In the summer of 2021, my new play festival, OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival, produced three professional staged readings of three new plays titled "Kvetcher in the Wry" by Jordan R. Young (full-length), "LOL" by Craig Holland, and "Marcello and Musetta Break Up For Good" by Gillian Gonzales. OC Centric's mission is to fully-produce new plays by Orange County playwrights. The festival, celebrating its 10th Anniversary, was able to succeed in achieving its mission in the summer of 2021 by employing/collaborating with four professional designers (Lighting Designer Wesley Chew, Scenic Designer Tyler Scrivner, Costume Designer Josephine Siu, and Audio Designer/Video Editor Jordan Tani). The festival was also able to employ sixteen professional actors from Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Orange County, as well as provide one Director Internship to Ruth Burgess, a graduate of the BFA in Theatre Performance Program at Chapman University, two paid Stage Manager positions to Kaylee Snow and Emma Accacian who are Theatre Technology majors in the BA in Theatre program at Chapman University, and one paid Master Electrician/Technician position to Ella Nelson, a senior Theatre Technology major in the BA in Theatre program at Chapman University. The filming of all production too place at CCC Acting Studio in Garden Grove, California. OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival has as professional affiliation with the College of Performing through the approval of Dean Giulio Ongaro. All three professional staged reading productions will be streamed in September of 2021 (for one year) on YouTube and Vimeo.
In the spring/summer of 2020, Actors Circle Ensemble a 501c3 theater company, of which I am the Founding Member and Artistic Director, produced a new play series titled "PicPlays." This series of new short ten-minute plays was produced solely as online zoom events. This new play series is a testament to the untapped potential of producing theatre on zoom. The new plays series was organized and lead by the company's Head of Development, Casey J. Adler, who is a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance Department of Theatre graduate and a founding member of Actors Circle Ensemble Theatre Company. The series allowed chosen international playwrights to write plays based on specific topics which include Unionism in America, Health Care, Discrimination, Environmentalism, and Education and Youth Empowerment. Each play was also performed by chosen international actors with a post Q&A platform with an invited renowned scholar speaking about each new play topic. There series was scheduled on Saturday late afternoon performances (5:00pm). Each event was free to the public.
In the fall of 2020, I was invited to direct the Laguna Beach Playhouse Youth Theatre production of "The Outsiders" adapted by Christopher Sergel from the novel by S.E. Hinton. The full-length production was produced by the Laguna Beach Playhouse Conservatory and by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois. S.E. Hinton’s gritty coming-of-age story follows the narrator Ponyboy Curtis (a Greaser) and his friends, ?as they navigate teenage angst and class warfare in Tulsa, Oklahoma between two socioeconomic groups, “The Greasers” and “The Socs.” As a series of events unfold, it becomes apparent that the members of both groups, and youths everywhere, must inevitably come to terms with fear, love, and sorrow that surfaces through perceived prejudices, misunderstandings, and the fight and struggle for survival as poor “outsiders” and privileged youths of the favored wealthy “in-crowd.” The production was viewed through on-demand streaming on February 18-28, 2021 through www.lagunaplayhouse.com. Link: https://www.stunewslaguna.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/16953-laguna-playhouse-youth-theatre-presents-the-outsiders-022321
In the spring of 2019, I performed the lead role of Birdy in the original play "Birdy" by Casey J. Adler. The play was performed at the Complex II in Hollywood, CA on Saturday, May 4, 2019. "Birdy" placed as a 2018-2019 Playwright Finalist for the ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition out of 700 plays, which included adjudications by David Lindsey-Abair and Donald Margulies. "Birdy" is also a finalist in the quarterly Vitruvian Award for Storyline's Da Vinci Film Festival. The performance was a professional staged reading as a precursor for a fully produced production. The event was produced by Actors Circle Ensemble of which I am the founding Artistic Director. The event also was performed to a sold-out audience and received $5000 in donations towards a full production of "Birdy."
In the fall of 2019, I was hired as a Guest Director by the Chair of the Department of Drama, Don Hill, in the University of California, Irvine Clair Trevor School of the Arts. The production "Hoodoo Love" by Katori Hall was performed by graduate Department of Drama majors. The production was performed on December 5-8 in the Little Theatre to sold out performances. Note: Katori Hall is an Olivier Award winning playwright, as well as an is an American activist, journalist, and actress.
