Our Staff
Photo by Bruce Silcox
Powered by artists, teachers, neighbors, and community leaders.
Rachael Rhoades, Production & Project Manager
Rachael Rhoades (she/her/hers) is a St. Paul-based stage manager, production manager, and event planner. Rachael holds a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Iowa. Notable companies Rachael has had the pleasure of working with include Illusion Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Theatre Latte Da, Frank Theatre, Park Square Theater, The History Theatre, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, TEDX Minneapolis, Collide Theatrical Dance Company, Guthrie Theatre, and The Ordway. She serves as a creative consultant and Musical Theatre Instructor for Brekke Dance Center (Des Moines, IA). She is the co-creator of Triple Threat Theater, a musical theatre boot camp for young dancers to continue to develop new performance skills and learn theatre arts. Rachael is also a Technical Theatre Evaluator for Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Spotlight Education program, and serves as a consultant for the Technical Career Pathways students; she also runs the Spotlight Showcase annually, a celebration of young people in theatre across the state of Minnesota. She currently also serves as the Production Stage Manager for Brownbody, a figure skating + dance + theatre company based in St. Paul, recently presented as an Artist in Residence by The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard (www.brownbody.org). Rachael lives on her houseboat on the Mississippi River with her three kitty cats, and enjoys immersing herself in nature whenever possible.
Claudia Errickson, Technical Director
Claudia is a multidisciplinary freelance Lighting designer, Scenic designer, and visual artist in the twin cities as well as Pillsbury House + Theatre’s Technical Director. Some of her recent design/creative work includes: They Didn’t Deserve to Die (a documentary/art instillation) produced by Sequoia Hauck, In The Backroom produced by Supermoon, Divas and Drag produced by An Opera Theater Company, Iconoclasm directed by Carlisle Evans Peck and Monkeybear’s New Puppetworks 2024 produced by Monkeybear Harmolodic Workshop. Claudia’s work also includes operating as a arts educator, focused on teaching technical theater skills to ages 15-22 with various different organizations including; PHT, AOT and Armstrong High School. Claudia is also a painter, sculptor and fiber artist. Claudia’s work is a blend of educational opportunities, unconventional movement performance pieces, and visual artwork that allows her to enjoy and flourish in the most unconventional creative spaces.
Clay Man Soo, Resident Teaching Artist
Clay Man Soo (he/him) is an Asian-American actor and teaching artist. He has also performed with the Guthrie Theater, Ten Thousand Things, Theater Mu, Children’s Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, History Theatre, Frank Theatre, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Park Square Theatre, TigerLion Arts, Pangea World Theater, Playwright’s Center, among others. Proud member of AEA. He received his training at Gustavus Adolphus College, GRSF Actor Apprenticeship, Theater Mu Institute, Remedios Creative, Huge Theater, Encompass Collective NYC, The Celebration Barn Theater, and numerous experienced actors, directors, and playwrights. He has taught at History Theatre, CTC, Park Square Theatre, Upstream Arts, Onstage MN, and Theater Mu, and others. Upcoming: In the fall, Clay will begin his first year as an MFA Grad Acting student at UC San Diego. www.claymansoo.com
Bart Buch, Arts Integration Liaison
Bart Buch is a puppet artist, poet and arts educator. He has been creating, performing, directing, and teaching puppet theatre for 26 years. Bart has a BA in Elementary Education, has been teaching for 30 years, and has taught over 300 school and community arts residencies. He worked at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre for 25 years as a Core Artist, served as Education Director for 12 years, and co-founded the Artistic Leadership Team. Bart is a COMPAS Teaching Artist and a 2017-2018 McKnight Theatre Artist Fellow. He makes “puppet poems,” loves music, and working with young people.
Signe V. Harriday, Senior Artistic Producing Director
Signe V. Harriday is Artistic Producing Director at Pillsbury House + Theatre. Signe is a fierce visionary and powerful storyteller who crafts theatre that awakens our individual and collective humanity. As a director, multidisciplinary artist, activist, and facilitator, she uses theatre as a catalyst to ask questions about who we are and who we are in relation to each other.Past accomplishments include:
Associate Company Member of Pillsbury House Theatre.
Co-founder of Million Artist Movement, a collective of artists committed to Black liberation.
Co-founder of the award-winning synchronized swimming team, The Subversive Sirens.
Founder of Rootsprings Coop, a retreat center for BIPOC artists/activists/healers.