In May, June, July, and August 2019, I served as the Artistic Director and Producer of OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival. In its ninth year, OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival fully produced four new one-act plays (Beethoven and Misfortune Cookies by Joni Ravenna, Still Moving by Ben Susskind, and Thump in the Night by Lydia Oxenham) by Orange County playwrights. The new play "Beethoven and Misfortune Cookies" was previously produced at The Met Theatre (Los Angeles) and The Odyssey (Los Angeles) in 2013 to critical acclaim. The playwright Joni Ravenna is a recognized and an award-winning recipient of the Dublin Festival of Short Plays Competition, as well as a finalist playwright in the Playwrights Circle National Playwriting Competition, the Strawberry Festival (NYC), and the Tulip Festival (NYC). The new play "Still Moving" by Ben Susskind is the first new play produced by a high school student. Ben Susskind is a student at the Orange County High School of the Arts (class of 2020) and a professional actor who recently appeared in South Coast Repertory's play "Oliver Twist" in May of 2019. The new play "Thump in the Night" is written by a published playwright, Lydia Oxenham, whose published plays, short stories, and creative articles can be viewed in The American Bystander, The Weekly Humorist, Points in Case, and Lyd-Life Crisis. Note: The actor Rayshawn C. Chism who portrayed Kabin Thomas in "Beethoven and Misfortune Cookies" has been nominated for a 2019 NAACP Theatre Award (Los Angeles).
OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival 2019 was able to employ four professional designers in the areas of Lighting, Costume, Scenic, and Sound, three professional Directors, one SDC union director, one professional Props Master, two professional Costume Dressers, three Running Crew Members, eight Technicians, one Sound Board Operator, three Stage Managers (one being from Chapman University's BA in Theatre Technology program)—Madison Huckaby), and fourteen actors from Los Angeles and Orange County (one being a Senior from Chapman's BFA in Screen Acting Performance Program—Grayson Richmond), two Director Internships (Jacob Shivers, Ruth Burgess), and one Audio Engineer Internship (Eulalia Weed), and two Lighting Assistantships (Benjamin Cruz, Casey Fort). The festival performed from August 15-25 in the O.L. Halsell Foundation Studio Theatre at Chapman University. Eric Marchese, an acclaimed theatre critic of the Voice of OC Arts & Culture online blog (a subsidiary of The Orange County’s Register Newspaper), wrote a 2019 feature article about OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival and can be accessed at https://voiceofoc.org/2019/08/o-c-playwrights-to-be-showcased-in-an-upcoming-new-play-festival-of-uncommon-one-act-tales/. You can also access theatre critic Joel Beers-The OC Weekly about OC Centric at https://ocweekly.com/oc-centric-other-new-local-plays-take-center-stage-at-oc-theaters/. Please visit our website at www.oc-centric.com. (Note: OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival 2019 received sixty new play submissions from playwrights who live or hail from Orange County, whereby four new plays were selected for production.)
On April 20, 2018, I coordinated a collaborative performance program entitled "A Glimpse into Moments of Grief" with Susan Key, INTERPLAY 2017-18 TRANSCENDINGS Coordinator, featuring Lexi Difilippo (Senior BFA Dance Student), Professor Liz Maxwell (Associate Professor of Dance), Julianne O'Brien (Chair of Department of Dance), and Tamiko Washington (Associate Professor of Theatre). Each artist shared moments of grief in three short movement and/or dance performances explored through western and eastern conceptual styles. The program included Mother (1923), choreographed by Isadora Duncan, restaged by Gemze de Lapee, music by Alexander Scriabin, Etude, Op. 2, No. 1, and performed by Liz Maxwell, Let me Lament, choreographed/restaged by Julianne O’Brien, music from “Lascia chi‘io pianga” from Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, and performed by Lexi Difilippo, and Kinuta (Role of “The Wife:) by Zeami Motokiyo, choreographed and performed by Tamiko Washington to instrumental music “Moon” by Somei Satoh. The program also shared the stage with the artistic talents of Associate Professor of Voice,/Director of Vocal Studies, Rebecca Sherburn (vocalist for “Let me Lament”), and Associate Dean of the College of Performing Arts and recognized concert pianist, Dr. Louise Thomas (pianist for ”Let me Lament”). INTERPLAY is a “festival of music, culture, and ideas a collaborative venture of Chapman University and Pacific Symphony. With many events free and open to the public, the festival offers audiences a fascinating in-depth look at a particular facet of our culture that will entertain, enlighten, and illuminate and inspire.” The theme for the 2018-2019 festival “approached the world of the spirit.”
On July 20, 2018, I was invited to be a performing artist in a new YouTube Video entitled "Artist Portrait," which highlights and presents actors in character monologues that they would never be offered to portray by the film and theatrical industries in America. Chapman University Bachelor of Screen Acting Alumni Amir Malaklou (Current New York University Graduate Student) originated, produced, and directed the project, and Cort Carpenter (CEO and Managing Member of Bellicose Pictures) acted as camera operator. The video project is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2019.
On August 11, 2018, the independent film “Bummed” produced by Pulp Digital Productions (Producers: Ryan and Courtney Bergez) screened at the Hollywood Church of Christ at 600 North Rossmore Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004 to a full audience. The official trailer for “Bummed” is scheduled to be released on September 10, 2018. I portrayed the lead role of “Nancy” in the film.
In May, June, July, and August of 2018, I served as the Artistic Director and Producer of OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival. In its eighth year, OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival fully produced four new plays (Allegory of the Cave by Darren Andrew Nash, A Girl Smiles in the Arctic by Cambria Denim, Joey & Mare by Buddy Farmer, and The Mulberry Bush by James Colgan) by Orange County playwrights. The new play "Allegory of the Cave" by Darren Andrew Nash is a part of the National New Play Network: National Play Exchange, the world’s largest digital library of scripts by living writers whose aim is to promote the discovery of new playwrights and their works. The new play "A Girl Smiles in the Arctic" by Cambria Denim won first place in the Act One: One-Act Festival at the Secret Theatre in Long Island City, New York. The new play "Joey & Mare" by Buddy Farmer won first place in the ShowOff International Playwriting Competition at the Camino Real Playhouse in San Juan Capistrano, CA. The festival receives over three-hundred entrants annually. “The Mulberry Bush” received its first original read-thru and production at OC Centric 2018. As an update, in 2017, the production of “Celtic Knot” received Best New Play of Orange County by Theatre Critic Jordan Young.
OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival 2018 was able to employ four professional designers in the areas of Lighting, Costume, Scenic, and Sound, four professional Directors, one professional Props Master, two professional Costume Dressers, three Running Crew Members, eight Technicians, one Sound Board Operator, four Stage Managers (one being from Chapman University's BA in Theatre Technology program)---Cassie Archer), and fourteen actors from Los Angeles and Orange County (one being a Senior from Chapman's BFA in Screen Acting Performance Program). The festival performed from August 16-26 in the Moulton Hall Studio Theatre at Chapman University. Joel Beers, an acclaimed theatre critic of the OC Weekly, wrote a 2018 feature article about OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival and can be accessed at https://www.ocweekly.com/a-new-oc-centric-play-proves-that-shakespeare-isnt-dead-yet/. You can also access theatre critic Jordan Young’s-The Examiner Article about OC Centric at http://www.jordanryoung.com/2018/08/21/oc-centric-at-chapman-university-idol-minds-at-fullertons-stages/. Please visit our website at www.oc-centric.com. (Note: OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival 2018 received sixty-five new play submissions from playwrights who live or hail from Orange County, whereby four new plays were selected for production.)
In the fall of 2018, I directed the Obie Award Winning play "Vinegar Tom" by Caryl Churchill as part of the Department of Theatre 2018/2019 production season. The play exposes the inequity of women in England during the 1600s as they are victimized by a male dominated hierarchy that accuses them of heretical practices and ultimately condemns them to be publicly hanged. I invested a total of 124 hours of rehearsal time for the direction of “Vinegar Tom” and twenty hours of viewing the production to provide consistency notes to cast members.