Co-founder of MaMa mOsAiC, a women of color theater company whose mission is to evoke positive social change through female centered work.
Core team member of REP Community Partners.
Signe earned her MFA in Acting at the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard and Moscow Art Theatre.
Current projects: Director of Bridgforth’s bull-jean stories, Associate Director of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower Opera, Choreography for Love of Silver Water, Playwright for Dysmorphia. Recent directing credits: Dining with the Ancestors, Fannie Lou Hammer Speak On It, Hidden Heroes
612-787-3621
signeh@pillsburyhousetheatre.org
Noël Raymond, Director of Arts and Culture
Noël holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Minnesota and a BFA from Ithaca College in New York. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Multicultural Development Center and the Burning House Group Theatre Company which she co-founded in 1993. She is also a company member of Carlyle Brown and Company. She has taught acting classes and theatre movement in multiple settings to children, college students and adults with developmental disabilities. Noël is an Equity actor who has performed with Pillsbury House Theatre, the Burning House Group, the Guthrie Theater, Penumbra Theatre, Bryant Lake Bowl, and Minnesota Festival Theatres in Minnesota as well as the Hangar Theatre in New York. Noël’s directing credits include Underneath the Lintel, An Almost Holy Picture, Far Away, Angels in America: Parts I and II, and [sic] at Pillsbury House Theatre, From Shadows to Light at Theatre Mu, The BI Show with MaMa mOsAiC, and multiple staged readings and workshops through the Playwrights’ Center, among others. Noël has served on numerous panels including TCG/American Theatre, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Playwright’s Center and United Arts, to name a few.
612-787-3620
noelr@pillsburyhousetheatre.org
Sara Abdelaal, Audience Engagement Director
Sara has been working in communications and marketing for over 12 years. Out of college she created a photo/video effects tech start-up with her friends, then went on to freelancing as a audio/video producer at TPT, Matriarch Media and Lemonada Media. She hopes to collaborate with other artists on meaningful cultural projects as well as keep the Minneapolis arts scene as vibrant and inclusive as she found it! Sara is an electronic musician who performs under the name RRA and aims to give back to a creative community that has given so much to her own life.
Kurt Kwan, Breaking Ice Manager
Kurt Kwan has been creating performances and facilitating dialogues around issues of Diversity and Inclusion with the Breaking Ice company since 2001. He also manages the Late Nite and Naked Stages programs. As an actor he has performed with Ten Thousand Things, The Walker, Childrens Theatre Company, Mu Performing Arts, New York Asian American Writers, The History Theatre, and Theatre La Homme Dieu.
612-787-3623
kurtk@pillsburyhousetheatre.org
Mike Hoyt, Creative Community Director
For nearly twenty years Hoyt has been producing, managing, and directing arts-based community development projects and youth development programs, while making his own art in his community. Creating and facilitating unique shared experiences that connect diverse and often nontraditional art audiences drive his art practice. Hoyt’s work has been exhibited locally and abroad at the Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, Arts At Marks Garage in Honolulu, University of Hawaii Art Gallery, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Soap Factory, Soo Visual Arts Center, Intermedia Arts, Franconia Sculpture Park, Art Shanty Projects, and the Walker Art Center among others. He has received awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board, a Northern Lights.mn Art(ists) on the Verge Fellowship, a Jerome Visual Artist Fellowship, and a McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship.
Hoyt has the added benefit of raising a family three blocks from PH+T and is honored to have the opportunity to engage local artists and community members in creative practice towards the development of a vibrant and healthy community for all of its members.
612-787-3655
mikeh@pillsburyunited.org
Julia Snider Nickerson, Chicago Avenue Project Director
Julia is a teaching artist, actor and administrator who believes theater is a powerful tool in the transformation of society. Using theater in Ecuador, Turkey, Thailand, and New York City she has supported non-native speakers of English to develop their English language skills, encouraged young people to exercise the power of their voices through social-emotional development, engaged in conversations around race and privilege, and worked towards advancing literacy skills across ages. She has her Master’s in Applied Theatre from the CUNY School of Professional Studies and has worked as a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Theater, the Creative Arts Team, Girls Leadership and the History Theater.
As an actor, Julia has performed with Theater in Asylum in NYC, in various theaters in Milwaukee, and at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. She recently returned to the Twin Cities and is thrilled to be joining the rich theater community here.