In the fall of 2018, I directed Dialogos Dificiles: "Staging Bilingual Plays" by Jose Moreno Arenas and presented by Wilkinson College. This was a collaboration between Dr. Polly Hodge (Wilkinson College) and me. The project honored Jose Moreno Arenas and his critically acclaimed controversial plays that unveil societal issues through the use of comedic social commentaries. I directed three Jose Moreno Arenas': El Encuentro (The Encounter), La Pena (Shame), and El Corazon (Heart). I cast three BFA Screen majors (Alejandro De Andi, Ashton Miramontes, and Jackie Palacios), two BFA Theatre Performance majors (Antonio Abarca and Zacharias Estrada), and a professional Los Angeles actress (Cathryn Collopy O'Donnell). The production held a talk-back between Jose Moreno Arenas, the cast, and audience members directly following the performances. The production was attended by seventy-two community patrons from surrounding Orange County communities (including Chapman University students). The production was held in Chapman University's Sandhu Conference Center on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. Dr. Polly Hodge and I received supportive funding from Residence Life and First Year Experience and Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. All actors received a professional stipend for their performances.
In May of 2017, I was cast in the leading role of "Nancy" in the Independent Film "Bummed" by Pulp Digital Productions (Producers: Ryan and Courtney Bergez). The film shoot took place in Los Angeles, CA.
OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival 2017 was able to employ four professional designers in the areas of Lighting, Costume, Scenic, and Sound, three professional Directors, one professional Props Master, two professional Costume Dressers, three Running Crew Members, three Technicians, one Sound Board Operator, three Stage Managers (two being from Chapman University's BA in Theatre Technology program)---Jazmin Pollinger and Divya Putty), one Assistant Stage Manager, and thirty actors from Los Angeles and Orange County (two being Seniors from Chapman's BFA in Theatre Performance Program---Talia Goodman and McKenna Ryan). The festival performed from August 17-28 in the Moulton Hall Studio Theatre at Chapman University. The Orange County Weekly wrote a 2017 feature article about OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival and can be accessed at http://www.ocweekly.com/arts/oc-centric-new-play-festival-returns-to-showcase-local-productions-8344123. You can also access the website at www.oc-centric.com. (Note: OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival 2017 received forty-eight new play submissions from playwrights who live or hail from Orange County, whereby three new plays were selected for production.)
In May, June, July, and August of 2017, I served as the Artistic Director and Co-Producer of OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival. In its seventh year, OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival fully produced three new plays (Fair by Karly Thomas, Crimson by Sara Saenz, and Celtic Knot by Karen Fix Curry) by Orange County playwrights. The new play "Fair" by Karly Thomas won the 2016 Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival Undergraduate New Playwriting. Award. The new play "Crimson" by Sara Saenz was previously accepted into the Artist Development Workshop led by Chicago Playwright Calamity West and sponsored by Victory Gardens' Access Project, which is designed to include and involve people with disabilities in all aspects of theatre. The new play "Celtic Knot" by Karen Fix Curry previously received a Stage Reading at Long Beach Playhouse and is currently being considered for production by Ophelia's Jump Productions, which produces classic and modern plays in Upland, CA and Clarement, CA. This consideration stems from the Artistic Director of Ophelia's Jump Productions, Beatrice Casagran, seeing OC Centric's production in August 2017.
In May of 2016, I was commissioned by the Chance Theater (Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen) to direct a New Play Lab by their 2016 resident playwright, Jenny Connell Davis. The New Play Lab provides new playwrights with an opportunity to develop his/her new play via scriptural analysis by critically vetting conflict, plot, story, and character development that ultimately results in a developed new playscript. The New Play Lab allowed Ms. Davis to develop her new play titled “Alice and Frank," a quintessential argument about the creativity of art between Frank O'Hara, the infamous poet and curator of the Museum of Modern Art in the 1960s and Alice Neel, the controversial American painter, who is also identified as one of the greatest American painters of the 20th century, as well as "a pioneer among women artists." . Ms. Davis' plays have been developed and/or produced with The Playwrights Center, ScriptWorks, SPACE at Ryder Farm, Ars Nova, NAATCO, Theater MITU, Articulate Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Shrewd Productions, and The Gift Theatre, among others. She has been a finalist or semi-finalist for the Heideman, PlayPenn, Seven Devils, BAPF, the Nicholl Fellowship and the O'Neill, has performed in theaters throughout Chicago and Austin, and appeared as Joe in Geoff Marslett’s Loves Her Gun at SxSW. Jenny's short film, Fatakra, with writer/director Soham Mehta, played at over 75 festivals worldwide, including Toronto and SXSW, and was recognized with more than a dozen audience awards and jury prizes, including the Student Academy Award. She currently has screenplays in development with Maven Pictures and Circle of Confusion. Jenny is a Core Member of The Playwrights Center, and a proud alumna of Ars Nova Play Group, UT Austin's MFA Playwriting program, The School at Steppenwolf, the Court Theatre Resident Apprentice program, and The University of Chicago. "Alice and Frank" was performed on May 26 at 7:30pm, May 28 at 3:00pm, and May 29 at 7:00pm at the Chance Theater in Anaheim, California.
In February 2016, "The Case of Conrad Cooper," the International Short Film I Co-Directed, received Critics Choice in the Shorts Showcase competition presented by KCVR Public Television and was screened in March 2016 for KVCR's Award Winning Film series at the at the Mary Pickford Theatre in Cathedral City, California.
During Interterm 2016, I directed "A Flea in Her Ear," A New Version of Georges Feydeau's Farce by David Ives. This 208-hour commitment focused on researching and utilizing American Vaudevillian comedy to transform Georges Feydeau’s classic farce into a contemporary new version of riotous clandestine assignations. I also invested twenty-one hours to provide consistency feedback to actors. The production was performed in the Waltmar Theatre on February 19-20 and 25-27, 2016.
In the summer of 2016, I was the Artistic Director of OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival. The festival's mission is to produce new plays by Orange County playwrights. This year's festival, now in its sixth year, fully produced four new plays for production. The plays include two full-length plays: Love All by Lauren (Lojo) Simon and Night Moths on the Wing by Kimberly Kalaja, and two one-acts: Kill A Better Mousetrap by Scott K. Ratner and Left Behind, Waiting by Joshua David Vega. The festival hired four professional directors, two professional stage managers , two student stage managers, five professional designers (costume, lighting, scenic, sound, scenic artist), three student running crew members, and sixteen professional an student actors (featuring Chapman's Theatre majors Lena Romano, Jeremy Howard, Andrew Gandy, and Chapman Theatre Alumni Sean Burgos and K.C. Marie Pandell). Actors Circle Ensemble (Tamiko Washington) and Eric Eberwein (Artistic Director of Orange County's Playwrights Alliance) produce the festival. The festival has become the premiere new play festival in the Orange County Theatre community. Joel Beers, a highly respected and recognized OC Weekly theatre critic states, "Some like to pontificate that it takes 10 years to firmly establish yourself in any setting. That, of course, is kind of stupid, since it didn't take Mike Trout a decade to become major league baseball's best player, and it only took Henry Vi eight months to become King of England--at the age of eight months. And it hasn't taken a decade for Orange County's lone theater festival that focuses on new and original plays from current or transplanted Orange Countians to forge a name for itself. Now in its sixth year, OC-Centric will feature two original full-length plays and two one-acts receiving fully realized productions during the two-weekend festival at Chapman University's Moulton Theatre."
In the summer of 2016, I directed the new one-act play "Kill A Better Mousetrap" by Scott K. Ratner. The play was performed in OC Centric Orange County's New Play Festival 2016 at Chapman University. Recognized theatre critic Jordan R. Young of Examiner.com wrote, "The one-act program is a treat. Scott K. Ratner’s “Kill a Better Mousetrap” concerns the longest-running play in theatre history, a chestnut of questionable merit perpetrated by Agatha Christie. It’s a wild ride that gives Sean Burgos the opportunity for a manic rant of epic proportions, with the director’s reins in the inspired hands of Tamiko Washington."
During the fall of 2015, I was invited by Dr. Theresa Dudeck to participate as a performer in the Staged Reading of "Katrina: The K Word" by Lisa S. Brenner and Suzanne M. Trauth. This Staged Reading was part of a nationwide Activism Project to connect theatre with civic engagement to honor the 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Participants that produced/performed this project include Chapman University, Augustana College, Texas Tech University, the University of San Diego, and Walla Walla University in 2015. Casting included professional and student actors performing multiple roles. I performed multiple roles including the role of Vivie, the narrator of "Katrina: The K Word." The Stage Reading was directed by Connor Duffy, a graduating Bachelor of Arts Theatre Studies major, under the supervision/coordinator of Dr. Theresa Dudeck. The Staged Reading was performed on September 21-23 at 7:30pm in the Moulton Hall Studio Theatre, Room 149. "Talk Backs" with the audience followed each performance.

Faculty Directories by School or College