Masanari Kawahara, Naked Stages Director
Masanari Kawahara 川原正也 (he/him/his) is a performer, educator and Butoh practitioner who incorporates puppetry, mask and movement into his work. His most recent puppetry work, for which he was a co-creator and performer, is The Story of Crow Boy (2016/2017/2018) for In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (HOBT) where he is a core associate artist. Other notable collaborative works with HOBT include Make Believe Neighborhood (2018), Queen (2016), A Path Home: A story of Thich Nhat Hanh (2009/2010) and Gotama: A Journey to the Buddha (2006).
Masanari is currently a resident teaching artist at Pillsbury House + Theatre and teaching artist for Upstream Arts working with preschoolers to elders. He has directed the Naked Stages Fellowship program since 2022. He is a member of the Butoh group Nenkin Butoh Dan, which received a 2015 Sage Award for outstanding dance ensemble for Fu.Ku.Shi.Ma. Masanari Kawahara is a Playwrights’ Center McKnight Theater Artist Fellow 2018-2019 and 2010-201.
612-787-3647
Aimee K. Bryant, Resident Artist
Since she earned her BFA from Howard University, Aimee K. Bryant has built a lengthy resume as a theatre artist in the Twin Cities. She is an actor, vocalist, director and teaching artist who’s artistic practice is rooted in soul music. joy, and a rigorous curiosity about the way things are. Her mission is to use performance as a tool for self reflection, healing, transformation, and black liberation. She also identifies as a mother, a roller skater, a Buddhist, a Detroiter, a cyclist, and a foodie. Aimee was named City Pages 2015 Actress of the Year, and is a McKnight Theatre Artist Fellow for 2015-2016. Her debut cd Becoming is available online.
Mankwe Ndosi, Resident Community Engaged Artist (staff/neighbors/artists)
Mankwe is a Song Catcher, Composer, and Culture Worker. She is an improviser and a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM Chicago), and a singer with the Give Get Sistet. Mankwe has sung and performed with creative beings across genres and timezones. She has experience in creative community engagement, performance and production, deep listening and weaving community possibilities together.
André Samples, PCC Workforce Training Director
(he/him) is a local actor, teacher, and arts administrator. He has been working professionally in theater for over 30 years. Prior to joining the Pillsbury House + Theatre team he worked for Stages Theatre Company as their Teen Program Manager. Previously André could be seen regularly on stages across the Twin Cities including Mixed Blood Theatre, Pangea World Theatre, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Frank Theatre, Illusion Theater, History Theatre, and many more. He also appeared in the feature film Fall Into Me, produced by the Minneapolis-based company Indiewood Pictures.
Estrella Mercado, Operations Co-Ordinator
(she/her)
Estrella is the heart of our front desk and a true multi-tasking star! As our Operations Coordinator, she not only keeps things running smoothly but also jumps in wherever help is needed—whether it’s supporting classrooms as a teacher or assistant aide, assisting with building maintenance, or lending a hand to fellow staff.
Estrella began her journey with us as a substitute at the front desk. Over the years, her dedication, adaptability, and genuine care for others helped her grow into an extraordinary leader and team member. She brings warmth, kindness, and a welcoming spirit to everyone who walks through our doors, making our center feel like a second home.
In addition to her work with us, Estrella has been part of the Pillsbury House Theatre family for over 12 years. Her passion for community, creativity, and connection shines through in all she does.
Joel Thompson – Senior Facilities & Grounds Maintenance Engineer
Pronouns: he/him
Joel Thompson brings over two decades of dedication and expertise to his role as Senior Facilities & Grounds Maintenance Engineer at Pillsbury House Theatre. With more than 20 years of service, Joel has been an integral part of keeping our building safe, functional, and welcoming for everyone who walks through our doors.
Joel’s deep knowledge of facility operations, hands-on problem-solving skills, and tireless work ethic make him a cornerstone of our organization. From routine maintenance to emergency fixes, he ensures that the theatre, early education center, and shared spaces remain in excellent condition year-round.
Beyond his technical talents, Joel is known for his reliability, calm presence, and commitment to the community. His long-standing service reflects not only his professional excellence but also his genuine care for the people and purpose behind the work.
Maria Cortez – Evening Receptionist
Pronouns: she/her
Maria Cortez has been a valued part of Pillsbury House Theatre for over 20 years. As our Evening Receptionist, she brings warmth, reliability, and a welcoming presence to everyone who walks through our doors. Her deep commitment to the community and steady support make her an essential part of our team.